Pala-isip

U.S. President Donald Trump called Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on April 29, 2017 and their conversation revolved around the problem with North Korea and with Kim Jong Un's nuclear ambition. Pentagon officials however are in shock after a transcript of their conversation  was released on May 23, 2017. Pentagon officials are very careful about discussing the movement of their submarines as is it their military's belief that their stealth is the key to their mission. In their conversation, President Trump told President Duterte that the U.S. has two nuclear submarines in the area. Trump said: "We have two submarines -- the best in the world -- we have two nuclear submarines -- no that we want to use them at all." They also talked about China and how China is the key to keeping North Korea in check. Duterte said he will call China's President Xi Jinping. Duterte told Trump: "I will try to make a call to President Xi Jinping and I will try to tel...

Poisoned at the Source: China's Food Production Up Close. This is probably the most disgusting thing you'll see about food production in China.

The world-renown French-Canadian singer Céline Dion joins Chinese singer Song Zuying in singing the Jasmine Flower (Mo Li Hua 茉莉花) in CHINESE on China's Central Television's Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) Grand Gala. This year's Spring Festival Gala presents a variety of interntional artists, including Greek musician Yanni, American Chinese pop-star Lee Hom Wang etc. Céline also sang the classic My Heart Will Go On in front of Chinese audience afterwards.

A Reuters report on several inventions to make the annual Chinese New Year train migration easier.

I saw this on Facebook . Not sure if this is true, but it is compelling evidence. Here's the story. A Han-Chinese map of China published in 1904 reveals that China stretched as far south as Hainan Island, and that Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands did not belong to China. Shanghai Publishing House printed the map whose Vietnamese name is “Hoàng triều trực tỉnh địa dư toàn đồ” (Map of all Chinese provinces). After holding it for 30 years, Dr. Mai Hong, former head of the Library of the Institute for the Study of Chinese and Demotic Scripts and Cultures, has decided to release the historical evidence. Hong recently sat down with Tuoi Tre for an interview about the map: How did you get this map? I got this map when I administered a library of Chinese and Demotic Script books (now Institute for the Study of Chinese and Demotic Scripts and Cultures) in 1977. At that time, collecting maps was not our administrative function. However, to my surprise, an elder...

Reposting this from an article in the Inquirer . I respectfully write to you, Mr. President, as a Filipino frustrated that a certain neighbor has been acting like a bully, with us on the receiving end. Aside from its incursions into our territory, the people of that country have been capturing our endangered wildlife, in violation of national and international law. If only for that, we need to take action. When we try to confront this bully, it displays its overwhelming military might. It cannot even keep its word on easing tensions. While we may not have the military hardware to overcome our shame and punish that country for its impunity and duplicity, let us not forget that we have the moral might to make things right. We must initiate legal action which, after all, is nothing more than a continuation of diplomacy. Actions may be available in the International Court of Justice, the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly, the International Tribunal for the Law of t...

There's a big dispute going on between China and the Philippines in the Spratly Islands. There's even a Facebook page dedicated to people voicing their opinions and urging people to help protect Philippine sovereignty. Here's an image showing what China is claiming to be their territory.

Watch how pickpockets in China uses chopsticks to steal.

From the New York Times . HANGZHOU, China — The clearest sign that Jeremy Lin’s appeal has spanned the Pacific to mainland China may lie not in the 1.4 million Chinese microblog messages mentioning him in recent days, but in a rare failure to meet demand here in the heart of one of the world’s largest centers of pirated garment manufacturing. “His jerseys have sold out, even including the counterfeit ones,” said Zheng Xiaojun, a 24-year-old clerk here in the capital of Zhejiang province, near Shanghai. Lin’s stunning success with the Knicks over the last week and a half has captured the imagination of the Chinese, from Communist Party bosses to the often-persecuted Christian minority. He has been particularly popular here in northern Zhejiang province, from which his maternal grandmother fled to Taiwan in the last days of China’s civil war in the late 1940s. Lin is commonly described in the United States as Taiwanese-American because his parents grew up in Taiwan before moving ...

Benetton came out with a provocative ad showing President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao kissing. The White House criticized Benetton for the unauthorized use of the photo. Here's the photo of the ad. What do you think? Controversial?

Yueyue, the toddler that sparked an outpouring of sympathy across China and the world this week, passed away this morning at 12:32am. The incredibly sad news was announced by a briefing at the hospital at 8:30am this morning. Yueyue was treated for seven days and nights in intensive care, but despite the best medical treatment available, she simply could not survive her injuries. The hospital states that although they used the best-available resources from military and civilian experts, her injuries were simply too severe. The major cause of death was brain failure, which caused her major organs to shut down. The hospital "deeply regrets the loss, but thanks everyone for their concern and attention." Full story from Shanghaiist . This is really very tragic. It's so sad that she could have been saved had the first driver stopped or at least if some of the people helped her right away. The video was very hard to watch as you can see her trying to stand up and then got...

A 2 year old girl was ran over 2 times in Foshan, China with 18 witnesses ignoring the incident. I have to warn you, this is a very graphic video. The girl's name is Yueyue, the driver was caught. He is seen swerving into the girl at the last moment. He claims he was on his phone at the time but both hands were on the wheel. The girl is brain dead and will most likely not survive, or at best live in a vegetative state for the rest of her life. The driver was saying how if the girl dies he will pay a fine of US$3,125, but if she lives it will be many many times more. A rag collector was finally seen picking the girl up and went she was first shown yelling to ask for her parents, other shopkeepers told her to shut up and mind her own business. Watch. As explained in CNN, one of the reasons nobody helped the child was there were a high profile case in China back in 2006 when a Good Samaritan who helped a woman get to hospital was wrongly ordered to pay her compensation. ...

Got this from an e-mail. ============== Anyone who bought an apartment here sure has a problem. Talk about a collapsed market! YES, IT'S An ENTIRE 13-STORY BUILDING IN CHINA LYING ON THE GROUND. (1) An underground garage was being dug on the south side of the building, to a depth of 4.6 meters (15 ft). (2) The excavated dirt was being piled up on the north side of the building, to a height of 10 meters (32 ft). (3) They dug right up to the base of the building. Then the rains came. (4) The building experienced uneven lateral pressure from north to south. (5) This resulted in a lateral pressure of 3,000 tonnes, which was greater than what the un-reinforced pilings could tolerate. Thus, the building toppled completely over in a southerly direction. *First, the apartment building was constructed.* Then the plan called for an underground garage to be dug out. The excavated soil was piled up on the other side of the building. *Heavy rains resulted in wat...

This is the state of the country right now. 1. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson is treated as a hero for avoiding justice for over a year. Photo source: Mr. Cheap Justice's Blog 2. The church calls for prayers to save the 3 Filipino drug mules from execution in China with no less than Vice President Jejomar Binay asking for mercy from the Chinese government. Photo source: Allvoices Photo source: GMA News 3. A 6 year old Filipino boy is is forced to do a macho dance (male stripper dance) on national TV for P10,000 (US$ 240). And you wonder why the country is going down the drain?

From Philstar. Excuse the football terminology: “hat trick” is the best I can describe Beijing’s edgewise diplomacy which pulls out a mutually satisfying outcome from an impossibly annoying situation. China, as is known, has a 4,000-year experience in statecraft. The wisdom shows in this recent complication over the execution of three Filipino drug mules originally scheduled for this week. The complication is entirely the Philippines’ own making. Although we were officially informed in September the executions will happen after due review by China’s supreme court, we still chose to make a grand spectacle about our official pleading for commutation of the sentences. President Aquino then committed two blunders in quick sequence: he admitted to boycotting the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and then linked this to the effort to save the lives of the drug mules. Manila was to be sure, playing to the domestic audience, fearful of a repeat of the turbulence that followed Flor Contemplacion’s exe...

Russian-Bar Acrobatic at the Circus Festival of Monte Carlo. Is it any wonder why the Chinese won the gymnastics at the Olympics?

Why China will be the next superpower. Who wants to fight with them!?