events: 性騷擾 性侵

content_text:
俄羅斯一名14歲少女近日轟動全球，不僅僅因為她在13歲就懷孕，令人更傻眼的是，她說孩子的爸是她年僅10歲的小男友！（圖擷取自IG @18_uverdig_iv18_）

2020-02-07 00:10:19

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕近日，一名俄羅斯的14歲少女轟動全球，不僅僅因為她在13歲就懷孕，令人更傻眼的是，她說孩子的爸爸是她年僅10歲的小男友！少女登上世界頭條爆紅，開始經營IG，希望能成為網紅、接代言賺錢，目前已擁有超過7.8萬名粉絲。

綜合外媒報導，俄羅斯少女達里亞（Daria Sudnishnikova）才剛滿14歲，在熱列茲諾哥爾斯克鎮（Zheleznogorsk）就讀7年級，13歲時，她出現嘔吐、腹脹等症狀，家人剛開始以為她食物中毒，但隨著她的肚子日漸隆起，媽媽埃琳娜（Elena）意識到女兒可能「懷孕」，一驗孕，果真呈現2條線。

據報導，達里亞驗孕後向媽媽埃琳娜坦承，孩子的爸爸是她10歲、就讀4年級的小男友伊凡（Ivan），她還說，知道自己還年紀很小，但並不想墮胎，而已經癌症末期的埃琳娜也支持女兒的決定，目前正努力抗癌，爭取未來能有更多時間幫忙照顧孫女。

報導也指出，達里亞懷孕後和伊凡會轟動全球，是因為他們接受電視節目訪談，詳細講述他們從1年前認識、交往的種種生活點滴；而被問到如何懷孕時，達里亞則說，他們趁著伊凡媽媽出門時在伊凡家偷嚐禁果，不久後，她開始覺得噁心、想吐，直到媽媽讓她驗孕後，才知道自己懷孕了。

達里亞一夕爆紅後，開始經營個人IG，也在每篇貼文中使用「13歲就懷孕」標記（＃PregnantAt13）、分享自己的生活，希望能成為網紅，與大品牌合作來賺取代言費，目前已擁有超過7.8萬名粉絲。

然而，達里亞13歲就懷孕的消息不僅透過媒體轟動全球，也令不少專家震驚，更有許多人對孩子的爸爸是名10歲的小男童提出質疑，奇怪的是，當地泌尿科醫師格列科夫（Evgeny Grekov）對伊凡進行3次檢驗後，證實尚未發育完全的他，根本沒有精子和睪固酮，不可能是孩子的爸爸。

☆關心您：若懷疑孩童遭受身體虐待、精神虐待或是性侵害、性騷擾，請撥打113專線，透過專業社工員接線服務，將可盡快救援在生命危機中的兒童。☆

title: 驚！13歲少女「腹脹」驗出懷孕…孩子的爸竟只有10歲


title: 謠傳「經國敏盛收治下機高燒患者」  院方澄清將提告

content_text:
2020-02-06 23:48:57

〔記者陳恩惠／桃園報導〕今天有許多地方Line群組瘋傳一段疑似車隊男運將載客時，聽女乘客表示「經國敏盛急診室剛收到從機場送來的高燒病患，並要大家暫時到其他醫院就診」的錄音檔，敏盛綜合醫院獲知，立刻在臉書粉絲專頁澄清，並未收治任何武漢肺炎患者，若侵害民眾就醫權益定依法提告。

敏盛綜合醫院發出澄清聲明稿表示：「針對網路流傳有關本院接獲武漢肺炎確診個案的不實傳言，盼請社會大眾勿加以臆測。如有任何侵害民眾就醫權益之行為，敏盛綜合醫院定當主張一切法律上之權益並以傳染病防治法依法究辦。」

據了解敏盛醫院已經向衛生局通報，同時針對此段長28秒的不實錄音檔向警方報案了。


countries: 美國 中國

content_text:
2020-02-07 00:29
 〔中央社〕中國電信巨擘華為今天表示，已在德州法院對美國行動電信網路及無線通訊供應商威瑞森（Verizon）提出兩起專利侵權訴訟。

法新社報導，美國總統川普政府持續採取行動，致力在全世界削弱華為，這是華為利用美國法院來保護自身利益的最新舉動。

這兩起訴訟與前述更廣大戰役無直接相關，華為控告威瑞森侵害它的12項專利，那些是有關網路安全與遠端存取協定的華為專利。

華為說，它和威瑞森已經多次就這些議題討論了好一陣子，但未能解決紛爭。

華為提起訴訟，尋求未披露金額賠償。法新社尚未獲得威瑞森方面置評。

華為表示，它在全世界擁有超過8萬項專利權，包括在美國逾1萬項專利，並在2015年起收到逾14億美元（約新台幣420億元）專利授權金。

title: 華為控告美商威瑞森  侵害12項專利權


taiwan-subdivisions: 新北市 新北 中和區

title: 噁！男對捷運站扶手吐口水  防疫時期引恐慌

content_text:
2020-02-07 00:08:34

〔記者徐聖倫／新北報導〕新北市中和區南勢角捷運站，1名詭異男子搭乘手扶梯時，竟對著扶手吐口水，在這個全民防疫的敏感時機，這個舉動令人害怕。警方也循監視器調閱男子影像，目前知道其分為流浪漢。

據了解，5日晚間8時許，1名女子抵達捷運南勢角站搭手扶梯步向出口，他眼尖前方1名著紅上衣、深色長褲的男子，躬著身子臉部幾乎要貼到電扶梯的扶手上，眼見他就朝著扶手吐口水，嚇得女子拍影片蒐證並報警。

捷運站人員不敢大意，趕緊將扶手做清潔、消毒。警方現已調閱相關監視器，不過警方發現，這名男子疑似是個流浪漢，行蹤不定，目前還在確認其身分中。警方表示，這個舉動已觸犯《社會秩序維護法》，若是武漢肺炎患者則觸《傳染病防治法》，最重可處3年以下徒刑，易科50萬以下罰金。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。


title: 武漢肺炎》慘遭網軍五毛出征 荷蘭漫畫公司：中國式反應

content_text:
繼丹麥上月刊登「五星病毒旗」被中共強烈譴責，甚至慘遭大批「五毛小粉紅」出征之後，荷蘭近日也面臨到同樣的窘境；對此，漫畫公司表示，「這就是中國式反應」。（圖擷取自Instagram「mwcartoons」）

2020-02-07 00:00:32

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕武漢肺炎擴散世界各地，中國政府隱瞞疫情的嫌疑重大，繼丹麥上月刊登「五星病毒旗」被中共強烈譴責，甚至慘遭大批「五毛小粉紅」出征之後，荷蘭近日也面臨到同樣的窘境；對此，漫畫公司表示，「這就是中國式反應」。

由於中國政府隱匿通報，導致新型冠狀病毒肆虐全球，從上月疫情爆發開始，世界各地陸續出現諷刺中國的創作，如丹麥大報《日德蘭郵報》的「五星病毒旗」以及英國《經濟學人》的「五星旗口罩」，都引起中共網軍出征撻伐。

荷蘭近日也開始被中共盯上，漫畫公司「卡通運動」（The Cartoon Movement）發現，任何想對新型冠狀病毒開玩笑的人，都會觸碰到中共的敏感神經，中國大使館曾要求出版方下架漫畫，還呼籲荷蘭政府「管好媒體」；此外，「五毛小粉紅」也會以中指或糞便的表情符號洗板，甚至用中文留言詛咒漫畫家，狂嗆「你媽死了」。

對於出版諷刺漫畫遭到中共排山倒海的攻擊，「卡通運動」主編羅亞茲（Tjeerd Royaards）表示，「這是中國式的反應，我們在討論的是一個禁止小熊維尼的國家，被禁的原因僅是因為長得像該國元首；我希望荷蘭政府不會回應中國的要求，實際上這已經是很嚴重的言論審查」。

最後，羅亞茲強調，對漫畫家來說，言語威脅和死亡恐嚇都不是個問題以及新現象，但以當今的世界看來，新聞自由度已經有下降的趨勢，中國對於異議言論的審查，在未來只會越演越烈。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

countries: 中國 荷蘭 英國 丹麥

events: 武漢肺炎 冠狀病毒


taiwan-subdivisions: 石門 桃園 大溪 北區

content_text:
2020-02-06 23:50:58

〔記者李容萍／桃園報導〕時值枯水期，石門水庫從2月4日起開始配合春耕供應農業灌溉用水，加上氣溫偏冷，用水需求增加，迄6日晚上10時，石門水庫大壩水位下探238.31公尺、蓄水量1億4485萬噸、蓄水率73.38％，觀察石門水庫水情指標之一、當年因興建水庫而被淹沒的阿姆坪「土地公廟」近日漸漸露出，水利署啟動水情管控，雖然目前供水無虞，呼籲民眾節約用水。

阿姆坪這座土黃色磚瓦的土地公廟，地處石門水庫蓄水範圍內，當年因配合興建水庫，土地公遷移至大溪復源宮，自從水庫開始蓄水後，土地公廟就遭淹沒，其實只要水庫水位降至約240公尺以下，土地公廟就會逐漸浮出、現身；2015年桃園大鬧乾旱，土地公廟和附近夢幻草原的重現，還吸引外地不少朝聖的遊客，還成了當時最火紅的枯水期景點。

水利署北區水資源局表示，近日雖然有短暫鋒面報到，並在石門水庫集水區降雨，不過降雨量有限，水利署啟動水情管控，現階段石門水庫供水穩定，民眾不必過度恐慌，但石門水庫從1964年建庫啟用，原本庫容有3億噸，受到長期流入庫區的泥沙等影響，目前庫容僅剩下約2億噸，面對每年桃園及板新地區共8億噸的用水，石門水庫1年周轉率要4次以上，呼籲民眾勿忘缺水的前車之鑑，珍惜水資源。

title: 石門水庫水位下降  土地公廟「重現天日」


references: 網友 Facebook

countries: 中國 英國 德國 丹麥

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中國流亡畫家王立銘也發圖砲轟，「在病毒之王習近平的獨裁統治之下，武漢肺炎正在成爲世界性的災難」。（圖擷取自Facebook「變態辣椒」）

2020-02-07 00:20:07

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕中國武漢肺炎疫情擴散全球，世界各國都已對中國祭出禁令，防堵新型冠狀病毒入侵，西方多家媒體近日紛紛以圖像諷刺「中國是病毒製造國」；對此，中國流亡畫家王立銘6日也發圖砲轟，「在病毒之王（King of viruses）習近平的獨裁統治之下，武漢肺炎正在成爲世界性的災難」。

中國武漢肺炎疫情殃及世界各地，丹麥、英國以及德國媒體近日都刊登漫畫，諷刺新型冠狀病毒是「中國製造」。筆名「變態辣椒」的中國流亡漫畫家王立銘，6日發布最新原創漫畫，圖中可見中國國家主席習近平手持共產權杖，頭頂卻長著巨大的冠狀病毒，在解放軍服上還掛有「屎坑先生」、「槍桿子出政權」、「扛200斤麥子」以及「人民領袖」等勳章。

這幅名為「病毒之王」（King of viruses）的圖中，王立銘諷刺，「在習近平的獨裁統治之下，武漢肺炎正在成爲世界性的災難」。漫畫一出後引發網友們熱議，許多人紛紛留言說，「以前玩吸盤球的美好記憶破碎了」、「好噁的圖，但是我喜歡」、「習近平新時代特色冠状病毒」、「這個地球為縱容中共魔鬼而付出沉重代價」。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

title: 武漢肺炎》中國流亡漫畫家諷習近平：病毒之王成世界災難


countries: 中國 美國

content_text:
美國聯邦調查局局長瑞伊今天表示，中國「無所不用其極」地企圖竊取美國科技機密，聯調局56個地區工作站已對此展開了大約1000項調查行動。（法新社）

2020-02-06 23:44:07

〔中央社〕美國聯邦調查局（FBI）局長瑞伊（Christopher Wray）今天表示，中國「無所不用其極」地企圖竊取美國科技機密，聯調局56個地區工作站已對此展開了大約1000項調查行動。

瑞伊在華府智庫戰略暨國際研究中心（CSIS）主辦的會議中說，中國構成的經濟威脅「各式各樣而且遍布多個層面」。

他說：「就在我今天站立此地與你們談話的同時，本局56個地方工作站全都針對中國企圖竊取美國科技機密進行大約1000項調查行動，而且遍及每一個產業部門。」

美國高層反情報官員伊凡尼納（William Evanina）在會中說，中國優先竊密目標在美國的飛機和電動車技術。

title: 偵辦中國科技竊密 美FBI展開約千項調查行動


title: 武漢肺炎》咳嗽聲此起彼落！中國網友爆方艙醫院實況

content_text:
2020-02-07 00:25:05

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕中國湖北省武漢市肺炎疫情嚴峻，確診病患數不斷上升，官方在當地徵用體育館、校園等設施，設置「方艙醫院」收治病患，但住進去的中國民眾拍片、發文揭露裡面的真實情況，並提到「咳嗽聲此起彼落」，令台灣批踢踢鄉民相當震驚。

中國民眾透過微博帳號「換個名字怎麼這麼難還有」發文指出，親屬經確診罹患武漢肺炎後，5日晚間被先被送往民營醫院隔離治療，6日凌晨3點送往武漢展覽館設置的方艙醫院，現場電線發生短路、停電狀況，1000人共用1個廁所，也無人打掃，供應的早餐是「幾塊小點心」。

該名網友指出，醫院內沒見到醫生、護理師登記病情、發放藥物，氧氣設備也嚴重缺乏，咳嗽聲此起彼落，網友對此質疑，在這種情況下病患病情只會加重，呼籲中國政府盡快改善醫療條件。這篇貼文疑似受到關注，發文帳號目前已被微博封鎖。

台灣批踢踢實業坊（PTT）鄉民聞悉此事，在臉書發文指出，「中國就擺明要讓人消失」、「都生病了還要面對這種廁所，慘絕人寰」、「中標的全部關在一起，會好才怪！」、「自體免疫療法，撐的過去的就能出院」、「比當兵時的寢室還慘」、「建議嫌台灣宿舍太差的隔離台商都送來這邊」。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

events: 武漢肺炎 停電

references: 網友 PTT 臉書

countries: 中國 台灣


content_text:
2020-02-07 00:02:18

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕武漢肺炎疫情蔓延全球，中國確診病例已經突破2萬8000起。日前一段中共官員在公開場合講解武漢肺炎傳染途徑時，竟解釋「糞口傳染」意思「就是你吃了別人的屎」，影片遭中國網民剪輯上傳後引起譁然。

四川人民醫院健康管理中心主任劉玉萍日前在「新型冠狀病毒肺炎疫情防控工作」記者會上，向中國民眾解釋武漢肺炎傳染途徑以及防疫概念，在解釋何謂「糞口傳染」時，她竟語出驚人表示「什麼叫糞口傳染，就是你吃了別人的屎，這很簡單」。

劉玉萍喊冤：影片斷章取義相關影片被剪輯po網後引發熱議。對此，劉玉萍受訪時喊冤表示，當時她正在解釋手部衛生清潔，讓民眾知道洗手的重要性，此網路影片是斷章取義，她只是想用直白的方式解釋，讓眾更好理解。

啥是粪口传播？ 四川省官员科普：就是你吃了别人的屎！ pic.twitter.com/lFfDVHZYRh

— 黎明 （@jingkehanqin） February 5, 2020

title: 武漢肺炎》譁然！中國官員解釋糞口傳染是「吃到別人屎」


countries: 日本 中國 美國

events: 武漢肺炎 2019-nCoV 冠狀病毒

content_text:
豪華渡假郵輪「鑽石公主號」上一對新婚的美籍巴索夫婦兩人，接受《CNN》遠距採訪，批評受困於船上的隔離方式，點名美國總統呼救道：「唐納．川普，救救我們！」。圖為鑽石公主號。（法新社）

2020-02-06 23:59:49

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕豪華渡假郵輪「鑽石公主號」（Diamond Princess）有20名乘客確診中國武漢肺炎，被要求「海上隔離」至19日，船上3700名乘客只能待在房中，靠日方運送物資生活。船上一對新婚的美籍巴索（Basso）夫婦兩人，接受《CNN》遠距採訪，點名美國總統呼救道：「唐納．川普，救救我們！」

據《CNN》報導 ，豪華渡假遊輪「鑽石公主號」（Diamond Princess）日前接受日本政府檢驗，查有20名乘客確診自中國武漢爆發的新型冠狀病毒（2019-nCoV），下令整艘船進行「海上隔離」至19日。

對船上一對美籍新婚夫婦接受《CNN》遠距採訪時，表達強烈不滿。妻子梅琳娜．巴索（Milena Basso）說，她們為這趟旅程存了兩年的錢，現在卻變成充滿著不安全感的夢魘。

梅琳娜說，「如果真的有感染的疑慮，我們應該在乾淨、衛生且安全的環境進行隔離，而非待在一艘已經被污染的船上」。

梅琳娜最後點名美國總統川普呼救道：「唐納．川普，救救我們！派出國家的飛機，讓我們下船。」

據悉，日本厚生勞動省已要求鑽石公主號全體船員及乘客隔離檢疫至19日，原本停泊在外海的鑽石公主號今（6）日早晨停靠橫濱港大黑碼頭，進行必要物資補充，可見不少乘客在房間陽台向岸邊招手。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

title: 武漢肺炎》慘困鑽石公主號海上隔離 美新婚夫婦：川普救命


content_text:
鑽石公主號遊輪船上遊客感染武漢肺炎人數攀升，引領船隻進出港的的「引水人」卻傳出防疫裝備不足，每人每天只配給到一個口罩，無奈只能自備簡易雨衣、手套登船領航；航港人員憂心，一旦引水人一個個染病倒下，後果不堪設想。（記者林嘉東攝）

2020-02-06 23:43:38

〔記者林嘉東／綜合報導〕鑽石公主號遊輪因搭載感染武漢肺炎的香港男遊客，船上出現確診人數不斷攀升；引領船隻進出港口的重要指揮官「引水人」卻傳出防疫裝備不足，每人每天只配給到一個口罩，無奈只能自備簡易雨衣、手套登船領航；航港人員憂心，一旦引水人一個個染病倒下，後果不堪設想。

亂發基隆港、高雄港引水人隔離假訊息鑽石公主號遊輪因搭載感染武漢肺炎的香港男遊客，船上出現確診人數不斷攀升，麥寮港引水人辦事處大為緊張，前天開會決議，以高雄港已有2名引水人隔離觀察中，基隆港也有6名引水人隔離觀察，卻未見疾管局在麥寮港有積極的防疫作為，考量麥寮港引水人只有7人，無力於第一線承受此衝擊，決議自五日凌晨零時起，「僅對海上滯留逾14天的進港船提供服務」。

交通部航港局今函文麥寮港引水人辦事處，強調麥寮港引水人辦事處此舉違反引水法規定，要求麥寮港引水人辦事處不得擅自發布此一訊息，以免觸法，並要求麥寮港辦事處確實執行引領船舶進港服務。

高雄港引水人辦事處主任陳策勤澄清指出，高雄港引水人並無任何被隔離觀察情事，目前除兩名引水人因為受傷休養外，其餘全員都很健康值勤。

基隆港引水人辦事處主任方信雄也稱，基隆港引水人全員健康，正常出勤，並無引水人因為感染武漢肺炎被隔離觀察。

由於引水人月薪逾30萬，居家隔離10天等於少掉一半薪水，不只麥寮港引水人人人自危，基隆港引水人也同樣憂心不已。

引水人盼配發全套防護衣據悉，航港局每天只配給基隆港引水人每人一個口罩，引水人到藥局又買不到口罩，只好透過管道透過友人從其他國家帶進來，目前只能勉強穿簡易雨衣、手套登輪，引領船隻進港。

有引水人大嘆，貨輪若有來自中國疫區，政府只給他們一個口罩，無異於將他們推入感染武漢肺炎的險境，應該核撥引水人全套防護衣，確保引水人的健康，才能確保船舶進出台灣各港口都能順暢，不會因為引水人染病無法引領船隻進出港。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

title: 麥寮港引水人發難「罷領」 遭航政局打臉

countries: 台灣 香港 中國

taiwan-subdivisions: 麥寮 高雄 基隆

things: 防疫 假訊息


content_text:
中央流行疫情指揮中心指揮官陳時中說，包機返台入境247人，除了1例確診，其餘經採檢均呈陰性。（記者王藝菘攝）

2020-02-06 23:48:09

〔記者林惠琴／台北報導〕247名滯留中國武漢台商與家屬返台後，其中1人一下飛機就確診，引發國內諸多討論，不過，中央流行疫情指揮中心指揮官陳時中表示，其餘246人經採檢，已確認均為陰性。

外界關心包機返台的武漢台商健康情形，陳時中說明，247人入境，除了1例確診外，其餘經採檢均呈陰性，只是其中1例雖然一次採檢陰性，仍因有症狀需待二次採檢結果而定。

國內截至目前共計16名確定病例，截至2月6日下午4點，共通報21名嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎個案；截至目前累計通報1307名個案，含16名確診、1166名排除、82名初驗陰性、其餘仍待檢驗。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

title: 武漢肺炎》包機返台247人除1例確診 其餘均呈陰性


content_text:
Workers yesterday put together masks at a factory in Qingdao, Shandong Province, as China ramps up production of medical supplies amid the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.Photo: AFP
China yesterday was scrambling to find bed space for thousands of newly infected people as the death toll from the 2019 novel coronavirus soared to 563.

More than 28,000 people are now known to be infected nationwide in the outbreak.

Two dozen nations have now confirmed cases of the coronavirus, which reportedly emerged in December last year from a market in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

Wuhan was scheduled to open a second field hospital, offering 1,600 beds.

The first hospital, with 1,000 beds, opened this week, and authorities said that they were converting public buildings into temporary medical facilities to deal with the influx of sick people.

The city of 11 million is facing a “severe” lack of beds, said Hu Lishan (胡立山), deputy secretary of the Chinese Communist Party’s Wuhan chapter, adding that there were 8,182 patients admitted to 28 hospitals that have a total of 8,254 beds.

There is also a shortage of equipment and materials, Hu told reporters.

The Chinese government has announced measures intended to ensure the supply of vital medical resources, with tax breaks for manufacturers of equipment needed to fight the epidemic.

“We must make all-out efforts across the country to meet the need for essential medical supplies and medical professionals in Hubei Province,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

BGI Group (華大), a company based in southern China that sequences genomes, said that on Wednesday it opened a lab in Wuhan able to test up to 10,000 people per day for the virus.

Scientists in the city have applied to patent a drug made by US company Gilead Science to treat the disease, possibly fueling conflict over technology policy that helped trigger Washington’s tariff war with Beijing.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology said this week that it applied for the patent last month along with a military laboratory.

Xinhua yesterday reported that clinical trials of the drug, remdesivir, were due to start.

In Taipei, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday said that the government has asked Gilead to reserve remdesivir supply for Taiwan.

Additional reporting by CNA

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title: Virus Outbreak: China scrambles for beds as toll mounts


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: US, China clash over Taiwan at WHO

‘ENGAGE TAIWAN’:China’s delegation to a WHO executive board meeting voiced ’strong dissatisfaction’ over the ‘Taiwan issue,’ while Taipei criticized naming practice
US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Andrew Bremberg, center, speaks at a news conference at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday.Photo: EPA-EFE
The US yesterday urged the WHO to “engage directly with Taiwan public health authorities” in the fight against the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

“For the rapidly evolving coronavirus, it is a technical imperative that WHO present visible public health data on Taiwan as an affected area and engage directly with Taiwan public health authorities on actions,” US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Andrew Bremberg told the WHO’s executive board.

Japan and the EU appeared to support this.

Japanese Ambassador Ken Okaniwa told the forum: "We should not make a geographical vacuum by creating a situation where a specific region cannot join WHO even as an observer."

The board was meeting yesterday to discussion how to deal with health emergencies. Taiwan is not a WHO member because of China’s objections and Beijing says that Taiwan is adequately represented in the organization by China.

A counselor with the Chinese UN mission in Geneva, Qi Daihai (齊大海), took the floor to express Beijing’s “strong dissatisfaction” that some countries had raised the issue of Taiwan’s participation at the technical meeting.

There is ample cooperation between China and Taiwan on the outbreak and "we feel that the Chinese central government can say it is very sincere in protecting the health and well-being of Taiwan compatriots," Qi said.

"I would like to reiterate that Taiwan is part of China, this fact cannot be changed," he said.

"China requests that the relevant countries should respect the guidance of the chairman to strictly abide by the rules of procedure of the conference," Qi said.

“Stop hyping-up about the so-called Taiwan issue. Don’t waste our time,” he added.

The call by Bremberg and others came as the WHO pressed member countries affected by 2019-nCoV to share more information on cases, saying a shortage of details has hampered efforts to combat the outbreak.

The WHO on Tuesday said that it had received complete reports for only about 38 percent of coronavirus cases reported outside of China.

Since then, “the number of countries we’ve received comprehensive data from is improving, but not complete,” WHO Health Emergencies Program executive director Mike Ryan told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

Earlier yesterday in Taipei, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) took to Twitter to criticize the WHO for repeatedly giving Taiwan “inappropriate designations.”

“@WHO, what’s wrong with you? First you called us ‘Taiwan, China,’ then you changed to ‘Taipei.’ You misreported the confirmed cases, & now you call us ‘Taipei & Environs,’” Wu wrote.

“Look! Taiwan is #Taiwan & not any part of the #PRC,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news conference that the WHO’s “series of inappropriate designations” of Taiwan were “unfactual” and “absurd.”

“We expressed our solemn protest to the WHO after Taiwan’s objection with regards to the matter through its representative office in Geneva and several other channels was ignored,” she said, adding that Taiwan would continue to demand a correction.

The 16th edition of the WHO Novel Coronavirus Situation Report, issued on Wednesday, referred to Taiwan as “Taipei and environs” under a table of confirmed cases of the coronavirus reported by provinces, regions and cities in China.

The second situation report, issued on Jan. 22, referred to the nation as “Taiwan, China,” but on Jan. 23 the designation became “Taipei municipality,” then “Taipei” on Jan. 25, the ministry said.


taiwan-subdivisions: 六龜 阿里山

content_text:
A purple crow butterfly yesterday sits on a tree trunk in Kaohsiung’s Maolin National Scenic Area.Photo: Hsu Li-juan, Taipei Times
Conservation efforts for the Sanhe River Valley (三合溪谷) near Kaohsiung Liouguei District (六龜) have helped bring back a fish endemic to Taiwan and purple crow butterflies, Jhongsing (中興) Borough officials said.

Pointing to the layered hilltops on either side of the valley, Jhongsing Borough Warden Wang Ming-yang (王茗洋) said that every layer was the result of a severe natural disaster.

“The very top layer was created by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, the next layer down was the result of the flooding on June 10, 2012, then another event six years ago,” Wang said.

Every flood had destroyed the community’s fish ladder, but the tireless efforts to clear away the rubble and rebuild has been rewarded with a plentiful amount of the fish swimming in the river, including Onychostoma alticorpus, he said.

The project originated after a community member visited the Tanayi Valley (達娜依谷) on Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County and began advocating for a local conservation effort, Wang said, adding that the project now has 25 volunteers who patrol the valley to ensure it remains pristine.

“Another surprise for visitors is that the valley is home to many butterflies,” he said.

A former borough warden, an octogenarian, confirmed that Euploea butterflies, among other varieties, frequented the valley, he said.

However, the location where the butterflies originate remains secret to prevent them from being disturbed, he added.

The community planted flowers and plants around the valley, where the butterflies cluster nine months a year, giving visitors a view of them from afar, Wang said, adding that even in winter, tens of thousands of butterflies remain in the area and do not migrate to other regions.

The community hopes the municipal government would “seal off” the river to help them fight off dangerous fishing methods that use poison or electroshock tools, Wang said.

A similar request had been approved 15 years ago, but after Kaohsiung county and city merged into a special municipality, that legal basis was annulled, he said.

The Council of Agriculture has temporarily closed off the area to investigate local flora and fauna, Liouguei resident Yang Sung-ming (楊松明) said, adding that the council would decide whether to “seal off” the river based on the results of the investigation, which is expected to take three to five years.

The conservation project asked local bakeries to prepare bread without butter for visitors to feed the fish and is looking into creating a special fish feed to sell to tourists, Wang said.

Wang also called on tourists not to bring outside bread or feed the fish with leftovers, which could pollute the water source.

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title: Fish, butterflies making comeback in Jhonsing


title: US President Trump acquitted of impeachment charges

content_text:
US President Donald Trump gestures at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.Photo: Reuters
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday was acquitted of impeachment charges in the US Senate.

With US Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, senators sworn to do “impartial justice” stood and stated their votes for the roll call — “guilty” or “not guilty” — in a swift tally.

Trump shall “be, and is hereby, acquitted of the charges,” Roberts said.

What started as Trump’s request for Ukraine to “do us a favor” spun into a far-reaching, 28,000-page report compiled by US House of Representatives investigators accusing the US president of engaging in shadow diplomacy that they said threatened US foreign relations for personal, political gain as he asked Ukraine to investigate former US vice president Joe Biden ahead of the presidential election in November.

Trump had predicted vindication and used it in his re-election bid.

Trump said that the investigation was a “witch hunt” by those out to get him from the start of his presidency and an extension of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into alleged Russian campaign interference in 2016.

Trump’s political campaign tweeted videos, statements and a cartoon dance celebration, while the president himself tweeted that he was to speak yesterday from the White House about “our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the “the cloud over the presidency has been removed.”

Graham announced that his own committee would continue to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of former US president Joe Biden, who has faced criticism over his role on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that has been accused of corruption, while his father oversaw US policy on Ukraine.

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said there would always be “a giant asterisk next to the president’s acquittal” because of the quick trial in the Senate and Republicans’ rejection of witnesses.

“More is going to come out every day, indeed it has come out every day and every week,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said.

Schiff, the House’s lead impeachment manager, said that no final decisions have been made on whether to subpoena Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, in the House after the Senate voted not to hear witnesses.

“The president’s basic lack of character, his willingness to cheat in the election — he’s not going to stop,” Schiff said. “It’s not going to change, which means that we are going to have to remain eternally vigilant.”

Bolton has a book that is scheduled for release next month.

A majority of senators expressed unease with Trump’s pressure on Ukraine that resulted in the two articles of impeachment, but two-thirds of them would have had to vote “guilty” to reach the US constitution’s bar of high crimes and misdemeanors to convict and remove Trump from office.

The final tallies fell far short.

On the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, the vote was 52-48 favoring acquittal. The second, obstruction of Congress, also produced a not-guilty verdict, 53-47.

All Democrats found the president guilty on the two charges.

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content_text:
Ancient brick structure found at Tainan school

DIGGING UP THE PAST:Researchers carried out test excavations at two Anping elementary schools in an effort to understand how the area looked 400 years ago
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che, center in black coat, on Wednesday listens to National Cheng Kung University Institute of Archaeology chairman Liu Yi-chang, in the white jacket, as he explains an uncovered brick structure dated to the Qing Dynasty, during a visit to Shih-men Elementary School in Anping District.Photo: CNA / Tainan City Government
A brick structure believed to date to the Qing Dynasty has been discovered inside the campus of an elementary school in Tainan’s Anping District (安平).

In June last year, the Tainan City Government and National Cheng Kung University jointly launch a project for research and education on Fort Zeelandia, also known as Anping Old Fort (安平古堡), as well as an ancient town inside the district.

By referencing historical materials and using topographical and archeological methods, researchers sought to understand what the city was like during its seafaring past.

Researchers carried out test excavations at Shihmen Elementary School and Anping Sword Lion Square (安平劍獅埕), an unnamed Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage official said.

At Tainan Municipal Simen Experimental Elementary School, researchers searched for strata and unearthed items, the official said.

Based on historical materials and topographical findings, researchers believe that the two schools are on what would have been the shoreline in the 1640s, sources said.

The square is also inside what was once the ancient town, they said.

Researchers believe that if they can find a reference point for the old coastline and information about the ancient town, it would help recreate the “texture” and spacial distribution of the district over the past 400 years, they said.

Tainan is approaching its 400th anniversary, they added.

So far, the research team has found a brick structure believed to date back to the Qing Dynasty inside a trench in the northern part of Shihmen Elementary School’s campus, the sources said.

In the site’s south, it found what appeared to be strata similar to that which might appear near coastlines, they said.

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) on Wednesday visited the excavation site inside Shihmen Elementary School.

Fort Zeelandia is one of the most famous structures from the period of Dutch rule, which began in 1624.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Mask sales plan mostly smooth: center

content_text:
By Lin Hui-chin, Wang Chun-chi, Liu Pin-chuan, Yang Mien-chieh a / Staff reporters, with staff writer
People line up to buy masks outside a pharmacy near Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital yesterday.Photo: CNA
Regulated sales of masks at contracted pharmacies across Taiwan was mostly smooth, the Central Epidemic Command Center said yesterday after a purchasing policy came into effect, despite confusion over what time the program launched.

More than 980,000 out of the 1.6 million masks in the government program were sold yesterday, with most people not having to wait in line for long, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.

To ensure an ample supply, people must show their National Health Insurance (NHI) card or Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) at one of the 6,160 locations that are part of the program.

People whose national ID or ARC card number ends with an odd number can buy masks, which cost NT$5, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while those whose ID number ends with an even number are limited to Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, while Sunday is open to both. Each person is limited to buying two masks every seven days.

NHI Administration Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) on Wednesday said that foreign residents who do not have an NHI card can purchase masks at pharmacies with their ARC or by presenting the entry-and-exit permit in their passport.

Chen on Wednesday said that there is no recommendation for visiting foreigners to wear masks, but they can bring them into Taiwan if they are concerned about the virus.

As the message spreads that masks should be reserved for those who need them, panic buying and stockpiling is falling, he said.

The process was surprisingly efficient, said a woman in Hualien surnamed Chen (陳).

The government system was working, as she had not been able to buy a mask until yesterday.

However, some people complained that pharmacies in Nantou County had no masks in stock, having sold out by 3pm, which was when the Nantou Public Health Bureau said sales would begin after being advised by the county’s pharmacists’ association.

Pharmacies in Nantou that began sales earlier than 3pm said that there were long lines from the morning, with elderly people saying that they had traveled a long way and there would not be bus services in the afternoon to return home, the bureau said.

Some pharmacies said that they had only one computer each and could not cope with the number of customers.

To prevent such situations, pharmacies and drugstores were ordered to report when mask sales would start, with local governments to publish the information online, the bureau said.

The League for Persons with Disabilities urged the central government not to neglect the rights of disabled people when offering disease prevention information, as the Web site to view mask inventories at pharmacies and drugstores has a graphics-based verification system.

Visually challenged people have no way to verify themselves, as there is no audio or text-based verification system, the league said.

News conferences on disease prevention should include sign language interpreters for people who cannot hear, it said.

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title: Virus Outbreak: International cruise ships barred

content_text:
The SuperStar Aquarius cruise ship departs from the Port of Keelung on Tuesday.Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
No international cruise ships would be allowed to make port calls in the nation, effective immediately, after a Taiwanese woman on board the Diamond Princess was yesterday confirmed to have the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019 n-CoV), Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.

Chen made the announcement at a weekly news conference at the Executive Yuan in response to media queries on what the government’s plans are with the new confirmed case.

Kyodo News yesterday reported that 10 more passengers onboard the Princess Diamond, aged between 50 and 70, had been confirmed to have 2019 n-CoV, including a Taiwanese woman.

The decision was made after experts at a Central Epidemic Command Center meeting yesterday agreed that it would be almost impossible to manage passengers on cruise ships, who are constantly boarding and disembarking, Chen said.

Furthermore, if there is a carrier of the virus on board, it would cause serious cross-infections, he said.

The command center regretted having to issue the ban, he said.

Later in the day, when asked by reporters how the center plans to deal with more than 1,700 Taiwanese onboard the SuperStar Aquarius (寶瓶星號) of Star Cruises (麗星郵輪) scheduled to return to the Port of Keelung today, Chen said that he would allow the Taiwanese entry on the condition that they be placed under home quarantine for 14 days.

Any passengers displaying pneumonia-like symptoms would be immediately quarantined by disease prevention personnel, he added.

Star Cruises said that the 1,738 passengers onboard the Aquarius include 1,709 Taiwanese, 18 Filipinos, three Malaysians, three Vietnamese, a South Korean, a Burmese, an Indonesian, a Singaporean and a Chinese spouse who had not travelled outside of Taiwan in the two weeks before the trip.

The ship was docked in Naha, Japan, on Tuesday and Wednesday after departing from Keelung on Monday, the company said.

In related news, Chen said that 1.6 million masks had been delivered to pharmacies and health centers nationwide yesterday as a rationing system that asks people to show their National Identification card, National Health Insurance card or permanent residency certificates when buying masks went into effect.

The nation’s factories are producing about 3.2 million masks daily, he said.

Asked if the government has maintained its target to produce 10 million masks by the middle of next month, Chen said that it has.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is making an all-out effort to procure machinery for making masks from other nations, he said.

The supply target could be adjusted according to demand, he said, adding that the nation has sufficient materials to produce masks.

As of 9:30pm yesterday, Taiwan has confirmed 16 infection cases, the center said.

Additional reporting by CNA

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content_text:
Jayson Tatum on Wednesday scored 16 of his 33 points in the second half as the Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic 116-100.

Gordon Hayward added 23 points and Jaylen Brown finished with 18 to help the Celtics win their fifth straight.

Orlando pulled within 105-98 with less than three minutes to play on a basket by Nik Vucevic. The Celtics responded with back-to-back three-pointers by Hayward and Tatum that made it 111-98 with 1 minute, 46 seconds left.

Evan Fournier led the Magic with 26 points. Aaron Gordon added 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Terrence Ross finished with 18 points. Orlando lost for the sixth time in seven games.

After being held to three points in the third quarter, Tatum scored 10 straight points to give Boston a 99-91 lead with 6 minutes, 52 seconds remaining. He then led a fast break and found Brown, who threw down a one-handed dunk over Michael Carter-Williams to give the Celtics the game’s first double-digit advantage.

The Magic took an early 12-5 lead in the first quarter before the Celtics closed the period on a 27-12 run.

In other results, it was:

‧ Pistons 116, Suns 108

‧ Raptors 119, Pacers 118

‧ Nets 129, Warriors 88

‧ Thunder 109, Cavaliers 103

‧ Hawks 127, Timberwolves 120

‧ Grizzlies 121, Mavericks 107

‧ Nuggets 98, Jazz 95

‧ Clippers 128, Heat 111

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title: Tatum leads Celtics to 116-100 victory against the Magic


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: COA sets aside NT$5bn for farmer loans amid outbreak

Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung, center, holds a sugar apple alongside council officials and representatives of farmers and e-commerce retailers at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.Photo: CNA
More than NT$5 billion (US$166.21 million) in loans has been allocated for the agriculture, animal husbandry and recreational agriculture sectors as the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China weighs on exports, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.

Produce, livestock and aquaculture farms, as well as farmers’ associations, export companies and other agriculture-based enterprises, are eligible to apply for the loans, COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) told a news conference in Taipei.

The allocation of NT$5.03 billion might increase if agricultural losses continue due to the outbreak, Chen said, adding that the loans have a preferential interest rate of between 0.79 percent and 1.68 percent.

Applicants can opt for extended loan periods, as well as interest-only loans of two to three years, the council’s Department of Planning said.

Through government subsidies, recreational agriculture enterprises and fisheries are eligible for interest-free loans of six months with an interest rate of 1.29 percent, the department said.

The recreational agriculture industry has experienced a 20 to 30 percent decline in revenue since the Lunar New Year holiday, it added.

Industries affected by the outbreak are to be offered professional training programs on broadening their market appeal by holding themed events, installing electronic ticketing and expanding their client base, the department said.

The council would assist efforts by enterprises to expand into markets outside of China, Chen said.

A subsidy of NT$6 per kilogram is being offered by the council on exports — by sea or air — of custard apples to China, he added.

The council is offering a subsidy of NT$40 per kilogram on transport fees for exports of grouper or East Asian four-finger threadfin to Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, Chen said, adding that exports to the US and Australia would receive a subsidy of NT$50 per kilogram.

The council is in talks with markets and other groups to ensure that farmers would not have losses during the first week of school, scheduled to start on Feb. 25, Chen said, adding that consumption that week is expected to total 1,750 tonnes of produce, including 120 tonnes of eco-friendly produce.

This amount is being set aside for distribution centers that service schools because of a shorter harvest time and sales difficulties, the department said.

Stores, hypermarkets and military units in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County could purchase the remaining produce, the department said.

Food banks and other charities would be provided eco-friendly produce based on supply available, it said.

The council said that it is also encouraging buyers to use online platforms, adding that this change could boost gross agricultural revenue by NT$1 billion or more nationwide.

The council said it is focusing on stabilizing agricultural prices.

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content_text:
AU Optronics Corp posts first annual loss in six years

PRICE SLUMP:A supply glut is expected to persist as Chinese firms continue producing large panels, offsetting reductions by South Korean companies
LCD panel maker AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) yesterday posted its first annual loss in six years as rapid capacity expansion by its Chinese peers deepened oversupply and led to a drastic slump in TV panel prices.

AUO posted a net loss of NT$19.19 billion (US$637.92 million) for last year, with its fourth-quarter loss widening to NT$8.83 billion from NT$3.99 billion in the third quarter, along with a NT$2.3 billion asset impairment charge from its solar business.

AUO posted net income of NT$10.16 billion in 2018.

“It was a challenging year for the display industry ... which faced strong headwinds as prices plummeted. Massive new capacity in China worsened the supply-demand situation amid relatively weak TV and mobile phone sales,” AUO chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told an investors’ conference. “Short-term improvement in recent months will not bring any major changes to the display industry’s oversupply in the mid to long term as long as China continues pouring new supply into the market.”

AUO expects the supply glut to persist in the medium to long term as Chinese firms continue producing large panels, offsetting supply reductions by Samsung Electronics Co and LG Display Co.

The Hsinchu-based firm expects this quarter’s shipments of TV and PC panels to fall by about 5 percent quarter-on-quarter, while a better product mix would help increase the average selling price by 5 percent.

Shipments of small panels for handsets and other devices are to fall by at about 15 percent quarter-on-quarter, the company said.

The equipment loading rate is to increase from last quarter’s 90 percent, thanks to improving demand on easing US-China trade tensions and lower channel inventories, it said.

AUO said that it is stepping up efforts to boost the value of its flat panels and diversify into other industrial segments.

The company on Wednesday announced a tender offer to buy up to a 30 percent stake in industrial computer supplier Adlink Technology Inc (凌華科技) for NT$3.72 billion.

Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) does not expect the acquisition to immediately help AUO.

The company is likely to post another annual loss this year as oversupply reoccurs, with China’s BOE Technology Group Co (京東方), HKC Optoelectronics Technology Co (惠科) and Sakai SIO International Guangzhou Co (超視?) increasing production, it said.

The 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China poses another threat to the industry’s supply chain — ranging from procurement of raw materials to manufacturing and product deliveries — if the situation continues to worsen, Peng said.

The impact of the outbreak is unclear as the company’s clients and suppliers remain on vacation and do not resume work until Monday next week, he said.

AUO operates facilities in China’s Suzhou, Kunshan and Xiamen, and the plants remained operational during the Lunar New Year holiday, he added.

Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (光電協進會) analyst Lin Cheng-hsien (林政賢) said that the outbreak would disrupt the supply chain and negatively impact production in Hubei and Guangdong provinces.

However, AUO and Innolux Corp (群創) could benefit from transferred orders, Lin said in a client note.

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title: Global Unichip profits hits low

content_text:
Global Unichip Corp (創意電子), which designs application-specific ICs (ASICs), yesterday posted its lowest profit in three years as demand sagged due to a US-China trade dispute and cryptocurrency weakness.

Global Unichip is 34.84 percent owned by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which produces chips for cryptocurrency mining machine chip supplier Bitmain Technologies Ltd (比特大陸).

Net income plunged 35.93 percent to NT$633 million (US$21.04 million), compared with NT$988 million in 2018, while earnings per share dropped from NT$7.37 to NT$4.37, the company said in a financial statement.

Revenue fell 20.43 percent to NT$10.71 billion, from NT$13.46 billion the previous year, but gross margin improved from 29.8 percent to 33 percent over the period, the statement showed.

Global Unichip’s board of directors approved the distribution of a NT$5 cash dividend per common share, a payout ratio exceeding 100 percent.

The dividend is subject to shareholders’ approval at an annual meeting scheduled for May 14.

The company’s net income was last year buoyed by strong fourth-quarter results, which showed a rebound in profit to NT$275 million, tripling from NT$102 million in the third quarter, but little changed from NT$276 million a year earlier, with earnings per share of NT$2.06.

Revenue last quarter surged 36 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$3.3 billion, due to increases in its major ASIC and non-recurring engineering services businesses, Global Unichip said.

On an annual basis, revenue contracted 7 percent from NT$3.55 billion, it said.

Products based on 7-nanometer technology last quarter contributed 3 percent to its overall revenue, up from 1 percent in the previous quarter, Global Unichip said.

The proportion of revenue from such products to total sales was 22 percent a year ago, company data showed.

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content_text:
MEXICO

Shot children mourned

Relatives on Wednesday gathered in a driving rain to mourn and bury three children, a 17-year-old and five adults shot to death in an attack on a video game arcade in Michoacan state. Authorities have not yet said whether the brutal killings were related to the drug violence that has swept the state. However, Sergio Arroyo, the priest who officiated at the boys’ funeral, said simply: “We cannot remain powerless. We cannot let ourselves become accustomed to this. We must take action.” The mothers wept and clutched framed photographs of the three boys, who authorities have identified only as Luis Angel, 12; Miguel Angel, 13; and Jose Alexis, 14. Rosa Gutierrez, grandmother of Miguel Angel, said that the boy was like many youths his age, a video game fanatic. “I have cried myself all out,” Gutierrez said as the family buried Miguel Angel. “I have no more tears left, now they are coming from the sky.”

MEXICO

Long weekends threatened

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has floated a proposal to end the practice of creating long weekends by moving national holidays around. Lopez Obrador is a student of the country’s history and he was irked because few people appeared to remember that Wednesday was the anniversary of the 1917 adoption of the country’s constitution. The official holiday was moved this year to Monday to allow the public three continuous days off. That is similar to the US practice of celebrating Memorial Day or former US president George Washington’s birthday on the nearest Monday. Lopez Obrador said it is a bad practice because it leads people to forget what they were celebrating, even though he acknowledged that the three-day weekends are popular. “I know this is going to be controversial, but I believe that, if you don’t know where you come from, you’ll never know where you are going,” Lopez Obrador said. “For us, history is fundamental. It is life’s teacher.”

UNITED STATES

Flipped ship to be cut apart

Salvage workers plan to use a long cutting chain suspended from a floating crane to saw apart a large cargo ship that overturned nearly five months ago off the Georgia coast, the multi-agency command overseeing the vessel’s removal said on Wednesday. Plans released by the salvage team call for the South Korean ship Golden Ray to be carved into eight pieces, each weighing up to 3,720 tonnes. The capsized vessel would be straddled by a giant crane anchored to a barge on opposite sides of the ship. The crane would lift each chunk and load it onto a barge for removal. The cutting is not to start until crews surround the wrecked ship with a giant mesh barrier designed to contain any loose debris as the vessel gets cut apart. Construction of that barrier should begin in about two weeks and is to take more than a month to complete, said Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Nate Littlejohn, a spokesman for the salvage team.

KAZAKHSTAN

Koch breaks space record

NASA astronaut Christina Koch yesterday returned safely to Earth after shattering the spaceflight record for female astronauts with 328 days aboard the International Space Station. She touched down along with Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Koch was shown seated and smiling after being extracted from the descent module in the Roscosmos video footage from the landing site. “I am so overwhelmed and happy right now,” she said.

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title: World News Quick Take


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: First coronavirus patient discharged, thanks personnel

A thank-you letter written to disease control staff by a Taiwanese businesswoman who has recovered from the 2019 novel coronavirus is pictured in Taipei yesterday.Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
The first person in Taiwan diagnosed with the 2019 novel coronavirus has been released from the hospital where she was being treated and has written a letter thanking medical personnel, the Central Epidemic Command Center said yesterday.

The woman twice tested negative for the disease and was escorted home, where she is to self-manage her health, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a news conference in Taipei.

Although the woman wished to remain anonymous, she also wanted to address the public, Chen said, adding that she wrote a letter and recorded two audio messages to be shared.

“No one wants to get sick,” the patient said in a recording played at the news conference. “But when I am sick and my illness might endanger the lives of others, would that person really be willing to save me?”

In the recording, which runs about seven minutes, the woman thanked her medical team and the workers on the front line of the outbreak.

“I was the first case, so I ‘broke the zero’ in Taiwan. I want to say that I am very sorry, but I think no one wants to get sick,” she said.

The healthcare system in China is “very inconvenient” for holders of a Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents, she said, adding that she had planned on seeing a doctor upon returning to Taiwan.

She initially thought she only had a cold, with symptoms including coughing and a sore throat, but no fever, she said.

Due to an announcement on her flight back to Taiwan asking passengers to report “physical discomfort,” she said that she decided to report her symptoms anyway.

Her temperature was taken and she was told she had a fever, she said.

She had returned to Taiwan to celebrate the Lunar New Year and did not imagine that she would be spending the holiday in a hospital, she added.

The word “safety” holds special significance for her now, she said.

In the other recording, which runs about 1 minute, the woman urged people to “listen and follow” the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations.

“If you are sick or [feeling] uncomfortable, say so honestly,” she said. “This way, you can save yourself, save your family and save the people around you.”

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title: SPORTS BRIEFS

content_text:
CRICKET

Fundraiser moved over rain

A star-studded charity game to aid Australian bushfire relief was yesterday moved from the Sydney Cricket Ground to Melbourne due to forecast torrential rain, forcing some players to drop out. Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting were to come out of retirement to skipper the teams tomorrow to raise money for victims of the blazes, which began in September last year and have left at least 33 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed. It was scheduled as a curtain-raiser to the Twenty20 Big Bash League final, but with downpours expected, Cricket Australia said that it would no longer be possible in Sydney. Instead, it is to be played on Sunday at the smaller Junction Oval in Melbourne following a T20 clash between the Australia and England women’s teams. Warne, Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke were among those forced out due to prior commitments. Adam Gilchrist is now to captain one of the teams in Warne’s absence, with Australian Test skipper Tim Paine acting as coach. The Ponting team is to be coached by Sachin Tendulkar. Other international stars to participate include Wasim Akram, Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh and Justin Langer. Match profits are to go to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

SOCCER

Lazio match record in draw

SS Lazio on Wednesday equaled a 21-year club record for staying undefeated, but missed the chance to move second in Serie A after being held to a goalless draw by Hellas Verona. Simone Inzaghi’s side closed to within a point of second-placed Inter. The Roman side are four points behind leaders Juventus and 11 points clear of fourth-placed Atalanta BC, who occupy the final UEFA Champions League berth, ahead of AS Roma on goal difference. Lazio matched their longest unbeaten Serie A run of 17 consecutive matches, the feat of the 1999 side coached by Sven-Goran Eriksson. “It’s a record that pleases me,” said Inzaghi, who played for the team under Eriksson and helped Lazio lift their last Scudetto in the 1999-2000 season. Verona missed out on moving into sixth place and the UEFA Europa League berths as they remain ninth, but just one point off the European spots.

SOCCER

Marseille beat Saint-Etienne

Dimitri Payet on Wednesday scored a brilliant goal as second-placed Olympique de Marseille claimed a 2-0 victory at AS Saint-Etienne to cut the gap to Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain back to 12 points, although hundreds of their diehard fans were stopped from watching the game. The match was delayed by 15 minutes after clashes between the two sets of fans outside the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. Firefighters and the Saint-Etienne prosecutors’ office said that there were no injuries or arrests. However, the game was played without visiting supporters — believed to number about 400 — who left under police escort, despite making a round trip of about 650km. Earlier on Wednesday, Olympique Lyonnais failed to close the gap to the top three as they were held to a goalless draw at home by lowly Amiens SC. Elsewhere, bottom club Toulouse were cut further adrift with a 1-0 loss to RC Strasbourg Alsace, while Montpellier Herault moved into fifth, despite a 1-1 home draw with Metz.

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taiwan-subdivisions: 新莊 樹林

content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Pharmacy, supplier investigated

MASK HOARDING:Officials seized 970,000 masks labeled for ‘medical use’ from a pharmacy and its supplier, but the masks appear to be made of low-quality materials
Two Criminal Investigation Bureau officers show CH0B 910 N95 masks found during a raid on a pharmacy in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District on Monday.Screen grab from the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Web site.
A pharmacy and its supplier, HC Safety Co (合晟企業), in New Taipei City are under investigation for allegedly hoarding masks and passing them off as “medical use” items, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said yesterday.

After receiving reports from local residents, health officials, together with bureau agents, on Monday conducted a search of the pharmacy in Sinjhuang District (新莊).

On Wednesday, they raided the offices and warehouses of HC Safety in Shulin District (樹林), and summoned the company owners for questioning.

New Taipei City head prosecutor Chiang Yu-cheng (江祐丞), who leads a taskforce investigating the case, told reporters that they had seized nearly 300 cartons of masks at the pharmacy and 233 cartons at HC Safety, which together contain a total of 970,000 masks.

At press time, the owners — a husband and wife — were still being questioned.

Chiang said they might face charges of hoarding goods, and breaching the Pharmacy Affairs Act (藥事法) and the Criminal Code.

The cartons are labeled for “medical use” and mainly contain N95 masks and No. 318 Ear-Loop Face masks, Chiang said, adding that the owners said they were imported from China.

These types of masks are regulated as “medical devices” under the act, and sellers need to register with and obtain approval from local health authorities, as well as a business permit to sell them, Chiang said.

However, the owners were unable to produce such a permit, nor any documents relating to their import or approval by health authorities, he added.

The masks might have been smuggled in from China, Chiang said, adding that on closer inspection, they appear to be low-quality masks and are unlikely to qualify for “medical use.”

An investigation is under way to determine their origin and manufacturing process, he said.

Chiang said some residents reported the pharmacy to local office, after seeing the drug store doing brisk business selling the masks for NT$50 each.

Some customers said they found it suspicous after finding the boxes did not carry the proper registration and approval marks from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

In other developments, judiciary officials said a couple in New Taipei City were taken in for questioning after allegedly breaking their mandatory two-week home confinement after returning on Sunday from a trip to China.

The couple had boarded a flight from Taipei to Kinmen and were yesterday stopped by border officers at Kinmen port, as they were trying to board a ferry headed to Xiamen in China’s Fujian Province.

Kinmen officials said that if found guilty of breaching their confinement orders, the couple could be fined a maximum of NT$150,000.

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content_text:
BRAZIL

Central bank cuts rate

The central bank on Wednesday cut its benchmark interest rate to a new record low of 4.25 percent, seeking to boost what it called the “gradual recovery” of Latin America’s largest economy. The quarter-point cut, in line with market expectations, was decided unanimously by the bank’s monetary policy committee, it said in a statement. It was the fifth straight decrease since July last year, but the bank indicated that the loosening cycle was coming to an end. The government is forecasting growth of 2.4 percent this year, double the estimate for last year.

INDIA

Rates left unchanged

The Reserve Bank of India yesterday left interest rates unchanged for a second straight meeting, as surging inflation kept policymakers from easing again to support economic growth. The repurchase rate was maintained at 5.15 percent, as forecast by all 37 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The six-member monetary policy committee voted unanimously on the decision, while retaining its accommodative stance, the bank said in a statement.

UNITED STATES

Trade deficit narrows

The nation’s trade deficit narrowed last year from the widest in a decade, reflecting plunges in shipments from China and oil imports. The annual deficit in goods and services decreased for the first time in six years, narrowing 1.7 percent to US$616.8 billion, Department of Commerce data showed on Wednesday. The gap in December last year rose to US$48.9 billion, wider than the median estimate of economists. Separately, the Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday said that its service-sector index edged up to 55.5 from 55 in December.

GERMANY

Eurozone demand slumps

New orders at industrial firms slid in December last year, official data showed yesterday, driven entirely by plunging demand from eurozone neighbors. Overall, new business for manufacturing firms fell back 2.1 percent month-on-month in seasonally adjusted figures, statistics authority Destatis said, disappointing analysts who had foreseen a 0.6 percent increase. A breakdown of the data showed that while domestic orders rose by 1.4 percent and those from non-EU nations gained 2.1 percent, eurozone demand tumbled 13.9 percent.

ENERGY

Gas contracts canceled

China’s biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas has told some suppliers that it would not take delivery of cargoes because of constraints caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, a rare step that shows how deeply the epidemic is impacting global commodity flows. China National Offshore Oil Corp (中國海洋石油) has declared force majeure on some contracts, people with knowledge of the situation said. It sent the notice to firms including Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA, the people added.

TELECOMS

Huawei files patent suits

Huawei Technologies Co (華為) has filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Verizon Communications Inc following an apparent failure to agree licensing terms for the use of its intellectual property. The Chinese firm said that it had reached out to Verizon a year ago, notifying the US carrier of its breach of multiple patents. Among the offending pieces of technology are network security measures, remote sharing from a PC, parental controls and a contacts app.

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title: World Business Quick Take


content_text:
Floods and cyclone threaten Australia

CALAMITIES:After a prolonged bushfire season, the weather bureau issued severe thunderstorm warnings for Queensland and a flood alert in New South Wales
Firefighters spray water on a smoldering tree left in the wake of a bushfire near Bumbalong, Australia, on Sunday.Photo: Reuters
Many Australians yesterday experienced a bittersweet break from the threat of bushfires, with flooding rains deluging some parts of the eastern states and a tropical cyclone forecast to hit the nation’s northwest over the weekend.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued severe thunderstorm warnings for Queensland and a flood alert for more than 20 areas in New South Wales (NSW) after the start of heavy rainfall that is expected to continue for several days.

Warm, moist air feeding in from the east was bringing the rain, bureau forecaster Mike Funnell told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“We are expecting those larger totals and heavier rainfall to come into the northeast coast of NSW and then sort of track slowly southwards,” he said.

A tropical low off the Kimberley coast in Western Australia state was forecast tomorrow to develop into a category three cyclone that could hit the Pilbara region, Australia’s iron ore producing heartland.

The wet weather has helped douse or slow some of the most damaging and long-running wildfires, which have burned through more than 11.7 million hectares of land since September last year.

The prolonged bushfire season has killed 33 people and about 1 billion native animals.

More than 2,500 homes have been destroyed.

However, officials warned that the threat was not yet over and that there will likely be weeks more of firefighting ahead.

About 60 fires were still burning across NSW and Victoria, the nation’s most populous states, with about half of those classified as uncontained.

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title: Floods and cyclone threaten Australia


title: Syrian troops capture key rebel town

content_text:
Syrian troops capture key rebel town

TWO FRONTS:While Turkish outposts were reportedly surrounded by Syrian troops in the north, Israeli airstrikes killed pro-Iran fighters in southern Syria, reports said
Syrian Army soldiers pose for a photograph in Tall Sultan town near Saraqeb in Syria’s Idlib Province on Wednesday.Photo: AFP
Syrian government troops on Wednesday captured a key opposition town in the northwest, despite threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to use force if they do not pull back by the end of the month, an observer group and news network reported.

The town, Saraqeb, sits at the intersection of two major highways, one linking the Syrian capital, Damascus, to the north and another connecting the nation’s west and east.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an opposition news network said thay Syrian government troops entered Saraqeb in the evening after an intense day of fighting with opposition fighters, during which several Turkish observation posts were surrounded.

Later on Wednesday, the observatory reported clashes inside the town between Syrian troops and opposition fighters.

Turkish troops stationed north of Saraqeb shelled Syrian troops north and west of the town in efforts to break their hold on the town, the observatory said.

Syrian state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported government forces encircled Saraqeb after advancing toward the town from three directions.

Some opposition fighters were reportedly still in the town, while the opposition-run Shaam news agency said Syrian troops had not yet entered Saraqeb.

Syrian forces have fought to open the Damascus-Aleppo highway, which rebels have kept shut down since 2012. Saraqeb is the last major rebel-held town in their way.

Turkey, a strong backer of some rebel groups in northwest Syria, has a dozen military observation posts in Idlib Province, which borders Turkey.

In the past few days, Ankara has sent new troops and equipment, setting up posts around Saraqeb in an attempt to keep it from falling into Syrian government hands.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have made advances into Idlib, the nation’s last rebel stronghold, since December last year.

The UN said that more than 500,000 have been displaced because of the violence.

“If the [al-Assad] regime does not retreat to areas behind the observations posts, Turkey will be forced to take matters into its own hands,” Erdogan said on Monday.

He said two of the Turkish observation posts are now behind Syrian lines.

Erdogan spoke to members of his ruling party after clashes between Turkish and Syrian troops inside Syria, which killed seven Turkish and 13 Syrian troops.

Erdogan said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a late-night telephone call on Tuesday that the Syrian forces must retreat to a point agreed on in a 2018 ceasefire agreement.

The observation posts were set up as part of an agreement reached in 2018 with Russia — a main supporter of al-Assad — to monitor a ceasefire that has since collapsed.

During their advance on Saraqeb, Syrian forces surrounded four Turkish observation points, the observatory and news opposition sites said.

It was not clear what happened to the Turkish observation point or its soldiers.

There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials.

The opposition-run Baladi News Network also reported that the town fell to Syrian control, adding that Saraqeb came under intense Syrian and Russian fire.

The observatory said the opposition fighters withdrew from the town under heavy bombing.

Clashes between government forces and opposition fighters continued east of the highway, north of Saraqeb, on Wednesday.

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content_text:
Massive 2017 CIA leak ‘was crippling’: worker

WIKILEAKS EFFECT:The leak took a week of 20-hour workdays to learn the scope of the damage, protect overseas assets and decide how to rewrite programs
A CIA computer engineer on Wednesday testified at the espionage trial of a former CIA employee that the 2017 leak of thousands of pages of documents “was crippling” to the agency and turned his office into an FBI crime scene.

The engineer — testifying under the pseudonym Jeremy Weber — said the release of the materials by WikiLeaks left the CIA scrambling.

“We were in damage mode,” he said at the trial of Joshua Adam Schulte, who quit the CIA and moved to New York for a US$200,000 salaried job four months before the documents were published.

“The house was burning down and we were trying to figure out what was going on,” he said.

Weber said that he was put in charge of engineers assessing the damage from a leak of materials that prosecutors have said exposed CIA officers overseas and destroyed cybertools used to track terrorists and collect intelligence abroad.

“It was crippling,” Weber said.

It took a week of 20-hour workdays to learn the scope of the damage, protect overseas assets and decide how to begin rewriting programs that target foreign adversaries, he added.

During opening statements a day earlier, defense attorney Sabrina Shroff said that there would be no proof at trial of any relationship between Schulte and WikiLeaks.

She said that Schulte, 31, of Manhattan, was prosecuted because investigators could not find the source of the leak and spotted an “easy target,” someone who “antagonized almost every single person” while he worked at the CIA in Langley, Virginia.

“He really was a difficult employee, but being a difficult employee does not make you a criminal... Josh Schulte’s not a traitor,” she said.

Under questioning by a prosecutor, Weber said that he considered Schulte a friend after both started at the CIA about 10 years ago.

However, Weber said that he gave up the friendship in 2016 after Schulte told lies in formal complaints against a coworker.

“I felt like Josh ... crossed a line and I was done with him,” he added.

Later, Weber said he took it as a threat when Schulte demanded his access restored to a CIA program and said that he would get it restored “one way or another.”

He said he later complained to his bosses that Schulte had breached security protocols by using his status as an administrator of software programs to gain greater access to a top secret program without approval from superiors.

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content_text:
Sinn Fein pushes unity in Irish election

HISTORIC HIGH:A poll published on Monday put the party in front with 25 percent support, as voters see it ‘getting more reasonable,’ and distancing itself from its past
Election posters in Dublin on Wednesday display candidates including Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, bottom, and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, top.Photo: Reuters
In Ireland’s oldest city, republican lawmaker David Cullinane makes the case for a united Ireland when he canvasses voters for tomorrow’s general election.

“In the throes of an election campaign, it’s about finances, it’s about money in people’s pockets, it’s about health and housing,” the Sinn Fein candidate said in a Waterford cafe.

“But I always try to bring it back to that bigger politics — that we want to see a new republic,” he added.

An Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll published on Monday put Sinn Fein in front on 25 percent — a historic high for the party.

A strong showing could result in its flagship policy of reuniting the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland becoming a key part of the next government’s agenda.

The island of Ireland was partitioned in 1921 following a war for independence, with Northern Ireland remaining part of the UK and the republic becoming independent.

Disputes over the territory have defined modern Ireland’s history, particularly during 30 years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland dubbed “The Troubles.”

A 1998 accord brought peace and allowed the possibility of a referendum in Northern Ireland on joining the republic — if the change was likely to be approved.

On Ireland’s southeast coast, Waterford — a city known for its cut glass — lies 200km from Northern Ireland.

However, its residents would have just as much say as those in the province — any referendum in Northern Ireland would have to be approved by another in the republic.

“I don’t think most people in the south on a daily basis think about Irish unity,” Cullinane said.

“But equally, people do have a sense of vision and people do have a sense of the future,” he added.

Sinn Fein’s future, though, may hinge on shedding its past.

During “The Troubles,” the party was the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary group.

From 1983 until 2018, Sinn Fein was led by Gerry Adams, who has always denied being a senior figure in the IRA’s leadership.

However, with a new leader in Mary Lou McDonald, there are signs the party is actively distancing itself from the darkest chapters in Irish history.

Walking his dog through Waterford’s shopping district, William Hoban said he previously declined to vote for the party because of their links to intimidation and violence.

“I’ve never voted Sinn Fein, ever,” the 53-year-old said, but added that this year he would “give them a chance.”

“They’re getting more reasonable,” he said.

Hoban cited Sinn Fein’s left-wing stances on housing and wealth inequality compared with center-right parties Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, which have alternated power.

Still, a vote to unite Ireland is not high on his list of priorities.

“It’s just a bit early,” he said. “It wouldn’t be fair to unionists” — those in Northern Ireland who want to remain part of the UK.

A Panelbase poll for the Times newspaper’s Ireland edition, published on Monday, showed that four in five Irish want to see a united Ireland at some point — and 40 percent within a decade.

After the Waterford Crystal factories shut in 2009, The Irish Handmade Glass Co was set up in the city’s Viking Triangle. A furnace blasts heat as workers blow delicate glass in marbled colors.

Strolling around the workshop floor, co-owner Tony Hayes said he would vote for Sinn Fein for the first time.

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title: DR Congo’s World War II veterans honored in film

content_text:
Albert Kunyuku Ngoma, 97, left, and Daniel Miuku, 94, right, the last survivors of the “Force Publique,” the Belgian colonial army that fought all the way to Burma during World War II, look at their old photographs of the war, in Kinshasa on Jan. 9.Photo: AFP
Albert Kunyuku Ngoma was a young Congolese corporal in the colonial Belgian army when he was forced to battle in World War II as far away as Burma, now called Myanmar.

Now 97, Ngoma is one of only two surviving former members of the colonial “Public Force” military living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) capital, Kinshasa, who are honored in a new documentary titled The Shadow of the Forgotten!

Recalling the battles of six decades ago, Ngoma described fighting side by side with Belgium troops against the Japanese in Burma.

“In the trenches in Burma, we saw Belgian officers fall to enemy bullets,” Ngoma said. “It was a real shock for us.”

The Public Force was formed as a military unit when Belgian King Leopold II controlled the colony. Thousands of Congolese were drafted as part of the colonial armed forces, and fought during World War II in east Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Dressed in their worn-out former uniforms, Ngoma and his former brother-in-arms Daniel Miuki, 94, were praised as “living monuments” of Congolese history at a recent showing of the documentary by academic Jose Adolphe Voto.

In the film, they are shown proudly wearing their campaign medals on their chests as they recalled details of their postings from Leopoldville, as Kinshasa was once known, to the Middle East and to Burma, a British colony invaded by the Japanese during the war.

Caps on their heads and canes in hand, two men leafed together through a yellowed photograph album from Miuki’s home showing pictures dating from 1940 to 1945.

US soldiers were not great shots, they said, but they praised the combat skills of the Japanese, Chinese and Korean soldiers on the ground.

Both remember the racial segregation they had to face even as they fought shoulder to shoulder with the Belgians.

“We were like slaves, because it was Belgium that brought us into this war. We could not say anything,” Ngoma said.

“When the bombs began to fall, white and black would die the same way,” said Miuki, a former infantry nurse.

As Belgium’s prime minister visited the DR Congo this week, Miuki criticized what he called the “ungrateful” attitude of the former colonial ruler towards its Congolese ex-soldiers, saying they were tossed aside “like dirty towels.”

“France still takes care of Second World War veterans from its former colonies, and their heirs,” Ngoma said.

Congolese soldiers never received any compensation from the countries for whom they fought in 1940 to 1945, said a complaint filed in 2018 in the DR Congo by seven children of ex-combatants from the Public Force.

They accuse the former colonial power, as well as France, Britain and the US, of neglecting their parents and claimed more than US$7 million, the Belgian Ministry of Defense said.

The case was in court late last year, but no judgement has been made.

“I wanted to pay tribute to those who gave their all, not only for the Congo but in the world war,” Voto said. “I wanted them to be rewarded morally. When I spoke with them, I was disappointed to learn that they have never been recognized by Belgium.”

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title: Toyota upgrades full-year forecast as profit rockets

content_text:
Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp yesterday posted a surge in net profit on record sales for the nine months to December last year, while also upgrading its full-year profit forecast.

However, the maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid warned it was closely watching the impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus in China, where the firm has suspended operations at more than 10 plants.

Toyota said its net profit for April to December surged 41.4 percent year-on-year to ￥2 trillion (US$18.2 billion), while sales rose 1.6 percent to ￥22.8 trillion, the highest ever for the period.

The increase in profit was mainly due to strong revenue, cost-cutting efforts and gains in equity holdings.

By region, sales in North America — its cash cow — as well as Japan and Europe increased in the nine months, but those in Asia declined.

The company revised upward its full-year profit forecast to a net profit of ￥2.35 trillion for the fiscal year to March, compared with its earlier forecast of ￥2.15 trillion, thanks to foreign-exchange gains.

Operating profit is forecast at ￥2.5 trillion, up from ￥2.4 trillion forecast earlier, while its sales outlook remained unchanged at ￥29.5 trillion.

“Despite the industry’s tough business environment, Toyota is showing a steady performance compared with its rivals,” said Satoru Takada, analyst at research and consulting firm TIW Inc.

“Cost-cutting efforts continued contributing to Toyota’s profit,” offsetting the negative impact of a strong yen, Takada added.

Toyota operating officer Masayoshi Shirayanagi said at a news conference that the company was “paying close attention” to the impact of the coronavirus, warning its latest forecast revision did not take the outbreak into account.

“The impact of this new additional problem is really unclear at this stage,” Toyota executive vice president Didier Leroy said.

Toyota is keeping its 12 plants in China closed until at least Sunday over the coronavirus and any decision to extend the closure beyond that would be made after “assessing the situation,” a spokeswoman said.

“The coronavirus outbreak represents a material downside risk to our scenario for a mild recovery of the Chinese auto market in 2020,” S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Vittoria Ferraris said. “We estimate the current two-week production shutdown imposed in the Chinese province of Hubei will knock 2 percent to 4 percent off total annual production in the region.”

China could further extend shutdowns, possibly affecting up to one-half of China’s auto and auto-parts production, she said.

Takada also said that the outbreak could be “a potentially serious factor.”

“It can affect not only their production in China, but also customer sentiment,” he said, adding that other uncertain factors were the US-China trade dispute, the fragile situation in the Middle East and volatile crude oil prices.

Toyota shares, which were up about 2 percent before yesterday’s announcement, rose 2.57 percent to close at ￥7,914 in Tokyo trading.

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title: Woman spared prison for taking dog into mosque

content_text:
A Christian woman charged with blasphemy has escaped jail for taking a dog into a mosque, the latest religious case to draw headlines in Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.

The case of Suzethe Margareth, 52, sparked outrage last summer, when a video emerged showing her in a mosque in Bogor, near the capital, Jakarta, wearing shoes and letting her dog run loose.

Dogs are considered impure in Islam and wearing shoes is forbidden in a mosque.

A Bogor court on Wednesday ruled that Margareth was guilty, but decided not to impose a prison term because she has paranoid schizophrenia.

Prosecutors had demanded a nine-month jail term.

Margareth testified that she went into the mosque because she was being chased and heard voices in her head saying that her husband was getting married there.

Her lawyer welcomed the decision, saying that her condition was clear from the way she spoke.

However, mosque representative Ruslan Suhady slammed the mental health defense.

People with mental illnesses “usually roam on roads naked. This woman wore neat clothes,” he said.

The dog reportedly died soon after being hit by a car.

It was the latest in a string of controversial blasphemy cases in Indonesia, where rights groups have long campaigned against laws they have said are frequently misused to target religious minorities.

Blasphemy convictions can result in up to five years in prison.

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companies: Google LINE

title: Taiwan Business Quick Take

content_text:
AIRLINES

EVA postpones new routes

EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday announced that it would delay the start of direct flights to and from Milan, Italy, which were originally scheduled to start on Feb. 18. Italy announced a ban on flights from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau from Sunday last week to April 28 to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus. EVA said that it would also delay the start of services to Phuket, Thailand, which were to begin on April 2, due to concerns about the outbreak. The airline did not specify when it would begin such flights, but said that it would help affected travelers change or cancel their bookings.

CEMENT

TCC delays work resumption

Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥) yesterday said in a regulatory filing that some of its plants in China would delay the resumption of operations further from Sunday to Feb. 16, amid a coronavirus outbreak in the country. The move “might have some effects on TCC’s financial figures this year,” the company said. TCC said that it is monitoring developments on the outbreak and the health of all its employees, adding that it has adopted measures to minimize the effects of the outbreak on its operations.

SMARTPHONES

HTC consolidated sales drop

Smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) consolidated sales last month fell 21.37 percent from a month earlier and 52.43 percent from a year earlier to NT$478.36 million (US$15.9 million), company data released yesterday showed. Analysts attributed the decline to lower shipments and fewer working days last month due to the Lunar New Year holiday, as well as growing competition in the global smartphone market.

TECHNOLOGY

Aten revenue slides annually

Aten International Co Ltd (宏正自動科技), which provides information technology infrastructure solutions, yesterday posted revenue of NT$378.73 million for last month, a 0.59 percent year-on-year decrease. Aten said that sales in its information technology infrastructure access management solutions segment increased 7 percent year-on-year and those in its audio-video business decreased 7 percent, while USB and other peripherals declined 3 percent.

NAVIGATION

Google unveils bike feature

Google Maps yesterday launched its bicycle navigation feature in Taiwan, making it the first nation in Asia to have access to the service. The new feature provides optimized routes for cyclists that take into account bike lanes and gradients, Google said, adding that it is available on computers and smartphones. Cyclists can also view a specialized version of Google Maps that highlights bike trails, streets with dedicated bicycle lanes and bicycle-friendly roads nationwide, it said.

MANUFACTURING

Growth reaches annual high

The local manufacturing sector had sluggish growth in December last year, with the index gauging the sector’s climate rising from a month earlier as trade talks between the US and China moved in a positive direction, along with a booming equity market, data released on Wednesday by the Taiwan Institute for Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) showed. The composite index for the sector rose to its highest level for last year of 11.15 points, up 0.93 points from a revised 10.22 points a month earlier. The institute forecast that the sector would continue to see a mild recovery this year.

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title: Car-ramming hurts 12 Israeli soldiers; Hamas celebrates

content_text:
A car-ramming targeting Israeli troops in Jerusalem hurt 12 soldiers yesterday in an attack that Palestinian group Hamas hailed as a response to Washington’s Middle East peace plan.

A hunt was under way for the driver, who fled the scene outside a popular Jerusalem entertainment spot.

The attack occurred shortly before 2am outside the First Station, a historic Ottoman-era railway terminus that has been turned into a cultural and entertainment center with bars and restaurants.

The attacker struck in the street outside where the soldiers had been marching, the army said.

One of then soldiers was “severely injured” and has been evacuated to hospital, it said.

Public radio said they were new recruits on their way to an induction ceremony at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

“During the incident, a terrorist sped his car towards [Israeli] soldiers,” the army said.

Israeli troops “are currently pursuing the terrorist, who escaped the scene,” it said.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said “the incident is being investigated as a terror attack.”

There have been rammings targeting Israeli troops in the past, in the occupied West Bank as well as Jerusalem.

The Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, hailed the ramming as a “practical response” to US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.

In a statement, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the attack was part of the “resistance operation,” but did not claim responsibility.

It came amid heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians after the release last month of Trump’s proposals.

Hamas rejected the plan.

There have been sporadic clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops since the release of Trump’s proposals.

In the northern West Bank town of Jenin, Israeli forces shot dead 19-year-old Yazan Abu Tabikh, in an incident that left seven others wounded.

The army said troops had “identified a number of armed terrorists who hurled explosive devices and fired towards them. The forces responded with riot-dispersal means.”

On Wednesday, a 17-year-old was shot dead by Israeli forces during a protest in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron.

Israeli military described the teenager as a “violent rioter” armed with a Molotov cocktail who posed a threat to troops.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli aircraft struck Hamas positions early yesterday after Palestinians fired rockets or mortar rounds at Israel and launched incendiary balloons.

“Fighter jets and [other] aircraft targeted Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” an army statement said.

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title: Russia and South Africa object to UN Libya plan

content_text:
A UN resolution that would endorse a plan to restore peace to Libya and condemn the recent increase in violence faced opposition from Russia and South Africa on Wednesday.

The two nations raised objections to the British-drafted UN Security Council resolution, which backs the 55-point roadmap to end the war in Libya.

The plan was approved by leaders of 12 world powers and other key countries in Berlin on Jan. 19.

Belgium Ambassador to the UN Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, the current council president, told reporters after brief closed council consultations on the draft resolution that “efforts are continuing” to reach agreement.

“My own feeling is that we are close, but there are still some efforts that are required,” De Buytswerve said, adding that he urged all council members “to show flexibility in order to get an agreement.”

The proposed resolution recalls the commitment of all participants at the Berlin meeting to support a ceasefire, refrain from interfering in Libya’s conflict and its internal affairs, fully comply with a UN arms embargo and withdraw all mercenaries who have been increasingly involved in the fighting.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told at a news conference on Tuesday that the Berlin agreement has been repeatedly violated by continuing arms deliveries to the warring parties and escalating fighting.

Guterres called the current offensives by rival forces “a scandal,” saying “all the commitments that were made apparently were made without a true intention of respecting them.”

Libya has been in turmoil since 2011, when a civil war toppled then-Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, who was later killed.

Sudanese armed groups from the Darfur region have joined the fighting on both sides, according to a report by UN experts.

The draft resolution welcomes the ceasefire talks, which began on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, and asks Guterres to submit his views to the council on conditions for a ceasefire and proposals for effective monitoring of a truce, “taking into account the possibility of contributions from regional organizations.”

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content_text:
A woman yesterday sews a monk’s robe made of fabric from plastic bottles at a monastery in Samut Prakan Province, Thailand.Photo: Reuters

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At a Buddhist temple south of Bangkok, a monk watches as a machine presses down on thousands of water bottles, before a giant bale of crushed plastic rolls out with a thud.

The plastic is destined to be recycled into polyester fibers, which will be made into fabric for saffron-colored robes for monks.

Wat Chak Daeng is one bright example of recycling for Thailand, one of five countries that account for more than half of plastic in the world’s oceans.

The monks have crushed 40 tonnes of plastic over two years since starting the program, aiming to curb plastic waste entering the Chao Phraya River, which flows south to the Gulf of Thailand in the Pacific Ocean.

“I’m practicing the Buddha’s teachings, which also align with solving the global environmental crisis,” said Phra Maha Pranom Dhammalangkaro, 54, abbot of the temple in Samut Prakan Province, just south of Bangkok.

Unlike most temples where people give monks alms such as food and clothes, devotees ride bicycles here to offer plastic bags and bottles in exchange for Phra Maha Pranom’s blessings.

“Donating 1 kilogram of plastic bottles can help make a full set of monk robes, which has a high return value, both in terms of money and merits,” the monk said.

The temple has produced at least 800 sets of robes, with more in production stages.

Each set sells for between 2,000 baht and 5,000 baht (US$65.79 to US$164.47), to keep funding the project and pay waste-sorting volunteers, many of whom are local housewives, retirees and disabled persons.

Thailand is the fifth-highest contributor of plastic to the world’s oceans, a report by the US-based group Ocean Conservancy said.

The list includes three other Southeast Asian countries and China, the top plastics polluter.

“Not only are the monks making a concrete contribution to recycling, but they are raising awareness in their communities,” Ocean Conservancy director for plastics initiatives Chever Voltmer said.

When Phra Maha Pranom ventures into the community, villagers, both young and old, come out to contribute plastics.

“If you don’t collect these plastics, where do they end up? In the stomachs of dugongs, dolphins, whales and many other sea animals. Then they die,” he tells them.

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title: Buddhist temple in Thailand recycles plastics into robes


content_text:
Facebook on Wednesday joined YouTube, Twitter and payment service Venmo in demanding that a facial recognition company stop harvesting user images to identify the people in them, which the start-up does as part of work with police.

Facebook said it has demanded that New York-based Clearview AI stop accessing or using information from its flagship site and Instagram.

“Scraping people’s information violates our policies,” a company spokesman said.

Clearview has drawn scrutiny following investigative reports in January by the New York Times and Buzzfeed detailing its work with law enforcement agencies, and its practice of scraping social media and other Internet platforms for images.

Venmo on Wednesday said that it is sending Clearview a cease-and-desist letter.

“Scraping Venmo is a violation of our terms of service and we actively work to limit and block activity that violates these policies,” said Venmo spokesman Justin Higgs, who said the PayPal-owned mobile payment service is in the process of sending the letter.

Google-owned video service YouTube sent a similar letter to Clearview on Tuesday.

“YouTube’s Terms of Service explicitly forbid collecting data that can be used to identify a person,” YouTube spokesman Alex Joseph said in a statement on Wednesday. “Clearview has publicly admitted to doing exactly that, and in response we sent them a cease-and-desist letter.”

Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That told the CBS television network in an interview that it has a First Amendment right to the 3 billion images it has collected.

“The way we have built our system is to only take publicly available information and index it that way,” he told CBS.

He also said that the technology is only used by law enforcement to identify potential criminals.

CBS was first to report the YouTube letter on Wednesday.

Twitter in January sent a letter ordering Clearview to delete all the data that it has collected from Twitter, including anything already shared with third parties.

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn on Wednesday said that it is also looking into it and would take “appropriate action.”

Clearview attorney Tor Ekeland said in a statement on Wednesday that the company’s technology “operates much in the same way as Google’s search engine.”

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title: Firm must stop harvesting faces from sites: Facebook

references: Facebook Twitter


people:
蘇貞昌
Kolas Yotaka

content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Evacuation flights to be set by Taipei and Beijing

ALL DETAILS:Premier Su Tseng-chang made the remarks at a Cabinet meeting amid controversy surrounding a flight that carried three passengers not on an approved list
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Committee member Vincent Hsu, center, who represents a self-help group of Taiwanese in Wuhan, talks to reporters at a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday.Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
All details of charter flights to evacuate Taiwanese in China amid the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak must be negotiated by Taipei and Beijing, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday, adding that loopholes exposed by a charter flight from Wuhan, China, on Monday must not be exploited again.

Su made the remarks at a weekly Cabinet meeting amid controversy surrounding the flight, which carried three passengers who were not on an approved list, including one who was confirmed to be infected with the virus after the airplane landed, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka told a news conference.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Committee member Vincent Hsu (徐正文), who represents a self-help group of Taiwanese in Wuhan, helped arrange the flight.

Control over the situation had been completely lost and such incidents must not be allowed to occur again, Kolas quoted Su as saying.

The premier gave four instructions for evacuation flights, Kolas said.

First, disadvantaged people — including those on short-term business trips, on long-term medication, and the elderly and young — must be given priority for the charter flights, Su said.

Second, the government would demand that its health personnel inspect flights before passengers board to screen for the disease and prevent people from “sneaking” onto the aircraft, he said.

Taiwan would provide first-rate treatment to anyone exhibiting pneumonia-like symptoms after their return, but the government values the health of other passengers as well, he added.

Third, Chinese authorities must provide Taipei with complete lists of passengers for verification, Su said, adding that a last-minute manifest, such as the one provided just before Monday’s charter flight, would not be accepted.

Fourth, charter flights must be arranged on a government-to-government basis, he said, adding that no more intermediaries would be allowed.

Details on the flights must be ironed out by the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits or higher-ranking agencies, Su said.

Any intermediary attempting to speak for the government in an attempt to win praise would not be welcome, he added.

Local media yesterday reported that a Taiwanese minor with hemophilia was left stranded in Wuhan after they were “negotiated” off the list of passengers at the last minute.

The child has reportedly run out of medicine and might only survive until about Monday.

Asked about the government’s response, the Mainland Affairs Council said that the child would be given priority if there is a second evacuation flight and that it was arranging for Taiwanese businesspeople to deliver the needed medication.

Separately yesterday, the KMT said that it would suspend Hsu’s membership.

Hsu was not part of a seven-member group that helped negotiate the charter flight to evacuate Taiwanese, it said in a statement.

Without the party’s authorization, he held several news conferences and spoke to reporters about the outbreak, it said.

In addition to “creating panic,” Hsu “disrupted and hindered” efforts by the government and other groups to cooperate on fighting the outbreak, it added.

Hsu’s behavior “severely damaged the party’s image and reputation,” the statement said.

After consulting members of the KMT Disciplinary Committee, the party said that it decided to “first suspend [Hsu’s] party rights,” adding that a further disciplinary review would follow.