Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 6095

Multisectoral collaboration and responsive policy making

STORIES-FREEPIK

The 2020 regulatory impact assessment by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)/Asian Development Bank (ADB) was unequivocal: “Governments are generally becoming more citizen-centric. For example, improving government service delivery has increasingly become a focus for many OECD member countries in recent years.”

Governments operating under a citizen-responsive orientation have the capacity to deal with powerful social forces. They are insulated from parochial or particularistic interests that tend to undermine the general welfare of the population and society. In this respect, the OECD/ADB report also emphasized that “where government have operated in silos — rather than based on life events or journeys — anticipated benefits have not materialized.”

Republic Act No. 11635, otherwise known as “An Act Amending Section 27(B) of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997,” is an example of a citizen-centric legislation that was enacted because of the collective intervention of stakeholders to protect, not only the interests of the private education sector, but of the whole education ecosystem in the country.

As stated in the said landmark law, “Hospitals which are nonprofit and proprietary educational institutions shall pay a tax of ten percent (10%) on their taxable income except those covered by Subsection (D) hereof: Provided, that beginning July 1, 2020 until June 30, 2023, the tax rate herein imposed shall be one percent (1%).”

This effective legislative intervention represents how a sensible and responsive legal and regulatory environment should be. Aside from eradicating once and for all the threat of a flawed policy, i.e., the Bureau of Internal Revenue RR 5-2021 that imposed a 150% tax increase for private schools, it demonstrated how such intervention could provide much-needed relief for proprietary educational institutions and concerned stakeholders in this time of pandemic.

The timely and appropriate resolution of the education tax policy predicament is a much-needed relief for the private education system. Burdened with dwindling enrollment, closures, and rising costs of maintenance, government assistance is what private schools or universities need during this crucial time.

If there were no such intervention, the co-existence of public and private educational systems to mold each Filipino to be productive citizens for nation building could have greatly been disrupted with long term consequences.

The non-correction of the BIR RR 5-2021 could also have entrenched an irrational tax regime that is detrimental to the millions of Filipinos relying on proprietary educational institutions and private education. Moving forward, this incredible policy could have served as a precedent for further erroneous taxation policies and regulations, which would surely spill over to other economic and social sectors and adversely affect them.

How did this policy intervention succeed with such speed?

When the devastating consequences of BIR RR 5-2021 were made known to the public, the private education sector united its constituency and collaborated with civil society to bring the issue to a level of national awareness. Naturally, this caught the attention of legislators in both Houses of Congress and moved them into action. Merely six months after the campaign to rectify this error was launched, RA 11635 was approved and signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Dec. 10, 2021.

The multi-stakeholder character of this legislative victory in amending a bad policy is clearly instructive of the following lessons.

First, the private education sector had a shared goal of rectifying a wrong policy, alleviating the plight of its institutions, and protecting the interests of its stakeholders.

Second, the passage of RA 11635 could not have been possible without the attention and due consideration given by our concerned legislators both in the Lower House and Senate.

Third, civil society actors have equally played an important role in terms of advocacy and lobbying.

The above-mentioned three actors displayed a cross-sectoral collaboration that created a powerful clamor to extinguish the imminently disastrous threat of BIR RR 5-2021. Truly, the students, teachers, non-teaching employees, parents, allied workers and industries, and the whole education system itself would be benefitted by the corrective legislation.

Another very important lesson in governance, economy, and society points to the lessons that emanate from a bureaucratic policy or regulation that is devoid of consultation and insensitive to the needs of citizens. Erroneous policies, on the one hand, are a result of an organization’s culture or practice operating in isolation from the involved social sectors. Good policies, on the other hand, are a result of consultation, coordination, and collaboration between agencies and sectors.

As highlighted by the OECD/ADB’s report, “OECD experience shows that facilitating engagement of affected businesses and citizens at the outset has been crucial in gaining acceptance of burden reduction programs, and more broadly in improving the design of regulations.”

We need to further strengthen the productive balance between the public and private education systems. Our educational institutions should be treated as a structural pillar that not only trains our workforce but teaches our people the morals, values, and duties as Filipino citizens.

 

Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit is the president of the Stratbase ADR Institute.

Bring tech and innovation to climate-change fight

FREEPIK

OVER the past few weeks, Alaska recorded record-high temperatures, scientists released a “report card” showing relentless deterioration of the Arctic’s climate, and researchers warned that an ice shelf in Antarctica could collapse within a few years, dramatically increasing the region’s contribution to rising sea levels.

These are signposts on a grim path. They show that damage to the cryosphere, the portions of Earth’s surface where ice predominates, is happening faster than many anticipated. After a year of promises — at the United Nations’ Glasgow climate conference and beyond — 2022 must be the year of concrete action, in particular at the Earth’s poles.

The annual Arctic health check produced by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided a worrying snapshot. For the eighth year in a row, surface air temperatures in the High North were at least 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above the long-term average. In April, the post-winter volume of sea ice — a crucial indicator — hit the lowest level since record-keeping began.

Since 1980, the Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the globe. This is partly due to feedback loops. Retreating sea ice exposes darker ocean, which absorbs sunlight rather than reflecting it, and hence causes more melting. It’s a similar story with thinning ice sheets and shrinking snow cover. Permafrost — which holds twice the present-day atmosphere’s load of carbon — is now thawing and releasing methane, which in turn is heating the atmosphere and worsening the thaw.

Antarctica tells a similar tale. An ice shelf has held the giant Thwaites Glacier in place like a cork, but researchers last month said warm water was melting it from below, while the grip of an undersea mountain that has pinned it in place is loosening. Increased fracturing could simply shatter it. If the Thwaites Glacier melted entirely, it would raise global sea levels by about two feet, threatening coastal cities.

What’s to be done?

Global emissions reduction is of course essential. But those efforts won’t do enough to forestall a looming crisis in the polar regions. Policy makers should view the cryosphere as a test bed for the kind of large-scale technological interventions that may soon be needed in other areas as climate change intensifies.

As a start, that will require a more robust governance forum for the poles. Existing frameworks — notably the Arctic Council and the Antarctic Treaty — have helped keep the peace and advance scientific goals, but neither is suitable for making political choices. An effort under the UN’s auspices to oversee climate technology at the poles could help lay the groundwork for significant new experiments.

Several such projects are already under study. Some are clever if far-fetched, such as a plan to coat seasonal Arctic ice with a reflective glass powder, thereby increasing its reflectivity and diminishing feedback loops. Some are plausible but require further study and risk assessment, such as efforts to deploy hydrosols to increase surface-water brightness; use wind power to pump water to the surface during the Arctic winter, where it should rapidly freeze and thicken; or inject sulfates into the lower stratosphere to reduce temperatures and ice loss.

A few proposals seem potentially transformative. One plan, published by four scientists in Nature, envisions constructing large barriers at the base of glaciers that could block warm ocean currents and prevent the underlying ice from thawing. The authors propose using berms and artificial islands to buttress ice shelves and impede sea-level rise. If successful, they estimate, such efforts could delay catastrophic melting by several centuries — buying crucial time for emissions reduction to take hold.

All these approaches will have drawbacks. Some won’t work. None should reduce the urgency to slash carbon emissions. But solving climate change requires experimentation, boldness and openness to new ideas — even those that may sound slightly unhinged.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Reasonable expectation of privacy at work in light of Data Privacy Act of 2012

JCOMP-FREEPIK

It is a common work set-up that employees, either in a private establishment or government, are issued employer-owned computers or mobile devices in the conduct of their work. A work-specific e-mail address created by the employer is usually also provided. With this set-up, questions on whether an employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy, such that an employer may look into the employee’s employer-owned computer or mobile device that is left open, logged in, and/or visible to passers-by in the office premises.

A similar issue was answered by the National Privacy Commission (NPC) through its Advisory Opinion No. 2018-090 dated Nov. 28, 2018 (Opinion). The query was regarding the use of office-issued mobile devices, in particular, whether the access of the employer to the employee’s personal iCloud account using an office-issued mobile device would be in violation of the employee’s rights to data privacy or constitute any of the offenses punishable under the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (DPA).

The NPC discussed the “reasonable expectation of privacy” test in determining whether there was a violation of the right to privacy, citing the 1998 Supreme Court case Ople v. Torres1 which ruled that reasonableness of a person’s expectation of privacy depends on a two-part test:

1. Whether by his conduct, the individual has exhibited an expectation of privacy; and,

2. Whether this expectation is one that society recognizes as reasonable.

The “reasonable expectation of privacy” test was also used in the 2011 Supreme Court case of Pollo v. Chairperson Constantino-David2 which involves a search of an office computer assigned to a government employee who was administratively charged. The Supreme Court cited several US jurisprudence as bases considering that our present Constitutional provision on the guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure had its origin in the US’ 1935 Charter. To resolve the issue in Pollo, the Supreme Court considered the following circumstances:

1. the employee’s relationship to the item seized;

2. whether the item was in the immediate control of the employee when it was seized; and,

3. whether the employee took actions to maintain his privacy in the item.

Thus, where the employee used a password on his computer, did not share his office with co-workers and kept the same locked, he had a legitimate expectation of privacy and any search of that space and items located therein must comply with the Constitutional guarantee to privacy.

In its Opinion, however, the NPC noted that the “reasonable expectation of privacy” test was used at a time when there were no laws on data protection and informational privacy and that such a test should be revisited and interpreted in the context of the DPA.

It is the opinion of the NPC that through the DPA, the assumption now is that individuals have an expectation of privacy which is more than reasonable as it is now enshrined in the DPA. The “reasonable expectation of privacy” test should then take into consideration the standards provided under the DPA. This means that employees must be aware of the nature, purpose, and extent of the processing of his or her personal data in the workplace. The processing of personal information of employees shall also be compatible with a declared and specified purpose which must not be contrary to law, morals, or public policy. Lastly, the processing of such information shall be adequate, relevant, suitable, necessary, and not excessive in relation to a declared and specified purpose.

The NPC further opined that the fact that an employer has the ownership of the electronic means does not rule out the right of employees to privacy of their communications, related location data, and correspondence. As such, employees have an expectation of privacy in their own personal iCloud accounts even if they are logged in using their office-issued mobile devices.

The NPC likewise advised that companies should revisit policies on the use of electronic communication devices, taking into consideration the DPA, especially data privacy principles and data subjects’ rights. This translates to clear and well-defined policies and practices as to the extent of monitoring, degree of intrusion, consequence to employees, and procedural guarantees against arbitrariness.

In sum, based on the NPC Opinion, even if the employer-issued computer or device can readily be seen or accessed, e.g. the same is not password protected or if protected, the password was saved in the device; or the device was shared with co-workers, the employee still has an expectation of privacy considering that the NPC requires the express consent of the data subject before personal data may be processed and shared in accordance with a declared and specified purpose which should be made known to the data subject.

While the application and interpretation of the provisions under the DPA have not yet reached the Supreme Court, it must be noted that interpretations of an administrative government agency (e.g., opinions/rulings) tasked to implement a statute are accorded great respect and ordinarily controls the statutory construction of the courts.3

1 G.R. No. 127685, July 23, 1998.

2 G.R. No. 181881, Oct. 18, 2011.

3 Energy Regulatory Board v. CA, G.R. No. 113079, April 20, 2001.

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not offered as and does not constitute legal advice or legal opinion.

 

Erika Joy B. Murcia is an associate of the Cebu Branch of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW).

ebmurcia@accralaw.com

Tonga suffers major damage following volcanic eruption

REUTERS

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON — Tonga’s small outer islands suffered extensive damage from a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami, a Tongan diplomat said on Tuesday, raising fears of more deaths and injuries.

“Alarming” images taken by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) reconnaissance flights showed an entire village destroyed on Mango island and numerous buildings missing on nearby Atata island, said the diplomat, Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie.

“People panic, people run and get injuries,” Tu’ihalangingie told Reuters. “Possibly there will be more deaths and we just pray that is not the case.”

Tonga police told the New Zealand High Commission that the confirmed death toll stood at two but with communications in the South Pacific island nation cut, the true extent of casualties was not clear.

Australia’s Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja said Tongan officials were hoping to evacuate people from the isolated, low-lying Ha’apai islands group and other outer islands where conditions were “very tough, we understand, with many houses being destroyed in the tsunami.”

The United Nations had earlier reported a distress signal was detected in Ha’apai, where Mango is located. The Tongan navy reported the area was hit by waves estimated to be 5-10 meters (15-30 feet) high, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Atata and Mango are between about 50 and 70 kms from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean and was heard some 2,300 kms (1,430 miles) away in New Zealand when it erupted on Saturday.

Atata has a population of about 100 people and Mango around 50 people.

“It is very alarming to see the wave possibly went through Atata from one end to the other,” said Tu’ihalangingie.

The NZDF images, which were posted unofficially on a Facebook site and confirmed by Tu’ihalangingie, also showed tarpaulins being used as shelter on Mango island.

British national Angela Glover, 50, was killed in the tsunami as she tried to rescue the dogs she looked after at a rescue shelter, her brother said, the first known death in the disaster.

CLEARING THE RUNWAY
A thick layer of ash blankets the islands, the New Zealand High Commission said, adding it was working to establish communications with smaller islands “as a matter of priority”.

The archipelago’s main airport, Fua’amotu International Airport, was not damaged in Saturday’s eruption and tsunami but heavy ashfall is preventing full operations, hampering international relief efforts.

The U.N. humanitarian office said Tongan officials had said that clearing the runway would take days as it was being done manually, by Wednesday at the earliest.

People on the western coast of the main island of Tongatapu had been evacuated because of “significant damage,” OCHA added in an update, while government ministers had broadcast warnings on radio against price gouging amid worries of supply shortages.

The Tongan government is expected to formally request aid from countries including Australia and New Zealand tomorrow. Both antipodean nations have C-130 military aircraft on standby, packed with emergency supplies.

“The priority now will be to be get supplies to Tonga and the biggest constraint on that at the moment … is the airport. There is still a significant amount of ash,” Seselja said. Tonga is a kingdom of 176 islands, of which 36 are inhabited, with a population of 104,494 people.

The archipelago has remained largely cut off from the world since the eruption which cut its main undersea communications cable.

Subcom, a US based private company contracted to repair various subsea cables in the Asia-Pacific, said it was working with Tonga Cable Ltd. to repair the cable that runs from Tonga to Fiji.

Samiuela Fonua, the chair of Tonga Cable, said there were two cuts in the undersea cable that would not be fixed until volcanic activity ceased, allowing repair crews access. — Reuters

Public trust in democracies fell to new low, says survey

VISITORS take photos outside the White House in Washington, US, Dec. 27. — REUTERS

PUBLIC TRUST in governments running the world’s democracies has fallen to new lows over their handling of the pandemic and amid a widespread sense of economic pessimism, a global survey has found.

The Edelman Trust Barometer, which for two decades has polled thousands of people on trust in their governments, media, business and NGOs, conversely showed rising scores in several autocratic states, notably China.

It also highlighted that business, thanks to its role developing vaccines and adapting workplace and retail practices, had retained strong levels of trust globally, albeit with reservations about its commitment to social fairness.

“We really have a collapse of trust in democracies,” said Richard Edelman, whose Edelman communications group published the survey of over 36,000 respondents in 28 countries interviewed between Nov. 1-24 of last year.

“It all goes back to: ‘Do you have a sense of economic confidence?’” he added, noting high levels of concern about job losses linked either to the pandemic or automation.

The biggest losers of public trust over the last year were institutions in Germany, down 7 points to 46, Australia at 53 (-6), the Netherlands at 57 (-6), South Korea at 42 (-5) and the United States at 43 (-5).

By contrast, public trust in institutions in China stood at 83%, up 11 points, 76% in United Arab Emirates (+9) and 66% in Thailand (+5).

The trillions of dollars of stimulus spent by the world’s richest nations to support their economies through the pandemic have failed to instil a lasting sense of confidence, the survey suggested.

In Japan, only 15% of people believed they and their families would be better off in five years’ time, with most other democracies ranging around 20-40% on the same question.

But in China nearly two-thirds were optimistic about their economic fortunes and 80% of Indians believed they would be better off in five years.

Mr. Edelman said higher public trust levels in China were linked not just to economic perceptions but also to a greater sense of predictability about Chinese policy, not least on the pandemic.

“I think there is a coherence between what is done and what is said…They have had a better COVID than the US for example.”

According to the Reuters pandemic tracker, the United States currently leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths reported, while China has regularly been reporting no new deaths for months as it pursues strict “zero-COVID” policies.

The results of the latest Edelman survey are in tune with its findings in recent years that charted rising disillusionment with capitalism, political leadership and the media.

Concerns about “fake news” were this time at all-time highs, with three-quarters of respondents globally worried about it being “used as a weapon”. Among societal fears, climate change was now just behind the loss of employment as a major concern.

The burden of expectation on business leaders remains heavy, with strong majorities saying they bought goods, accepted job offers and invested in businesses according to their beliefs and values.

Around two-fifths, however, also said that business was not doing enough to address climate change, economic inequality and workforce reskilling. — Reuters

Menopause strains workforce with some women planning to quit

UNSPLASH

ALMOST a fifth of the female workforce who are experiencing the menopause are considering leaving their jobs, a survey shows.

The study commissioned by the childcare service Koru Kids showed that most women don’t get any support at work for their symptoms, and almost a quarter of them aged are unhappy in their jobs because of it. About 18% are thinking about quitting all together, the survey of 2,000 women between the ages of 45 to 67 showed.

“Women should never be pushed out of the workplace because of their biology,” said Rachel Carrell, the founder of Koru Kids. “We need to support older women with flexible working and health support so they don’t fall out of the workplace needlessly.”

The symptoms caused by menopause and the time leading up to it, perimenopause, include loss of sleep, mood swings, and flashes. They can be so debilitating that it has a bigger impact on women’s careers than anything else except having children.

It also adds to strains on the UK labor market, where job vacancies are going unfilled because of a shortage of qualified staff, increasing wages and concerns about inflation.

Women looking to quit listed pressure along with not being able to work flexibly and a lack of understanding from management as the key reasons they wanted to leave.

Fully 63% of the women surveyed who were going through menopause said that their employer hadn’t introduced any policy to support those struggling with symptoms. An even higher proportion of those who had taken time off because of their symptoms hadn’t told their employer the real reason why. — Bloomberg

UN chief urges business to help poor nations in ‘hour of need’

REUTERS

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to business leaders on Monday to support developing countries “in their hour of need” with access to COVID-19 vaccines, help to combat the climate crisis and reform of the global financial system.

Speaking virtually to the World Economic Forum, Mr. Guterres said: “Across all three of these areas, we need the support, the ideas, the financing and the voice of the global business community.”

He said there has been a “global inability to support developing countries in their hour of need” and warned that without immediate action inequalities and poverty would deepen, fueling more social unrest and more violence.

“We cannot afford this kind of instability,” said Mr. Guterres, who began a second five-year term as U.N. chief on Jan. 1.

He has long been pushing for more global action to address COVID-19 vaccine inequity and climate change and for reform of the global financial system.

“We need a global financial system that is fit-for-purpose. This means urgent debt restructuring and reforms of the long-term debt architecture,” Mr. Guterres said.

The World Health Organization last year set targets for 40% of people in all countries to be vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the end of 2021 and 70 per cent by the middle of this year.

“We are nowhere near these targets. Vaccination rates in high-income countries are — shamefully — seven times higher than in African countries. We need vaccine equity, now,” Mr. Guterres said.

He also warned of a lopsided recovery from the pandemic with low-income countries at a huge disadvantage.

“They’re experiencing their slowest growth in a generation,” Mr. Guterres said. “The burdens of record inflation, shrinking fiscal space, high interest rates and soaring energy and food prices are hitting every corner of the world and blocking recovery — especially in low- and some middle-income countries.” — Reuters

Robert Lewandowski wins FIFA Best awards with Alexia Putellas

BAYERN Munich’s Polish striker Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA Best Men’s Player award for 2021 with Barcelona’s Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas winning the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Best Women’s Player prize at Monday’s ceremony.

The prolific Lewandowski won the award for the second straight year after a season in which he beat Gerd Mueller’s 49-year old record of 40 goals in a single Bundesliga campaign.

“Robert is someone special. He is the greatest footballer in the history of our country. The best Polish ambassador and a role model for young people, not only those playing football,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Facebook.

The 27-year-old Putellas was at the heart of the Barcelona women’s team which won the Spanish league and the UEFA Champions League.

Chelsea won both the awards for best coach, with Thomas Tuchel winning the men’s award and Emma Hayes named the best women’s coach.

Tuchel had guided Chelsea to the Champions League title after taking over the club in January while Hayes won the Women’s Super League, FA Cup and League Cup treble in England.

The West London club enjoyed further recognition with their Senegal international Edouard Mendy winning the Best Men’s Goalkeeper award.

Chile and Olympique Lyonnais’ Christiane Endler was named The Best Women’s Goalkeeper.

The Puskas Award for best goal of the year was won by Argentine Erik Lamela, now with Spanish club Sevilla, for his goal for Tottenham Hotspur against Arsenal.

The Denmark national team and their medical staff won the Fair Play award for their swift response after Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field during the Euro 2020 game with Finland. — Reuters

Fernandez loses to Aussie wild-card Maddison Inglis at Australian Open first round

CANADA’S Leylah Fernandez reacts during her first round match against Australia’s Maddison Inglis. — REUTERS

MELBOURNE — US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez lost 6-4, 6-2 to local wild-card Maddison Inglis at the Australian Open on Tuesday to continue her run of first-round exits at Melbourne Park.

Fernandez had exited the hardcourt major without a win in her two previous appearances, but the world number 24 would have hoped to get past the first obstacle this time around against her 133rd ranked opponent whom she beat in both prior meetings.

But Inglis seized the advantage with a break in the seventh game to take the opening set and then opened up a 4-0 lead in the second with a double break.

The 19-year-old Canadian, who accumulated 30 unforced errors, had two of her three breakpoint opportunities in the sixth game of the second set but failed to convert as Inglis stayed solid to secure victory on her third match point.

It was the first Grand Slam main draw win at the fifth attempt for the 24-year-old from Perth. — Reuters

Luka Dončić triple-double helps Mavs edge Thunder

LUKA Dončić had 20 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists as the Dallas Mavericks held on for a 104-102 win over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.

Dončić struggled from the field, making just 4 of 17 shots, his worst shooting night of the season in both percentage and made shots. However, he still managed to record his fifth triple-double of the season.

Dončić now has 41 career triple-doubles, more than half of the 81 triple-doubles in franchise history.

The Thunder, who trailed by 22 points in the third quarter, had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final seconds after the Mavericks’ Josh Green missed two free throws with 2.6 seconds left.

However, Dallas’ Tim Hardaway, Jr. wrestled the inbounds pass away from Mike Muscala, giving the Mavericks the win.

The Thunder lost for the seventh time in eight games. Dallas extended its winning streak to three and won for the ninth time in its last 10 games.

The victory wasn’t easy for the Mavericks, though.

Dallas turned ice cold from the floor in the middle of the third quarter, letting Oklahoma City get back into the game with a 22-2 run that trimmed the deficit to 72-70 in the final minute of the period.

The Mavericks were just 1 of 11 from the field during that span before Trey Burke’s 3-pointer helped Dallas steady itself a bit heading into the fourth.

The Thunder had been struggling on offense before the stretch that saw them make 7 of 8 from the floor, including four 3-pointers, to close the gap.

With 20 seconds left in the third, Oklahoma City had the ball down by three. However, the Thunder committed a turnover, and Green’s layup extended the lead to five.

Dorian Finney-Smith added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks. Jalen Brunson had 14 points, eight in the fourth quarter, and eight assists.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 34 points, while Luguentz Dort added 18 points and seven rebounds.

Dallas’ Reggie Bullock missed the game with right knee soreness, and Maxi Kleber left the game early in the third quarter after injuring his left knee on an alley-oop dunk. — Reuters

Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams cruise past Arizona Cardinals, 34-11

MATTHEW Stafford rushed for one touchdown (TD) and passed for two more as the Los Angeles Rams advanced to the National Football Conference (NFC) divisional playoff round with a convincing 34-11 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night in Inglewood, CA.

Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham, Jr. had touchdown receptions for the Rams, who used a dominating performance from their defense to earn an appearance in the divisional round for the third time in the past four seasons.

Stafford threw for 202 yards on 13-of-17 passing while the Rams had 140 rushing yards, led by Sony Michel (13 carries, 58 yards) and Cam Akers (17, 55).

Fourth-seeded Los Angeles will hit the road to face the second-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, with the winner advancing to the NFC Championship Game.

Quarterback Kyler Murray had just 137 passing yards and two interceptions as the Cardinals lost for the fifth time in their last six games dating back to Week 14, when they took a 30-23 home loss to the Rams.

Arizona had minus-1 net yards near the midway point of the second quarter, following its first five drives of the game, and finished with 183 total yards. Cardinals running backs Chase Edmonds and James Conner combined for just 47 yards on 12 carries.

Rams coach Sean McVay said of his defensive players, “They played really well overall, but what they did in the first half, they held them to 40 yards. I think it was one of the best performances in playoff history being able to hold (down) an explosive offense like that, to be able to get a defensive touchdown, a couple of turnovers. Just so pleased with those guys.”

Los Angeles Pro Bowl defensive tackle Aaron Donald added, “I feel like we were dominant out there. I feel like the quarterback wasn’t comfortable at all… That was the game plan. We stuck to it, and we had some success out there.”

The Rams took a 7-0 lead with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter when Stafford lobbed a 4-yard TD pass to Beckham in the back, left corner of the end zone. Stafford’s 1-yard quarterback sneak with 11:58 remaining in the second quarter made it a 14-0 advantage.

Things only got worse on offense for the Cardinals when the Rams’ David Long, Jr. intercepted a bobbled Murray screen pass and returned it 3 yards for a TD and a 21-0 lead with 7:59 remaining before the half.

Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said, “You come out against a really good team and don’t do anything right for the first two quarters, that’s what’s going to happen. You have to give them credit. They played a great game and we didn’t do much right, coaching or playing, in the first half.”

The Rams made it 28-0 on Kupp’s 7-yard TD reception early in the third quarter before the Cardinals finally got on the scoreboard. Connor rushed for a 2-yard TD with 4:11 remaining in the third quarter, and Arizona added a two-point conversion to trail 28-8.

Stafford earned his first playoff victory in four tries after three prior defeats with the Detroit Lions.

Murray completed 19 of 34 passes in his first career playoff game, capping his third season.

Kingsbury said, “We have to use this as motivation and come back stronger from it, because that’s not indicative of who we want to be and unfortunately, that’s what showed up tonight.” — Reuters

Spezia strikes at the death to stun title-chasing AC Milan

ROME — Emmanuel Gyasi scored a stunning 96th-minute winner as relegation battling Spezia came from behind to beat AC Milan (2-1) in a controversial match at San Siro on Monday, putting a dent in the home side’s Serie A title hopes.

In-form Milan winger Rafael Leao put his side in front at the end of the first half after Theo Hernandez missed a penalty, but the visitors struck back through substitute Kevin Agudelo.

Junior Messias thought he had won it for the hosts when he curled home in stoppage time, but the referee’s whistle had already sounded for an earlier foul on Milan’s Ante Rebic, and Spezia then hit on the break to win it at the death.

The decision left Milan furious as referee Marco Serra left hardly any time for advantage to be played, with around two seconds passing between the foul on Rebic and Messias’ shot.

“I tried to calm down the players but couldn’t,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli told DAZN.

“We know we have suffered an injustice. It’s a shame, the responsibility is ours for the goal we conceded but that must be shared with the referee.”

It was a missed opportunity for Pioli’s side, who went into the game knowing a win would send them top, but remain two points behind leaders Inter Milan, who have a game in hand.

Spezia climbed to 14th place on 22 points, six clear of the relegation zone.

“The guys were great, they knew it was a difficult game against a team that is fighting for the title. We did well right to the end,” Spezia coach Thiago Motta said.

Elsewhere, third-placed Napoli narrowed the gap to the top two as Hirving Lozano scored twice in a 2-0 win at Bologna, leaving Luciano Spalletti’s side two points behind Milan.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Milan went into the game on a run of three consecutive league wins, despite missing a string of key players through injury and Africa Cup of Nations commitments.

The hosts started strongly as Leao, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexis Saelemaekers tested Ivan Provedel.

But the goalkeeper was at fault when he kicked Leao to concede a spot kick, which Hernandez steered wide.

Within two minutes Leao put them in front, racing onto a long pass to guide a lob over the outrushing Provedel.

Spezia was improved after the break and was rewarded when Agudelo fired home from close range on the 64th minute.

Milan piled forward late on and thought they had won it with Messias’ curler but the referee had called a free kick, which Ibrahimovic got on target to force another save from the impressive Provedel.

Spezia struck on the break in the final minute to clinch it, Viktor Kovalenko picking out Gyasi to finish.

In Bologna, Napoli earned a comfortable 2-0 win thanks to Mexican winger Lozano.

He fired in his first after 20 minutes, before rounding the goalkeeper to tap in a second early in the second half.

Lozano’s two goals were as many as he had scored in his previous 21 Serie A games.

In the late game, Fiorentina thrashed managerless Genoa 6-0 in Florence to go sixth, in the Grifone’s first game since sacking coach Andriy Shevchenko.

Cristiano Biraghi scored from two direct free kicks, while Alvaro Odriozola, Giacomo Bonaventura, Dusan Vlahovic and Lucas Torreira were also on target in a rout against the 19th-placed visitors, led by interim boss Abdoulay Konko. — Reuters

1...6,0946,0956,096...13,400Page 6,095 of 13,400
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube