World News

SYDNEY – Australians reacted on Friday with a mixture of anger and relief to a social media ban on children under 16 that the government says is world-leading, but which tech giants like TikTok argue could push young people to “darker corners of the internet”.

Australia approved the social media ban for children late on Thursday after an emotive debate that has gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.

The law forces tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta Platforms to TikTok to stop minors from logging in or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million). A trial of enforcement methods will start in January, with the ban to take effect in a year.

“Platforms now have a social responsibility to ensure the safety of our kids is a priority for them,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday
“We’re making sure that mums and dads can have that different conversation today and in future days.”

Announcing the details of the ban earlier this month, Albanese cited the risks to physical and mental health of children from excessive social media use, in particular the risks to girls from harmful depictions of body image, and misogynist content aimed at boys.

In Sydney on Friday, reaction to the ban was mixed.

“I think that’s a great idea, because I found that the social media for kids (is) not really appropriate, sometimes they can look at something they shouldn’t,” said Sydney resident Francesca Sambas.

Others were more scathing.

“I’m feeling very angry, I feel that this government has taken democracy and thrown it out the window,” said 58-year-old Shon Klose.

“How could they possibly make up these rules and these laws and push it upon the people?”
Children, meanwhile, said they would try to find a way around the ban.

“I feel like I still will use it, just secretly get in,” said 11-year-old Emma Wakefield.

WORLD FIRST

Countries including France and some U.S. states have passed laws to restrict access for minors without a parent’s permission, but the Australian ban is absolute. A full under-14s ban in Florida is being challenged in court on free speech grounds.

The legislation was fast-tracked through the country’s parliament in what is the last sitting week of the year, to criticism from social media firms and some lawmakers who say the bill has lacked proper scrutiny. It passed through the country’s lower house of parliament on Friday morning in a procedural hearing.

A spokesperson for TikTok, which is hugely popular with teen users, said on Friday the process had been rushed and risked putting children into greater danger.

“We’re disappointed the Australian government has ignored the advice of the many mental health, online safety, and youth advocacy experts who have strongly opposed the ban,” the spokesperson said.

“It’s entirely likely the ban could see young people pushed to darker corners of the internet where no community guidelines, safety tools, or protections exist.”

Albanese said on Friday passing the bill before the age verification trial has been completed was the correct approach.

“We are very clearly sending a message about our intentions here,” he said.

“The legislation is very clear. We don’t argue that its implementation will be perfect, just like the alcohol ban for under 18s doesn’t mean that someone under 18 never has access, but we know that it’s the right thing to do.”

The ban could strain Australia’s relationship with key ally the United States, where X owner Elon Musk, a central figure in the administration of president-elect Donald Trump, said in a post this month it seemed a “backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians”.

It also builds on an existing mood of antagonism between Australia and mostly US-domiciled tech giants. Australia was the first country to make social media platforms pay media outlets royalties for sharing their content and now plans to threaten them with fines for failing to stamp out scams. — Reuters

OPEC+ is discussing postponing its oil output hike due to start in January for the first quarter of 2025, OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Thursday, and will hold further talks on this and other options ahead of its delayed policy meeting on Dec. 5.

Issues that need to be addressed include an output hike for the United Arab Emirates agreed in June this year that’s scheduled to start in January 2025, two of the sources said, declining to be identified.

OPEC+, which pumps about half the world’s oil, is gradually aiming to unwind output cuts through 2025. However, a slowdown in global demand and rising output outside the group pose hurdles to that plan and have weighed on prices.

Despite the group’s supply cuts, global oil benchmark Brent crude has mostly stayed in a $70-$80 per barrel range this year and on Thursday was trading around $73 a barrel, having hit a 2024 low below $69 in September.

Earlier on Thursday, OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies such as Russia, postponed its next meeting on output policy to Dec. 5 from Dec. 1. OPEC said moving the date would avoid a clash with another event.

A summit of Gulf Arab countries is due to be held in Kuwait City on Dec. 1 which several OPEC+ ministers plan to attend, OPEC said in a statement.

“Sunday does not suit everyone,” a source told Reuters before the official announcement.

Top OPEC+ ministers have held talks ahead of the meeting. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, de facto head of OPEC, on Wednesday had a phone call with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Kazakh Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev while in Kazakhstan on an official visit.

Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Russia held talks in Baghdad on Tuesday.

OPEC+ on Nov. 3 again postponed its first output hike, which had been set for December, by one month.

OPEC+ members are holding back 5.86 million barrels per day (bpd) of output, or about 5.7% of global demand.

Their planned first increase of about 180,000 bpd – a fraction of the total – is due to be made by the eight members involved in the group’s most recent cuts of 2.2 million bpd.

The UAE, which has been expanding its oil production capacity, also negotiated an oil output hike of 300,000 bpd during 2025 that’s scheduled to start in January. — Reuters

TOKYO – Japan and the U.S. aim to compile a joint military plan for a possible Taiwan emergency that includes deploying missiles, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.

Under the plan expected to be complied next month, the U.S. would deploy missile units to the Nansei Islands of Japan’s southwestern Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, and to the Philippines, the report said, citing unnamed U.S. and Japanese sources.

The U.S. Marine Corps’ Marine Littoral Regiment, which has High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and other weapons, will be deployed to the Nansei Islands, Kyodo said.

A U.S. unit dealing with space, cyberspace and electromagnetic waves will be stationed in the Philippines, the report said.

Calls to Japan’s defense ministry and the embassies in Tokyo of the U.S. and the Philippines were not answered on Sunday. — Reuters

WELLINGTON – Tens of thousands of New Zealanders rallied before parliament on Tuesday in one of the country’s largest ever protests to oppose a bill that opponents say seeks to dilute the rights of Maori and threatens to set race relations back decades.

Massive crowds estimated by police at 35,000 gathered at parliament where the Treaty Principles Bill was introduced earlier this month by legislators who want to reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty signed between the British and Indigenous Maori.

The libertarian ACT New Zealand party, a junior partner in the ruling centre-right coalition government, is seeking to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that it says discriminates against non-Indigenous citizens.

While the bill lacks enough support to pass, critics see in it a desire to reverse decades of policies that aimed to empower Maori, who make up around 20% of the 5.3 million population and are over-represented in measures of social disadvantage.

Tens of thousands began chanting “kill the bill” when ACT leader David Seymour stepped out of parliament before the crowd.

“I’m here for my grandchildren, my children and for their children”, said Hoana Hadfield from Wellington, who was marching in a protest for the first time.

“I think it’s important that we keep our kaupapa which is our values as Maori and our culture and its a real big thing for us to have cultural identity.“

Some people in the crowd were dressed in traditional attire with feathered headgear and cloaks and carried traditional Maori weapons, while others wore t-shirts emblazoned with Toitu te Tiriti (Honour the Treaty).

The protest was preceded by a nine-day march, or hikoi, that began in the country’s far north, with thousands joining rallies in towns and cities as marchers travelled south on foot and in cars to Wellington.

First signed in 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Indigenous Maori chiefs, the Treaty lays down how the two parties agreed to govern.

The interpretation of clauses in the document still guides legislation and policy today, with rulings by the courts and a separate Maori tribunal expanding Maori rights and privileges over the decades.

ACT’s coalition partners, the National Party and New Zealand First, agreed to support the legislation through the first of three readings but both have said they will not support it to become legislation.

A small number of politicians from the governing National Party will be available to meet with hikoi leaders, while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is still deciding how to engage, a spokesman for the government said.

Abby Collier, 42, had travelled six hours from her home in Tairawhiti to participate in Tuesday’s protest. She said she was supporting the movement because she believed unity was important.

“We are coming from across the country and showing our babies we can have a positive impact through kindness,” Ms. Collier said. – Reuters

LAS VEGAS – US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday that Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 election race this summer was “one of the most courageous” any president has made.

“President Biden made a decision that I think history will show was probably one of the most courageous that a president could make, which is he decided to put country above his personal interest,” Ms. Harris said during the Las Vegas event sponsored by Univision, a Spanish-language television network, according to press pool reporters. Her remarks were dubbed into Spanish on television.

“I believe that the stakes right now are extraordinarily high, and potentially, some might say, historians have said unprecedented.”

The Democratic presidential nominee made the remarks when pressed by a voter who said he was leaning towards Trump and expressed concern about how Biden exited the race. The voter said he wanted clarity on why Harris became the nominee without going through a competitive primary.

Mr. Biden ended his re-election bid on July 21, after facing weeks of pressure from prominent Democratic elected officials and donors concerned about his age and fitness. Mr. Biden immediately endorsed Ms. Harris, who locked down the support of enough Democratic delegates to secure the party’s nomination.

Ms. Harris said in an interview on ABC News’ “The View” on Tuesday that there is “not a thing” she would have done differently from Biden as president. The remark was seized upon by Donald Trump’s campaign, which wants voters to see the Republican ex-president as the 2024 candidate of change.

Ms. Harris said Mr. Biden, who is not making regular campaign appearances on her behalf, has been a key partner and supporter and that his decision to leave the race marked a sharp contrast with Mr. Trump, who never conceded his 2020 election loss.

“We are literally having a choice as the American people about choosing a path either that is about rule of law, democracy or something that is about admiring dictators,” she said, according to the pool reporters.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. – Reuters

DHAKA — As more extreme rainfall hits South Asia leading to floods that do not recognize national borders, regional countries must work together more to combat the mutual threat, experts said.

Heavy rains led to flash floods and landslides that killed some 200 people in Nepal last month in two days of incessant rains caused by low-pressure in the Bay of Bengal and neighboring parts of India. In August, a flash flood killed at least 71 near the border of India and Bangladesh.

Some 80% of major South Asian cities are at risk of flooding that could cost the region $215 billion a year by 2030, a 2021 report published by the World Bank said.

But despite larger and more frequent cross-border disasters, a trust deficit between South Asian countries has meant they have struggled to work together, and have instead often resorted to mutual recrimination.

India is Nepal’s biggest trading partner, but the two also have a number of border disputes. Similarly, Bangladesh and India have strong economic ties, but are in dispute over water sharing and the killing of people crossing the border illegally.

“No country in the region trusts others when it comes to riparian management, thanks to the political differences,” said Harsh Vasani, a professor of international studies at FLAME University in India.

A Bangladesh government adviser said the August flood was caused by India releasing water from a dam upstream without warning into a river flowing into Bangladesh.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said live data had been shared with Bangladesh about the rising waters, but had stopped due to a power cut caused by the floods. It said the area had seen the “heaviest rains of this year” and in any case most of the water came from catchments downstream from the dam.

“Floods on the common rivers between India and Bangladesh are a shared problem inflicting sufferings to people on both sides, and requires close mutual cooperation towards resolving them,” the ministry said in a statement.

EARLY WARNINGS
Climate change is likely to trigger more frequent and more extreme weather events, such as the August flood, said Shaikh Rokon, head of Riverine People, a Bangladesh non-profit promoting stewardship of rivers and inshore wetlands.

“But climate change should not be made into a scapegoat for explaining away preparedness gaps within and between countries,” Mr. Rokon said.

The United Nations’ 2015 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction says countries should provide early warnings and help communities make preparations before floods hit.

Forecasts and timely messaging have brought the death toll from monsoon floods to near zero in vulnerable communities in South Asia, said Dharam Raj Uprety from the Britain-based development organization Practical Action, which has implemented flood resilience projects in Bangladesh and Nepal.

But while monsoon floods can be predicted 10 to 12 days ahead, flash floods caused by rain give much less warning and that means alerting communities is a much bigger challenge, said Sardar Uday Raihan, executive engineer at the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and India set up a joint river commission in 1972 to foster cooperation on flood warnings for the 54 rivers that cross their border. India and Nepal have a similar commission.

But it would help if there were real time data sharing on water released from dams and upstream water levels, Mr. Raihan said.

REGIONAL COOPERATION
Joint action is a rarity, said Sumit Vij, a professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. It makes little sense for each country to have its own strategy to adapt to the same floods, he said.

“Though we often stress on locally led adaptation, we actually need countries and areas over the same river basin or climatic region to align their adaptation efforts and share resources to deal with disasters,” Mr. Vij said.

One rare example of cooperation has been over the Koshi and Karnali rivers that flow from Nepal to India.

The project, implemented by Practical Action and other organizations, upgraded weather stations and set up a system to send mobile telephone alerts of rising waters.

While it was carried out mainly on the Nepalese side of the border, the project also benefited Indians living near the frontier who could also receive the flood warnings.

At present, Bangladesh and India have agreements on only a few of the rivers that pass between them. The two countries should formulate a single comprehensive agreement on all their 54 transboundary rivers instead of pursuing lengthy negotiations for each river separately, Vij said.

“We, South Asian nations, need to work together,” he said. — Thomson Reuters Foundation

In the latest round of the conference hosted by the Stratbase ADRi Institute, “Enhancing Indo-Pacific Security: Philippines-South Korea Cooperation Strategies” on Sept. 20, experts from the diplomatic and defense circles converged to critique the current security architecture in the expanded dynamic region. They aimed to expound on strategies in the geometry of relationships of distressed powers tossed by geopolitics and global defense postures of major and middle powers in the Indo-Pacific region.

While the hegemonic rivalry of “Chimerica” (China and the USA) manifested a chain of reaction in the community of competing neighbors in the region, rooted by the defining “lips and teeth” relations in the Korean Peninsula, Japan’s pacific activism in the Senkaku islands, the “tit for tat” dramaturgy in the South China Sea, and India’s effort to check China in Pakistan — these threat perceptions go beyond Russia’s protracted warfare in Ukraine and the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” in Israel’s conflict with Gaza.

The changing regional alliance system challenges the hub-and-spoke model of constant territorial enlargement coursed through mini-lateral and multilateral approaches in building strategic trust among democratic states. This is where the nexus of calculated interests and collective deterrence are needed in the Indo-Pacific region, fueled by a common threat to elevate freedom of navigation at its highest standard contextualized in the process of maritime rules-based order.

The transformative balance of economic cooperation to maritime security paves the way for stronger bilateral relations between the Philippines and South Korea as the two democratic nations celebrate their 75 years of diplomatic ties. On March 11, the Philippine Senate recognized the enduring friendship and cooperation of Manila and Seoul. In the esteemed commendation formalized by the Senate Resolution No. 946, the Philippines commemorated Manila’s active role in the inter-Korean peace process and reconciliation efforts.

During the Korean War in 1950s, 7,440 Filipino soldiers served in the Republic of Korea to secure the battered peninsula. Seoul is reciprocating Manila’s benevolence by playing a key role in the ongoing modernization of the Philippines’ Armed Forces and becoming one of the country’s largest development partners. The two countries inked a free trade agreement on Sept. 7, 2023 for immediate ratification in South Korea.

Seoul geared up a trilateral pact with Tokyo and Washington on Aug. 18, 2023 in pursuit of the Camp David principles. For its part, Manila has replicated the same mini-lateral template to propel its existing three-sided defense and trade cooperation with Japan and the US which was announced on April 11. This was meant to fortify America’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region that is connected, prosperous, secure, inclusive, and resilient. But these trilateral pacts will have to evolve into a Northeast Asian quadrilateral arrangement for Japan-Philippines-South Korea-US cooperation amid unpredictability in the upcoming US elections.

South Korea stands as a quasi-island and a product of the Cold War still threatened by North Korea’s massive stock of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Nonetheless, the support it gives to the Philippines to make concrete a grounded self-reliance defense posture, to develop a maiden industrial base in support of maintenance and operations of its procured expensive defense weapon systems and re-engineered military materiel, would grow enough to sustain our two countries’ strategic partnership and defense economics.

Given Manila’s burden of sharing due to its own inherent vulnerabilities in the West Philippine Sea, joint military training and maritime exercises for interoperability are endorsed to unburden like-minded nations on its own external defense. Seoul can offer its stencil for advanced research and development, intelligence gathering and information sharing, and capability building in the dawn of artificial intelligence to the Philippines, aside from South Korea’s advantages in blue ocean economy and coast guard diplomacy.

The rise of new technologies, such as autonomous vehicles and cyber warfare, will certainly create new challenges for maritime security and law enforcement in the region. The physical realities of geography in the Indo-Pacific region can generate acceptable strategic trust to solve specific problems despite constancy of dialogue and diplomacy. This is where the Philippines and South Korea are seen as capacity builders to deter proxy wars and conflicts in the tense region.

By elevating Seoul as Manila’s newest strategic partner, there will be a push for strategic intent to craft a defense deal, similar to Japan’s Reciprocal Access Agreement (that needs to be ratified yet in Tokyo), or perhaps France’s prerogative to sign a Visiting Forces Agreement to join its western allies, in the same league of Canberra and Washington that enjoy military agreements with the Philippines. Recently, Hanoi forged a Defense Cooperation Agreement with Manila to secure a stronger voice for rule-based norms in Southeast Asia.

Through the proposed establishment of Indo-Pacific mini-lateral cooperation, Manila and Seoul can become solution providers to unravel small regional risks and insecurities with greater impact on global security. At the same time, they can strengthen successful regional trilateral cooperation to further develop the mini-lateral mechanisms as exemplified in the intensified Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines tri-border patrols of the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas. As no conflict can be isolated for itself, there should be goal congruence and dynamic equilibrium for like-minded nations in preserving the new arsenal of democratic values. We need this to increase the appreciation of maritime rules-based order amid changing leaderships in the Indo-Pacific region.

Dr. Chester B. Cabalza is a non-resident fellow of the Stratbase ADRi. He is the founding president of the International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC) and teaches in the graduate school at the University of the Philippines, Diliman (UPD).

(Part 3)

It is clear from what we have written so far that sustainability goes much further than just protecting the physical environment from human abuse.

As we have seen, the Semirara Mining and Power Co. (SMPC), in order to demonstrate that sustainable mining is not an oxymoron, tries to align its corporate goals to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). So far we have described the corporate strategies and programs that are aligned with the first nine SDGs of the UN. We shall now complete the list so that in its small and humble way, SMPC can serve as a role model for other mining companies in the Philippines, one that is trying to make its operations compatible with sustainability.

I am proud of the fact that I am an Independent Director of the parent company of SMPC, DMCI Holdings, Inc., a publicly listed Philippine corporation. As an Independent Director, I am not beholden to protect only the interest of the shareholders.  Under Philippine laws, I have to protect all the stakeholders of the corporation, especially the rank-and-file workers, the management, the suppliers, the immediate community in which the enterprise is located and the nation at large. I am glad to report that the interests of these stakeholders have not been given short shrift by SMPC, as the initial listing of the SDGs have shown.

Let me now proceed to the eight remaining SDGs.    

The 10th SDG has to do with reducing inequalities. From the macroeconomic point of view, we already saw how the community in which SMPC operates has already attained what the Administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is still striving for, i.e., to reduce to a single digit the level of the nation’s poverty incidence. Already, the host community of SMPC, as of 2021, had a poverty incidence of 8% (the National Economic and Development Authority or NEDA targets 9% for the whole nation by 2028). SMPC is now focusing on upskilling, reskilling, and retooling out-of-school youth to help them to be employed or to be small-scale entrepreneurs. Women and marginalized groups are especially targeted in social development projects.

For SDG No. 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SMPC has non-stop mine rehabilitation and restoration programs, rural electrification, construction and maintenance of road networks (especially farm to market roads) and livelihood infrastructure such as a commissary, a food court, and a wet market.

For SDG No. 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), there are programs for water resource management, the reduction or management of emissions, wastes, and affluents.  There are programs in educating the community in the efficient use of energy, responsible sourcing and green criteria for suppliers, and bottom ash repurposing.

Directly related to mitigating climate change or protecting the physical environment are carbon offsets through afforestation and reforestation; biodiversity offsets through marine and terrestrial conservation programs, capacity building towards a carbon transition roadmap, and emergency response and disaster resilience programs.

SDG No. 13 directly targets the climate change issue. SMPC is one of the pioneers in obtaining carbon credits through afforestation and reforestation. It obtains biodiversity offsets through marine and terrestrial conservation programs. It has appropriated P1.5 billion for climate-related investments. It is undertaking capacity-building initiatives towards a carbon transition roadmap. It has established an emergency response and disaster resilience program. It has partnered with the LGU of Caluya for a mangrove enrichment program.

Last April, SMPC celebrated Earth Day by planting 1,500 mangrove seedlings in Barangay Semirara, Caluya. This activity was supported by over 150 participants who included SMPC employees, Philippine Coast Guard personnel, and residents of the barangay. Mangroves support food security and livelihood since they serve as a valuable nursery habitat for fish and crustaceans. By stabilizing shorelines, these coastal forests also provide protection from a plethora of disasters such as storm surges, tsunamis, and rising sea levels. Furthermore, mangrove forests can sequester an estimated three to five times more carbon per hectare than tropical forests, thus playing a key role in climate change mitigation.

As regards SDG No. 14 (Life Below Water), a world-class initiative of SMPC is the Semirara Marine Hatchery Laboratory (SMHL).  A flagship program to protect marine biodiversity, the SMHL is the only private facility in the Philippines that has spawned and propagated eight species of the giant clams, which are considered keystone species to the coral reef ecosystem. Reseeded giant clams promote diversity where they live as they attract corals, fishes, and small marine biota. These giant clams also clean their environment when they sip seawater for food and then release the clean, clear water back to the sea.

SDG No. 15 is Life on Land. One of those who accompanied me to visit Semirara island was a history professor from my university, the University of Asia and the Pacific, whose hobby is bird watching. He literally went wild when we visited SMPC’s Semirara Avian Biodiversity Conservation Center which maintains and operates a wildlife breeding aviary. It also serves as a rescue center that rehabilitates juvenile birds found fallen from their nests, injured adult birds, and other wildlife affected by storms or found before vegetation clearing during mine expansion projects. To date, this facility has released 66 captive-bred birds at the rehabilitation of the South Parian Mine.  Among the birds protected were 34 endangered, 18 vulnerable. 18 near threatened species, totaling some 70 birds. My friend said that to a true-blue birdwatching afficionado, seeing birds in captivity, no matter how exotic, does not count. Thus, he spent time on his own going around the island with his bird watching equipment. He attested that he saw many beautiful birds in the wild in the Semirara forests. He happily reported that he even saw a “lifer,” the word used by birdwatchers when they see a new bird species for the first time in their lives.

In our very visit to the island, we saw in action the reality of SDG No. 16. Both the CEO and the COO of SMPC spent practically the whole day meeting with the various members of the community in dialogues, consultations, and issue resolutions.  They involved as many of the stakeholders of the company as possible in obtaining views about a serious problem that was facing the mining operations: the seepage of sea water into the coal mines. We saw that through constant dialogue, the SDG of peace, justice, and strong institutions was very much in the minds of the owners and management.

We learned that there was absolutely no case of child or forced labor. At all levels, values formation is conducted and there are very clear guidelines on whistleblowing and community grievances.

There was strong evidence of SDG Goal No. 17 being addressed, i.e., Partnerships for the Goals, as there were very many examples of public-private partnerships for sustainable development and social development programs.

We had the opportunity to meet some of the barangay officials who confirmed that the channels of communication between the LGU and the company were always open as there were regular coordination meetings with local government units on the barangay development plans.

We learned from all our conversations with the various stakeholders of SMPC we talked to that all the positive aspects of mining we witnessed could be primarily attributed to the late Victor Consunji, one of the children of former Secretary of Public Works and Highways and founder of the DMCI group of companies, David Consunji. Having inherited from his father the outstanding qualities of leadership and concern for the common good, Victor spearheaded the conversion of the island of Semirara into a model of sustainable mining and a progressive community with one of the lowest poverty incidences in the Philippine archipelago.

Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

bernardo.villegas@uap.asia

WASHINGTON — US Vice-President Kamala Harris leads Republican rival Donald Trump by 5 percentage points in an NBC News poll released on Sunday that found that respondents have come to see her more favorably since she emerged as the Democratic candidate for president.

Asked about their views of Ms. Harris since she became the nominee, 48% of 1,000 registered voters surveyed said it was positive compared with 32% in July — the largest jump among politician ratings polled by NBC since President George W. Bush’s favorability rose after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Asked about Mr. Trump, 40% of those polled said they viewed him positively compared with 38% in July, the news network said. The poll, conducted Sept. 13-17, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

A separate CBS News poll also found Ms. Harris leading Mr. Trump, by 4 percentage points, 52% to 48%, among likely voters, with a margin of error rate of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The findings are broadly in line with other recent national polls, including those by Reuters/Ipsos, that show a close contest heading into the Nov. 5 election.

While national surveys offer important signals on the views of the electorate, the state-by-state results of the Electoral College determine the winner, with a handful of battleground states likely to be decisive.

Mr. Trump, 78, is making his third consecutive bid for the White House after losing to Joe Biden in 2020, which he continues to falsely blame on widespread voter fraud while facing federal and state criminal charges over efforts to overturn the election results.

Ms. Harris, 59, is a former US senator and prosecutor now serving under Mr. Biden. She would be the first woman to serve as president in the nation’s 248-year history.

“She’s been able to change this from a race that was a referendum on Joseph R. Biden to a race that is a referendum on Donald Trump,” Amy Walter, publisher and editor in chief of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

In CBS’ poll of 3,129 registered voters surveyed Sept. 18-20, Ms. Harris edged up 2 percentage points after a 50-50 split in August, shored by her performance in the Sept. 10 debate and brightening economic news. — Reuters

Women are disproportionately suffering from the effects of climate change as child marriages among young girls increase among vulnerable countries, according to an Indonesian environmental activist and 2024 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee. 

“There is an increase of child marriage in places like Bangladesh… It was largely because changing climate led to crop failures, (and could) lead to more disasters,” Farwiza Farhan, an Indonesian environmental activist said during the Ramon Magsaysay Awards video conference interview.  

Ms. Farhan highlighted that the impacts of climate change are pushing more families into poverty, forcing more young girls into marriage.  

“When the family is poor and they have many children, and they have to decide on the future of their children… they consider marrying off the girls… to someone who hopefully would be able to take care of them,” she said.  

These young girls are often married off to older men, some of whom are already married, and sometimes the marriages are non-consensual, Ms. Farhan said.  

“Often, we don’t necessarily link environmental destruction and climate change to how women and girls have lost opportunities in life,” she said.  

In the aftermath of major disasters in Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, reports reveal a 38.5% rise in child marriages, according to a 2023 study by the International Rescue Committee.  

Based on the study’s findings, economic constraints, societal perceptions, food price hikes, and financial crises are among the driving factors of child marriage in Bangladesh.  

On a global scale, the number of girls at extreme risk of both child marriage and climate change is expected to balloon by 33% to nearly 40 million by 2050, according to a 2023 statement from Save the Children.  

Two-thirds of these numbers happen in regions with higher-than-average climate risks, Save the Children said.  

To reduce the impact of climate change and promote environmental conservation, Ms. Farhan believes that it requires collective action.  

This begins with fostering a positive sphere of influence, especially among children, through practices such as waster separation, Ms. Farhan said. 

“Even the smallest things… it plants the seed of belief that each of us has the power to make a difference and I think that is more important than anything else,” she said.  – Edg Adrian A. Eva