title: AU’s ‘Silencing the Guns’ summit starts in Ethiopian capital

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The annual African Union (AU) summit opened on Sunday with leaders vowing that the group would play a more prominent role in resolving conflicts proliferating across the continent.

The theme of the two-day summit is “Silencing the Guns,” which marks a departure from years of debate centered on reforming the AU — including its funding structure — and the implementation of a continent-wide free trade area.

In his opening remarks to assembled heads of state, AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat painted a bleak picture of the continent’s security situation, citing “terrorism, intercommunal conflict and pre and post-election crises.”

He also said that while some progress has been made recently in Central African Republic and Sudan, long-running conflicts in places such as Libya and South Sudan have been joined by new crises from Cameroon to Mozambique.

Faki said it would take more than military action to address the “root causes” of African conflicts, namely poverty and social exclusion, and reiterated the AU’s determination to find “African solutions to African problems.”

Yet his remarks came as multiple African leaders were acknowledging the AU’s failure to achieve the goal adopted in 2013 of ending “all wars in Africa by 2020.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is taking over from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi as AU chair, announced that he planned to host two summits in May — one focused on conflict resolution and the other on implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Meanwhile, East African nations said later on Sunday that there could be no more delays in forming a power-sharing government in war-torn South Sudan, despite talks between rival leaders ending in deadlock.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, whose fall out in 2013 sparked a conflict that has left hundreds of thousands dead, face a deadline of Saturday next week to form a government.

“Further extension is neither desirable nor feasible at this stage of the peace process,” the eight-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said in a statement.

Kiir and Machar met on Sunday on the sidelines of the AU summit, alongside Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hambok, IGAD’s current chair, but they made no breakthrough to resolve their dispute over the number of regional states.

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Trump’s US$4.8 trillion budget revisits rejected cuts

‘DEVASTATING’:The budget plan, which includes cuts to food stamps, Medicaid and student loans, has virtually no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled US House
US President Donald Trump is offering a US$4.8 trillion election-year budget plan that recycles previously rejected cuts to domestic programs to promise a balanced budget in 15 years — all while boosting the military and leaving Social Security and Medicare benefits untouched.

Trump’s fiscal 2021 plan, which was to be released yesterday, promises the government’s deficit will crest above US$1 trillion only for the current budget year before steadily decreasing to more manageable levels.

The plan has virtually no chance, even before Trump’s impeachment scorched Washington.

Its reductions to food stamps, farm subsidies, Medicaid and student loans could not pass when Republicans controlled the US Congress, much less now with Democratic US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi setting the agenda.

Pelosi on Sunday night said that “once again the president is showing just how little he values the good health, financial security and well-being of hard-working American families.”

“Year after year, President Trump’s budgets have sought to inflict devastating cuts to critical lifelines that millions of Americans rely on,” she said in a statement. “Americans’ quality, affordable healthcare will never be safe with President Trump.”

Trump’s budget would also shred last year’s hard-won budget deal between the White House and Pelosi by imposing an immediate 5 percent cut to non-defense agency budgets passed by Congress.

Slashing cuts to the US Environmental Protection Agency and taking US$700 billion out of Medicaid over a decade are also non-starters on Capitol Hill, but both the White House and Democrats are hopeful of progress this spring on prescription drug prices.

The Trump budget is a blueprint written as if he could enact it without congressional approval. It relies on rosy economic projections of 2.8 percent economic growth this year and 3 percent over the long term — in addition to fanciful claims of future cuts to domestic programs — to show that it is possible to bend the deficit curve in the right direction.

That sleight of hand enables Trump to promise to whittle down a US$1.08 budget deficit for the ongoing budget year and a US$966 billion deficit gap in the 2021 fiscal year starting on Oct. 1 to US$261 billion in 2030, according to summary tables obtained by The Associated Press. Balance would come in 15 years.

The reality is that no one — Trump, the Democratic-controlled House or the Republican-held US Senate — has any interest in tackling a chronic budget gap that forces the government to borrow US$0.22 of every US$1 it spends.

The White House plan proposes US$4.4 trillion in spending cuts over the coming decade.

Trump’s re-election campaign, meanwhile, is focused on the economy and the historically low unemployment rate, while ignoring the government’s budget.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats controlling the House have seen their number of deficit-conscious “Blue Dogs” shrink, while the roster of lawmakers favoring costly “Medicare for All” and “Green New Deal” proposals has swelled.

“Tea Party” Republicans have largely abandoned the cause that defined, at least in part, their successful takeover of the House a decade ago.

Trump has also signed two broader budget deals worked out by Democrats and Republicans to get rid of spending cuts left over from a failed 2011 budget accord.

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title: Sinn Fein tops polls in Ireland

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Sinn Fein tops polls in Ireland

POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE:Prime Minister Varadkar said his Fine Gael would not enter a coalition with Sinn Fein, but Fianna Fail said it would talk with the party
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, center in red dress, celebrates with supporters after the party topped the poll in Dublin central at the RDS count center in Dublin, Ireland, on Sunday night.Photo: AP
Ireland’s political parties were scrambling to adjust to a new reality yesterday, after an earth-shaking election that saw the left-wing nationalist party Sinn Fein win the biggest share of votes.

Sinn Fein, the party historically linked to the Irish Republican Army and its violent struggle for a united Ireland, received 24.5 percent of the first-preference votes in Saturday’s election.

That bested Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the two centrist parties that have governed Ireland since it won independence from Britain a century ago.

Fianna Fail received 22.2 percent of the votes and Fine Gael, the party of Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, got 20.9 percent.

Vote counting was resuming yesterday to fill all the seats in the 160-seat Dail, the lower house of parliament. Ireland uses a proportional-representation system in which voters rank candidates from first to last, with the lower preferences of elected or defeated candidates redistributed among their rivals.

It is highly unlikely that any party will get the 80 seats needed for a majority in parliament.

That makes some form of coalition inevitable, but forming a stable alliance looks tough.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael said before the election that they would not go into a coalition with Sinn Fein because of its links to past violence.

Varadkar said Fine Gael’s stance was unchanged, while Irish Minister of Finance Paschal Donohoe yesterday said Fine Gael still hopes to lead the next government.

“We will be very relevant to the formation of the next government. We will work with other parties to put ourselves into a position to lead that government,” Donohoe told Irish broadcaster RTE radio.

However, as the scale of Sinn Fein’s surge became clear, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said: “I’m a democrat.”

“I listen to the people. I respect the decision of the people,” he told RTE.

Fianna Fail’s director of elections, Dara Calleary, yesterday said it was “completely premature” to talk of forming a coalition government with Sinn Fein, but the party would talk to its left-wing rival.

“We certainly will engage with them. We’re not going to refuse to talk to them,” Calleary told RTE radio. “But let’s be in no doubt that those policy difficulties and those principles are still difficult hurdles.”

“This vote for Sinn Fein is for Sinn Fein to be in government, for Sinn Fein to make a difference, for Sinn Fein to be tested, for Sinn Fein to deliver,” party leader Mary Lou McDonald said.

“We want to talk to anyone who is interested in delivering a program for government. That is about getting to grips with the housing crisis and solving it, getting to grips with the crisis in health and giving families and workers a break and giving a new lease of life to government,” she said.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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title: Avoiding freedom of expression’s subversion

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On Jan. 27, century-old Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a satirical cartoon that swapped the five stars of China’s national flag with 2019 novel coronavirus virions. The image expressed the resentment Danes harbor against China for covering up the outbreak in Wuhan and its culpability for the global panic.

The Chinese embassy in Denmark issued a statement saying that the cartoon “is an insult to China and hurts the feelings of the Chinese people” and “has crossed ... the ethical boundary of free speech.”

“We ... demand that Jyllands-Posten ... publicly apologize to the Chinese people,” the statement said.

However, Jyllands-Posten chief editor Jacob Nybroe refused, saying: “We cannot apologize for something that we don’t believe is wrong.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen appeared to support the paper’s stance when she said: “We have a very, very strong tradition in Denmark not only for freedom of expression, but also for satire drawings and ... we will not change that.”

How could China understand freedom of expression when it goes out of its way to restrict and control its citizens’ freedom of speech?

Does Taiwan understand freedom of expression? There are some people who were born in Taiwan but approach every issue from the standpoint of the People’s Republic of China and base their ideas on its interests. They ceaselessly demean Taiwan and praise China while using freedom of expression as justification.

For example, China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) Chairman Chang An-le (張安樂), who calls himself a “fellow traveler of the Chinese Communist Party,” said that if China tried to unite with Taiwan by military force, he would help its troops to march in and take over without bloodshed.

Young troublemakers from the CUPP frequently hold illegal gatherings in Taipei and a party supporter even poured red paint over Hong Kong singer Denise Ho (何韻詩) at a march on Sept. 29 last year supporting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.

And New Party politician Chiu Yi (邱毅), as a guest on two programs broadcast by state-run China Central Television in December last year, talked about the number and locations of missiles developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology.

In August last year, while investigations into a Chinese espionage case involving another New Party politician, Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠), were still under way, Wang said that anyone who does not want to be Chinese should get out of Taiwan.

Freedom of expression in Taiwan does not have “Taiwan’s sovereignty” as a common core value.

That explains how someone like retired lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), who went to Beijing to listen to a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and stood while the Chinese national anthem played, could become a legislator-at-large for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Denmark has demonstrated the true essence of the freedom of expression, which is founded upon a citizens’ consensus and puts the “right” side foremost.

That is why Danes share the anger of Taiwanese over Beijing covering up the outbreak and putting the world in danger.

However, confusion in Taiwan over national identity and ideology blurs distinctions between right and wrong. Even the question of whether Taiwan should donate protective masks to China has been maliciously hyped.

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people: 習近平 邱毅 吳斯懷


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Virus Outbreak: Singapore braces as virus cases emerge in financial center

A monitor displays a thermographic image of people passing through a gate outside an office building in the central business district of Singapore yesterday.Photo: Bloomberg
Singapore’s outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus has spread to its financial center, with some staff at major companies being told to work from home for at least the next few days and temperature screening checkpoints set up at the front doors of several towers.

A worker at an unnamed firm in Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1 was confirmed as being infected with the virus over the weekend, a circular sent to tenants by the building’s manager Raffles Quay Asset Management Pte said.

Another case at nearby Clifford Centre, in the heart of the central business district, is an employee of United Industrial Corp, according to an advisory to tenants in the building where the firm is located.

The affected premises in both buildings have been disinfected and all tenants informed, the property managers said in the notices dated Sunday last week.

Singapore last week raised its disease response level to the same grade used during the SARS epidemic, as it braced for what Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said was a “major test for our nation.”

There are 43 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Singapore — the largest number of infections outside China, excluding a quarantined cruise ship in Japan.

Of the total, 22 cases are locally transmitted infections, the Singaporean Ministry of Health said.

Six people have recovered and been discharged from hospital, while six are in a critical condition.

Singapore has cautioned residents to avoid shaking hands to contain the spread of the virus. Panic buying had sparked a run on toilet paper, rice and instant noodles in stores.

Government officials warned against hoarding supplies, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore told banks to be prepared for for an increased demand in cash withdrawals.

Standard Chartered PLC is the anchor tenant at Tower 1, leasing the lion’s share of the 33-story building.

The British bank declined to comment on whether the virus case comes from among its employees.

“We have a well-established business continuity plan and implemented a comprehensive set of precautionary measures such as temperature screening, mandatory employee and visitor declarations, and increased the frequency of sanitization at our branches and office premises,” the bank said in an e-mailed reply to queries.

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Love as a drug: can romance be medically prescribed?

Love drugs could soon be a reality and used alongside therapy to help heal broken relationships
For some time, it has been widespread medical practice to treat a range of psychological conditions, including depression and anxiety, with what might be called mind-altering drugs, namely selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which, as the name suggests, affect levels of serotonin in the brain.

But there’s one mental category that isn’t considered appropriate for any kind of biomedical intervention. It’s arguably the most talked about of all human states, the cause of much of our finest art, literature and music, and it is celebrated or, depending on your view, commercially exploited once again on Friday: love.

It may be a many splendored thing, but love is a condition for which there is famously no cure. All you need is love, as the song said, but money can’t buy you it. It’s viewed as an emotional ideal and yet the source of untold pain and suffering. Ask any 10 people what love is and you’re sure to get 10 different answers.

Unsurprisingly, given that it is the stuff of romance, we tend to romanticize it. Millions of words have been spilled in trying to describe the feeling, but not many In their new book, Love Is the Drug, Oxford ethicists Brian Earp and Julian Savulescu point out that this neglected aspect of love is just as important as its social or psychological structures. Intuitively, perhaps, we’ve always known this. After all, how do we explain the lack of interest felt on a new date? “There was no chemistry.”

Yet while we have largely come to accept that drugs that affect the brain have a part to play in treating psychological illnesses, the idea that the same approach could apply to love goes against the grain. We think of love as natural and healthy and therefore not something that is in need of what Earp and Savulescu delicately call “biomedical enhancement.”

The authors, however, argue that it’s time to change our attitudes and explore the possibilities offered by breakthroughs in biomedicine and neuroscience.

“If it becomes possible to safely target the underlying neurochemistry that supports romantic attachment, using drugs or other brain-level technologies,” they write, “then there is reason to think this could help some people who really need it.”

They go further and suggest that such drugs have already been partially tested, have been used by huge numbers of people around the world, and should urgently become the subject of controlled research. The problem is the drugs they’re talking about are illegal psychoactive substances such as psilocybin and, in particular, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), the active ingredient in the rave drug ecstasy.

TRAUMA IS TRAUMA

They cite studies that show positive results for the use of MDMA in counselling those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and speculate that similar outcomes might be expected for couples whose relationships have hit the rocks.

But isn’t that a bit of an inductive stretch? What does the effect of, say, fighting in Iraq have to do with failing romances?

Earp says that there is already a small study showing how couples in which one partner has PTSD have benefited from the regulated use of MDMA. The way the drug is thought to work on PTSD sufferers, he says, is by breaking down the defence mechanisms that prevent their being able to open up.

“Our point is that trauma falls on a spectrum and relationships themselves can be traumatic,” he says. “What causes a lot of relationships to break down over time is traumatic or semi-traumatic events that take place either inside or outside the relationship. People start to close down and stop sharing with their partners. Insofar as love requires a certain kind of intimacy, the defense mechanism and the kneejerk fear responses that we build up around talking about certain issues with our partners are the very things that this drug directly enables us to overcome.”


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Salvadorean leader rallies backers after lawmakers snub US$109m loan

Hundreds of supporters of Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele heeded his call to converge on the country’s parliament on Sunday after lawmakers refused to gather to vote on a US$109 million loan to better equip the country’s security forces, sharply increasing tensions between Bukele and the opposition-controlled legislature.

Top commanders of the country’s police and military have expressed allegiance to the president while positioning heavily armed security forces around and inside the legislative building.

Bukele gave an emotional speech to his supporters, who had threatened to remove opposition lawmakers from the legislature by force.

However, he said that after praying amid soldiers and police, he decided to ask for patience from his supporters and set a deadline of one week for lawmakers to approve the bill.

“If we wanted to press the button, we would press the button” and remove lawmakers from the legislature, he told supporters outside the building. “But I asked God and God told me: Patience, patience, patience. On February 28 [next year] all these scoundrels are heading out the door outside.”

El Salvador holds municipal and legislative elections on Feb. 21 next year.

Opposition legislators have said that they want more details on the spending plan before being called to a vote.

The opposition FMLN party accused Bukele of intimidation and acting like “a dictatorship” for trying to force approval of the loan.

Bukele’s administration has said it would use the funds to purchase a helicopter, police vehicles, uniforms, night vision goggles and other equipment, including a video surveillance system in a country plagued by gangs and high crime.

It has also said that Cabinet members have explained the plans and that they are willing to give more details to legislators.

Bukele took office in June last year with broad popular support. Voters saw the businessman as an outsider who could modernize the country and upset the status quo.

Addressing his supporters, Bukele said polls suggest his New Ideas party would win a majority in the new legislature in next year’s vote, so there is no need for them to break into it by force now.

“If these scoundrels do not approve [the loan for] the Territorial Control Plan, we will summon them here on Sunday,” he said.

Citing El Salvador’s constitution, Bukele’s government had called an extraordinary meeting of the legislative assembly to debate approval of the loan, but lawmakers rejected the call, saying it was inadmissible.

In response, Bukele invoked article 87 of the charter that recognizes the people’s right to insurrection “for the sole purpose of restoring the constitutional order” and summoned his supporters to the legislature.

The government deployed the police and the military, and since Saturday they have cordoned off the area around the legislative building.

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England’s Moeen Ali plays a shot against South Africa in the third one-day international at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sunday.Photo: AP
England on Sunday survived a late collapse to square the series by beating South Africa by two wickets in the third and final one-day international at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

England were cruising to victory at 232-4 after leg-spinner Adil Rashid and his fellow slow bowlers restricted South Africa to 256-7 after they were sent in to bat, but fast bowler Lungi Ngidi, who had endured a horror start to the innings, struck three times in quick succession as England lost four wickets for 20 runs before Moeen Ali got the winning runs.

“We bowled really well today,” England captain Eoin Morgan said. “We probably had the best of the conditions. It was our best performance in the field and with the ball.”

Morgan said that he would have liked to finish with a “commanding” win.

“It was disappointing to limp over the line like that,” he said.

South Africa captain Quinton de Kock praised the energy his inexperienced team had shown in the two completed matches, which were shared 1-1.

“We had a bit of a sniff, but it was still a loss,” De Kock said of Sunday’s game. “But it was pretty cool to make it tough for the English side.”

Man-of-the-match Rashid, playing in his 100th one-day international, but his only appearance of the series, took 3-51, including the key wickets of Temba Bavuma and De Kock, who made 69.

“It was a nice wicket, with a bit of turn and bounce,” Rashid said.

England complete their tour with three Twenty20 internationals, starting in East London tomorrow.

PAKISTAN V BANGLADESH

AFP, RAWALPINDI, Pakistan

Pakistan yesterday completed a crushing innings-and-44-run victory over Bangladesh on the fourth morning of the first Test to take a 1-0 series lead.

Bangladesh were bowled out for 168 in their second innings after resuming the day on 126-6 as Pakistan’s pace and spin attack was too hot to handle, despite a flat pitch.

Paceman Naseem Shah, who at 16 years, 359 days became the youngest bowler to take a Test hat-trick on Sunday, finished with 4-26 and was named Man of the Match.

Despite Naseem being unavailable to bowl with rib pain, Pakistan mopped up the final four wickets in 90 minutes, inflicting their 10th defeat on Bangladesh in 11 matches, with one draw.

Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali said home wins were important to boost confidence.

“It’s an important win, and home wins always increase confidence within the team,” Azhar said. “We have to play important away series, including one in England [in July and August this year], so we will carry this confidence. Naseem and the other bowlers bowled superbly and it was an outstanding batting display, so all in all it was a complete team effort.”

Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque rued Bangladesh’s low first-innings total of 233.

“Disappointing batting on a flat wicket and no team can come back from such situations,” said Haque, who has now lost all three Tests as skipper by an innings. “Pakistan bowled superbly and exploited our weaknesses, and that hat-trick changed the game completely to open Pakistan’s victory path.”

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title: England survive collapse, tie series


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Taiwanese manufacturers are moving production out of China as the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) delays the resumption of work at factories there and increases the risk of supply chain disruptions.

Manufacturers are also stepping up production diversification after the US-China trade dispute triggered an exodus of Taiwanese manufacturers, mostly hardware makers, over the past one-and-a-half years.

Server and notebook computer maker Inventec Corp last year said it planned to spend NT$4.8 billion (US$159.46 million) to expand its local capacity while cutting production in Shanghai and Chongqing.

Quanta Computer Inc, which makes MacBook computers and Apple Watches, announced an investment of about NT$950 million to build a factory in Thailand to make laptops to ship to a major US client to avoid heavy US tariffs on Chinese goods and budgeted as much as NT$835 million to build production facilities in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口)

A second wave of production reallocation looks inevitable as 2019-nCoV, which has spread faster than SARS in 2003 and has exceeded its death toll, could curtail labor by at least 20 percent, Gartner Inc warned. Corporate executives should develop a supply-chain monitoring system to cope with potential raw material or component supply disruptions, Gartner said.

ASE Technology Holding Co expects only 80 to 85 percent of its staff in China to return to work this month as authorities there have imposed transportation restrictions and stringent quarantine measures. The world’s biggest chip packager and tester expects a full resumption by the end of this quarter, one month later than usual. Its broad production diversification means that the effect of the outbreak should be manageable, as only 5 percent of its capacity is in China, while most of the jobs could be replaced by its Taiwan operations, ASE said.

TrendForce Corp yesterday said that the labor-intensive smartphone manufacturing sector would suffer the brunt of China’s extended Lunar New Year holiday, transportation limitations and city lockdowns. The Taipei-based researcher forecast that smartphone shipments would shrink by 12 percent year-on-year to 275 million units in the first quarter, the lowest in five years.

Although not all Taiwanese manufacturers have planned as well as ASE, some firms, especially those in the labor-intensive components business, have taken additional precautions and taken measures to minimize the impact of the outbreak.

Camera lens module maker Zhong Yang Technology Co has applied for a second investment in Taiwan worth NT$200 million to expand its capacity in Taichung following a NT$770 million investment last year. The new funds were approved by the Ministry of Economic Affairs last week.

Printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturers are more nervous than other component makers, as Hubei Province, where the disease arose, is a major production site for such firms. PCB makers are taking emergency steps to boost production and expand capacity at local fabs to reduce reliance on Chinese fabs.

Meanwhile, PCB suppliers Apex International Co and Chin-poon Industry Co are expanding capacity in Thailand.

These companies’ actions indicate that more Taiwanese manufacturers are soon to unveil new investments either in Taiwan or in other Asian nations outside China.

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title: EDITORIAL: Virus prompting investment shifts


title: South Koreans celebrate ‘Parasite’ Oscar wins

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People watch a TV screen showing images of South Korean director Bong Joon-ho at the Seoul Railway Station yesterday.Photo: AP
South Koreans yesterday reacted with joy and stunned disbelief to the best picture Oscar for Parasite, with one film fan suggesting that the feat should be recognized with a public holiday.

Director Bong Joon-ho’s movie — about the widening gap between rich and poor people — became the first non-English-language film to win Hollywood’s biggest prize, prompting celebrations in South Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that he was overjoyed to see South Korean cinema receive world recognition.

“I extend my gratitude especially for giving a sense of courage and pride to the [South Korean] people,” Moon said. “I am very proud of director Bong Joon-ho and the cast, as well as the staff members.”

Parasite won four awards — best picture, best director, best international feature and best original screenplay — defying the received wisdom that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would overlook a subtitled movie from Asia.

South Korean film fans were overjoyed.

“I am in tears,” one wrote on Twitter. “I’m so proud of Bong Joon-ho. It’s amazing to hear acceptance speeches in Korean.”

Another joked: “Shouldn’t today be declared a public holiday?”

Along with a congratulatory tweet, US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris posted a photograph of what looked like jjapaguri — an instant noodle dish featured in Parasite, where it was unusually garnished with sirloin steak.

“Wow! Congrats Director Bong, Team #Parasite & ROK cinema!” Harris wrote.

Darcy Paquet, a Seoul-based film critic who wrote the English-language subtitles for Parasite, said: “I’m so happy ... this isn’t real.” “I hope that all Korean filmmakers can share in this moment and be proud, because it’s the tremendous hard work and professionalism of the industry as a whole that makes a movie like Parasite possible.”

South Korean filmmaker and academic Kim So-young, who introduced Bong’s early comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite to programmers at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2000, said the win was “well deserved.”

“I’ve been following his work for the last 20 years and I can confidently say he is a true artist,” Kim told reporters.

“I’m very happy for him as a fellow cineaste in South Korea, as Bong has always been a respected colleague who always remained a socially conscious, outspoken citizen even outside the film industry,” she said.

While South Korea’s film industry is one of the largest in the world, the Korean-language Parasite made unprecedented waves in international markets.

After the nominations were announced last month, Bong said he saw it as a sign that language is no longer a barrier to global success.

One clip making the rounds on South Korean social media mocked a reporter who asked Bong why he shot the film in Korean.

“She should’ve asked [Martin] Scorsese or [Quentin] Tarantino why they shot their own movies in English,” one commenter said, referencing other directors who were nominated.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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title: Sensible mask allocation required

content_text:
Following a decision by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), the government on Thursday last week implemented a system for purchasing masks during the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak that imposes a limit of two masks per week per person to prevent stockpiling, which would deprive people who are in real need.

The policy has been criticized, with some saying that two masks per week is insufficient.

Although the government has repeatedly advised that masks are not necessary except in places such as hospitals or confined spaces, this has not eased the rush to buy masks.

The outbreak has created panic, while local governments implemented measures during the early stages of the epidemic that exacerbated demand. Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) demanded that vendors at traditional markets, and people who enter kindergartens or elementary schools — which have had their post-holiday start pushed back to Feb. 25 — wear masks. Other local administrations followed suit.

While they cannot be blamed for such responses, as adopting the most stringent standards during the early phase of an outbreak can help prevent an epidemic and helps restore public confidence, it did escalate demand for masks.

As Taiwan can only produce 4 million masks per day, it cannot meet the demand.

More than two weeks have passed since Taiwan’s first case of 2019-nCoV infection was reported on Jan. 21, while there were 18 confirmed cases in the nation as of yesterday. While no indigenous cases or community transmission have been reported in Taichung, demand for masks remains high.

On the first day of centralized distribution, 100,000 masks from the city’s daily allocation of 118,000 were immediately sent to local medical personnel, while police officers and frontline civilian service personnel received no such benefits.

The Taichung City Government’s policy was that masks were required in many public spaces. However, they were difficult to obtain.

This shows how the central and local governments fell into a trap set by their own policies, making criticism inevitable.

The central government’s mask-buying policy aimed to alleviate supply issues and it facilitated new lines to increase mask production to 10 million per day.

However, the policies only address the symptom of mask shortages, because as long as panic remains, strict rationing will only elicit a stronger backlash.

The central government has displayed a good grasp and control of the situation, so people should be assured. As the government and medical associations have repeatedly said, masks are not needed at all times. Unless people are going to a medical facility, are potentially in contact with infected people or are in a confined space, there is no need for concern.

A firm understanding of the situation is required. Leave the masks for those who really need them while doing everything possible to prevent the spread of the disease.

Shih Chih-chang is a Taichung city councilor.

Translated by Chang Ho-ming

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people: 蘇貞昌 盧秀燕


content_text:
Inter win Milan derby to go top

SUNDAY SHOWDOWN:Felipe Caicedo scored the winner against Parma to keep SS Lazio’s dream of a ‘scudetto’ alive ahead of their clash with the leaders
Inter’s Romelu Lukaku, right, scores against AC Milan in their Serie A match at the San Siro in Milan, Italy, on Sunday.Photo: EPA-EFE
Inter on Sunday moved to the top of Serie A after storming back from two goals down to snatch a 4-2 win over AC Milan in a pulsating derby at the San Siro.

Inter pulled level on 54 points with Juventus, who lost 2-1 at Hellas Verona on Saturday, but are ahead of the champions on goal-difference thanks to a thrilling second-half turnaround after Ante Rebic and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had put Milan 2-0 up at halftime.

SS Lazio are just a point behind in third after Felipe Caicedo scored the only goal in a hard-fought win at Parma earlier on Sunday.

“It’s a special night, because in the first half we were in great difficulty like we hadn’t been this season. There was the risk of taking a hammering,” Inter coach Antonio Conte said. “Credit to these lads because they were able to resist the blows, which means that we are ready for something good. It’s absolutely too early to talk about things that we can still dream of today.”

Milan had dominated the first half with Inter struggling to deal with Ibrahimovic, who soared above Diego Godin to knock down for Rebic to tap the opener past Daniele Padelli.

Stefan de Vrij blocked another cross to deny Rebic a second tap-in, but Franck Kessie flicked on for a waiting Ibrahimovic to turn in the second.

The Inter comeback began five minutes after halftime when Brozovic lashed home a stunning volley and two minutes later Mattias Vecino finished off an Alexis Sanchez pass to level the scores.

De Vrij put Inter ahead with a superb diving header with 20 minutes to go, and after Ibrahimovic hit the post for Milan, Romelu Lukaku headed home substitute Victor Moses’ cross three minutes into stoppage-time to maintain Inter’s charge for a first scudetto in a decade.

Milan’s collapse means they missed the chance to move into the UEFA Europa League places.

“It’s difficult to explain. The first half was almost perfect, the second half the opposite,” Ibrahimovic said. “We conceded the first goal and the squad lost faith, then conceded a second and everything fell apart. Inter in the first half didn’t look like a team who were second, but then demonstrated why they were after the break.”

Caicedo kept Lazio’s own dream of a first scudetto in 20 years alive as a 1-0 win over Parma kept the Romans in contention.

Simone Inzaghi’s side are right in the title discussion after extending their unbeaten streak to 18 league games.

Their last Serie A defeat was in September last year to Inter, who they host at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Sunday.

“We are trying to stay in there, fighting against the battleships. With this spirit, we can advance very well,” Inzaghi said. “Sunday will be a great game against a great team.”

SSC Napoli’s struggles continued as they collapsed to a 3-2 defeat at home to US Lecce.

Last season’s runners-up had rekindled hopes of making the Europa League next season after league wins over Juventus and UC Sampdoria, and by eliminating Lazio from the Coppa Italia.

Gianluca Lapadula netted a brace, opening the scoring after half an hour, with Marco Mancoscu sealing the victory with a superb free-kick eight minutes from time.

Arkadiusz Milik had leveled for Napoli just after halftime, with Jose Callejon reducing the deficit late on.

Elsewhere, Mario Balotelli’s Brescia earned a point with a 1-1 draw at home against Udinese in new coach Diego Lopez’s first game in charge of the basement club.

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title: Inter win Milan derby to go top


content_text:
BANKING

Bank fees to be reduced

Turkey is to lower the fees banks earn on their customers’ transactions, as policymakers urge lenders to focus on expanding credit. The changes, published yesterday in the Official Gazette, dramatically cut down the number and types of commissions banks can charge retail and commercial clients. The regulations have been made in response to client complaints, such as overcharging and a lack of transparency, the central bank said. The changes are to take effect on March 1.

AUTOMAKERS

Tesla might receive grants

Tesla Inc could get state subsidies in its plan to set up a gigafactory in Germany, German Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said. “In my conversations with [Tesla CEO] Elon Musk I have always made clear that there are no privileges, but also no discrimination,” Altmaier said in an interview. To qualify for state subsidies companies need to fulfill certain requirements in the areas of sustainability and battery efficiency, Altmaier said. “All companies that fulfill these criteria have a chance to be supported — including Tesla,” he said.

INSURANCE

Firms talk PartnerRe sale

French insurer Covea is in advanced talks with the Agnelli family’s Exor NV to buy the Italian company’s reinsurance business PartnerRe for about US$9 billion in cash, people familiar with the discussions said. Covea approached Exor with an offer for the Bermuda-based reinsurer and is in exclusive talks with the holding company that also controls Fiat Chrysler NV and Ferrari NV, the people said. Exor and Covea confirmed the exclusive discussions. Talks “are ongoing and there is no certainty that they will result in a transaction,” Exor said in a statement.

ARGENTINA

No payment for IMF: VP

Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Saturday said that the government would not pay “even half a cent” of its debt back to the IMF before the country has exited recession. “The first thing we have to do in order to be able to pay is to exit the recession,” Fernandez said at a presentation of her book Sinceramente at Havana’s international book fair. “If there is a recession, no one will pay even half a cent and the way you exit recession is through a lot of state investment.”

MINING

BHP delays shipments

BHP Group Ltd, the world’s top miner, is in talks with Chinese customers to delay shipments of copper concentrates, as the nation extended plant shutdowns to combat the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus, people familiar with the matter said. Suppliers are considering giving buyers in China flexibility on deliveries to discourage them from declaring force majeure, offering them a way out of contractual obligations, the people said. In Chile, miners are already working with clients to defer cargoes.

HONG KONG

HSBC offers liquidity relief

Businesses are set to benefit from more than HK$30 billion (US$3.86 billion) in liquidity relief offered by HSBC Holdings PLC to support firms as a novel coronavirus weighs on the economy. Measures include a principal repayment moratorium for borrowers with commercial loans secured by property, as well as those with taxi and public minibus loans, HSBC said in a statement on Sunday. Trade finance customers could also apply for access to an overdraft of up to HK$10 million for six months to help with daily operational needs, the bank said.

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title: World Business Quick Take


content_text:
Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, center, scores past Real Betis Balompie goalkeeper Joel Robles, left, in their La Liga match in Seville, Spain, on Sunday.Photo: AP
Lionel Messi on Sunday provided a hat-trick of assists as Barcelona ended their turbulent week with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Real Betis Balompie to stay in touch with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Madrid’s 4-1 win at CA Osasuna earlier in the day put pressure on Barca to respond, only for Betis to twice lead at the Benito Villamarin through a penalty from Sergio Canales and brilliant solo effort from Nabil Fekir.

Yet both times Barcelona hit back, as Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets pulled them level, before Clement Lenglet headed in with 18 minutes left, all three goals teed up by Messi.

Fekir and Lenglet were then sent off in a frantic contest by the end of which Barca had the victory they so desperately needed following a difficult few days for the club.

Messi had put himself at the heart of a political spat this week by publicly taking exception to comments made by Barcelona sporting director Eric Abidal, who suggested the players were the cause of the decision to sack Ernesto Valverde last month.

Barcelona were then beaten by Athletic Bilbao and knocked out of the Copa del Rey before the semi-finals for the first time in 10 years.

“In Bilbao we played well, but they knocked us out,” Barca coach Quique Setien said. “This win will give us motivation and extra energy for the future.”

To make matters worse last week, winger Ousmane Dembele suffered another hamstring injury, which is likely to keep him out for the rest of the season, while centerback Samuel Umtiti appeared in court for alleged damages to a rented villa.

It meant defeat against Betis was unthinkable, particularly for Setien, who could ill-afford another setback against the team he managed for two years.

Instead, Barca turned the tide, with a chaotic performance that might have been punished by better opponents, but that keeps them three points behind Real Madrid, who had earlier won at a canter in Pamplona.

Gareth Bale returned to the starting lineup after four matches out and a fortuitous deflection meant he assisted Isco’s equalizer after Unai Garcia had given Osasuna a surprise lead.

Sergio Ramos then headed Madrid in front, before substitutes Lucas Vazquez and Luka Jovic made the scoreline more emphatic.

“I’m pleased with all the players and what they’re doing,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “It’s very good to stay in front.”

Barca’s exit in the Copa del Rey overshadowed Madrid’s own shock defeat at home by Real Sociedad in the quarter-finals, a loss that brought a dramatic end to their 21-match unbeaten run.

However, Zidane would have been relieved to see his team swiftly back on track with a performance full of the kind of resilience that Real’s rivals have so lacked.

Bale also keeps coming back under Zidane and the 30-year-old had chances to add a goal to a spirited display before going off to a decent reception from the away support in the second half.

It was only his third appearance since the turn of the year.

“People want there to be a problem, but there isn’t one,” Zidane said. “He did well, offensively and defensively he gave everything. He was a bit short of fitness at the end, so he came off. We know the player he is and that he will give a lot from now until the end of the season. Let’s count on Gareth.”

Eden Hazard is yet to return after recovering from a foot fracture. Real play Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League in less than two weeks.

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title: Barcelona edge thriller to keep pace with Real


content_text:
A handout frame grab taken from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) shows a rocket carrying a satellite being launched from Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan Province on Sunday night.Photo: EPA-EFE / IRIB HANDOUT
An Iranian rocket failed to put a satellite into orbit on Sunday, state television reported, the latest setback for a program the US claims helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program.

The launch happened at 7:15pm at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan Province, about 230km southeast of Tehran.

A Simorgh, or “Phoenix,” rocket could not put the Zafar 1 communications satellite into orbit, due to a low speed, Iranian state TV reported.

“Stage-1 and stage-2 motors of the carrier functioned properly and the satellite was successfully detached from its carrier, but at the end of its path it did not reach the required speed for being put in the orbit,” Iranian Ministry of Defense space program spokesman Ahmad Hosseini told state TV.

Hosseini still sought to portray the failure as a “remarkable” achievement for its space program.

Previous Simorgh launches of the satellite carrier suffered other failures.

In the days leading up to the launch, officials had been promoting the mission, including Iranian Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi.

His quick rise through the Islamic Republic’s carefully managed political system already is generating speculation he could be a candidate for Iran’s presidential campaign next year.

Jahromi acknowledged the unsuccessful launch in a tweet shortly after the news broke on state TV, comparing it to a “few samples of US launch failures.”

“But We’re UNSTOPPABLE! We have more Upcoming Great Iranian Satellites!” Jahromi tweeted in English, including a satellite emoji.

He later tweeted in Farsi that “sometimes life does not go the way we like it to go,” adding: “Please do not pay attention to fake news.”

The launch had been planned amid celebrations ahead of this month’s anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran routinely unveils technological achievements for its armed forces, its space program and its nuclear efforts during this time.

Satellite images by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies obtained by The Associated Press showed the launch tower for the rocket bore massive images of the revolution’s leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran spent just under 2 million euros (US$2.2 million) to build the Zafar 1, Jahromi previously said

Officials planned for the satellite, whose name means “victory” in Farsi, to remain in orbit for 18 months before crashing back through the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrating.

The US says the satellite launches defy a UN resolution calling on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

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title: Iranian satellite launch fails


countries: 中國 台灣

content_text:
COSMETICS

Production to restart

Chlitina Holding Ltd (麗豐), which manufactures and sells beauty and cosmetic products through its salon franchise in Taiwan and China, yesterday said its Chinese production lines are to restart today, adding that the company attaches great importance to the health of its employees and the safety of its operations. The company has asked administrative staff to work from home where possible until the end of this month, according to a regulatory filing issued yesterday. The company owns Chlitina (China) Trade Ltd Co (克麗緹娜中國貿易), Weishuo (Shanghai) Daily Product Ltd Co (微碩上海日用品) and other subsidiaries in China.

SANITARY PRODUCTS

KNH eyeing developments

Sanitary paper product manufacturer KNH Enterprise Co Ltd (康那香) yesterday said its Chinese subsidiaries have been applying for permission from local authorities to resume operations. The company’s subsidiaries in Shanghai, Yangzhou and Chengdu were originally scheduled to restart production yesterday, but KNH said each subsidiary’s schedule would depend on the development of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak and local government policies. The company said it is closely monitoring developments, which so far have not had a significant impact on its finances and business operations in Taiwan and China.

GLASS

Taiwan Glass optimistic

Taiwan Glass Industry Corp (台灣玻璃) yesterday said that some of its subsidiaries in China resumed operations as scheduled yesterday, while others were still awaiting approval from local governments pending the development of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak. However, the company’s kiln production equipment has been running 24 hours a day and it has seen no negative effects since the Lunar New Year holiday, Taiwan Glass said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company said the impact of delayed resumption of operations on its revenue depends on the development of the outbreak and its impact on the operations of its clients.

TELECOMS

Chunghwa revenue falls

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom, yesterday posted consolidated revenue of NT$16.7 billion (US$554.8 million) for last month, a 5.3 percent year-on-year decline due to falling handset sales and lower fixed-line voice revenue. Due to cost declines owing to lower handset sales, operating expenses fell to NT$12.92 billion, resulting in operating income of NT$3.78 billion, the company said in a regulatory filing. Net income was NT$2.99 billion last month, or earnings per share of NT$0.39, exceeding the company’s previous guidance.

CONTACT LENSES

Pegavision income slumps

Pegavision Corp (晶碩) yesterday posted net income of NT$475.49 million for last year, or earnings per share of NT$7.62, down from NT$541.16 million the previous year. Pegavision, a contact lens subsidiary of Pegatron Corp (和碩), said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange that its revenue climbed to NT$3.36 billion from NT$3.13 billion in 2018. The board of directors has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$2.5 per common share, representing a payout ratio of 32.81 percent. The dividend proposal is subject to shareholders’ approval at an annual general meeting on May 27. Pegavision also announced that vice president of materials research and development division Lai Yu-chin (賴有進) is to retire on Thursday next week.

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title: Taiwan Business Quick Take


content_text:
A woman works at an Amazon.com Inc fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York, on Feb. 5 last year.Photo: AFP
Amazon.com Inc has pulled out of this month’s Mobile World Congress because of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, in another blow to one of the telecom industry’s biggest gatherings, which attracts more than 100,000 visitors to Barcelona.

“Due to the outbreak and continued concerns about the new coronavirus, Amazon will withdraw from exhibiting and participating in Mobile World Congress 2020,” the company said in a statement on Sunday.

Amazon had planned a significant presence through its cloud computing arm AWS, which was due to host a full-day conference track on the first day of the event.

The online retailer is the fourth company to pull out of the annual gathering this week, following South Korea’s LG Electronics Co, Swedish equipment maker Ericsson AB and US chipmaker Nvidia Corp.

The Feb. 24 to 27 event will go ahead as planned, organizer the GSMA telecoms industry association said in a statement on Sunday before Amazon said it was pulling out, adding that it would tighten health precautions to guard against the 2019-nCoV outbreak.

No visitors will be allowed to attend from China’s Hubei Province, where the 2019-nCoV outbreak started, while visitors from China must prove they have been outside the country for two weeks prior to the event, GSMA said.

About 5,000 to 6,000 visitors typically come from China to the world’s premier telecoms gathering, where companies spend millions on stands and hospitality to fill their order books for the year ahead.

Chinese companies Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and ZTE Corp (中興) have said they would attend, ordering China-based staff to self-isolate ahead of the event to ensure they are free of the illness, and drafting in European staff to cover for those stranded.

The death toll from the outbreak in China rose to 908 as of the end of Sunday, the National Health Commission said yesterday.

The virus has spread to at least 27 countries and territories, according to a Reuters count based on official reports, infecting more than 330 people outside China.

More than two dozen large trade fairs and industry conferences in China and overseas have been postponed or hit by travel curbs and concerns about the spread of the virus, potentially disrupting billions of dollars worth of deals.

The Singapore Airshow from today to Sunday is proceeding, but the exhibition center is pockmarked with empty spaces that would have held displays from Chinese companies and others skipping the show because of the epidemic.

The air show’s organizers on Sunday said they were expecting more than 930 companies from 45 countries and 45,000 trade attendees — down from the 54,000 at the last show in 2018.

They also plan to limit public attendance.

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title: Amazon pulls out of telecoms conference


content_text:
Brazilian city’s bike focus shows how to move society forward

Fortaleza’s mayor says that hopefully the improvements made to the city would encourage healthier, faster and more environmentally friendly transportation
The intersection of Avenida Leste Oeste and Avenida Pasteur in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza was always tricky to navigate by bicycle, especially heading east as three lanes of car traffic became two. Data show that every 60 minutes during rush hour, 360 cyclists had to maneuver around and between 2,700 cars, trucks and motorcycles without any protections.

Such conditions are not conducive for cycling, to say the least. Yet bicycles hold much promise as both a mode of transport and a way for Fortalezenses to pursue a more active lifestyle and resist the obesity epidemic sweeping Brazil, where more than half of the population is overweight or obese. With obesity rising by more than 67 percent in the past 13 years, the onus was on my administration to make cycling a more popular choice.

Our goal was to make Fortaleza — a beautiful coastal city and Brazil’s fifth-largest municipality, with more than 2.6 million residents — safer as well as healthier. So, we began to adopt incentives to encourage cycling, particularly measures to make it a better transport option.

The most obvious place to begin was with bike lanes. When roads do not contain dedicated lanes, cyclists have few rights and little safety. Between 2010 and 2018, there were 222 crashes involving bikes on Fortaleza’s roads. Too many families have been torn apart because their youngest and healthiest members are incapacitated or killed on their daily commutes.

At the start of 2013, when we stepped into office, the city had only 68km of bike lanes, and many of our sidewalks were falling into disrepair or being used as parking lots, forcing pedestrians into streets that were jammed with cars.

RECOGNITION

However, after six years of addressing our infrastructure, our efforts gained international recognition for reclaiming more than 12km2 of streetscape for pedestrians and almost quadrupling the total length of bike lanes to 263km.

Today, four out of every 10 Fortalezenses live within 300m of cycling infrastructure — the best result among Brazilian state capitals, according to the New York City-based Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Given that many studies have found that introducing bike lanes has a positive economic impact, especially on local businesses, we believe we made a wise investment.

Of course, not everyone can ride a bike. That is why we also invested in dedicated bus lanes. The increase from 3.2km of dedicated lanes in 2013 to 115.9km last year has allowed our buses to go from pedestrian speed to bike speed. The hope is that these improvements will encourage more people to switch to a healthier, faster and more environmentally sustainable mode of transport on the way to and from work.

One of the biggest hurdles to commuting by bike is that too few people own one. Theft and the cost of purchasing and repairing a bike are the main barriers. Bike sharing removes these obstacles.

BIKE SHARING

In Fortaleza, a new subsidized bike-share project called Bicicletar Corporativo provides city employees with bike access from 16 stations spread across the downtown area. The program serves as a model for private companies to consider when encouraging their own staff to commute by bike.

All of these improvements, as well as events such as Car Free Day in September last year, are meant to make the city safer, not just for cyclists, but for everybody on the road. And they have worked. Between 2014 and 2018, road traffic deaths recorded by traffic and health authorities fell by 40 percent, from 377 to 226.

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title: Galthie demands consistency after win

content_text:
France’s Baptiste Serin, left, and Italy’s Jayden Hayward, right, vie for the ball in their Six Nations match at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Sunday.Photo: EPA-EFE
France coach Fabien Galthie on Sunday called for consistency after watching his team go top of the Six Nations table with a 35-22 victory over Italy.

France opened up a 23-10 halftime lead in their second game at the Stade de France, but were forced to see off a stubborn Italy comeback to notch a bonus-point win.

Former Les Bleus scrumhalf Galthie said that the match had been “tough.”

“The first half was almost perfect, we made two errors,” he said. “In the second half, we were less consistent and the team was battered by the Italians.”

France were guilty of taking their foot off the pedal and lost some of the shape of their defensive line that worked so well in the previous weekend’s opening win over England. They also conceded 10 penalties, coming on top of seven given away against England.

“We were less consistent than against England in our defensive strategy,” Galthie said.

While acknowledging that it was “difficult to sum up things after two matches,” Galthie said: “We have two wins and our goal was to win the two matches.”

France’s South Africa-born lock Paul Willemse said that the match had been “frustrating at the end.”

“We got the bonus point, so are happy with that, but there were a lot of errors, especially discipline, which we need to fix as quickly as possible,” Willemse said. “The atmosphere is great in the team... It’s about building our own history and we’re starting to do that now.”

Italy coach Franco Smith said that he had been heartened by his team’s performance following the opening week’s 42-0 drubbing by Wales.

“We’re not angry with the performance,” the former Springbok said. “We made some mistakes in the first 15, 20 minutes, but then we played much better than last week. Obviously, there’s still work to do. I’m too proud a person to say I’m happy with the scoreline. Last week, we played a very good Welsh team ... and even tonight we left some points out there. We’d like to be as competitive as possible.”

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title: Tolaram Group expanding into digital banking

content_text:
Singapore’s family-run Tolaram Group made much of its US$1.8 billion fortune in cereals, noodles and infrastructure in Africa. Now, it is planning to use its global reach and local relationships to move into digital banking there.

The group has a blueprint of sorts from another business it owns — PT Bank Amar Indonesia. Bank Amar is largely a digital institution, with loans and deposits for consumers handled over mobile phones. The publicly listed group has loaned almost US$300 million to about 300,000 customers and expects advances to increase more than 50 percent this year.

Africa shares some of the same characteristics.

Non-traditional players without the legacy costs of established lenders are setting up digital banks to serve millions of smartphone-savvy customers.

In 2018, the World Bank estimated as many as 95 million unbanked adults in sub-Saharan Africa received cash payments for agricultural products, and about 65 million saved money using semi-formal methods.

Kunal Adnani, who leads Tolaram’s mergers and acquisitions team, is helping coordinate the push.

The ex-Barclays PLC executive said the inspiration for becoming a digital bank came from an unlikely source — the group’s paper mill operations in tech-forward Estonia. Expertise gleaned there was brought to Asia and will now be parlayed to Africa.

“What we’re looking to do is take the same technology, the same systems and the same learning into African markets where we have a presence, albeit in a very different area,” Adnani said in an interview. “We have access to thousands of distributors in these markets and that then can also have a knock-on effect to our business. The more credit we can give them, the more they can increase volumes.”

While Indonesia is experiencing a surge in online lending, much of it has been controversial amid reports of debt collectors intimidating borrowers who cannot afford the steep interest payments.

Adnani said that Tolaram’s offering is more akin to a traditional bank, complete with interest rates similar to regular credit cards and savings accounts.

Tolaram family member and senior executive Haresh Aswani also made a purely personal investment in Nigeria’s Kuda Bank, which is entirely digital.

The African country targets have not been finalized, but Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Egypt are likely candidates.

Tolaram said its fast-moving consumer goods business across the region generated about US$1 billion last year, and it is open to acquiring smaller, existing banks.

The group capitalized Bank Amar with US$70 million and “similar kinds of quantum across some of these countries are possible,” Adnani said.

Tolaram is to face stiff competition from incumbents, such as Standard Chartered PLC, which is rolling out digital banking services across the continent. Africa already has a fully digital bank in ALAT, which was started in Nigeria in 2017 by Wema Bank PLC.

Offering millions of inexperienced borrowers access to credit can also bring higher default rates, but Tolaram is not a stranger to taking a few risks. Entering seemingly disparate lines of business around the world is nothing new for the clan’s empire, which started out making textiles in 1948 in Indonesia.

“We do see a significant need to bring people into the financial system, up the living standards, give them access to credit and improve efficiencies,” Adnani said. “It’s a huge opportunity for us.”

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content_text:
AZERBAIJAN

Ruling party wins poll

President Ilham Aliyev’s ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party yesterday celebrated a win in parliamentary polls, but the opposition claimed the election was “totally falsified.” Counting showed the Yeni Azerbaijan party with 65 seats in the 125-member parliament, after 87 percent of electoral precincts declared results in the first-past-the-post ballot, Central Election Commission chief Mazahir Panahov said. The sole opposition politician elected was Erkin Gadirly of Republican Alternative Party, while all the other parties represented in the parliament, the Milli Majlis, are seen as pro-Aliyev. “The elections were totally falsified,” opposition leader Arif Gadjily of the Musavat party said after the polls closed, denouncing what he claimed was widespread ballot stuffing and multiple voting. More than 5.3 million people were eligible to vote, and turnout stood at 47.8 percent, election officials said.

SYRIA

Russian strikes kill five

Russian airstrikes yesterday killed at least five civilians in the last major opposition bastion in the northwest, bringing the death toll to 25 in less than 24 hours, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The early morning raids hit a populous village in Aleppo Province, where battles between Russia-backed regime forces and their opponents have raged for weeks, the observatory said. It followed a night of heavy bombardment by Russia and the regime that left at least 20 civilians dead in the neighboring provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, the observatory said.

NEPAL

Legalizing pot proposed

Forty-six lawmakers of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal yesterday filed a proposal in parliament to legalize the production and use of marijuana. “Legalizing marijuana will help the poor farmers and since most of the Western world, which was reason for making it illegal in the first place, have already ended the prohibition, Nepal should also lift the ban,” lawmaker Birod Khatiwada said. Marijuana has been used in the country for generations, but was made illegal in 1976.

SWITZERLAND

Voters back rights law

Voters on Sunday gave their backing in a referendum to extending anti-racism legislation to cover sexual orientation, defying critics who had claimed such a move would be an infringement of free speech. A law passed in December 2018 specifically protected LGBTQ+ people from discrimination or hate speech, but an alliance of right-wing parties opposed the change and sought a referendum to prevent the law from coming into effect. On Sunday’s vote, 63.1 percent of the public voted in favor of expanding the anti-discrimination law, although in the German-speaking cantons of Schwyz, Uri and Appenzell-Innerrhoden, there were majorities in favor of blocking the law. In French-speaking Vaud, the law was endorsed by an 80 percent.

THAILAND

Speedboat crash kills two

Two Russian children died yesterday in a collision of two speedboats off Phuket, a 12-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl. Twenty other passengers from the boats were brought to hospitals to check their condition, police said. The boats were carrying 34 passengers in total, most of them Russian tourists, Marine Police Region 8 chief Colonel Prasert Srikhunrat said. Police said one boat was heading to the Royal Phuket Marina to pick up tourists when it was struck by another tour boat full of tourists.

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title: World News Quick Take


title: Italy calls on Egypt to release activist researcher

content_text:
Italy on Sunday called on Egypt to release a young Egyptian researcher and activist based at Bologna University, saying it had reason to believe the security forces had tortured him.

The incident has revived painful memories of the 2016 disappearance and murder of an Italian researcher in Cairo, a case for which the Italian authorities are still seeking answers.

Patrick Zaky, 27, a graduate student at Bologna, was detained late on Friday as he arrived to visit his family.

He was held on a warrant issued in September last year after he left to pursue his studies, said the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a prominent rights organization where he is a researcher.

They said he had been charged with “harming national security” and “broadcasting false news” — and that he had been beaten and electrocuted by security forces.

In a statement on Sunday, Italian Undersecretary for Education Peppe De Christofaro expressed “great concern” for Zaky.

He had a “well-founded fear that the young Egyptian researcher ... is currently suffering arbitrary and unjustified detention and that he is a new victim of violence and abuse from the Egyptian security forces,” de Christofaro said.

He called for other EU states to join Italy in pressing Egypt to release him.

Everything had to be done to protect Zaky’s safety and “avoid a repetition of unacceptable scenes of torture,” he said.

Italy’s reaction is in part informed by the January 2016 disappearance of 28-year-old Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni in Cairo, where he was carrying out research on Egyptian trades unions. His badly mutilated body was found in a suburb of the city a few days later, bearing the marks of torture.

Bologna University, where Zaky received a grant to study for a master’s degree, has already set up a crisis cell to help him.

Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied any involvement in Regeni’s death, but the affair has soured relations between the two countries.

Zaky on Saturday made an appearance before an Egyptian prosecutor in his home town of Mansoura, in the north of the country, judicial and security source said.

He faces charges of “incitement to protest without a permit,” “inciting to overthrow the state,” “running a social media account intent on ... harming national security,” “broadcasting false news” and “promoting terrorist acts,” the sources said.

He is being held for 15 days for questioning.

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH

content_text:
A: Have you got any face masks at home?

B: Hardly any. I don’t think there’s a need to stockpile them.

A: Why not?

B: Because, according to the advice of medical professionals, for most people, there’s no need to wear a face mask every day.

A: 你家裡有任何口罩嗎？

B: 幾乎沒有哦。我不覺得有囤積口罩的必要。

A: 為什麼？

B: 因為啊，根據醫療專業人員的建議，對大多數人而言，沒有必要每天都戴口罩。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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title: Deluge may answer firefighters’ prayers

content_text:
Deluge may answer firefighters’ prayers

NEW SOUTH WALES:Torrential rain over three days has already put out one megablaze, while Sydney’s dams have received massive amounts of rainfall
Residents yesterday look at the sea foam brought by waves after heavy rain and storms at Collaroy in Sydney, Australia.Photo: EPA-EFE
A deluge of rain and wild weather could extinguish all remaining fires in New South Wales (NSW) by the end of the week, the Rural Fire Service (RFS) hopes.

Torrential rain over three days in the state, which has been ravaged by bushfires and endured a prolonged period of drought, has already extinguished one megablaze, with the Gospers Mountain fire that has burned for months in the Hawkesbury declared out yesterday.

Dams in the greater Sydney area, where water restrictions have been in place due to the drought, have also received more than their entire annual rainfall for last year in the space of a weekend.

Sydney’s water storage levels yesterday reached 64 percent, up 22 points on the previous week.

While the rain has been welcome news for firefighters, it has created chaos elsewhere — causing flooding, power outages and property damage.

The NSW RFS yesterday said there were still 33 active fires in the state, with five of those uncontained.

Only a week ago, more than 60 fires were burning across NSW and 33 of those were uncontained.

The five fires that are still burning out of control are all in the Bega Valley and Snowy Valley area in the state’s south. They include the Border fire and the Big Jack Mountain fire.

An RFS spokesman said that “all going well” it was likely those five fires would be out “in the next 48 hours.”

He said it there was optimism that all remaining fires in the state would remain at a contained status by the end of the week. It was possible all of them could be extinguished.

“It would be an absolute miracle. We hope so,” he said. “Certainly all contained. We’re hopeful to get to the stage where we can call them out.”

Firefighters have faced an unprecedented season and have been battling blazes since July last year.

The RFS yesterday said some of the biggest fires were now extinguished. They include the Gospers Mountain fire in the Hawkesbury, the Currowan fire in the Shoalhaven, the Green Wattle Creek fire in Wollondilly, the Myall Creek Road fire (Richmond Valley), the Erskine Creek fire (Blue Mountains), the Kerry Ridge fire (Muswellbrook) and the Morton fire (Wingecarribee).

The spokesman said there would still be some work for remote area crews to extinguish smaller materials such as smoldering tree stumps and logs in some locations.

He said the significant rainfall was likely to lead to more benign conditions for the remainder of the season, but stressed there were still months to go.

“As we’ve seen in the last couple of years, we’ve still had bushfires threaten homes in March and April,” he said. “We know all it takes is a couple of weeks of warm and windy conditions.”

The wild weather triggered widespread chaos over the weekend.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued warnings for abnormally high tides for most of the NSW coast last night and severe thunderstorm warnings were in place for the northern rivers region and parts of the mid-north coast.

Some parts of the state have had up to 700 millimeters (mm) of rainfall since Wednesday, including Robertson, in the southern highlands, which saw 698mm of rain — 500mm of which was over the weekend alone.

Pottsville was battered with close to 605mm of rain, while the central tablelands received 631mm since Wednesday.

The bureau said floods around Sydney over the weekend and into yesterday were the most significant that had been seen in about 30 years.

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The US has signaled to Iraq its willingness to extend sanctions waivers enabling the country to continue importing vital Iranian gas and electricity imports, three Iraqi officials said this week, a move that would be a key test of Baghdad-Washington ties.

The decision comes amid strained US-Iraqi ties following last month’s Washington-directed airstrike in Baghdad that killed a high-profile Iranian general and a senior Iraqi militia leader.

A previous waiver, granted in October last year, is set to expire on Thursday.

The three officials said the US Department of State, which issues such waivers, has conveyed its readiness to extend the waiver for another three months — if Iraq is able to formulate a timeline by the end of the week, detailing a plan to wean itself off Iranian gas dependence.

“The American side has announced to us their readiness,” one of the officials said.

The officials interviewed are all senior members of Iraq’s government, including one who is close to the negotiations with the Americans. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter before it becomes official.

Iraqi officials said the new waiver would be a test of ties after tensions soared following a Jan. 3 airstrike near the Baghdad airport that killed Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Since then, Iraqi Shiite politicans have pushed a non-binding resolution to pressure the government to oust US troops.

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title: US to grant Iraq vital Iran sanctions waiver: officials


content_text:
Thai city mourns after mass shooting

SURVIVORS:A corporal said he was shot while fleeing from a roadblock, while a high-school student said he ducked in his mother’s car as the gunman killed her
People outside the Terminal 21 Korat mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, yesterday lay flowers, write condolences and pray for people killed by a gunman.Photo: Reuters
Authorities in northern Thailand yesterday began releasing bodies to relatives after security forces cornered and killed a soldier who carried out the country’s worst mass shooting in an siege at a shopping mall.

The soldier killed 29 people starting with his commanding officer on Saturday and died on Sunday morning when security forces shot the heavily armed attacker in Terminal 21 Korat, an airport-themed mall in Nakhon Ratchasima.

The gunman, sergeant major Jakrapanth Thomma, 31, was upset at a land deal brokered by his commander’s mother-in-law, authorities said.

She was another of his victims.

Many of the 58 people wounded are still in bad condition. The Thai Ministry of Public Health sent a mental health crisis team to help relatives of the deceased cope with their losses.

At the city’s hospitals, survivors and family members of those killed recounted traumatic ordeals.

Corporal Korakot Ampanngeun said that he had been ordered to block a road so no one could go toward the gunman.

“So I was signaling to oncoming traffic, when I turned around and saw him. If I had not, I would not have survived,” he said. “I tried to run and find somewhere to hide, but I could only take two steps and then I heard the sound — ‘bang.’ My leg just went and I couldn’t walk. A good Samaritan helped carry me away.”

High-school student Nachote Chotiklang said he was in his mother’s car as she passed the gunman’s vehicle.

The assailant “got out of the car and fired into the window,” he said. “At that, I ducked down and didn’t do anything until I felt that car hit something. It hit a tree.”

When the teen was asked what happened to his mother, Nachote shook his head.

Another man said that she had died.

People have recounted hiding across the mall, keeping up to speed with the gunman’s movements through friends on the outside and snippets of CCTV footage shared over messaging groups.

The bodies of security personnel yesterday began to be flown to the capital, Bangkok, for funerals.

Nakhon Ratchasima was not prepared for killing on such a scale. The public hospital’s lone forensic doctor is performing autopsies before the bodies are released to families for cremation, but families were told he can only do a maximum of six autopsies per day.

Meanwhile, flowers and messages of condolences mounted outside the bullet-riddled mall.

A candlelight vigil was held on Sunday as Buddhist monks led prayers and people laid white flowers in memory of those who were killed by the attacker, who hit four locations across the city.

“You have this rage, it fills you,” local resident Chirathip Kurapakorn said at the vigil. “It just happened right here in our hometown behind us, like right in our heart of everything. It’s just tragic.”

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha was criticized on social media after he posed for selfies and high-fived people during a visit to Korat on Sunday.

“There should be no smiles, joking around and touching hands like people are your fan club,” blogger Sorakon Adulyanon, aka Noom Muang Chan, wrote on Facebook.

Prayuth later on Sunday said: “We are all saddened by what happened.”

“I intended to offer my moral support ... my expression may have been misunderstood or made many people uncomfortable,” he wrote on Facebook.

Additional reporting by Reuters and AFP

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title: Thai city mourns after mass shooting


title: US agency denies it destroyed Malian musician’s kora

content_text:
US aviation security officials have denied destroying a precious traditional instrument belonging to a Malian musician, responding to an incident that sparked outrage online.

Renowned kora player Ballake Sissoko on Tuesday last week touched down in Paris after flying from New York at the end of a US tour to find that his instrument had been “completely destroyed.”

The traditional West African 21-string lute had been dismantled, with a note left by the agents, in Spanish, reading “intelligent security saves time,” Sissoko said on Facebook.

“Would US customs have dared to dismantle a Stradivarius?” the post said, referring to a class of fabled violins.

“These kinds of custom-made koras are simply impossible to replace,” it added.

However, the US Transport Security Administration, which screens luggage for explosives, said in a statement on Sunday that it played no part in the damage.

It added that it knew its agents did not search Sissoko’s instrument case, because “it did not trigger an alarm when it was screened” and was tagged appropriately.

The broken kora generated significant media interest and social media comment after Sissoko suggested that white musicians would have been treated better.

“This is an unprovoked and sad act of aggression, a reflection of the kind of cultural ignorance and racism that is taking over in so many parts of the world,” his Facebook post said.

The musician told reporters on Sunday that his kora was broken by the time he opened his case after landing in Paris and admitted that the airline could have been responsible.

“Maybe the message is too strong and I should have said it differently,” Sissoko said.

However, he added that he was shocked and angry that his kora was beyond repair and that whoever was responsible should have respected it.

“I’m not trying to play the media to get money,” Sissoko said.

Adding to confusion surrounding the affair, the Malian Ministry of Culture released a statement on Saturday saying that it would “do everything legally and diplomatically possible to obtain reparation” for the offense.

However, it removed the statement from its Web site the next day and issued another one that denied the earlier release came from the ministry, without giving further details.

Malian Minister of Culture N’Diaye Ramatoulaye Diallo told reporters on Sunday that her department’s statement on Saturday was simply “fake,” without clarifying further.

Sissoko said that he was contacted by the Malian embassy in Paris about the incident and that he plans to meet government officials when he is next in Mali.

He added that friends had told him the government appeared to have asked for “reparation,” but that he was unaware the statement had been removed.

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content_text:
RB Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku, bottom, battles for the ball with Bayern Munich’s Benjamin Pavard in their Bundesliga match at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, on Sunday.Photo: EPA-EFE
RB Leipzig on Sunday held Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to a goalless draw at the Allianz Arena to stay just one point behind the defending champions in the title race.

Leipzig worked tirelessly to thwart the hosts, for whom victory would have opened up a four-point gap after third-placed Borussia Dortmund’s 4-3 loss at Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday.

Bayern are bidding to win an eighth straight title.

They were awarded a second-half penalty which was then reversed when the video assistant referee (VAR) confirmed Robert Lewandowski had been offside.

Second-placed Leipzig often rode their luck to repeatedly frustrate Bayern, but wasted a series of second-half chances themselves.

“The problem was that both teams could live with a 0-0 draw,” Bayern forward Thomas Mueller said. “In the end, neither team wanted to take the absolute risks, which meant we didn’t play to our strengths.”

Bayern coach Hansi Flick said that he expects this season’s title race to go to the wire.

“The Bundesliga will be tense until the end,” he said. “There are a few teams with a chance. We want to keep our position, but it’s going to be a hard path to stay on.”

Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann said his side showed the bravery required to win in Munich.

“In the second half, we had much clearer chances to win the game,” Nagelsmann said. “We were brave, defended high up and had a good grip on the game.”

Leipzig striker Timo Werner, who missed a golden opportunity on 63 minutes, rued his team’s missed chances, including a skied effort by captain Marcel Sabitzer.

“In the beginning, it seemed just a matter of time before we scored, but in the second half we played as our coach wanted and were the better team. We could have won,” Werner said.

The top-of-the-table clash, in front of 75,000 spectators, was the only top-tier fixture in Germany on Sunday after Borussia Moenchengladbach’s home game against Cologne was postponed due to severe weather.

Despite dominating possession, Bayern could not finish the first-half opportunities that fell to Lewandowski, Leon Goretzka and Thomas Mueller.

It was not until after halftime that the visitors really threatened Bayern’s goal, as three huge chances went begging.

Sabitzer fired an effort over the crossbar with the goal at his mercy at the start of the second half.

Then Werner pinched possession and rounded Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had come to the edge of the penalty area, but Bayern defender David Alaba got back to block his shot and deny the striker a 21st league goal of the season.

With 53 minutes gone, Bayern were awarded a penalty when Lewandowski went down in the penalty area after Leipzig centerback Dayot Upamecano clipped his boot.

The Poland striker was poised to add to his league-leading tally of 22 Bundesliga goals, but was denied by VAR.

Then just after the hour mark, Werner wasted a golden chance. He was set up perfectly by Leipzig winger Christopher Nkunku, but his shot flew wide of the Bayern goal.

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title: Leipzig hold Bayern 0-0 to remain one point adrift


title: Shanghai forum might be postponed

people: 黃珊珊 王世堅 柯文哲

content_text:
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang speaks to reporters in Taipei yesterday.Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The annual twin-city forum between Taipei and Shanghai would not be halted because of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China, but might be postponed if the situation gets worse, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday.

Huang was responding to a call by Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) on Facebook yesterday for Taipei to “indefinitely suspend the twin-city forum.”

The virus is spreading rapidly in China, with cases reported in all Chinese provinces and autonomous regions.

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center has already announced that all Chinese are temporarily banned from entering Taiwan, Wang said.

In the past few years, there have been more than 100 Chinese attending the forum, he said, calling for it to be suspended until the global fight against the virus is over.

“The twin-city forum is usually held in the summer, when the city council goes into recess, so it is too early to make that decision,” Huang said, adding that the Taipei City Government would evaluate the situation.

“I believe the forum is a platform for important interactions between the two cities, so if it is affected by the virus outbreak, safety would of course be our first priority, but we would still do our duties,” she said.

So far, only large events involving eating and drinking, such as a traditional market festivals, have been suspended due to the outbreak, Huang said, adding that the city government has asked the Taipei Arena to implement disease prevention measures, as it still holds large events with thousands of people.

In other developments, the city government faced accusations that former Taipei City Government deputy spokeswoman Huang Ching-ying returned to her job yesterday without a fair and transparent recruitment process.

Huang Ching-ying had resigned from her post in December last year to become a legislator-at-large nominee for the Taiwan People’s Party, whose chairman is Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).

However, an online rumor spread that she was hired on Saturday last week when the city government’s deadline for recruitment was yesterday, and that her monthly salary had been raised.

Taipei City Government deputy spokesman Tai Yu-wen (戴于文) yesterday said that the city government’s Secretariat Office was hiring two personnel, and the deadlines were Friday last week and yesterday.

Huang Ching-ying applied for the first job and the city government processed it according to regulations, Tai said.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Most cross-strait flights canceled

CHANGE OF PLANS:EVA Airways and China Airlines said they have publicized their flight schedules for this month, and would announce further changes next week
About 70 percent of cross-strait flights were canceled yesterday after the government last week announced that it would allow flights to only five airports in four Chinese cities due to the spreading 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak there.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications on Friday said that the restriction would last until April 29, citing a request from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to contain the disease.

The allowed destinations are: Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao International Airport, Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and Chengdu Shaunglin International Airport, the transportation ministry said.

The transportation ministry estimated that the number of cross-strait flights this month would fall from 1,345 to 583.

Prior to the ban, Taiwan allowed flights to 50 Chinese cities, excluding Hong Kong and Macau.

Out of 148 cross-strait flights that were scheduled to operate yesterday, 103 were canceled, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said, citing its statistics.

Of the 1,204 cross-strait flights that were supposed to be available from Monday to Friday last week, 602 were canceled, it said.

The number of cross-strait flight passengers last week also fell 67 percent compared with the average passenger volume in December last year, it added.

Flights to Hong Kong and Macau were also affected by the outbreak as the number of confirmed cases in the territories continued to rise.

Last week, 419 of 1,127 scheduled flights to Hong Kong and Macau were canceled.

The number of passengers to Hong Kong and Macau fell 56 percent to about 80,000, compared with the average in December last year.

EVA Airways and China Airlines said they have adjusted and published their flight schedules for this month, adding that next week they would announce the changes in their flight schedules for next month and April.

The Tourism Bureau said that it would continue to enforce a temporary ban on group tours to China and transits via China to a third country until April 30.

Group tours to Hong Kong and Macau would also be suspended until March 31, including those transiting through the territories, it added.

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