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US accuses Iran of trying to deflect blame for nuclear talks impasse

PIXABAY

WASHINGTON/CAIRO — The United States on Saturday accused Tehran of an “outrageous” effort to deflect blame for the impasse in Iran nuclear talks and denied that any agreement had been reached on a prisoner swap.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, said earlier on Twitter that the next round of negotiations in Vienna must wait until the new Iranian administration takes office in August but insisted that a prisoner exchange could take place quickly if the United States and Britain would stop linking it with the nuclear issue.

Indirect US-Iranian talks on reviving the 2015 deal have been on hold since the last round ended on June 20, and Araqchi’s comments confirmed that Tehran will not return to the table before President-elect Ebrahim Raisi takes over.

“We’re in a transition period as a democratic transfer of power is under way in our capital. Vienna talks must thus obviously await our new administration,” he tweeted.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “These comments are an outrageous effort to deflect blame for the current impasse.” “We stand ready to return to Vienna to complete work on a mutual return to the JCPOA once Iran has made the necessary decisions,” Mr. Price said, referring to diplomatic efforts to get both countries back to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

That is the nuclear accord that former President Donald Trump abandoned and his successor, President Joseph R. Biden, seeks to revive.

Mr. Araqchi also urged the United States and Britain to stop linking any exchange of prisoners with the nuclear deal. “Ten prisoners on all sides may be released tomorrow if US&UK fulfil their part of a deal,” he said.

In response, Mr. Price said: “With respect to the comments on the Americans whom Iran has unjustly held against their will, we see just another cruel effort to raise the hopes of their families … There is no agreed deal yet.”

“We had been engaged in indirect talks on the detainees in the context of the Vienna process, and the delay in restarting that process is not helping,” Mr. Price added. “While it would be more effective to make progress if we were meeting in Vienna, we are also prepared to continue with talks on detainees during this period.”

Iran, which is holding a handful of Iranian-Americans, has been accused by rights activists of arresting dual nationals to try to extract a concession from other countries. Iran has dismissed the charge.

Iran said earlier this week that it was holding talks on securing the release of Iranian prisoners in American jails and other countries over violations of US sanctions.

In May, Washington denied a report by Iranian state television that the countries had reached a prisoner swap deal in exchange for the release of $7 billion in frozen Iranian oil funds under US sanctions in other countries.

The hiatus in nuclear talks, which US and European officials attribute to hard-line Mr. Raisi’s election, has raised questions about next steps if the talks hit a dead end. — Reuters

How fashion entrepreneurs can stand out in e-commerce 

By Patricia Mirasol 

Future-facing brands put customer experience first. A 2021 Shopify Plus report on the fashion industry noted that “sticky” brands with loyal customers are agile in how they deliver their customer experience — whether that’s aligning themselves to a social cause, meeting customers where they are, or hiring influencers to represent their brand on social media. 

The Canadian enterprise e-commerce platform also noted that the global e-commerce segment of fashion and apparel will grow at a compound annual rate of 10.6% until 2022. 

Fashion entrepreneurs can have a slice of this pie by differentiating their brand, finding reliable partners, and strengthening ties with their customer base, said Sabina L. Vergara, chief commercial officer of Ninja Van Philippines, a logistics and courier company. 

“Despite the uncertainties ahead, now is a good time to do your due diligence and plan how to position your online fashion store for new shopping habits and established retail behaviors,” she told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview. “Focus on what’s under your control: your product, the shopping experience, and fast shipping with a good delivery partner.” 

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
One social cause that has emerged strong from the coronavirus pandemic is the “buy less, buy better” attitude toward fashion. 

Analytics firm Kantar, which identified shopping trends for 2021, found that 75% of Filipino shoppers seek out brands that offer ways to offset their environmental impact. Red Havas, the public relations arm of communications agency Havas Ortega, also found eco-activism to have gained traction this year, especially among Gen Zs who try to lessen their impact on the environment by buying local and reusing rather than repurchasing. 

The resurgence of thrift shops among local Instagram accounts is a manifestation of this trend. 

Another draw for Filipino online shoppers is free shipping, Ms. Vergara said. A 2020 Twitter report on Filipino online shopping habits found that free parcel delivery was the leading driver of purchase decisions, compelling 67% of Pinoy shoppers to make a purchase. 

Microentrepreneurs who cannot afford free shipping could provide discount vouchers on a customer’s next purchase, said Ms. Vergara. “They may also try using a cashback promotional strategy, or providing an extra 5-10% off offer for mailing list subscribers and repeat customers,” she added. “This provides the opportunity for microentrepreneurs to strengthen their ties with current customers.” 

A third consideration, Ms. Vergara told BusinessWorld, is flexible payment modes. “We observe that nine out of 10 deliveries are still cash-on delivery items. Customers prefer to see their orders before parting with their cash,” she said. “Cash on delivery is still the preferred method at the moment and probably in the foreseeable future.” 

BRAND DIFFERENTIATION
Brands will also do well to invest in social media, as fashion and social media are a match made in e-commerce heaven, as per a March 2021 Shopify Plus article. An effective marketing strategy, the article added, is leveraging product-centric content with mainstream influencer marketing and micro-influencers. 

“With Filipinos spending so much time on their smartphones, memes have become the currency of viral marketing in the country,” Ms. Vergara said. “The more meme-able your marketing strategy is, the better.” 

Entrepreneurs can differentiate and showcase their brands through the e-commerce features social media platforms have created, such as Facebook Shops, Buyable Pins, and Instagram Shops. These allow users to visit a brand’s profile, browse through the products, and buy items from within the platform. 

Examples of Filipino retailers that have taken advantage of Instagram Shops are Sole Academy, Commonwealth, and Beyond the Beach. 

Ms. Vergara also advised leveraging TikTok for organic content marketing. 

“Clothes sellers can make… video-style TikTok videos showing how your items look and fit in real life,” said Ms. Vergara. “If you design accessories, walk viewers through your design and manufacturing process.” 

Those who have no resources for manufacturing, meanwhile, may avail of white label products — or generic, mass-manufactured goods that are sold to resellers — and then customize them with their logo and brand colors. 

RELIABLE PARTNERSHIPS
Setting up shop on social media for free has been made possible by the C2C model (or the business model where customers can trade with each other). Although this model is limited to microentrepreneurs as it deals with smaller and less frequent deliveries, Ms. Vergara advised looking for an e-commerce logistics partner that can handle on-demand and scheduled deliveries. An ideal logistics partner, she added, is one with services that can scale and keep up with a brand’s growth. 

With e-commerce competition getting fierce, and customer expectations continually being reshaped by real-time services, fulfillment speed is a piece of the customer service jigsaw that can help a brand stand out.

Australia, under lockdown, reports slight dip in COVID-19 cases

SYDNEY – Australia’s two largest states on Sunday reported slight declines in new COVID-19 infections, prompting authorities to say it could be days before tough lockdown measures showed progress in containing the spread of the Delta variant.

The country’s most populous city, Sydney, and all of Victoria state – totaling nearly half the 25 million national population – are under stay-home orders after a flare-up of the highly infectious virus strain began last month.

New South Wales (NSW) state, of which Sydney is the capital, reported 105 new cases in the previous day, down from 111 the day before, while Victoria logged 16 new cases, down from 19.

NSW also recorded an additional death from the virus, taking the total to four since the start of the year and the national total to 914 since the pandemic began.

“Working together we will start to see those numbers nudge, and are throwing all of our resources and efforts to making that happen,” said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at a televised news conference.

“We want to make sure that we allow families and businesses in particular to bounce back as soon as we can and that is why we are throwing everything at it in the next two weeks.”

A day earlier, Berejiklian tightened restrictions on the city of five million people, including a shutdown of all building and property maintenance works and bans on some 600,000 people in the worst-affected suburbs from leaving their immediate neighbourhood for work.

The construction shutdown would mean up to 500,000 people were unable to work, local media reported, including those involved with major civil works projects, although the government says workers who are stood down will still receive wages via relief payments.

Of particular concern to authorities is the number of infectious people circulating in the community before being diagnosed, which stood at 27 on Sunday, roughly in line with recent days. Berejiklian said it appeared unlikely the number would be near zero by a July 30 target in order to lift restrictions.

She added that the number would likely begin falling in five days “because there is a lag in the data” and that she would not rule out changing restrictions further.

Neighbouring Victoria, with 7 million people under a five-day lockdown scheduled to end on Tuesday, said all 16 new cases were linked to known chains of transmission.

“It is unfolding as we had hoped it would but that is not to say that any extra case is good news,” said Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews.

“It is too early for us to determine whether we will be able to come out of this lockdown at midnight on Tuesday,” he added, noting that one of the new cases was in a country town 540 km (335 miles) from Melbourne, indicating rapid geographic spread.

Australia avoided the high infection and fatality numbers of many other countries in the initial stages of the pandemic due to swift border restrictions, stay-home orders and economic stimulus.

But a year and a half on, the federal government is under pressure due a sluggish vaccine rollout, blamed by some experts on changing regulatory advice for the AstraZeneca vaccine and limited supply of the Pfizer Inc drug.

Just over 10% of Australia’s 25 million people are fully vaccinated, a fraction of the rates in the United States and Britain. – Reuters

Thai youth activists to go ahead with protest despite gatherings ban

BANGKOK – Thai youth activists vowed to stage a protest on Sunday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, despite a nation-wide ban on public gatherings imposed by the government amid surging coronavirus cases.

Youth-led demonstrations last year attracted hundreds of thousands of people across the country, but their momentum has stalled after authorities began cracking down on rallies and detaining protest leaders, and after new waves of COVID-19 infections broke out.

Last year protests also broke traditional taboos by openly criticizing the king, an offence under the country’s strict lese majeste law that makes insulting or defaming the king, queen, heir and regent punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Most of the protest leaders who were detained have been released on bail and some took part in anti-government protests last month.

“We have to drive out Prayuth even if my bail is revoked,” said one protest leader, Arnon Nampa, ahead of the planned Sunday march from Democracy Monument to Government House in Bangkok.

The protest will also mark the one-year anniversary of the first large-scale street protests led by youth groups demanding Prayuth resign, a new constitution and a major reform to the monarchy.

The Thai government has earlier imposed a new nationwide ban on public gatherings of more than five people which carries a maximum penalty of a two-year jail term or a fine of up to 40,000 baht ($1,220), or both.

The country reported a third straight day of record new cases on Sunday.

Police urged people not to join the protest and warned that those who breached the law and cause unrest will face charges.

Street protests against the prime minister have been held in recent weeks by several groups, including Prayuth’s former political allies, as frustrations grow over the mounting wave of infections and prolonged pandemic damage to the economy. – Reuters

S.Korea to airlift troops from COVID-stricken anti-piracy ship

SEOUL – South Korea will airlift all troops from a ship on anti-piracy patrol in the Middle East, the Ministry of Defense said on Sunday, while a replacement team will steer the vessel back home after dozens of soldiers on board tested positive for the coronavirus.

South Korea, once cited as a success story for keeping COVID under control, is battling record infections as the more transmissible Delta variant spreads throughout the country after prompting a semi-lockdown in the Seoul area.

Two aerial tankers will depart for the Middle East later on Sunday, the ministry said, confirming that 61 additional troops on the ship had tested positive for the virus following media reports of seven cases.

The government had said on Thursday it would send a medical team to address the outbreak on the vessel.

But worries mounted that the outbreak could be much worse and require more drastic action. Yonhap News Agency said the Joint Chiefs of Staff had received only 101 results from PCR tests of the more than 300 service members on board, while the rest may be disclosed in coming hours.

South Korea reported 1,454 new coronavirus cases for Saturday, bringing the cumulative cases at home to 177,951 and total deaths to 2,057. Little more than 30% of South Korea’s 52 million people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. – Reuters

U.S. tech companies disappointed with DACA ruling, urge Congress to act

Some U.S. tech companies expressed disappointment with a ruling by a federal judge that blocked new applications to a program that protects immigrants who were brought to the United States as children from deportation.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen on Friday sided with a group of states suing to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, arguing that it was illegally created by former President Barack Obama in 2012.

“We have long argued in support of this program, filing an amicus brief in this case, and we are very disappointed by the decision (from the judge)”, Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said.

“Dreamers and immigrants make the United States — and Twitter — better”, a spokesperson from social media platform Twitter said in an emailed statement.

Twitter, Google, Microsoft and Photoshop maker Adobe urged the U.S. Congress to come together to protect Dreamers, with Google saying they wanted DACA to be “cemented” into law.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said that the “disappointing” ruling created “uncertainty yet again for Dreamers.”

The judge ruled on Friday that the program violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it was created but said that since there were so many people currently enrolled in the program – nearly 650,000 – his ruling would be temporarily stayed for their cases and their renewal applications.

Mr. Biden, who was vice president when Obama created the program, has said he wants to create a permanent pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers.”

On Saturday, Mr. Biden vowed to preserve the program that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, promising to appeal the judge’s ruling invalidating it and urging Congress to provide a path to citizenship. – Reuters

Facebook says it should not be blamed for U.S. failing to meet vaccine goals

REUTERS

WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) – Facebook on Saturday defended itself against U.S. President Joe Biden’s assertion that the social media platform is “killing people” by allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to proliferate, saying the facts tell a different story.

“The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” Facebook said in a corporate blog post by Guy Rosen, a company vice president. “President Biden’s goal was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed.”

COVID-19 misinformation has spread during the pandemic on social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc-owned YouTube. Researchers and lawmakers have long accused Facebook of failing to police harmful content on its platforms.

“They’re killing people. … Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people,” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday when asked about misinformation and what his message was to social media platforms such as Facebook.

The company has introduced rules against making specific false claims about COVID-19 and vaccines for it, and says it provides people with reliable information on these topics.

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is now the dominant strain worldwide, accompanied by a surge of deaths around the United States almost entirely among unvaccinated people, U.S. officials said on Friday.

American cases of COVID-19  are up 70% over the previous week and deaths are up 26%, with outbreaks occurring in parts of the country with low vaccination rates. – Reuters

Duterte says vice president role would give him lawsuit immunity

PHILSTAR

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte once again floated the idea of a vice-presidential run in the 2022 elections, saying it would give him immunity from lawsuits.

“They keep on threatening me with lawsuits and everything,” Duterte said at his ruling party’s assembly meeting on Saturday, referring to his political enemies.

“But the law says if you’re president, vice president, you have immunity. So I’ll just run as vice president.”

Duterte’s political party has urged him to seek the vice presidency after his term ends next year. Under Philippine law, a president can only be elected for one six-year term.

His possible candidacy has raised legal questions about how it could circumvent a ban on presidential term limits and has also been viewed as a way for him to remain immune from criminal charges. — Bloomberg

16 more Filipinos infected with Delta variant

PIXABAY

Sixteen more Filipinos have been infected with the more contagious Delta coronavirus variant, bringing the total to 35, according to the Department of Health (DoH). 

Five of the 16 were returning migrant Filipinos, while 11 were locals, the agency said in a statement on Friday. 

One of the workers arrived in the Philippines on April 26 from the United Kingdom and has since recovered after a 14-day quarantine. Two arrived in the Philippines on June 15 from Qatar and have also recovered. Information on the other two were still being verified. 

Of the 11 local cases, six were detected in Northern Mindanao, two in the National Capital Region and two in Western Visayas. 

All of them have recovered, except for one patient from Metro Manila who died after being rushed to the hospital on June 28, DoH said. 

One other patient who was initially tested in the metro but had an address in Central Luzon has also recovered. 

Of the 11 cases, nine had tested positive between June 23 and 28, while two tested positive on May 27, the agency said. 

Health authorities said they were coordinating with the Centers for Health Development and local governments for contact tracing. The Bureau of Quarantine and Department of Transportation were on high alert to implement strict border controls. 

The Health department reported 5,676 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections on Friday, bringing the total to 1.496 million.  

The death toll rose to 26,476 after 162 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 2,670 to 1.421 million, it said in a bulletin.  

There were 48,480 active cases, 91.8% of which were classified as mild, 2.1% were asymptomatic, 2.6% were severe, 1.85% were moderate and 1.6% were critical. 

DoH said 13 duplicates had been removed from the tally, 10 of which were tagged as recoveries. Twenty-eight recoveries were reclassified as active cases and 116 recoveries were tagged as deaths. Three laboratories failed to submit data on July 14. 

1M AstraZeneca, 1.6-M Janssen vaccines arrive

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

About 2.7 million more coronavirus vaccines arrived in the Philippines on Friday, boosting the government’s inoculation drive. 

The government took delivery of 1.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by AstraZeneca Plc and 1.6 million shots made by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals, the presidential palace said. 

Private companies paid for the AstraZeneca vaccines, while the first batch of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines was donated by the US. The same number of Johnson & Johnson vaccines was expected to arrive on Saturday. 

Unlike the other vaccine brands that require two doses, the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson requires only a dose. 

The government has given out 14.46 million vaccines, 4.29 million of which were second doses, presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr. told a televised news briefing. 

He added that 391,283 shots were given out on Thursday, the highest so far. 

Meanwhile, an inter-agency task force has updated the list of territories under a so-called green list, travelers from which only need to undergo a seven-day quarantine instead of 10 days. 

The countries included Albania, American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Benin, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cayman Islands, Chad, China, Comoros, Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Curacao, Dominica, Eswatini, Falkland Islands, French Polynesia and Gabon 

Also on the list are Gambia, Ghana, Greenland, Grenada, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), Iceland, Isle of Man, Israel, Laos, Liechtenstein, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria and North Macedonia. 

Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Romania, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands), Saint Barthelemy, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Singapore, Sint Eustatius, South Korea, Taiwan, Togo, Turks and Caicos Islands and Vietnam likewise were on the green list. 

Meanwhile, Filipinos in Thailand have sought the government’s help for vaccination as the country experiences a fresh surge in infections from more contagious coronavirus variants. 

Philippine Ambassador to Thailand Millicent C. Paredes said they were in talks with Thailand, which is facing vaccine supply problems, to vaccinate Filipinos there as soon as possible. 

Ms. Paredes said the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Thailand was due Alpha and Delta variants that spread in high-end bars in Bangkok. 

Thirty of 30,000 Filipinos in Thailand have been infected with the coronavirus. Only two were active cases, 27 have recovered and one patient died, she said. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago 

Google faces cyber-crime cases in Philippines

LIBERAL.PH

A Philippine senator has filed cyber-crime charges against Google Philippines and the owners of two YouTube channels at the Justice department for showing videos alleging domestic violence and adultery in his family. 

“Social media sites need to step up and be more responsive to reports and more especially to legal complaints,” Senator Francis N. Pangilinan said in a statement on Friday. “These are harmful to individuals and to families.” 

Mr. Pangilinan said Google, the owner and service provider of YouTube since 2006, is “liable under Philippine laws as a foreign corporation doing business in the Philippines.” 

He added that his office had reported 82 fake and malicious videos to YouTube, which rejected 28 reports for lack of merit. It had yet to decide on 54 reports, he said. 

The videos were uploaded on YouTube on May 2021 alleging that Mr. Pangilinan had physically abused his wife, actress Sharon Cuneta-Pangilinan. Some of the videos also claimed his wife had committed adultery. 

His family has denied all the allegations. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago 

PBA 46th season gets green light

THE PBA is seeking ways to augment the immediate start of its delayed Season 46. — PBA IMAGES

An inter-agency task force against the coronavirus on Thursday allowed the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) to restart its 46th season, subject to compliance with health protocols. 

The Games and Amusement Board would ensure players comply with health standards amid a coronavirus pandemic, presidential spokesperson Herminio L. Roque, Jr. told a televised news briefing on Friday. 

The PBA’s 46th season was scheduled to open on July 16 in Pasig City. It was originally scheduled to start on April 9 but got delayed amid a fresh surge in infections. 

The task force also allowed the Philippine National Volleyball Federation to host the 21st Asian Seniors Women’s Volleyball Championship, also subject to health protocols. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago

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