Tropang Giga rookie Mikey Williams in running for BPC award

September 27, 2021 | 7:29 pm

TNT TROPANG GIGA ROOKIE MIKEY WILLIAMS — PBA IMAGES

TNT Tropang Giga rookie Mikey Williams has been making waves in his debut Philippine Basketball Association tournament and is in the running for the best player of the conference (BPC) award.

In the official list released by the league at the weekend, Mr. Williams, 29, the fourth overall pick in this year’s rookie draft, ranked second in the BPC race at the end of the elimination round, behind Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok do-it-all forward Calvin Abueva.

Mr. Abueva churned out an average of 35.36 statistical points, with Mr. Williams closely behind with 35.30 average SPs. Third running is Northport Batang Pier’s Robert Bolick with 35.27 SPs.

The TnT rookie is his team’s leading scorer, producing 18.4 points per contest, second league-wise, after the 19-point average of San Miguel Beermen’s Terrence Romeo.

Mr. Williams is also producing 4.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals in 10 games to date in the Philippine Cup for TnT, which ended the elimination round with a 10-1 record.

The steady play of Mr. Williams has afforded TnT the flexibility to manage the minutes of veteran Jayson Castro, which is proving to be beneficial for the latter as he does need to do much heavy lifting for his team game in and game out.

Mr. Williams, too, has complemented the play of the other young guns of the team like Roger Pogoy and Troy Rosario.

Completing the top 10 BPC contenders are Jamie Malonzo (31.5) of Northport at fourth, followed by Magnolia’s Ian Sangalang (31.3), San Miguel Beer’s CJ Perez (30.7), Rain or Shine’s Javee Mocon (31.1), San Miguel’s Arwind Santos (29.6), Phoenix Super LPG’s Jayson Perkins (29.4), and Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson (29.4).

Incidentally, Mr. Williams topped the rookie race after elimination play, ahead of Mr. Malonzo, Meralco’s Alvin Pasaol (20.6), NLEX’s Calvin Oftana (19.1), and Rain or Shine’s Leonard Santillan (15.6). — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Team US regains Ryder Cup and opens door to new era

September 27, 2021 | 7:29 pm

KOHLER, Wisconsin — The United States, led by a new generation of golfers, reclaimed the Ryder Cup on Sunday, thrashing holders Europe 19-9 to herald what could be an era of domination by the Americans at the biennial competition.

With half the 12-man US team comprised of rookies, there were concerns as to whether the newcomers would be able to survive in the gladiatorial arena that is the Ryder Cup against a European squad packed with cutthroat veterans.

But youthful energy trumped experience as the European old guard failed to deliver against the American young guns.

“This is a new era for USA golf,” declared US captain Steve Stricker. “They are young. They come with a lot of passion, a lot of energy, a lot of game.”

While Europe had four players in their 40s, the United States had none, with all, but three members in their 20s.

And the Americans were not just young, but talented, the debutantes making a major contribution on the scoreboard going 14-4-3.

Fittingly it was the youngest member of the squad, 24-year-old Collin Morikawa securing the winning point.

Having romped to a commanding 11-5 advantage after the foursome and fourball sessions, the Americans entered Sunday’s singles needing just 3-1/2 points to reach the target required to hoist the little gold trophy.

Morikawa ended Europe’s faint hopes of a comeback when he birdied the 17^th to go one up in his match with Viktor Hovland, guaranteeing the United States a deciding half-point.

The two-time major winner would make it official a few minutes later with a par on 18 to end the match in a tie, sending a thundering chant of “USA, USA” rumbling across Whistling Straits.

The 19-9 rout was the largest margin of victory ever in the current 28-point Ryder Cup format, which began in 1979.

It was just the second time in six competitions and third in 10 that the United States had claimed golf’s most coveted team title.

Never before in 42 previous Ryder Cups had a team come back from more than a four-point deficit on the final day and Padraig Harrington’s men, while defiant, never threatened to make history.

Whistling Straits provided a stunning backdrop and perfect party spot for 40,000 mostly flag-waving American fans, who flooded into the links-style Pete Dye jewel on the Lake Michigan shoreline on Sunday, ready to celebrate.

Morikawa sent the party into overdrive, but it would be some time before all his team mates could join in. Seven matches were still out on the course to be completed with the margin of victory the only thing left to be decided.

Given their commanding lead, there were worries about a lack of intensity by the US players, but a raucous crowd on the first tee assured their batteries were fully charged heading out.

Needing something magical, Harrington turned to a player who had so far provided little of it at Whistling Straits, tasking a winless Rory McIlroy with sparking a European fight back.

McIlroy, who labored so badly in the foursomes and fourballs that Harrington stood down the Northern Irishman for the first time in his Ryder Cup career, was first out against Olympic champion Xander Schauffele and found a spark, going 2-up after four holes and never trailing in a 3&2 win. — Reuters

Lewis Hamilton’s magic 100^thwin is mind-blowing, says Mercedes boss

September 27, 2021 | 7:28 pm

LH1 — LEWIS Hamilton hailed a “magic moment” on Sunday after becoming the first Formula One driver to win 100 races. — FORMULA1.COM

LEWIS Hamilton hailed a “magic moment” on Sunday after becoming the first Formula One driver to win 100 races.

The Briton’s Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the achievement, sealed with a victory in Russia, was simply “mind-blowing.”

If the milestone took longer to reach than many had expected, with seven-times world champion Hamilton fending off questions about possible jinxes before the Sochi weekend, it was worth the wait.

Only four drivers have reached even a half century of wins since the championship started in 1950, a statistic skewed by the fact that early years featured as few as six rounds compared to the current 22 and a driver’s longevity was limited.

Hamilton is way out in front, having roared past German Ferrari great Michael Schumacher’s previous record of 91 last season.

The sport’s most successful driver of all time is now leading the championship again, this time by two points from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“It’s a magical moment,” said the 36-year-old.

“I have dreamed of still being here and having this opportunity to be able to win these races and get to drive with such phenomenal talents this late in my career.

“This is a special moment for everyone that’s been a part of it. I’ve had the most incredible team… there’s too many to name.”

Hamilton said that, just like his on first win in Canada back in his debut 2007 season with McLaren, his father Anthony had spoken to him on the night before.

The Briton told reporters he had taken nothing for granted, sometimes even doubting it was going to happen — although Mercedes have yet to be beaten on the Sochi circuit since the first race there in 2014.

Wolff said it would take time for the full extent of Hamilton’s achievement to sink in.

“I think we are witnesses to a career that is just amazing,” the Austrian told Sky Sports television.

“The 100^th race victory is just mind-blowing. Today we talk about it and it’s going to be in the news for 24 hours, but only many years down the line are we going to realize that we’ve been part of that.

“We realize that we are part of a journey that no other sportsman in Formula One has done so far and that is beyond the races that we have won or championships,” added Wolff.

“That is, from the human aspect, to be part of this is special.” — Reuters

Team Europe wins Laver Cup

September 27, 2021 | 7:27 pm

ANDREY Rublev and Alexander Zverev clinched the Laver Cup for Team Europe with a (6-2, 6-7(4), 10-3) win over Team World’s Reilly Opelka and Denis Shapovalov on Sunday in Boston.

Team Europe entered the final day of the event needing one victory from any of the four scheduled matches to secure the win and wasted no time as they picked it up in the lead encounter for an insurmountable 14-1 lead.

“At the end of the day, the score says that it was 14-1, but it could have gone both ways a lot of the time,” Zverev said in an on-court interview.

“We (did) a lot of hard work for this victory throughout the whole week… The group of this team has been absolutely amazing. I think a lot of us came a lot closer together and to be honest, I can’t wait for London next year.”

Russian Rublev, who won a gold medal in mixed doubles with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Tokyo Olympics, said the Laver Cup victory was a special moment for him.

Each win at the Laver Cup is awarded one point on Friday, two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday, with the first team to reach 13 points declared winners of the event.

Team World needed to win all four matches on the final day to claim the trophy, but Opelka and Shapovalov were unable to finish the job after winning the second set. — Reuters

NFL: Justin Herbert, Chargers surprise Chiefs

September 27, 2021 | 7:27 pm

JUSTIN Herbert drove Los Angeles to a touchdown with 32 seconds remaining Sunday as the Chargers upset the Kansas City Chiefs (30-24) in a wild American Football Conference (AFC) West division matchup at Kansas City, MO.

An interception by Alohi Gillman enabled the Chargers to take possession at their 41 with 1:42 remaining. The pick was the second Los Angeles swiped from Patrick Mahomes, who suffered just his third defeat in 19 starts against AFC West opponents.

A false start took Los Angeles out of field goal range, but the Chiefs were called for pass interference on a fourth-down pass before the second of two strikes to Mike Williams resulted in a 4-yard touchdown for the decisive score. Tristan Vizcaino missed the PAT.

Herbert passed for 281 yards, going 26 of 38 with four touchdowns as the Chargers dropped the two-time defending AFC champions into last place in the West division by capitalizing on four takeaways. Three of those ended the Chiefs’ first three possessions.

Mahomes went 27 of 44 for 260 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. He could not rally the Chiefs as their final possession ended on the Los Angeles 49. Mahomes’ last three attempts fell incomplete, including a Hail Mary to end the game.

Ravens 19, Lions 17: Justin Tucker set an National Football League (NFL) record by making a 66-yard field goal as time expired to give Baltimore a road win at Detroit.

Tucker’s kick hit the crossbar and then bounced over it, sending Baltimore into a wild celebration and stunning the Lions. Matt Prater held the old mark of 64 yards. Prater made the kick for the Denver Broncos in 2013 against the Tennessee Titans.

Two plays before Tucker’s kick, Baltimore converted a fourth-and-19 to the Detroit 48-yard line on a 36-yard pass from Lamar Jackson to Sammy Watkins. That was the Ravens’ lone third-down conversion in 10 attempts. Jackson went 16-of-31 passing for 287 yards for the Ravens. He also rushed for 58 yards on seven carries.

Rams 34, Buccaneers 24: Matthew Stafford threw for four scores as the Los Angeles Rams improved to 3-0 with a win over visiting Tampa Bay.

Stafford continued to play well for the Rams since joining Los Angeles in an offseason trade, completing 27 of 38 passes for 343 yards. Stafford’s favorite target was Cooper Kupp, who finished with nine receptions for 96 yards and two scores on 12 targets.

DeSean Jackson added three receptions for 120 yards, including his first touchdown as a Ram — a 75-yard score. Tom Brady finished 41 of 55 for 432 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Saints 28, Patriots 13: Jameis Winston threw two touchdown passes and the New Orleans defense grabbed the first three interceptions of Mac Jones’ career in a defeat of host New England.

Winston completed 13 of 21 for 128 yards and was not intercepted. Jones, the Patriots’ rookie No. 1 draft choice from Alabama, completed 30 of 51 pass attempts for 270 yards and one touchdown, but P.J. Williams’ interception set up a touchdown and Malcolm Jenkins had a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown for New Orleans.

Marshon Lattimore intercepted Jones’ final pass of the game. Jones entered the game having completed 73.9 percent of his passes, but had thrown just one touchdown for the Patriots.

Vikings 30, Seahawks 17: Kirk Cousins completed 30 of 38 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns as Minnesota earned its first victory of the season, defeating Seattle in Minneapolis.

Alexander Mattison, playing for Dalvin Cook, who was sidelined by an ankle injury, rushed 26 times for 112 yards for the Vikings and added 59 yards on six receptions. Greg Joseph, who missed a last-second, 37-yard field goal attempt that would’ve given the Vikings a victory at Arizona last week, made all three of his kicks to account for all the scoring after the intermission.

The Seahawks blew a double-digit lead for the second consecutive week after losing to visiting Tennessee (33-30) in overtime the previous Sunday.

Titans 25, Colts 16: Ryan Tannehill threw three touchdown passes and Derrick Henry rushed for 113 yards as Tennessee pulled out a victory over Indianapolis in Nashville, TN.

Tannehill hit Jeremy McNichols for a 10-yard scoring strike with 12:56 left in the game, followed by a two-point conversion run by Henry that gave Tennessee a 22-13 lead. After Rodrigo Blankenship made his third field goal for the Colts, a 24-yarder with 10:20 left, the Titans melted nearly 7 1/2 minutes off the clock before Randy Bullock converted the game-sealing 32-yard field goal with 2:58 remaining.

Tannehill completed 18 of 27 passes for Tennessee, which possessed the ball for just over 34 minutes and outgained Indianapolis 368-265.

Cardinals 31, Jaguars 19: Kyler Murray passed for 316 yards and cornerback Byron Murphy had two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, to lead unbeaten Arizona over host Jacksonville.

Murray rushed for a touchdown and completed 28 of 34 pass attempts with no touchdowns and an interception for Arizona. Christian Kirk finished with seven receptions for 104 yards and A.J. Green had five catches for 112 yards.

The game included a play tied for the longest in NFL history. When Matt Prater’s 68-yard field goal attempt as time expired in the first half fell short, Jamal Agnew fielded the ball in the end zone and made a 109-yard return for a touchdown.

Browns 26, Bears 6: Kareem Hunt had 155 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, Myles Garrett recorded 4.5 sacks and Cleveland pulled away for a win over visiting Chicago.

Baker Mayfield completed 19 of 31 passes for 246 yards for Cleveland, which won its second game in a row after dropping its season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Browns tallied nine sacks as part of a dominant defensive effort.

Facing frequent duress in his first career start, Bears rookie Justin Fields completed only 6 of 20 passes for 68 yards. The Bears were credited with only 1 yard passing — due to the lost yardage on those nine takedowns of Fields — and 47 total yards on 42 offensive plays.

Falcons 17, Giants 14: Younghoe Koo made a 40-yard field goal as time expired, lifting visiting Atlanta over winless New York in East Rutherford, NJ.

Koo gave the Falcons their first win after they rallied from a 14-7 deficit in the final 12-plus minutes. His kick easily cleared the uprights and sent the Giants to an 0-3 start and their second straight loss decided by a game-winning field goal at the buzzer.

Matt Ryan completed 27 of 36 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. He was 9-for-10 on Atlanta’s game-tying drive when the Falcons went 4-for-4 on third down conversions. Ryan threw the 350^th and 351^st career touchdowns of his career. He connected on a 4-yard touchdown to Olamide Zaccheaus shortly before half time and a 1-yard score to Lee Smith with 4:13 remaining.

Bills 43, Football Team 21: Josh Allen passed for 358 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for a score to help Buffalo notch an easy victory over Washington at Orchard Park, NY.

Emmanuel Sanders caught two touchdown passes and Dawson Knox and Zack Moss hauled in a score apiece for Buffalo. The Bills have outscored opponents 78-21 in back-to-back victories since losing at home to the Steelers in Week 1.

Cole Beasley matched his career high of 11 receptions while accumulating 98 yards and Tyler Bass kicked three field goals for the Bills. Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde collected interceptions as Buffalo forced three turnovers and outgained Washington (481-290). Allen completed 32 of 43 passes while recording his ninth career 300-yard passing game.

Bengals 24, Steelers 10: Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase hooked up for a pair of touchdowns and visiting Cincinnati knocked off beat-up Pittsburgh (24-10) at Heinz Field.

Burrow threw for 172 yards with just four incompletions and three touchdowns as Cincinnati won at Pittsburgh for the first time since 2015. The Bengals, thanks to a win late last season, have now won consecutive games against their division rival for the first time since 2012-13. It was the Bengals’ first win by more than 10 points over Pittsburgh since 1995.

Joe Mixon added 90 yards rushing on 18 carries for Cincinnati, and Chase finished with four catches for 65 yards. The rookie first-round draft pick has four touchdown catches in his first three NFL games.

Broncos 26, Jets 0: Teddy Bridgewater threw for 235 yards on Sunday while Denver’s defense harassed rookie quarterback Zach Wilson throughout their third straight win, a 26-0 shutout over New York in Denver.

Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in last spring’s NFL Draft, endured a second consecutive miserable game against a defense able to pressure him with consistency. He completed 19 of 35 passes for 160 yards with two interceptions and was sacked five times.

New York (0-3) managed just 43 yards on the ground and finished the day with just 162 total yards. It hasn’t scored a touchdown since the fourth quarter of its Week 1 loss at Carolina.

Raiders 31, Dolphins 28: Derek Carr completed a huge 34-yard overtime pass to Bryan Edwards, and Daniel Carlson connected on a 22-yard field goal a few minutes later, leading host Las Vegas to a win over Miami.

Carr passed for 386 yards and two touchdowns as the Raiders overcame an early 14-point deficit. Carr eclipsed 300 passing yards for his fifth straight game.

The Raiders recorded their first 3-0 start since 2002. Raiders running back Peyton Barber rushed for a career-high 111 yards and one score. — Reuters

MLB: Yankees sweep Red Sox, grab AL wild card lead

September 27, 2021 | 7:26 pm

AARON Judge hit a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning as the New York Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the host Boston Red Sox with a 6-3 win on Sunday that broke a tie for the top American League (AL) wild card spot.

Judge was given new life after foul-tipping a 1-2 fastball from Boston reliever Adam Ottavino that Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez dropped. Judge smoked the very next pitch from Ottavino to plate runners from second and third with one out.

Giancarlo Stanton (2 for 4) added a two-run homer over the Green Monster the next at-bat — his third in as many games in the series. DJ LeMahieu (2 for 4) had a fifth-inning RBI single for the Yankees, who won nine of their final 12 games against Boston after dropping their first seven meetings.

New York moved one game ahead of Boston atop the AL wild card standings with six games remaining for both teams. The Red Sox hold a one-game lead over Toronto for the final AL playoff spot.

Yankees reliever Chad Green (10-7) earned the win after tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Red Sox reliever Garrett Richards (7-8) took the loss after being charged with two of the four Yankee runs in the eighth.

New York starter Jordan Montgomery allowed one run on seven hits with four strikeouts over five innings. Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez allowed two earned runs on six hits while walking one and striking out eight in five innings.

Astros 4, Astros 3: Mark Canha singled off the left-field wall with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving Oakland its second consecutive walk-off win over visiting Houston.

By completing a three-game sweep of the first-place Astros, the A’s clung to life in the American League West. They now trail the Astros by six games with six remaining. With the loss, Houston also saw its lead in the West shrink to five games over the Mariners.

Oakland also helped itself in the AL wild card race, matching wins earlier in the day by the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners. All three are chasing the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for two spots.

Mariners 5, Angels 1: Marco Gonzales pitched seven strong innings to match Shohei Ohtani as Seattle defeated Los Angeles in Anaheim, CA.

Jake Fraley hit a bases-loaded double in a fourth-run eighth inning as the Mariners broke a 1-1 tie. Seattle’s Jarred Kelenic and Los Angeles’ Kurt Suzuki hit solo homers.

The Mariners went 8-2 on their 10-game trip to pull within 2 1/2 games in the chase for the American League’s second and final wild card berth. The Angels lost for the eighth time in their past 10 games.

Rays 3, Marlins 2: Shane Baz fired 5 2/3 shutout innings, Wander Franco reached base for the 41^st straight game and Tampa Bay swept Miami in St. Petersburg, FL.

Making his second career start, Baz (2-0) was again impressive in dominating the visitors from South Florida. The rookie yielded just three hits and a walk while striking out nine over 82 pitches.

Franco, 20, doubled in his first at-bat to push his streak to 41 consecutive games reaching base. He is two games from tying Frank Robinson’s 43-game streak from 1956, the longest ever by a player under 21. The American League East champion Rays tied the franchise record for most wins in a season set in 2008 and are 38 games over .500 for the first time ever.

Blue Jays 5, Twins 2: Danny Jansen hit a three-run home run and George Springer homered for the second straight game to lead Toronto to a victory over Minnesota in Minneapolis.

The Blue Jays, who open a three-game series with the New York Yankees on Tuesday in Toronto, trail both New York and Boston for the American League wild card spots after earning a split of their four-game series with the Twins.

Alek Manoah (8-2) won his third consecutive start, allowing two runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out eight as the Blue Jays won for 10^th time in his last 11 starts. Jordan Romano struck out three of the four batters he faced over 1 1/3 shutout innings to earn his 21^st save.

Cardinals 4, Cubs 2: Andrew Knizner scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the ninth inning, and Paul Goldschmidt and Harrison Bader homered as visiting St. Louis stretched its franchise-record winning streak to 16 games with a victory against Chicago.

The Cardinals enter the final week of the regular season six games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies in the race for the second National League wild card.

Goldschmidt launched a solo home run to center field in the third inning to open the scoring. The blast was Goldschmidt’s ninth of the month and 31^st of the season.

Braves 4, Padres 3: Atlanta closer Will Smith walked the bases loaded in the ninth inning, but registered three strikeouts in the frame to preserve a win over host San Diego.

Smith earned his 35^th save the hard way, preserving the win for A.J. Minter (3-6). He fanned pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis, Jr. with two runners on before giving up his third walk of the inning to Tommy Pham. But Smith then struck out Trent Grisham and Ha-Seong Kim to finish the game. A night earlier, Smith pitched a 1-2-3 inning to earn a save.

Braves pinch-hitter Orlando Arcia doubled home Joc Pederson for the go-ahead run in the sixth against reliever Pierce Johnson (3-4). The Atlanta bullpen followed with four shutout innings.

Dodgers 3, Diamondbacks 0: Julio Urias threw five shutout innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a win against Arizona in the rubber game of their three-game series at Phoenix.

Urias (19-3) allowed five hits, struck out three and walked one while increasing his major league-leading win total. He came in 9-0 with a 1.90 ERA since June 21.

Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth to earn his 36^th save for the Dodgers, who remain two games behind the San Francisco Giants for the NL West lead with six games remaining.

Pirates 6, Phillies 0: Cole Tucker homered, singled and walked twice to lift Pittsburgh past host Philadelphia.

Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled, singled and drove in two runs and Yoshi Tsutsugo added a single and two RBIs for the Pirates, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Pirates starter Max Kranick (2-3) allowed four hits in five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and three walks.

Odubel Herrera produced two hits for the Phillies, who had their five-game winning streak snapped. The Phillies had won the first three games against the Pirates. Philadelphia is 2 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves for first place in the National League East. The Braves defeated the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

Reds 9, Nationals 2: Kyle Farmer hit his first career grand slam and Cincinnati rolled past visiting Washington for its third straight win.

Tyler Stephenson fell a triple short of the cycle and drove in three runs, and Nick Castellanos also homered for the Reds, who began the day six games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the second National League wild card spot. The Cardinals won again Sunday, extending their winning streak to 16 games.

Delino DeShields was 2-for-2 with three walks as the Reds took three of four to win their first series since Aug. 19-22, when they swept four games from the Miami Marlins. Tyler Mahle (13-6) pitched six strong innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits while striking out six.

White Sox 5, Indians 2: Lucas Giolito threw six shutout innings to lead visiting Chicago over Cleveland in the rubber game of their five-game series.

Giolito (11-9) allowed five hits, struck out six and walked one in his second straight winning start for the White Sox, who clinched the American League Central on Thursday. Liam Hendriks pitched the ninth for his 36^th save.

Everyone in the starting lineup for the White Sox had at least one base hit, led by Yasmani Grandal with three. Eloy Jimenez drove in two runs for Chicago.

Royals 2, Tigers 1: Kris Bubic tossed seven dominant innings and visiting Kansas City downed Detroit. Kansas City won the season series against its American League Central Division rival (11-8).

Bubic (6-6) allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out six. He gave up only three earned runs in four appearances spanning 23 innings against the Tigers this season.

Whit Merrifield had three hits and scored a run. Andrew Benintendi supplied two hits and an RBI. Carlos Santana reached base three times and Salvador Perez added two hits as the Royals won the weekend series (2-1).

Rangers 7, Orioles 4: Andy Ibanez clubbed a two-run homer and joined three of his teammates with two hits to lift visiting Texas to a victory over Baltimore.

Adolis Garcia, whose RBI double in the fifth inning broke a 2-2 tie, Willie Calhoun and Leody Taveras also had two hits as Texas earned a split of this four-game set.

Rangers starter Dane Dunning allowed just one hit — Anthony Santander’s two-run homer in the fourth — and struck out five, but also walked five over 4 2/3 innings. Jharel Cotton (2-0) permitted one hit in 1 2/3 innings to secure the win.

Brewers 8, Mets 4: Milwaukee clinched the National League Central when Willy Adames hit a first-inning two-run home run to give the hosts the lead for good.

The division title is the fourth full-season division championship for the Brewers, who won the American League East in 1982 — the year the franchise reached the World Series for the only time — and the NL Central in 2011 and 2018. Milwaukee (94-62) will face the winner of the NL East in a National League Division Series.

Francisco Lindor homered in the first for New York (73-82), who led the NL East for 114 days, but are assured of a sub-.500 season after losing for the 13^th time in 16 games. Carrasco (1-4) surrendered five runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out three over four innings.

Giants 6, Rockies 2: Tommy La Stella delivered a go-ahead pinch single in the ninth inning, Brandon Crawford homered and San Francisco beat Colorado in Denver.

Brandon Belt, Kris Bryant and Donovan Solano had two hits each for San Francisco. The Giants have won 16 of their last 20 and head into the final week with a hold on first place in the NL West. Belt left the game in the seventh after being hit on the left hand with a pitch.

Starter Kevin Gausman struck out 11 in six strong innings and also singled. He retired 13 straight batters at one point. Camilo Doval (5-1) struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth to get the win. — Reuters

German SPD seeks allies to replace Merkel-led coalition

September 27, 2021 | 5:21 pm

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

September 27, 2021 | 5:16 pm

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

September 27, 2021 | 5:15 pm

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

September 27, 2021 | 5:00 pm

OL-Likha-Initiative — 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.

“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.

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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

September 27, 2021 | 4:58 pm

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

September 27, 2021 | 3:45 pm

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. Dragonpay‘s 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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