Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
October 17, 2016
China coach resigns, World
Cup hopes looking slim
CIGARETTES IN THE CROSSHAIRS. A Filipino is seen using an electronic cigarette outside a mall
in Manila, the Philippines. Health secretary Paulyn Ubial said she hopes Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte
can sign a draft executive order banning smoking in public nationwide before the end of October. She also said
e-cigarettes are included in the ban. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
The Philippine president’s next
campaign: public smoking ban
By Teresa Cerojano
The Associated Press
ANILA, The Philippines —
Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte is turning to another
battle aside from illegal drugs: smoking.
Health secretary Paulyn Ubial told The
Associated Press that she hopes the presi-
dent can sign a draft executive order
banning smoking in public nationwide
before the end of October.
The department is pushing for the ban to
start before the law providing for graphic
health warnings on tobacco products is
fully implemented on November 4.
Ubial said Duterte wants a 100-percent
smokefree environment in public places
similar to Davao, the southern city where
he was formerly mayor.
Designated smoking areas are to be
outdoors and away from the public, and
local government units will be asked to
issue ordinances to enforce the smoking
ban and set penalties. She said
e-cigarettes are included in the ban
because they too produce smoke.
Ubial said there is no reason for smokers
and tobacco companies to oppose the ban.
“I don’t see any reason why they will
oppose that,” she told The AP. “We’re not
stopping them from smoking, we are just
telling them not to smoke around non-
smokers.”
Ubial said the smoking ban was success-
ful in Davao because the city government
M
strictly enforced it and created a task force
of enforcers specifically to implement the
ban. It was not just add-on work for the
police.
It will be up to provinces and towns to
determine if they will follow that example
and what penalties they will impose for
violators, she said.
The executive order would take effect
immediately after Duterte signs it, but the
rules to implement it need to be crafted by
national government agencies and by local
governments through ordinances.
Assistant health secretary Eric Tayag
said the order aims to protect the public
from secondhand or thirdhand smoke —
that inhaled when a smoker is nearby or
when smoke lingers afterward.
Duterte took office on June 30 vowing to
expand policies from Davao such as his
anti-drug campaign. The crackdown has
left about 3,600 suspected drug pushers
and users dead, including more than 1,500
suspects killed in gun battles with police.
The killings have been widely condemned
by human-rights advocates as well as the
United States, European Union, and
United Nations.
Many have wondered if Duterte would
also expand a Davao ban on powerful
firecrackers during New Year’s Eve
revelry. If the ban is imposed nationally,
he would bring a major change in a violent
celebratory tradition that has caused
deaths and hundreds of injuries each year.
KUALA
LUMPUR,
Malaysia (AP) — Despite
boasting one of the world’s
highest-spending domestic
soccer leagues, China’s
dreams of automatic quali-
fication for the 2018 World
Cup are almost over.
China coach Gao Hongbo
resigned after a 0-2 defeat
in Uzbekistan left the
nation with just one point
from four games in Asia’s
third round of qualifica-
tion.
“I spoke with the heads of
the
Chinese
Football
Association before the
match and we agreed if we
couldn’t reach a positive
result against Uzbekistan I
would stand down from my
post,” said Gao.
Marat Bikmaev and
Otabek Shukurov scored a
goal each in Tashkent as
Uzbekistan outclassed the
visitor, which lost 0-1 at
home to Syria five days
previously. China has only
ever appeared at one World
Cup, in 2002.
Despite the poor record
on the international stage,
there has been massive
investment in Chinese
soccer in recent years.
Clubs in the Chinese
Super League have spent
more than $400 million on
foreign players in 2016
alone. South American
stars such as Hulk, Alex
COACHING CHANGE. China’s coach, Gao Hongbo, left, argues
with a referee during an Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup soccer
match against Uzbekistan at Al Gharafa Stadium, in Doha, Qatar, in this
January 16, 2011 file photo. Coach Gao resigned after a 0-2 defeat in
Uzbekistan left the nation with just one point from four games in Asia’s
third round of qualification for the 2018 World Cup. (AP Photo/Kin
Cheung, File)
Teixeira, Ramires, and ment — the standard of the
Jackson Martinez have national team will take
helped Shanghai SIPG, longer to improve.
Jiangsu
Suning,
and
Nations such as Syria
Guangzhou
Evergrande and Iraq, which are not
challenge at home and in allowed to play games at
the
Asian
Champions home due to security
League.
concerns, have collected
High-profile
coaches more points in qualifica-
such as Luiz Felipe Scolari, tion.
Sven Goran Eriksson, and
The top two of the six
Manuel Pellegrini have teams in Groups A and B
also lifted the international will qualify automatically
for the World Cup, with the
profile of the league.
Yet despite the massive two third-place teams
investment from the pri- going to a fourth-round
vate and public sector — match to decide which of
the government is also them makes the inter-
focusing on youth develop- continental playoffs.
Extensive blackout in Tokyo hits trains, government offices
TOKYO (AP) — An extensive blackout
recently struck Tokyo, affecting govern-
ment offices and halting trains in the
Japanese capital just before the evening
rush hour.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., a utility
serving the Tokyo region, said officials are
investigating the cause.
The company, known as TEPCO, said
smoke was detected at its unmanned
power substation in Niiza city, near Tokyo,
and officials were looking into whether it’s
related to the blackout.
TEPCO said as many as 350,000
households and offices were temporarily
out of power. Electricity was restored to
most of them later.
Japanese television showed black smoke
billowing from the substation in a business
district. There were no immediate reports
of injuries. Tokyo’s metropolitan police
department, the land and transportation
ministry, and the foreign ministries were
among the government offices that briefly
lost power.
The Tokyo Fire Department said they
received reports from people trapped
inside elevators in downtown Tokyo.
EXTENSIVE BLACKOUT. Firefighters gather
around black smoke billowing from an unmanned
power substation in Niiza, Saitama prefecture, near
Tokyo. An extensive blackout recently struck Tokyo,
affecting government offices and halting trains in the
Japanese capital just before the evening rush hour.
(Kyodo News via AP)
Traffic lights were also temporarily out in
some locations in Tokyo.
Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga
told a news conference that officials were
looking into the cause of the incidents, but
did not answer when asked about possible
sabotage, according to NHK.
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