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German SPD seeks allies to replace Merkel-led coalition

REUTERS
General view of the German parliament building, or Reichstag, after first exit polls for the general elections in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 26, 2021. — REUTERS/CATHRIN MUELLER

BERLIN — Germany’s Social Democrats were set on Monday to start the process of trying to form a government after they narrowly won their first national election since 2005 to end 16 years of conservative-led rule under Angela Merkel.

The center-left Social Democrats (SPD) won 25.7% of the vote, ahead of 24.1% for Ms. Merkel’s CDU/CSU conservative bloc, according to provisional results. The Greens came in at 14.8% and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) were on 11.5%. The Social Democrats’ chancellor candidate, Olaf Scholz said he hoped to strike a coalition deal before Christmas, although his conservative rival Armin Laschet said he could still try to form a government despite coming in second.

Ms. Merkel will stay in charge in a caretaker role during the coalition negotiations that will set the future course of Europe’s largest economy.

On Monday, the parties will start sounding each other out about possible alliances in informal discussions.

In order to secure a majority in parliament, the SPD is likely to seek a three-way alliance with the Greens and the FDP, although the two parties could also team up with the conservatives.

If Mr. Scholz, 63, succeeds in forming a coalition, he would become the fourth post-war SPD chancellor after Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt and Gerhard Schroeder. Finance minister in Ms. Merkel’s cabinet, he is a former mayor of Hamburg.

The SPD’s rise heralds a swing left for Germany and marks a remarkable comeback for the party, which has recovered some 10 points in support in just three months to improve on its 20.5% result in the 2017 national election.

But Mr. Laschet, 60, still hung on to the possibility that he could be chancellor, even though he led the conservatives to their worst ever election result.

COALITION FOR CHRISTMAS?
Ms. Merkel has stood large on the European stage almost since taking office in 2005 — when George W. Bush was US president, Jacques Chirac in the Elysee Palace in Paris and Tony Blair British prime minister.

But Berlin’s allies in Europe and beyond will probably have to wait for months before they can see how the new German government will engage on foreign issues.

Assuming the SPD agree a deal with the Greens and the FDP, the Greens could provide the foreign minister, as they did with Joschka Fischer in their previous two-way alliance with the SPD, while the FDP is seeking the finance ministry.

A row between Washington and Paris over a deal for Australia to buy US instead of French submarines has put Germany in an awkward spot between allies, but also gives Berlin the chance to help heal relations and rethink their common stance on China.

On hearing that the SPD were slightly ahead in polls, US President Joseph Biden told reporters in Washington: “I’ll be darned… They’re solid.”

On economic policy, French President Emmanuel Macron is eager to forge a common European fiscal policy, which the Greens support but the CDU/CSU and FDP reject. The Greens also want “a massive expansion offensive for renewables.”

One thing is certain: the future government will not include the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which scored 10.3%, a fall from four years ago when they stormed into the national parliament with 12.6% of the vote. All mainstream politicians rule out a coalition with the party. — Reuters

Taiwan needs to have long-range weapons to deter China, says official

REUTERS

TAIPEI — Taiwan needs to have long-range, accurate weapons in order to properly deter a China that is rapidly developing its systems to attack the island, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said on Monday.

Taiwan this month proposed extra defense spending of almost $9 billion over the next five years, including on new missiles, as it warned of an urgent need to upgrade weapons in the face of a “severe threat” from giant neighbor China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.

Speaking in parliament, Mr. Chiu said Taiwan needed to be able to let China know they could defend themselves.

“The development of equipment must be long range, precise, and mobile, so that the enemy can sense that we are prepared as soon as they dispatch their troops,” he added, referring to Taiwan’s missile capability.

In a written report to parliament to accompany Mr. Chiu’s appearance, the ministry said both medium- and long-range missiles were being used in intercept drills at a key test facility on Taiwan’s southeastern coast.

Mr. Chiu declined to give details to reporters of how far Taiwan’s missiles could reach, something the government has always keep well under wraps.

Taiwan offered an unusually stark assessment of China’s abilities in its annual report on China’s military, saying they could “paralyze” Taiwan’s defenses and are able to fully monitor its deployments.

Mr. Chiu said it was important that Taiwan’s people were aware of the danger facing them.

Asked what China would attack first in the event of a war, Mr. Chiu answered that it would be Taiwan’s command and communications abilities.

“On these the Chinese Communists’ abilities have rapidly increased. They can disrupt our command, control communications and intelligence systems, for example with fixed radar stations certainly being attacked first,” he said.

“So we must be mobile, stealthy and able to change positions.”

President Tsai Ing-wen has made bolstering and modernizing defenses a priority, to make the island into a “porcupine” that is hard to attack.

Taiwan has complained for months of repeated Chinese military activity near it, particularly of air force jets entering Taiwan’s air defense zone.

China has been ramping up efforts to force the democratically governed island to accept Chinese sovereignty. Most Taiwanese have no shown no desire to be ruled by autocratic Beijing. — Reuters

Fuel shortages pressure Johnson as UK crisis escalates

REUTERS

UK PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure to do more to ease a supply chain crisis in Britain after pumps ran dry at some gasoline stations because of panic buying.

With a shortage of truck drivers raising the prospect of widening disruption to food and fuel deliveries in coming weeks, the government moved late on Sunday to temporarily suspend competition rules and allow companies to coordinate fuel supplies to the most affected regions.

That came after Johnson announced measures including a u-turn on relaxing immigration rules for foreign truckers and poultry workers and called in army examiners to help ramp up driving tests for heavy goods vehicles. The prime minister is considering plans to use soldiers to drive tankers around the country, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified officials.

“We have long-standing contingency plans in place to work with industry so that fuel supplies can be maintained and deliveries can still be made in the event of a serious disruption,” Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.

Businesses and opposition politicians said the 5,000 new visas for haulers until Christmas would barely scratch the surface of a 100,000 shortfall that’s been exacerbated since the UK left the European Union. Ruby McGregor-Smith, president of the British Chambers of Commerce, likened the visas to “throwing a thimble of water on a bonfire.”

While some countries across Europe are contending with soaring energy prices and pockets of labor shortages, the UK is facing a particularly taxing winter as it recovers from the pandemic. Recent weeks have seen hospitals struggling with a backlog of patients, empty supermarket shelves and now lines at gasoline stations.

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labor Party, blamed Mr. Johnson’s government for failing to prepare for the consequences of Brexit. The UK voted to leave the EU (European Union) in 2016 and its post-departure transition agreement ended at the beginning of this year. “We’ve got an absolute crisis in this country through a lack of planning on behalf of the government,” Mr. Starmer said.  

FINDING TRUCKERS
BP Plc, the second-largest fuel retailer in the UK, said it had run out of the main grades of fuel at almost a third of its stations. Outside the motorway network, at least half of petrol stations had run dry by Sunday, the Financial Times reported, citing Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Sunday sought to allay concerns, telling BBC television “there’s actually plenty of petrol to go around.” The shortage of drivers for the fuel supply industry amounted to “one, two, three hundred.” He nevertheless left open the prospect of drafting in the army to supply petrol stations. “We’ll do whatever’s required.”

Until the weekend, the government had insisted that haulage companies should train up locals and paid them more. The changes to immigration rules — which also add 5,500 visas for poultry workers — lasts for 12 weeks.

Mr. Johnson has talked up Brexit as an opportunity to remake the British economy away from the EU’s rules and its labor pool. The argument is that foreign workers dragged down domestic wages and discouraged recruitment and training. But business argues it needs a longer period to transition away from that reliance on EU workers.

The food and fuel shortages add to a pile of daunting challenges for Mr. Johnson, with Britons facing a surge in electricity and gas prices just as some key pandemic support measures are unwound.

The flagship furlough program that saw the government pay the wages of more than 11 million jobs during the pandemic ends on Sept. 30. The Labor Party released analysis late on Sunday that showed some 81,000 aviation workers are among those who risk losing their jobs when the furlough program closes.

On Oct. 6, a 20-pound ($27) weekly uplift on social security payments called Universal Credit comes to an end, a decision that’s caused disquiet among Conservative rank and file because of its effect on poorer people.

Newspapers have started referring to a “winter of discontent,” a politically charged phrase evoking memories of 1978-79 when the UK economy was brought to its knees by strikes and severe weather. It ultimately brought down the Labor government, ushering in the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher.

“We’ve got energy shortages, we’ve got shortages in our supermarkets,” Labor’s Mr. Starmer said. “We’ve got prices going up. We’ve got taxes going up on working families and we’ve got the government taking away a thousand pounds from those that need it most.”

Deputy Leader Angela Rayner put it more bluntly, describing the Conservatives as “scum” at an event at the Labor’s annual conference. That sparked a fresh squabble within the party just when it was aiming to demonstrate to the electorate it was united and ready to govern.

On Sunday, she refused to apologize for using the word, saying it was northern English working-class “street language” and that she was only referring to members of the cabinet. “I was speaking to a group of activists to say you have got to get that fire in your belly,” she said. — Bloomberg

Social enterprises find new spaces to thrive

Likha Initiative in Ayala Malls Circuit

Alagang AyalaLand shines spotlight on sustainable businesses

The current pandemic has provided lots of opportunities for many to further pursue personal hobbies or try new ones, as well as opportunities to help address existing issues in society.

For Michael Santos and Michael Byron Quevada, the pandemic helped them find the time and resources to pursue their passion for plants and home decorating. However, they also saw that while they were fortunate to have the privilege to start their business, many other Filipinos are left struggling under the current crisis.

Fusing their passion in gardening and decorating with their desire to support a community, the two founded HandKraft PH. The business has employed 43 weavers who produce baskets made of buri and abaca to be used as planters and organizers in homes.

The small business has been able to provide many benefits to the local community, including the revival of the basket weaving tradition, transferring of skills across generations, enriching local heritage and culture, and the promotion of accountability and self-worth.

Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) is empowering such businesses, giving them the opportunity to help more people in return and creating a domino effect of compassion and cooperation across the country.

The program’s main focus is to provide livelihood opportunities to social enterprises by, among other initiatives, providing these enterprises their spaces in ALI developments nationwide wherein they can grow their businesses.

Through its Alagang AyalaLand program, ALI is working to assist the most vulnerable sectors of Philippine society, especially those that show potential to create further social good. The program’s main focus is to provide livelihood opportunities to social enterprises by, among other initiatives, providing these enterprises their spaces in ALI developments nationwide wherein they can grow their businesses.

HandKraft PH in Glorietta

“We keep telling our customers about how the Alagang AyalaLand program has provided us with the platform to share our heritage as we help a small community. Our weavers became more hard working and excited since they know that their works will be made available not only in typical ‘bazaars or tiangges’, but in an Ayala Mall such as Glorietta in Makati,” Santos and Quevada of HandKraft PH said.

Fostering the spirit of bayanihan

Most of the pandemic’s effects have been concentrated on the vulnerable sectors of society as it amplifies previous inequalities to new heights. In fact, according to research by the World Bank in the middle of 2020, 26% of businesses were non-operational globally.

In the Philippines, 44% of MSMEs are fully operating, based on Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) records as of last June, while 46% are partially operating and 10% have closed.

A concrete example of the crisis’s impact is the tons of harvests from Filipino farmers that hardly reached their intended markets as a result of the pandemic’s effects on the country’s supply chain.

In response, Ace and Andie Estrada founded Rural Rising Philippines, a social enterprise dedicated to harnessing the potential of the countryside and fostering rural prosperity through agri-entrepreneurship. Rural Rising PH has formed initiatives nationwide to help local farmers who are struggling to sell their produce during the lockdown, ensuring that customers who buy through Rural Rising PH are in effect directly buying the produce of distressed farmers.

The group regularly holds “rescue buys,” where they purchase surplus vegetables from rural farmers — which would otherwise go to waste — and sell them bulk to 17,000 Rural Rising members and retail consumers in Metro Manila. They also have regular “snap buys” of rare or in-season local products, like chocolate rice, satsuma oranges, and dragon fruit. Nothing goes to waste as vegetables that are not sold within 48 hours are donated to community pantries and feeding programs.

Through Alagang AyalaLand, ALI is allocating rent-free space in its malls and estates for enterprises like Rural Rising PH to jumpstart their growth, in turn fueling local consumption and helping to accelerate the country’s recovery.

Alagang AyalaLand is ensuring that those enterprises most affected by the pandemic are given enough support to continue with their goals and create more social good in return.

Also, under Alagang AyalaLand, Likha Initiative, a volunteer-led initiative that advocates a zero-waste community, is able to conducting workshops and mentorship programs, establishing connections with potential partners, and forming groups that work towards a zero-waste lifestyle.

With the ongoing pandemic, Likha Initiative’s focus shifted from waste management to helping residents create local products that are aligned to the group’s environment protection ethos. This allows the community to make eco-friendly crafts such as recycled backpacks, alcohol purses, coin purses, scrunchies, hair clips, straw bags, painted pots, bucket hats, monokinis, and many more.

“We have been blessed to partner with Ayala Malls as this creates an opportunity for the mothers in urban poor areas to have additional income, and to ease the unemployment and financial constraints faced by the families. It also became an avenue for empowerment for the mothers who have found their spaces for creation and income generation,” Founder Debbie Bartolo said.

The true spirit of ‘bayanihan’ is kept alive as the company ensures that its stakeholders are all supported during this trying time.

Alagang AyalaLand is ALI’s community engagement program which focuses on generating livelihood and jobs through social enterprises; providing relief to communities during calamities, and promoting a sustainable environment.

 


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Global vaccines project to revamp rules after Britain got more than Botswana

BRUSSELS — In March, as wealthy Britain led the world in vaccination rates and almost half its people had received a shot, the organization meant to ensure fair global access to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines allotted the country over half a million doses from its supplies.  

By contrast Botswana, which hadn’t even started its vaccination drive, was assigned 20,000 doses from the same batch of millions of Pfizer mRNA vaccines, according to publicly available documents detailing COVAX’s allocations.  

Other poorer nations, with fledgling vaccination drives at best, also received fewer shots than Britain. Rwanda and Togo were each allotted about 100,000 doses, and Libya nearly 55,000.  

The distribution was driven by the methodology used by COVAX, a program co-led by the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi). Since January, it has largely allocated doses proportionally among its members according to population size, but regardless of their vaccination coverage.  

This made some rich nations, which already had many vaccines through separate deals with pharmaceutical firms, eligible for COVAX doses alongside countries with no vaccines at all.  

Six months later, COVAX is planning to overhaul the allocation methodology to ensure it takes into account the proportion of a country’s population that has been vaccinated, including with shots bought directly from drugmakers, according to an internal Gavi document reviewed by Reuters.  

The proposal will be discussed at the Gavi board meeting on Tuesday, and the change could be enacted in the fourth quarter of this year, the document said.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an almost unprecedented challenge, and large, hallowed institutions like the WHO and US Centers for Disease Control have at times struggled to keep pace and shift course as new data has come in.  

Asked why total vaccine coverage was not used earlier as a measure, Bruce Aylward, a senior WHO and COVAX official, told Reuters that the allocation terms could not be changed without the consent of COVAX’s more than 140 member countries, though he did not elaborate on the process of reaching consensus.  

He added that hard data on vaccines’ efficacy, which strengthened the case for a change, was now available.  

“What’s becoming interesting now, only in the last couple of months, is the divergence between cases and deaths as a result of vaccination coverage,” he said.  

“We are learning that the single best indicator of mortality risk is the level of whole coverage, not just COVAX coverage.”  

SHORTAGE OF SHOTS 
Britain will overall be a net donor in money and vaccines. It has invested 71 million pounds ($97 million) in COVAX, which in theory allows it to buy up to 27 million doses, plus this summer began donating up to nine million shots, some via COVAX.  

Yet there has been a wealth-driven inequality since before vaccines became available, with governments in London, Washington, Ottawa, Brussels and beyond, many of them COVAX members, separately securing large supplies outside the scheme.  

In June, COVAX scaled back its initial ambitions of acting as a vaccine clearing house for the world to focus only on countries deemed most in need. Yet within that group it was still assigning vaccines according to the population sizes, rather than their total vaccination coverage.  

Since its inception 15 months ago, COVAX has been plagued by vaccine shortages, caused initially by richer nations’ hoarding of limited doses.  

Subsequently supplies were hit by drugmakers’ problems in ramping up production and export restrictions in manufacturing hub India, which has held up delivery of many of the 240 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that COVAX allocated in late February.  

These issues have reduced its capacity to deliver to poorer nations. It has so far shipped about 300 million doses to over 140 countries, far off of its initial target of 2 billion doses by the end of the year, which has now been cut to 1.4 billion.  

TOP OF GLOBAL RANKINGS 
The March 15 allocation of the Pfizer shots, among about 50 countries, showed up the weakness in the COVAX methodology.  

The batch of 14.1 million doses was the program’s first significant allocation of the US drugmaker’s vaccines, after a small initial batch of 1.2 million shots was divided among 18 countries in late January, WHO documents show.  

At that time, many countries had not yet started their vaccination campaign, mostly because of lack of vaccines. Even European Union states were grappling with limited supplies.  

Britain’s vaccination drive was proving successful though, and it had given at least one dose to 40% of its population. Along with the United Arab Emirates and Israel, it led the global rankings for administered doses proportional to population, figures and estimates from One World in Data show.  

The country was nonetheless among the leading beneficiaries of the allocation, with 539,000 shots, which Gavi said were delivered at the end of June. Only seven nations were assigned more, including the more populous Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines. The UAE was assigned about 200,000 shots.  

The British government confirmed it had received about half a million doses from COVAX which it used in the country, but declined to specify the date of delivery.  

Other developed nations invested in COVAX but some refrained from taking their share of shots because they could rely on millions of doses from bilateral deals with drugmakers.  

The UAE passed on its March allocation, Gavi said. The UAE did not reply to requests for comment.  

NO FREEZERS, NO VACCINE 
The allocation also highlighted another driver of unequal access, this one specific for vaccines like Pfizer’s based on new mRNA technology: a country’s capability to handle the shots, which needed to be transported and stored at temperatures of around minus 70 degrees Celsius.  

Indeed only about 50 countries — from Britain and Brazil to Angola and Bolivia — could be included in the allocation of the Pfizer doses because only they were deemed by COVAX to have the level of “ultra-cold chain” equipment required.  

That ruled out many countries in the developing world.  

“A small number of countries were deemed ready to receive Pfizer doses,” a spokesman for Gavi said, when asked to explain why Britain and UAE were among the first designated recipients.  

Gavi initially did not consider it a priority to invest in the ultra-cold chain equipment needed for mRNA shots, Gavi’s public board documents from December show, because it favoured cheaper and easier-to-administer vaccines like AstraZeneca’s, which does not have such extreme temperature requirements.  

Gavi and WHO officials have said that this was in line with requests from poorer nations.  

Indeed the 240 million AstraZeneca doses were allocated to a far wider group of more than 140 countries in February — though the export curbs in India, where the vaccine is made, meant only about 80 million had been delivered as of late August.  

“Preparing an ultra-cold supply chain is a risky undertaking,” said Heather Ignatius, managing director of Advocacy at Path, a nonprofit global health organization, noting that without certainty of deliveries it would make no sense to invest in expensive freezers.  

However Gavi changed course on ultra-cold chain investment in June, when the United States pledged to donate hundreds of millions of Pfizer vaccines to COVAX.  

Later that month, Gavi decided to spend up to $25 million on freezers needed to store the vaccine, a Gavi spokesperson told Reuters.  

The money began to be spent in August, according to an official familiar with the matter. Gavi now aims to supply freezers to about 50 poorer nations via UNICEF, which is in charge of COVAX logistics, the Gavi spokesperson said. — Francesco Guarascio/Reuters  

Dragonpay offers crypto payments to merchants through TripleA

The Philippines is one of the world’s fastest adopters of cryptocurrency, with the third-highest uptake of crypto globally. Seeing the potential of cryptocurrency in the e-commerce market, Dragonpay partnered with TripleA to launch crypto payments to thousands of merchants in the Philippines.  

With the low penetration of credit cards and banking services in the Philippines, Dragonpay bridges the gap between e-commerce businesses and customers by providing alternative online payment methods. Dragonpays payment gateway enables customers the flexibility of making payments online or over the counter at authorized payment centers after they have purchased goods and services with the merchants and retailers. 

“Now that crypto is transforming the e-commerce space, we have to be ready for it. Being part of a more extensive regional payment network will allow us to open doors for both Filipino online merchants to access buyers worldwide, and conversely, for the global merchants abroad to cater to Filipino consumers,” said Robertson Chiang, Founder and CEO of Dragonpay.  

Cryptocurrency ownership is extremely prevalent in the Philippines. Around 39% of Filipino crypto owners said that they would use cryptocurrency as a means of payment for online purchases (OECD, 2019). On the regulatory front, the Philippine government has been friendly towards digital assets, and they have licensed over a dozen crypto exchanges to operate in the country.  

“Recognized as the leading Payment Service Provider (PSP) in the Philippines, Dragonpay is licensed and regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and we are proud to be the chosen partner as it further strengthens our position in the crypto payments space,” said Eric Barbier, CEO of TripleA.  

The pandemic has fueled the cryptocurrency trend in the Philippines. With more Filipinos investing and generating income from cryptocurrency, the demand to spend crypto on everyday items will increase, and businesses have to be ready for that. 

To know about TripleA, visit their website and 
LinkedIn. Meanwhile, go to
Dragonpay’s website, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram for more information. 

 


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Dark future? Climate change fuels higher heat, flood threats for children

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

KUALA LUMPUR — Children around the world will face a sharp jump in heatwaves, floods and droughts in their lives compared to their grandparents, researchers said on Monday, with teenagers from Nepal to Australia urging leaders not to turn a blind eye.  

Children will, on average, suffer seven times more heatwaves and nearly three times more droughts, floods and crop failures due to fast-accelerating climate change, found a report from aid agency Save the Children.  

Those in low- and middle-income countries will bear the brunt, with Afghan children likely to endure up to 18 times as many heatwaves as their elders, and children in Mali likely to live through up to 10 times more crop failures.  

“People are suffering, we shouldn’t turn a blind eye… Climate change is the biggest crisis of this era,” said Anuska, 15, sharing her experience of more heatwaves, intense rain and crop losses in her country, Nepal.  

“I’m worried about climate change, about my future. It will almost be impossible for us to survive,” she told journalists.  

Save the Children did not fully identify Anuska and others who spoke alongside her for protection reasons, it said.  

The research, a collaboration between Save the Children and climate researchers at Belgium’s Vrije Universiteit Brussel, calculated the lifetime exposure to a range of extreme climate events for children born in 2020 compared to those born in 1960.  

Also published in the journal Science, the study is based on emissions reduction pledges made under the 2015 Paris climate accord, projecting that global temperatures will rise by an estimated 2.6–3.1 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times.  

This would have an “unacceptable impact on children,” Save the Children said.  

“The climate crisis is a child rights crisis at its core,” said Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children.  

“We can turn this around — but we need to listen to children and jump into action. If warming is limited to 1.5 degrees, there is far more hope of a bright future for children who haven’t even been born yet,” she added.  

FUTURE AT STAKE 
The UN climate science panel warned in August that global warming is dangerously close to spiraling out of control and will bring climate disruption globally for decades to come.  

National pledges to cut emissions so far are inadequate to limit global temperature rise to “well below” 2°C above preindustrial times, and ideally to 1.5°C, as about 195 countries committed to under the 2015 Paris Agreement.  

Save the Children’s report found that, if global warming is kept to 1.5°C, additional lifetime exposure of newborns to heatwaves would drop by 45% and by nearly 40% for droughts and floods compared with the current projected level.  

“This is what’s at stake when governments head to the COP26 global climate talks in Glasgow in November. These children’s lives and future are all at stake,” said Erin Ryan, a report author and Save the Children advisor.  

Children from the Philippines to the Solomon Islands spoke of how increasing climate disasters left them vulnerable, affecting their mental health and disrupting their education.  

“I was traumatized — it was really depressing,” said Chatten from the Philippines, who was just eight when his home was destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones in history that killed over 6,300 people.  

“Everything was at its worst during those times — I don’t want anyone to experience that,” said the teenager, now 16.  

Others said youth should pressure governments for change.  

“I really want to see world leaders take action because this is putting everyone at risk,” said Ella, 14, from Australia. — Beh Lih Yi/Thomson Reuters Foundation  

 

Facebook rebuts report calling Instagram ‘toxic’ for teen girls 

Facebook Inc. said body image was the only area out of 12 categories in its research into well-being issues where more teenage girls felt Instagram made things worse instead of better.  

The social media giant was rebutting a Wall Street Journal report last week that called the photo-sharing app “toxic” for the group, citing a March 2020 Facebook slide presentation that showed the social media giant’s Instagram unit made body image issues worse for one in three teenage girls. It also said the same presentation showed 13% of British teens and 6% of those in the U.S. traced suicidal thoughts to the app. 

Facebook said that while those dealing with body image issues felt Instagram made it worse for them, users coping with loneliness, anxiety, sadness and eating issues said the app helped in their difficult moments. 

“It is simply not accurate that this research demonstrates Instagram is ‘toxic’ for teen girls,” Pratiti Raychoudhury, Facebook’s head of research, said in a post. “The majority of teenage girls who experienced body image issues still reported Instagram either made it better or had no impact.”  

Facebook said that research had its limitations because it relied on input from just 40 teenagers as it sought the most negative perceptions of Instagram.  

“We invest in this research to proactively identify where we can improve — which is why the worst possible results are highlighted in the internal slides,” it added. 

Raychoudhury said the company has taken steps to improve its apps, including adding resources to help those dealing with body image issues. It also removed graphic content relating to suicide and added a feature to protect users from bullying. — Bloomberg 

COVID-19 pandemic cut life expectancy by most since World War Two — study

REUTERS

LONDON — The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study published on Monday by Oxford University, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years.  

Life expectancy fell by more than six months compared with 2019 in 22 of the 29 countries analyzed in the study, which spanned Europe, the United States and Chile. There were reductions in life expectancy in 27 of the 29 countries overall.  

The university said most life expectancy reductions across different countries could be linked to official COVID-19 deaths. There have been nearly 5 million reported deaths caused by the new coronavirus so far, a Reuters tally shows.  

“The fact that our results highlight such a large impact that is directly attributable to COVID-19 shows how devastating a shock it has been for many countries,” said Dr. Ridhi Kashyap, co-lead author of the paper, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology 

There were greater drops in life expectancy for men than women in most countries, with the largest decline in American men, who saw life expectancy drop by 2.2 years relative to 2019.  

Overall, men had more than a year shaved off in 15 countries, compared to women in 11 countries. That wiped out the progress on mortality that had been made in the previous 5.6 years.  

In the United States, the rise in mortality was mainly among those of working age and those under 60, while in Europe, deaths among people aged over 60 contributed more significantly to the increase in mortality.  

Dr. Kashyap appealed to more countries, including low- and middle-income nations, to make mortality data available for further studies.  

“We urgently call for the publication and availability of more disaggregated data to better understand the impacts of the pandemic globally,” she said. — Victor Jack/Reuters 

Canada foreign minister says eyes wide open when it comes to normalizing China ties

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. Image via Wikimedia Commons

TORONTO — Canada’s “eyes are wide open” when it comes to normalizing its relationship with China, Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said on Sunday, two days after the release of a Huawei executive following almost three years of house arrest in Vancouver.  

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, flew back to China on Friday after reaching an agreement with US prosecutors to end a bank fraud case against her. That resulted in the scrapping of her extradition battle in a Canadian court.  

Soon after Meng flew to China, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — two Canadians detained by Chinese authorities just days after Ms. Meng’s arrest in Vancouver in December 2018 on a US warrant — were released by Beijing.  

Mr. Garneau told CBC News the government is now following a fourfold approach to China: “coexist,” “compete,” “cooperate” and “challenge.”  

He said Canada would compete with China on issues like trade and cooperate on climate change, while challenging it on its treatment of Uighurs, Tibetans, and Hong Kong as Ottawa has done in the past.  

“Let me say, our eyes are wide open. We have been saying that for some time. There was no path to a relationship with China as long as the two Michaels were being detained,” Mr. Garneau said.  

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mr. Garneau received the two Canadians on Saturday when they arrived in Calgary, Alberta, after spending more than 1,000 days in solitary confinement.  

Mr. Spavor was accused of supplying photographs of military equipment to Mr. Kovrig and sentenced in August to 11 years in jail. Mr. Kovrig had been awaiting sentencing.  

Mr. Trudeau, who won a third term last Monday after a tight election race, had vowed to improve ties with China after becoming prime minister in 2015, building on his father’s success in establishing diplomatic ties with China in 1970.  

But even before Ms. Meng’s arrest, Canada’s repeated questioning of China’s human rights positions had irked Beijing, and the two countries have failed to come closer.  

China has always denied any link between Ms. Meng’s extradition case and the detention of the two Canadians, but Mr. Garneau said that “the immediate return of the two Michaels linked” it to Ms. Meng’s case in a “very direct manner.”  

Mr. Garneau said he had heard about the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) several weeks ago, which opened the door to the return of the two men.  

Canadian Ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman denied Washington had made the release of Messrs. Kovrig and Spavor a condition for the resolution of the charges against Ms. Meng.  

“Absolutely not. The DPA and the resolution of the charges against Ms. Meng was a completely independent process, and it was proceeding as it did,” Ms. Hillman told Canadian broadcaster CTV.  

Mr. Garneau also said he did not think the timing of the men’s return had anything to do with that of the federal election.  

“I think it just worked out that way.” — Reuters 

Switzerland votes to make same-sex marriage legal by near two-thirds majority

PIXABAY 

ZURICH — Switzerland agreed to legalize civil marriage and the right to adopt children for same-sex couples by a nearly two-thirds majority in a referendum on Sunday, making it one of the last countries in Western Europe to legalize gay marriage.  

According to results provided by the Swiss federal chancellery, 64.1% of voters voted in favor of same-sex marriage in the nationwide referendum that was conducted under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy.  

“We are very happy and relieved,” said Antonia Hauswirth of the national committee “Marriage for All,” adding supporters would celebrate in Switzerland’s capital Bern on Sunday.  

Amnesty International said in a statement that opening civil marriage to same-sex couples was a “milestone for equality.”  

However, Monika Rueegger of Switzerland’s right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and member of the referendum committee “No to Marriage for All” said she was disappointed.  

“This was not about love and feelings, it was about children’s welfare. Children and fathers are the losers here,” she told Reuters.  

The amended law will make it possible for same-sex couples to get married, and to adopt children unrelated to them. Married lesbian couples will also be allowed to have children through sperm donation, currently legal only for married heterosexual couples.  

It will also make it easier for foreign spouses of a Swiss individual to get citizenship.  

Swiss Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter told a media briefing the new rules would likely come into force on July 1 next year.  

In a separate referendum, 64.9% of Swiss voters rejected a proposal to introduce a capital gains tax. — Silke Koltrowitz/Reuters  

Jollibee launches Gift Color Code for an exclusive free offer

Scan the Gift Color Code and enjoy three Buko Pies for free when you order a 6-pc. Chickenjoy Bucket Solo using the Jollibee App

Jollibee is offering another exclusive promo for its loyal customers by using next-generation mobile technology. As the first in the Philippines to use this latest innovation in interactive advertising, Jollibee is happy to give customers a new and exciting digital experience while using the Jollibee App.

All customers have to do is watch out for Jollibee’s latest Chickenjoy ad that features Aga Muhlach, Pia Wurtzbach, and Anne Curtis on TV. Aside from celebrating the crispylicious, juicylicious goodness of Jollibee Chickenjoy as the joy and pride of the country, the new commercial also lets viewers redeem three Buko Pies for free when they order a 6-pc. Chickenjoy Bucket.

Every time the Jollibee Chickenjoy commercial is shown on TV, viewers need to catch and scan the Gift Color Code marker that is flashed on screen using the Jollibee App’s in-app scanner. A promo coupon will then appear for customers to claim, and they can redeem this upon checkout with an order of a 6-pc. Chickenjoy Bucket Solo.

Hurry and don’t miss this chance to get a free treat along with your favorite Chickenjoy! Promo runs nationwide until September 30, 2021 only and is valid for deliveries made through the Jollibee App.

Stay tuned for more exciting interactive promos with the Jollibee Gift Color Code! For more information and to enjoy exclusive Jollibee App deals, download the app through the App Store and Google Play.

 


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