Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 5627

What the Modi Twitter breach tells us about hackers

RAWPIXEL.COM-FREEPIK

LAST WEEKEND some smart alecks managed to breach the defenses of one of the most ubiquitous media platforms, access the mouthpiece of the leader of one of the world’s most populous countries, and grab the opportunity to broadcast whatever they wanted to 73 million followers. And they used it to pump cryptocurrency.

It’s almost laughable that yet another Twitter, Inc. hack — this time on the account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — should once again become the vehicle for spruiking Bitcoin. “India has officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender,” the tweet sent by hackers from his account read. “The government has officially bought 500 BTC and is distributing them to all residents of the country.”

As implausible as that message sounds, the entire incident — from exploit to outcome — tells us a lot about hacking culture and the variety of actors out there trying to break into computer systems.

What’s immediately obvious about this specific event is that the perpetrators were more mischievous than malicious. Pitching Bitcoin has become the Rick Roll of the hacking community — a funny prank rather than a nasty attack.

It’s not the first time.

In July 2020 more than 100 famous accounts were breached including those of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Kanye West, and Apple, Inc. Once they got access, the attackers went on to promote a Bitcoin scam to millions of these victims’ followers.

The details of that incident are dripping with delicious irony. First up, the hackers’ use of Bitcoin was in fact their undoing — US law enforcement officers tracked down the cryptocurrency accounts and found that they’d used their driver’s licenses for authentication. And, the breach was conducted through old-fashioned social engineering — tricking Twitter staff into giving login credentials, which allowed access to the target accounts.

Finally, true to hacker form, two of them were teenagers, one of whom was underage. Youngsters pulling off epic hacks is a time-honored tradition. Kevin Mitnick, the most infamous of them all, was just 16 when he broke into Digital Equipment Corp.’s systems in 1979 and stole software. Jonathan James, purportedly the first juvenile imprisoned for cybercrime, was 15 when he got going and added the Department of Defense to his list of victims.

Yet since Mitnick and James rose to fame decades ago, the goal of network penetration has gone from scamming cheap long-distance calls to shutting pipelines and destroying centrifuges used in weapons production. And it’s likely that more hacks go unnoticed or unreported than those we hear about.

So even though this was a prank — a somewhat well-trodden one at that — there is a serious side to it. It should be of grave concern that one of the most powerful outlets in the world was once again breached, allowing unauthorized access to the media equivalent of the nuclear codes. Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla, Inc., has made cryptocurrency and equity markets swing by billions of dollars with a few choice words.

One can only image what might have happened if the Twitter account of the democratically elected leader of an increasingly authoritarian government decided to declare a second demonetization or an escalation of its conflicts with China or Pakistan. We should be thankful that the attackers chose Bitcoin as the subject of their tweets, not economic or military destruction.

The world might not be so lucky next time. A few hacks of Twitter have proven to the rest of the community that this is a target with vulnerabilities, and others — possibly with state backing or terrorist links — will think of better ways to abuse that weakness than promoting crypto scams. And clearly Twitter itself continues to drop the ball on the fundamental task of keeping its system robust as it balances usability with security.

May we laugh and appreciate the prankster nature of the best hackers around. But let’s keep in mind that breaching social media is all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Just a step ahead

STARLINE-FREEPIK

At the rate COVID mutations are outpacing medical advances intended to eliminate the virus, being always just a step ahead of the next surge may no longer be enough. Mutations can result in greater transmission, and greater resistance to present vaccines and medicines. COVID-19 is far from over, and the situation can still worsen. And the only things in the arsenal now are lockdowns, mandatory use of plastic face shields, and more restrictions on people’s movement.

The Philippine Star reported a week ago that Quezon City, the largest locality in Metro Manila in terms of land area and population, had been registering less than 30 new cases of COVID-19 per day, citing data from the OCTA Research Group. But OCTA also said, “The challenge now for Quezon City is to sustain the low number of COVID cases through better pandemic management using bio-surveillance, testing, contact tracing, localized lockdowns and the cooperation of residents.”

On Sept. 9, a little over three months ago, the Makati City government recorded a peak of 3,298 active cases in the city. This eventually dropped to a low of only 18 cases by Dec. 10. As of this writing, however, the report for Dec. 14 indicated 24 active cases, up six cases in four days. In absolute terms, six is a small number. But in terms of percentage, the case count was up 30% in four days. To me, this is a cause for concern.

At the national level, the case count continues to go down. Only 235 cases were reported on Dec. 14, the lowest count in nearly 19 months of the pandemic. The total number of active cases nationwide is more than 10,500. While this is relatively low, the worry is Omicron’s transmission rate. Some studies indicate one Omicron case can infect up to 10 people. Delta, which caused the last surge, can infect up to eight.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had warned that Omicron was spreading at an unprecedented rate and urged countries to act. Early data suggests Omicron can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant. The Philippine Star report quoted WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying that the strain had been reported in 77 countries and had “probably” spread to most nations undetected “at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant.”

In The Netherlands, primary schools will close earlier than previously scheduled given the surge in infections and hospital admissions. Britain, meanwhile, was reported to have confirmed what was thought to be the world’s first Omicron death. Countries have been urged to act swiftly to rein in transmission and to protect their health systems. Complacency is seen as the enemy.

If cases continue to trend up again, like in Makati City for instance, I am unsure what else the government is prepared to do other than the usual lockdowns, restrictions, and the mandatory use of plastic face shields while in public. The mandatory use of face masks is still in force to date, even while restrictions on people’s movement have been eased. How should we further improve our pandemic management?

Europe has reportedly recorded 62% of the world’s total COVID cases in the week, while the five countries with the world’s highest infection rates were all European. As a consequence, The Netherlands followed other European nations in reintroducing restrictions. France on Tuesday was reported to have registered 63,405 new coronavirus cases — its highest daily total since April — while scientists have predicted the true number already infected with Omicron in Britain could be as high as 200,000 a day.

In his column last week in the Philippine Star, economist Gerardo P. Sicat noted that “the Omicron variant presents a new obstacle in the complicated pathway toward the conquest of the pandemic.” He also noted that the present decline in the number of new cases in the Philippines was “not a guarantee that a reversal [would] not happen.”

“The worst impact of the pandemic might have taken already a heavy cost to the economy. Such costs can be tracked by noting the decline in the GDP, the extent of unemployment, and the growth in the size of the fiscal deficit… All these can be observed by the presence of widening poverty in our midst. The improvement of the overall picture in the struggle against the pandemic cannot hide the enormous challenge to efforts to get the economic recovery to move forward,” he said. “The focus on the future certainly calls for pushing the possibilities of economic recovery,” he added.

And this brings us back to OCTA’s point that the “challenge” now, in light of the Omicron-fueled surge abroad, is how “to sustain the low number of COVID cases [locally] through better pandemic management using bio-surveillance, testing, contact tracing, localized lockdowns and the cooperation of residents.” Moving forward, in fact, all temporary ad hoc interventions may have to be made permanent, to prepare against future pandemics.

In 2013, about eight years ago, the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago filed Senate Bill 1573 on national preparedness and response to public health emergencies. The bill never became law. Looking back, if it was legislated early on, then we may have been better prepared to deal with COVID-19. Maybe. Just the same, it is not too late to review that bill for consideration.

While interventions since 2020 have been made, all this are ad hoc or temporary. SB 1573 intended the drafting of a National Health Strategy for Public Health Emergencies, and the creation of permanent government units dedicated to such work, including a Task Force on Public Emergencies and a Medical Reserve Corps.

To an extent, maybe Miriam’s proposed model is already outdated, if not already in place under the present system governing the COVID-19 response. However, there is value in her idea of actually institutionalizing a national strategy for public health emergencies, including pandemics; creating and maintaining a reserve corps of medical professionals and health workers; and putting in place a permanent government unit for such concerns. More important, however, is to ensure that such a system will always be protected from corruption.

 

Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippine Press Council

matort@yahoo.com

Lies and humble demeanor packaged as truth

In her Nobel Lecture 2021, Maria Ressa asked, “What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?” Whether Ressa was conscious of it or not, or she intended to subtly send a spiritual message, the question reminded us of the ongoing search for truth. As Christians, our mandate is to bring the truth, as found in the Gospels, to everyone, not necessarily just through preaching — although that is a noble act — but through our daily actions and by walking our talk. Some people will call it being “self-righteous,” but in the end there are objective standards of behavior and codes on how to live with others. Living by those standards and making judgments about behavior is part of our humanity and exercise of freedom.

Evangelize, if you must, and in all or certain aspects of human endeavor, if that is where you are led. There is such a thing as political evangelization which is what Ressa is, from my standpoint, talking about.

And as Ressa continues highlighting the fight for the truth, she says we need facts to get to the truth, you need the truth to act with sincerity, and with sincerity we have a shared reality and we can work together for democracy.

The causal relationship that seems to have been formulated is that without truth, there can be no freedom and democracy. Those who are anti-democratic or tyrants or autocrats have always had problems handling the truth, as uttered by Jack Nicholson. Tom Cruise who plays military lawyer Lieutenant (junior grade) Daniel Kaffee, USN, JAG Corps in the 1992 movie, A Few Good Men, is defending two US Marines whom he and fellow lawyer, Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway, USN, JAG Corps (Demi Moore) suspect were ordered by their superior to kill a fellow Marine in Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. Ressa emphasizes that the perversion of truth and its execution is made possible by subordinates who are “simply following orders.” We are only too familiar with these acts of complicity by people who are willing enablers, who “follow instructions for fear of losing their jobs and benefits and perks.” In various organizations, and most especially in sports where one is constantly reminded to respect the rules of the game, respect the preparations made by your opponent for your encounter in the field of play, respect your organization’s own constitution and rights of others, and most of all, respect yourself and the truth. Too often, parties acting the “Oscar Awards or FAMAS Awards way,” as the humble victim, the abandoned, the neglected, is the ploy resorted to in order to sweep the dirt, like false reports, under the rug.

Ressa speaks of the police officer who came to the Rappler offices to arrest her. The arresting officer, rather apologetically, told Ressa, “trabaho lang po” (I’m just doing my job [by following instructions] and read the Miranda rights in a whisper.

This officer is one of many examples of enablers who “are just following instructions” as professional soldiers, policemen, subordinates, employees, followers, sycophants, etc. who prolong the tenure and reign of petty tyrants in all situations including sports and even in civic groups and country clubs. This group includes and is no different from the killers of thousands of drug campaign victims, human rights abuses, Ninoy Aquino, thousands of Martial Law victims, judges, hearing officers, and prosecutors in a flawed justice system that welcomes manipulation by the rich and the powerful. Short cuts in the procedural aspects of law are made and even suggested by the supposed independent arbitrators without any sense of guilt and impropriety. As Ressa said, we have this tool of power: how good men can become evil and can lead to the loss of a nation’s soul.

Simply put, we are asked: how far will you go to get to the truth, to fight for it, to defend it and to proclaim it in the face of communication platforms that thrive on distorting, defacing, and, most recently, revising the truth and history.

At the end of the day, to fight for the truth brings us closer to physical and spiritual cleansing. Conversely, manipulating and distorting the truth for one’s vicious agenda clogs our spirit, adds a heavy burden on our consciences, taxes our mind since remaining consistent with one’s trail of lies requires a rather sharp memory, skill in mental gymnastics, and good play acting which however brings us closer to the sewers.

In her well-applauded speech, Ressa said the sacred mission of the journalist is bring the truth and hold power to account. I would like to add what one journalist said was the function of media: “to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.” I would like to think, however, that bringing the truth is everyone’s mission, including those who purportedly stand for the highest standard of sportsmanship and trace their roots to the ancient Greek city of Olympia. To be a journalist presupposes one accepts the higher standards imposed on journalists and those in communication. She cites the examples of journalists all over the world who, because of their higher standards of truth, suffer for bringing the truth: Jimmy Lai, who continues to languish in a Hong Kong prison and journalists in Burma, India, and Sri Lanka, to name a few.

Ressa points out that certain professions are especially threatened in places that do not value the search for truth and the democratic space needed to arrive at that ideal point. She cites the number of lawyers and journalists who have been murdered over the last five years as the campaign on drugs intensified.

The insight one gets from Ressa’s speech and earlier statements is that social media has produced millions of self-styled commentators who spew lies and engage in science-based, micro-targeted vilification thus encouraging and promoting authoritarianism in the macro scale and in organizations. Certain platforms received special mention from Ressa: “The virus of lies inflect all of us to give rise to dictators (and petty tyrants).” You combine this with what Ressa calls “the absence of law and a democratic vision” and you’re headed right into the pathway of revisionism, autocracy, and dictatorship.

Yet, despite all this gloom and doom and the selfishness and the “me, my, I, and mine” attitude disguised as love of country and loyalty to the flag, Ressa sees hope ahead. She speaks of people who have “nothing, offering what they have” to help the search for truth. Such examples of compassion, prompted her to show off to the crowd a T-shirt with the following message: “Believe there is good in the world.” And that, I would guess, is the message of hope that everyone should propagate as part of political and spiritual evangelization: there is Hope.

Hope is expressed in Ressa’s statement that the more she was intimidated, the more resolute she became because she had evidence, the facts, and stood on solid ground. This resoluteness has infected other people who are also engaged in the difficult battle for truth as people with twisted values put more premium on and lap up “PR truth over the legal, factual and moral truth.” But all these will come to an end soon.

You can’t sustain the lies and false humility forever. To begin with, authentic humility means putting the interest of the larger community ahead of yours.

 

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.

There’s comfort in familiarity

FREEPIK

DISCOMFORT in a situation arises from novelty and a sense of being lost in a maze. The required skill sets demanded by a new challenge are not readily available. It’s not always as simple as figuring out how a new phone works.

Even a promotion, like being designated CEO, can seem like being thrown into stormy waters without a life vest. The new job seems so much harder than the old one, even if the boss is the same. The only difference is a better car and a bigger paycheck. Along with those are new problems brought about by subordinates who used to be equals.

What happened to the feeling of familiarity and comfort?

The phrase “comfort zone” is a scientific term that refers to an equilibrium state where the body neither sweats nor shivers, a temperature estimated to be between 28 to 30 degrees centigrade. This neither-hot-nor-cold state (also known as the Goldilocks situation, with the porridge) can be too comfortable.

In corporate life, the comfort zone is a combination of routine, sense of belonging (the coffee is brought in when you get to the office), confidence (you have access to the executive elevator), and an in-box or e-mail with no surprises. One is master of his fate. Discussions are comprehensible. Problems have precedents and been solved before. Phrases and statistics make sense without having to google anything. There are rules of thumb (or heuristics) one is familiar with. The targets are achievable, if not already surpassed a week before budget presentations. And the people around the table are not out to make one look incompetent.

Working from home has upended that routine — why don’t you get your own coffee?

But while affliction is not exactly desired, the state of not perspiring and not shivering is far from being a real goal. The ambitions of early life are simple. Still, eventually owning a car and a home free of mortgage in a gated community become just steps to ever higher goals.

Anything that jolts the equilibrium must be defended against. Leaving one’s comfort zone is seldom a self-initiated move to try something new. Thus, moving to a new job or early retirement, after a long and secure tenure in a comfortable position where one seemed to be doing well, is sure to bring up the blood pressure.

Equilibrium, and the comfort it provides, are often temporary. Even in nature, fledglings with newly acquired feathers need to be pushed out of their comfortable nest to try flying after just comfortably lying around and being fed worms in a warm spot of interlocking twigs. So, being pushed out of a comfort zone, even by those who do not consider your well-being can be a blessing in disguise. After a momentary sense of confusion, the new state (accompanied by a sense of falling) can lead to flight. Or, it can also end in a loud thud being the last sound heard before losing consciousness.

Boredom in the comfort zone takes different forms sometimes referred to as “mid-life crisis.” Usually, in one’s late 40s after realizing childish dreams or accepting that they need to be scaled down. It is in this mid-life period (more than halfway through life) that wild things happen — he seemed so successful and then he bought a food franchise and ran off with his chicken supplier.

In politics, there are no comfort zones.

The landscape keeps changing. Political parties are snatched from their former founders, and then left empty. Stand-ins are assigned for last-minute substitutions. Even the substitutes that take over can decide to quit before the game starts. And a whole patronage system is bereft of a leader (and patron). PR companies handling the substitutes or quitters need to look for new sources of revenue. What about the billboards that have already been paid for? They still go up singing the praises of somebody who has already left the party.

Is it still possible to achieve comfort in a time of upheaval?

It’s good to emulate the stoics who hold that we cannot manage what happens to us; we can only control how we react to it. The comfort zone should be within us. The sense of safety and familiarity can require managing our expectations and absorbing the fallout of a bad turn of events.

The comfort zone is still there. It’s just a smaller place.

 

Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com

US to add 8 China firms to investment blacklist

REUTERS

THE UNITED STATES will add eight Chinese companies, including the world’s largest commercial drone manufacturer DJI Technology Co Ltd., to an investment blacklist this week, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Wednesday.

The US Treasury will put the companies on its “Chinese military-industrial complex companies” blacklist on Thursday because of their alleged involvement in surveillance of the Uyghur Muslim minority, the FT report said, citing two people briefed on the move.

US investors are barred from taking stakes in companies on the list, which currently cites around 60 firms.

A DJI spokesperson declined to comment on the FT report, but directed Reuters to the company’s statement when it was added to the US Commerce Department’s “Entity List” a year ago for the same reasons. That listing prohibited the company from buying or using US technology or components.

At the time, DJI said it had done nothing to justify the move and it would continue to sell its products in the United States, where it has built up a large market.

The US Treasury did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The new additions would come just days after artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime Group was placed on the same Treasury list, leading the company to postpone its $767-million Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO). SenseTime said the accusations against it were unfounded.

U.N. experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in China’s far-west region of Xinjiang.

Some foreign lawmakers and parliaments have labeled the treatment of Uyghurs as genocide, citing evidence of forced sterilizations and deaths inside the camps. China denies these claims and says Uyghur population growth rates are above the national average.

The FT named the other companies being added to the list as image-recognition software firm Megvii, supercomputer manufacturer Dawning Information Industry, facial recognition specialist CloudWalk Technology, cyber security group Xiamen Meiya Pico, artificial intelligence company Yitu Technology and cloud computing firms Leon Technology and NetPosa Technologies. — Reuters

Paris taxi firm suspends use of Tesla Model 3 cars after fatal accident

PARIS — Leading Paris taxi company G7 has suspended the use of Tesla Model 3 cars in its fleet after a fatal accident involving one of the vehicles over the weekend.

G7 Deputy Chief Executive Yann Ricordel said an off-duty taxi driver was taking his family to a restaurant when the accident happened on Saturday evening.

The accident killed one person, two sources said on Tuesday. Twenty others were wounded, one of the persons close to the investigation said, adding that three were in serious condition.

According to French media reports, the car hit a cyclist and three pedestrians before crashing into a van, and seven people were seriously injured.

G7 said it would suspend the use of 37 Tesla Model 3 cars in its fleet until a police investigation into the case is completed.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Ricordel cited Tesla as saying on Monday that an initial inquiry had ruled out a technical dysfunction of the vehicle. The G7 executive said the driver had tried to brake but the car instead accelerated. It was unclear if the car was operating in Autopilot mode.

Jerome Coumet, mayor of Paris’ 13th arrondissement, said on Twitter, “The first elements of the investigation indicated that the accelerator would have gotten stuck.”

Mr. Ricordel said: “Today, we have two divergent views on the subject. We will maintain the suspension of the Tesla Model 3 while the investigation is ongoing, as a safety measure for our drivers, customers and other road users.”

Tesla collects detailed data from the sensors and cameras on its vehicles and has used such data in the past to challenge claims that accidents were caused by malfunctioning technology.

Mr. Ricordel said the Tesla Model 3 owners in its fleet would be fully compensated for lost earnings during the suspension and that the company was looking for alternatives so the drivers could resume driving for G7 as soon as possible.

He said that G7 was in contact with the government as it awaited the outcome of the police investigation.

G7 is one of Paris’ biggest taxi companies, with 9,000 affiliated drivers, who are independent operators who own their vehicles. Half of the G7 fleet are electric or hybrid vehicles and the company aims to have a 100% green fleet by 2027. — Reuters

Stephen Curry sets 3-pointer mark

STEPHEN CURRY shooting a three-pointer. — REUTERS

With more than six full seasons earlier than Ray Allen

STEPHEN Curry broke the National Basketball Association (NBA) record for most career 3-pointers on Tuesday night, when he finished with a team-high 22 points as the visiting Golden State Warriors beat the New York Knicks (105-96).

Curry entered the game needing just two 3-pointers to break Ray Allen’s mark of 2,973 3-pointers and wasted no time making history. He drained two of his first three attempts, including the record-breaker — a 27-footer with 7:33 left in the opening quarter.

Curry broke the record in his 789th regular season game — the equivalent of more than six full seasons faster than Allen, who played 1,300 regular season games.

The game was stopped for a few minutes as Curry exchanged hugs and handshakes with teammates, head coach Steve Kerr and Allen, who was seated courtside. Kerr presented Curry the milestone ball, which Curry immediately gave to his father, former NBA player Dell Curry. The father and son duo shared a warm embrace.

Curry finished the game five of 14 from beyond the arc as the Warriors won for the fourth time in five games to improve their NBA-best record to 23-5. Jordan Poole scored 19 points while Andrew Wiggins had 18 points and Nemanja Bjelica added 14 points off the bench. Draymond Green contributed eight points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots.

Julius Randle scored 31 points for the Knicks, who have lost four straight and seven of eight. Derrick Rose finished with 15 points, Alec Burks had 14 and Immanuel Quickley scored 12 off the bench.

Curry’s record-breaking 3-pointer highlighted an otherwise quiet first quarter that ended with the score tied 24-24. The Knicks never trailed in the second quarter and entered the locker room with a 48-47 lead.

The teams were knotted twice in the third quarter before a three-point play by Poole gave the Warriors a 54-51 lead — their first advantage since going ahead 12-10 on Curry’s historic 3-pointer. There were two more ties and one more lead change before Wiggins’ free throw with 3:49 left put Golden State ahead for good at 60-59.

That began a quarter-ending 12-5 run for the Warriors, who took their first double-digit lead at 74-64 when Bjelica opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer. The visitors’ lead grew to as many as 11 before the Knicks scored seven straight points to pull within 81-77. Damion Lee and Bjelica then hit layups on consecutive trips for Golden State, which led by as many as 12 down the stretch. — Reuters

Manchester City hammers Leeds Utd 7-0 for 7th win in row

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City crushed Leeds United (7-0) at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday to make it seven Premier League wins a row and move four points clear at the top of the table.

Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds was simply brushed aside by a City side who were at their very best after they took an eighth-minute lead through Phil Foden.

Foden slotted home, after Leeds keeper Illan Meslier had come out to stop an effort from Rodri, for the 500th Premier League goal scored by the club in 207 games under Pep Guardiola — the fastest any team has reached that landmark.

The Spaniard’s counterpart, Leeds’ Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa, could do nothing to halt a rampant City and his team’s wide-open approach certainly did little to help.

Five minutes later, the lead was doubled when Jack Grealish met an inswinging cross from Riyad Mahrez with a firm header which flashed past Leeds keeper Meslier.

Kevin De Bruyne made it 3-0, showing pace and a clinical finish, as he latched on to a fine through ball from the impressive Rodri.

It was game over at the break, but City showed no interest in easing off and Leeds was unable to cope with Guardiola’s side in peak form.

Shortly after the restart, Mahrez added the fourth, given far too much space on the corner of the box, to pick his spot and place the ball, with the aid of a heavy deflection, in the bottom corner.

Mahrez then set up Foden for a tap-in but Leeds was given a rare reprieve on a grim night for the Yorkshire club, when the effort was ruled out for offside.

De Bruyne, looking back to his very best, then delivered the most emphatic moment in the game, blasting in a spectacular, unstoppable drive from over 20 meters out.

It was hard to imagine how Leeds had managed to take four points off City last season as John Stones slotted home the sixth after a fine double save from Meslier and then substitute Nathan Ake headed in a Foden corner to make it 7-0.

The loss was 16th-placed Leeds’ joint biggest defeat since joining the Football League in 1920.

They lost 8-1 to Stoke in 1934, 7-0 to West Ham in 1966 and 7-0 to Arsenal in 1979.

“There is nothing positive to take away from our performance,” said Bielsa.

“I can’t find anything that can be valued. When there’s nothing that’s well done, it’s not individualities that fail, but the conduction and organization. There’s no justification I can offer.

“Everything that happened was what we wanted to avoid. As there’s nothing to take from it, it’s inevitable I have to take responsibility for a defeat of this type. We’ve never had a performance like the one today,” he said.

City has 41 points with Liverpool and Chelsea, who both play on Thursday, on 37 and 36 points respectively. — Reuters

COVID-19 uptick impacts major North American sports leagues

LOS ANGELES — A fresh wave of positive coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tests hit three major North American sports leagues this week, forcing the National Hockey League (NHL) to postpone games and throwing into question whether it will send players to the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

The NHL announced the postponement of the Carolina Hurricanes’ game on Tuesday after additional players from the team were forced to enter COVID-19 protocols.

At least nine NHL games will need to be rescheduled following outbreaks at the Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders.

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid on Tuesday told the CBC that he wanted to compete at the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Winter Olympics.

However, he described potentially having to quarantine for up to five weeks in China in the event of a positive test as “unsettling.”

“There hasn’t been a ton of information come out, and then there’s that three-to-five week (quarantine) thing… it’s kind of been floating around,” McDavid said.

“Just trying to gather all the facts and information.”

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league has until Jan. 10 to withdraw from the Beijing Games without financial penalty.

NBA, NFL PLAYERS ENTER PROTOCOLS
The National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Los Angeles Lakers canceled Tuesday’s practice after guard Talen Horton-Tucker tested positive and entered health and safety protocols, ESPN reported.

Horton-Tucker’s test result came a day after the NBA announced that two Chicago Bulls games had been postponed after 10 players and additional staff members were placed in protocols, which marked the first postponements the league has had to make this season.

Seven members of the Brooklyn Nets, including All-Star guard James Harden, had also entered into protocols, the team said.

The Nets had the NBA-minimum eight players available to start on Tuesday night’s contest against the Toronto Raptors.

The Milwaukee Bucks listed forward Giannis Antetokounmpo out for Wednesday’s game after he too was placed in COVID-19 protocols on Tuesday.

To clear protocols, a player must be out for 10 days or return two negative PCR tests less than 24 hours apart.

The National Football League’s (NFL) Los Angeles Rams placed wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. and eight other players on the league’s reserve COVID-19 list, the team said on Tuesday, which led to the closing of its practice facility.

Beckham scored a touchdown in the Rams’ 30-23 road win over the Arizona Cardinals on Monday in a game where the Rams scratched four players just before the contest due to protocols.

“Where we’re at right now is navigating through this COVID stuff,” Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters on Tuesday.

“We had to test guys. We’re in intensive protocols. We’re remote today. We will be remote tomorrow.

“This has definitely been the most uniquely challenging situation we’ve dealt with COVID over the last two years.”

The Cleveland Browns also added eight players to the COVID-19 list on Tuesday, including Pro Bowl wide receiver Jarvis Landry.

On Monday, the NFL sent around a memo requiring their staff members to receive a vaccine booster.

No NFL games have been postponed due to COVID-19 yet this season. — Reuters

Tampa Bay, Kansas City back atop Super Bowl title odds

THE Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs have experienced some turbulence through the first 14 weeks of the NFL season but are back where they were in September — atop the list of favorites to win the Super Bowl.

Tampa Bay has won four consecutive games to reach 10-3 — tied with the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals for the best mark in the National Football Conference (NFC). The Bucs are being offered at +425 by BetMGM to win the Super Bowl, slightly shorter than the +600 odds they had at the sportsbook through the first three weeks of the season.

Kansas City is riding a six-game winning streak, pulling even with the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans at 9-4 in the race for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The Chiefs, who were also being offered at +600 in mid-September, are now listed at +550 by BetMGM.

Kansas City has pulled ahead of Tampa Bay at MaximBet, where the Chiefs are +500 and the Bucs are +600.

“We took a lot of sharp action on the Chiefs when they were struggling at the start of the season and had odds as high as 13-1,” said Lenny Estrin, head of MaximBet trading. “The Chiefs are our largest liability at this point, and they’re absolutely humming with the defense showing signs of life, so they are at the top of our futures board, for now.”

Both the Packers and Patriots are at +700 at both sportsbooks, while the Cardinals are +900 at BetMGM and +750 at MaximBet. Arizona lost on Monday night to the Los Angeles Rams.

The Rams opened the season at +2000 at BetMGM but were +800 after reeling off three consecutive victories to open the season. They are now being offered at +1000 as they sit a game behind the Cardinals in the NFC West.

The NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys are being offered at +1200 after opening the season at +2500. Going in the opposite direction are the Buffalo Bills, who were +900 in mid-September but have now slid to +1600 after consecutive losses. — Reuters

FIFA holds meeting to address human rights concerns ahead of Qatar World Cup

FIFA held a virtual meeting on Tuesday with political institutions as well as rights organizations to discuss human rights in Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup, global soccer’s governing body said in a statement.

The meeting included International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino and head of the tournament’s organizing body Hassan Al Thawadi as well as members of the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and political representatives from parliaments across Europe.

There were also representatives from the EU Commission, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the United Nations and UNESCO among others.

FIFA said the dialogue gave an opportunity for stakeholders to raise questions and concerns on a number of key topics, including workers’ welfare and LGBTQIA rights.

“From day one, we have been committed to ensure a legacy is delivered before the tournament and that this legacy lasts beyond the tournament too, specifically on labor reform but on other topics as well,” Al Thawadi said.

The government of Qatar has said in the past its labor system is still a work in progress but has denied accusations in a report by Amnesty International that thousands of migrant workers were being exploited.

A 48-page report by Amnesty, Reality Check 2021, said that practices such as withholding salaries and charging workers to change jobs were still rife.

Human Rights Watch has said that Qatari laws continue to discriminate against women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals.

“Our main question here in Qatar remains on LGBTQIA rights and specifically on the law that criminalizes homosexuality,” said Piara Powar, executive director of the Fare network, an organization set up to counter discrimination in European football.

“We know that many LGBTQIA people are fearful of coming, of what awaits. Respect for local culture should not preclude reaching out to ensure the safety of LGBTQIA communities.” — Reuters

Tiger, Charlie Woods claim team event? You can bet on that

TIGER Woods has overcome lengthy odds to return to a competitive golf event just 10 months following a near-fatal car crash.

Odds being offered by one sportsbook say he and son Charlie are also heavy underdogs to best the other 19 teams in this week’s PNC Championship. The annual winter team event pairs a major champion with a family member.

Woods readily admits he is nowhere near close to being able to compete in a Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour event. But he will return to the course this week with Charlie, now 12, after teaming together for a seventh-place finish last year.

Team Woods is being offered at +1000 to win by SportsBetting.ag, which is tied for the sixth-shortest odds in the field. That’s still well behind the returning victorious team of Justin Thomas and his father Mike, who are heavy pre-tournament favorites at +180.

The next-shortest odds belong to Matt Kuchar and 14-year-old son Cameron (+650), who tied for fifth last year at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Grande Lakes in Orlando, FL.

Vijay Singh and son Qass finished one stroke behind Team Thomas last year but are returning as +1400 longshots by the sportsbook. — Reuters

1...5,6265,6275,628...12,787Page 5,627 of 12,787
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube