Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 6875

Volleyball group eyes changes to how national team is formed

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

LOOKING to strengthen the formation of national teams for international competitions, newly formed Philippine National Volleyball Federation, Inc. (PNVFI) is eyeing changes to the process involved.

Primary among the local volleyball federation wants to see is to have a committee in charge of forming the teams instead of placing the entire task solely on the shoulders of the coaching staff.

“This department will be in charge of this (formation of teams). The coach will no longer be the only one to choose the players,” said Ramon Suzara, PNVFI president, during Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.

The planned committee, the volleyball chief said, will have a chairman, secretary and five members and tasked to handle the national team for events like the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and other FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) competitions.

This will effectively replace the long practice of having the appointed head coach call for tryouts and name the members of the men’s and women’s volleyball teams.

Mr. Suzara also said they are batting for a bigger pool of players for the national squads, so as to give flexibility in the selection process.

“So, we can change players anytime,” he said.

Shoring up the program for the national team is one of the thrusts of PNVFI as it tries to set in order the affairs of local volleyball.

PNVFI was formed in elections held on Jan. 25, which was overseen by the Philippine Olympic Committee on the request of the FIVB.

Through letters sent by the FIVB to POC President Abraham Tolentino, the international federation reiterated the need to elect a “legitimate” national sports association lest the country risk not being able to send national teams to FIVB-sanctioned tournaments.

The PNVFI took the place of the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) and Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF), which were in a tug-of-war on the issue of volleyball leadership in the country prior to the election of a new association for the sport.

The new federation has been recognized by the FIVB and Asian Volleyball Confederation following its election.

It was to have its induction on Wednesday.

Stakeholders welcome the PNVFI and are hoping that the much-hoped clarity in the programs will be realized under it.

“We’re happy that there are plans to help the growth of Philippine volleyball. This is just the beginning,” said volleyball star and national athlete Alyssa Valdez, who joined Mr. Suzara in the PSA Forum.

Also present in the forum were PNVFI vice-president Arnel Hajan and board member Charo Soriano, and national athletes Aby Marano and Jaja Santiago.

Mr. Suzara said that the PNVFI under his leadership will push for a 10-point program, which includes the formation of a national league owned by the federation, bringing world-class events to the country and reviving age-group competitions nationwide.

They, too, hope to increase their membership from the current 52 to as many as 82, representing all the different provinces.

Filipino Alex Eala opens France tournament bid with gutsy win

ALEX EALA OF THE PHILIPPINES — RAFA NADAL ACADEMY FB PAGE

FILIPINO tennis ace Alex Eala opened her bid at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) W25 Grenoble in France with a gutsy win over Romanian Laura-Ioana Paar (6-3, 4-6 and 6-4) late Tuesday (Manila time).

Playing in her fourth straight professional tournament, 15-year-old Eala held her own against her opponent who was twice her age in booking the victory in the game that lasted for two hours and 18 minutes.

Rafa Nadal Academy scholar and Globe ambassador Eala rode a strong finish to claim the opening set.

She, however, could not complete a sweep as 32-year-old Paar, the 190th-ranked player in the Women’s Tennis Association singles rankings, charged back in the second frame.

In the third set, both players fought hard to seize early momentum.

Ms. Eala dug deep late in the contest and got the leverage she needed from a 4-4 count to win the game.

In the W25 Grenoble tournament, Ms. Eala is looking to build on the good run she had at the ITF W15 Manacor in Spain where she got her maiden pro title and had two quarterfinal finishes.

The third-ranked juniors player in the world, Ms. Eala earned a slot in this professional competition through the junior exempt program of the ITF, which gives top-ranked juniors players the chance to compete in a set number of professional tournaments every year.

Her juniors ranking lets her compete in three $25,000 and two $60,000 pro events this year.

Next for Ms. Eala in Grenoble is seventh-seeded Cristina Bucșa of Spain in the second round. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

World champion Stephen ‘The Sniper’ Loman of Team Lakay to parade wares at ONE Championship

ANOTHER world champion from Team Lakay is set to parade his wares at ONE Championship after bantamweight champ Stephen “The Sniper” Loman signed with the promotion.

Long part of Brave Combat Federation and was the longest-reigning champion there, Mr. Loman last month said that he was going to test free agency.

His move to ONE was confirmed by his coach Mark Sangiao late Tuesday night.

“Stephen Loman is one of the best fighters in the Philippines. His all-around skills will be on full display in ONE Championship,” said the Team Lakay coach.

Adding, “I spoke to Stephen and he’s highly motivated right now. He can’t wait to get in the Circle and put on a show. Of course, I’ll be there for him, as well as all of his teammates at Team Lakay, every step of the way.”

At Brave, Mr. Loman (13-2) was stellar, going undefeated in eight matches.

He won the bantamweight title in 2017 against Canadian-Indian Gurdarshan Mangat and successfully defended the belt four times, the last time against Ilias Sanoudakis of Canada in 2019 by way of unanimous decision.

In 2020, Mr. Loman did not get to see action because of the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s an overwhelming opportunity, but I’m excited to join my Team Lakay brothers in the biggest martial arts organization in the world,” said Mr. Loman in a statement.

“I’m excited to enhance my skills on this platform and showcase my style to millions of viewers across the globe. Of course, fighting in a new promotion and a new environment will be a challenge, but it’s one I’m more than willing to face. I’m ready to show ONE Championship fans the best of Stephen Loman,” he added.

At ONE, Mr. Loman joins reigning strawweight titleholder Joshua Pacio as well as former world champions Eduard Folayang (lightweight), Honorio Banario (featherweight), Kevin Belingon (bantamweight), and Geje Eustaquio (flyweight).

Other Team Lakay members at ONE are flyweight Danny Kingad, strawweight Lito Adiwang, atomweights Gina Iniong and April Osenio, and featherweight Edward Kelly.

It is still to be confirmed, however, if Mr. Loman will fight at bantamweight now that he is with ONE Championship.

He is expected to make his debut later this year. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Third session of PSC’s online national sports summit up

THE third session of the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) online national sports summit takes place on Thursday with the country’s grassroots programs being the focus.

In the latest session of “Sports Conversations,” the PSC shares its programs catering to amateur athletes in the Philippines as the foundation of elite sports excellence.

Philippine Sports Institute (PSI) Dean Prof. Henry Daut will lead the discussion focusing on the nature, status, and challenges of implementing the science-based measures to tap the local rich source of talents.

The PSI has been a key platform for the PSC to enhance further the training of athletes and coaches through various seminars and certification programs and performance updates.

“It is high time that we give educators, athletes, and sports stakeholders a clear picture of what the PSC has been doing through these years to develop the amateur talents we have,” said PSC Chairman William Ramirez of the latest session of the three-phased online sports summit. 

He went on to emphasize the importance of having the youth turn to sports and benefit from the values it teaches that are vital in this time of a pandemic.

Mr. Daut played a role in the PSC’s Sports Mapping Action Research Talent Identification (Smart ID) program and is the third speaker in the summit, following United States Sports Academy President T.J. Rosandich and Davao del Norte Sports and Youth Development Head Giovanni Gulanes, who presided in the two previous sessions of the summit.

The PSC national sports summit is aimed at taking insights of different sports stakeholders and using those as foundations in crafting a sustainable and workable short to long-term plan for Philippine sports.

The sports body said all data gathered from the Sports Conversations series will be processed and studied to create a new set of resolutions to be presented to sports leaders for action. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

US safety board cites poor pilot decisions as probable reason for Kobe Bryant fatal crash

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Tuesday cited the pilot’s “poor decision making” as the probable cause of the January 2020 helicopter crash that killed retired NBA star Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others, saying the pilot became disoriented and did not follow rules for flying in cloudy weather.

The NTSB cited pilot Ara Zobayan’s “poor decision to fly in excess of airspeed.” It said the weather conditions were inconsistent with adverse weather training and resulted in the pilot’s “spatial disorientation and loss of control.”

The board also cited Zobayan’s “likely self-induced pressure” to complete the flight.

Zobayan told air traffic controllers that his helicopter was climbing out of heavy clouds when in fact it was descending, immediately before slamming into a hillside near the town of Calabasas in California, the agency said. Zobayan was among those killed in the crash of the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter outside Los Angeles in hilly terrain.

Bryant, 41, an 18-time National Basketball Association all-star with the Los Angeles Lakers, was traveling with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, two other girls and several friends to a youth basketball tournament at the time of the crash. The accident prompted an outpouring of shock and grief from sports fans worldwide.

The NTSB also cited the company operating the doomed helicopter, Island Express Helicopters, for “inadequate review and oversight of its safety management processes.” Lawyers for the company did not immediately comment.

The board said previously an examination of the helicopter’s engines and rotors found no evidence of catastrophic mechanical failure.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Zobayan should not have flown into the clouds.

“Unfortunately, we continue to see these same issues influence poor decision making among otherwise experienced pilots in aviation crashes,” he said. “Had this pilot not succumbed to the pressures he placed on himself to continue the flight into adverse weather, it is likely this accident would not have happened.” — Reuters

Serena sweeps into third round

MELBOURNE — Serena Williams overcame a spirited Nina Stojanović (6-3, 6-0) on a sun-drenched Rod Laver Arena to reach the third round of the Australian Open for the 19th time on Wednesday.

The American, again sporting her distinctive one-legged leotard, needed to find her best game at times in the first set against a Serbian 15 years her junior who was playing in her fourth Grand Slam.

Ms. Williams has won seven major titles at Melbourne Park alone, of course, and ramped up her serve to see off the danger before putting the pressure back on her opponent with some booming service returns.

“She pushed me really hard and played well throughout the match,” the 39-year-old said.

The second set was one-way traffic and Ms. Williams fired down her sixth ace of the contest to seal a date with Anastasia Potapova, taking another step on the path she hopes will end with a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was sent packing from the Australian Open on Wednesday after a (6-4, 1-6, 6-1) second-round defeat by Romanian Sorana Cîrstea.

Ms. Kvitova jumped out to a 2-0 lead but could not keep a lid on her errors as Ms. Cîrstea converted each of her three breakpoint opportunities to claim the opening set.

Ms. Kvitova, who finished runner-up at Melbourne Park two years ago, showed glimpses of her powerful ball-striking as she raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set before levelling the match when Ms. Cîrstea handed her a third break with a tame double fault.

Ms. Cîrstea, however, turned the tables on the Czech in the final set and claimed victory on her third match point with Ms. Kvitova hitting a forehand long. — Reuters

The food of the future is mostly plant-based 

The typical dinner plate in 2050 should be diverse and mostly plant-based, with less rice and highly processed grains, according to academician Eufemio T. Rasco, Jr., chair of the Agricultural Sciences Division of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Philippines.

To ensure that the Philippines is adequately fed 30 years down the road, NAST envisions a system, dubbed “Feeding Metro Manila 2050,” that nurtures the health of the people and the planet, adapts to the changing climate, and is sensitive to the diversity of food culture. 

The country’s current linear food system of food production, marketing, and consumption, is unsustainable. Waste management, underpinned by responsible consumption, is key to a nourishing and regenerative food system. 

Metro Manila was targeted specifically because of its role as a cultural trendsetter in the country. The team believes that if the food system is fixed in the capital, the rest of the Philippines will follow. 

Solutions to support this vision include aquaculture (the cultivation of marine or freshwater organisms under controlled conditions), aquaponics (a system that combines conventional aquaculture with hydroponics in a symbiotic environment), mixed crop-livestock systems (the management of animals and crops on the same land with most of the crops fed to the animals), biotechnology applications, nutrient-fortified food products, and a change in consumer behavior.

Fisheries is key to sustainability, said academician Mudjekeewis D. Santos, a member of NAST’s Agricultural Sciences Division. He pointed out that Metro Manila is bounded by Manila Bay, Laguna de Bay, and Taal Lake. 

“The bodies of water can be a source of sustainable fish supply—but only if we’re able to manage and reap the benefits from the ecosystem services these offer.” he said.  

Aquaculture and aquaponics both hold opportunities in this regard. Technology such as algorithm-based forecasting of fish kills and toxic blooms is a way forward for the former, as is addressing nitrogen use efficiency and nutrient limitations for the latter. 

The livestock industry, meanwhile, should shift to a mixed crop-livestock system, said fellow Agricultural Sciences Division member and academician Arnel N. del Barrio.

An example of such would be the rice-dairy production model where rice straw is enriched and utilized as animal feed instead of just burned. “We need to consolidate farmers so business will become sustainable and profitable,” said Mr. del Barrio. 

He added that animal production needs to be improved. “Hindi pa ayos breeding program natin [Our breeding program has not been optimized yet]. Buffalos, for instance, only produce four to five liters of milk. More animals means more land and more needed feed. We want to produce animals that are more productive and efficient, with less feed needed to produce a kilogram of milk, so carbon footprint is reduced.”

Biotechnology applications such as breeding animals for thermotolerance was also cited as a way to improve productivity and efficiency, and to make farming resilient against climate change. 

Consumption plays a central role in shaping the food system. The Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), which promotes its mandate in part through innovations such as optimized brown rice (with a 9–12 month shelf life) and calabasa (squash) pancit canton, noted that malnutrition still persists among all age groups.

“Fruit and vegetable consumption is declining over the years,” said Imelda A. Agdeppa, FNRI director. “Despite the insufficiency, we still encounter plate waste. The total plate waste is 66.8 grams, or about 15% of the total dietary requirement of a person.”

Among the FNRI’s suggestions are packing sari-sari stores (local neighborhood stores) with fruits, vegetables, and legumes, and partnering this action with simple messages at the grassroots level. Sari-sari stores were found to be the main source of food, as per the institute’s food environment survey.

“Dietary patterns can cause epigenetic changes that can be passed to offspring for several generations,” Mr. Rasco Jr. said. “If our grandchildren are sickly, they will blame our eating habits.”

Support will be needed from various sectors and government offices for the proposed system to be realized. Food system education has to be integrated in the school curriculum, coupled with research and development support on the food delivery system. The diet must also be incorporated as a component of universal health care.

“This will require a carefully calibrated response from the agriculture sector, because any change in diet will change the demand aspect of agricultural crops,” said Mr. Rasco — Patricia B. Mirasol

AI startup raises $4 million in seed round, partners with LBC Express

Expedock moves thousands of freight containers a week. Its software converts paper-based documents or scans into structured data for freight systems and eliminates unwanted costs due to manual errors.

Expedock, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered supply-chain startup, raised $4 million in its seed round and closed an enterprise deal with LBC Express. 

The startup will use its AI technology to automate the booking process between containers and carriers in order to expedite the movement of international goods. 

These developments follow a $2.5 million investment led by Ali Partovi, chief executive of “communal” venture fund Neo, who has previously backed Airbnb, Dropbox, Facebook, and Uber. 

Expedock is also backed by executives at eBay, Foodpanda, coins.ph, Salesforce, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. The funding will be used for expansion and for product development to accommodate its growing number of international clients. 

“We’ve seen firsthand how the errors in the first mile of shipping lead to costly corrections amounting up to $25,000. Freight forwarders have had to manually encode and process significant amounts of paperwork which, with one mistake, could cost a company thousands of dollars to correct,” said co-founder King Alandy C. Dy in a press statement. “Our technology comes in to convert any paper-based documents or scans into structured data for their freight systems. Our software provides the infrastructure for their data, thereby eliminating unwanted costs due to manual errors.”

Its system, Expedock Nuance Technology, performs tasks by simulating human intelligence and removing the need for manual data entry and processing via workflow automation. The huge volume of data and documentation needed to move products from Point A to B previously made manual data entry and extraction cumbersome for businesses in the supply chain industry. Expedock’s technology eliminates the need for data extraction and data entry work, decreases turnaround time by up to ten times, and improves data accuracy. 

Co-founded in 2019 by Filipinos Dy and Jeff Tan, together with AI specialist Rui Aguiar, the company moves thousands of freight containers a week and counts a.hartrodt, Rose Containerline, Premier Services Italia, Andalin, Fremura, CNT and MHM Global among its international clients. — Patricia B. Mirasol

COVID may have taken ‘convoluted path’ to Wuhan, WHO team leader says

It will probably take years to fully understand the origins of COVID-19, said an infectious disease expert. Computer-generated representation of COVID-19 virions via Felipe Esquivel Reed / CC BY-SA

WUHAN — The head of a World Health Organization-led team probing the origins of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) said bats remain a likely source and that transmission of the virus via frozen food is a possibility that warrants further investigation, but he ruled out a lab leak.

Peter Ben Embarek, who led the team of independent experts in its nearly month-long visit to the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak first emerged at a seafood market in late 2019, said the team’s work had uncovered new information but had not dramatically changed their picture of the outbreak.

“The possible path from whatever original animal species all the way through to the Huanan market could have taken a very long and convoluted path involving also movements across borders,” Mr. Embarek told a nearly three-hour media briefing.

Mr. Embarek said work to identify the coronavirus’s origins points to a natural reservoir in bats, but it is unlikely that they were in Wuhan.

Investigators were also looking for Chinese blood samples that could indicate that the virus was circulating earlier than first thought, he said.

“In trying to understand the picture of December 2019 we embarked on a very detailed and profound search for other cases that may have been missed, cases earlier on in 2019,” he said.

“And the conclusion was we did not find evidence of large outbreaks that could be related to cases of COVID-19 prior to December 2019 in Wuhan or elsewhere.”

The possibility the virus leaked from a lab—which has been the subject of conspiracy theories—was extremely unlikely and did not require further study, Mr. Embarek said.

Liang Wannian, head of China’s expert panel on the outbreak, said there was evidence of coronavirus infections that could have preceded the first detected case by “several weeks”.

“This suggests that we cannot rule out that it was circulating in other regions and the circulation was unreported,” he told the briefing.

FROZEN ANIMALS?
Mr. Embarek said the team had identified market vendors selling frozen animal products including farmed wild animals.

“So there is the potential to continue to follow this lead and further look at the supply chain and animals that were supplied to the market,” he said.

China has pushed the idea that the virus can be transmitted by frozen food and has repeatedly announced findings of coronavirus traces on imported food packaging.

“We know the virus can survive in conditions that are found in these cold, frozen environments, but we don’t really understand if the virus can transmit to humans” or under which conditions, Mr. Embarek told the briefing.

The team arrived in Wuhan on Jan. 14 and after two weeks of quarantine, visited key sites including the Huanan seafood market, the location of the first known cluster of infections, as well as the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been involved in coronavirus research.

Members of the team sought to rein in expectations for the mission, with infectious disease expert Dominic Dwyer saying it would probably take years to fully understand the origins of COVID-19.

The United States said China needed to be more open when it comes to sharing data and samples as well as allowing access to patients, medical staff, and lab workers. Beijing subsequently accused Washington of politicizing a scientific mission. — Josh Horwitz and David Stanway/Reuters

Bolder climate action could save millions of lives each year by 2040

TORONTO — Countries could save millions of lives annually by 2040 if they commit to bolder plans to cut planet-heating emissions and curb global warming in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, researchers said Tuesday.

A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal found policies to that end could, each year, save 5.86 million lives due to better diets, 1.18 million lives from cleaner air and 1.15 million lives through more walking and cycling by 2040.

In 2015, governments set a global goal of limiting average temperature rise to “well below” 2°C above pre-industrial times and set emissions reduction targets as a first step to getting there.

On Monday, however, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries to take bolder action ahead of November’s COP26 UN climate conference and come up with stronger 2030 targets consistent with cutting emissions to net zero by 2050.

The new research highlighted how the potential health benefits of climate action could give added impetus to countries to submit more ambitious national climate plans ahead of COP26.

The nine countries modeled in the study—the United States, China, Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa and Britain—represent half of the world’s population and 70% of global emissions.

Six of them have yet to submit revised climate action plans, which were due in 2020 but put back by many countries as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic delayed the climate summit for a year.

“Ahead of COP26, we’d like to see governments focus on health as one of the priorities in climate change policies,” said lead author Ian Hamilton, executive director of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.

“There’s good evidence to show that meeting the Paris Agreement commitments will be good for our health, and that these benefits accumulate to those individuals in the countries taking leadership,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

SHORT-TERM WINS
Using national and international data, the study analyzed emissions generated by the energy, agriculture and transport sectors, along with factors like national diets and lifestyles.

The researchers modeled the scenarios required for each country to meet the Paris accord, including changes like adopting cleaner energy and reducing car use, as well as to achieve global development goals such as zero hunger.

They found that changes towards “flexitarian” diets—with moderate amounts of animal-based foods and a high share of plant-based foods—offered the greatest health benefits as well as reducing carbon emissions.

For example, many deaths would be avoided by lower rates of non-communicable diseases such as obesity and heart disease, connected to excessive consumption of carbon-intensive red meat and processed foods, and lack of access to fruit and vegetables.

“Why wouldn’t we prioritize investments that will save more lives near-term if they give us the same amount of carbon value?” said Aaron Bernstein, interim director of The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Changing diets is a complex challenge for governments, he noted, but potential ways to do it include subsidizing healthier foods and putting a price on the emissions produced by more carbon-intensive foods that require a lot of natural resources.

Beef production, for instance, fuels greenhouse gas emissions as carbon-storing forests are cut down for pasture and cattle burp out methane.

A focus on health is one way to make climate action more personal and appealing, Mr. Bernstein added, instead of being framed as a cost now that will bring benefits for future generations.

“We have to make this issue relevant to today, and (talk about) improving the welfare, economic opportunities, and health of people in a time frame that they can get their heads around,” he said.

A separate study out on Tuesday found pollution from burning fossil fuels causes one in five premature deaths globally, totaling 8.7 million in 2018 and suggesting the health impacts of those emissions may be far higher than previously thought. — Jack Graham/Thomson Reuters Foundation

Eli Lilly’s antibody combination receives FDA emergency use authorization for COVID-19

Image of Eli Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Eli Lilly’s combination antibody therapy to fight COVID-19 has been granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Lilly said on Tuesday.

Lilly’s combination therapy of two antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, helped cut the risk of hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients by 70%, data from a late-stage trial showed in January.

Lilly said the therapy will be available immediately.

“There are 100,000 doses ready immediately and an additional 150,000 doses will be available throughout the first quarter,” Lilly said in a statement.

The company said that in collaboration with Amgen, it plans to manufacture up to 1 million doses of etesevimab for administration with bamlanivimab by mid-2021.

Lilly said the “therapy is authorized for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients aged 12 and older who are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization.”

The FDA, separately, said bamlanivimab and etesevimab are not authorized for patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 or who require oxygen therapy due to COVID-19.

Late last month, Lilly reported a fourth-quarter profit that topped Wall Street estimates. It recorded $871.2 million in quarterly sales of the COVID-19 therapy bamlanivimab, benefiting from the US government’s move to stock up on the drug for emergency use. — Reuters

Senators vote to proceed with Trump’s impeachment trial, but conviction may prove elusive

Donald Trump
Democrats hope to disqualify Donald J. Trump from ever again holding public office, but Tuesday’s outcome suggested they face long odds. Only six Republican senators joined Democrats to vote in favor of allowing the trial to take place, far short of the 17 needed to secure a conviction.

WASHINGTON — A divided US Senate voted largely along party lines on Tuesday to move ahead with Donald J. Trump’s impeachment trial on a charge of inciting the deadly assault on the Capitol, but conviction appears unlikely barring a major shift among Republicans.

The Senate voted 56–44 to proceed to the first-ever trial of a former president, rejecting his defense lawyers’ argument that Trump was beyond the reach of the Senate after having left the White House on Jan. 20.

Democrats hope to disqualify Mr. Trump from ever again holding public office, but Tuesday’s outcome suggested they face long odds. Only six Republican senators joined Democrats to vote in favor of allowing the trial to take place, far short of the 17 needed to secure a conviction.

Convicting Mr. Trump would require a two-thirds majority in the 50–50 Senate. 

The vote capped a dramatic day in the Senate chamber. Democratic lawmakers serving as prosecutors opened the trial with a graphic video interspersing images of the Jan. 6 Capitol violence with clips of Mr. Trump’s incendiary speech to a crowd of supporters moments earlier urging them to “fight like hell” to overturn his Nov. 3 election defeat.

Senators, serving as jurors, watched as screens showed Mr. Trump’s followers throwing down barriers and hitting police officers at the Capitol. The video included the moment when police guarding the House of Representatives chamber fatally shot protester Ashli Babbitt, one of five people including a police officer who died in the rampage.

The mob attacked police, sent lawmakers scrambling for safety and interrupted the formal congressional certification of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s victory after Mr. Trump had spent two months challenging the election results based on false claims of widespread voting fraud.

“If that’s not an impeachment offense, then there is no such thing,” Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, who led a team of nine House members prosecuting the case, told the assembled senators after showing the video.

He wept as he recounted how relatives he brought to the Capitol that day to witness the election certification had to shelter in an office near the House floor, saying: “They thought they were going to die.”

In contrast to the Democrats’ emotional presentation, Mr. Trump’s lawyers attacked the process, arguing that the proceeding was an unconstitutional, partisan effort to close off Mr. Trump’s political future even after he had already departed the White House.

“What they really want to accomplish here in the name of the Constitution is to bar Donald Trump from ever running for political office again, but this is an affront to the Constitution no matter who they target today,” David Schoen, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, told senators.

He denounced the “insatiable lust for impeachment” among Democrats before airing his own video, which stitched together clips of various Democratic lawmakers calling for Mr. Trump’s impeachment going back to 2017.

HOUSE MANAGERS’ CASE ‘COMPELLING, COGENT’
Mr. Trump, who was impeached by the Democratic-led House on Jan. 13, is only the third president in US history to be impeached, and the only one to be impeached twice.

His defense argued he was exercising his right to free speech under the Constitution’s First Amendment when he addressed supporters before the Capitol attack.

Bruce Castor, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, said the storming of the Capitol by hundreds of people “should be denounced in the most vigorous terms,” but argued that “a small group of criminals,” not Mr. Trump, were responsible for the violence.

Most legal experts have said it is constitutional to have an impeachment trial after an official has left office.

“Presidents can’t inflame insurrection in their final weeks and then walk away like nothing happened. And yet that is the rule that President Trump asks you to adopt,” Democratic Representative Joe Neguse told the senators.

Most of the senators at the trial were present in the Capitol on Jan. 6, when many lawmakers said they feared for their own safety.

Several Republican senators said they found Mr. Trump’s defense, particularly Mr. Castor’s argument, disjointed and unclear.

“The House managers made a compelling, cogent case. And the president’s team did not,” said Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to advance the trial.

Mr. Cassidy had voted to block the trial on constitutional grounds last month, a Republican effort that failed 55–45. He was the only Republican to switch sides on Tuesday, a move that prompted the Republican Party in his home state, Louisiana, to issue a statement repudiating his decision.

Watching the proceedings on TV at his Florida resort, Mr. Trump was unhappy with Mr. Castor’s performance, said a person familiar with the situation.

After the Senate adjourned for the day, Mr. Castor told reporters: “I thought we had a good day,” and said he did not anticipate making any adjustments to his planned defense in response to the criticism.

The trial could provide clues on the Republican Party’s direction following Mr. Trump’s tumultuous four-year presidency. Sharp divisions have emerged between Trump loyalists and those hoping to move the party in a new direction. Democrats for their part are concerned the trial could impede Mr. Biden’s ability to swiftly advance an ambitious legislative agenda.

But few Republican senators appear willing to break with Mr. Trump.

Senator Josh Hawley, who helped lead the opposition in the Senate to the presidential election results, predicted that Tuesday’s vote would ultimately reflect the chamber’s final decision.

“That’s probably going to be the outcome, right there,” Mr. Hawley told reporters.

One year ago, the then-Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Mr. Trump on charges of obstructing Congress and abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine to launch an investigation into Mr. Biden and his son Hunter in 2019. — David Morgan and Richard Cowan/Reuters

1...6,8746,8756,876...12,611Page 6,875 of 12,611
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube