NEW YORK — American great Serena Williams said on Tuesday she was “evolving away from tennis” and planned to retire from the sport she dominated with 23 Grand Slam titles following the US Open tournament, which begins later this month.
On Monday, Williams played only her second singles match since she returned to action at Wimbledon in June after a year-long absence from competition, beating Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz to reach the second round of the Toronto Open.
But the 40-year-old said after the match that she could see the light at the end of the tennis tunnel in her career.
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote in a Vogue article.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.
“A few years ago, I quietly started Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm. Soon after that, I started a family. I want to grow that family.”
Williams won her last Grand Slam in 2017 and has been chasing an elusive 24th crown that would draw her level with Australian Margaret Court who holds the record.
The American came tantalizingly close to achieving that feat, featuring in four major finals since giving birth to daughter Olympia in 2017.
“There are people who say I’m not the GOAT (greatest of all time) because I didn’t pass Court’s record, which she achieved before the ‘Open era’ that began in 1968,” said former world number one Williams, who sought the advice of her friend Tiger Woods before picking up a racket again this spring.
Williams later said in an Instagram post that it was time to move in a “different direction.”
“The countdown has begun. I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals and finally discovering a different, but just exciting Serena.”
For nearly a decade she has backed early stage companies, including MasterClass, one of 16 unicorns — companies whose market value exceeds $1 billion — to receive funding from Serena Ventures. — Reuters
LOCAL ball clubs Blackwater and NLEX will have their mettle tested against decorated French team ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne in a series of goodwill games as part of the 75th year anniversary of friendship and diplomatic ties between the Philippines and France.
The Road Warriors and the Bossing, fresh from a quarterfinals stint in the ongoing Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup, will have one game each against the French squad with Greater China’s Bay Area Dragons serving as the other guest team.
The friendship games set on Aug. 31 to Sept. 4 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum was an initiative of Michèle Boccoz, French Ambassador to the Philippines, in a bid to foster stronger bilateral relations with the Philippines through sports this time.
“There has been a long cooperation between the Philippines and France but there’s a lot more we can do. Having sports as part of the anniversary is something we look forward to for another 75 years,” she said in a presser hosted by Blackwater on Wednesday.
NLEX and Blackwater also shared the excitement when they host Asvel, owned by NBA legend Tony Parker and the 21-time champion of French League, on Sept. 2 and 4, respectively.
In fact, the Bossing and the Road Warriors are pulling out all the stops to bring their imports for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup early to give Asvel a stronger competition.
“It will solidify the friendship between the Philippines and France. We have the whole week of September to entertain our Filipino fans with world-class basketball. I hope it inspires our young Filipino players,” said Sy.
“We’re really excited. I’m a fan of European basketball and Tony Parker so it’s our honor to be playing them. It’s also a learning opportunity for us as we play a world-class team,” added NLEX general manager and head coach Yeng Guiao.
Bay Area, for its part, will play ASVEL on Aug. 31 as part of its own buildup as a guest team in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup next month and as one of pioneering clubs in East Asia Super League (EASL) in October. — John Bryan Ulanday
NATIONAL Football League (NFL) owners unanimously approved the sale of the Denver Broncos to an ownership group led by Rob Walton, whose father founded Walmart, on Tuesday at league meetings in Bloomington, MN.
The Walton-Penner Ownership Group agreed to pay $4.65 billion — a record price for a sports franchise — to settle the purchase from the Bowlen family. The late Pat Bowlen, and his heirs, had owned the team for 38 years.
The two sides agreed to the deal in June.
“We are grateful for the support and trust of the National Football League and the 31 other teams with today’s vote. We couldn’t be more excited to join the Denver Broncos,” Walton said in a news release on Tuesday.
“It’s a responsibility and privilege to serve as stewards of such an iconic franchise. We have tremendous respect for what Pat Bowlen has meant to the Broncos and look forward to building on this organization’s championship legacy.”
Forbes pegs the net worth of the 77-year-old Walton at $65 billion, putting him in 19th place on the publication’s list of billionaires. He is the richest owner in the NFL, with only Steve Ballmer of the Los Angeles Clippers worth more — $91.4 billion — among North American sports teams.
The previous record sales price for an NFL franchise was the $2.275 billion David Tepper paid for the Carolina Panthers in 2018.
Walton’s ownership team also includes his daughter, Carrie, and her husband, Greg Penner, as well as notables such as Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state, and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. The Penners are expected to lead day-to-day operations.
“Looking ahead, I am confident the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group will add to the Broncos’ championship tradition on and off the field while putting their own stamp on this great organization,” said longtime Broncos president and CEO Joe Ellis, who is stepping down as the franchise changes hands. “I was asked by them to serve as an advisor to ownership for this season, and I’ve accepted their request to help in the transition however possible.”
Forbes valued the Broncos at $3.75 billion in 2021, estimating it at No. 10 on the list of franchise valuation.
Rob Walton now becomes the second NFL owner from the extended Walton family. Ann Walton Kroenke, who is Rob Walton’s cousin, is married to Stan Kroenke, owner of the Los Angeles Rams.
And they can have a family reunion of sorts. The Kroenkes also own the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL and the Denver Nuggets of the NBA.
While the Waltons have roots in Arkansas, where Walmart was founded, the ownership group intends to make a difference in Colorado, Walton said.
“While we’re deeply committed to fielding a great team to win Super Bowls, our family and extraordinary partners are also dedicated to our off-the-field responsibilities to Broncos Country and the Rocky Mountain region,” he said. “Most importantly, we will strive to make the Denver Broncos the best team to cheer for, play for and work for in all of sports.” — Reuters
OVERSEAS Filipino workers at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange. — PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN
All throughout the continuing saga of US Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) player Brittney Griner, we had wondered whether it is the obligation of governments like the Philippines to defend every citizen who is accused of a crime in a foreign land. The US government provided counsel to Griner and other forms of assistance. Last Thursday, however, a Russian court sentenced Griner to nine and a half years in prison, almost the maximum number, for the crime of international drug smuggling.
Griner’s ordeal started with her arrest for carrying less than one gram of cannabis or hashish oil in vape cartridges. Griner claimed during her trial she had mistakenly put the cartridges in her luggage in her rush to catch a flight to Moscow to play in Russia’s women’s professional basketball league. Over the last five years, she had been going to Moscow during the WNBA off-season, as most WNBA players do. The Russian league reportedly paid five times more than the WNBA. Griner, in effect, was an American overseas worker or an expat. That arrest at the airport on Feb. 17 was totally a surprise to her as during all those earlier trips to Moscow, she never encountered any problem.
It was Griner’s misfortune, however, that relations between Washington and Moscow were heating up. On Feb. 24, the Russians invaded Ukraine. Other sources stated that being black and being in a same-sex marriage further invited the attention of the Russians. The detention of Griner should therefore be viewed in the light of tensions between the US and Russia. Griner was charged with international drug smuggling, a major offense in Russia. To further strain relations between the two nations, the US claimed there were unjustified delays in Griner’s trial and that she was “wrongfully detained.”
As the Russia-Ukraine war escalated, Griner vanished from sight even if she was detained in a Russian jail. Fellow athletes, civil society groups, and the US government itself denounced the athlete’s disappearance. Eventually, Russian authorities produced Griner.
At this point, it is clear that Griner is what is called a “diplomatic hostage” and is now in the center of a prisoner swap together with another American detained in Moscow, ex-Marine Paul Whelan. Whelan is one of 64 Americans detained in prisons in Iran, China, Venezuela, and other countries that could use these detainees as bargaining chips in any dispute.
Apparently, the Russians have decided to do just that: use Griner as leverage to extract concessions from the Americans such as the release of Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout. Bout, a military interpreter, is spending time in a US jail for smuggling weapons from Eastern Europe to Africa and the Middle East. A spokesman of the Biden administration has said that they had made Russia a substantial offer to bring both Griner and Whelan home. If they are indeed brought home, the negotiation would be considered a success.
At this time when plain citizens, tourists, businessmen, journalists, and researchers can be picked off the street and used as some kind of pawn in a diplomatic crisis, it is understandable that athletes like Griner would hesitate to travel to countries that have a diplomatic axe to grind with other nations. An added dimension here is that Russia seems to be in some kind of mood to get back at those responsible for the ban on their athletes in the Olympics and other world competitions because of state-sponsored doping.
Let us go back to our original question of whether governments like the Philippines have an obligation to defend or provide for the defense of their citizens who are charged with criminal offenses in countries hosting these citizens. The question becomes relevant because of the big number of Filipinos working or living overseas. Secretary of Labor and Employment Bienvenido Laguesma says that there are between 10 million and 12 million Filipinos working abroad, depending on who is making the estimate.
The 71-year-old Laguesma, now on his second stint as Secretary of Labor after having occupied the same position in 1998 during the administration of President Joseph Estrada, says that it is indeed the legal and moral obligation of the government to do its best to defend a Filipino who is in some kind of legal trouble overseas. Laguesma, however, adds that we must take into account our resources and respect the sovereignty of the host country, as they should respect ours.
Laguesma says that, then as now, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are made to undergo pre-departure orientation seminars (PDOS). These seminars are supposed to guide departing workers on essentially how to behave in their country of work. It’s like briefing workers on codes of conduct, the “do’s and don’t’s,” if you will, and can be specific to the country where one is assigned. Despite these seminars, however, a number of OFWs manage to get into some kind of trouble. Some departing workers don’t attend such seminars and even submit forged certificates of attendance. And, as admitted even by some labor officials, some of our countrymen do instigate the problem out of need, frustration, and loneliness. When there are signs that our fellow citizens may be at fault, the government is very careful in extending legal assistance. Government representatives, however, do exercise moral responsibility and assist the worker in whatever way they can.
The question that is asked now is, if it is the obligation of government to provide legal assistance to an embattled fellow Filipino, are the agencies tasked to provide such legal assistance provided with the budget, the wherewithal to hire the counsel who can adequately defend the accused Filipino? Laguesma says that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the newly created Department of Migrant Workers will have the funds for such purposes.
The example of the US government going all out in defense of Griner who is “wrongfully detained” is probably inapplicable in the case of the Philippines. To begin with, Griner and Whelan have become pawns in US-Russia relations. However, with millions of Filipinos working overseas, we are most vulnerable to all sorts of crisis situations involving our nationals stationed overseas. And the potential for each crisis becoming an opportunity to blame the government for its inability to come to the aid of the lowly and lonely overseas worker is great.
The most celebrated case of a Filipino being executed abroad was Flor Contemplacion who was accused of killing a fellow Filipino maid, Delia Maga, and the three-year-old son of Maga’s employer. All attempts to save Contemplacion from the death penalty were unsuccessful. The Singaporean government executed her at Changi prison. Relations between the Philippines and Singapore were strained for some time.
Despite all the efforts of the government to save Contemplacion, organized labor still blamed the government for her execution. It was clear that overall frustration with the plight of OFWs had reached a boiling point and had become a political issue in the Philippines with the May 1995 elections just around the corner.
It was expected, that the execution of an overseas worker — regarded as a “Bayani ng Bayan” (Hero of the Country) — will always be a political and emotional issue among many Filipino families whose well-being is dependent on those offshore dollars that their loved ones send to the country.
Philip Ella Juico’s areas of interest include the protection and promotion of democracy, free markets, sustainable development, social responsibility and sports as a tool for social development. He obtained his doctorate in business at De La Salle University. Dr. Juico served as secretary of Agrarian Reform during the Corazon C. Aquino administration.
THE FINANCIAL CAPITALS of the world have lost their luster. The bright lights of New York City seem to have dimmed. London has far too many issues to contend with, from inflation, messy politics, and homes not built for the heat to a dysfunctional international airport. Hong Kong is a dark shadow of what it once was: A former British colony filled with tycoons and billionaires whose fast, wheeling-dealing, free spirit has faded.
Other close contenders like Tokyo, Singapore, and Shanghai don’t hold the same allure as they once did. So, what’s left?
Financial centers have typically been places with well-formed regulatory oversight and deep capital markets. Naturally, an ecosystem of workers is created around this, drawing in professionals like bankers, lawyers, accountants, and headhunters.
Factors like tax rates and the ability to draw capital — equity and debt — that facilitate business and bolster a city’s competitiveness help, too. There are various ways to measure that: The size and depth of capital markets, along with detailed, weighted indices that take into account everything from tax rates to office occupancy and legal jurisdiction.
These measures, though, ignore an underappreciated but increasingly relevant factor in the post-COVID era: human capital. We can no longer measure workers based on one-dimensional factors like education level or income bracket. Where do people want to live? And where can professionals do their jobs smoothly and, therefore, successfully? That’s changed since COVID turned our world upside down.
The latest rankings of the Global Financial Centers Index, or GFCI, based on 150 quantitative measures and almost 75,000 assessments of cities, as well as around 12,000 survey respondents, put New York, London, Hong Kong, and Shanghai at the top of the list. Notably, human capital was the most-mentioned area of competitiveness when respondents were asked what issue they considered the most important.
Contrary to popular understanding, financial-sector development was the lowest on that list because remote working and the ease of digital services through the pandemic have shown that there’s a different way to do business. The caveat, however, is the need for “a reliable and trustworthy ecosystem.”
It’s time to redefine global financial centers based on more subjective criteria. But where do you even begin? Cost and quality of living, for instance, help set a baseline to assess the cities that help attract — or put off — talent. Hong Kong remains the most expensive city, with its sky-high rents and COVID-19 measures that have made the cost of logistics, and life in general, exorbitant. Even the price of beer has shot up there. It ranks 71 on consultancy firm Mercer LLC’s quality of living index, while places like Vienna and Zurich top the list. London is 41, while the world’s foremost global financial center, New York, comes in at 44.
Then there’s connectivity. Travel to and from any of the top three financial centers is currently in shambles during what executives have described as the busiest season ever. Hong Kong barely has any flights out, and let’s not even start talking about its quarantine system, while London can’t handle passengers and New York remains hectic and full of delays.
It isn’t hard to see why, then, people in the US and elsewhere are leaving their jobs for greener pastures. The Great Resignation has been as much about people doing what they want — and not being tied to work — as the other economic factors that have allowed it. People choose to live in big cities because being employed in the finance world, or the ecosystem around it, is lucrative. Yet, it’s also expensive to live in and around these areas. Consider what’s happening with tech jobs — the first sector to go remote: US white-collar salaries are converging across the country, regardless of whether they are in a major hub or away from headquarters. Wages in DC are reaching those in the Bay Area.
To retain talent and lure the best and brightest, businesses will have to shift tactics. As BlackRock, Inc.’s and Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.’s office openings in places like West Palm Beach and Birmingham show, it isn’t all that difficult. Spreading talent out across places that offer better living standards, easy travel, and flexible work hours to match time zones and trading hours could go a long way to resolve the current labor problems and, ultimately, the cost of human capital.
This isn’t to say companies should let workers head off to remote islands with spotty wi-fi and poor infrastructure. Instead, it’s about acknowledging that places traditionally thought of as white-collar finance workers’ hubs just aren’t that anymore.
Globally, there are now few places where the world’s financiers want to live. One fast emerging hub for instance, is Dubai. (Full disclosure: I’ve lived in New York, London, and Hong Kong, and am a recent Dubai transplant.) It isn’t just the influx of expats fleeing other less-friendly regimes like Singapore and Hong Kong. Capital is flooding in too. The emirate has put in place measures to attract talent through visa programs, housing, and incentives for asset managers to set up shop. Schools are plenty and increasingly well-established. Its neighbor, Abu Dhabi, has done similar things, too.
There are, no doubt, shortcomings, like Dubai’s move to protect its telecom operator at the expense of consumers (you can’t use applications like WhatsApp or FaceTime to make voice or video calls, for example).
But history shows financial centers can evolve quickly, breaking with their traditional molds. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, hubs vying for importance like Dubai, Shanghai, and Sao Paulo emerged, although some haven’t quite lived up to their promise.
One of the most significant changes was the evolution of financial technology, or fintech, which raised questions over whether it would eventually make financial hubs unnecessary for the global economy to function.
Such changes — and the ability for employees and employers to live with them and make it work — show that it’s time for a reassessment.
RELATIONSHIPS between the greatest superpower and a certain territory claimed by the other superpower can amble along with “strategic ambiguity.” Lines are not broken but just pushed a bit. Can personal relationships also benefit from a vaguely undefined status? Household arrangements or rearrangements are not always straightforward. Neat labels are no longer solicited — it is what it is.
How often do we hear those in an undefined arrangement that is bumpy, if not off the road, maybe with detours and extended foray into the woods involved, struggling to be in the general vicinity? What’s the obsession with definitions and setting things straight? Can’t things just be left dangling and vaguely undefined? Is it necessary to specify what the new status is? (Let’s just be friends without benefits?)
Ambiguity can be an uncomfortable status in any alliance, even one that is all done and for which a modus vivendi, like no longer taking calls or ghosting, prevails. Celebrity couples whose joint accounts have been raided by one of the parties, or both, may still feel obliged to issue a public statement that they are trying to work out a process on the best way to bring some closure — to the joint bank account, anyway.
A definitive ending that allocates responsibility for payment of utilities and trips to the beach has nothing to do with the loss of reciprocal affections. Anyway, payments are seldom current. Even for unmarried live-in couples, an arrangement no longer exceptional nowadays, explanations to the easily shocked spinster aunts fall in the category of a long engagement — we’re saving up for a condo.
The only negotiated conditions, not left open to any ambiguity, refer to financial obligations. What is a pre-nuptial contract, after all, but a setting down of the terms and condition of the break-up of a merger without further acquisitions?
It is for these mundane details perhaps that some clarity is required. Also, new parties may have joined the old duets to make a discordant quartet sing off-key. (Are we on the same music sheet?) So, closure brings with it mostly unsavory fiscal issues that intrude into an eroded relationship where love no longer conquers all.
Complications set in when the estranged couple (this modifier seems to be favored over the more accurate “toxic”) cross paths on a quotidian basis, say working in the same office, or dealing with each other in business transactions as client and service provider, or in the entertainment business being in the same noontime program — we’re all professionals here, we only claw each other’s eyes out off-camera.
In business too (let’s not forget this is a business column in a business paper) ambiguity is allowed after a deal is concluded in principle with certain provisions still dependent on due diligence. (Do we have veto power on nominated independent directors?) Tender offers to minority shareholders are postponed to a later date, even when the company has already been taken over by a new set of charioteers whipping the old horses. Still, not all eventualities can be foreseen and provided for. Some vagueness driven by the desire to make the deal work must be addressed later in an agreed conciliation process.
What about the ambiguous status of an early political appointee? No forthright denial is issued when the matter of a forced resignation is bruited about in media. The ambiguous denial (I was just here at my office) brings up more questions than answers. Sometimes, “fake news” (this is always the default excuse for unconfirmed rumors) has some basis. Where there’s smoke, there’s somebody smoking.
Still, in business as in social relations, ambiguity suffices for those in the middle of an unresolved conflict. The boss who has remorse over an appointment may continue to give lukewarm support to his successor — of course we meet regularly. And there are no slide presentations needed: Do you see my chart?
An ambiguous person is afforded some flexibility. His commitments are vague — we can do a virtual lunch. Buy your own burger.
The word “ambiguous” comes from Latin ambi — both, plus agere — to drive. To be able to drive both ways clearly allows the driver to set the direction and the destination at the last minute and determine how long the trip will take with all the detours. Will he eventually reach his destination? Perhaps… but not always the one either party expected.
NEARLY three dozen people in China have been sickened by a newly identified virus from the same family as the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses, though there’s no evidence the pathogen can be transmitted from person-to-person.
The virus, named Langya henipavirus or LayV, was found thanks to an early detection system for feverish people with a recent history of exposure to animals in eastern China. The patients — mainly farmers — also reported fatigue, cough, loss of appetite and aches, with several developing blood-cell abnormalities and signs of liver and kidney damage. All survived.
Among the 35 patients, 26 were infected only with LayV, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
There was no evidence they had been in close contact or had a common exposure history, suggesting human infection may be sporadic, the researchers said. Tests detected the virus in 27% of shrews, a known vector for similar henipaviruses, suggesting the small, furry mole-like mammals may be a natural reservoir, they said.
Further investigation is needed to better understand the infection, according to the researchers from Beijing, Singapore and Australia. Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control said it is paying attention to the report, and plans to start screening for the virus.
The spread of germs from animals to humans, called zoonosis, is common, accounting for more than six of out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most of the time they cause limited disease, dying out without having a major impact. In the aftermath of COVID-19, however, more tracking systems now are in place and picking up novel pathogens. — Bloomberg
A GENERAL VIEW of the submerged Han River Park by torrential rain in Seoul, South Korea, Aug.10. — REUTERS
SEOUL — Torrential rains that have slammed South Korea’s capital, Seoul, diminished on Wednesday after killing at least nine people and damaging about 2,800 homes and other buildings.
More rain was forecast for Wednesday, but less than the heavy downpours on Monday and Tuesday that submerged some streets and buildings, trapping people in flooded apartments and stranding cars.
At least five people had been killed in Seoul as of early Wednesday, as well as three in the neighboring Gyeonggi Province and one in Gangwon Province, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
At least 17 people have been injured, and seven are missing.
Flooding in some buildings around the glitzy Gangnam district continued on Tuesday, while subway stations and several roads there had been blocked.
Data showed at least 2,800 public and private facilities had been damaged across South Korea, and more than 1,100 households had been displaced. Most highways and subway lines had been cleared by Wednesday.
The accumulated rainfall in Seoul since midnight Monday stood at 525mm as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), with more forecast. In neighboring Yangpyeong County, total rainfall hit 532.5 mm. — Reuters
A globe is seen in front of Chinese and Taiwanese flags in this illustration, Aug. 6, 2022. — REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/ILLUSTRATION
TAIPEI/BEIJING — Chinese navy ships remained active off both Taiwan’s east and west coasts on Wednesday morning, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters, as Beijing kept up military drills in protest against last week’s visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
A furious China has extended its largest-ever exercises around the self-ruled island it claims as its own beyond the originally scheduled four days. The drills last week included ballistic missile launches, some of which flew over the island’s capital Taipei, and simulated sea and air attacks in the skies and seas surrounding Taiwan.
Video released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday showed Chinese fighter jets scrambling and refueling while airborne, as well as navy ships on what it said were drills around Taiwan.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army said the drills were focused on blockades and resupply logistics, “under a complex electromagnetic environment to refine joint containment and control capabilities,” according to CCTV.
About 20 Chinese navy and Taiwan navy ships remained close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial buffer separating the two sides, as of Wednesday morning, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Several other Chinese ships continued to conduct missions off Taiwan’s eastern coast, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Taiwan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that China was using the military drills as a game-plan to prepare for an invasion of the self-ruled island.
“It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyberattacks, disinformation, and economic coercion, in an attempt to weaken public morale in Taiwan,” Joseph Wu said on Tuesday, without providing evidence or offering a timetable.
“After the drills conclude, China may try to routinize its action in an attempt to wreck the long-term status quo across the Taiwan Strait.”
Ms. Pelosi, a long-time China critic and a political ally of President Joseph R. Biden, visited Taiwan last week on the highest-level visit to the island by an American official in decades, despite Chinese warnings. She said her visit showed unwavering US commitment to supporting Taiwan’s democracy.
China says its relations with Taiwan are an internal matter and it reserves the right to bring the island under its control, by force if necessary. Taiwan rejects China’s claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
Washington was sticking to its assessment that China would not try to invade Taiwan for the next two years, a Pentagon official said on Monday.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday released a video showing its armed forces on exercises, saying its military is “at the ready keeping our country safe” and China had not stopped its “incursions” in areas near Taiwan.
Taiwan troops were guarding their posts “24-7” and have increased their alertness level, the ministry said, following the guidelines of “defending median line, defending territorial waters and defending sovereignty” to maintain the status quo. — Reuters
SHANGHAI — About 66,000 people in Southeast Asia are infected each year with SARS-related coronaviruses, and nearly 500 million people live near habitats where bat hosts of those viruses are found, according to a study released on Wednesday.
The research, published by Nature Communications, said viral transmission from bats to humans may have been “substantially underestimated,” adding that its mapping of bat species in the region could aid efforts to determine the origins of COVID-19.
The researchers focused on 26 species of bat known to host SARS-like coronaviruses in a region of 5.1 million square kilometers, stretching from China to Southeast and South Asia. They then incorporated data on antibody levels among people who have reported bat contact.
Southern China, northeastern Myanmar, Laos and northern Vietnam were identified as the regions with the highest diversity of bat species that host SARS-like coronaviruses (SARSr-CoVs).
“Our estimate that a median of 66,000 people are infected with SARSr-CoVs each year in Southeast Asia suggests that bat-to-human SARSr-CoV spillover is common in the region, and is undetected by surveillance programs and clinical studies in the majority of cases,” they said. “These data on the geography and scale of spillover can be used to target surveillance and prevention programs for potential future bat-CoV emergence,” the paper said.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strain.
The authors of the study include Peter Daszak, a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) team that was tasked with investigating the origins of the COVID-19 and visited Wuhan early last year, where the pandemic was first identified at the end of 2019.
The WHO said in June that the lack of data from China made it difficult to determine when and how the coronavirus first crossed over into the human population.
A study published by the journal Science at the end of July said live wildlife trade was still the best explanation for the origins of the pandemic, with two separate spillovers likely to have taken place at the Huanan Seafood Market, where many of the earliest cases were clustered. — Reuters
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida — KYODO/VIA REUTERS
TOKYO — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday, removing some ministers with links to the Unification Church in a bid to stem plunging support amid growing public outrage over the ruling party’s ties to the controversial group.
Mr. Kishida, in office since last October, announced his new government team in a shake-up that came earlier than analysts had expected.
While key personnel like foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and finance chief Shunichi Suzuki held on to their posts, some high-profile ministers were removed, including Nobuo Kishi, the younger brother of slain former premier Shinzo Abe, replaced as defense minister by Yasukazu Hamada.
In the month since Mr. Abe was gunned down, a spotlight has been turned on the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) long-standing ties to the Unification Church, with polls showing plunging approval ratings for Mr. Kishida with respondents citing a need to know just how close those ties might be.
Mr. Abe’s suspected killer has said his mother was a Unification Church member bankrupted by donating to it, and blamed Mr. Abe for promoting it.
In the latest survey, his support had fallen to 46% from 59% just three weeks ago, public broadcaster NHK said on Monday, the lowest rating for Mr. Kishida since he became prime minister.
“He’s basically doing damage control,” said political commentator Atsuo Ito. “What people are really watching is the Unification Church.”
The religious group itself is set to hold a rare news conference with foreign media late on Wednesday.
In other changes, Koichi Hagiuda, the trade minister, became head of the LDP’s policy research council, a heavyweight job in the party. That appointment is seen as an attempt to appease members of the Abe faction, the party’s biggest, though Hagiuda has publicly acknowledged attending an event held by a Unification Church-related group. — Reuters
BusinessWorld celebrates 35 years of service to the Philippine business community
By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran, Special Features Writer
BusinessWorld, from its roots when it was founded as ‘Business Day’ in 1967, was Southeast Asia’s first business daily. It was founded on the promise of providing “competent and responsible reporting of the news” under Raul L. Locsin, who served as its first president and editor-in-chief.
Through the years, Business Day has garnered a stellar reputation among Filipino businessmen, becoming a standard of professional economic journalism in the country and creating a tradition of excellence it still holds to this day.
As it celebrates the 35th year since its reformation under its new name in July 1987, BusinessWorld now represents more than five decades of commitment to that vision, guided by Mr. Locsin’s ever-enduring belief that a newspaper is a public trust.
Even as modern journalism struggles to find its place amid disruptions to the landscape, whether due to the continued evolution and growth of digital media, or the ever-changing behavior of Filipino readers, BusinessWorld holds fast to its ideals.
Reacting to a recent Reuters report that found that more people are avoiding the news nowadays due to a perceived oversaturation of “negativity” and “political influence,” Miguel G. Belmonte, president & chief executive officer (CEO) of BusinessWorld, could only chuckle.
“This isn’t even the worst report I’ve seen,” he said in an interview. Mr. Belmonte recalled reading a study once that found that as much as 50% of people nowadays do not want to look at traditional media, preferring instead to acquire their news through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
The Digital News Report of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that while the majority of people surveyed consume news regularly, 38% said they often or sometimes avoid the news — up from 29% in 2017. Around 36% — particularly those under 35 — say that the news lowers their mood.
Trust in news is also declining, with only 42% of people said they trust most news most of the time. That figure has fallen in almost half the countries in the report and risen in seven.
“The concept of people not wanting to read bad news is nothing new to us. Just a few years ago at the PhilSTAR, we made an effort to include good news in the front page, which no other newspaper was doing at the time,” Mr. Belmonte said.
“My feeling is that BusinessWorld is not that affected, because its content is not that concerned about bad news. Businessmen are not like regular readers, who are avoiding the news because it lowers their mood or some other reason. Businessmen want to hear the truth.”
It only makes sense. Businessmen need unbiased, verifiable facts for them to make the correct decisions regarding their daily operations. There is money involved, Mr. Belmonte noted, and no proper businessman will risk their operations by entertaining filtered but easier-to-swallow narratives as opposed to the direct, hard-hitting truths.
Moreover, BusinessWorld had overcome challenges of similar gravity in the past. The reason for the change in its name, for instance, was because the organization had to close down due to labor problems following the Martial Law period.
The non-striking workers got together barely a month later to form BusinessWorld Publishing Corp., ushering in the paper’s rebirth under the new name. This rebirth also saw the full computerization of its production process.
When Mr. Locsin passed away in May 2003, the paper underwent significant changes. His wife, Leticia Locsin, who was the executive editor and chief operating officer of the newspaper at that time, took over as president, publisher, and chairperson of the company until she passed away in August 2005.
The year after Mrs. Locsin’s death, telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) acquired a minority stake in BusinessWorld through its beneficial trust fund unit, MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. This eventually led to the group assuming control of the paper with its subsidiary Hastings Holdings, Inc. in September 2013, after it increased its stake from 30% to 76.67% and infusing P100 million into the company over a 12-month period. Ray C. Espinosa was appointed as BusinessWorld chairman.
That was when the board of directors of BusinessWorld elected Mr. Belmonte as head of the company. He had also been leading The Philippine STAR at the time as its president & CEO. In July that year, Philippine Star Printing Company, Inc. (PhilSTAR) acquired 76.63% of BusinessWorld Publishing Corp. from Hastings Holdings, Inc. in a move meant to “strengthen the distribution and operations” of the country’s premier business daily.
Guided by a timeless purpose
The fact that BusinessWorld has managed to succeed thus far in maintaining a core audience of decision-makers and leaders is a testament to the paper’s enduring quality.
“For me, BusinessWorld exists in the first place and why it still exists is because of a responsibility and a duty to report the news as accurately and fairly as we can. The fact that we’re still around and that the paper still maintains its influence in Philippine society proves that we’re still relevant,” Mr. Belmonte said.
However, he said that it was not a reason for them to rest easy on their laurels. “We also have to look where we can innovate, so as not to be left behind. Things are changing at a very fast pace. We have to keep up with the times, and that’s part of the challenge,” he said.
Wilfredo G. Reyes, editor-in-chief of BusinessWorld, echoed the sentiment. “I think that every challenge we face is an opportunity to up our game and alerts us to even the slightest change in the market we serve. How such challenges will affect the way we do things is something all of us in the company will have to discern and agree on as we beat the path ahead. There will always be a need for verified, accurate information, especially during emergencies and crises — more so for BusinessWorld’s public — but the question is in the form and mode of delivery.”
Mr. Reyes further pointed out that people have been claiming that “print is dead” for more than two decades now, and yet it still maintains its place in society. “I think that every medium has its use and it is up to us to find out what that is amid changing needs and preferences, and how to maximize each platform,” he said.
“It is just our ‘luck’ that the current crisis since 2020 opened a door for us to monetize digital initiatives,” Mr. Reyes said. “Digital initiatives have been accounting for more of our products and revenues, that I now always refer to BusinessWorld more generally as a publication, rather than just a newspaper.”
“If anything, this crisis has shown that, more than specific actions, we have the right mindset (to begin with) and processes to promptly tap emerging opportunities when and however they come,” he added.
Much like Mr. Belmonte, Mr. Reyes believes that guided by the timeless purpose BusinessWorld was founded on, it can continue to exist and be relevant to the Philippine business community.
“By going back to our core values, best described by the overall principle that what we do here is a public trust. That informs all of our initiatives and efforts, and everything else flows from that conviction. One can think of a whole list of initiatives we can explore — of which there are many, to be sure — but forget that foundation and you are lost,” Mr. Reyes said.
What’s more, it is because the opinions of the reading public have become jaded and influenced by other media, Lucien C. Dy Tioco, executive vice-president of BusinessWorld who also heads its sales and marketing, pointed out, that the role of newspapers and publications like BusinessWorld are more important than ever.
BusinessWorld’s current office located in New Manila, Quezon City
“It’s really important to underline the role of the newspaper in providing credible and factual news. That’s what people need to realize,” he said.
“For me, this is just a temporary thing. Given the times, it’s a sign for people now to assess what’s going on. To disengage is not an option for us because eventually, more or less, you have to face the reality of things.”
“For newspapers, it’s important to fight for our role in this space, especially since there’s a need for us to level things in providing accurate and truthful information. With BusinessWorld, it’s more important to provide confidence to the business community, giving them information on what is going on with the economy and what are the developments happening around the globe,” Mr. Dy Tioco added.
It is part of BusinessWorld’s service to the public and the country to continue as it has done before, Mr. Belmonte noted. “We must continue to report the news as we have been always doing it. We maintain our integrity, credibility, accuracy, and unbiased reporting,” he said.
“That’s part of our service to our reading public, and our service to our country. To provide information that is useful for the decision-makers both in the public and private sector. It’s challenging but so far so good. We’re still here so we must be doing something right.”
