ST. PETER Parish in Quezon City is full to its adjusted capacity on March 2 as devotees in Catholic-majority Philippines flocked to churches in observance of Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. Minimum health protocols such as face mask and distancing continue to be observed even as most other restrictions have been lifted in Metro Manila.
LUKA Dončić recorded 25 points and eight rebounds and Jalen Brunson added 22 points as the visiting Dallas Mavericks notched a 109-104 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
Dorian Finney-Smith contributed 16 points and nine rebounds and Spencer Dinwiddie had 14 points and nine assists as Dallas won for the eighth time in its past 10 games and 21st in its last 28. Dwight Powell added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Mavericks.
LeBron James registered 26 points and 12 rebounds and Carmelo Anthony added 20 points for the Lakers, who have lost 10 of their past 13 games and 15 of 21.
Malik Monk scored 17 points, Russell Westbrook added 12 points and eight assists and Stanley Johnson had 11 points for Los Angeles.
Dallas made 50% of its shots, despite shooting just 10 of 35 from 3-point range.
The Lakers shot 45.1% and were 14 of 34 from behind the arc.
Los Angeles held a 100-94 lead with 7:23 remaining in the game before the Mavericks erupted with 11 straight points.
Brunson hit a 3-pointer and Dončić added a jumper to bring Dallas within one. James turned the ball over with a poor pass, leading to Powell’s dunk that gave the Mavericks a 101-100 edge with 5:08 remaining. Dončić and Powell added baskets to push the lead to five with 3:53 left.
Westbrook’s ferocious dunk with 3:25 left interrupted the Dallas run, but it was the Lakers’ only points in more than seven minutes until James scored on a meaningless dunk with 13.3 seconds to go.
Los Angeles trailed 71-56 at half time before appearing like a vastly different team in the third quarter — outscoring the Mavericks 31-14 to take a two-point lead.
Johnson drained two 3-pointers during a half-opening 13-1 run as the Lakers pulled within 72-69 with 7:55 remaining in the third.
James buried a 3-pointer to tie it at 78 with 4:24 left. Los Angeles moved ahead at 82-80 on Monk’s basket with 2:55 to play.
Dallas inched back ahead before Kent Bazemore hit a 3-pointer with 42.2 seconds remaining to give the Lakers an 87-85 edge entering the final stanza.
Dončić and Brunson scored 15 points apiece as Dallas led by 15 at half time. The Mavericks outscored the Lakers 37-13 over a span of 11:34 to turn a three-point, first-quarter deficit into a 59-38 advantage with four minutes remaining in the first half. — Reuters
RUSSIA has been banned from defending its Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup titles, but its players will still be allowed to compete at the Grand Slams and in regular tour events.
The decision by tennis authorities follows Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week. Belarus, a key staging area for the invasion, which Russia says is a “special operation,” has also been banned from the international team competitions.
Russian and Belarusian players will be able to play on the elite Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tours but not under the name or flag of their countries, the governing bodies said.
Men’s world number one Daniil Medvedev and number six Andrey Rublev helped Russia beat Croatia in the 2021 Davis Cup final in Madrid in December a month after the Russian women won the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague. — Reuters
TAMPA Bay general manager Jason Licht says the Buccaneers will “leave the light on” for Tom Brady in case the quarterback (QB) decides to unretire.
“We’ll see what the future holds,” Licht said during an National Football League (NFL) Network appearance on Tuesday. “We’ll leave the light on. You always leave the light on for a guy like Tom Brady.”
Licht is in Indianapolis to attend this week’s scouting combine, where he said the team is “trying to make our plans to move forward” without the seven-time Super Bowl winner. “If that’s the case that we need to move forward,” Licht then added with a giant “if.”
Brady, 44, announced his retirement on Feb. 1 after leading the NFL in passing attempts (719), completions (485), yards (5,316) and touchdown passes (43) in his 22nd season in 2021.
Barely a week later, he fueled speculation about his future plans by telling host Jim Gray “never say never” when asked about playing in 2022 on his “Let’s Go!” podcast.
Licht’s comments sound more optimistic than those of Bucs head coach Bruce Arians, who has said he would be “shocked” if Brady returns. But if he did?
“That door is never closed. Whenever Tom wants to come back, he’s back. If Tom wants to come back, we’ll have plenty of money for him,” Arians said from the scouting combine.
But Arians shot down any scenario where the Bucs would trade Brady.
“Nope,” Arians said. “Bad business… Five No. 1s. Maybe.”
Both Arians and Licht said 2021 second-round draft pick Kyle Trask is going to “get a great, great shot.”
“I mean, he’s earned his shot,” Arians said. “I’m really, really impressed with the way he improved the things he needed to when he was running the scout team, his presence in the pocket, movement in the pocket — all those things on and off the field that Tom taught him, leaning out, getting a little quicker — he can throw it.”
Licht was asked whether Trask could be a surprise like New England rookie QB Mac Jones was in 2021.
“I definitely think so,” Licht said. “I definitely think he’s got a chance. He’s shown all the signs that it’s pointing that way with his intelligence, his ability to pick up the offense, his work ethic, the way he absorbs information and retains information, and the way he throws the ball.”
A 15-time Pro Bowl selection and a three-time NFL MVP, Brady is the league’s all-time leader with 84,520 passing yards and 624 touchdown passes. — Reuters
NO ONE will be calling “Play ball!” on March 31.
Major League commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the first two series of the regular season were canceled after the league and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) failed to strike a collective bargaining agreement before Tuesday’s league-imposed 5 p.m. ET deadline.
The union unanimously rejected what MLB deemed its “best offer” for the sides to salvage a March 31 Opening Day.
“I had hoped against hope I wouldn’t have to have this press conference where I am going to cancel some regular-season games,” Manfred said on Tuesday afternoon. “We worked hard to avoid an outcome that’s bad for our fans, bad for our players and bad for our clubs. Our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort by either party.”
This is the ninth work stoppage in MLB history, and 2022 becomes the first MLB season since 1995 to lose games over a work stoppage. The Athletic and ESPN previously reported that the owners suggested to players they were willing to cancel up to a month’s worth of games.
The union released a statement accusing the owners of trying to dismantle the union.
“Players and fans around the world who love baseball are disgusted, but sadly not surprised,” the statement read. “What Rob Manfred characterized as a ‘defensive lockout’ is, in fact, the culmination of a decades-long attempt by owners to break our Player fraternity. As in the past, this effort will fail.”
Union representatives later spoke to the press, including MLBPA executive director Tony Clark, who played in the majors from 1995-2009. Clark said “how players are respected and viewed” has changed over the years.
“Players have been commoditized in a way that is really hard to explain in the grand scheme of things,” Clark said. “The game has continued to be damaged and is again damaged today as a result of a lockout that was started by the league, as a result of a deadline that was set by the league.”
Tuesday marked the ninth straight day of negotiations between the owners and the union in Jupiter, FL. MLB extended its original deadline of Monday to get an agreement done.
The league released a statement earlier on Tuesday afternoon, citing “a decidedly different tone” from the union since Monday night’s talks.
“We thought there was a path to a deal last night and that both sides were closing in on the major issues,” MLB told media outlets. “The MLBPA has a decidedly different tone today and made proposals inconsistent with the prior discussions. We will be making our best offer before the 5 p.m. deadline that’s a fair deal for players and clubs.”
That best offer, according to ESPN:
–A competitive balance tax, or luxury tax, of $220 million in the first three years of the deal, rising to $230 million in Year 5.
–A $5-million increase in pre-arbitration bonus pool to $30 million.
–An increase of $25,000 for league minimums to $700,000 per year, moving up $10,000 per year after.
The MLBPA’s previous offer still leaves the sides with major gaps.
According to ESPN, the union’s previous offer was:
–CBT starting at $238 million in Year 1 to $263 in Year 5.
–Bonus pool starting at $85 million with $5-million annual increases.
–Minimums starting at $725,000 and going up $20,000 per year.
“MLB has pumped to the media last night and today that there’s momentum toward a deal,” pitcher Alex Wood said in a tweet. “Now, saying the players tone has changed. So if a deal isn’t done today, it’s our fault… We’ve had the same tone all along.”
USA Today reported on Monday night that the two sides agreed to an expanded 12-team postseason and the owners agreed to a luxury tax similar to the system in place in the previous CBA.
It’s unknown when the two sides will return to the table and try to solve the lockout. Manfred said that no deal could be reached before at least Thursday with the union members heading back to New York. — Reuters
My family and I have not traveled locally or abroad in the last two years except for occasional drives up to Tagaytay City, and most recently, to Baguio City. And in going to these destinations by private car, we have had to follow existing protocols. In going to Baguio City, in particular, prior registration online was required.
I encourage territories like Baguio City to maintain existing protocols for tourists and visitors, even under Alert Level 1, but to improve the process to make it more efficient and safer for travelers. The present system of registering online and getting flagged down at road checkpoints, and undergoing triage upon arrival, is painstakingly slow and can be improved by technology.
Last weekend, a long weekend since Feb. 25 was a holiday, Baguio reportedly registered the most numbers of tourist arrivals to the city since the start of the pandemic two years ago. The estimate is 25,000 visitors for the period Feb. 25-27. The city is reportedly looking into capping the daily tourist arrivals at 20,000.
The logic behind this is that while the city coped with 25,000, it can better manage human and vehicular traffic with a daily cap of 20,000. Moreover, with Baguio now under Alert Level 1, the tourist population is expected to increase, and possibly the number of COVID-19 cases as well. A cap of 20,000 arrivals daily is seen as a way to allow the city to better manage the situation.
According to the city’s Public Information Office, establishments can still impose requirements on customers such as the presentation of vaccination cards; tourists will still be required to register online prior to travel; entry protocols will be maintained; and triage guidelines will be modified to avoid long queues at checkpoints and at triage areas.
Decades ago, in the 1950s, I was told that tourists and visitors to Baguio City were actually required to register with the local police upon arrival, and then to “check out” with authorities as they left. Somehow, this requirement eventually disappeared. It is only now, with the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020, that tourist registration was again required.
The idea of tourist “registration,” or, in a way, allowing authorities to track and trace one’s whereabouts, will not sit well with civil libertarians. Such a process can be interpreted as a form of restraint on freedom of movement. In my opinion, however, it should be seen as nothing more than the requirement of a tourist visa and going through immigration and customs when traveling abroad.
There are valid and practical reasons for requiring registration, whether prior to or upon arrival in an area. In my younger days, when we used to climb with the UP Mountaineers, some localities asked climbers to list or register with local authorities prior to ascent. This is to give locals the heads up that (1.) there are visitors/non-residents climbing in the area; (2.) that these people are not “taong labas” or criminals or insurgents hiding in the mountains; and, (3.) in case of accidents or climbers getting lost, locals would have a manifest of sorts of people who may be missing.
As for places like Baguio requiring prior registration online, or possibly on-site registration upon arrival, I still see merit in this. Data generated from the process can assist in determining strategy, planning, and providing for infrastructure required to meet city objectives. In short, the process can pave the way for sustainable development and tourism.
For instance, new city permits or approvals for the construction or operation of additional tourist lodgings and facilities, or for the operation of additional tourist transportation, can be decided on using scientific data generated from the process. In the same manner, the cap on daily tourist arrivals can be determined based on the city’s “carrying capacity,” balanced with the economic objectives of the city as well as tourism-related businesses.
In a way, putting a daily cap on arrivals will also help manage seasonality, and thus possibly pave the way for greater consistency in arrivals throughout the year. People can be directed towards securing arrival quotas instead during the off-season, also perhaps through the use of incentives such as lodging discounts or by initiating activities and festivities for the “dead” period.
Tourism-related businesses and merchants can thus be better assured of stable income throughout the year rather than just during the holidays, and, at the same time, the city is also given some relief from the burdens and pressures of dealing with “peak seasons” for resource use, traffic management, and garbage generation.
The current process of online registrations being matched against confirmed lodging reservations in legitimate facilities also helps weed out illegal and under-the-radar accommodations that are unregulated and are beyond the tax net. This can help protect tourists from unscrupulous or illegitimate “inn-keepers” that evade taxes.
Power, water, roads, and telecommunication projects, including construction schedules and budgets, can all be planned and programmed also according to data generated from registration, actual arrival, length of stay, and favored areas, lodgings, and facilities. Even the private sector will be helped by the data in this regard, and can then plan investments and expansion accordingly.
More important, the city can better manage future “developments” and improve regulation of land use and the utilization of resources. The aim, ultimately, is to ensure that tourism actually improves rather than further ruins Baguio City, and that tourism-related earnings are partly channeled if not partly earmarked for expenditure that will ensure sustainable and ecologically viable development.
An issue in many popular tourist destinations here and abroad is that the pursuit of profits — either from business revenues or from government fees and taxes — have resulted in overdevelopment, environmental damage, and even crime, among others, and usually to the detriment of residents. Businesses make money from tourists at the expense of better living conditions for the local community.
Usual problems involve congestion and high population density, increased vehicular traffic, and shortages in power, water, and telecommunication facilities. Consumption goes beyond what the local community can provide, resulting in shortages, and high demand pushes up prices of consumer goods, services, and real estate. Increased pollution and garbage can result in deterioration in living conditions. Residents are eased out in favor of moneyed tourists and migrants.
I have seen this happen in Baguio City, with what appears to be overdevelopment in the last 20 years, as well as in Tagaytay City, where our family has maintained a residence since the early 1990s. Development has been good for both cities, but has also had its downsides in the last two decades. Infrastructure, utilities, and public services were the first to suffer, then the environment as well as the community.
Improving the tourism development process starts with the timely capture of relevant and applicable data on tourist arrivals and length of stay, among others. International tourism is benefitted by data from the immigration process in this regard. Local tourism can perhaps adopt a similar process through a local registration system, even after the pandemic ends, not to restrict or regulate the flow of people just for public health reasons, but also to capture the data relevant to ensuring sustainable development
Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippine Press Council
Our hearts and those of others who defend the democratic and peaceful way of life bleed for Ukraine and the courageous Ukrainians repelling the Russian invaders who are surrounding, as this column is being put together, the capital city of Kyiv.
As Filipinos celebrated the second day of the 36th anniversary of the EDSA People Power uprising, a truly brutal and savage dictator bullied his way into a sovereign nation which had made a decision many years ago “not to be part of Russia or any other country.”
Ukraine helped establish the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) in 1922 but declared its independence in August 1991 as countries all over the world freed themselves from dictators, starting with the EDSA People Power uprising in 1986.
On the third day of the invasion, preceded by what Putin calls the mobilization of “peacekeepers,” the Russians are meeting unexpected fierce resistance from Ukraine. Ukraine is determined to mobilize all human resources to defend itself and has banned the departure of males aged 18 to 60 years old, to provide resistance to the 200,000 strong troops fielded by Putin. The Russian strongman believes that this number of troops is sufficient to control a population of 40 million and a country with a land area two and a half to three times that of the Philippines. And this kind of equation has emboldened veteran military tacticians and strategists to say that this spells trouble for Russia whose “logistics system or lack of it” makes it difficult for it troops to succeed in Ukraine. They add, “Putin miscalculated this and thought that this invasion would be a walk in the park.”
This early therefore, these strategists are predicting a prolonged guerrilla struggle against Russian troops right in the modern city of Kyiv which has a population of three million. The Russians are coming into Kyiv from different points. The Ukrainian government, on the other hand, has urged civilians to fight and plans to distribute weapons and ammunition worth $50 million reportedly to arrive soon from the United States.
US military analysts say that Ukrainians are “doing an excellent job” with an extremely strong military and the political leadership of 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian who won the presidency by a landslide. Zelensky has appeared on television to assure Ukrainians that he intends to stay in Kyiv and fight it out with the rest of the Ukrainians. Putin has specifically targeted Zelensky, members of his family and officials, businessmen and civil society groups which brought Ukraine closer to the West. Zelensky and Ukraine have now become the latest symbol of freedom fighters, like Corazon Aquino and the Filipinos were during the EDSA People Power uprising. Zelensky has so far declined offers from the US government to evacuate him from Kyiv, even as thousands of Ukrainian women and children desperately flee the country.
Zelensky was known to have begged then-President Donald Trump to release the $400 million in aid that the US Congress approved for Ukraine precisely to prevent the possibility of a Russian incursion which is what is now taking place. Trump was going to order the release of the $400 million only if Zelensky agreed to investigate Joe Biden’s family for alleged corruption. In short, as Mike Smerconish declared, “Trump was willing to throw Ukraine to the wolves,” in this case, to his close buddy Putin who was generous in helping Trump in his presidential run in 2016. Putin, in many moments of megalomania and insatiable greed for power, has always wanted to restore the old USSR as it was prior to its break up in 1991. He has never considered Ukraine a separate country.
The reaction of the world has been to condemn Putin in the strongest possible terms. A CNN “woman on the street” interview drew the following response from a woman who appeared calm and composed despite the imminent danger to Kyiv: “I just hope that somebody in the world would eliminate Putin.”
But in a most horrible display of extreme partisanship, Trump and sectors of the extreme right of the Republican Party, like Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (who is an ex-West-Pointer, former congressman from Kansas, and former CIA Director), expressed support for Putin, Russia, and attacked both Biden and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is worth noting that Putin was director of Russia’s spy network and counterpart of the CIA, the KGB.
As this conflict drags on and images of refugees, corpses of women and children, and widespread destruction all in the name of the defense of democracy are shown on American prime time television and online platforms, Trumps’s and the Republican Party’s 2024 fortunes could very well be endangered. And they only have Trump and his soulmate Putin, together with Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, defender of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, to blame.
NATO, once derided as “No Action, Talk Only” and ridiculed by Trump as “antiquated,” has come together and could even become stronger as Finland and Sweden are reportedly expected to join the alliance as the conflict plays out over the long haul. The main commitment of NATO is “if you attack one (member), you attack all” or a whole system of mutual defense treaties which is what Putin had feared would strengthen Ukraine if it joined NATO.
Trump had mocked NATO purportedly to protect US interest — the US was taking a disproportionate part of the defense burden — but in reality, he disliked NATO and its leaders, notably Germany’s Angela Merkel, because of the leaders’ good working relationships with Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama who Trump intensely disliked.
In the meantime, there is widespread talk of Russia engaging in a massive cyberattack against the US and its NATO allies that will affect business and critical infrastructure. On the other hand, there is speculation that the US response could be conventional warfare if lives are lost because of these cyber-attacks.
Western economic sanctions against Russia are being carried out even as former Russian president and prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin puppet, branded the sanctions as a “myth.” Russia will soon be isolated from the international financial system which will hurt Putin’s reported financial interests.
The rest of the world is in solidarity with Ukraine as anti-Russia, anti-war protests broke out in New York, London, Spain, Brazil and other countries. But, perhaps one development that bears close watching are the anti-war protests in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major cities in Russia, which has so far resulted in the arrest of about 2,700 protesters.
All these fast-paced developments spell quite a bit of trouble for Putin, who failed to improve the advanced economy and quality of life in Russia despite 20 years at the helm and after an initial economic boom in his first year in office, mainly attributed to high natural gas and oil prices.
As civilians desperately flee Ukraine, the Ukrainians remain defiant. It will be a battle between Russian soldiers fighting without purpose except out of fear for the dictator Putin while Ukrainians are fighting for love of country and freedom. One Ukrainian woman’s defiant declaration in another CNN interview says it all, “Putin is a psychopath.” She’s probably right. All dictators are psychopaths, insecure and greedy.
Philip Ella Juico’s areas of interest include the protection and promotion of democracy, free markets, sustainable development, social responsibility and sports as a tool for social development. He obtained his doctorate in business at De La Salle University. Dr. Juico served as secretary of Agrarian Reform during the Corazon C. Aquino administration.
THE frontrunner in the surveys has already declared through his spokesperson that he will not participate in any debate. His reason? He has nothing to gain and everything to lose in a confrontational format. His survey ranking speaks for itself. Unity is what he espouses. And the enemy is not the field of rivals but poverty and joblessness. Okay.
This does not exempt his followers (at least those who openly come out for their choice without any embarrassment) from getting into squabbles with others on their different paths. The people downstairs are familiar with the talking points of their leader without having to contend with hostile moderators and TV cameras catching their facial spasms as they go through their arguments.
The opinions expressed are all too familiar: the nation will rise again and recapture the golden age of military rule, torture, and the suppression of the opposition; the sins of the father cannot be visited on the son, even if he gets to keep the wealth daddy left behind; it’s time to sing the old songs of the new society — they do have a certain martial beat that recalls marching boots; and ending divisiveness in society and introducing forgiveness and healing as evangelical rules to emulate. Can’t we forgive the sinner even if he is unrepentant?
While the leaders upstairs have their own prescribed formats for discussion and argument, their followers go about their discourse without any rules or publicity. How can we distinguish conversations from debates?
Conversations take place with people with common beliefs. They exchange posts and wear the same-colored shirts and face masks. But in a wider social setting, there are bound to be differences in opinion.
The topic of candidates in a political year is grist for conflict among the followers. Social discourse can be a dance with uncoordinated steps, moving without music. One is either right or wrong, for or against.
Carrying on a conversation with a debater can lead to emotional distress, even a headache. Talks about trolls warping surveys and the size of crowds in another proclamation rally will find no common ground for agreement. Facts can be twisted, and photographs faked to show crowds where there were none.
True believers are not swayed by arguments. They just raise their voices higher to make their point.
In an unsupervised social debate, each topic is challenged with a contrary point of view. There is no turn-taking. People just talk over one another, and the loudest voice prevails. There are no time limits and commercial breaks.
It is not enough to give up and simply stop the debate — okay, anyway I don’t care about who’s right or wrong. Let’s just stop talking. Let’s just wait until the counting is over, and there is no cheating again. We think the contest is over anyway and your candidate will not be attending the inauguration.
Conversation and debate use different kinds of thinking. Daniel Kahneman in his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, describes fast thinking as “system one” which is basically intuitive and requiring no analysis, like understanding which food tastes better without analyzing why. Reading a map or figuring out what stocks to buy based on financial ratios is “system two” thinking, rational, logical, and requiring methodical analysis. Thus, conversation, which is intuitive and easy-going, clashes with debating, which thinks up of arguments and logical thrusts.
Without the rules prescribed by formal debates, conversations can easily lead to conflict and an abandonment of civility. Even families can have their political differences.
Public debates among candidates upstairs may get a higher viewership than social discussions downstairs. Will the refusal to be interviewed, except by friendly quarters, affect the chances of a particularly shy candidate landing the CEO position he is aiming for? This strategy of being unavailable for questioning for a job opening seems ridiculous in the corporate setting, as is the possibility of one rejected for the COO position previously now angling for an even higher position this time around.
Debates can be exhausting. Sometimes it’s just time to sleep. Can we then hear in our heads some ominous news in foreign media on happenings in Asia? “On the 50th anniversary of martial law, the Philippines has just declared the winner of its recent election by the name of…” And then we wake up in a cold sweat.
Is it too late?
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda
Curricula and engineering licensure examinations should be updated to reflect the demand for digital skills, according to panelists at an innovation summit.
“These nascent technologies — cognitive technology, blockchain, and virtual reality — are going into industry, and these redound to job skills that will be needed in the future,” said Jonathan W. L. Salvacion, Mapúa University’s director of the directive research for innovation and value enhancement office.
At the Digital Pilipinas’ Nascent Technology Summit on Feb. 24, Mr. Salvacion pointed out that licensure examinations in engineering are outdated. “The exams look for textbook knowledge, but in the future, what is needed are the skills to identify, articulate, and solve real-world problems,” he said.
Being able to code — “the new literacy” — will be as important as being able to read in Industry 4.0, according to Joel T. Bautista, knowledge and innovation division chief of Philippine Science High School (PSHS).
To give its students a leg-up in a world powered by the Internet of Things and smart,autonomous systems, PSHS invested in learning management systems, analytics, and its teachers.
“We have to onboard and empower them, and give them the [proper] skillset,” he said.
Meanwhile, Todd Schweitzer, co-founder and chief executive officer of Brankas, a financial management and payments platform, said that working in non-technology roles such as finance or human resources is not an excuse to be ignorant of modern technology.
Job applicants should demonstrate an awareness, appreciation, and interest in understanding “the big picture components” of what makes a technology company, he added.
“Even if they’re not writing the code, working in a modern tech company increasingly requires a baseline of knowledge,” said Mr. Schweitzer. “Things like the cloud and its benefits to business, as well as its risks.” — Patricia B. Mirasol
WASHINGTON/KYIV — US President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin that the Russian leader “has no idea what’s coming,” as Western nations tightened an economic noose around Russia, whose invading forces bombarded Ukrainian cities and appeared poised for an advance on Kyiv.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled the fighting since Mr. Putin ordered a full-scale invasion nearly a week ago, with a miles-long Russian military convoy north of Kyiv readying to advance on the capital.
Yet, Russia has failed to capture a Ukrainian single major city and Western analysts say Moscow appears to have fallen back on tactics which call for devastating shelling of built-up areas before entering them.
“While he may make gains on the battlefield — he will pay a continuing high price over the long run,” Mr. Biden said in his State of the Union address. Straying from the prepared text, Mr. Biden added “He has no idea what’s coming.” He did not elaborate.
US lawmakers stood, applauded and roared, many of them waving Ukrainian flags and wearing the country’s blue and yellow colors, as Mr. Biden delivered his address to the chamber of the House of Representatives.
A senior US defense official said on Tuesday the invading force’s advance on Kyiv has stalled due to logistics problems, including shortages of food and fuel, and some units appeared to have low morale.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters that it was unclear whether the convoy itself had stalled, but it was not making much progress.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Russia to stop bombarding civilians and resume talks.
“It’s necessary to at least stop bombing people, just stop the bombing and then sit down at the negotiating table,” he told Reuters and CNN in a joint interview in a heavily guarded government compound in Kyiv.
The United Nations General Assembly is set to reprimand Russia on Wednesday for invading Ukraine and demand that Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military forces, a move that aims to diplomatically isolate Russia at the world body.
By Tuesday evening nearly half the 193-member General Assembly had signed on as co-sponsors of a draft resolution ahead of a vote on Wednesday, diplomats said. The text “deplores” Russia’s “aggression against Ukraine.”
Mr. Putin ordered the “special military operation” last Thursday in a bid to disarm Ukraine, capture the “neo-Nazis” he says are running the country and crush its hopes of closer ties to the West.
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
Russia’s assault included strikes on Kyiv, though the heaviest bombardment so far appeared to be around Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, near the border with Russia.
Dozens of residents there, including children, were killed when a Russian strategic bomber fired 16 guided missiles toward a residential area on Monday, Ukraine’s defense ministry said.
West of Kyiv, in the city of Zhytomyr, four people, including a child, were killed on Tuesday by a Russian cruise missile, a Ukrainian official said.
In Ukraine’s largely Russian-speaking city of Donetsk, in territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists, authorities said three civilians had been killed by Ukrainian shelling.
Reuters was not able to confirm any of the reports of casualties. The United Nations says at least 136 civilians have been killed in the invasion, but that the real number of people is likely much higher.
Vastly outmatched by Russia’s military, in terms of raw numbers and firepower, Ukraine’s own air force is still flying and its air defenses are still deemed to be viable — a fact that is baffling military experts.
“The airspace is actively contested every day,” a senior US defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
‘FREEZE AND SEIZE’
Mr. Biden announced a further ratcheting up of sanctions on Moscow, joining the European Union and Canada in banning Russian planes from US airspace. He also said the Justice Department would seek to seize the yachts, luxury apartments and private jets of wealthy Russians with ties to Mr. Putin.
Following a call with Group of Seven officials, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States had agreed with G7 partners to convene a task force “to freeze and seize the assets of key Russian elites”.
Ukraine, a Western-leaning democratic country of 44 million people which is not a member of NATO, has called on the US-led military alliance to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine — a request rejected by Washington, which fears stoking a direct conflict between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.
Washington and its allies have instead sent weapons to Kyiv.
Several dozen Japanese men have answered a Ukrainian call for foreign volunteers to fight Russia’s invasion, according to a media report on Wednesday.
Isolating Russia diplomatically, the West’s main strategy is shutting off Russia’s economy from the global financial system, pushing international companies to halt sales, cut ties, and dump tens of billions of dollars’ worth of investments.
Exxon Mobil joined other major Western energy companies including British BP PLC and Shell in announcing it would quit oil-rich Russia over the invasion.
Apple, Inc. stopped sales of iPhones and other products in Russia, and was making changes to its Maps app to protect civilians in Ukraine. Alphabet, Inc.’s Google dropped Russian state publishers from its news, and Ford Motor suspended operations in the country.
US airplane manufacturer Boeing said it was suspending parts, maintenance and technical support for Russian airlines.
Russia on Tuesday placed temporary restrictions on foreigners seeking to exit Russia assets, meaning that billions of dollars’ worth of securities held by foreigners are at risk of being trapped. — Reuters
A PLUNGING ruble, flight cancellations and money-transfer difficulties are prompting Russian and European tourists to cancel trips to Thailand, a blow to the Asian nation’s tourism-revival efforts.
The exclusion of many Russian banks from the SWIFT payments network has resulted in tour operators running into problems when making transfers, according to Charintip Tiyaphorn, co-owner of Pimalai Resort & Spa in Phuket. Some flights have been canceled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and many European airlines are re-routing to get to Southeast Asia, she said.
Russians were the largest group of travelers to Thailand in January and top applicants for new visas under a quarantine-free entry program relaunched last month. About 1.5 million Russians visited in pre-pandemic 2019 and spent $3.3 billion, the third-highest source of tourism revenue for the country, according to official data.
Particularly in seaside destinations such as Phuket and Pattaya, it’s common for restaurants, spas and even property developments to have signs in Cyrillic characters in an effort to make Russians welcome in a country that before Covid-19 generated about a fifth of its gross domestic product from tourism.
RUSSIAN TOURISTS
But war and sanctions have once again disrupted Thailand’s efforts to jump-start the vital sector.
“We received emails from agents and sales representatives in Russia that they may not be able to transfer money to Thailand due to sanctions, so this will have some future impacts too,” Charintip said. “We are more worried about flights from Europe to Thailand that may have to re-route, and this would make it more difficult and costly for European travelers to travel to Thailand.”
While the Thai government still expects Russian tourists to turn up, it’s concerned that a weakening ruble may limit their spending, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Monday.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy has been experimenting with several revival plans for the sector, which in 2019 attracted 40 million foreign visitors and generated more than $60 billion. The latest measures were the scrapping of what had been a required second RT-PCR test for travelers and the lowering of a minimum health-insurance requirement on Tuesday.
Thailand may lose tourism revenue equal to 0.2% of its gross domestic product in the worst-case scenario of no Russian tourists for the rest of the year, according to Krungsri Research, a unit of Bank of Ayudhya Pcl.
Chamnan Srisawat, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, said the Russian-Ukraine conflict was unlikely to impact tourist inflows in the long run as most travelers are wealthy and unaffected by the weakening of the ruble. The pandemic and travel restrictions will continue to be the key hurdles for the industry, he said.
Thailand, which is battling an Omicron-fueled COVID wave, currently requires vaccinated visitors to pre-book a hotel and an RT-PCR test before applying for a visa. The paperwork is “cumbersome” and should be less conservative, Bill Heinecke, founder and chairman of Minor International Pcl, said last month. Minor is one of the country’s largest hotel and restaurant operators.
“The main obstacles for Thai tourism this year are COVID and the government’s current policy on how to attract travelers,” Mr. Chamnan said. “The government should remove remaining restrictions to welcome more people since tourism is the only thing that can lead to a real economic recovery.” — Bloomberg
BRUSSELS — With this week’s U.N. climate science report laying bare the staggering economic costs and losses already faced from climate change, an inevitable question arises: who should pay?
Within U.N. climate negotiations, “loss and damage” refers to the cost countries are incurring from climate-related impacts and disasters — costs that disproportionately hit the world’s poor and vulnerable who did least to cause global warming.
Drawing on more than 34,000 references from the latest scientific papers, the report released on Monday by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed that economic sectors from agriculture and fishing to tourism were already being damaged.
Extreme heat has fueled crop losses. Rising seas have turbo-charged cyclones that have razed homes and infrastructure, slashing economic growth.
And as the bills mount up, poorer countries are left with even less to spend on heath, education and infrastructure — compounding suffering.
“It’s an unending situation,” said Anjal Prakash, a lead IPCC author and research director at the Indian School of Business.
The report is likely to intensify a years-long political fight over funding to pay for climate-linked losses, ahead of the next U.N. climate summit, COP27, in Eygpt in November.
Vulnerable countries for years have sought funding to help them shoulder these costs. So far, it hasn’t arrived, and rich nations have resisted steps that could legally assign liability or lead to compensation.
The mention of “loss and damage” in the 2015 Paris Agreement came with the caveat that it “does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation”.
Last November at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, poor countries called for a special “loss and damage” fund to be established, but the United States and other rich nations resisted. The delegates agreed to set up a U.N. body to help countries address loss and damage, and to continue discussions about making “arrangements” for funding.
But there is no clarity on where the money would come from.
“We can’t just create more talk shops when people are dying,” said Harjeet Singh, senior adviser at Climate Action Network. He said COP27 needed to establish the funding facility that developing countries, including China, had called for at COP26.
Mr. Singh and other campaigners said the IPCC report — which has been approved by nearly 200 governments — could intensify pressure on the world’s most powerful nations.
“It will help us to say that science is clear, the impacts are clearer now. So you are accountable for this, and you have to pay for this,” said Nushrat Chowdhury, a policy advisor at NGO Christian Aid.
ACCOUNTING FOR COSTS
The report’s discussion of climate losses is bolstered by recent improvements in “attribution science,” which allows scientists to confirm when climate change caused or worsened a specific extreme weather event.
Still, putting a number on the resulting losses remains contentious. For example, can climate-linked losses from a weather event be separated from losses caused by poor disaster planning? Can costs be counted for losses outside our economic systems, such as when nature is degraded or a community burial site is destroyed?
“We are still debating that in the scientific community,” said another IPCC lead author Emily Boyd, a professor at Sweden’s Lund University.
As climate disaster costs mount and U.N. negotiations remain stuck, some are considering other options.
“Liability and compensation have other avenues to be taken forward, which are courts,” said Saleemul Huq, an adviser to the Climate Vulnerable Forum group of 55 countries.
Sophie Marjanac, lawyer at environmental law firm ClientEarth, said the IPCC report “will generally support litigation” to address climate change.
The legal avenue faces other obstacles, however.
Last year a federal appeals court rejected New York City’s attempt to use state law to hold five oil companies liable to help compensate harm caused by global warming. The court said the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should instead be addressed under federal law and international treaties.
“Challenges in climate change litigation are related to the law, not to do with the science,” Ms. Marjanac said. “The science has been clear, very clear for years.” — Reuters
