Video: Philippine President, Duterte announces separation from US

Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte declared his "separation" from longstanding ally the United States in Beijing on Thursday, as he rebalances his country's diplomacy towards China.

Duterte is in China for a four-day trip seen as confirming his tilt away from Washington and towards Beijing's sphere of influence -- and its deep pockets.

"I announce my separation from the United States," he said to applause at a meeting in the Chinese capital.

"America does not control our lives. Enough bullshit," he added in a rambling speech that flipped between languages.

"How can you be the most powerful industrial country when you owe China and you are not paying it?"

His comments came after he met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square, with the two men pledging to enhance trust and friendship, while playing down a maritime dispute.

Xi called the two countries "neighbours across the sea" with "no reason for hostility or confrontation", the official Xinhua news agency said.

Under Duterte's predecessor Benigno Aquino the two countries were at loggerheads over the South China Sea -- where Beijing has built a series of artificial islands -- but since taking office in June the new head of state has changed course.

In a statement, the Chinese foreign ministry cited Xi as telling Duterte their emotional foundation of friendly good neighbourliness was unchanged, and difficult topics of discussion "could be shelved temporarily".

Duterte called the meeting "historic", it added.

His visit to Beijing capped a series of recent declarations blasting the US and President Barack Obama.

Addressing the Filipino community in Beijing Wednesday, the firebrand leader said the Philippines had gained little from its long alliance with the US, its former colonial ruler.

He also repeated his denunciation of Obama as a "son of a whore".

China, he said earlier, was "good". "It has never invaded a piece of my country all these generations."


Duterte has also suspended joint US-Philippine patrols in the strategically vital South China Sea, and has threatened an end to joint military exercises.

The South China Sea is of intense interest to Washington and it has repeatedly spoken out on the various territorial disputes between China and its neighbours over the waters.

Tensions have risen between the US and China over Washington's so-called "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific, a move that Beijing says is intended to contain it.

In 2012, China seized control of Scarborough Shoal, a fishing ground in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

In a case brought by Aquino, the Philippines won a resounding victory at an international tribunal earlier this year over Beijing's extensive territorial maritime claims in the area, infuriating the Asian giant.

But Duterte, who took office in June shortly before the tribunal ruling, has made a point of not flaunting the outcome.

Asked whether the leaders had discussed the South China Sea, the foreign ministry's spokesperson Hua Chunying said they had a "candid and friendly exchange of views on how to resolve relevant disputes".

Their meeting represented a "return to the right track of dialogue and consultation" she said, adding China was willing to make "relevant arrangements" to cooperate on fishery issues.

The meeting between Xi and Duterte marked a "full recovery" of the "traditional friendship" between the two countries, Chinese vice minister Liu Zhenmin said, according to a transcript released by the Philippine president's office.

They oversaw the signing of 13 bilateral cooperation documents on business, infrastructure, and agriculture, among other fields, he added.

Beijing also has offered the Philippines a $9 billion soft loan for development projects, a statement from the Philippine presidential press office said.

About $15 million of the promised loans will be earmarked for drug rehabilitation programmes amid Duterte's anti-drug campaign, which has killed thousands of people and raised concern abroad of human rights violations.

China will also lift bans on 27 Philippine tropical fruit export companies. Previous sanctions on fruit were intended to punish Manila for its South China Sea stance.

Video: Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia have agreed to draw up a roadmap by the end of November on how to implement the 2015 Minsk peace deal

During five hours of talks in Berlin, during which it was said miracles were not expected, the four leaders at least appeared to be of one mind, that of wanting to make some progress.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the first point must be an immediate and all inclusive ceasefire..He then went on to say November’s roadmap will give grantees for the implementation of Minsk.

The 2015 Minsk agreement- originally eased fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels in the east of the country, but violence since then has frequently flared along a demarcation line.

At the end of Wednesday’s talks Russian President Vladimir Putin went on record to confirm they had agreed to allow a wider role for a police mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor the situation.

Local elections remain an issue with Ukraine insisting they will only be held in the Donbass region after the area is demilitarized by both Russian backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.

Sources: Euronews

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6 awesome things many people do not know they can do with their smartphones - Read and learn

Majority people  have smartphones  and using smartphones on the daily basis, but how many of them actually maximize its functions? Aside from voice calls, social networking, telling the time, listening to music and maybe using the device as a flashlight, there are so many other creative ways the smartphone can be used beyond their standard features to make life easier. Jumia Travel, Africa’s No.1 hotel booking portal shares 6 awesome things Nigerians/ majority of the world  do not know they can do with their smartphones.

Tune a guitar

Yes! You can actually use your smartphone to tune your guitar and as such, you do not need to struggle with an out-of-tune guitar ever again. All you need to do is download and install the Strings Free app, launch gStrings, then press the Menu key and select Settings. Next, Select the "Optimize For" drop-down list, Select "Guitar" then go back to the main tuning screen. Finally, press the "Tune Auto" button to have the tuner automatically identify the notes. If your phone's mic is having problems picking up sound from the guitar, go back to Settings and set the microphone sensitivity. This function is usually possible with mostly android smartphones though.

Control a TV

This may sound incredible, especially if your phone and your TV are not the same brand, but in reality, it can be done. Almost every smartphone is released with an infrared port that allows you to ditch your standard TV remote and instead use your device to control your TV. You however need to download an app from google play (if your smartphone is also android) which will help you set it all up. Once it is set up, you are able to carry out all the normal tasks you'd expect from a TV remote, but by using your smartphone.You can try download Peel Smart Remote on Android & iOS.

Scan documents

As long as you have a smartphone, you no longer need to go to a cybercafé  or use a scanner to scan documents, photographs, receipts, business cards or anything on paper that you want to make digital. The smartphone's camera is already a portable, pocket document scanner that you need. For those who use android smartphones, the Google Drive app has a built-in scanning feature while Evernote Scannable is available for iPhone and iPad users. Using the camera lens, scan and then share your scans via email or text, or export them as PDF and JPG files. Most smartphones even gives you the option of automatically rotating, cropping, and adjusting images so your scans are easy to read.

A cordless mouse and keyboard:
This is super convenient if you are the type who uses a computer a lot and your computer’s touchpad is faulty. Your smartphone, especially android, allows you to download an App called RemoteDroid, which consequently turns your phone to a wireless computer touchpad or keyboard. This function is also a great solution for people who use their computers as their entertainment hub.
A  mic:
When it comes to communicating with people over the internet, making audio recordings, or using speech recognition, a good microphone is needed. Although, headphones usually come with a mic or there is a built-in microphone in the computer, there are times when the audio quality is not good or the microphone stops working while you are in a middle of a conversation. In case of such an incident, your smartphone right beside you can come in very handy. There are many Apps available for this purpose, but the one that is easy to set up is ‘WO Mic’ by Wireless Orange. All you have to do is to download that free App on your smartphone and WO Mic Client program and WO Mic device driver on your PC. You can then use your smartphone as a mic using WiFi or Bluetooth or USB.

Games console

If you love to play games, especially video games, you will be delighted to know that there are  some tremendously powerful smartphones around, which can give you a great gaming experience. The MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) offers a way to connect phones and other portable electronics to HD televisions and monitors, using an MHL cable linked between the micro USB port on your phone and your screen's HDMI. While some phones are rather selective and do not support MHL, If you have got any of the Sony Xperia Z series, another idea is to make use of PS4 Remote Play and play your console games on your phone.


A microscope

A number of smartphone cameras are great for taking selfies and short videos, but with some tweaks, you can actually turn the turn the same camera into a microscope. With magnification levels up to 375x, you easily conduct a scientific experiment with your phone and satisfy your scientific curiosity or just enjoy the aesthetics of greatly magnified photos. Parents will love this as it could come in handy when doing home science project with their kids.


Written by Nkem Ndem | PR Associate at Jumia Travel - Edited and Published by Olusola Olaniyi - Publisher at Olusola Olaniyi's Planet Blog-Mariupol State University, Ukraine

Watch the final U.S. presidential debate -Donald Trump didn't just destroy himself. Hillary Clinton destroyed him

For those of you who missed the final U.S. presidential debate between the Republican candidate, Donald Trump and the Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton. Here is the video for your pleasure.

The third and final presidential debate has ended, and it can now be said that Hillary Clinton crushed Donald Trump in the most effective series of debate performances in modern political history.

The polling tells the story. As Nate Silver notes, on the eve of the first presidential debate, Clinton led by 1.5 points. Before the second, she was up by 5.6 points. Before the third, she was winning by 7.1 points. And now, writing after the third debate, a debate in which Trump said he would keep the nation “in suspense” about whether there would be a peaceful transition of power, bragged about not apologizing to his wife, and called Clinton “such a nasty woman”, it’s clear that Trump did himself no favors. Early polls also suggest Clinton won.

And it’s not just the presidential race. Betting markets now predict Democrats will win the Senate. Polls have started showing Democrats in striking distance of the House. The GOP has collapsed into a mid-election civil war, with the party’s presidential nominee openly battling the speaker of the House.

This is not normal. As Andrew Prokop concluded in his review of the political science evidence around presidential debates, “There’s little historical evidence that they’ve ever swung polls by more than a few percentage points.” In this case, they did. And it’s because Clinton executed a risky strategy flawlessly.

The dominant narrative of this election goes something like this. Hillary Clinton is a weak candidate who is winning because she is facing a yet weaker candidate. Her unfavorables are high, her vulnerabilities are obvious, and if she were running against a Marco Rubio or a Paul Ryan, she would be getting crushed. Lucky for her, she’s running against a hot orange mess with higher unfavorables, clearer vulnerabilities, and a tape where he brags about grabbing women “by the pussy.”

U.S. Government hosts northern Nigerian governors in Washington D.C

10 Governors out of the 19 northern states in Nigeria were yesterday received in Washington by the US government, in furtherance of the northern governors’ symposium organised by United States Institute of Peace (USIP) designed to amongst other things, seek possible ways of attaining lasting peace in Northern Nigeria.

                        

                 

The visiting governors are expected to spend three days in Washington while meeting with Steve Hayes, chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa and Gayle Smith, USAID director, to discuss project priorities for northern Nigeria.