THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA:Switzerland joins fight against NoKor

Switzerland is now one of the countries upping pressure against North Korea, adding fresh batch of financial and trade sanctions to the already extensive list.

Reports noted that Swiss banks have put a stop to all financial transactions with the North and frozen all of the regime's assets. The restrictions are in line with the UNSC sanctions imposed in March after North Korea's fourth nuclear test and missile launch earlier this year.

Source: Arirang News

Let's Do The News! (May 19, 2016)

- The top 12 senators from the May 9 elections has been proclaimed by COMELEC. The names of the 12 senators are former TESDA Director Joel Villanueva, boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao, former PhilHealth director Risa Hontiveros, Valenzuela Representative Sherwin Gatchalian, former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Ping Lacson, Richard Gordon, Migz Zubiri, Francis Pangilinan, Senator Franklin Drilon, Senator Tito Sotto, and Senator Ralph Recto.

- The Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said she will be inhibiting from cases involving President-Elect Rodrigo Duterte and his family due to her ties with them. Morales said her brother's son is the husband of Duterte's daughter, Davao City Mayor-elect Sara Duterte. The younger Duterte and Morales' nephew are both lawyers.

- The Pentagon reported that two Chinese fighter jets flew within about 50 feet of a US Navy spy plane in international airspace over the South China Sea, characterizing the incident as an unsafe intercept and said it is being reviewed. Two Chinese J-11 jets flew out to intercept the US EP-3 spy plane and came so close that they forced the pilot to descend a couple hundred feet in order to avoid a collision.

- Two powerful quakes struck Ecuador, injuring 85 people. These jolts come about a month after a powerful quake struck the South American country, killing over 600 people. A M6.7 quake struck early on Wednesday morning, followed by a powerful M6.8 quake shortly before noon on the same day. Reports told that one elderly person died.

- The EgyptAir Flight MS804, en route from Paris to Cairo, lost from radar at 0045 hours UTC shortly after entering Egyptian airspace. Authorities are launching an investigation for a passenger plane, which had 66 people aboard, went missing from the airspace.

- Moving on to the fuel economy crisis, Suzuki Motor Corporation admitted that they falsified their fuel consumption data on their 16 models currently being sold in Japan (including recently released ones such as the Ignis and the India-import Baleno). Despite the scandal, Suzuki will continue selling its cars while adding that earnings have yet to be impacted.

- Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Motors' president Tetsuro Aikawa stepped down from his post, effective late next month, when the automaker will hold its shareholder's meeting. Alongside Aikawa is Executive VP Ryugo Nakao. With Nissan gained control of about 34% of the shares from Mitsubishi Motors, Aikawa asked the rival car company to send one of theirs to replace his position.

- Two compact Volvo concepts have been unveiled. The Concept 40.1 previews a compact saloon while the Concept 40.2 previews a compact crossover.

- Today marks the 44th Weeksary of AlDub.

TTFN!!!

Rain or Shine wins PBA Commissioner's Cup

The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters triumphed the PBA Commissioner's Cup championship after Game 6 victory against the Alaska Aces at the score of 109-92 last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. 

Apart from the team's unorthodox win, Elasto Painters' Paul Lee was named as MVP for his four 3-point shots and finished with 20 points scored.

This is the second time the Elasto Painters won championship title since their Governors Cup win five years ago with import Jamel Cornely.

Congratulations to the Elasto Painters for such win and it's great that the team got one heck of a Lee-thal weapon for the win.

URL: http://pba.inquirer.net/71770/rain-or-shine-smothers-alaska-in-game-6-claims-2nd-pba-crown

TGUSA: Military Might

Top Gear, the hit American TV show, goes to war (literally) as the boys ventured out to a top-secret National Training Center in Fort Irwin with their cars of their choice and see if these cars are tough enough to serve with the US Army. Rut goes for the RAM Power Wagon, Adam goes for the Jeep Wrangler, and Tanner goes to the Subaru WRX STi.

The first challenge involves a race against a heavily armed tank in a very punishing terrain designed for military vehicles. Although all three cars were slower than a tank, the Power Wagon was the fastest.

Next up is evasive maneuvers and the boys are driving through the obstacle course while evading sniper fire. The one with the least shots wins and in this challenge, Tanner and the STi wins.

While their cars are getting camouflaged for the final challenge, Tanner tries out one of his favorite extreme offroaders in his collection; which is a Polaris RZR XP Turbo and he's going to race through the finish line before Adam shoots 10 targets with the M1A1 Abrams tank. In the end, the tank finished first.

A day later, the boys' cars got camouflaged for the final challenge, involving a daring rescue mission in a simulated battle zone. Taking advantage of the cars, the boys will have to work together to survive the simulated war zone. After accomplishing this harsh mission, the soldiers evaluated how these cars progressed and out of the three, the Power Wagon is the clear winner. Tanner's Subie though, sealed its fate with the tank's shrapnel.

HOMEFRONT: The Revolution

Five years ago, the original HOMEFRONT game, once developed by KAOS Studio and published by THQ, two years before its bankruptcy, featured a fictional plausible take of the United States taking control by the North Koreans (who once unified the two Koreas not by the South but by the North) and the once America the Great is now abandoned and only a handful of resistance fighters wage war against the Korean People's Army. With the HOMEFRONT games now under Deep Silver's hands, the folks from Dambuster Studios rebooted the once-forgotten franchise with a bold new take.

HOMEFRONT: The Revolution (PC)

HOMEFRONT: The Revolution
(XBOX One)

HOMEFRONT: The Revolution
(PS4)

The revived HOMEFRONT game is now called HOMEFRONT: The Revolution and this game features a much different story than the old THQ-era HOMEFRONT game. In an alternate history, North Korea became a technological superpower thanks to a multinational technology company called APEX and with the whole world taking advantage of APEX's technologies, even the United States, it became one of the world's biggest companies. In the not-too-distant future, with the United States in the depths of financial ruin because of overspending with APEX-sourced tech from North Korea, the once great USA has been taken control by the Korean People's Army and a group of resistance fighters in Philadelphia is staging a revolution to take back America from the grips of not just North Korea but the corporation behind it.

The new HOMEFRONT game features open-world combat where players wage guerilla warfare and use any means necessary to slip past enemies in unbiased firefights. Apart from being a shooter game, The Revolution behaves like last year's everyone's personal favorite, Fallout 4, because you can gain new allies, make negotiations, establish bases and safehouses, create new weapons, and more. There are endless possibilities to create your own resistance to wage war against the KPA tyranny.

Believe it or not, playing The Revolution is becoming more of a party than your usual shooter because you can team up with other gamers and work your way through completing various missions from simpler ones to the most intense missions only the bravest heroes can ignite the revolution.

The fun continues because you can receive in-game bonuses by logging on to the official site or the Homefront Resistance Network app for iOS and Android. You can avail of the Expansion Pass to gain access to upcoming expansions coming this 2016 such as The Voice of Freedom and Aftermath as well as the Beyond the Walls expansion, due next year.

Thoughts on The Revolution? It's starting to behave like the Fallout games due to its open-world action and creating your own resistance out of the people you've trusted. However, the storyline and the action are too intense for the faint at heart and you have to be brave enough to endure the thrilling action The Revolution has offered. While this game is recommended to play on co-op because playing solo is not enough to finish the job, it is best to stick to the PC version because with paid memberships on the XBOX Live and PlayStation Plus plagued the newest consoles, you'll have to empty your wallet to enjoy playing with other players.

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Trump says he would speak to N.Korea's Kim Jong Un

Republican US Presidentiable Donald Trump says he will be willing to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to stop the country's nuclear program.

In an interview with a certain news agency, Trump would speak to the North Korean leader and would have no problem doing so. Trump added that he would at the same time put a lot of pressure on China. He said China can solve problems with the Korean peninsula's nuclear program with one meeting or one phone call.

Trump's remark draw flak from the camp of Democratic Party presidentiable Hillary Clinton.

Source: NHK World

Let's Do The News! (May 18, 2016)

- The Philippines has gained a "new territory" through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea's ruling on the 13 million hectare Benham Rise. Until 2012, the seismically active underwater region known as the Benham Plateau and extinct volcanic ridge had not been part of the archipelago, despite the Philippines is the only country within 200 nautical miles of the plateau.

- Philippine President-Elect Rodrigo Duterte's plans to revive the death penalty sparked criticisms from the public, even those from the Catholic Church and officials. Among the critics of the revival of life imprisonment is Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo, who is leading in the vice presidential race.

- In the latest presidential primaries for the November 2016 US Presidential Elections, the heated battle between two Democratic presidentiables Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are heating up as Clinton wins at the Kentucky primaries while Sanders won the Oregon primaries. As of now, Clinton now has 2,291 delegates while Sanders is 763 delegates behind her.

- Series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, have killed at least 70 people and injured 140 others. The Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the attacks and all four bomb attacks took place within a few hours in areas populated by Shia Muslims. The Iraqi military and the US-led coaliton are stepping up an offensive against the Islamic State militants.

- US authorities opened the investigation into athletic doping by Russian athletes. According to reports, the US Justice Department is targeting anyone who might have benefited unfairly from doping. These would include Russian government officials, athletes, coaches, and anti-doping agency officials.

- In the ongoing fuel consumption crisis, South Korean authorities says Nissan manipulated emissions with their UK-built crossover with diesel engine, thanks to a dubious device that shuts off its exhaust reduction system under regular driving temperature.

- The long-awaited arrival of NASCAR in the world of Forza Motorsport 6 for the XBOX One console is here with the brand new FM6 NASCAR Expansion, now available for $20. The expansion not only sees the car roster full of 2016 season NASCAR machines but also the arrival of Homestead-Miami Speedway and the all-new NASCAR World Tour where players pit their NASCAR skills to the test against the world.

- Minzy, the former member of K-Pop girl group 2NE1, has officially signed with The Music Works Entertainment, a subsidiary of CJ E&M Music Performance Division. Minzy will be joining alongside singer Baek Ji Young on the record label.

- Torchwood alums John Barrowman (who played as Captain Jack Harkness) and Gareth David-Lloyd (who played Ianto Jones) are reprising their roles once again for their newest chapter of their Torchwood audio drama series titled Torchwood: Broken.

- With shooting for the fourth season of BBC's Sherlock has commenced, actor Toby Jones will be joining this season as a villain in the new season, due 2017.

TTFN!!!