The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through its Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), has partnered with digital services provider PLDT Inc. (PLDT) and its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) to help raise awareness on peatlands in Region 13 (Caraga).

In a statement, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said peatlands are vital to providing safe drinking water, assist in preserving global biodiversity, and help reduce flood risks.

“Peatlands are dubbed as ‘one of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth’ according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN because apart from all these uses, they also help mitigate climate change and global warming,” Cimatu said.

Peatlands are a type of wetlands whose peat soils consist of carbon-rich dead and decaying plant matter. If kept wet, peatlands can store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined. However, its crucial role in mitigating climate change, as well as the huge costs that arise when these natural carbon sinks are damaged, remains largely overlooked.

The DENR and PLDT-Smart presented the conservation program on peatlands in a web activity on Friday to kick off Climate Change Consciousness Week in the latter part of the month. Peatlands to be featured in the conservation program will include the Caimpugan Peatland in the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWS).

Located in Agusan del Sur, the Caimpugan Peatland holds the only recorded remaining intact peat swamp forest — the largest of its kind — in the Philippines.

PLDT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel Pangilinan was the guest of honor of the virtual event.

Ramsar Convention Secretary General Martha Rojas-Urrego also had a special participation because the AMWS was designated as a Wetland of International Importance by the said inter-governmental treaty on wetlands.

AMWS is also recognized as a Heritage Park by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and legislated as a National Park by the Philippine government.

The three-year extendable project to be implemented by PLDT-Smart through its Chief Sustainability Office until 2023 aims to strengthen and support the AMWS-Protected Area Management Office and other concerned DENR offices in implementing peatland conservation and management strategies under the AMWS Management Plan.

LOS ANGELES: Virgin Galactic said Thursday (Friday in Manila) that it expects to launch its first manned test flight into space from New Mexico this month.

The company’s spacecraft, VSS Unity, conducted two previous test spaceflights from Mojave, California, before moving in to its facilities at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

Testing there has included unpowered glide flights and now the spaceflight planned between Nov. 19 and 23.

The spaceport will be Virgin Galactic’s base for launching passengers on brief trips high above the Earth, starting with billionaire founder Richard Branson next year. The company did not announce a specific date for that event.

Unity is designed to be carried aloft beneath a special carrier jet and released at high altitude, where its rocket engine is ignited.

The suborbital flights are designed to send the craft to an altitude of at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) before it descends and glides to a landing on a runway.

In addition to passengers, Unity can carry small science experiments and will do so on this month’s flight, generating some revenue through a NASA program.

Virgin Galactic also has made progress on a second spaceship in its planned fleet and plans to roll it out during the first quarter of 2021, chief executive officer Michael Colglazier said in a statement.

OAKLAND: Facebook on Thursday (Friday in Manila) banned a large group called “Stop the Steal” that supporters of President Donald Trump were using to organize protests against the presidential vote count.

Some members had called for violence, while many falsely claimed that Democrats are “stealing” the election from Republicans.

Though the group amassed more than 350,000 members before Facebook took it down, it was just one of several smaller groups that popped up as vote counting extended for days in several battleground states.

Inside the groups, members and organizers tried to ensure they would get around Facebook’s moderators and “trolls” who might report or mock them.

TOKYO: Most Asian markets were mixed Friday after the week’s strong gains but traders remained upbeat as the chances of Joe Biden winning the US election increased and after the Federal Reserve indicated it could provide further economic support.

While Donald Trump again accused Democrats of committing voter fraud and his team launched a series of legal actions in various states, hopes a new stimulus package will eventually be passed were supporting sentiment.

Analysts said Tuesday’s election was good for equities as the expected Democratic sweep of Congress failed to materialize while Biden looked set to take the White House.

“The market reaction to the unfolding election news suggests that financial markets would prefer to see a constrained Biden presidency,” Paul O’Connor, at Janus Henderson Investors, said.

However, he added: “The economic backdrop to this election is one of an incomplete global recovery that remains threatened by the continued spread of Covid-19 in many major economies as well as fast-fading fiscal support measures.”

A Biden presidency and Republican Senate likely means Democrats will not be able to push ahead with regulatory changes and tax hikes, which observers said were both good for stocks.

Tech firms have fared particularly well as the sector had been considered vulnerable to more stringent political oversight.

And while lawmakers are expected to push through a new economic rescue package, it will not likely be as big as anything from a Democratic-led Congress, which National Australia Bank analysts said would put the onus on the Federal Reserve next year.

A NONGOVERNMENT organization (NGO) involved in public interest environmental advocacy in the Philippines has collaborated with a state university in Ilocos Norte for the establishment of the Institute of Environmental Governance (IEG) in the province.

The partnership between the Tanggol Kalikasan (TK) Inc. and the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) kicked off through a webinar series on environmental governance for local government units (LGUs) department heads in the province. The webinar series started last October 27 and will culminate on November 26.

Daniel Tapaoan Jr. of the MMSU information office said the partnership was formalized last October 27 through a virtual launching and signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between MMSU President Shirley Agrupis and TK President Ramon Grimaldo.

“[Tanggol Kalikasan] has already partnered with 26 schools across the country for the establishment of IEG in their respective provinces,” Grimaldo said.

He explained the IEG is the strategic response to the ever-increasing demand for capacity building among LGUs in promoting environmental governance, and this time in the province of Ilocos Norte with MMSU as partner.

According to TK, the program caters to two levels with level one to serve the needs of barangay officials. Meanwhile, level two caters to the needs of municipal, city and provincial officials by training them to manage, plan, protect and conserve the environment.

During the MoU signing, Agrupis thanked the NGO for partnering with the university “in upgrading the quality of life in the province through environmental education.”

Under the MoU, Tapaoan said MMSU and TK have agreed to contribute their resources and expertise in the pursuit of environmental education in the locality.

He said MMSU as the host institution in Ilocos Norte will provide the venue, office space and other physical requirements of the IEG, and will lead the development, conduct and implementation of IEG’s research programs in aid of curriculum development, monitoring and evaluation.

On the other hand, TK will provide the initial resources for the development of the institute, and fund the development of training modules and other activities of the IEG, Tapaoan said.

Also under the MoU, both MMSU and TK will assign IEG coordinators, and allow their faculty members and staff to participate in the institute’s training programs.

To craft the policies and programs of the IEG, a management committee will also be created which will be composed of five individuals.

Tapaoan said there will be two representatives each from the school and agency while the fifth member will come from the local government of Ilocos Norte.

ABOITIZ Power Corp. (AboitizPower) has laid out its plans to beef up its renewable energy (RE) capacity to nearly 2,000 megawatts (MW) in a move to balance its power generation portfolio.

It has also joined the throng of companies seeking to develop new gas plants in the Philippines.

AboitizPower President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Rubio said in a virtual briefing the listed firm intends to grow its renewable portfolio from “around 940 (megawatts) to close to 1,800 megawatts (MW).”

“We have land bank, we have met masts for wind that are installed in three locations, and we have a number of run-of-river hydros in the pipeline,” Rubio said on Wednesday.
Rubio also told reporters that AboitizPower is looking at making gas investments.

The listed firm “actually organized a team to look into gas as a serious option for our baseload strategy,” said Rubio. “Since the middle of last year, we saw the trend in terms of the forward curves for cost of gas getting to be more and more competitive.”

He also said “gas is part of our strategy moving forward,” adding the Philippines would require baseload capacities anywhere from 680 to 750 MW year-on-year.

AboitizPower already surpassed its target of 4,000 MW attributable capacity this year with the ownership of GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. (GNPD) that would build the 2×668-MW supercritical coal-fired power plant located in Mariveles, Bataan.

Unit 1 of the Bataan coal facility is scheduled to commence commercial operations by the second quarter of 2021, while Unit 2 will begin commercial operations by the third quarter of 2021.

AboitizPower has set its eyes on aggressively expanding its Cleanergy portfolio in the next 10 years, with the goal of shifting its overall energy mix into almost 50:50 Thermal and Cleanergy capacities by 2030.

SEATTLE: Uber on Thursday (Friday in Manila) reported that it lost $1.1 billion in the recently ended quarter as the pandemic walloped its ride-hailing business, while boosting its food delivery service.

Revenue in Uber’s mobility unit was down 53 percent from the same quarter last year, while money taken in from Uber Eats, which includes delivering restaurant meals or other orders, more than doubled, according to the San Francisco-based company.

The third-quarter loss was marginally higher than in the same period last year.

“Despite an uneven pandemic response and broader economic uncertainty, our global scope, diversification, and the team’s tireless execution delivered steadily improving results,” chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in an earnings release.

Uber shares that had been buoyed by the triumph of an initiative that lets drivers remain classified as independent contractors in California wobbled in aftermarket trades before edging slightly higher.

Demand for rides directly correlates to pandemic lock-down restrictions in cities, and Uber’s mobility and deliver units are positioned to take advantage of deltamarket.net reviews to pre-virus lifestyles, Khosrowshahi said in a earnings call.

“Uber is becoming the go-to app for getting around or getting something delivered your door in 30 minutes,” Khosrowshahi said.

The global pandemic has set back Uber’s efforts to drive into profitability, but executives said they remain optimistic. “As consolidated growth returns, it will return to a more profitable foundation,” said chief financial officer Nelson Chai.

BEIJING: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which launched the nation’s annual Singles’ Day shopping carnival, on Thursday posted very strong revenue for the past quarter, as the Covid-19 outbreak turns out to have amplified the online spending power of the nation’s internet savvy consumers.

Still, the Chinese dominant e-commerce platform is shown to be shrouded in unease, as its fin-tech offshoot Ant Group’s planned IPOs in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong were put on hold, amid tightening regulatory moves.

With the shock suspension of Ant’s IPOs, initially planned for Thursday, spelling out a clearly tougher supervisory stance on online micro-lending — a pivotal part of Ant’s fin-tech strength – concerns have emerged over the regulatory impact on the entire Alibaba ecosystem.

In its fiscal second quarter ended on September 30, Alibaba’s revenue jumped 30 percent to 155 billion yuan ($23.44 billion), slightly above market expection. The company has 881 million monthly active users in the second quarter, according to its fiscal disclosure.

FRANKFURT: Credit increase to the private sector in the euro place became steady in August, ECB information showed on Tuesday, boosting expectations that the bank will refrain from including firepower to economic coverage for now.

Many of the European Central Bank’s measures goal to make access to credit less difficult, allowing people and groups to invest and contribute to boom—making the lending information a key degree of their effectiveness.

August saw permitted loans boom 1.3 percent in comparison with the identical month in 2015, the identical pace as in July—while loans grew best slightly greater strongly than in June.

Corrected for a few strictly financial transactions, loan boom to families and corporations remained strong at 1.7 percentage in August, the Frankfurt organization stated.

The winners of this year’s prize consist of former US president Jimmy Carter and French NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Lui says the harsh studies of his young people inspired him to set up the prize.

Having moved to Hong Kong from mainland China as a four year old, he recalls the Japanese marching into the then-British colony in 1941.

“When the Japanese soldiers surpassed by using, you needed to prevent moving and bow, or else they might beat you up,” Lui stated.

“I feel that we ought to be greater non violent.”

Some analysts say the August rally, even though modest, is a sign the new technique is operating.

Veteran Lui, 87, who based Hong Kong-primarily based casino company Galaxy, says he now envisages stable boom for semi-autonomous Macau, the only a part of China in which playing is criminal.

Speaking to Agence France-Presse at his waterfront Hong Kong places of work—wearing his trademark flat cap and suit—Lui says the most effective manner ahead is the “mass market” method, adopted by way of his new casino motel and its competitors on Macau’s Cotai strip.

“Phase two” of Lui’s current Galaxy casino opened last year, boasting a sprawling rooftop water park whole with river rapids.

Since then, Melco Crown’s Studio City, the Wynn Palace and Sands’ The Parisian have joined the fray with restaurants, suggests and family-friendly sights—as well as slots and gaming tables.

Time for peace
Galaxy comes under Lui’s flagship agency K.Wah, installation in 1955, a multinational assets developer and leisure conglomerate.

There are nerves in Macau as those concessions arise for renewal from the authorities in 2020 — though Lui says he is confident authorities will not remove licenses as casinos decide to the mass market method.

In the past years the octogenarian father-of-five has also been advertising and marketing his philanthropic credentials.

Next week sees the awarding of the inaugural $7.74 million Lui Che Woo Prize, for human beings and corporations that “make the arena a better and extra sustainable region”.