Let's Do The News! (April 18, 2017)

- President Rodrigo Duterte's "Build, Build, Build" Team inspects the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, an elevated expressway directly connecting the port area of Manila and Northern provinces of Luzon through NLEX.

- 16 people are reportedly injured during the twin blasts at Tacurong last Monday night. Two suspects were arrested by the police after being the last persons to be seen in the area. Authorities also recovered grenades from each of the suspect.

- The top advisers of US President Donald Trump will meet on Tuesday to discuss whether to recommend that he withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, a White House official said on Monday. A White House official said Trump’s aides would “discuss the options, with the goal of providing a recommendation to the president about the path forward.”

- Meanwhile, Trump is seeking changes in the visa program to encourage companies to hire only Americans. Two senior officials said Trump will also use the “buy American and hire American” order to seek changes in government procurement practices to increase the purchase of American products in federal contracts.

- Following the UAL passenger incident last week, an Illinois lawmaker introduced a bill to ban the forcible removal of travelers from flights by state or local government employees.

- South Korea will downgrade its bird flue alert level by one notch from the highest level starting this Wednesday as no new cases have been reported for about two weeks.

- Acting Brazilian president, Michel Temer, said that some of his ministers undergoing investigation are likely to resign following the corruption scandal.

- As announced at last week's Star Wars Celebration, the upcoming fourth season of Disney XD's hit TV series, Star Wars Rebels, will be its last season. Also, Warwick Davis will guest star in the upcoming season for the show.

- A studio executive confirms whether a footage of the late Star Wars legend Carrie Fisher will be featured in the ninth and final installment of the Star Wars ennealogy, due in 2019.

- The Jaguar F-Pace is named 2017 World Car of the Year.

- McLaren-Honda's Fernando Alonso will not be racing at the Monaco GP and instead, join Andretti Autosport for the upcoming 2017 Indy500 race.

TTFN!!!

Forza Horizon 3: Himmel Mancheese

In case you never know, Porsche returns to the world of Forza and with their new six-year partnership agreement, looks like we'll be seeing Porsches in future installments and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Since Porsche was freed from EA exclusivity, most games are willing and able to feature Stuttgart's finest not just for action racing but for racing simulation to demonstrate Porsche's true capabilities and for the Forza franchise, this is a welcoming feat.



The opening salvo of Porsche's return to Forza is the latest 911 (991) GT3 RS, as seen on Forza Horizon 3's Porsche Car Pack of April. This is known to be one of the fastest track cars Porsche ever made and finally, the 911 everyone wants to get on the groove, especially in the Land Down Under.



The GT3 is the stripped-out model that took Porsche decades of German engineering that brought into this and like its normal model, the 911 GT3 provides some stylish design and spartan driving manners with its organic bodywork, "mild" driving feel, and a decade-old philosophy. The GT3 RS model pushes the GT3 to the extreme by dropping 10kg of weight from the normal GT3, increase the flat-6 engine's size from 3.8 to four liters, and feature unique aerodynamics that makes the track weapon more potent on the racetrack and because it lapped the Nurburgring in under seven minutes and 20 seconds, it's surprisingly faster than the Porsche Carrera GT supercar of 2003.

I miss the 991 911 Turbo from the previous installments but to me, the handling is a bit harsh and mild for a high-powered 911 and now, with the 911 GT3 RS, although it's not as powerful as the Turbo, the handling is really magic to me and finally, some "himmel mancheese" to get our mouth on. This is definitely the 911 everyone's wanting for, although the PDK is out of context for the track toy, and driving the 991 911 GT3 RS is by no means the actual representation of a childhood memory where someone is playing Ridge Racer V and their favorite car was the Himmel EO. This is like that RRV favorite because like that, its stylish design and spartan driving manners makes them very hard to resist such temptation and who can blame them?

Speaking of which, this car got featured in The Grand Tour where Jeremy Clarkson compares it with this...





This is the BMW M4 GTS which I found this on FH3's Alpinestars Car Pack. Like the GT3 RS, this is a stripped-out version of the BMW M4 that rids of everything that doesn't help with driving such as a radio of course and some rear seats, add some unique aerodynamics inspired from its DTM racing champion, and to top it all, arm the six-cylinder in-line turbo engine with water injection to deliver 500HP of power. All sounds great but it's about eight seconds slower than the 911 GT3 RS on the Nurburgring and in The Grand Tour's Eboladrome, two seconds slower than the GT3 RS as well.



Hey, since these two are featured in the show and compared, how about I can compare these two at the only place in Byron Bay I know? How about, you guessed it, The Grand Tour Sprint? Yep, the sprint track with the words "Grand Tour" on it. Sounds catchy but let's get on with it.



And now, the results...

2016 BMW M4 GTS (493hp/442ft-lb/3,329lb/51%/2,979cc/S1 849) - 2:27.381
2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (493hp/339ft-lb/3,131lb/39%/3,996cc/S2 929) - 2:18.906

Hey, The Grand Tour is right about the M4 GTS slower than the GT3 RS. Although I like the way BMW made their response against the track-focused Porsche, they really made a hash of it and there's a metaphor for this one but I don't know what that is.





Feeling pleased about the 911 GT3 RS, I did something special for this Porsche and yes, you get the point. With the design ready, the 911 GT3 RS is ready to take on other 911 drivers in the city for a little cars, coffee, and a race.





Although it lost the comparo, the M4 GTS doesn't want to be left behind so I made a little familiar design for this car and while the 911 GT3 RS is busy wowing the other 911 cars, the M4 GTS will have to hang out with the other city delinquents. Poor girl...



That, ladies and gentlemen, is what you called the Himmel Mancheese.

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Prosecutors charged President Park for bribery

South Korean prosecutors charged ousted leader Park Geun-hye and Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin with bribery in the latest twist to a corruption scandal that rocked the nation for months.

The probe has already convulsed the biggest conglomerate, Samsung Group, with its chief Jay Y. Lee under arrest for bribing Park and her friend, Choi Soon-sil. All three are being held at detention centres.

Prosecutors accused Park of colluding with Choi to receive 7 billion won from Lotte for favours, they said in a statement. Park was also charged with abuse of power and coercion by pressuring big businesses to contribute funds to non-profit foundations, the prosecutors said.

Lotte denied the allegations as well as the Park, Lee, Choi and Samsung Group.

Source: Reuters

Let's Do The News! (April 17, 2017)

- According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Abu Sayyaf Group beheaded another hostage during the Holy Week exodus. The hostage was identified as Noel Besconde, a 45 year old crew member of the fishing boat that the terrorist group ambushed last December 2016 in Celebes Sea.

- President Rodrigo Duterte sponsored the baby of the OFW from Saudi Arabia. The OFW named Jobelyn Tayad is one of the 150 OFWs who went home to the Philippines following Duterte's Middle East visit. The Saudi Government gave amnesty to these undocumented OFWs.

- The Philippine National Police CIDG filed a case against two security aids of drug suspect Jun No who escaped last Saturday while confined at the East Avenue Medical Center.

- In case you missed it, US President Donald Trump blocked the White House visitor list to the public, sparking security concerns.

- The torch relay for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics will commence this November.

TTFN!!!

F1 2017: Bahrain GP

The Easter Holidays are nearing its end and the Formula 1 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix really ends the Easter Holidays with a bang, although Easter is not unusually present in the Middle East (well...almost), especially in Bahrain.

As sparks literally fly on the best drivers in the Bahrain Grand Prix, there are some trouble occurred during the heated nighttime race such as Kevin Magnussen from HAAS faced mechanical failure from his car that sent him out from the race, as well as Red Bull's Max Verstappen, William's Lance Stroll, Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, among many others.

Behind the misfortune, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel crushed both the Mercedes-AMG drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to snag his second win of this season. Not bad for a German plotting for a comeback.

After three races this season, Sebastian Vettel's leading with 68 points while Hamilton's seven points behind Vettel, and Bottas' in 3rd place with 38 points.

The next race is on Sochi, Russia, on the 30th of April.

Top Gear S24E06

Top Gear S24E06

The highlight of the sixth episode of the 24th series of Top Gear sees Chris Harris and Rory Reid embark on their first-ever Cuban adventure. With Harris in the Maserati BiTurbo and Reid's in the Chevy Camaro, the two set off in a Latin American country to explore more about the rich automotive culture and history of Cuba that dates back to the Bay of Pigs Invasion that changed everything about car ownership in Cuba.

Meanwhile, Matt LeBlanc's left behind in the Top Gear Test Track to demonstrate Mercedes-AMG's newest track toy, the more potent AMG GT R.

Then, Ross Noble returns to the show to talk about cars, toying around with heavy machinery alongside LeBlanc, and above all, set a lap time in a Reasonably Fast Car.

Doctor Who S10E01

So, how's it feel? Season 10 of BBC's Doctor Who and it's amazing that the revived program reached a double digit season with a brand new companion named Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie, joining alongside The Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, and his old ally Nardole, played by Matt Lucas.

In the season opener, what was the encounter between the time lord and an average woman changed everything and what was known to be the mysterious puddle became a deadly cat-and-mouse chase until a sacrifice has been made. The Daleks were present on the opener as well for dramatic effects.

It's good to see The 12th Doctor back for more but this season will be the last of The Peter Capaldi Years and while this is too early to tell, there's still more to come for The Doctor, Bill, and Nardole because now is the time for heroes.