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Strike three for the US

AMBER CLAY-PIXABAY

Last week’s chaos at Afghanistan’s Kabul Airport was somewhat reminiscent of the scene in the former South Vietnamese capital of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) when US troops pulled out in 1975 as the guerrillas of the National Liberation Front (NLF), which the US had derisively labelled the “Vietcong,” took control of the city.

Thousands of Afghans and people of other nationalities including Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who fear that the Taliban’s regaining control of the country would endanger them, were cheek-by-jowl fighting for places in departing commercial flights as the US military began flying out its own personnel. The Taliban’s cancellation of commercial flights left thousands stranded, although some OFWs did manage to leave. But the crush continued, and claimed several lives.

That disturbing spectacle was not quite the same as that in Saigon, 1975. What much of the world saw through photographs and video then was the mad scramble at the US Embassy among US collaborators for seats in the helicopters that were leaving the premises. But what the images from Kabul and the former Saigon were conveying was the same: the US had lost another war of its own making.

The “loss” of China to the forces of Mao Zedong is arguably the first. Although the US supported the Kuomintang Party during the civil war in that country, the Communist Party of China nevertheless won nationwide power in 1949. But that probably does not count, because US involvement in that war was relatively limited.

With the communist victory in China, and alarmed over the possibility of revolutionary change in Asia in the post-World War II period, the US supported France in its attempt to recover its former colonies in “French Indochina,” which included Vietnam, where the nationalist-communist forces of Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh were waging a war of independence against their former colonizer after fighting the Japanese invaders during World War II.

Ho issued a declaration of Vietnamese independence patterned after that of the US, and was hoping for US support. But even without it, Vietminh General Vo Nguyen Giap succeeded in defeating the French forces in the decisive 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu. In the aftermath, to justify US intervention in Vietnam, then President Dwight Eisenhower concocted the “Domino Theory,” which argued that the “loss” of that country to the Vietminh would lead to the fall, like so many domino tiles, of the countries of Southeast Asia to communism.

With US prompting, Vietnam was divided into North and South, with the Vietminh in control of the independent North, while a French-influenced regime was initially installed in the South, where NLF forces nevertheless continued the fight for independence and reunification.

The “Domino Theory” has since proven to be as absurd as the US claim that wars of national liberation were all directed by the former Soviet Union. But in the next two decades until 1975, the US escalated its involvement in Vietnam by supporting a succession of compliant regimes there; deploying military “advisers” and, eventually, 549,000 of its own troops as combatants; and carpet bombing presumed guerrilla bases. But it nevertheless lost the war to the NLF — an enemy without an air force, a navy, tanks, and heavy artillery — at a cost of billions of dollars, over a million Vietnamese lives, and 50,000 of its own soldiers.

The Afghanistan debacle is a seeming reprise of what happened in Vietnam. The US war against the Taliban began in late September 2001 shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and on Department of Defense offices in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, presumably by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Because of its refusal to surrender Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whom the US believed was in Afghanistan, the Taliban-controlled government was overthrown by US and anti-Taliban forces such as the Northern Alliance by December 2001.

The US failed to capture Osama bin Laden, and its military forces and other personnel stayed in Afghanistan, setting up governments it approved of, training the Afghan armed forces and keeping at bay the Taliban, which remained in control of pockets of Afghan territory. Despite its success in killing Osama bin Laden in 2011 — in Pakistan and not in Afghanistan — during the Barack Obama presidency, the US nevertheless stayed on for another 10 years until August this year, when the Taliban rapidly regained control of the entire country as US military forces began to withdraw — and the Afghan army it had trained and the government it had supported melted away without a fight. In its attempt to “modernize” Afghanistan only to abandon it, the US has left the most vulnerable sectors of its population at the mercy of the Taliban.

Although the end of both led to a rush for thousands to flee, one of the differences between the Vietnam and Afghanistan wars is the nature of the winning forces.

The leaders of now independent Vietnam have reunited their country, and, despite the huge human and material costs of the 35-year war there, have managed to effect its transition into a rapidly developing society with a strong economy, and as an equal member of the international community.

The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban is, on the other hand, a regressive entity that has a long record of violence and repression against the population and a disdain for the rights of women to education, to engagement in the professions, and to equality. It will very likely launch a pogrom of suppression and annihilation against liberated women, artists, and journalists, former government workers, and intellectuals. The prospects for the future of Afghanistan are, to say the least, bleak.

The end of the Vietnam War also led to the exodus of evacuees and refugees to the US and other countries, but the number of Afghan refugees will probably exceed the number of those from Vietnam. Today, as in 1975, the US rightwing is once again sounding the alarm bells about the US’ being “invaded” by millions of non-white immigrants. They were from Vietnam then; they will be from Afghanistan now. The racist assumptions of that claim aside, if indeed that happens, the US will have only itself to blame for waging “wars of choice” rather than “wars of necessity.”

If we discount the “loss” of China, the US has lost three such wars since the 1970s: those it waged in Vietnam, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan. In every instance the consequences have led to the influx of refugees into the US. But those who lament that “invasion” ignore the fact that they have been disastrous for the populations of those countries: Iraq, which the US invaded in 2003, but withdrew from in 2011, is, for example, still in ruins and in chaos.

But so have the consequences of the wars of intervention the US has won been as catastrophic, such as those it waged in Latin America — and, dare we say, the Philippines? — in support of some of the most corrupt, most vicious, and most murderous despots in recent history who are violently resistant to the democratization and development that can lift millions out of the depths of poverty and despair into which an unjust order has flung them. US intervention during the last 100 years has done little to benefit the peoples of the world, but has instead made vast areas of the planet “… a darkling plain/Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight…” (Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach”).

 

Luis V. Teodoro is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro).

www.luisteodoro.com

Why it will soon be too late to find out where the COVID-19 virus originated

SARS-CoV-2 has caused the greatest pandemic of the past 100 years. Understanding its origins is crucial for knowing what happened in late 2019 and for preparing for the next pandemic virus.

These studies take time, planning, and cooperation. They must be driven by science — not politics or posturing. The investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 has already taken too long. It has been more than 20 months since the first cases were recognized in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

This week US President Joe Biden was briefed by United States intelligence agencies on their investigation into the origins of the virus responsible for COVID-19, according to media. Parts of the investigation’s report are expected to be publicly released within the next few days.

An early report from the New York Times suggests the investigation does not conclude whether the spread of the virus resulted from a lab leak, or if it emerged naturally in a spillover from animals to humans.

While a possible lab leak is a line of enquiry (should scientific evidence emerge), it mustn’t distract from where the current evidence tells us we should be directing most of our energy. The more time that passes, the less feasible it will become for experts to determine the biological origins of the virus.

I was one of the experts who visited Wuhan earlier this year as part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) investigation into SARS-CoV-2 origins. We found the evidence pointed to the pandemic starting as a result of zoonotic transmission of the virus, meaning a spillover from an animal to humans.

Our inquiry culminated in a report published in March which made a series of recommendations for further work. There is an urgent need to get on with designing studies to support these recommendations.

Today, myself and other independent authors of the WHO report have written to plead for this work to be accelerated. Crucial time is disappearing to work through the six priority areas, which include:

• further trace-back studies based on early disease reports

• SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody surveys in regions with early COVID-19 cases. This is important given a number of countries including Italy, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom have often reported inconclusive evidence of early COVID-19 detection

• trace-back and community surveys of the people involved with the wildlife farms that supplied animals to Wuhan markets

• risk-targeted surveys of possible animal hosts. This could be either the primary host (such as bats), or secondary hosts or amplifiers

• detailed risk-factor analyses of pockets of early cases, wherever these have occurred

• and follow up of any credible new leads.

The biological feasibility of some of these studies is time dependent. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies emerge a week or so after someone has become infected and recovered from the virus, or after being vaccinated.

But we know antibodies decrease over time — so samples collected now from people infected before or around December 2019 may be harder to examine accurately.

Using antibody studies to differentiate between vaccination, natural infection, or even second infection (especially if the initial infection occurred in 2019) in the general population is also problematic.

For example, after natural infection, a range of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies, such as to the spike protein or nucleoprotein, can be detected for varying lengths of time and in varying concentrations and ability to neutralize the virus.

But depending on the vaccine used, antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein may be all that is detected. These, too, drop with time.

There is also a need to have international consensus in the laboratory methods used to detect SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. Inconsistency in testing methods has led to arguments about data quality from many locations.

It takes time to come to agreement on laboratory techniques for serological and viral genomic studies, sample access and sharing (including addressing consent and privacy concerns). Securing funding also takes time — so time is not a resource we can waste.

Moreover, many wildlife farms in Wuhan have closed down following the initial outbreak, generally in an unverified manner. And finding human or animal evidence of early coronavirus spillover is increasingly difficult as animals and humans disperse.

Fortunately, some studies can be done now. This includes reviews of early case studies, and blood donor studies in Wuhan and other cities in China (and anywhere else where there was early detection of viral genomes).

It is important to examine the progress or results of such studies by local and international experts, yet the mechanisms for such scientific cross-examination have not yet been put in place.

New evidence has come forward since our March report. These papers and the WHO report data have been reviewed by scientists independent of the WHO group. They came to similar conclusions to the WHO report, identifying:

• the host reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 has not been found

• the key species in China (or elsewhere) may not have been tested

• and there is substantial scientific evidence supporting a zoonotic origin.

While the possibility of a laboratory accident can’t be entirely dismissed, it is highly unlikely, given the repeated human-animal contact that occurs routinely in the wildlife trade.

Still, the “lab leak” hypotheses continue to generate media interest over and above the available evidence. These more political discussions further slow the cooperation and agreement needed to progress with the WHO report’s phase two studies.

The WHO has called for a new committee to oversee future origins studies. This is laudable, but there is the risk of further delaying the necessary planning for the already outlined SARS-CoV-2 origins studies.

 

Dominic Dwyer is the Director of Public Health Pathology, NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney, University of Sydney.

Even the best climate forecasts are shaded by clouds

THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest report has confirmed much that we already knew: Human activities have caused an unprecedented warming of the Earth and, as a result, we’re seeing more frequent droughts and heat waves, extreme rainfall and record-breaking temperatures.

Still, many aspects of climate remain uncertain, and some are quite puzzling. An important one of these is climate sensitivity, defined as the rise in average global temperature that’s expected to result from a certain increase (often taken as a doubling) in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. In 1979, MIT meteorologist Jules Charney first estimated this to be in the range 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius. In the 42 years since, remarkably, scientists have learned very little more about this quantity, even as the computers they use to model climate and weather have grown a trillion times more powerful.

What’s especially odd is that this persistent uncertainty stems, at least in part, from something even non-scientists know very well: clouds.

Clouds are involved because of the basic reality that shifting the atmosphere to a slightly higher temperature evaporates water, producing more of them. More clouds, in turn, would be expected to either drive temperatures up further, or to lower them. But researchers aren’t sure which way things will go, because clouds can have different effects.

During daytime, they reflect light up toward the sky, reducing the amount of heat reaching the ground. More clouds reflect more light and heat. At night, on the other hand, clouds act like blankets, trapping heat that might otherwise escape the atmosphere and radiate away.

You might think that scientists could use computers to simulate the complexity and solve their riddle. But clouds, although big on the human scale — stretching to as much as a mile or more wide — are tiny compared with the whole atmosphere, too small for scientists to include in any sensible way in today’s computer climate models. The models work by breaking up the atmosphere into discrete parcels, generally well over 10 miles wide, and they either leave clouds out or only approximate their effects. The amount of cloud cover in a region might be estimated as proportional to the local humidity, for example.

Another problem with clouds is that they’re made of water, one of the most complex substances in the universe, able to change easily from solid to liquid to vapor, and often coexisting in one small region as all three. So, the number of possible pathways for further feedback is mind-boggling. Even the best climate models contain significant uncertainty about the state of clouds at any temperature — in particular, how much water they hold, and whether that water is liquid or frozen. And these uncertainties translate into errors in projections of climate sensitivity under temperature change.

One slightly perverse outcome of this situation is that efforts to improve some of the components in climate models — making clouds’ liquid-ice mixture more realistic, for example — have actually been found to make the overall models worse. This is because other components of the models, including calculations of how quickly clouds rain out their moisture, have made compensating errors. It will take improvements in both to get a better end result.

Hence, the road to perfection in climate models is winding, and full of obstacles. The latest IPCC report now estimates the climate sensitivity to be in the range 2.5 to 4.5 degrees C, shifting slightly toward the higher end of Charney’s original estimate. This suggests the planet is likely to be slightly more sensitive to continuing greenhouse-gas emissions than scientists had thought, which is not exactly a reassuring thought.

The climate forecast is ever so slightly more certain than before. But the picture remains cloudy — in part, because of clouds.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

The worldwide supply chains problem keeps getting worse

REUTERS

A SUPPLY chain crunch that was meant to be temporary now looks like it will last well into next year as the surging delta variant upends factory production in Asia and disrupts shipping, posing more shocks to the world economy.

Manufacturers reeling from shortages of key components and higher raw material and energy costs are being forced into bidding wars to get space on vessels, pushing freight rates to records and prompting some exporters to raise prices or simply cancel shipments altogether.

“We can’t get enough components, we can’t get containers, costs have been driven up tremendously,” said Christopher Tse, chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based Musical Electronics Ltd., which makes consumer products from Bluetooth speakers to Rubik’s Cubes.

Mr. Tse said the cost of magnets used in the puzzle toy have risen by about 50% since March, increasing the production cost by about 7%. “I don’t know if we can make money from Rubik’s Cubes because prices keep changing.”

China’s determination to stamp out Covid has meant even a small number of cases can cause major disruptions to trade. This month the government temporarily closed part of the world’s third-busiest container port at Ningbo for two weeks after a single dockworker was found to have the delta variant. Earlier this year, wharves in Shenzhen were idled after the discovery of a handful of coronavirus cases.

“Port congestion and a shortage of container shipping capacity may last into the fourth quarter or even mid-2022,” said Hsieh Huey-chuan, president of Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corp., the world’s seventh-biggest container liner, at an investor briefing on Aug. 20. “If the pandemic cannot be effectively contained, port congestion may become a new normal.”

The cost of sending a container from Asia to Europe is about 10 times higher than in May 2020, while the cost from Shanghai to Los Angeles has grown more than sixfold, according to the Drewry World Container Index. The global supply chain has become so fragile that a single, small accident “could easily have its effects compounded,” HSBC Holdings Plc. said in a note.

Higher freight rates and semiconductor prices could feed into inflation, said Chua Hak Bin, senior economist at Maybank Kim Eng Research Pte. in Singapore. In addition, producers including Taiwan’s Giant Manufacturing Co., the world’s biggest bicycle maker, say they will raise prices to reflect the increased costs.

In the US, forecasters have lowered growth projections for this year and lifted inflation expectations into 2022, according to Bloomberg’s latest monthly survey of economists. Compared to a year earlier, the personal consumption expenditures price index is now expected to rise 4% in the third quarter and 4.1% in the fourth, double the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal.

Hong Kong-based coffee-machine maker Eric Chan doesn’t see the crunch easing for months as he juggles a supply line that involves hundreds of components to meet booming demand for kitchen appliances.

DELTA VARIANT
The spread of the delta variant, especially in Southeast Asia, is making it difficult for many factories to operate at all. In Vietnam, the world’s second-largest producer of footwear and clothing, the government has ordered manufacturers to allow workers to sleep in their factories to try to keep exports moving.

Even mighty Toyota Motor Corp. is affected. The automaker warned this month it will suspend output at 14 plants across Japan and slash production by 40% due to supply disruptions including chip shortages.

On the other side of the planet, companies in the UK are grappling with record low levels of stock and retail selling prices are rising at the fastest pace since Nov. 2017.

Germany’s recovery is also under threat. A key measure of business confidence in Europe’s largest economy, released on Wednesday by the Munich-based Ifo institute fell by more than economists had predicted with the drop blamed in part on shortages for metals, plastic products and semiconductors, among other goods. It is hard to see supply chain bottlenecks being resolved any time soon, with some major exporters including Indonesia and Vietnam still struggling to contain the delta outbreak. It could continue to drag on the global recovery by slowing production and pushing up costs, although not derailing it.

At the heart of the price pressures is the transport bottleneck.

Big retailers tend to have long-term contracts with container lines, but Asian production relies on networks of tens of thousands of small and medium-sized producers who often arrange shipping through logistics firms and freight forwarders. They in turn have been struggling to secure space for clients as vessel owners sell to the highest bidders.

Some 60% to 70% of shipping deals on the Asia-America route are done through spot or short-term deals, according to Michael Wang, an analyst at President Capital Management Corp. He said auction-style pricing may continue until Chinese New Year in Feb. 2022.

Buyers agree. In Germany, more than half of the 3,000 firms polled by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce expected widespread supply-chain problems to persist into next year.

Colin Sung, general manager of Dongguan-based World-Beater International Logistics Co., said one client had more than 70 containers of goods sitting at a warehouse in Shenzhen because his American buyer didn’t want to pay the shipping cost. Mr. Sung said 60% to 70% of his clients have cut shipments due to rising costs.

ASIAN FACTORIES
For Asian factories outside China, the problem is even worse. Many Chinese companies are willing to pay above-market rates to load their cargo, said a spokesman at HMM Co., South Korea’s biggest container line. So when the ships call at ports outside China, they’re already almost full.

Chinese companies that spent decades shifting production of lower-value components to cheaper labor markets in South and Southeast Asia now face the headache of trying to get those parts to factories where they can be assembled into finished products.

As factories succumb to lock-downs, manufacturers are forced into a game of whac-a-mole, switching raw materials from one country to another. Some have resorted to air-freighting materials such as leather to factories to keep production lines rolling.

Meanwhile, Luen Thai’s Tan, who is also Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, is trying to figure out how he’ll fill festive display windows in time for Christmas.  — Bloomberg

PBA hails combined efforts of stakeholders in season return

PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said the expected resumption of the Philippine Cup next would not have been possible if not for the combined efforts of league stakeholders. — PBA IMAGES

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is expected to resume its temporarily halted All-Filipino tournament next week in Pampanga in what the league describes as a product of the combined efforts of stakeholders amid a challenging situation.

At a media forum on Thursday, PBA Commissioner Willie O. Marcial said that they are excited to resume activities after a month of stoppage and grateful that the entire PBA family was involved in making the return a possibility.

Mr. Marcial said the teams and players worked in tandem with the league in pushing for the continuation of the Philippine Cup, halted since Aug. 2 after Metro Manila was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and, later on, under Modified ECQ.

The teams, he said, were very cooperative in making the necessary adjustments as far as the training of the players and making sure all the prescribed protocols were being followed to make a strong case for the league’s ability to conduct activities under a safe and healthy environment.

They are now in different parts of Pampanga training in preparation for the resumption of games beginning in the first week of September at the Don Honorio Ventura State University (DHVSU) in Bacolor.

Players, too, were part of the return process, Mr. Marcial said, even chipping in for their accommodation and food as the league goes into a “semi-bubble.”

“The players reached out to me, led by LA Tenorio (of Barangay Ginebra), that they want the tournament to continue. But I was honest with them. I said we cannot go into another bubble like last year because it is very expensive. We spent at least P70 million for that and we cannot do it again for now,” said the PBA chief in Filipino.

“But LA said he talked to the team captains and they agreed to shoulder some of the expenses to lessen the burden on the league and the teams,” he added.

It was a welcome move, Mr. Marcial said, which helped facilitate the league’s push for resumption.

The PBA formally got the approval of DHVSU on Wednesday to use its facilities for the games after getting the endorsement of Pampanga Governor Dennis G. Pineda and Congressman Aurelio D. Gonzales, Jr.

The league said proceedings in Bacolor will be guided by health and safety protocols approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and the provincial government of Pampanga.

Part of the protocols approved is the antigen testing of all the teams in the morning of each play date, which would mean five antigen tests per week since the PBA is shifting to five play dates — Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays — once it returns to action.

Mondays are for RT-PCR tests, with the results expected to come out the next day.

Player and team movements will be limited to hotel-game venue-hotel.

The PBA Philippine Cup opened on July 16 with games held at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City under a closed-circuit setup.

Action was stopped after matches on Aug. 1 just as Metro Manila was placed under ECQ because of rising coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, particularly the Delta variant.

The league spent the next weeks looking for areas which could hold its games, eventually finding a willing host in Pampanga, which is under a less strict setup of Modified General Community Quarantine.

Two more Filipino Paralympians get their Tokyo campaigns going

FILIPINO para-swimmer Ernie Gawilan competes in the men’s 200m individual medley SM6 event at the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Friday. — ERNIE GAWILAN FB PAGE

TWO more Filipino Paralympians get their respective campaigns going at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Friday.

Wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan and para-swimmer Ernie Gawilan will be on tap in scheduled events of the sporting meet for the differently-abled.

Mr. Mangliwan will see action in the men’s 400m T52 event while Mr. Gawilan competes in the men’s 200m individual medley SM6.

The Tokyo Games will be the second Paralympics for Mr. Mangliwan, 41, who has paraplegia which he acquired from polio, and knows how tough the competition is.

But he remains undeterred, believing that they have trained well enough, and confident of his chances.

“Quitters don’t win. So we will not quit,” said Mr. Mangliwan in Filipino. “We have seen the records of my opponents and me and my coach feel I have a chance against them.”

He went on to say that the strategy for them is to take it a round at a time and do their best.

“My goal is to make it to the finals and take it from there.”

Mr. Gawilan, 30, also a veteran Paralympian, meanwhile, is sure of what he wants to achieve in Tokyo.

“We’re going there not just to play around, but to compete and do well,” said Mr. Gawilan, who is lacking both legs and has an underdeveloped left limb.

The Davao native is a decorated para-swimmer, having won medals, including gold, in the Asian Para Games and ASEAN Para Games.

He takes pride in being an inspiration to many differently abled individuals, and something he looks to continue doing at the Tokyo Games.

“Sports has helped me become the person that I am now. It was not easy, but if you have determination and you work hard you can achieve whatever you want in life,” he said in a recent media forum.

Meanwhile, para-swimmer Gary Bejino failed to advance to the finals of the men’s 200m IM SM6 event on Thursday at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre after finishing last in a field of 17, which was divided in three heats. He clocked in at 3:17.19.

He gets backs into action in the men’s 50m butterfly S6 and 400m freestyle S6 on Sept. 2 and men’s 100m backstroke S6 on Sept. 3. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

PSC to name facilities after country’s sports heroes

DIFFERENT sport facilities in the country will be renamed after sport heroes as the Philippine Sports Commission approved the move. — PATRICK ROQUE

DIFFERENT sport facilities in the country will be renamed after sport heroes as the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) approved the move.

In a statement on Thursday, the PSC said the renaming of selected sports facilities is in line with the push to give honor to athletes who did the Philippines proud with their achievements.

The sports heroes to be honored are already enshrined in the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame, save for weightlifter Hidilyn F. Diaz, the country’s first Olympic gold medalist.

The weightlifting gym at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex (RMSC) in Malate, Manila, will be named as the Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Gym, the PSC said.

The PSC Board also approved the renaming of the Rizal Memorial Tennis Court to Felicisimo Ampon Tennis Court, RMSC Swimming Pool to Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Pool, and the Rizal Memorial Track Stadium to Simeon Toribio Track Stadium.

The originally named PSC Multi-Purpose Gym located in the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex was reverted back to its original title.

“These athletes have given the honor to the country with their work in sports, we hope to keep their legacies alive for this and next generations. We want to pique the interest of the people who will read about or visit the facility. Who is Teofilo Yldefonso? What did Felicisimo Ampon do that this venue is named to him?” said PSC Chairman William I. Ramirez.

The PSC said this was just the first round of naming its venues to sports heroes just as it announced more facilities will rise under its watch, including a bigger, interactive and modern Philippine Sports Museum building in RMSC. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Pagcor expresses continued support for sports development

THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) expressed its continued commitment in doing its share in the country’s sports development even during this difficult time of the pandemic.

This was shared by Pagcor Chairman Andrea D. Domingo at the online “Pandesal Forum” on Thursday, where she briefly talked about their agency’s experience in helping Philippine sports’ growth during these trying times and plans for it moving forward.

Under Republic Act 6847, or the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Act, Pagcor is required to directly remit 5% of its gross income to the PSC for the latter’s programs. This is apart from other contributions it has been providing.

It is something Ms. Domingo said they are trying to fulfill even during this time of the pandemic, notwithstanding reduced revenues brought about by the limitations in their operations, which is now mostly relying on online mode of play like offshore gaming, online electronic games and online e-bingo.

“From 2016 up to last month, we’ve been able to remit to the PSC almost P7.3 billion. Even during this time of the pandemic, we continue to give them although last year it wasn’t really good as we gave them I think on the average P60 million. But this time it’s getting better,” said Ms. Domingo.

She went on to say that in July this year, she signed a check for the PSC worth P98 million as part of their mandatory contribution. Ms. Domingo, however, added that for August they got hit by the two-week Enhanced Community Quarantine closure which could affect their remittance.

“But we still try to do our best even during this time.”

Recently, the PSC acknowledged the key role that Pagcor played in the country’s historic finish in the recently concluded 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where the Philippines had its best-ever performance in nearly a century of participation, winning its first-ever gold medal to go along with two silvers and a bronze.

“Pagcor’s contributions funded the training and preparation of the Philippine team for the Olympics. With their help, our national athletes are able to show the world just how talented the Filipino athletes are,” said PSC Chairman William I. Ramirez during the Tokyo Olympians’ courtesy call on President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday, where the athletes, too, got their incentives and rewards from the government, P38.5 million coming from Pagcor.

The gaming regulatory body contributed, too, to the rehabilitation of major sports facilities, including the Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila, which were used during the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

Moving forward, Ms. Domingo said their commitment to support the national sports programs through “ample financial backing” stays.

Of course, she said, it is all dependent on their revenue performance, which for this year they see anywhere between P35 billion and P38 billion.

“Back in 2018 and 2019, we were remitting to PSC an average of P150 million a month because we are doing very well. But with the pandemic, it really dropped,” Ms. Domingo said.

“But we are steadily recovering and maybe by the latter part of 2022, if all the marketing efforts work out and the pandemic is under control, we can return to those levels of remittance all the way to 2023,” she added. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Paris St.-Germain rejects Real Madrid’s bid for Mbappé — Leonardo

PARIS — Paris St.-Germain (PSG) have rejected an offer from Real Madrid for France forward Kylian Mbappé, the French club’s sporting director Leonardo told BFM and RMC Sport, saying the offer was “not sufficient.”

Spanish and French media reported on Tuesday that Real Madrid had made a €160-million ($187.81-million) bid for the 22-year-old World Cup winner who scored 42 goals in all competitions for PSG last season and has reportedly said he wants to move to Spain.

Leonardo said that PSG, who have just signed Argentina forward Lionel Messi from Barcelona, did not plan to discuss the Mbappé matter again with Real Madrid and that if Mbappé wanted to leave, he would have to do so on PSG’s terms.

“Kylian Mbappé feels like leaving, this seems clear to me… Our goal is to extend and keep him. If a player wants to leave, it must be under our terms. This applies not just to Kylian, but to all players.”

Leonardo would not confirm the figure of 160 million euro, but said the bid was “around that.” “We consider the offer as being very far from what Kylian is worth today,” he added.

Mbappé joined PSG from AS Monaco in 2017, on loan initially and then permanently a year later in a deal valued at €180 million. — Reuters

Yankees visit A’s in key series for wild card contenders

TWO teams that have flip-flopped positions in the American League wild card race and currently are streaking in opposite directions open a critical four-game series when the Oakland Athletics host the New York Yankees on Thursday night.

The Yankees flew to Oakland after a two-game sweep at Atlanta that extended their winning streak to a season-best 11 games.

They currently lead the AL wild card race after having been in third place, four games behind Oakland, after a loss in the Field of Dreams Game on Aug. 12 left them at 63-52.

They haven’t lost since.

Meanwhile, the A’s have gone just 3-9 since that date, including a current four-game losing streak that has dropped them to third in the wild card race, with the Yankees having moved 4 1/2 games ahead.

Interestingly, both teams enter the series with bullpen issues. The difference has been that the Yankees have been able to overcome them.

New York closer Aroldis Chapman was pulled from each of his past two save opportunities, during which he faced 11 batters and allowed four hits and three walks.

He got bailed out of a two-on, two-out situation in a 5-2 game by Lucas Luetge on Aug. 18 against Boston before being asked to hand the ball to Wandy Peralta with the bases loaded in a 5-4 game on Tuesday at Atlanta.

Luetge and Peralta earned saves in those games.

“We gotta figure it out,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Chapman’s recent issues after the Tuesday win. “The bottom line is, a lot of people are doing some really good things down there, and Chappy is going to be one of them, too. We just have to continue to find ways to win games. It really is just a little bit of all hands on deck.”

The A’s have attempted a similar approach in their current losing streak, during which they led the San Francisco Giants 5-2 going to the seventh inning and 1-0 entering the eighth on consecutive days, only to see Andrew Chafin, Lou Trivino and A.J. Puk serve up a total of four home runs in what turned into one-run defeats.

Trivino was victimized again in the ninth Monday, blowing a 3-2 lead in a 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

The A’s fell in a more conventional manner, 5-1, to the Mariners on Tuesday, after which manager Bob Melvin labeled his team’s skid a full-roster problem, not merely a late-innings bullpen nightmare.

“We’re putting too much pressure on every facet that we have right now,” he said. “We’ve lost some close games. This is the wrong time to go into a slump, wrong time to go into a team slump. We have to flip the switch and play like we do… We’ll figure it out.”

Yankees right-hander Jameson Taillon (8-4, 3.94 ERA) and A’s righty James Kaprielian (7-4, 3.25) are the scheduled starters on Thursday in a rematch of the season series opener at New York on June 18, a game the A’s won 5-3.

In each pitcher’s first-ever head-to-head with the opponent, Kaprielian got the win, charged with three runs — including home runs by DJ LeMahieu and Rougned Odor — in 5 2/3 innings. Taillon didn’t get a decision after allowing two runs — including a Matt Olson homer — in 4 2/3 innings.

Kaprielian, a former Yankees farmhand, has won his past three home starts, limiting the Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers and Giants to three runs in 17 innings. Taillon hasn’t lost anywhere since May 31, going 7-0 with a 3.21 ERA in his past 14 starts. — Reuters

Shakhtar sinks Monaco to reach Champions League group stage

BELGRADE — Shakhtar Donetsk clinched a berth in the lucrative Champions League (CL) group stage with a dramatic 3-2 aggregate win over Monaco after fighting back from two goals down in their playoff round return leg on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian side joined RB Salzburg as the Austrian champions beat Danes Brøndby 4-2 on aggregate, and Sheriff Tiraspol, who became the first Moldovan side to reach the group stage with a 3-0 overall victory against Dinamo Zagreb.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg at home, Monaco turned the tide as a Wissam Ben Yedder brace gave them a 2-0 lead on the night in Kharkiv before second-half substitute Marlos leveled the tie with a 74th-minute strike.

With the away goals rule no longer in effect in European club competition as of this season, Shakhtar forced the final twist thanks to a 114th-minute own goal from Monaco captain Ruben Aguilar after the French side missed a string of chances.

Ben Yedder fired a dominant Monaco into an 18th-minute lead on the night and put the visitors in the driving seat in the 39th when he steered home a superb low cross from the left by Caio Henrique.

Ben Yedder then missed a pair of sitters either side of half time and Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov denied Kevin Volland with a superb stoppage-time save after Marlos had given Shakhtar a lifeline with a neat finish inside the near post.

Shakhtar were on the back foot in extra time too, but Monaco were ultimately punished for their misses when Aguilar stuck his foot out to block a pass and the looping clearance sailed over goalkeeper Alexander Nübel into the back of the net.

Salzburg raced into a 2-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes of the return leg against Brondby as Benjamin Sesko struck with a clinical finish and Brenden Aaronson added the second when he slid the ball under goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.

Brøndby defender Andreas Maxsoe pulled one back for the home side from close range in the 62nd minute, but it was scant consolation for the Danish side as Salzburg held out comfortably.

Having stunned Dinamo (3-0) at home in the first leg, Sheriff eased to a goalless draw in Croatia’s capital to defy the odds again after they knocked out 1991 European Cup winners Red Star Belgrade in the previous qualifying round. — Reuters

Venus joins sister Serena, Kenin in missing US Open

VENUS Williams will miss the upcoming US Open due to an injury, becoming the third US female after her sister Serena and Sofia Kenin to announce on Wednesday they would not take part in the final Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Two-time US Open champion and former world number one Venus made the announcement in a video posted on social media.

“Not the best news from Serena and I today,” she said.

“I, too, am unable to play the US Open. It’s super, super, super disappointing, having some issues with my leg all this summer and just couldn’t work through it.”

The 41-year-old Venus, who has seven Grand Slam titles to her name, said she would miss competing at her “favorite slam” and wished all the other players good luck.

Earlier in the day, younger sister Serena withdrew with a torn hamstring, making it the first time since 2003 that neither has appeared at the tournament in Flushing Meadows.

The siblings add their names to a long list of players who will miss the tournament due to injury including Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Simona Halep.

Fifth seed and 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin withdrew from the competition with a breakthrough coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection.

“I am writing with disappointing news,” Kenin wrote on Twitter.

“Recently, I tested positive for Covid-19. Fortunately, I am vaccinated and thus my symptoms have been fairly mild. However, I have continued to test positive and thus will not be able to compete at the US Open next week.

“I plan to spend the next several weeks getting healthy and preparing to play well this fall. Thank you all for supporting me. I want to wish all the players the best of luck in New York.”

The 22-year-old Kenin, who also goes by Sonya, is one of an impressive crop of young Americans in the game, along with Jennifer Brady, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Danielle Collins.

US Open main draw matches begin on Monday. — Reuters

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