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Brooklyn officially signs six-time All-Star forward Blake Griffin

THE Brooklyn Nets signed free agent forward Blake Griffin on Monday.

Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released. The Athletic reported he will earn $1.2 million for the rest of the season.

“We’re fortunate to be able to add a player of Blake’s caliber to our roster at this point in the season,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a news release. “Blake is a versatile frontcourt player with a long track record of success in our league, and we’re excited about the impact he’ll make for us both on and off the court in Brooklyn.”

Griffin, who turns 32 next week, agreed to a buyout deal with the Detroit Pistons on Friday and cleared waivers on Sunday.

The six-time All-Star and former No. 1 overall draft pick averaged 12.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 20 games with Detroit this season. He has not played since Feb. 12, having sat out while the Pistons attempted to find a trade partner.

The Nets are expected to use Griffin off the bench — a role he has never had during his 11-year NBA career.

Brooklyn is hoping to make a run at the NBA title behind the star trio of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

The Nets are the betting favorite (+300) in the Eastern Conference and second only to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers (+250) to win the NBA championship, according to DraftKings.

Griffin has career averages of 21.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 642 games. He spent his first seven-plus seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers and parts of the past four campaigns with Detroit. He was the Rookie of the Year in 2010-11, finished third in the MVP voting in 2013-14 and made the All-NBA second team three times and third team twice. — Reuters

All eyes on Ronaldo to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself for Juve

CRISTIANO Ronaldo was brought to Juventus with one goal — to win the Champions League and all eyes are on the Portuguese great to ensure last season’s heartbreak does not repeat itself.

Despite winning a ninth-straight Serie A title for Juventus last season, coach Maurizio Sarri was sacked due to another failure in Europe for the Italian side.

Italy’s most decorated domestic team — Juve have won 36 Scudettos compared to AC Milan and Inter Milan’s 18 each — have underperformed on the continent. Milan have seven European Cups, Inter three, while Juventus have won two.

The club are desperate to win a first Champions League title in a quarter of a century, especially given they have the unwanted stat of being the team with the most European Cup final defeats — seven.

The writing was on the wall for Sarri last season after Juventus were surprisingly knocked out by Olympique Lyonnais at the last-16 stage. Current coach Andrea Pirlo is in a similar predicament this time around.

Last season, Juventus lost the first leg 1-0 away from home, before eventually going out on away goals after a 2-1 win in Turin. — Reuters

Man City march halted by United, Liverpool woes deepen

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City’s relentless march towards the Premier League title was interrupted as their 21-match winning streak in all competitions was ended by a surprise 2-0 home defeat to rivals Manchester United on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola’s side could have few complaints as a second-minute penalty converted by Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw’s fine finish early in the second half earned United a surprise win.

While City still lead the table by 11 points with 10 games left, second-placed United showed there are chinks in the armour of Guardiola’s side as they ended a disappointing run of results against the so-called big six.

Victory for United put them in a reasonably healthy position in their quest to ensure a top-four finish as they are eight points ahead of fifth-placed Everton who play fourth-placed Chelsea on Monday at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool’s horrendous run of form continued as they lost a sixth successive home league game — this time 1-0 against relegation battlers Fulham — to drop to eighth.

Ordinarily, Fulham’s first win at Anfield since 2012, sealed by Mario Lemina’s goal on the stroke of halftime, would have been a huge shock, but such is Liverpool’s current malaise it became just another sad statistic for the crumbling champions.

“This team is an extreme team. We were extremely successful and now we have an extreme situation as well, but we will fight through,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said.

Fulham’s win moved them level on points with 17th-placed Brighton and Hove Albion and only one point behind Newcastle United, who could only manage a 0-0 draw with second-from-bottom West Bromwich Albion.

“It’s a big win. There’s a lot of emotion and I am very proud,” Fulham boss Scott Parker said.

‘INCREDIBLE STRIKER’
Gareth Bale and Harry Kane combined in exhilarating fashion with two goals apiece in Tottenham Hotspur’s 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace to move into sixth spot, two points behind Chelsea. Kane claimed assists for both of Bale’s goals taking his total for the season to 13, as well as his 16 goals.

“He’s fantastic, an incredible striker. He showed that again tonight. It was a fantastic performance again from him and we are lucky to have him here,” Bale who has scored six goals in his last six games, said of the Tottenham skipper.

Manchester United had not beaten any of the so-called “big six” this season until Sunday, but manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær is starting to become something of a nemesis for his City counterpart Pep Guardiola after a fourth derby victory since he took over at Old Trafford in December 2018.

City were stunned after 34 seconds when referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot after Gabriel Jesus brought down Anthony Martial just inside the box and Fernandes converted.

Shaw drove home United’s second and despite loads of possession, City could not penetrate United’s red wall.

Fernandes said United had not given up hope of reeling in City. “The league is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. We have to do our best and not think about others,” he said.

Guardiola was generous in his assessment of his cross-city rivals. “It was a fantastic game. United make incredibly high pressing and they are so fast on the counter. We played good. Unfortunately we couldn’t be clinical up front so we congratulate United,” he said.

“We will be the news because we lost. But the news is 21 victories in a row. There are still 30 points to play for and we have to start to win again.” — Reuters

Federer feels his story is unfinished, eyes full fitness by Wimbledon

ROGER Federer never contemplated retirement as he spent 13 months on the sidelines due to double knee surgery last year and the 39-year-old Federer says he is now pain-free and ready to play again with a feeling that his story is not over yet.

Federer, tied with Rafa Nadal on a record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, has not played a competitive match since losing to world number one Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals in 2020.

The Swiss maestro will make his highly-anticipated return at this week’s Qatar Open, where he is seeded behind US Open champion Dominic Thiem.

“I’m very happy to be back playing a tournament again. It’s been a long time. I never thought it would take this long,” Federer told reporters on Sunday.

The Swiss has a bye in the first round in Doha, where he is a three-time winner, and his return match will either be on Tuesday or Wednesday against Briton Dan Evans or Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Tennis is like “riding a bike” for Federer, who is not worried about his game or starting with “really low” expectations, but is more interested to see how his knee reacts to the rigors of competitive tennis.

“It’s just about ‘Let’s see how matches go, let’s see how training goes with all the top guys and professional players, not just sparring partners,’” he said, adding that he has not decided his schedule beyond this week.

“I was playing a lot of two-on-ones the last few months and so forth. I know I need to go back to training after here again so from this standpoint, it’s just about building up to being stronger, better, fitter, faster and all that stuff.

WIMBLEDON TARGET
“I hope then by Wimbledon, I’m going to be 100% and that’s when the season starts for me. Everything until then, it’s just ‘Let’s see how it goes,’ he added of the championships starting on June 28, which were canceled last year due to COVID-19.

“I might surprise myself, but then actually I’ve already done in practice the last few weeks, I was surprised at actually how well it did go. But like we know, matches are a different animal.”

The Swiss proved that he can quickly get back into his groove when he won the 2017 Australian Open despite missing the second half of the 2016 season because of knee surgery.

Federer said he keenly kept track of results on the ATP Tour as he worked his way back to fitness and the complications after his first knee procedure motivated him to return healthy.

“Retirement was never really on the cards. I think it’s more of a conversation if the knee keeps bothering me for months and months — then let’s look at it,” he said. “I just feel like the story is not over.

“It’s not like there’s one particular reason that I wanted to keep playing tennis other than I enjoyed playing tennis, I enjoy being on the road.

“I’m still a work in progress, but probably one of the other reasons for coming back is I want to get that high again of playing against the biggest players and in the biggest tournaments and hopefully winning them again,” he added.

“Hopefully, I can play in front of crowds again.” — Reuters

All-Star Game

The National Basketball Association would have to go back 70 years to relive the last time it held the All-Star Game in March. And just as the inaugural event was significant in its uniqueness, so, too, did this year’s iteration stand out. With the novel coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on normalcy, the latest version of the league’s elaborate Thank You to fans wound up being compressed at best. A weekend’s worth of festivities was cramped in a single night, and the 16,600-seat State Farm Arena served as host to a mere eighth of its capacity, the maximum allowable under local safety regulations.

Still, the NBA strove to hold the annual spectacle anew. Foremost among its objectives was the fulfillment of contractual obligations to TNT, its national broadcast partner, although the forced sidelining of Sixers Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons due to contact tracing protocols underscored the risks involved. In hindsight, the league was fortunate to have the All-Star schedule proceed as planned; wrong timing could well have decommissioned a large number, if not all, if its marquee players.

In truth, the NBA looks at danger in the eye every single time it holds matches. The virus does not fight fair, and even the best-laid plans in the name of health can be derailed by the venom of the unseen enemy. In this context, the All-Star Game and its attendant sidelights — the Skills Challenge, Three Point Shootout, and Slam Dunk Contest — cannot but be viewed as a success. Never mind that the main event was devoid of suspense, and that LeBron James, still its biggest draw despite his advancing age, saw fit to sit out the entire second half.

James didn’t have a particularly good night on the court, but the NBA did, just because everything went according to plan. Some stars shone brighter than others, but the real winner is one Adam Silver. He gambled heavily, and emerged all aces. To be sure, the 2020-21 season is but halfway done, and it’s anybody’s guess as to how the homestretch will unfold. The flipside, of course, is that league honchos have proven to be extremely competent at what they do, so betting on them to see their plans through doesn’t come with long odds.

Nonetheless, more unexpected turns are in the offing. Even with vaccines becoming more and more available by the day, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel remains in the distance. Meanwhile, the NBA is left with no choice but to move forward, with as much trepidation as confidence.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Japan picks Nomura Asset CEO to join central bank board

TOKYO – Japan’s government picked Junko Nakagawa, the first female CEO of Nomura Asset Management, on Tuesday to join the central bank’s fragmented nine-member board that faces the challenge of tackling the side-effects of prolonged monetary easing.

Nakagawa would join a Bank of Japan (BOJ) board split between members who see more room to ramp up stimulus, and others wary of the rising costs of prolonged easing.

While little is known about her views on monetary policy, Nakagawa may keep the board debate from leaning too much towards reflationary policy, despite a slight majority seen in favour of powerful monetary stimulus.

“The BOJ must consider the side-effects even if it pursues a reflationary stance,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief market economist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

“It is important to strike a balance, and her experience in asset management may prevent monetary policy from leaning excessively to one side.”

The 55-year-old banker would replace Takako Masai, who has consistently voted with the majority of the board while calling for more debate on the rising cost of prolonged monetary easing.

“She comes from the buy-side, which suggests she may have been chosen for her knowledge on timely themes like ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investment,” said Toru Suehiro, senior economist at Daiwa Securities.

The nomination needs approval of both houses of parliament to take effect. Nakagawa would assume the post after Masai serves out her five-year term on June 29.

Of the nine posts at the BOJ board, one has traditionally been held by a woman.

Officials at Nomura Asset Management, a unit of Nomura Holdings, declined to comment on the nomination, saying they have nothing to say about the matter.

In the past, Nakagawa has been involved in efforts to promote exchange-traded funds (ETF) in Japan. The BOJ, which has its next policy review meeting on March 18-19, has been a big buyer of ETFs, as part of its easing strategy.

Nakagawa rose through the ranks in Japan’s male-dominated financial industry to become the first female head of Nomura Asset Management in 2019, with experience in investment banking and accounting.

She has also been a member of the Financial Services Agency’s panel on corporate accounting since 2015.

In an interview with the Nikkei newspaper last year, Nakagawa described herself as a listener willing to work with colleagues with views different from her own. – Reuters

U.S. says visa applicants denied due to Trump ‘Muslim ban’ can reapply

WASHINGTON – Most U.S. visa applicants who were denied because of former President Donald Trump’s travel ban on 13 mostly Muslim-majority and African countries can seek new decisions or submit new applications, the State Department said on Monday.

President Joe Biden overturned Trump’s so-called Muslim ban on Jan. 20, his first day in office, calling it “a stain on our national conscience” in his proclamation.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said applicants who were refused visas prior to Jan. 20, 2020, must submit new applications and pay a new application fee. Those who were denied on or after Jan. 20, 2020, may seek reconsideration without re-submitting their applications and do not have to pay additional fees, Price said.

Applicants selected in the diversity visa lottery prior to the current fiscal year are barred by U.S. law from being issued visas if they have not gotten them already, he said. The diversity lottery aims to accept immigrants from countries that are not normally awarded many visas.

Since December 2017, after a revised version of the original travel ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, some 40,000 people have been barred from entering the United States under the ban, according to State Department data.

During the Trump administration some countries were added and others dropped from the list. At the end of Trump’s presidency it comprised Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela and Yemen. – Reuters

Talks start to protect Indian Ocean’s depleting tuna

March 9 – Representatives of 30 nations meet on Tuesday to seek ways to save fast-depleting tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean as demand in Asia and the West soars for sushi and tinned fish.

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), which groups coastal countries from Australia to Kenya plus major fishing region the European Union, was convening virtually over five days to debate yellowfin tuna quotas.

Environmentalists say the warm water species is at risk of depletion as over-fishing compounds other threats from climate change and pollution.

There is corporate concern too: British supermarkets Tesco and Co-op and Belgian retailer Colruyt pledged last year to stop buying Indian Ocean yellowfin unless the U.N.-mandated commission adopts a plan to rebuild stocks.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has for nearly a decade had the species on its “Red List”.

Yet the total global catch has risen by about a third, to nearly 450,000 metric tons annually, according to the London-based Blue Marine Foundation advocacy group.

It estimates yellowfin tuna stocks could “collapse” – meaning they would go beyond the minimum size needed for recovery – within the next five years if the catch is not cut.

French and Spanish fishing fleets take the majority of fish, using industrial methods such as “purse seine” with huge nets that often net juvenile yellowfin yet to begin reproducing.

 

‘DELAY COULD BE CATASTROPHIC’

Coastal nations want to limit Europe’s distant-water fleets.

Kenya and Sri Lanka, for example, want more curbs on devices such as fish aggregators: floating objects that attract tuna and other species towards nets.

“They are the visitors,” said Will McCallum, Head of Oceans at environmental group Greenpeace UK, of the European fleets. “They are fishing at a far larger capacity than anybody else, and it’s not an equitable state of affairs.”

The Maldives wants the yellowfin catch to be cut by 15% from 2015 levels, when IOTC scientists first agreed they were being overfished.

The IOTC had last year recommended cutting the catch by 20% from 2014 levels, but rowed back in January, saying that was distorted by projections from the 2018 stock assessment.

Given that a new stock assessment will not be ready until the end of 2021, the commission may postpone new measures, according to the Blue Marine Foundation.

“For a stock that is at risk of collapse, this delay could prove catastrophic,” it said in a statement.

The European Union proposes a total catch reduction from nearly 438,000 metric tons in 2019 to around 380,000.

Demand for yellowfin is booming as its light meat is widely used for tinned fish and in sushi in North America, Europe and Asia. The global yellowfin market in 2018 was worth $15.8 billion, the second-highest value of the seven tuna species, according to a report by the world’s largest canned tuna company, Thai Union Group PCL.

Greenpeace’s McCallum said the over-fishing issue had stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic and drastic action was needed now to avoid irrecoverable damage to the species. – Reuters

Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine neutralizes Brazil variant in lab study

NEW YORK – The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE was able to neutralize a new variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly in Brazil, according to a laboratory study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.

Blood taken from people who had been given the vaccine neutralized an engineered version of the virus that contained the same mutations carried on the spike portion of the highly contagious P.1 variant first identified in Brazil, the study conducted by scientists from the companies and the University of Texas Medical Branch found.

The scientists said the neutralizing ability was roughly equivalent the vaccine’s effect on a previous less contagious version of the virus from last year.

The spike, used by the virus to enter human cells, is the primary target of many COVID-19 vaccines.

In previously published studies, Pfizer had found that its vaccine neutralized other more contagious variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, although the South African variant may reduce protective antibodies elicited by the vaccine.

Pfizer has said it believes its current vaccine is highly likely to still protect against the South African variant. However, the drugmaker is planning to test a third booster dose of their vaccine as well as a version retooled specifically to combat the variant in order to better understand the immune response. – Reuters

In inclusivity push, Unilever to exclude word ‘normal’ from beauty products

Dove soap maker Unilever will remove the word “normal” from its beauty and personal care products, as well as stop digital alterations of body shapes and skin color of models used in its advertising in a push to be more inclusive.

The move from the London-based company, which is one of the top advertisers in the world, comes as it tries to move beyond the backlash it has faced for some of its advertising campaigns.

Unilever was pushed to rename its top-selling skin-lightening brand in India to Glow & Lovely from Fair & Lovely last year after facing consumer ire over negatively stereotyping darker skin tones.

In 2017, the company faced a social media outcry over an advert for Dove body wash, which showed a black woman removing her top to reveal a white woman.

More recently, an ad forced Unilever to pull all its TRESemmé hair care products from South African retail stores for 10 days due to a backlash.

“We know that removing ‘normal’ alone will not fix the problem, but we believe it is an important step towards a more inclusive definition of beauty,” Sunny Jain, president of Unilever’s beauty and personal care division told Reuters.

Globally, more than a hundred Unilever brands will have the word “normal” removed to describe skin type or hair texture, and replaced with terms such as “grey hair” for shampoos or “moisture replenish” for skin creams by March next year.

Unilever said a poll it conducted of about 10,000 people globally showed that more than half the respondents felt using “normal” to describe hair or skin made people feel excluded, while 70% said using the word in advertising had a negative impact.

The company also said it would stop digitally altering body shape, size, proportion, and skin tones of models it uses in its own advertisements, or those of its paid influencers across all its brands, a move that started with the Dove brand in 2018. — Reuters

Factory output declines for 11th straight month

THE COUNTRY’S FACTORY output extended its losing streak to 11 months in January, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported this morning.

Preliminary results of the PSA’s latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) showed factory output, as measured by the volume of production index (VoPI) fell by 16.7% year on year in January, faster than the 12% decline in December 2020 and a reversal of the 1.9% growth a year earlier.

The January MISSI marked the first time the statistics agency used 2018 prices compared with 2000 prices used in the previous surveys.

The PSA noted declines in 18 out of 22 industry divisions in January led by the manufacture of wood, bamboo, cane, rattan articles and related products (-53.4%), manufacture of machinery and equipment except electrical (-48.9%), and manufacture of tobacco (-42.6%).

The capacity utilization — the extent to which industry resources are used in producing goods — averaged 46.1% in January, down from 49.1% the previous month. Of the 22 sectors, only seven averaged a capacity utilization rate of at least 50%.

This was in stark contrast to the 72.8% utilization rate for December 2020 that was reported last month. According to the PSA, the revision was due to the increase of responding establishments as well as the adoption of a new methodology. — Ana Olivia A. Tirona

Filipinas denounce Duterte as world marks Women’s Day

MANILA – Hundreds of mostly women demonstrators rallied in the Philippine capital on Monday to mark International Women’s Day, and took aim at the country’s president Rodrigo Duterte for alleged rights abuses against women.

Protesters smashed an effigy of Duterte with sledgehammers during a demonstration near his residence in Manila during which women’s activists denounced him for what they called abusive security policies.

“We are facing a virus far deadlier than COVID and it is the rotten, anti-people, pro-foreign interest, and macho-fascist presidency,” said Joms Salvador, Secretary General of Gabriela, a prominent women’s organisation in the Philippines.

Duterte is known for his informal speeches and often uses profanity and threats of violence, offending some Filipinos, but also endearing him to many, including women.

Since taking office in 2016, Duterte has infuriated women’s groups, who call him a misogynist after he made jokes about rape on several occasions.

Duterte recently said he had told his politician daughter not to run for president to succeed him, because it was no job for a woman.

But in a statement on Monday, Duterte said his government could “proudly claim that concrete, sustainable, and inclusive actions” had been taken to create a better environment where women’s rights are respected.

“Let us elevate women to their rightful place in society by empowering every Filipina to break not only the barriers that have long hindered them … but also the backward mindset that fuelled a culture of gender oppression and inequality,” he said. — Reuters 

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