THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Kim's top aide leaves for Rio

Sourced from NHK World:

A close aide of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is on his way to Rio de Janeiro to attend the Olympic Games and meet officials from friendly nations.

Choe Ryong Hae, a vice chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, arrived in Beijing on Saturday. Diplomatic sources say Choe will fly to Brazil for the opening ceremony next Friday.

Choe is one of five members of the Presidium of the ruling party's Central Committee Political Bureau. He has served as Kim's special envoy and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

North Korea watchers say the visit is part of an effort to promote diplomatic activities amid growing international pressure over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

Kim also appears to be keen to enhance his country's prestige through success in sporting events.

Faith, hope, and love trumps all in today's Kalyeserye

Photo: Official EB Facebook

In today's Kalyeserye segment of Eat Bulaga, now on its 37th year, following the assassination of Lola Nidora, we all thought that all the hope is lost on her and following the slow response done by the Rogelios and Rogelia, Alden, Maine, and Tinidora try to get their grips on coping with Nidora's critical state upon getting shot by the assassin following death threats received from her after days of playing cat and mouse. Just as we thought that all the hope is lost, a miracle happened and yes, Lola Nidora's alive. With the police reported that the assassin finally brought into justice, Lola Nidora's not ready to give up her life just yet. She wants to see great things for Alden and Maine but what great things do we expect from them?

Keep watching Eat Bulaga every weekdays for more Kalyeserye, and in the meantime, happy 37th anniversary to Eat Bulaga! Having been on air for almost four decades since the end of Martial Law from the Marcos regime and goes on until the edge of eternity for three networks, nine presidents from the Marcos regime to the Duterte administration, even President Rodrigo Roa Duterte congratulates Eat Bulaga for the show's longevity! For over 11,000 days on the air, numerous memorable segments shown, millions of Dabarkads viewed here and across the globe, and its international presence, no other show comes close than the longest-running noontime variety show in the Philippines.

Happy 37th anniversary, Dabarkads, mula Batanes hanggang Jolo, saan mang sulok ng mundo! (From Batanes to Jolo, from all corners of the world!)

#BGGameOfShows

On the July 29, 2016 episode of Bubble Gang...

- Game show gags

- A man with a split personality

- The Pool Senorita gals reached their hot climax

- Hugot lines in theaters

- Wise words from Tata Lino

- Bubble Gang does Payless XTRA BIG by spoofing this commercial as PAINLESS XTRA BIG! Sa akin, it's DOBLE OR NOTHING!

- Another life of a gay is explained with a song

- An office worker makes her excuse to the boys

- BASA-BASA PIK!

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Kishida, Ban agree on resolute response to N.Korea

Sourced from NHK World:

Japan's Foreign Minister and the United Nations Secretary-General have agreed that the UN Security Council should resolutely respond to North Korea following its ballistic missile and nuclear tests.

Fumio Kishida and Ban Ki-moon met in New York on Thursday.

Kishida said Japan wants to increase pressure on North Korea by strictly implementing Security Council resolutions and taking a resolute stance.

He said Tokyo wants to continue cooperating with the United Nations to comprehensively resolve the abductions of Japanese nationals by the North, as well as issues arising from Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs.
Kishida referred to the action program to fight violent extremism Ban compiled in January.

Kishida expressed hope that the United Nations will play a central role in immediately putting the program into action with the cooperation of various international organizations.

Let's Do The News! (July 29, 2016)

- Tropical Depression Carina is expected to bring moderate to heavy rains over Bicol, Eastern Visayas, and CARAGA, according to PAGASA. As of 1100 hours local time, the LPA east of Borongan City, Eastern Samar has developed into a tropical depression. It was estimated to be at 195km East of Borongan City, Eastern Sama at 1000 hours. It moves northwest at 11kph with max winds of 45kph near the center.

- The former presidents of the Philippines advised the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to exercise restraint on the West Philippine Sea row following the issuance of an international arbitral court ruling that voided China's expansive territorial claim. President Duterte said he would take the advice of his predecessors and be cautious in handling the issue to avoid risking soldiers' lives.

- DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno yesterday warned all local government units and the public against con men posing as his staff and extort money. Sueno said they received a report that certain individuals approached two mayors and asked for P50,000 as down payment for the purchase of fire trucks for their districts.

- In the dramatic final day of the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton finally accepted her nomination as the party's presidentiable. As she accepted her nomination, she delivered her best speech yet. She urged supporters of her former rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, to support her because they all share a common goal. He main task is to create more jobs with higher wages. She accused the Republican Presidentiable Donald Trump of trying to divide Americans from the rest of the world and from each other.

- Right now, a total of 106 Russian athletes from 7 sports had been banned from participating the Rio Olympic Games over the doping incident. This includes the entire track and field team. Russia had initially planned to send 387 athletes to the Rio Games. Meanwhile, about 70 Russian athletes arrived at an airport in Rio.

- On a related note, protesters have disrupted the Olympic torch relay just over a week before the Games open in Rio. The Games' organizing committee says Wednesday's protest, staged to coincide with the torch relay, forced its route to be changed in a town about 100km southeast of Rio. The step was take after torch bearers complained about their safety.

- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned recent attacks launched by refugees in her country and pledged counter-terrorism measures, including greater monitoring of online communications. At a news conference in Berlin on Thursday, Merkel said the refugees who carried out the attacks had slapped the country that welcomed them in the first place. She stressed that the unforgivable attacks threatened national security and placed a burden on innocent refugees.

- Formula E racers will be given a brand new look in the upcoming 2016-2017 season and apart from the new two-tier front wing, teams can now make changes to their vehicles and the machines are now better and lighter than the previous ones. Although power remains at 200kW (with 20kW increase in the 2017-2018 season and another 30kW for the 2018-2019 season), the regenerative braking level is now bumped to a massive 150kW and lost 8kg of weight.

- Meanwhile, Formula 1 cars will have cockpit protection for the 2018 season to protect drivers. The decision was made to allow more time to develop the technology, instead of rushing it into use.

- In case you missed the recent Eat Bulaga Kalyeserye, with Alden and Maine finally saved and reunited with the lolas, a grave threat is happening on Lola Nidora. While getting out of their "safe zone" for something, someone's going to be assassinated and that someone might be Maine but Lola Nidora took the hit...and did Lola Nidora died? Tune in next time and find out!

TTFN!!!

THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars

THE IDOLM@STER has been one of the most successful titles in Bandai Namco's timeline for over a decade now and even though it faces a much stiffer competition in the world of anime idol genre, everyone should respect that this decade-old franchise is how this kind of competition started in the first place. For 2016, the world of THE IDOLM@STER introduces us a new vision for the loyal fans, for the first time, on the Playstation4 console.

THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars

Here it is, it's called THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars and judging by the franchise's brand new logo, this is totally the next generation of Bandai Namco's hit franchise and while most fans call the move of making this new game a PS4-exclusive a sacrilege while others try to deny it and go drunk with the other sub-brands, mostly the show-stealing Cinderella Girls sub-brand (with a PSVR Viewing Revolution game to follow this autumn), the aim of the new PS4-exclusive Platinum Stars game is to show loyal fans some love to the ever-favorite 765PRO ALL-STARS just as what they did over the past decade and because this is the next generation of the hit IM@S franchise, Platinum Stars sees a bold new turn for the 765PRO ALL-STARS as they're undergoing a training camp and you're in charge of nurturing all 13 idols to its true potential.

Just like One For All two years ago, Platinum Stars allows players to raise their favorite idols such as Haruka Amami, Yayoi Takatsuki, Makoto Kikuchi, Chihaya Kisaragi, Ritsuko Akizuki, Azusa Miura, Yukiho Hagiwara, Iori Minase, Ami and Mami Futami, Miki Hoshii, Takane Shijou, and Hibiki Ganaha. How you'll live it up to your favorites' expectations is all up to you.

Before heading to a live show, be sure to keep them prepared with some lessons ranging from their vocals, dance, style, and everything else. Then, you can outfit them with the proper costumes that are well suited for the live show of your choosing but here in Platinum Stars, there are new ways to keep your idols prepared. There's the new costume combining feature where you can combine two costumes of the same level to create a more powerful costume fit for idols and each costume has its own rarity so you'll never know what sort of costumes you'll get until you get a more powerful one. 

After live shows, you'll get fan presents, which are broadly similar to the lucky boxes from the Tekken games, and fan presents can contain random items. Could be a voucher for your next costume acquisition, cash, fan letters, or any other item you might come across. You can increase your chances of gaining better items by using P-drops, which can also be purchased on the Playstation Store.

While you're not in the middle of the game, Platinum Stars gives players a glimpse on what the girls are up to, especially birthdays which makes us super jealous that fans like us should have the 765PRO gals sing a happy birthday song for us just as what they did to their fellow idols. With the girls look and behave more realistic than ever thanks to the PS4's capabilities, the new Platinum Stars game will surely make fans come back for more and more and more...until they give up their juice.

Thoughts on Platinum Stars? Well, it may sound sacrilege for a PS4-exclusive but with so many fans starting to change sides, I believe that Platinum Stars is Bandai Namco's last-ditch effort to show some love to the 765PRO ALL-STARS, even though blokes are starting to shy away from them in favor of its Cinderella Girls sub-brand, even the longstanding rivalry of the Love Live franchise, and many other idol-related stuff we all know about. Isn't that why these girls brought us the never ending idol wars in the first place? If so, let's hope this is just a friendly competition not just for themselves, but for the devoted fans who can't hardly decide which anime idols are the best. Hope you're happy that the girls are back for more.

LIMITED EDITION: THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars starts at 8,856 Yen (around 4,000 Pesos) but the Limited Edition, priced at 13,392 Yen (somewhat over 6,000 Pesos), features tons of extras such as an ALL-STAR LIVE PAMPHLET, LisAni Live 2016 bonus CD, calendar, bonus photos, a photo frame, a specially-designed box, and a code to unlock a special "Antique Star" costume. The Antique Star costume is a variation of the game's Twinkle Star cover costume but it features the color scheme as the corresponding 765PRO idol (Red for Haruka, Lime Green for Miki, Blue for Chihaya, and so on). 

That's not all, because for a limited time, a copy of Platinum Stars grants you a chance to win tickets to THE IDOLM@STER PRODUCER MEETING 2017 concert, coming this January 2017.

Oh, and for its launch, the first DLC Catalog is now available on the PlaystationStore. The first catalog features the brand new song Miracle Night as well as the brand new Miracle Dance Hall costume, and two additional songs such as I Want and 目が逢う瞬間, among many others. Watch out for the Gothic Punk Queen DL Live, coming this August 4, and you can stand a chance to win a brand new Rouge/Nowaru Q costume with the highest Rank S fit to blitz through your next live performance as well as various Rank A accessories packed with different attributes!

WELCOME TO THE NEW VISION OF IM@S! 

Producer-san! Let's play Platinum Stars! Platinum Stars!

Let's Do The News! (July 28, 2016)

- Onto US Secretary of State John Kerry's Philippine Visit, he expressed the US' agreement with the Philippines on how it responded after the arbitral tribunal based in the Hague delivered a victory for its case against China. In his meeting, Kerry told his Philippine counterpart, Perfecto Yasay Jr., that they appreciate the very responsible and measured way that the Philippine government has responded to the important decision.

- In the midst of the voter registration for the upcoming barangay and SK elections, the Commission of Elections assured the public that safeguards are in place against the repeat of the hacking of the database last March. Comelec chairman Andy Bautista noted that the commission has made sure that data has been secured from those who would try to hack their systems again.

- The third-day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, amid fears that more hacked e-mails from the convention will be uncovered by WikiLeaks over the coming days as well as Republican Presidentiable Donald Trump called on Russia to hunt down Hillary Clinton's deleted e-mails, Senator Tim Kaine accepted his Vice Presidential nomination but the biggest standout in the third day of the convention is the current US President Barack Obama, whose powerful speech devotes everything about what he did ever since he took office, his experience with Hillary Clinton, and why Obama believes that the so-called "Trumpism" won't prevail.

- The ISIS-linked Amaq news agency has posted an online video of two men behind the murder of a Catholic priest in northern France. It shows them pledging allegiance to the terrorist organization. The assailants broke into the church, taking five people hostage and killing a priest. Both were shot dead by the police.

- Over 100 Russian athletes have so far been banned from participating the Rio Olympics. The International Olympic Committee has decided to allow some athletes to participate if they meet certain criteria. Most members of the Russian teams in tennis, archery, equestrian, shooting, triathlon, volleyball, judo, sailing, fencing and table tennis have been approved or will likely be approved to compete in Rio while some international federations are still evaluating.

- Meanwhile, Russian leader Vladimir Putin accused the Western powers of launching a political campaign against sports. Putin addressed the country's Olympic team at a send-off ceremony in Moscow on Wednesday, told the team that rules which govern international politics are being applied to the world of sports. Putin said international sporting bodies should treat athletes fairly and allow Russian athletes who emerge clean from doping tests to compete in the Games.

- Some say, Jaguar Land Rover will discontinue the legendary supercharged V8 engines and plans to source twin-turbo V8s from BMW for cost-efficient measures.

- After making its appearance in last March's Batman v. Superman film, the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie kicks off since last weekend's SDCC. The film hits theaters this summer 2017 worldwide and Gal Gadot reprises her titular role. VIEW THE TRAILER HERE.

- Today marks the 54th weeksary of AlDub but things don't look so good in Eat Bulaga's Kalyeserye segment. As the lolas starting to drift apart after the big revelation, Maine has escaped from captivity and with the police arrested the kidnappers, she has reunited with Alden. However, Lola Nidora picked up a phone call from someone but who is it? Tune in next time and find out!

TTFN!!!