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Gordon pushes for bill on quick, accurate reporting of deaths of convicts

RAID AT BILIBID PRISON MUNTILUPA

A SENATOR on Thursday pushed for the immediate passage of a bill mandating the quick and accurate reporting of deaths and illnesses of persons in detention, including minors.

“The late reporting of these deaths, suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths, and the identity of these high-profile inmates shocked the nation,” Senator Richard J. Gordon, who chairs the Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee, said in a statement.

He previously filed Senate Bill 1771 or the Death in Custody Reporting Bill, which seeks the monthly filing of reports of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and detained children in conflict with law (CICL) convicted of a heinous crime or crimes punishable by reclusion perpetua to respective departments and agencies.

Mr. Gordon called for the passage of the bill after an investigative media report showed that an average of 55 prisoners have died while serving their sentences inside the New Bilibid Prison from Oct. 2019 to April 2020.

There are many questions regarding “the truthfulness and veracity of these reports,” he said, and the circumstances in which the inmates died.

Under the proposed law, non-reporting will be punishable by up to 12 years in jail with a fine of up to P1 million, while false reporting or letting a PDL or CICL escape will be penalized with imprisonment and fines of up to P5 million. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

DENR-Davao to order suspension of tree-cutting permit in Philippine eagle nesting area

THE ENVIRONMENT department’s Davao regional office said on Thursday that it will be ordering the suspension of a permit issued to cut trees in an area that is supposedly part of a declared conservation zone as well as a nesting site of Philippine Eagles.

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-XI Regional Director Bagani Fidel A. Evasco said the directive will be issued even as permit grantee Ling-Ling Wu Lee has already halted cutting activities after a community official raised the issue in October.

“Ms. Ling-Ling Wu Lee has voluntarily stopped the cutting of trees in the area ever since Purok Leader Oliver Ancapoy posted through the social media about this issue last Oct. 2021 and DENR XI will issue suspension order to the issued PLTP (Private Land Timber Permit) to this effect,” Mr. Evasco said in a statement.

Several environmental organizations, including the Philippine Eagle Foundation, have called for the cancellation of the permit covering 121 trees in Marilog, an upland area in Davao City.

The city government, in a Dec. 7 letter to DENR-XI, expressed support to the green groups and asked Mr. Evasco to review the matter.

Mr. Evasco said it will be coordinating with the city government to validate whether the titled properties covered in the permit are within the declared conservation area, and “monitor and validate the area with regard to it being a nesting and roosting site of the Philippine Eagle.”

“DENR XI office remains committed to render public service with utmost quality and integrity and shall always consider the welfare of the general public to be balanced with our wildlife conservation measures especially the Philippine Eagles and the forest ecosystem functions as a whole,” he said. — MSJ

Education dep’t eyes January start of expanded in-person classes

PHILSTAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

THE EDUCATION department on Thursday said it is set to conclude the pilot run of face-to-face classes to determine whether the program that was launched late this year can be expanded to more areas by January.

“We hope to finish this pilot by December to really assess its success,” Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones said at a televised vaccination event on Thursday.

She said the pilot run of in-person classes “has been very successful” so far.

The Department of Education earlier said the pilot run will end on Jan. 31 next year. However, some senators had urged the agency to shorten the timetable so as not to further prolong school closure.

Education Assistant Secretary Malcolm S. Garma said separately in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel that more grade levels and longer class hours might be considered after the pilot run this year.

“We are optimistic that we could start the expansion phase by January,” he said. “That’s when we’re going to consider the other grade levels to be included, not anymore on the pilot but really on the limited face-to-face classes.”

A total of 272 public schools and 18 private schools have been conducting face-to-face classes across the country under the dry run program, Mr. Gama said.

“We are doing the pilot precisely because we want to learn from this,” he said. “This will serve as the basis for our recommendation to the Office of the President if ever we’re going to expand this next year.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

New Zealand to ban cigarette sales for future generations

Cigarettes are seen during the manufacturing process in the British American Tobacco Cigarette Factory (BAT) in Bayreuth, southern Germany, April 30, 2014. Picture taken April 30, 2014. — REUTERS

New Zealand plans to ban young people from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetime in one of the world’s toughest crackdowns on the tobacco industry, arguing that other efforts to extinguish smoking were taking too long.

People aged 14 and under in 2027 will never be allowed to purchase cigarettes in the Pacific country of five million, part of proposals unveiled on Thursday that will also curb the number of retailers authorized to sell tobacco and cut nicotine levels in all products.

“We want to make sure young people never start smoking so we will make it an offense to sell or supply smoked tobacco products to new cohorts of youth,” New Zealand Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall said in a statement.

“If nothing changes, it would be decades till Māori smoking rates fall below 5%, and this government is not prepared to leave people behind.”

Currently, 11.6% of all New Zealanders aged over 15 smoke, a proportion that rises to 29% among indigenous Maori adults, according to government figures.

The government will consult with a Maori health task force in the coming months before introducing legislation into parliament in June next year, with the aim of making it law by the end of 2022.

The restrictions would then be rolled out in stages from 2024, beginning with a sharp reduction in the number of authorized sellers, followed by reduced nicotine requirements in 2025 and the creation of the “smoke-free” generation from 2027.

The package of measures will make New Zealand’s retail tobacco industry one of the most restricted in the world, just behind Bhutan where cigarette sales are banned outright. New Zealand’s neighbor Australia was the first country in the world to mandate plain packaging of cigarettes in 2012.

The New Zealand government said while existing measures like plain packaging and levies on sales had slowed tobacco consumption, the tougher steps were necessary to achieve its goal of fewer than 5% of the population smoking daily by 2025.

The new rules would halve the country’s smoking rates in as few as 10 years from when they take effect, the government said.

Smoking kills about 5,000 people a year in New Zealand, making it one of the country’s top causes of preventable death. Four in five smokers started before age 18, the country’s government said.

‘CRIME WAVE’

Health authorities welcomed the crackdown, while retailers expressed concern about the impact on their businesses and warned of the emergence of a black market.

The government did not give specifics about how the new rules would be policed or whether and how they would apply to visitors to the country.

“Cigarette smoking kills 14 New Zealanders every day and two out of three smokers will die as a result of smoking,” said New Zealand Medical Association chair Alistair Humphrey in a statement.

“This action plan offers some hope of realizing our 2025 Smokefree Aotearoa goal, and keeping our tamariki (Maori children) smokefree.”

However, the Dairy and Business Owners Group, a lobby group for local convenience stores, known in New Zealand as dairies, said while it supported a smoke-free country, the government’s plan would destroy many businesses.

“This is all 100 per cent theory and zero per cent substance,” the group’s chairman, Sunny Kaushal, told Stuff.co.nz. “There’s going to be a crime wave. Gangs and criminals will fill the gap with ciggie houses alongside tinnie houses.” — Reuters

Omicron four times more transmissible than Delta in Japan study

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage than Delta, according to a study by a Japanese scientist who advises the country’s health ministry, a finding likely to confirm fears about the new strain’s contagiousness.

Hiroshi Nishiura, a professor of health and environmental sciences at Kyoto University who specializes in mathematical modeling of infectious diseases, analyzed genome data available through Nov. 26 in South Africans in Gauteng province.

“The Omicron variant transmits more, and escapes immunity built naturally and through vaccines more,” Mr. Nishiura said in his findings, which were presented at a meeting of the health ministry’s advisory panel on Wednesday.

Concerns are swirling globally that Omicron could deal the world a bigger blow than even Delta, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that it could fuel surges with “severe consequences.” But a jump in cases in South Africa in the wake of the variant’s emergence hasn’t yet overwhelmed hospitals, leading to some optimism that it may only cause mostly mild illness. Pfizer, Inc. and BioNTech SE also said this week that a booster dose of their vaccine could fortify protection against the strain.

Mr. Nishiura’s study hasn’t been peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal. The new analysis was conducted using the same method he used in a July study published by the Eurosurveillance medical journal on Delta’s predicted dominance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

Hundreds of researchers globally are racing to understand the new variant, which is the most differentiated strain yet among the five variants of concern identified by the WHO since the pandemic began.

Cases in South Africa have rapidly increased to as many as nearly 20,000 a day since the country first reported Omicron’s discovery two weeks ago. The number of COVID cases in the nation had remained low in the preceding weeks, despite only 26% of the population being fully vaccinated, according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker.

“The vaccination rate was less than 30% and many people were probably naturally infected,” Mr.  Nishiura said. “We need to pay close attention to future trends to see if the same thing will happen in countries where mRNA vaccines are used at a high rate.” — Bloomberg

The world’s lowest fertility rate is about to get even lower

REUTERS

South Korea said its fertility rate, already the world’s lowest, is expected to drop even further as the pandemic puts downward pressure on the number of births.

The fertility rate will drop from last year’s 0.84 to just 0.70 in 2024 before gradually rebounding as couples who marry after the pandemic start having children, according to statements by the finance ministry and the statistics office.

By 2031, the government sees the fertility rate edging back up to 1.0, as the large cohort of people born in the 1990s to a second baby boomer generation enter their 30s and start forming families. A fertility rate of about 2 children per woman, the so-called replacement rate, is needed to keep population from falling.

South Korea saw the number of deaths exceed births for the first time last year, a development the government labeled the “death cross.”

Factoring in migration, Korea’s total population started falling this year, eight years before the government forecast in 2019.

The country’s population of about 52 million will decline gradually until 2030, then shrink at a more rapid pace to about 38 million by 2070, the same size it was in 1979, according to the statements.  — Bloomberg

Number of jailed journalists reached  global high in 2021 — CPJ report

STOCK PHOTO | Image by rawpixel.com from Freepik

The number of journalists worldwide who are behind bars reached a global high in 2021, according to a new report from the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which says that 293 reporters were imprisoned as of Dec. 1 this year.

At least 24 journalists were killed because of their coverage, and 18 others died in circumstances that make it too difficult to determine whether they were targeted because of their work, the CPJ said on Thursday in its annual survey on press freedom and attacks on the media.

While the reasons for jailing reporters vary between countries, the record number reflects political upheaval around the world and a growing intolerance of independent reporting, according to the US-based nonprofit.

“This is the sixth year in a row that CPJ has documented record numbers of journalists imprisoned around the world,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon in a statement. “The number reflects two inextricable challenges — governments are determined to control and manage information, and they are increasingly brazen in their efforts to do so.”

The journalists who were killed in 2021 include Danish Siddiqui, a Reuters photographer who died in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan in July, and Gustavo Sanchez Cabrera, who was shot and killed in Mexico in June.

China imprisoned 50 journalists, the most of any country, followed by Myanmar (26), which arrested reporters as part of a crackdown after its Feb. 1 military coup, then Egypt (25), Vietnam (23) and Belarus (19), the CPJ said.

For the first time, the CPJ’s list includes journalists incarcerated in Hong Kong — a byproduct of the 2020 national security law, which makes anything Beijing regards as subversion, secession, terrorism or colluding with foreign forces punishable by up to life in prison.

Mexico, where journalists are often targeted when their work upsets criminal gangs or corrupt officials, remains the Western hemisphere’s deadliest country for reporters, according to the CPJ. — Reuters

Smart’s Giga Play app revolutionizes the Filipino’s online live viewing experience, brings the biggest acts on Dec. 11 live

Mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. is pulling out all the stops to give Filipinos access to highly anticipated international events featuring Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, the Jonas Brothers, and your favorite K-Pop stars ENHYPEN, TXT, aespa, ATEEZ, and more with the back-to-back livestreaming of iHeart Jingle Ball and the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) on December 11.

Catch these exclusive livestreams on Smart’s GigaPlay App with the annual iHeart Radio Jingle Ball Tour at 7 a.m. and MAMA at 3 p.m. through your Smart-connected device.

“A couple of months ago, the GigaPlay App was just a dream, so you can just imagine how happy we are to give our customers exclusive access to some of the world’s most anticipated live events. And we’re just starting. If you can’t travel to see the concerts and experience events physically, then we bring them to you digitally—right at your fingertips,” said Jane J. Basas, SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart.

“This December, we’re excited to bring back the iHeart Jingle Ball and 2021 MAMA awards, this time on GigaPlay. Allow us to transport you to New York City and Paju in Seoul, through our convenient mobile app and enjoy watching the biggest international events as they happen in real-time,” added Basas.

From New York to Seoul in one day

Watch the biggest music acts including Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Jonas Brothers, Doja Cat, Lil Nas X, Saweetie, AJR, Kane Brown, Tate Mcrae, Bazzi, and Dixie D’Amelo as they heat up New York city’s Madison Square Garden with their performances of their hits as well as some renditions of beloved holiday tunes.

Later in the day, see who among the hottest K-Pop artists will take home this year’s biggest awards at the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards straight from Seoul, South Korea. Catch Wanna One, aespa, Ateez, Brave Girls, Enhypen, INI, and more. Global superstar Ed Sheeran will have a special performance as well.

Expect other big groups to drop by and perform during this year’s Mnet ceremonies. Start watching at 3 p.m. for the red carpet arrivals before the main show kicks off at 5 p.m. Korean celebrities Song Joong Ki, Rain, Ahn Bo Hyun, Lee Sun Bin, Yeo Jin Goo, Lee Do Hyun, and Choi Si Won among others will also join the program as presenters.

Don’t miss all the exclusive live and on-demand shows and content on GigaPlay! Download the app now on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or click on this link: smrt.ph/gigaplay.

Fastest 5G mobile network     

GigaPlay is powered by Smart, the country’s fastest and most reliable 5G mobile network as reported by Ookla, the global leader in mobile and broadband network intelligence. To date, Smart has already fired up 4,400 5G sites nationwide making it the country’s first, fastest, and widest 5G network.

Smart has also reasserted its dominance as the Philippines’ fastest mobile network for the fourth year in a row, based on analysis by Ookla of tests taken with Speedtest® covering the first half of 2021.

 

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Filipinos value sustainable travel within the country — Airbnb report

By Brontë H. Lacsamana 

Sustainable travel and more inclusive tourism recovery are important for Filipino tourists, according to the survey “Rebuilding tourism in Asia-Pacific: A more conscious traveller?” commissioned by online travel platform Airbnb in October.  

“In the wake of the disconnection and economic hardship brought by the pandemic, people are becoming increasingly thoughtful and deliberate about how they can use travel to make a positive contribution to the communities they’re visiting,” Michelle Goh, Airbnb’s public policy head for Southeast Asia, said in an official statement. 

“They’re thinking deeply about how they can put their tourist dollars to best use and economically empower towns and rural communities that have struggled,” added Ms. Goh, “And they’re looking to immerse themselves in these communities and forge meaningful connections, while also minimizing any unintended negative impacts.” 

TRAVEL PRIORITIES 

The research and analysis, conducted by Economist Impact, showed majority of Filipinos wanting to immerse in local communities to find out how to minimize their negative impacts and even benefit rural destinations during their economic recovery. 

Among the specific travel priorities the survey found were the following: 

  • Approximately 75% of Filipinos value using travel as a way to meaningfully connect with communities and culture.  
  • Over 70% of respondents say they are more inclined to contribute to the local economy, and will factor this into where they travel and how they spend money as they are conscious that communities are in need of economic recovery. 
  • 76% of respondents say they will be more conscious when it comes to familiarizing themselves with what’s important to the communities they’re visiting and how they can make a contribution. 
  • Nearly 50% say it is important that they’re not contributing to issues such as overtourism. 
  • Over 60% are willing to build sustainable tourism practices into their holiday plans.  
  • Over 50% of Filipinos polled plan to travel more frequently to rural destinations that are not currently popular with tourists. 
  • 60% plan to take workcations or work remotely when they can. 
  • Looking ahead, 62% plan to engage in more domestic travel than in the past, with the aim of allocating more of their travel budget within their own country. 

Sustainable tourism practices that tourists are most willing to engage in are: 

  • Forgoing comforts and luxuries on a holiday if their actions can support sustainable tourism outcomes 
  • Paying a premium for an experience that supports sustainable tourism practices 
  • Avoiding destinations faced with sustainability challenges 

TRAVEL RECOVERY 

Due to the ongoing risks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), such as the anticipated Omicron variant, Airbnb assured via e-mail that “health and safety remain key priorities.”  

Their Enhanced Clean protocol, endorsed by the World Travel and Tourism Council, sets standardized guidelines for cleaning and sanitization in the home sharing industry. Hosts are required to commit to these COVID-19 safety and cleaning practices. 

According to the platform, the Philippine Department of Tourism has been their ally in supporting travel recovery and rebuilding tourism hand in hand with communities.  

“As demonstrated by our survey findings, we’re seeing a trend where people are attempting to make their travel decisions more sustainable — economically, culturally and environmentally — and hoping to have a more positive impact by benefiting local communities,” said Pratima Singh, Economist Impact’s policy and insights manager. 

Airbnb’s Ms. Goh also said: “It’s critically important that both industry and government come together to make the most of this once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

Web security is an investment small business owners cannot afford to overlook

By Patricia Mirasol

With digital tools at their fingertips, one in three employed Filipinos have started side hustles due to the pandemic, as per data from GoDaddy, a global domain registrar and web hosting company. It offered cyber hygiene tips for the three-fourths of small and medium businesses that its data also confirmed do not know how to protect themselves against cyberthreats. 

“The moment [your business] goes online is the moment you need to invest in security,” said Norman L. Barrientos, GoDaddy’s director of marketing for Southeast Asia. Bad actors, he told the audience of a Dec. 9 event on the topic, do not discriminate in terms of what type of business you have. 

“Invest in your business the same way you invest in yourself. Security is one way to do so,” Mr. Barrientos said. 

In May 2020, 9,692 new business names were registered under internet retail –– nearly 450% higher than the January to mid-March registrations. COVID-19 triggered the acceleration of e-commerce, and also of a rising cybercrime economy. 

Business owners are cognizant of that fact, with GoDaddy’s 2021 website security survey finding that a majority of its customers believe phishing (90%) and malware (91%) pose the biggest threats to small businesses. The former is a social engineering scam that tricks individuals into sharing sensitive data. The latter is a malicious type of software designed to harm a device or network. 

Among the results of an online business falling prey to hackers is loss of revenue and damage to reputation, said Jade Christian S. Tamboon, a guide at GoDaddy. 

“The holiday season is not the time to have a security breach,” Mr. Tamboon said at the Dec. 9 event. “Let’s prepare ourselves.” 

For the 78% of business owners the aforementioned survey found to have also researched website protection solutions, Mr. Tamboon offered the following recommendations: 

  •  Password security – the longer the password, the better. Non-English words also work, since malware will always use words from major languages first when cracking codes. To protect the rest of an individual’s accounts in case one gets compromised, different passwords should be used for different accounts.  
  • Two-factor authentication – an extra layer of protection, beyond a password, that ensures that only one individual can successfully log in a specific account. This additional verification step could be done through a fingerprint scan, or a one-time code sent to a registered mobile number.
  • SSL and encryption – a SSL (or secure socket layer) certification that authenticates a website’s identity, enables an encrypted connection, and establishes trust among customers because of visual cues, like a green padlock, that connote website security. 
  • Firewall and backup services – a firewall helps block malware by filtering incoming and outgoing network traffic, whereas backup services get a site up and running again because all the important data has been saved. 
  • Social media accounts – be circumspect about logging in on websites through social media accounts. Websites that have access to one’s social media accounts have access to one’s personal data and, by extension, one’s customers’ data. 

“Update your passwords and software periodically,” Mr. Tamboon added. “It’s harder to open the door if the lock keeps on changing.”

Head of U.S. Senate panel asks regulator to probe Facebook’s ad practices

REUTERS

WASHINGTON – The chair of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday asked a regulator to investigate whether Meta Platforms’ Facebook misled its advertising customers and the public about the reach of its advertisements.

In a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan seen by Reuters, Senator Maria Cantwell said “evidence suggests that Facebook may have deceived its advertising customers about its brand safety and advertising metrics” and “may have engaged in deceptive practices.”

Meta and the FTC did not immediately comment.

Cantwell added that “public information suggests that Facebook’s potential misrepresentations about brand safety and advertising metrics may be unfair, as well as deceptive.”

She said “a thorough investigation by the Commission and other enforcement agencies is paramount, not only because Facebook and its executives may have violated federal law, but because members of the public and businesses are entitled to know the facts regarding Facebook’s conduct.”

Cantwell cited a 2020 Senate report that Facebook reportedly controlled approximately 74% of the social media market.

In October, Senator Richard Blumenthal said both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FTC should investigate claims made by a Facebook whistleblower that the company knew its apps were harming the mental health of some young users.

The FTC has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook that urged a court to demand that the company sell two big subsidiaries.

The FTC’s case against Facebook represents one of the biggest challenges the government has brought against a tech company in decades, and is being closely watched as Washington aims to tackle Big Tech’s extensive market power.

The FTC originally sued Facebook during the Trump administration, and its complaint was rejected by the court. It filed an amended complaint in August that Facebook has asked be tossed out. – Reuters

Crypto executives urge light touch as Congress mulls new regulation

REUTERS

Top executives from six major cryptocurrency companies including Coinbase and Circle on Wednesday urged Congress to provide clearer rules for the booming $3 trillion industry, but warned that overly tough restrictions would push it overseas.

The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee hearing marked the first time the industry’s senior leaders have explained their businesses to U.S. lawmakers amid growing concerns cryptocurrencies may pose systemic risks and hurt investors.

Crypto executives repeated calls for careful, bespoke rules rather than forcing the industry to comply with existing regulations.

“Without tailored legislative solutions that are openly debated with public participation, the United States risks unnecessarily onerous and chilling laws and regulations,” warned Alesia Haas, chief executive of Coinbase Inc.

Congress is unlikely to make new crypto rules anytime soon, according to analysts, and lawmakers treated the hearing primarily as a fact-finding exercise.

Democratic Representative Maxine Waters, who chairs the panel, said there are questions about proper oversight and singled out Facebook Inc’s stablecoin plans as a major concern given the company’s huge global reach.

Some lawmakers, in particular Republicans, praised the executives for leading the way on what could be a pivotal technology.

“I am tremendously impressed. I see a lot of ingenuity, a lot of entrepreneurial spirit,” said Representative Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican. “We need to be supportive of you.”

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, FTX Trading CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Paxos CEO Chad Cascarilla, Stellar Development Foundation CEO Dennelle Dixon and BitFury head Brian Brooks also testified.

 

DIGITAL ASSETS

The rapid growth of cryptocurrencies and in particular stablecoins — digital assets pegged to traditional currencies — has caught the attention of regulators, who fear they could put the financial system at risk if not properly monitored.

Some policymakers, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, are also concerned the products could be used for illicit purposes, or to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers.

In November, a U.S. Treasury-led working group recommended Congress pass a law specifying stablecoins should only be issued by companies that have insured deposits, like banks.

Executives said they would welcome regulatory clarity, which could help the industry expand, but that overly restrictive rules could prove counterproductive.

The rapid growth in the sector underscores there is strong investor appetite for digital assets and should be supported with clear rules rather than stifled, they said.

BitFury’s Brooks, who was formerly CEO of Binance’s U.S. business and before that a bank regulator, told lawmakers cryptocurrencies are similar to traditional assets.

“We are the last country standing that hasn’t figured that out,” he said.

But the complexity and volatility of cryptocurrencies, as well as wildly varying standards around disclosure, reserves, consumer protection and other policies left some lawmakers concerned.

“Most of the people that I know that have invested in cryptocurrencies (have done so)…because they think they can get rich quick,” said Representative Juan Vargas. “We’ve seen this before, unfortunately, and it led to the financial crisis.” – Reuters

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