LONDON — Lewis Hamilton fended off young challenger Max Verstappen in one of the toughest battles of his Formula One career in Bahrain on Sunday and said he had loved every minute of it.
Mercedes’ seven-time world champion took the checkered flag in the season opener with less than a second separating him from his Red Bull rival after soaking up intense pressure over the closing laps in a long final stint on hard tires.
Verstappen had reeled in Hamilton steadily to seize the lead with four laps to go after going behind on strategy but in doing so ran wide, outside the track limits, and had to hand back the advantage. There was to be no second chance.
The 23-year-old Dutch had been fastest in pre-season testing, topped all three practice sessions, secured pole position and was the hot race favorite.
“I think ultimately if he hadn’t made the mistake, he probably would have won the race, but that’s what makes and loses you wins,” said Hamilton, who took his career tally to a record-extending 96.
Formula One has for years been waiting for a proper battle between the sport’s most successful driver and the man tipped to be his successor and Sunday delivered round one in a record 23-race season.
“I loved every minute of it. Every minute of the weekend I’ve loved,” said Hamilton.
“These guys (Red Bull) have done a better job so far and so for us to come away with this result, given that we weren’t the fastest this weekend, is a real result.”
Verstappen had led from the start, but Mercedes pitted Hamilton early to try and get a jump on the Red Bull, with the lead switching between the two on differing tyre strategies.
“Stopping early, we knew it was going to be difficult, but we had to cover Max. They’ve had amazing performance all weekend so it was going to take something pretty special,” said the Briton.
“Max was all over me right at the end. The pressure was immense. He’s a fantastic driver and they have the quicker car so to keep him behind, on fresh tires also, was one of the hardest [challenges] that I’ve had for a while.” — Reuters
DENNIS Schröder scored 24 points and the Los Angeles Lakers held on for a 96-93 win against the visiting Orlando Magic on Sunday night.
Kyle Kuzma had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Montrezl Harrell finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, and Markieff Morris totaled 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers.
LeBron James missed his fifth straight game with a high ankle sprain and the Lakers improved to 2-3 without their leader in scoring (25.4), rebounding (7.9), and assists (7.9).
Dwayne Bacon scored a career-high 26 points, Chuma Okeke scored 14 points, and Mo Bamba had 11 points off the bench for the Magic.
R.J. Hampton, Wendell Carter, Jr. and Otto Porter, Jr. made their team debuts off the bench for the Magic after they were acquired in trades on Thursday.
Meanwhile, JaMychal Green scored a season-high 20 points, Nikola Jokić had 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, and the host Denver Nuggets beat the Atlanta Hawks (126-102) on Sunday night.
Jamal Murray added 17 points, Michael Porter, Jr. had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Will Barton scored 12 for Denver.
Aaron Gordon got the start and finished with 13 points in his Nuggets debut. Gordon was acquired from Orlando on Thursday along with Gary Clark for Gary Harris and Hampton.
Trae Young had 21 points, seven assists and seven turnovers, Danilo Gallinari scored 14 points, John Collins added 11, and Clint Capela finished with 10 for Atlanta, which lost for just the third time in its last 12 games. — Reuters
TORONTO — Honduras punched its ticket to the men’s soccer competition at this year’s Tokyo Games with a 2-1 semifinal victory over the United States at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Sunday.
Los Catrachos, who finished fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics after falling to host Brazil in the semifinals, went ahead on goals by American-born Honduran Juan Carlos Obregon and Luis Palma before the US pulled one back in the 52nd minute.
Honduras, which has qualified for four consecutive Olympics, opened the scoring in the final seconds of first-half stoppage time when Obregon bundled the ball home after Denil Maldonado headed it across the face of the goal.
Disaster struck for the Americans in the 47th minute when goalkeeper David Ochoa got caught in possession and his pass was swiftly blocked by Palma and bounced straight into the net for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
The United States, which has not qualified for the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Games, got on the board when Jackson Yueill rifled in a shot from outside the area.
Honduras, which reached the semifinals of the eight-team tournament as the top team in Group B, will next face either Mexico or Canada in Tuesday’s final.
Group A winner Mexico and Canada are playing in Sunday’s second semifinal to determine the other team that represents North and Central America and the Caribbean at the July 23-Aug. 8 Tokyo Olympics.
As both semifinal winners qualify for the Olympics, the final qualification match is essentially an exhibition.
The eight-team tournament was originally scheduled to be held in March 2020, but was postponed because of the coronavirus. — Reuters
WITH the recent spike of coronavirus cases, government has imposed strict quarantine measures that put Philippine sports in the backseat again.
NOT CHESS. The National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) has launched several online competitions including the Luzon Leg of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)-NCFP selection tournament unfolding today (Tuesday) until Thursday.
The event, bankrolled by NCFP president and senior Deputy Speaker Butch Pichay, will serve as the first of a series of events culminating in the Grand Finals where the top men and women winners will earn spots to the national team where they will receive a monthly stipend.
Registration is free.
“This is an opportunity for a Filipino chess player to become member of the national team,” said tournament director Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales.
After the Luzon leg, the event will proceed to the Visayas staging slated for April 13-15 and the Mindanao edition from April 20-22 with the winners qualifying for the quarterfinals (April 27-29), the semifinals (May 11-13) and the grand finals (July 2-4) where it will be done using a hybrid format of online and face-to-face games.
For inquiries, interested parties may contact Michelle Yaon at 0910-3726152 or Susan Neri at 0933-5505019.
The NCFP has also started the Marinduque Southern Luzon Leg of the National Age Group Championship over the weekend.
Also set this year are the Southeast Asian Games qualifying tournament, World Chess Olympiad selection tournament, National Seniors and National Championships that would be capped by the Battle of Grandmasters late this year.
Despite red tape, Batangas attracts more green energy players
To put an end to the “no man’s land” problem of the Taal Volcano island in Batangas province, a public-private initiative wants to turn the protected landscape into a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)-recognized Global Geopark, said Saturnino G. Belen, chairman of First Asia Venture Capital Inc., a venture capital company, at a recent Liveable Cities LocalLabs event.
“Right now, it’s really just being run by all these government agencies … and nothing has really happened, in terms of any development plan,” said Mr. Belen. “It’s really a formula for disaster.”
He added that they are hiring an accreditor consultant to guide them through the Geopark application process with UNESCO. UNESCO Global Geoparks are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education, and sustainable development, yielding geotourism-related local enterprises and job creation.
The Taal Volcano is a protected landscape of over 62,000 hectares, and covers 20% of the province’s total land area. In 2018, the area was placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) by the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018, which transferred the control and management of said areas from local government units to the agency. “You can’t even construct a fence within the 62,000 hectares under that law,” said Batangas Governor Hermilando I. Mandanas. “During the 2020 volcanic eruption, we had to ask permission to put up an evacuation center.”
GREEN ENERGY Despite the bureaucracy hampering the development of the Taal area, the province of Batangas continues to attract green energy players as it continues to cement its status as the top source of electric power in the country. It generates 5,300 megawatts (MW) of energy—more than enough to power Metro Manila, which consumes 4,900 MW.
Ayala Corp. intends to bring solar energy to the province, said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, at the same event. “There’s a new concern about the green economy, and it’s increasingly getting tougher to invest in fossil fuels. … In Alaminos, Pangasinan, we put up a solar plant and battery storage. It’s our intention to spill over in Batangas and also bring solar energy to your province.”
The provincial government’s policy is to support private sector players that use green energy. “We gave an 80% real property tax discount to a project because it uses solar,” Mr. Mandanas said. “Out of the 5,300 MW the province generates, we also attract those who use natural gas because it is less harmful to the environment.”
A natural gasification plant is in the process of being set up, he added, as well as a 50 MW wind project in Mabini to be undertaken by Mabini Energy Corporation. Calatagan, moreover, has not reached its full potential yet: it is programmed for 100 MW of solar power but currently only produces 60.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING Meanwhile, Batangas has been developing a government property in Laiya, San Juan, for those volcanic eruption evacuees involved in the tourism industry. “We don’t want to move evacuees just so they have houses,” said Mr. Mandanas. “There has to be a livelihood component as well. Otherwise, it won’t be successful.”
Government property in the western part of the province has also been identified for Pag-IBIG housing, with 1,000 units scheduled to be finished this year.
“The property is very accessible. This is something we should’ve done before but are now moving towards,” said Mr. Mandanas. “We give priority to frontliners.” — Patricia B. Mirasol
Ortigas East evolves to be a self-sustaining estate
Ortigas East, a self-sustaining and resilient estate at the C5 corridor
The once so-called ‘new normal’ is now all around us. As the world continues to be reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the more the current situation highlights the need for more resilient communities that are able to weather disruptions of scale.
More than half of the people on Earth live in cities, and by 2050, two-thirds of all humanity — 6.5 billion people — will be urban. This is according to the United Nations and is the primary reason for the organization’s push towards the development of sustainable cities and communities.
It took a crisis like COVID-19 to reveal the weaknesses of modern cities, with how it has devastated global supply chains and has put a stop to urban mobility. Moving forward, there needs to be an emphasis on the development of sustainable, resilient communities, and this cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces.
“Making cities sustainable means creating career and business opportunities, safe and affordable housing, and building resilient societies and economies. It involves investment in public transport, creating green public spaces, and improving urban planning and management in participatory and inclusive ways,” the United Nations said as part of its Sustainable Development Goals.
Striking the perfect balance between life, work, and play
Ortigas Land, one of the pioneers of Philippine real estate, recognizes this need for sustainable, thriving communities. Seeking to seamlessly integrate a balanced lifestyle through accessibility, connectivity, innovation, and environmental sustainability to its valued communities, Ortigas Land unveiled Ortigas East, the firm’s answer to the demands of the ‘new normal’ brought about by the pandemic.
Ortigas East, formerly known as ‘Frontera Verde’, is a 16-hectare development project at the corner of Ortigas Avenue and E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue (C-5), and Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig City.
As the latest project of Ortigas Land, Ortigas East is designed and built guided by the firm’s more than 90 years of experience creating self-sustaining master-planned communities that adapt to the needs of the modern Filipino. In the COVID-19 world, Ortigas East is being redeveloped to be a self-sustaining and resilient estate where people can bounce back from the challenges of urban living in the ‘new normal’, a place where they can continue to live safe, productive lives even during the pandemic.
By integrating the market’s needs to the way shops, restaurants, groceries, offices, and amenities are designed, the developing space allows a community to be a part of the foundation of a rising city.
Regional Mall at Ortigas East
The prestigious location, walkable open spaces, bike-friendly roads, commute-friendly streets, and green living community lifestyle, all offer the market indispensable functions as they live through their modern urban lifestyles.
The estate includes residential and commercial spaces like Verdant Towers, designed for those who want to live, work, and play with everything they want and need within reach. Verdant Towers is a three-tower residential condo currently in development at Ortigas East, built with modernity, luxury, and safety in mind.
Lobby of Maple at Verdánt Towers
Currently in its preselling stage, Maple at Verdant Towers — the first of Verdant’s three towers — is a 42-storey residential building that will offer 692 residential units spread across 33 floors. Maple offers the upscale amenities that are to be expected of modern Filipino life, including two outdoor pools, fitness facilities, a Residents’ Lounge, and various play areas for children, while still maintaining the feeling of security and safety in the current times. Maple also shares a common podium area with Verdant’s two other towers and will offer retail spaces on the ground floor– perfect for residents of different lifestyles, whether a single professional, a young couple, or a growing family.
Meanwhile, Ortigas East boasts office buildings that are sustainable, efficient, and designed with elegance and sophistication. With its strategic location within a quick car ride from the Ortigas Central Business District, the estate is perfect for large companies and budding start-ups seeking to establish themselves in the Philippine business landscape.
Ortigas East’s towers are built to sustainable standards, with its residential towers compliant to the Philippine Green Building Code. The Glaston Tower, a 34-storey office building within the estate that aims to become Metro Manila’s next prime business address, is also currently pursuing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. The entirety of the estate is lighted by sustainable lighting designs, among other sustainable features such as a rainwater recovery system and waste management.
Drop-Off Area of The Glaston Tower
Not to mention that Ortigas East has allotted a significant portion of the whole estate to open spaces, with 40% of the entire area dedicated to parks and roads. Residents are free to enjoy a pedestrian-friendly area environment, with walkways especially designed to allow people to safely walk around and enjoy the greenery, as well as bike-friendly roads.
Ortigas East aims to provide the convenience of an all-in lifestyle, where residential sanctuaries, business spaces, and retail and lifestyle hubs merge for a truly self-sustaining community. As COVID-19 continues to reshape everyone’s lives, the fusion of all essentials and luxuries in one community makes Ortigas East a smart choice.
MANILA – The Philippines’ health ministry on Monday recorded 10,016 new coronavirus infections, the country’s third record daily spike in cases over the past five days.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 731,894, while confirmed deaths reached 13,186, including 16 more casualties on Monday.
Most of the new cases are in the congested capital region, a conglomeration of 16 cities home to at least 13 million people, which returned to stricter restrictions on Monday. Hospitals’ intensive care and isolation bed capacity have reached critical levels, government data showed. — Reuters
Male leaders are shaping their legacy by championing workplace equality and diversity. “A massive global transformation is taking place, presenting opportunities to further advance equality,” said Fernando Zobel de Ayala, president and chief operating officer of Ayala Corp., “The post-pandemic world is an excellent opportunity to institutionalize these changes.”
The corporation has in place a board diversity policy that is intended to improve representation in top leadership positions. Across the Ayala Group, 44% of senior leaders are women.
Mr. Zobel was a participant at a recent webinar on inclusive leadership hosted by Male Champions of Change, a group that engages male leaders for gender equality.
INTENTIONAL ACTIONS Diversity and inclusion are key enablers to retaining the best talent in the world, but there is no simple solution, according to Andrew Richard Penn, chief executive and managing director of Telstra Corporation Limited, an Australian telecommunications company that employs 30,000 individuals across 20 countries.
“We learned that driving equality is a cumulative result of many actions,” he said at the same virtual event. “Change is the result of many intentional actions coupled with the determination to have a better outcome. There are no universal answers to creating equality and diversity.”
Telstra Philippines extends diversity and inclusion initiatives to its employees, such as health coverage for dependents of all types of partnerships, as well as a recruitment process that ensures the equal distribution of men and women.
“We big companies have budgets so we can set an example for the country at large,” said Telstra Philippines country managing director Benjamin P. Romualdez, who added that employee engagement scores in Telstra Philippines increased over the pandemic. “People want to work with us. They are engaged.”
STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY Meanwhile, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Steven J. Robinson enumerated the benefits that flow from gender equality in the workforce. “Diverse teams manage risk better. Companies with diverse leadership are more innovative, more productive, and ultimately more profitable,” he said at the webinar.
A January 2018 report by McKinsey&Company showed that leading gender-diverse companies were 21% and 27% more likely to outperform their less diverse peers in short-term profitability and long-term value creation, respectively. These outperforming companies were also found to have more women executives in revenue-generating roles. Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index 2020, meanwhile, showed that substantial investments in a talent pipeline and fair opportunities for advancement attracts and retains talent. — Patricia B. Mirasol
HONG KONG — When Ritesh Mehra, 43, enlisted for a four-month stint as captain on a liquid gas tanker last July, he never expected to be stranded at sea until spring.
“Twice it has happened that the ports are not allowing crew change,” Mr. Mehra told Reuters via Zoom from the bridge of the 80,000-tonne ship docked outside the Indian port of Haldia.
“My family won’t trust me anymore. I have been giving them dates when I would come home from December.”
Mr. Mehra, who has 20 years’ experience at sea, is also trying to buoy the spirits of his nervous crew of 23, many struggling with fatigue and social isolation.
“Being chained to this particular place, you can almost say jail, is bearing on the crew now,” Mr. Mehra said. “They are thinking more about it than the actual job at hand.”
An estimated 100,000 seafarers are stranded at sea due to the pandemic, the International Chamber of Shipping said last week.
Crew rotations depend on complex logistics, including securing transit visas and arranging chartered flights to repatriate sailors when they disembark at an international port.
In order to maintain effective operations and safety, sailors are only allowed off a ship when a replacement can be brought on board.
Arranging for the right entry permits, and quarantine and testing to take place during the short time when a ship is at port can be daunting because of coronavirus restrictions.
As a result, crew rotations during the pandemic are often canceled at short notice, while regular shore leave, once a mainstay of life at sea, has also come to a halt.
Near Hong Kong’s busy waterways, visiting ships are often anchored for days as they unload goods to smaller vessels or barges.
Reverend Stephen Miller, who would normally come aboard to give counseling and advice to sailors, is now reduced to delivering bags with supplies, including SIM cards and snacks. He says he is concerned about the sailors’ mental health.
“You can just imagine it for yourself, you have been planning to go home, maybe see a young child for the first time in many months, and then it is taken away from you,” he said.
“That obviously leads to sadness, which can lead to depression. If it is not talked about, it may sadly lead to people thinking that life’s not worth living.”
Mr. Mehra finally disembarked this month and has returned to India, his family eagerly waiting to see him. During his time at sea, he had missed the funeral of a close relative and said his time away had taken a toll on his family.
“My younger son is not talking to me very well,” he said. “There will be things I have to take care of. It is not going to be a very joyful homecoming.” — Aleksander Solum/Reuters
WASHINGTON — Dr. Deborah Birx, who coordinated the White House coronavirus task force under President Donald J. Trump, believes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) death toll in the United States would have been substantially lower if the government had responded more effectively.
In an interview with CNN, parts of which were released before broadcast later on Sunday, Ms. Birx said there was an “excuse” for the initial surge of deaths last year as the government grappled with the start of the pandemic.
“There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge,” Ms. Birx said. “All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.”
More than 542,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States, according to a Reuters tally, and almost 30 million have been infected.
Mr. Trump downplayed the outbreak in its early stages, resisted mitigation efforts and criticized harsh lockdown measures imposed to stop the spread of the virus. He repeatedly eschewed guidance on mask-wearing that health experts say prevents the spread of the disease.
Ms. Birx, who has since left the government, said in the interview that she received a “very uncomfortable” call from Mr. Trump after describing how widespread the virus was in an interview with CNN in August, during which she told people living in rural areas that they were not immune.
Mr. Trump, who tested positive for and then recovered from the virus in October, was running for re-election at the time.
“Everybody in the White House was upset with that interview and the clarity that I brought about the epidemic,” Ms. Birx said.
“I got called by the president,” she said. “It was very uncomfortable, very direct, and very difficult to hear.”
Ms. Birx at times faced criticism for not standing up more forcefully in public to Mr. Trump’s misinformation about the pandemic, including his dangerous suggestion that Americans could consume bleach to kill the virus.
Mr. Trump went on to hold large rallies in the final months of the presidential election campaign despite public health guidance warning against large gatherings. He lost to Democrat Joseph R. Biden, Jr., who campaigned largely on a promise to take the pandemic more seriously than his opponent.
Ms. Birx became sidelined in the final months of Mr. Trump’s administration, and White House briefings about the pandemic largely ceased.
She was not offered a position in Biden’s White House, and now works in the private sector. — Jeff Mason/Reuters
CAIRO — The stranded container ship blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week was re-floated on Monday and is currently being secured, Inchcape Shipping Services said, raising hopes the busy waterway will soon be reopened.
The 400-meter-long Ever Given was successfully re-floated at 4:30 a.m. local time (02:30 GMT) and was being secured, Inchcape, a global provider of marine services said on Twitter.
Video posted on social media appeared to show the ship’s stern had swung around, opening space in the canal. Other footage, which could not be immediately verified by Reuters, included cheering and ships’ horns sounding in celebration.
Ship-tracking service VesselFinder has changed the ship’s status to under way on its website.
The Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early on Tuesday, halting shipping traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
At least 369 vessels were waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Chairman Osama Rabie told Egypt’s Extra News on Sunday.
The ship’s technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Egypt’s Leth Agencies tweeted the ship had been partially refloated, pending official confirmation from the SCA.
The SCA had earlier said in a statement that tugging operations to free the ship had resumed. The Suez Canal salvage teams intensified excavation and dredging on Sunday and were hoping a high tide would help them dislodge it.
Crude oil prices fell after news the ship had been re-floated, with Brent crude down by $1 per barrel to $63.67. Shares of Taiwan-listed Evergreen Marine Corp.—the vessel’s lessor—rose 3.3%.
About 15% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is a key source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The current stoppage is costing the canal $14–$15 million a day.
Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and the blockage has disrupted global supply chains, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions.
Some shippers had decided to reroute their cargoes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding about two weeks to journeys and extra fuel costs.
A note from A.P. Moeller Maersk seen by Reuters said it had so far redirected 15 vessels around the Cape after calculating that the journey would be equal to the current delay of sailing to Suez and queuing.
The SCA has said it can accelerate convoys through the canal once the Ever Given is freed. — Reuters
LONDON — More than a fifth of small British exporters have temporarily halted sales to the European Union (EU) and 4% have done so permanently, a survey showed on Monday, highlighting problems that have followed the Brexit trade deal.
A trade agreement between London and Brussels that came into force on Jan. 1 has caused disruption and delays for some companies having to deal with new bureaucracy and rules.
In the survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), 30 out of 132 exporters said they had stopped sales to the European Union temporarily, while five reported having done so permanently.
Just over one in 10 said they had set up, or were thinking of establishing, a presence within an EU country, the research, conducted between March 1 and 15, showed.
“Those that do business internationally are being hit with some incredibly demanding, unfamiliar paperwork,” said FSB National Chairman Mike Cherry. “What we hoped would prove to be teething problems are in danger of becoming permanent, systemic ones.”
The government has previously said that some issues were temporary as it sought to resolve problems.
British goods exports to the EU, excluding non-monetary gold and other precious metals, slumped by a record 40.7% in January compared with December, while imports fell by 28.8%, the Office for National Statistics said this month.
In response to those figures, David Frost, who was Prime Minister Boris JohnsonJohnson’s chief Brexit negotiator, said the “unique combination of factors made it inevitable that we would see some unusual figures.”
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and stockpiling have also affected trade flows. — Reuters
