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Virus Outbreak: Hospitals to boost controls to curb infection

A nurse checks the temperature of a woman as others wait in line outside the main entrance to Kaohsiung Medical University’s Chung-ho Hospital yesterday.Photo: CNA
Hospitals are to step up infection controls for COVID-19 by improving division of labor, such as breaking small work units into even smaller units, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said on Sunday.

For example, if 15 healthcare personnel are assigned to look after 15 patients, it might be changed to five medical staff for five patients, which would reduce the risk of infection, said Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

Managing the flow of patients in hospitals is another focus of measures to protect against COVID-19, said Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良), another CECC official.

Hospitals are to designate separate entrances and exits for inpatients, outpatients and people in emergency rooms, to prevent hospital-acquired COVID-19 infections, Shih said, adding that cleaning, security and maintenance staff would be required to follow the guidelines.

Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the nation’s hospitals have adequate beds in negative-pressure isolation wards for people who have or are suspected to have COVID-19, with 53 percent of such beds still available and more to be added if needed.

Taiwan’s hospitals have 943 beds in negative-pressure isolation wards, 501 of which are still available, Chuang said.

If there is a shortage, more isolation facilities could be added by using general wards or reconfiguring single-bed rooms, he said.

Meanwhile, the Chang Gung Medical Foundation announced on its Web site that people are advised against visiting its affiliated hospitals except for medical emergencies within 14 days of having been in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Iran or Italy.

A similar notice has been posted for about a month, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital deputy superintendent Huang Jing-long (黃璟隆) said yesterday.

“Hospitals have their own management and we would respect their decisions,” Chen said, adding, however, that regulations should be relaxed if a situation calls for an exception.

Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin

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By Wu Chun-feng and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
A Tainan elementary-school student portrays Chi Mei Corp founder Shi Wen-long in a video about the passion that drove him to create the Chimei Museum.Photo:Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
A short video made as part of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Chi Mei Corp explains founder Shi Wen-long’s (許文龍) lifelong dream of building his own museum.

Shi made his wish come true when he founded the Chimei Museum in 1992 in his hometown, Tainan.

At a news conference for the release of the video last month, the 92-year-old Shi said he hoped to impress upon others that they could succeed through hard work, and to remind them that if they do succeed, they should give back to society.

The video, The Origin of a Wish (心願的起源), was directed by artist Yang Shi-yi (楊士毅) and highlights Shi’s boyhood fascination with a small local museum that was open to the public free of charge.

Shi’s family was poor, and he loved to spend time at the museum. In the video he recounts how the items he saw as a child piqued his fascination with collecting and made him determined to open a free museum of his own.

“I have sowed this seed; even though it is only one seed to start with, but I hope it can grow strong, last forever, and be enjoyed by future generations,” Shi says in the video.

He told the news conference that he hoped young people would be inspired by the way he was as a youngster, and will also give back to society when they are older.

In the film, Shi as a youngster is portrayed by a student from the same elementary school that he attended, and some scenes were filmed at the National Tainan Second Senior High School, which used to house the museum Shi loved as a child, the Chimei Museum said.

The Chimei Museum is known for having the world’s largest collectionsof violins, as well as extensive weapons and sculpture collections, and deputy director Patricia Liao (廖婉如) said she is often asked why its collections are predominantly from Europe.

It is a reflection of Shi’s experiences as a child, but “the main reason is that Shi wanted to share something with disadvantaged people who cannot afford to travel abroad. This way they can enjoy works from around the world here in Taiwan,” she said.

The Chimei Museum has been open for 18 years, but hopefully the video will help the public realize its significance, she said.

The video is available on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=H573Q23sNaw) and has Chinese and English subtitles.

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title: Video celebrates the passion behind Chimei Museum


title: Philippine mall hostage taking ends peacefully

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Policemen arrest suspected hostage-taker Alchie Paray, center, after he surrendered outside a shopping mall in San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines, yesterday.Photo: EPA-EFE
A sacked Filipino security guard who shot one person and took about 30 others hostage at a Metro Manila shopping mall yesterday surrendered to authorities, ending a day-long standoff that terrified shoppers and drew a massive police response.

The guard, Alchie Paray, walked out of the V-Mall, where he was allowed to speak briefly to the press before heavily armed officers tackled and arrested him.

He complained about being mistreated by his employers.

Hostages were also led out of the building, but police did not say whether any of them had been hurt nor the exact number caught up in the violence.

The drama started when the suspect shot a security guard, who was rushed to hospital in stable condition, said Francis Zamora, mayor of San Juan City, which includes the mall.

Zamora told reporters that the hostage-taker was upset after losing his job.

Authorities worked for hours to convince him to surrender, and later in the day held a press conference where company officers apologized for upsetting the suspect.

“I deeply regret my shortcomings,” one supervisor said.

“Because of this, I will resign from my post ... to give way to a solution to our current problem,” the supervisor said.

Police were in contact with the suspect for hours via a walkie talkie. Philippine malls are centers of life that include everything from restaurants and shops, to churches and medical facilities. The building was full when the violence began.

Zamora said authorities believed there were “around 30” people held.

Witness John Paul Buenavista said he saw a wounded person — believed to be a guard at the mall — being put into a wheelchair and whisked away.

“We heard three gunshots. Then we saw people running, saying they saw someone getting shot,” he said.

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Premier says NHI system must survive, and give all Taiwanese equal treatment

The National Health Insurance (NHI) system cannot have unreasonable expenses if it is to last, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday, one day after a Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker and a health reform group called for changes to the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) to tighten eligibility requirements for the program.

The system, which has been widely praised by other nations, cannot be allowed to collapse, and Taiwanese should receive equal treatment, Su said as he visited the Central Epidemic Command Center in Taipei.

By law, people who have lived in Taiwan for six months with proof of residence or have a regular employer can be covered by the NHI system.

During former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, the Ministry of Health and Welfare expanded the definition of proof of residence to include entry and exit permits and loosened eligibility requirements for Chinese nationals, including the dependents of Chinese spouses of Taiwanese.

Different governments might have different considerations, but if the ministry’s administrative order has surpassed the act, then it should be re-examined, Taiwan Medical Alliance for Labor Justice and Patient Safety chairman Chu Ning-wei (儲寧瑋) said on Sunday.

DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) on Sunday said that he has long wanted to close the loophole that allows Taiwanese who spend most of their time abroad and do not pay taxes in Taiwan to be included in the NHI system for a low price, but his proposals did not make it onto the legislative agenda.

He plans to submit another proposal targeting people who spend less than six months per year in Taiwan and do not have proof they have paid taxes here, he said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said the caucus believes the subject can be discussed.

It would be fairer for taxpayers if migrant workers, foreign students and Taiwanese who live abroad, but do not pay taxes to be considered when discussing eligibility for coverage, he said.

Different eras have different ways of thinking, National Health Insurance Administration Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said.

Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei

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people: 馬英九 林俊憲 蘇貞昌 林為洲


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Women wearing protective masks cross a street in Tehran yesterday.Photo: AFP
The death toll from the COVID-19 epidemic yesterday surpassed 3,000, as more people died in China, Iran and the US, and Europe raised its state of alert.

The virus has infected more than 89,000 people, spread to more than 60 countries and threatens to cause a global economic slowdown after first emerging in China late last year.

With fears of a pandemic on the rise, the WHO urged all countries to stock up on critical care ventilators to treat patients with severe symptoms.

In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) had increased its risk assessment for Europeans after Italy’s outbreak doubled in 48 hours.

The virus has raised fears for the world economy, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development lowering its global growth forecast by half a point to 2.4 percent, the worst performance since the 2008 crisis.

The Chinese economy has ground to a halt, with large swathes of the nation under quarantine or measures to restrict travel. Takings at Macau casinos fell a record 88 percent last month.

Other countries have started to enact their own draconian containment measures, including banning arrivals from virus-hit nations, locking down towns, urging citizens to stay home and suspending major events, such as soccer matches and trade fairs.

Health officials monitoring the virus at the ECDC announced that it had increased its risk assessment to “moderate to high.”

The Louvre — the world’s most visited museum — closed on Sunday and yesterday, after staff refused to work because of fears about the virus.

China yesterday reported 42 more deaths — all in Hubei Province, where the pathogen is believed to have originated in a market that sold wild animals in its capital, Wuhan.

The death toll in China alone rose to 2,912, but it is also surging abroad.

The WHO says the virus appears to particularly hit those over the age of 60 and people already weakened by other illness.

It has a mortality rate of between 2 and 5 percent.

Infections are now rising faster abroad than in China, where drastic measures, including quarantining about 56 million people in Hubei since late January, appear to be paying off.

Iran yesterday reported 12 more deaths, raising the nation’s toll to 66, the second biggest after China.

It also reported more than 500 new cases, raising its total number of infections to 1,501.

South Korea, the biggest nest of infections outside China, yesterday reported nearly 500 new cases, raising its total past 4,000.

It also reported that four more people died, taking its toll to 22.

Half of South Korea’s cases are linked to a sect whose leader yesterday apologized for the spread of the disease.

The US has more than 75 confirmed cases, including two reported deaths, both in Washington state, where a cluster of cases is centered on a nursing home near Seattle.

New York and Florida, among other US states, also have confirmed cases.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told CNN he “fully” expects community spread after the state identified its first coronavirus patient.

European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said: “As of this morning, we have 2,100 confirmed cases in 18 EU member states and we have 38 citizens who have lost their lives.”

In Italy, Europe’s hardest-hit country, infections nearly doubled to about 1,700 cases over the weekend.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Global virus death toll tops 3,000 as EU raises alert


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Virus Outbreak: Workers on unpaid leave rise to 1,604 in February

A graph released yesterday by the Ministry of Labor shows monthly figures dating to September last year for workers on unpaid leave.Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Labor
The number of workers on unpaid leave in Taiwan rose sharply to 1,604 in the second half of last month, due mainly to the effects of COVID-19 on the economy, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.

As of Saturday, the number of workers who had agreed to go on furlough rose by 735 from 869 in the first two weeks of last month, ministry statistics showed.

The number of employers implementing unpaid leave jumped to 40, increasing from 22 in the previous two weeks, the data showed.

During the second half of the month, three employers ended their firms’ unpaid leave programs, while 21 others launched new programs agreed upon by management and employees, the data showed.

More than half of the companies with employees on unpaid leave in the final two weeks of the month were businesses in the metal and electromechanical industry, including manufacturers of parts and components for machine tools, Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment deputy director Huang Wei-chen (黃維琛) said.

Most of the companies that are implementing unpaid leave have a workforce of fewer than 50 people and the programs typically last for less than three months, with employees each agreeing to take up to four days of unpaid leave per month, Huang said.

Employers have been instructed to pay furloughed employees at least NT$23,100 per month, or the minimum wage, so they can maintain their living standards, he said.

The Workforce Development Agency has a program to subsidize firms that offer on-the-job training to furloughed workers to improve their job skills, he said.

Employers can apply for subsidies to hold training sessions, with each employee eligible for NT$158 per hour for attending a maximum 120 hours of training per month, he said.

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Restaurant operator Toplus Global Co (御頂國際集團) has signed a deal to lease basement space at the former site of the Westin Taipei (台北威斯汀六福皇宮) and turn it into banquet facilities.

Toplus Global, which owns the upscale seafood restaurant brand Ding Xian (頂鮮餐廳) and the Amazing Hall (晶宴 會館) banquet facilities, is to lease 1,800 ping (5,950m2) of floor space from the landlord, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽).

The deal ended speculation about the fate of the underground floors at the site after Japan’s JR Hotels Group in November last year agreed to open a new hotel on the floors above ground, but refused to take up the basement space on concerns that the nation’s aging population is unfavorable for the banquet business.

Toplus Global holds a different view and aims to open banquet rooms that can seat 110 tables priced at NT$14,000 (US$465) each on weekdays and NT$18,000 at weekends, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday.

The strategy would make the planned restaurant more affordable than similar facilities at established five-star hotels in Taipei, the report said.

Toplus Global operates three Ding Xian outlets and eight wedding halls nationwide.

The group plans to spend NT$50 million renovating the basement space in Songshan District (松山) that could become the nation’s first Japanese-style banquet hall, the report said.

Japanese have become the largest source of tourist arrivals since September last year, after Beijing in August imposed a ban on independent tourists visiting Taiwan, lending support to the strategy, Toplus Global said.

The new banquet facility, scheduled to begin operations by the end of this year, would also seek to meet demand for conference and meeting facilities, it added.

Toplus Global declined to elaborate on the rent, which the report said would be NT$1.5 million to NT$1.8 million a month.

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title: Toplus to open banqueting hall at former Westin site


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Virus Outbreak: Center says that it has synthesized favilavir

Scientists from the Development Center for Biotechnology’s anti-epidemic drug synthesis team pose for a photograph at the laboratory in New Taipei City yesterday.Photo courtesy of the Development Center for Biotechnology via CNA
The Development Center for Biotechnology yesterday said that it has synthesized favilavir, an experimental medication being used abroad to combat COVID-19.

The center would work closely with local biopharmaceutical companies that have Current Good Manufacturing Practice certification from the Food and Drug Administration to provide enough favilavir for Taiwan, the center said.

Chuang Shih-hsien (莊士賢), an executive with the center, said that the anti-viral drug was developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Co and approved for the Japanese market in March 2014.

It was widely used to treat people who showed resistance to Tamiflu and Relenza, medications used to treat and prevent influenza A and B infections, Chuang said.

More importantly, favilavir has been adopted by Japan and China as an experimental drug to treat severe cases of COVID-19, he said.

Development Center for Biotechnology chief executive officer Wu Chung-hsiun (吳忠勳) said that Taiwan has a comprehensive supply chain and local manufacturers would be able to produce enough of the drug in a short time to treat people with COVID-19.

Favilavir is the second anti-viral drug after remdesivir that Taiwan has synthesized to combat the novel coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Remdesivir, which has shown some efficacy in treating the coronavirus, was approved by the Chinese National Medical Products Administration last month.

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title: Nokia CEO stepping down after 5G market struggles

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Nokia Oyj chief executive officer Rajeev Suri speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview on day two of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22.Photo: Bloomberg
Nokia Oyj chief executive officer Rajeev Suri is stepping down after just more than half a decade at the helm of the Finnish network company.

Suri is to be replaced by Pekka Lundmark, the outgoing chief executive of Fortum Oyj, the company said in a statement yesterday.

Suri, 52, has struggled during his tenure to gain a foothold in the all-important 5G market.

Due to the fierce competition facing Nokia, it has started to explore its strategic options, including potential asset sales or mergers, Bloomberg News reported last week, citing people close to the deliberations.

Nokia fell behind rivals Ericsson AB and China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), just as the Finnish company was on the cusp of large-scale rollouts of its 5G mobile networks amid problems developing proprietary chipsets.

As a result, Nokia was forced to buy more expensive alternatives, adding to its costs and eroding profits.

In October last year, Nokia angered investors when it suspended its dividend and cut its earnings guidance, wiping 23 percent off the share price in a single day.

In the past 12 months, the firm has lost about one-third of its market value.

Suri, who has been at Nokia for 25 years, became chief executive after running the Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture. He is to leave his position on Aug. 31 and serve as an adviser to the Nokia board until Jan. 1 next year, Nokia said.

In Lundmark, Nokia is getting a chief executive who has “consistently delivered robust total shareholder returns, successfully renewed the company’s strategy, and positioned it to be a strong player in the transforming global energy sector,” the company said.

“He has a record of leadership and shareholder value creation at large business-to-business companies; deep experience in telecommunications networks, industrial digitization, and key markets such as the United States and China; and a focus on strategic clarity, operational excellence and strong financial performance,” Nokia board chairman Risto Siilasmaa said in the statement.

Lundmark has a track record of doing large deals, having engineered Fortum’s US$6.9 billion acquisition of German utility Uniper SE with the help of investors Elliott and Knight Vinke — the deal is seen closing this quarter.

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Luis Lacalle Pou takes office in Uruguay

TACKLING CRIME:The new leader promised to promote what has been done well and correct what was done badly as the nation faces ‘an emergency’ of insecurity
Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou, right, arrives at the Plaza Independencia with his wife, Lorena Ponce de Leon, during his inauguration ceremony in Montevideo on Sunday.Photo: AFP
Luis Lacalle Pou took office in Uruguay on Sunday, promising to crack down on crime and tighten government finances.

Lacalle Pou, a 46-year-old surfing enthusiast and son of a former president, narrowly won election in November last year in his second try for the office.

He was sworn in by former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica, the senator who received the most votes in the elections.

Lacalle Pou inherits a country of nearly 3.4 million people that had grown steadily under the outgoing Broad Front government, but rising crime in recent years dented its popularity and economists have grown concerned about a rising fiscal deficit that reached 4.9 percent of GDP last year.

In his inaugural address, the new leader promised “to promote what was done well [and] correct what was done badly.”

Lacalle Pou, who has promised to cap government spending, said he wanted reduce the costs of production and services “to recover national competitiveness.”

The country faces “an emergency” of insecurity, he said, adding that “the enormous majority of Uruguayans feel unprotected.”

He campaigned on calls to bolster the country’s security forces and toughen sentencing.

“In the interior of the country we used to sleep with the door open... Even vehicles were left with doors and windows open and the key in the ignition, but lately the houses are all fenced,” said Natalia Cardozo, a 37-year-old teacher who was participating on horseback in the inaugural day parade. “We hope that this government takes some measures and can change that.”

Lacalle Pou, who spent many years in the Uruguayan Congress, grew up in an intensely political family. His father, Luis Lacalle Herrera, was president from 1990 to 1995 and his mother, Julia Pou, was a senator. His great-grandfather Luis Alberto de Herrera was a major figure in the National Party.

He will have to depend on an ideologically diverse four-party coalition to get his programs through Congress.

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Refugees mass at border as Syria fighting escalates

NO RESTRICTIONS:Accusing the EU of failing to honor a 6 billion euro financial aid agreement, Turkey announced that its borders were open to those heading to Europe
A baby cries as migrants arrive yesterday at the village of Skala Sikaminias on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea on a dinghy.Photo: AP
Thousands of migrants and refugees on Sunday massed at Turkey’s western frontier, trying to enter Greece by land and sea after Turkey said its borders were open to those hoping to head to Europe.

In Syria, Turkish troops shot down two Syrian warplanes after the Syrian military downed a Turkish drone, a major escalation in the direct conflict between Syrian and Turkish forces.

Turkey’s decision to ease border restrictions came amid a Russia-backed Syrian government offensive into Idlib Province. That offensive has killed dozens of Turkish troops and led to a surge of nearly 1 million Syrian civilians fleeing the fighting toward Turkey’s sealed border.

Turkey backs the Syrian rebels fighting in Idlib and has sent thousands of troops into the area. Idlib is the last opposition-held stronghold in Syria, and is dominated by al-Qaeda linked fighters.

A Turkish official said the fighting in Idlib was directly linked to Turkey’s decision to open the gates for refugees to Europe. He said Ankara had changed its focus to preparing for the possibility of new arrivals from Syria “instead of preventing refugees who intend to migrate to Europe.”

“Europe and others must take robust action to address this monumental challenge,” said Fahrettin Altun, communications director for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “We can’t be expected to do this on our own.”

Erdogan’s decision to open his country’s borders with Europe made good on a longstanding threat to let refugees into the continent. His announcement marked a dramatic departure from a previous policy of containment, an apparent attempt to pressure Europe into offering Turkey more support in dealing with the fallout from the Syrian war to its south.

Under a 6 billion euro (US$6.65 billion) deal in 2016, Turkey agreed to stem the tide of refugees to Europe in return for financial aid, after more than 1 million people entered Europe in 2015.

Turkey has since accused the EU of failing to honor the agreement, and Erdogan has frequently threatened to allow refugees into Europe unless more international support was provided.

Turkey already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, as well as many others from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

On the Greek-Turkish land border, Greek army and police patrols used tear gas and stun grenades to thwart attempts by thousands to push into the country overnight.

Officials said the situation was much calmer on Sunday morning, but in the afternoon, authorities used tear gas and water cannons to push back another crowd attempting to cross. Migrants threw rocks and other objects, and one policeman was injured.

Greek authorities said they stopped about 10,000 crossing attempts on Saturday, and another 5,500 on Sunday.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday evening convened the defense and foreign affairs committee. Afterward, a government spokesman said that Greece was starting a one-month freeze on accepting asylum applications from migrants who enter illegally.

Europe’s border agency Frontex said it was “redeploying equipment and additional officers to Greece.”

A Greek government official said the Turkish authorities also fired teargas at the Greek border, using drones flying close to the border. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

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New Zealand’s Tom Latham plays a shot against India on the third day of the second Test at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, New Zealand, yesterday.Photo: AP
A whitewash in New Zealand yesterday ended India’s flawless World Test Championship campaign, but captain Virat Kohli was not offering excuses and accepted his side were just not good enough in the two-Test series.

Kohli himself endured a rare failure in the series, managing only 38 runs in four innings, typifying his team’s lackluster batting.

India’s vaunted batting lineup looked at sea against the swinging ball or whenever it was pitched short, while their bowlers shone only in patches.

“We were not at par with New Zealand as far as competing every day of the Test match goes,” Kohli said after India were defeated by seven wickets with half of the Test to spare. “It can happen to a side when the other side plays better and you can go in a downward spiral.”

“If we shy away from it, we’re not going to improve. So we need to accept we were not good enough in this series, we’ve got take it on the chin and improve those things,” he said.

India fell short of the 200-mark in both innings in Wellington and were bowled out for 124 in the second innings in Christchurch.

“There was just not enough done by the batsmen in this series for the bowlers to try and attack,” Kohli said. “I think to win a series away from home, you need to have a balanced performance with both bat and ball, and in the field as well. It was something we were not able to do in this series.”

Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri have made it their mission to make India a team capable of winning matches regardless of the toss and nature of the surface, but the drubbing suggested they are still short of that target.

India lost the toss in both the Tests and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson unsurprisingly elected to field, unleashing his pace attack on green tracks where the ball swung at a lively place.

However, Kohli said that was not an excuse for India’s performance.

“It gave an extra advantage to the bowlers in the first two hours, but look, as an international side playing so well over the last two or three seasons, you are expected to go out there and try and understand those conditions, and execute things accordingly,” Kohli said. “This time around we were not able to.”

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title: India below par, Kohli says after rout


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Shincheonji Church of Jesus founder Lee Man-hee, center, yesterday speaks during a news conference at a church facility in Gapyeong, South Korea.Photo: AFP

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The leader of a secretive South Korean sect linked to more than half the country’s 4,000-plus coronavirus cases yesterday apologized for the spread of the disease.

Shincheonji Church of Jesus head Lee Man-hee’s plea for forgiveness came after Seoul city authorities filed a murder complaint against him for failing to cooperate in containing the epidemic.

South Korea’s case numbers are expected to rise as authorities carry out checks on more than 266,000 people associated with Shincheonji, which is often condemned as a cult.

“I would like to offer my sincere apology to the people,” said Lee, his voice breaking.

“Although it was not intentional, many people have been infected,” the 88-year-old said, twice getting to his knees to bow his head to the floor before reporters in Gapyeong, south of Seoul, where the church is headquartered. “I seek the forgiveness of the people.”

“I am very thankful to the government for its efforts,” he added. “I also seek the forgiveness of the government.”

Lee is revered by his followers as the “Promised Pastor” who has taken on the mantle of Jesus Christ and is to take 144,000 people with him to heaven on the Day of Judgement, which he will usher in within his own lifetime.

A 61-year-old female member developed a fever on Feb. 10, but attended at least four church services in Daegu before being diagnosed.

Lee — whose organization says he has tested negative for the virus — said that the group was “actively cooperating with the government.”

“At churches, the leader of the church is like a parent and its members are the children,” he said, pausing occasionally to wipe tears from his eyes as protesters shouted abuse. “What parent would stand by and watch when there is such a scary disease that could even lead to death? Wouldn’t they try to fix it?”

Seoul’s city government has asked prosecutors to press charges, including homicide, against Lee and 11 other leaders after the sect was accused of submitting false lists of its members to authorities.

Under South Korean law prosecutors can make their own decision on whether to act on complaints filed to them, and Yonhap news agency reported that the request had been assigned for investigation.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon wrote on Facebook: “If they had actively taken early measures, we could have prevented the explosive rise of COVID-19 cases in Daegu and North Gyeongbuk Province and the deaths of several people.”

South Korea yesterday reported 476 new coronavirus cases, taking the total to 4,212, while the death toll rose to 22 with four more people dying, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Authorities want any members who have come into contact with infected patients — whether or not they show symptoms — to enter self-quarantine.

Many members have not responded to health officials, Shincheonji director of international missions Kim Shin-chang said.

“It is possible that our members are not completely forthcoming with the authorities on their movements out of fear their Shincheonji affiliation could be exposed,” Kim said. “Social hatred and discrimination against our members is so pervasive that many fear losing their jobs or fueling conflict among family members if their faith is revealed.”

“We have urged our members to tell the authorities everything,” said Kim, but he added that doing so was a “personal decision.”

title: Virus outbreak: Sect leader apologizes over virus spread


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Markets sink but prove ‘resilient,’ BIS says

TAKEN BY SURPRISE:After an ‘initial, short-lived shock’ last month, market participants had taken a benign view of the effect COVID-19 would have, a BIS chief economist said
Markets worldwide have seen dramatic drops over the past week amid coronavirus fears, but thanks to reforms following the global financial crisis, they are proving “resilient,” the Bank of International Settlements’ (BIS) chief economist said on Sunday.

Presenting a quarterly review of the Basel-based BIS, considered the central bank for central banks, Claudio Borio, head of the BIS monetary and economic department, said that “markets had a rude awakening last week.”

He said that after an “initial, short-lived shock” last month, when the COVID-19 epidemic was exploding in China, “market participants had taken a rather benign view of the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy.”

Yet all of that changed last week as the global spread of the virus picked up, sending stock markets plunging to their lowest levels since the 2008 global financial crisis over fears that the disease could wreak havoc on the world economy.

The virus has now killed nearly 3,000 people and infected more than 87,000 worldwide, with an increasing number of new cases being reported each day.

“Acute concerns and uncertainty gripped market participants, as the expectation of a rapid V-shaped recovery now appeared grossly unrealistic,” Borio said.

He pointed especially to markets in risk assets, which “plunged as if no bottom was in sight: No one wants to catch a falling knife.”

Leading European stock markets lost more than 10 percent in just one week, while Wall Street fell 12 percent.

Crude oil prices tumbled as well, and analysts said that central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve, might have to shift into crisis-resolution mode with urgent interest rate cuts.

However, despite the sharp drops and widespread “turmoil and anxiety,” Borio said that “both market functioning and financial intermediation more generally proved resilient.”

“The post-crisis regulatory reforms aimed at strengthening financial institutions are bearing fruit,” he said.

However, he added that “uncertainty rules globally [and] the situation remains fluid.”

“One thing is for sure, financial markets will continue to dance to the tune of news about the virus and of the authorities’ response,” he said.

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title: US states move to ban LGBT ‘panic defense’ for crimes

content_text:
By Oscar Lopez / Thomson Reuters Foundation, MEXICO CITY
Lisa Kuhnhausen-Woods had never heard of the “panic defense” — where an accused person says they acted violently due to the shock of finding out someone is gay or transgender — until the body of her missing 17-year-old daughter was found in a forest.

The police have said that the man accused of murdering Nikki, who was trans, told them that when she disclosed her gender identity to him, it made him “really uncomfortable” and “disturbed him.”

When Kuhnhausen-Woods realized that “trans panic” could be used as a defense in her daughter’s case, she decided to act — and started drumming up support for a bill that would see the legal strategy banned in Washington state, where she lives.

“Nikki didn’t deserve this ... it was a hate crime,” Kuhnausen-Woods, 52, told reporters. “I don’t feel there’s any justification in the panic defense.”

The suspect pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and malicious harassment, with trial set for July.

Washington is likely to become the 10th US state to ban “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses, after the state US Senate on Wednesday last week approved the Nikki Kuhnhausen Act.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee is expected to approve the bill in the next few weeks.

Laws banning the panic defense are being considered in at least five other US states, while federal legislation outlawing the practice was introduced last year.

New Zealand banned the panic defense in 2009 and Australia plans to outlaw it in South Australia, the country’s last state where it is still legal.

“It’s not going to help Nikki’s case, but it will help future families,” Kuhnhausen-Woods said. “There are other beautiful transgender children out there that need to be protected.”

HOMOPHOBIA IN COURT

Rights advocates said that outlawing the panic defense will not only ensure justice for victims of LGBT+ hate crimes, but also help tackle homophobia and transphobia in US courts.

“These laws help root out anti-LGBT bias in the justice system,” Richard Saenz, an attorney at LGBT+ rights group Lambda Legal, said in e-mailed comments.

“There is momentum to prohibit a defense that ... depends on the court system to permit the dehumanization of LGBT victims of hate violence,” he said.

The panic defense has been condemned by the American Bar Association, but it is still widely used in cases involving gay and trans victims to reduce charges or even acquit defendants.

Carsten Andresen, a criminal justice expert at St Edward’s University in Texas has tracked 104 cases where panic defenses have been used since 1970. Of these, 16 have occurred in the past three years.

Andresen said the actual number might be far higher, given the strategy is rarely named directly, making it difficult to track.

“This tactic is much more widespread than people might recognize,” Andresen said. “There are a lot of cases where they don’t attract attention ... and so this homophobic or transphobic bias seeps into the cases.”

Defendants who used the gay panic defense had murder charges reduced in nearly one-third of cases, Andresen’s analysis found.

In 2018, a man charged with killing his male neighbor in Texas was convicted of the state’s lowest grade felony and was sentenced to six months in jail after his attorney argued that he acted in self-defence following unwanted sexual advances.

“There are these really ugly biases out there,” Andresen said. “It is really chilling to the [LGBT+] community if they think that someone can get a lower penalty or even an acquittal if they use that defense.”

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title: Multilingualism is not a burden

content_text:
Proposed by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1999, International Mother Language Day has been celebrated on Feb. 21 every year since 2000.

Over the past 20 years, people have witnessed the most vigorous development of the Hakka language ever in Taiwan: In 2001, the Hakka Affairs Council — the world’s only national agency dedicated to Hakka affairs — was established as part of the Executive Yuan, and in the same year, the Ministry of Education started to include Hakka and other local languages in the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines.

That was followed by the launch of Hakka TV in 2003, the passage of the Hakka Basic Act (客家基本法) in 2010 and the Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法) last year and the establishment of Hakka colleges in major higher education institutions, such as National Central University, National United University and National Chiao Tung University.

Since joining the Hakka TV Station 17 years ago, work has taken me to Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Norway to report on their preservation and revival of local languages.

In Taiwan, we often hear people say that mother tongues should “take root.” For example, some kindergartens apply language immersion in their Hakka language teaching, so that preschoolers start learning their mother tongue from a young age.

It sounded logical until I talked to an official on the Welsh Language Board, who made me think that “taking root” has more to do with learning from a young age.

“Mother tongue” literally means one’s mother’s language, and this is where the Welsh approach starts off — they directly target pregnant women in hospitals and obstetrics and gynecology clinics. It is a decisive moment when a mother talks to her baby for the first time — she is a decisive influence on the language the child will use.

In Wales, the government offers pregnant women a wealth of services. For example, there is a parental kit that contains health, hygiene and other information, similar to the Mother’s Handbook in Taiwan.

The Welsh Language Board visits the obstetrics and gynecology clinics to give briefings and ask prospective parents if they have considered speaking Welsh to their children.

The parental kit also provides details of Welsh-speaking nannies, kindergartens and schools available near where parents live.

In addition, it provides academic survey data to make parents aware of the difference in academic performance between monolingual students and students who attend bilingual — Welsh and English — schools from a young age, comparing their results at elementary school and later major entrance examinations.

The board does this, because it is aware that bilingual students perform better academically and it wants to let parents know as early as possible that learning their mother tongue would not affect other aspects of their children’s learning, and might even make then perform far better than students who do not learn to speak their mother tongue.

Using this as bait, they try to persuade parents to let their children start learning Welsh as soon as they are born.

In addition to this approach to make the mother tongue “take root,” the way European countries treat the languages of ethnic groups have also made an impression on me during my visits to various countries over the past dozen years.

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content_text:
China using visas against foreign reporters: group

SUPPRESSION:None of the foreign reporters in a survey said that reporting conditions in China had improved, with a majority saying that they experienced harassment
The Chinese government has “weaponized” visas as part of a stepped-up campaign of pressure on foreign journalists operating in the country, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) said in a report yesterday.

China last month revoked the visas of three Wall Street Journal reporters in Beijing after the newspaper declined to apologize for a column with a headline calling China the “real sick man of Asia.”

Another reporter with the paper had to leave last year after China declined to renew his visa.

“Since 2013, when [Chinese President] Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ascension to power was completed, China has forced out nine foreign journalists, either through outright expulsion or by non-renewal of visas. The FCCC fears that China is preparing to expel more journalists,” the group said, citing responses from 114 reporters to a survey.

“Chinese authorities are using visas as weapons against the foreign press like never before, expanding their deployment of a long-time intimidation tactic as working conditions for foreign journalists in China markedly deteriorated in 2019,” it said.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Beijing has previously denied accusations that it is limiting press freedoms for foreign reporters.

It has also criticized foreign media coverage of issues like the treatment of minority Uighurs in Xinjiang region, protests in Hong Kong and China’s senior leadership, calling it biased.

The FCCC said that for a second year running, none of the respondents to the survey said reporting conditions in China had improved, with 82 percent saying that they had experienced interference, harassment or violence while out reporting.

One-quarter of respondents also said they had received visas of less than 12 months.

China-based foreign reporters typically receive one-year visas and have to renew them annually.

“As China reaches new heights of economic influence, it has shown a growing willingness to use its considerable state power to suppress factual reporting that does not fit with the global image it seeks to present,” the report said.

“As scrutiny is intensifying toward China, it is more important than ever for foreign media to have freedom to report and cover the country,” the report added.

“The ability for foreign journalists to be based in China without impediment is crucial for quality international news coverage about the country,” it said.

Some Reuters journalists are members of the FCCC.

There were 536 foreign journalists registered in China, according to a government directory published last year.

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title: Taiwan Business Quick Take

content_text:
CHIP DESIGNERS

RichWave remains bullish

RichWave Technology Corp (立積電子), which designs radio frequency ICs, said its business outlook for this year is positive as customer demand remains strong, despite the COVID-19 outbreak. Thanks to sustained growth in networking products and potential penetration of Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) Wi-Fi front-end module supply chains, revenue this year is expected to be higher than last year’s NT$2.75 billion (US$91.3 million), RichWave said yesterday. The company posted net income of NT$190.74 million for last year, or earnings per share of NT$3.13, a 7.65 percent year-on-year increase from NT$177.19 million last year. The company’s board of directors has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$1.94, suggesting a payout ratio of 61.98 percent, RichWave said.

CHIP DESIGNERS

Aspeed posts higher revenue

Aspeed Technology Inc (信驊), which designs chips for servers that support cloud-computing technology, yesterday said higher demand for servers boosted revenue last year by 15.36 percent year-on-year to NT$2.48 billion, while net income increased 21.17 percent to NT$831 million, or earnings per share of NT$24.39. The company’s board of directors has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$22 per common share, a dividend yield of 2.19 percent based on the closing share price of NT$1,005 in Taipei yesterday.

RESTAURANTS

Tofu unveils payout plan

Tofu Restaurant Co (豆府), the largest chain of multibrand Korean restaurants in the nation, said its board of directors yesterday proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$5.2 per share, a payout ratio of 78.1 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$6.66. The board also proposed distributing a stock dividend of 3 percent. Tofu posted net income of NT$130.15 million for last year, up 12.99 percent from NT$115.18 million the previous year, with revenue rising 26.24 percent from NT$1.11 billion to NT$1.40 billion. The firm opened eight new outlets last year under the Dubu House Korea (涓豆腐), Hanok Tofu (北村豆腐家) and Han Jeong Sig (韓姜熙小廚房) brands, as well as launching its new Pho Tau Bay (越南飛機河粉) brand.

TELECOMS

CHT dividend proposed

Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (CHT, 中華電信) board of directors last week proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$4.226 per common share, a payout ratio of 99.91 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$4.23. Should the proposal be ratified, the total amount of cash distributed to shareholders would be NT$32.78 billion, the company said in a statement. The dividend proposal is subject to the approval of shareholders at an annual general meeting scheduled for May 29.

COMPUTERS

Advantech to buy stake

Advantech Co Ltd (研華), the world’s largest industrial computer maker, yesterday said it is to acquire a 20 percent stake in Impelex Data Transfer Co Ltd (銳鼎科技), a company that specializes in smart manufacturing solutions. Advantech plans to form a strategic partnership with Impelex to leverage the latter’s know-how in the metals processing and hand tool industries, the firm said in a statement. Advantech also plans to help Impelex multiply its sales channels through its Internet of Things cloud computing platform, it said. The acquisition is part of a plan to establish Advantech as an industry 4.0 solutions provider in Southeast Asia, the company said.

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title: World Business Quick Take

content_text:
FRANCE

Le Maire pledges support

Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire yesterday said that the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak would be greater than previous estimates and pledged the government would provide necessary support to companies. The effect from the coronavirus, which has already hit the travel and tourism sectors and seen companies scale back travel and cancel conventions, would be “much more significant” than the 0.1 percent reduction in growth that the Ministry of Finance had forecast two weeks ago, he said on France2 television. Le Maire said he expects “coordinated action” from the G7 nations and the eurozone.

FOOD DELIVERY

Just Eat pursues arbitration

Online food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway yesterday said that it had started arbitration proceedings against a move by rival Delivery Hero to increase its stake in the company because it said it broke a standstill undertaking. German-based Delivery Hero said last month that it had entered into an agreement to acquire 8.4 million shares in Just Eat Takeaway for 798 million euros (US$884 million), financed by a multi-year equity collar transaction, which included about 400,000 shares it acquired when it sold its German food delivery businesses to Takeway.com last year.

AUTOMAKERS

Virus hits Tata sales

India’s Tata Motors Ltd saw a 34 percent slide in domestic sales last month, as automakers were hit by a lack of supply of parts from China amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Total domestic sales stood at 38,002 units last month, falling from 57,221 during the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Total sales were 40,634 units, a 32.4 percent drop. Total commercial vehicle sales were down 33 percent to 28,086, while passenger vehicle sales were down 31 percent, it said. The outbreak of the virus in China and a recent fire incident at one of the company’s strategic vendors affected passenger vehicle production and wholesale volumes, Tata said.

ITALY

More measures planned

The country this week plans to introduce measures worth 3.6 billion euros to help the economy withstand the largest outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe, Minister of Economy and Finances Roberto Gualtieri said on Sunday. In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Gualtieri said that this amounted to 0.2 percent of GDP and would come on top of an aid-package worth 900 million euros that was unveiled on Friday for the worst-impacted areas. Gualtieri said the new bill would include tax credits for companies that reported a 25 percent drop in revenues, tax cuts and additional funds for the health service.

TOURISM

Beijing to manage HNA

China took over management of HNA Group Co’s (海航集團) liquidity risks after the COVID-19 outbreak hit the travel industry and the indebted conglomerate’s main source of income, a sign the government is taking more dramatic steps to contain the fallout for business from the epidemic. The government of Hainan, the southern island province where HNA is based, appointed an executive chairman for the company and set up a working group of officials from the municipality, the civil aviation authority and China Development Bank (中國國家開發銀行) to oversee the effort, HNA said in a statement on Saturday.

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content_text:
People in Seoul yesterday watch a television showing a news report on North Korea firing two missiles, diplaying a file photograph of a previous missile launch.Photo: Reuters
North Korea yesterday fired two short-range missiles off the east coast into the sea, resuming testing after a three-month pause, South Korea’s military said.

The missiles were launched from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan and flew 240km and reached 35km in altitude, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

North Korea appears to be continuing a firing drill that its leader, Kim Jong-un, oversaw on Friday, the JCS said.

Yesterday’s launch was the first since the North fired what it called “super-large multiple rocket launchers” on Nov. 28 last year.

South Korea’s presidential Blue House said national security adviser Chung Eui-yong held an emergency video conference with ministers of related agencies to analyze the latest test.

“The ministers expressed strong concern over North Korea’s resumption of short-range missile launches in three months,” the Blue House said in a statement. “Such actions are unhelpful for efforts to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and they urged North Korea to stop them.”

JCS said it is monitoring for potential additional launches.

“The launches could be viewed as a symbolic gesture marking the one-year anniversary of the [US President Donald] Trump-Kim Hanoi summit ending in a no-deal,” said Choi Soon-mi, a professor of North Korean studies at Ajou University’s Institute of Unification in Suwon. “And they could be using this day as a platform to nudge for either Washington or Seoul to take actions for their demands, such as sanctions relief.”

Based on the limited information available, the projectiles appear to be the KN-24 — a solid-fuel, short-range ballistic missile — or a multiple rocket launch system, said Melissa Hanham, a weapons expert and deputy director of the Open Nuclear Network.

With their low altitude and maneuverability, KN-24 missiles “are difficult to track and intercept,” Hanham said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch a serious issue for the international community, while China reiterated a call for dialogue in response to the missile launch and said all sides involved in efforts to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons should reconcile conflicts through discussion.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg

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title: N Korea fires two short-range missiles


content_text:
Coronavirus shows scale of task to fix China’s flawed healthcare

China’s heavy reliance on large hospitals increases the risk of cross-infection,
and robs smaller clinics of resources and skilled personnel
Even before the COVID-19 epidemic struck, China faced a monumental task to bring its healthcare system up to scratch.

Now, the scale of that challenge has been highlighted after the virus exposed an over-reliance on big hospitals in major cities and shortcomings in how the state responds to emergencies, even with a mechanism built after the SARS outbreak in 2003 in place.

The extensive economic fallout from COVID-19 is set to trigger a renewed focus on fixing the healthcare system, just as SARS did 17 years ago.

China already has an ambitious goal of building a world-class system this decade.

There would be broader economic dividends from doing so. The average Chinese household saves about 45 percent of its income, in part to cover costs like medical bills. A better social safety net with higher-quality healthcare would help unleash more consumption as families reduce their precautionary savings.

China envisions a 16 trillion yuan (US$2.3 trillion) healthcare industry by 2030. A blueprint laid out in 2016 called “Healthy China 2030” vowed to improve public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities to match those of developed countries.

It also set targets including increasing the average life expectancy to 79 years in 2030, lowering infant and maternal mortality rates, and having at least three physicians and 4.7 nurses per 1,000 people.

However, that still seems a distant goal. Beijing resident Stella Duan is a frequent visitor to the city’s leading hospitals and every time she knows what to expect: Hours spent in packed lobbies and crowded waiting rooms with dozens of other anxious patients.

“When I visited a gynecologist at Beijing Shijitan Hospital in September [last year], I waited two hours to see a doctor,” said Duan, 27, who was lucky enough to have an appointment. “There were three to five counters open and lines of 10 or more people at every one.”

Such an environment, replicated in major hospitals across China, aids the spread of diseases like COVID-19, first identified in Wuhan in December last year before triggering a global health emergency.

When the coronavirus combined with a governance failure that allowed it to spread virtually unchecked for more than a month, it helped unleash what Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) now calls the most difficult outbreak since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power 70 years ago.

He has urged the nation to “strengthen areas of weakness and close the loopholes exposed by the current epidemic.”

“For a time, we thought SARS was a watershed for the healthcare system,” said Huang Yanzhong (黃嚴忠), who directs the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University in New Jersey and is a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It did result in big change. Then this coronavirus showed us the emergency response system didn’t function as expected.”

Making the existing system work is one thing, but China also still needs an upgrade requiring more investment in a weak primary care system of local clinics and small community hospitals.

That effort has so far failed to gain significant traction, despite hundreds of billions of yuan in investment in primary care facilities between 2009 and 2018.

A key reason is the dominance of big hospitals in China’s healthcare system, which enables them to attract the nation’s best doctors and specialists, leaving smaller hospitals and clinics underutilized.

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH

content_text:
A : Beethoven pioneered a model for future generations of composers — in fact all creative artists — to generate an income.

B : How so?

A : Before Beethoven, the majority of composers were employed by aristocrats. Not only were they reliant on their employer for an annual salary, they also had to yield to their creative demands.

B : Whereas today, artists’ main source of income comes from royalties?

A : 貝多芬為後世的作曲家──甚至是所有藝術創作者──開啟了新的收入模式！

B : 怎麼說？

A : 在貝多芬之前，絕大多數作曲家都是受雇於貴族，領的是年薪，也要盡可能服從雇主的要求。

B : 但是現在，藝術創作者的主要收入來源都是作品的版稅吧？

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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title: Warhol’s world of fashion

content_text:
Warhol’s world of fashion

Throughout his career, Andy Warhol had a strong connection to fashion, which colored everything he created as an artist
“Artists aren’t supposed to dress up and I’ll never look right anyway,” Andy Warhol utters in Bob Colacello’s fantastic biographical Holy Terror book. It’s ironic, given that when anyone talks about men having a sartorial uniform, I always think of Warhol.

Specifically, the blazer, shirt, tie and jeans era. He often also had a plastic carrier bag in hand, with copies of his magazine Interview inside to give out to potential advertisers. Warhol was never not working. He was his art.

Warhol’s dedication to jeans is also something of a personal obsession; I recently bought three pairs of vintage Levi’s — his favorite denim brand. Arguably, one of the best denim-related stories is of Warhol keeping his Levi’s 501s on under his tuxedo suit — he was going to the White House for the first time — because the trousers were itchy. Then there is the picture of him skating in jeans and a blazer, or a roll neck with New Balance trainers, Basquiat in the foreground, topless and weight-training.

As Tate Modern is about to open a new Warhol show, attention to his style seems more pertinent than ever. During Milan men’s fashion week last month, I spotted a photograph of Warhol by Antonio Lopez in an exhibition at 10 Corso Como (on until April) in blazer, striped tie, clear-framed glasses and the infamous silvery grey wig.

He has also worn Comme des Garcons, had a shoe last named after him at Berluti and was photographed by Helmut Newton in 1974, lying down in a black leather trench. Most recently, Uniqlo has sold Warhol T-shirts and Saint Laurent are collaborating with Everlast on a boxing capsule collection inspired by Michael Halsband’s photographs of Warhol and Basquiat in Everlast.

Throughout his career, Warhol had a strong connection to fashion: as a young man in the 50s, he created illustrations for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Later he made friends with, and portraits of, designers including Diane von Furstenberg, Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace, Halston and Yves Saint Laurent. He hung out with legendary Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, briefly managed cult band Velvet Underground, and was quick to understand the zeitgeist — see his support for newcomers such as Keith Haring and Basquiat.

Warhol was not, however, just a trailblazing artist; he was also a star with an image to match.

“He really understood the idea of having a public persona,” says Fiontan Moran, assistant curator at Tate Modern. “Pop art was made from familiar objects, it was accessible and a winning combination with his distinctive visual identity.”

Colacello, who worked at Interview for years and was among Warhol’s inner circle, says his 60s look of “silvery white wig, dark wraparound sunglasses, black turtleneck under black leather jacket, black boots and, yes, blue jeans — was calculated to create a cool, hip, rebellious, even a bit sinister image. And it succeeded,” Fiontan says.

By the time Colacello met him in 1970, only the jeans remained. The rest had been replaced with Oxford shirts, conservative ties, clear-framed glasses and cord jackets.

“The suit-jacket-and-jeans look became the Factory look, preppy and businesslike but more edgy than corporate,” he says. “We all found this combination comfortable because we could go from an uptown dinner party to a downtown loft party and fit in, while also being a bit different.”


content_text:
Pope Francis waves as he delivers a prayer from a window overlooking Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday.Photo: AFP
A coughing Pope Francis told people gathered for the traditional Sunday blessing that he is canceling his participation in a week-long spiritual retreat in the Roman countryside because of a cold.

It is the first time in his seven-year papacy that he has missed the spiritual exercises that he initiated early in his pontificate to mark the start of each Lenten season. Such retreats are typical among Jesuits, an order to which he belongs.

The 83-year-old pontiff, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory illness as a young man, has canceled several official engagements this week as he battled an apparent cold.

His weekly appearance on Sunday from a window high above St Peter’s Square in Vatican City was the first time he has been seen publicly since Ash Wednesday last week, when he was seen coughing and blowing his nose during Mass.

Francis paused twice to cough on Sunday while addressing the crowd.

At the end, he asked for prayers for the spiritual retreat, adding: “Unfortunately a cold prevents me from participating this year. I will be following the meditation from here.”

The pope last week canceled two planned official audiences — formal affairs in the Apostolic Palace where Francis would have delivered a speech and greeted a great number of people at the end. Those were to include an audience with an international bioethics organization and with members of the Legion of Christ religious order.

Francis has never previously canceled so many official audiences or events in his papacy.

However, he was continuing to work from his residence at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel and was receiving people in private, the Vatican press office said.

On Saturday, those private meetings were with the head of the Vatican’s bishops’ office, Francis’ ambassadors to Lebanon and France, and a Ukrainian archbishop.

He was to have left on Sunday for the retreat outside of Rome.

The Vatican has described Francis’ condition as “a slight illness,” without giving other details.

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title: Pope cancels his participation in a retreat over illness


title: Netanyahu says accusations of bigotry ‘outrageous’

content_text:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday appeared to criticize US Senator Bernie Sanders, whose boycott of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has laid bare divisions among Democrats.

Sanders is staying away from the annual conference, saying it offers a platform for “leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights” and has denounced Netanyahu as a “reactionary racist.”

Netanyahu, addressing the conference by satellite on the eve of Israeli elections, did not name Sanders, but said: “This year AIPAC was accused of providing a platform for bigotry. These libelous charges are outrageous.”

Speaking to the thousands of people at a Washington convention center, Netanyahu said: “You send a powerful message to all those who seek to weaken our great alliance that they will fail.”

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, was far more direct in attacking Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

“We don’t want Sanders at AIPAC. We don’t want him in Israel,” Danon said. “Anyone who calls our prime minister a ‘racist’ is either a liar, an ignorant fool or both.”

Netanyahu has vowed to annex much of the West Bank if he secures another term, with Israelis voting yesterday for the third time in less than a year.

Calling the Palestinians “the pampered children of the international community,” Netanyahu voiced confidence that the US would recognize the annexation in line with a Middle East peace plan presented a month ago by US President Donald Trump.

“This will be a truly historic day. The map of Israel will change, the future of Israel will change, and it will change for the better,” Netanyahu said.

Sanders, asked about AIPAC in a televised interview on Sunday, promised to protect Israel’s security, but also to be more “even-handed.”

“What we need in this country is a foreign policy that not only protects Israel, but deals with the suffering of the Palestinian people as well,” he said.

Ex-military chief Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s rival in the election, did not mention Sanders in his own remarks by satellite to AIPAC, but vowed to rebuild support for Israel in the US.

“I will instill hope and not hate. That is the Israel we know; that is the Israel we need,” Gantz said. “Israel will never, ever become a partisan issue. I will work effectively across both sides of the aisle.”

While showing few gaps with Netanyahu on security issues, Gantz said he would oppose far-right politicians seeking to enter parliament and promised inclusion at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall.

AIPAC for years has been an election-year rite of passage for US presidential candidates, but only one Democratic contender plans to attend in person this time: former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Former US vice president Joe Biden, who won a primary on Saturday in South Carolina, sent a video message in which he urged Israelis and Palestinians not to scuttle a two-state solution.

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Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, left, scores against Aston Villa in the EFL Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on Sunday.Photo: AP
Pep Guardiola on Sunday hailed his Manchester City side’s desire to leave a lasting legacy after lifting a third straight EFL Cup by beating Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley thanks to goals from Sergio Aguero and Rodrigo.

City have now won eight of the past nine trophies on offer in English soccer under Guardiola, who has won 29 trophies in his managerial career.

“[Since] we won the first title here against Arsenal in the League Cup we played 11 competitions and won eight. Is a lot,” Guardiola said. “For this club it is not just about one title, it is about showing every game we play counts and we want to win. Everybody knows we have the responsibility to fight, to try to win the titles. Eight out of 11 is something remarkable.”

After City sped into a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes, Mbwana Samatta pulled a goal back for Villa, but their wait for the club’s first silverware since 1996 goes on.

“I’m disappointed. Everyone wrote us off, but there was a lot of belief in that dressing room,” Aston Villa manager Dean Smith said. “Unfortunately, you have a mountain to climb against a team like Man City when you go 2-0 behind.”

Guardiola made eight changes from the side that won 2-1 at Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday last week, with Kevin de Bruyne among those left on the bench.

However, it mattered little as City had the luxury of recalling Aguero, Raheem Sterling and David Silva, and the gulf in class showed.

Guardiola’s raft of changes also handed a rare start to Phil Foden and the 19-year-old more than justified his selection with a man-of-the-match performance.

Rodrigo’s fine pass picked out Foden, who headed back into the path of Aguero and the Argentine’s deflected effort beat Orjan Nyland in the Villa goal to open the scoring on 20 minutes.

Villa felt aggrieved at the source of City’s second as Jack Grealish fired the ball off Ilkay Gundogan for what should have been a goal-kick. Instead, City doubled their lead as Gundogan’s corner was met with a powerful downward header from Rodrigo.

Villa could barely even get a touch for the next 10 minutes as the holders threatened to run riot and repeat of the 6-1 thrashing they handed Villa in January.

Sterling had a glorious chance for his first goal of the year deflected behind by a brave block from Tyrone Mings, but moments later the reason Mings is ahead of John Stones in the pecking order for England selection became clear as the City defender fell over his own feet to give Villa a lifeline.

A long ball forward eventually fell to Anwar El Ghazi and from his cross Samatta headed low past Claudio Bravo, to the delight of the traveling thousands from Birmingham and Villa fan Prince William in the stands.

The difference in the desperation for success between the two supports was obvious as Villa were roared on vociferously throughout, while City failed to sell out their allocation.

City’s failure to turn their dominance into more goals in the second half gave the Villa fans belief in a fairy-tale fightback and it nearly arrived three minutes from time when Bjorn Engels rose highest at a corner, only for the often-criticized Bravo to turn his header onto the post and maintain City’s grip on the competition.

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title: Serial winner Guardiola hails consistent City


title: Israelis go to polls for a third time

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Orthodox Jews vote in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv during a parliamentary election yesterday.Photo: AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former military chief Benny Gantz yesterday headed to their third match-up in less than a year, as Israelis burdened by election fatigue and political paralysis looked grimly at polls forecasting another deadlock.

However, Netanyahu’s prospects appeared to have improved, as he went into the last stretch ahead of yesterday’s race.

A year of political paralysis has not dented Israel’s economy, which expanded at an unexpectedly faster clip of 3.5 percent last year on consumer spending and a booming technology sector. However, there is concern that continued stalemate would alienate investors and delay reforms to the ailing health, education and infrastructure systems.

If no government is formed after the vote, Israel’s credit rating might suffer, Bank Hapoalim Ltd said in a report on Sunday.

Netanyahu, indicted in three graft cases, has been gambling on successive revotes to win a majority in parliament and possibly keep himself out of jail. Two major developments have rippled through the body politic since Israelis last cast ballots in September.

The once all-powerful prime minister watched corruption suspicions ripen into indictments and a March 17 trial date.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump’s administration reshuffled the Middle East deck with a peace plan that would allow Israel to unilaterally annex large chunks of the West Bank, in a harsh blow to the Palestinians’ statehood aspirations.

While these moves could have far-reaching implications, polls suggest they have not tilted the contest toward a clearcut verdict.

Netanyahu built momentum in the last two weeks of the campaign, and his Likud party overtook Gantz’s Blue and White in polls after consistently trailing before. Yet he and his religious and nationalist allies still fell short of a parliamentary majority.

The last surveys gave the prime minister’s camp as many as 59 of parliament’s 120 seats, while the rival bloc led by Gantz would win up to 57.

If the polls are borne out, then the fulcrum would shift to coalition negotiations that did not end the impasse in the previous two rounds of voting.

The surveys’ margin of error makes a Netanyahu victory realistic, but if he cannot scrape together a 61-seat majority, a variety of options could ensue, said Abraham Diskin, an emeritus professor of political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

“There could be a rebellion in both camps” against their leaders,” Diskin said. “You could have a minority government. You could have a unity government, and there could be another election.”

In a sign of the times, isolated voting stations were put up in parking lots to accommodate about 5,600 Israelis under house quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19.

Election workers and voters at these stations operated in separate tents with transparent panels that allowed the workers to supervise voting. Voters were aksed to don masks and gloves, and put their identifying papers in plastic bags to lessen the risk of infection.

The absence of a fully functioning government since December 2018 has put off decisive action on many fronts as security, political and diplomatic challenges mount.

Confrontations with Iran-backed militants on the country’s northern and southern frontiers have flared sporadically, and while the economy has been robust, risks are piling up.

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title: Real win ‘El Clasico’ to go top

content_text:
Real win ‘El Clasico’ to go top

CATALAN CRISIS?The win shifted the focus back to Quique Setien’s Barcelona, who were outfought and, at times, outplayed at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu
Real Madrid’s Mariano Diaz, center, scores past Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, left, in their Spanish La Liga match at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid on Sunday.Photo: EPA-EFE
Real Madrid on Sunday won El Clasico and might have saved their season as they ended their slump in the best way possible by beating Barcelona 2-0 and returning to the top of La Liga.

Vinicius Jr’s deflected finish and a stoppage-time goal from Mariano Diaz decided a frenzied contest at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Madrid found new life after a UEFA Champions League defeat by Manchester City had left them on the brink of crisis.

“It’s been a tough week,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “We talked about how we had an opportunity this weekend and we took it.”

The victory put them one point clear at the top of the table and shifts the focus back to Quique Setien’s Barcelona, who were outfought and, at times, outplayed.

“The reality is we lost a lot of confidence with the ball,” Setien said. “We entered a nervous spell and that’s when the goal came.”

Lionel Messi’s rasping shot was saved by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in the first half, but it was the Argentine’s opposing captain, Sergio Ramos, who was thrashing his arms in celebration after the final whistle.

His reaction was an indication of the importance of the victory, not only for the effect it has on the standings, but on the dynamic of the title race, which had seemed to be switching firmly in favor of Barca.

Cristiano Ronaldo, now of Juventus, was watching from an executive box and Madrid could have done with him during a period in which they had won only one of their past five games.

Zidane on Saturday said the match would not decide who lifted the trophy, but a Barca win and a five-point gap might well have been difficult to close. Yet from the start Barcelona seemed keener to kill the game than win it, playing for time in the hope of keeping the contest tight, when they might have been better off attacking.

“The Madrid we faced in the first half was one of the worst Madrids I have faced at the Bernabeu,” Gerard Pique said. “I don’t say it as a criticism, we also have our problems, but we’ve missed an opportunity.”

There was more tension than creativity in the early stages as Fede Valverde crashed into Arthur Melo, before fullbacks Dani Carvajal and Jordi Alba were booked after a disagreement.

Madrid had the better of the play and regularly broke at speed through Vinicius down the left, but constantly they failed to make the final pass, with Isco once left with his head in his hands after Marcelo opted not to pull the ball back.

Barcelona were sloppy after halftime and Madrid should have capitalized. Instead, Isco’s header beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but not Pique on the line and Karim Benzema volleyed over after a sloppy pass from Arturo Vidal.

Vidal was replaced by Martin Braithwaite, Barca’s emergency signing, and he sprinted in behind Marcelo twice in his first minute, but Madrid remained in the ascendancy and in the 71st minute they took the lead.

Benzema came short and pointed right to encourage Vinicius to run in behind. Toni Kroos found him and Vinicius’ shot deflected off Pique to beat Ter Stegen at his near post.

The game opened up as Barcelona chased an equalizer.

Marcelo celebrated when Messi’s surge through was stopped by Raphael Varane. Pique headed Messi’s cross over at the near post. Messi picked up a yellow card for a frustrated slide on Casemiro.

In stoppage-time, Ter Stegen ventured up for a late free-kick, but Madrid struck again when Mariano sped past Nelson Semedo and finished from a tight angle.

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Australian summers are lengthening by a month or more while winters are getting shorter due to climate change, according to an analysis by a leading think tank released yesterday.

The Australia Institute said large swathes of the country were experiencing an additional 31 days of summer temperatures each year compared with the 1950s.

While Sydney was just under the average with an extra 28 hot days a year, Melbourne added 38 warmer days since the middle of the 20th century.

In some regional areas ravaged by bushfires in recent months, such as the New South Wales town of Port Macquarie, residents are now experiencing seven more weeks of typical summer temperatures.

“Temperatures which were considered a regular three-month summer in the 1950s now span from early-to-mid-November all the way to mid-March,” Australia Institute climate and energy program director Richie Merzian said.

“Summers have grown longer even in recent years, with the last five years facing summers twice as long as their winters,” he said.

Australia’s capital, Canberra, lost 35 winter days while Brisbane, in the east, lost 31 cooler days.

Merzian said global warming was making the country’s summers increasingly dangerous, with less time in winter to carry out bushfire prevention work and extreme heat causing health and economic impacts.

“Extreme heat events are the most fatal of all natural hazards and have been responsible for more deaths in Australia than all other natural hazards put together,” he said.

Australia’s latest summer heralded a devastating bushfire disaster in which more than 30 people died, thousands of homes were destroyed and at least a billion animals perished.

The crisis led to renewed calls for the country’s conservative government to cut the emissions contributing to global warming.

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title: Australian summers getting longer due to climate change


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Minstry to give shopping districts NT$100m boost

The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday revealed a NT$100 million (US$3.32 million) budget to improve infrastructure in shopping districts nationwide as it looks to stimulate the local economy amid a COVID-19 outbreak.

“Put it this way, the coronavirus is providing us with a unique opportunity where shopping districts can take advantage of the current lull in business to shape up,” Small and Medium Enterprise Administration Director-General Ho Chin-tsang (何晉滄) told the Taipei Times by telephone.

The NT$100 million budget would be mainly spent on upgrading existing public infrastructure within 20 selected shopping districts across the nation, Ho said.

“We are looking at everything from refurbishing public washrooms to installing centralized waste water treatment facilities for food stalls,” Ho said, adding that shopping districts would be encouraged to focus on improving the customer experience to attract more business.

“Shopping districts should also focus on implementing more environmentally friendly facilities and equipment,” he added.

While the ministry is still discussing the exact criteria, shopping districts that wish to participate would each have to submit a project plan for approval, Ho said.

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Virus Outbreak: CECC adds masks; new case confirmed

RATIONING:From Thursday, people can buy three adult masks and five children’s masks every seven days, as domestic production ramps up to meet demand
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung holds a signboard showing the increased weekly ration of masks — three per week for adults and five per week for children — at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The Central Epidemic Control Center (CECC) yesterday confirmed a new case of COVID-19 and announced that people would be allowed to buy more masks per week at pharmacies from Thursday.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the center, said the latest confirmed case — the nation’s 41st — is a woman in her 20s, who is the daughter of the 34th case announced on Friday.

“The woman visited her mother many times and took care of her while she was hospitalized,” he said. “Her first test for COVID-19 was negative, but her second test was positive.”

The 34th case was hospitalized for hypoglycemia on Feb. 14 and was reported as a suspected COVID-19 case on Wednesday last week.

Three nurses and one janitor who work at the hospital where she was treated were also confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19.

Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said the daughter visited her mother at the hospital from Feb. 15 to Wednesday last week and did not show any symptoms of the virus, but was hospitalized for COVID-19 testing on Friday.

The hospital has disinfected its emergency room and the room in which the mother stayed from Friday to Sunday, the CECC said.

It said that 231 people who had come into close contact with the cluster of cases would be tested, including 197 people who already tested negative.

Meanwhile, Chen said that as the domestic production of masks has been increasing steadily, the government would make changes to its mask rationing policy, in which people are allowed to buy a limited number of masks at pharmacies by presenting their National Health Insurance card or an Alien Resident Certificate.

“Each adult will be allowed to buy three masks every seven days, and children can buy five masks every seven days, while the rules of buying them remain the same,” he said.

Chen said the supply of adult masks to pharmacies would be increased from 400 masks per day to 600, while the supply of children’s masks would remain the same at 200 masks.

Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said that average production last week reached about 6.6 million masks per day.

Sixty new pieces of mask manufacturing equipment are undergoing performance tuning, and daily production is expected to reach 8.2 million pieces this week and 9.2 million pieces next week once the new machines come online, she said.

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people: 邱國正 賴清德

content_text:
Time to push penalties for PRC residency cards: call

RENEW DRIVE:Draft amendments have been stalled in the Legislative Yuan for almost a year and now is the perfect time to pass them, Taiwan Democracy Watch said
By Chung Li-hua and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Legislative Yuan has yet to take action on the Mainland Affairs Council’s proposed amendments to penalize Taiwanese who use the Chinese residency permit introduced by Beijing in 2018, Taiwan Democracy Watch said yesterday.

The residency card introduced in September 2018 allows Taiwanese, Hong Kongers and Macanese who have lived in China for more than six months and are legally working, living or studying in China certain rights and benefits enjoyed by Chinese citizens, such as state-funded education, social insurance and housing subsidies.

Taiwanese officials at the time said the cards were designed to evade provisions in the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) that ban Taiwanese holding household registrations simultaneously in Taiwan and China.

The council that same month proposed amendments to the act that would require holders of the Chinese residency cards to report to authorities, and then-premier William Lai (賴清德), who is now vice president-elect, said the amendments would be reviewed at the next legislative session.

However, the proposed amendments have stalled since last spring, Taiwan Democracy Watch director Chiou Wen-tsong (邱文聰) said.

Although legislators continued to push for such amendments after Lai resigned on Jan. 14 last year, and the council sent additional suggestions to the legislature in April, there has been no follow-up since then, Chiou said.

Now would be an ideal time to push through the proposals, given the atmosphere caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in China, he said.

A report submitted to the legislature by National Security Bureau Director-General Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) in November last year estimated that about 100,000 Taiwanese hold the Chinese residency cards, and Chiu said the bureau was concerned about the potential impact of the card system on Taiwan’s elections and would closely monitor the situation.

As the cards can be used in place of a passport at China’s border crossings, Taiwanese authorities cannot determine the exact number of Taiwanese entering or leaving China, leaving them dependent upon information provided by airlines, a China researcher said on condition of anonymity.

This is one reason that they could not determine the exact number of Taiwanese trapped in Wuhan by the COVID-19 outbreak, and could only get rough estimates from a Taiwanese businesspeople’s association, the researcher said.

The government should require Taiwanese holders of Chinese residency cards to declare the cards when they arrive in Taiwan from China, Chiou said.

As the Chinese government requires card applicants to be resident in China for at least 183 days prior to applying for a card, Taiwan needs to consider whether these cardholders should be allowed to enjoy healthcare and other social benefits in Taiwan, he said.

Given that Beijing is using the cards to “naturalize” Taiwanese, the government should respond by recognizing these cardholders as having dual citizenship, he added.

However, Cross-Strait Policy Association secretary-general Chang Pai-ta (張百達) said that while anti-China sentiment is high right now, the government should be cautious about changing cross-strait policy.

The passage of amendments aimed at China residency card holders would have a wider impact than the passage of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) on Dec. 31 last year did, and would affect Taiwanese working, studying or doing business in China, Chang said.

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title: NT dollar climbs as foreigners flee

content_text:
During the most severe week of foreign outflows from the nation’s equity market since 2011, the New Taiwan dollar did something strange — it strengthened.

Market watchers offered several theories for the gains. Some speculated that local companies were speeding up repatriation of investments, an initiative encouraged by the government. Others said that insurers might be bringing back cash from redemptions of their foreign investments.

Foreigners could also want to buy equities again soon, meaning they would refrain from converting local money into US dollars.

“I suspect the money is staying as foreign investors also expect this to be short-lived and will look for buying opportunities again,” Bloomberg Intelligence Asia currency and rates strategist Stephen Chiu (趙志軒) said. “Another thing is the capital repatriation scheme is still ongoing and could be one structural support.”

Overseas investors yanked US$3.1 billion from the nation’s equity market last week, including Wednesday’s biggest single-day outflows since 2014. The NT dollar rose 0.2 percent in the period, central bank data showed.

The NT dollar yesterday strengthened 0.68 percent, the largest in more than four months, to close at NT$30.124 to the US dollar, compared with NT$30.33 on Thursday last week.

The foreign exchange market was closed on Friday last week due to the 228 Memorial Day holiday.

Other emerging-market currencies also rose yesterday, led by a surging South Korean won, as investors took heart from the US’ readiness to cut interest rates.

The won jumped as much as 1.9 percent, while the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit each advanced at least 0.5 percent after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday last week said that the central bank would “act as appropriate” to combat the economic threat of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Additional reporting by staff writer

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