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AIRLINES

Chinese carriers post losses

Chinese airlines reported a total loss of 20.96 billion yuan (US$3 billion) for last month as the COVID-19 outbreak spread and hit travel demand, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said yesterday. China’s overall aviation industry recorded a loss of 24.59 billion yuan for the month, Zhang Qing, an official with the aviation regulator, told a news conference. The total number of airline passengers last month fell 84.5 percent year-on-year to 8.34 million, the regulator said.

BEVERAGES

Pepsi to buy Rockstar

PepsiCo Inc on Wednesday said it is buying energy drink maker Rockstar Energy Beverages for US$3.85 billion. The acquisition would expand PepsiCo’s portfolio of energy drinks, which already includes Mountain Dew’s Kickstart, GameFuel and AMP. Rockstar, founded in 2001, makes 30 variations of drinks and is sold in more than 30 countries. PepsiCo and Rockstar have had a distribution agreement in North America since 2009. The deal is targeted to close in the first half of the year.

TELECOMS

AG backs off T-Mobile deal

California’s attorney general on Wednesday said that the state would not appeal a judge’s decision approving T-Mobile Inc’s US$26.5 billion purchase of Sprint Corp. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 14 state attorneys general who sued to stop the deal. They had argued that eliminating a major wireless company would harm consumers by reducing competition and adding billions of US dollars in costs through higher phone bills. The merger has been approved by the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Communications Commission.

AIRLINES

Lufthansa cancels flights

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG on Wednesday said that it would cancel 23,000 flights across the group, a 50 percent reduction, as it tries to deal with the fallout from COVID-19. “Due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the spread of the virus,” Lufthansa said that it would scrap the flights between March 29 and April 24, with more “expected in the coming weeks.” Previously, Lufthansa had detailed 7,100 cancelations up to the end of its winter flight plan on March 28.

AUTOMAKERS

Tesla adjusts sales forecast

Tesla Inc would probably sell about 10 percent fewer vehicles this year than previously expected as the coronavirus outbreak weighs on demand, Morgan Stanley said. The bank slashed its sales target this year for Tesla to deliver 452,000 vehicles from the previous estimate of 500,000, a note to clients said yesterday. Tesla’s volumes would probably drop about 10 percent in Europe this year, hurt by the coronavirus and softening of incentives in markets such as Norway and the Netherlands, the bank said.

RETAIL

Best Buy chairman to leave

Hubert Joly, who engineered Best Buy Co’s successful turnaround after arriving in 2012, is to step down as executive chairman, the company said in a statement. Lead director Patrick Doyle would replace Joly as chairman after the company’s shareholders’ meeting on June 11. The electronics retailer has an agreement with Joly for him to serve as a consultant to the company for a year, with an option for the arrangement to be renewed. He would be considered an independent contractor.

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title: World Business Quick Take


title: Eurozone bond markets turn to ECB for virus relief

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Government bond yields in much of the eurozone yesterday fell, before a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting widely expected to deliver new stimulus measures to help buffer the economy from the shock inflicted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The virus, now officially a global pandemic, has sparked a lockdown in Italy, triggered turmoil across world markets and dealt a fresh blow to a weakened eurozone economy.

News that US President Donald Trump has banned travel from Europe knocked risk assets yesterday, pushing yields on safe-haven government bonds in the eurozone down 2 to 3 basis points in early trade.

Germany’s 10-year Bund yield fell to minus-0.78 percent, keeping Monday’s record low in sight.

Italian bonds sold off with other risk assets, pushing 10-year bond yields there up about 7 basis points to 1.26 percent.

Trade was subdued ahead of the ECB meeting, which came a day after the Bank of England delivered an emergency half-point rate cut.

The US Federal Reserve slashed rates last week in an unexpected move to guard its economy against COVID-19.

The ECB was expected to provide new, ultra-cheap loans for banks to pass on to small and medium-sized firms.

It was also likely to debate an interest rate cut, though that move is uncertain.

Analysts said that a collapse in eurozone market inflation expectations — exacerbated by a crash in oil prices — also raises pressure on the ECB to ramp up monthly asset purchases, currently at 20 billion euros (US$22.48 billion).

The five-year, five-year breakeven inflation forward has fallen to record lows below 1 percent, a sign that investors are starting to price in deflation risks.

The rush to own top-rated German bonds, amid heightened uncertainty, has pushed up relative borrowing costs for other eurozone states.

In Italy, the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, the 10-year bond yield gap over Germany on Monday blew out 50 basis points — the biggest one-day spread widening since May 2018.

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The world’s premier video game trade show, due to be held in June in Los Angeles, was canceled on Wednesday over the spread of COVID-19.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) said that the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) would not take place, becoming the latest in a growing list of canceled conferences.

“Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation,” the association said in an online post.

“We know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today,” it said.

The annual event has been a showcase for new video game titles, trends and hardware, attracting people from around the world.

E3 had long been restricted to members of the industry, but in recent years, it has dabbled with opening sections of the show to fans.

New-generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles along with games tailored for the hardware were expected to be in the spotlight at E3 this year.

PlayStation-maker Sony Corp pulled out of E3 earlier this year, but Microsoft Corp had events planned for the gathering.

“After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry — our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners — we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020,” organizers said.

The ESA added that it is working with video game industry companies on streaming events or announcements to online audiences to share news planned for release at E3.

French video game giant Ubisoft SA said that while it is disappointed in the cancelation of E3, it supports the decision made to protect people’s health.

“E3 is and will continue to be a moment where we come together as a community and share our love of games,” Ubisoft said in a statement.

“We’re exploring other options for a digital experience that will allow us to share all the exciting news we have planned,” it said.

Google last week canceled its major annual gathering in May of software developers amid virus concerns and Facebook has canceled its F8 developers conference.

A TED conference slated to take place in Vancouver next month was postponed until late July.

The major annual South By Southwest cultural conference slated to take place in Austin, Texas, was also canceled due to coronavirus concerns.

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title: E3 cancels game show over virus


title: Climate change action taking back seat as COVID-19 spreads

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Economic shock waves from the COVID-19 outbreak have curbed carbon pollution from China and beyond, but hopes for climate benefits from the slowdown are likely to be dashed quickly, experts say.

As governments prepare to spend their way out of the crisis, including with large infrastructure projects, global warming concerns will be little more than an afterthought, dwarfed by a drive to prop up a stuttering world economy, experts say.

Preparations for a make-or-break climate summit in November are already off track, with host Britain focused on its Brexit transition and the challenge to its health system of the global pandemic.

Like an unintended lab experiment, the global health emergency demonstrates the cause-and-effect relationship that drives global warming. In the four weeks to March 1, China’s discharge of carbon dioxide fell 200 million tonnes, or 25 percent, compared with the same period last year, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) — equivalent to annual carbon dioxide emissions from Argentina, Egypt or Vietnam.

As China’s economy slowed to a crawl, coal consumption at power plants there declined by 36 percent and the use of oil at refineries by nearly as much.

Other major economies are bound to sputter, too. The outbreak has already drained stock markets of US$9 trillion in value and could end up costing the global economy up to US$2.7 trillion, according to Bloomberg Economics.

“When you turn off the global fossil fuel economy, greenhouse gas emissions go down, air quality improves,” said Jon Erickson, a professor of sustainability science and policy at the University of Vermont.

However, any climate silver lining will be short-lived, experts warn.

“The emissions reductions we see now because of the epidemic are temporary, not structural,” said Joeri Rogelj from Imperial College London, a lead scientist on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “If anything, it makes mitigation efforts harder, because it reduces our resources to invest in the transformations needed for climate change protection.”

There are already signs that Beijing — impatient to reboot China’s economy — will rain down cash on carbon-intensive infrastructure projects, as happened after the global recession in 2008 and again in 2015.

“Initial announcements of stimulus have had no environmental emphasis whatsoever,” CREA lead analyst Lauri Myllyvirta said.

Proposals to further loosen controls on new coal power plants show that concerns about debt and emissions are being brushed aside, Myllyvirta said.

“A round of cheap credits and a blind eye to inefficient polluting industries will lead to ‘retaliatory emissions,’ setting China back on the goal of enhancing its climate targets,” Greenpeace East Asia climate policy analyst Li Shuo (李碩) said.

A surge in state-directed capital spending a decade ago slowed China’s clean-energy transition and amplified the horrendous pollution episodes in the winter of 2012-2013.

Globally, carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 from fossil fuel combustion grew nearly 6 percent, more than offsetting the modest decrease the year before, said Glen Peters, a scientist at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research.

The coronavirus fallout highlights how hard it will be to reach the Paris Agreement temperature targets of capping global warming at less than 2°C from preindustrial levels, and 1.5°C if feasible. The Earth’s surface has already warmed more than 1°C.

To turn a corner, the world needs a combination of growing GDP and falling carbon dioxide emissions, but historically, growth and emissions have moved in lock-step.

IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva predicts that COVID-19 will knock at least 0.5 percentage points off projected global GDP growth this year from an initial forecast of 3.3 percent.

The UN has said that carbon dioxide emissions must drop 8 percent annually over the next decade to meet the 1.5°C Paris goal, and by about 3 percent per year to hold the line at 2°C.

Experts say only a sustained global economic meltdown — or an internationally coordinated, war-footing transition to a carbon-neutral economy — could come close to slashing carbon pollution that quickly. One is as unpalatable as the other is unlikely.

So far only the electricity sector has seen a — very modest — decoupling of emissions and economic growth.

“I’m sure the global economy will get back on the fossil-fuel train as soon as it possibly can,” Erickson said.

As for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in November, the kind of non-stop shuttle diplomacy carried out by France for nearly two years ahead of the successful 2015 Paris talks is not happening, analysts say.

China — the world’s largest carbon polluter with 29 percent of global emissions — also has a crucial role to play, but is likely to be distracted.

“There is a risk that the main objective for Beijing will be the resolution of its health crisis,” said Sebastien Treyer, director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations in Paris.

Last week preliminary UN climate meetings in Bonn, Germany, and Kampala were canceled or postponed.

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title: ‘Bad loser’ Klopp takes swipe at Atletico tactics

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Juergen Klopp on Wednesday hit out at Atletico Madrid’s defensive approach after holders Liverpool were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League.

Klopp’s side were on course for the quarter-finals after taking a 2-0 lead in extra-time in the last-16 second leg.

Goals from Georginio Wijnaldum and Roberto Firmino left Liverpool 2-1 up on aggregate at Anfield.

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp reacts after Atletico Madrid score in their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 second leg at Anfield in Liverpool, England, on Wednesday.
 Photo: Reuters

However, a howler from Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian opened the floodgates, as Marcos Llorente struck twice before Alvaro Morata completed Atletico’s 4-2 aggregate triumph.

It was a bitter blow for Reds boss Klopp, who had seen his team dominate the first 90 minutes, but not take enough chances to win the tie.

Klopp could not hide his frustration at the way that Atletico manager Diego Simeone set up his side in a cautious counterattacking style for long periods.

“It’s so difficult to play a side like this. I don’t understand with the quality they have, the football they play,” Klopp told BT Sport. “They could play proper football, but they stand deep and have counterattacks. I realize I am a really bad loser, especially when the boys put such an effort in against world-class players on the other side, who defend with two rows of four.”

The defeat ended Liverpool’s bid for a third successive appearance in the Champions League final.

“It doesn’t feel right. I’m searching for the right words to be honest. The 90 minutes were exceptional,” he said. “After the second goal, the legs were a bit tired... We shouldn’t have conceded these kinds of goals. It’s difficult to explain to be honest.”

“Our main mistake was to not score the second goal five minutes earlier,” Klopp said. “Everything was against us in the decisive moments. We will come again, but now we are out.”

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said that his team deserved to win on the balance of play, but the midfielder admitted that they paid for some sloppy mistakes.

“We are really disappointed with the result because we deserved to go through,” he said. “To concede the goals we did isn’t like us.”

Runaway leaders Liverpool are still set to win the English Premier League title, despite the blip.

“Tonight and tomorrow, it will not feel nice, but we have to react in the right way and finish the season off well,” Henderson said.

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Virus Outbreak: Philippines’ Duterte to be tested after exposure scare

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte would be tested for COIVD-19, an official said yesterday, as several government buildings were being disinfected over an exposure scare.

The Philippines this week has seen a jump in cases, including people who recently attended events with senators and government officials, potentially exposing them.

The Senate building, the Department of Finance, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Asian Development Bank closed yesterday for disinfecting, and several officials announced that they would quarantine themselves as a precaution after meeting with an infected person.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a news conference at Malacanang Palace in Manila on Monday.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

Duterte, who at 74 is in a vulnerable age group for the virus, would be tested because he has been in regular contact with some of those officials.

“It is just prudent for us to take precautionary measures in compliance with the advice of our health officials,” said Philippine Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, a Duterte ally who said he would also be tested.

Philippine Secretary of Finance Sonny Dominguez, Secretary of Transportation Arthur Tugade and Bangko Sentral Governor Benjamin Diokno were three of the officials going into quarantine.

The Philippines has a relatively small number of confirmed cases, but its tally has risen from 24 to 49 since Monday, with two deaths.

The central bank said that open-market and settlement operations, as well as servicing of banks’ cash withdrawals, would continue as usual.

“No off-cycle meeting is contemplated,” Diokno said in a cellphone message.

He said he plans to participate remotely at the bank’s rate-setting meeting on Thursday next week, saying: “We have the technology.”

Additional reporting by Bloomberg

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title: UN expert says NZ failing the elderly

content_text:
POOR WELFARE:
 Many older Kiwis do not have enough money to cover housing, nutritious food and heating, with Maori badly affected, Rosa Kornfeld-Matte said

For Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, a UN expert on elderly people, there are a few bright sparks globally and she thought New Zealand was one of them.

“Sometime in the next decade, there will be more older people than children in this country,” said, Kornfeld-Matte, who has been trying to visit the country for five years, until an invitation was finally extended by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

With about 20 percent of the global population to be aged at least 60 by 2050, Kornfeld-Matte has spent the past 10 days on an extensive reporting mission, touring the north and south Islands, taking in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch and Timaru.

However, the trip has not gone as she expected.

Visiting marae — Maori communal sites — private homes, retirement homes and government offices, Kornfeld-Matte told reporters that her visit has turned her initial assumptions about the South Pacific archipeligo on their head.

“This is something that has really negatively impacted me,” she said.

Kornfeld-Matte said that the New Zealand government has the “intention” to improve the lives of elderly New Zealanders, but “on the ground” many are living meager, twilight existences of poverty and desperation, especially Maori.

New Zealand Minister for Seniors Tracey Martin said that by 2034 there would be more than 1.2 million people aged 65 or over, with nearly 180,000 people aged 85 or over.

“I find it hard to disagree with Ms Kornfeld-Matte’s initial findings,” Martin said.

The 2019 Better Later Life strategy intends to address their needs, with the aging demographic having implications for the economy, employment, housing, health and social services, Martin said.

“Every generation in this country needs to be valued and supported. We’ve managed to increasingly break down prejudices against race and gender; we can’t let age become an issue,” she said.

While this strategy, and the superannuation payment draw praise, Kornfeld-Matte repeatedly observed that many elderly Kiwis do not have enough money to cover life’s basics, including housing, nutritious food and heating.

For many, the superannuation payment of NZ$350 (US$217) per week is their sole income.

“In my meetings with older people these complaints about the insufficiency of superannuation payments came up again and again — especially the question of heating in the winter,” Kornfeld-Matte said.

“I see this as a serious problem — the pension should always cover the minimum of existence,” she said.

Other problem areas included lack of adequate transport in rural and urban areas, the increasing digitization of modern life, and “prevalent” loneliness and social isolation, she said.

‘AGIST RHETORIC’

Kornfeld-Matte also said that “agist rhetoric portraying older persons as a burden is pervasive and contributes to negative attitudes towards them.”

Widespread abuse and maltreatment of elderly people is also “widespread,” especially economic abuse.

“The pension that older persons have is often taken by family members or extended family members. Underreporting of older person’s abuse is serious,” she said.

According to Kornfeld-Matte’s research, Martin has “no budget” to implement the policies of the Better Later Life Strategy, and skeleton staff working in the ministry’s Office for Seniors.

Although the existence of the office itself is good, it needs cash and there is a “persistent lack of urgency” regarding elderly people’s issues evident at every level of government, Kornfeld-Matte said.

“I think the fact they have invited me exhibits that there is some political will, as there is a long-standing request from my side,” Kornfeld-Matte said. “I see a lot of progress and initiatives, but it is not a priority yet, and it needs to become a priority — that is definitely something I haven’t seen.”

MAORI SITUATION

Before Kornfeld-Matte arrived in New Zealand, her understanding was that the nation of 5 million people was a pioneer in honoring the human rights of its indigenous Maori people.

It therefore came as a “shock” to discover that Maori live on average seven years less than non-Maori, and their health and well-being indicators are almost universally worse than non-Maori.

Kornfeld-Matte described elderly Maori in cities and rural areas as “extremely vulnerable and disadvantaged” people.

“It absolutely upset me to see how difficult life is for indigenous people and how many challenges there are,” she said.

“The plight of older Maori needs to be urgently prioritized,” she said.

Office for Seniors Director Diane Turner said that New Zealand should be a country where people can age “positively and well,” but Kornfeld-Matte says this is not happening, and human rights abuses are entrenched and routinely ignored.

Despite some disappointments, she remains committed to New Zealand’s “good intentions” and urges the country to take its rightful place as a rights champion for all its people, Kornfeld-Matte said.

“I still think New Zealand has a lot of wisdom to share in this area, because they are globally respected for their human rights work,” she said.

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title: EDITORIAL: Prague’s mayor shows the way

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Ever since Zdenek Hrib became mayor of Prague in November 2018, City Hall in the capital of the Czech Republic has been a near-constant thorn in the side of the Chinese government.

The 38-year-old mayor, a doctor by profession, has taken a clinical look at Beijing’s aggressive political interference within his country and resolved to fight back. His dealings with Chinese officials have been deliciously undiplomatic — a refreshing change from the growing number of invertebrate politicians and businesses worldwide who run up the white flag as soon as Beijing complains.

In January last year, Hrib was hosting a meeting of foreign diplomats in Prague when Chinese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Zhang Jianmin (張建敏) asked the mayor to expel the Taiwanese representative. Hrib refused.

He terminated a sister-city agreement signed by his predecessor with Beijing that required Prague to adhere to Beijing’s “one China” principle and signed a new one with Taipei.

He restored flying the Tibetan flag from Prague City Hall, hosted Lobsang Sangay, the head of Tibet’s government-in-exile, and traveled to Taiwan to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

Beijing threw its toys out of the stroller.

Over the next few months, in a fit of pique, it canceled tours to China by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra and two other Prague-based classical ensembles.

Hrib did not back down. In an article in the Washington Post on Dec. 23 last year, he branded China an “unreliable business partner,” defended his policies and urged other politicians to stand up to Beijing.

On Jan. 10, the Chinese embassy in the Czech Republic sent a letter to Czech President Milos Zeman, threatening retaliation against Czech companies if then-Czech Senate president Jaroslav Kubera — who died on Jan. 20 — went ahead with a planned trade visit to Taiwan.

The letter, leaked to international media, appears to have jolted the Czech government out of its comatose state.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Tuesday intervened, asking Beijing to replace its ambassador.

Some might wonder why Czech politicians have stuck their heads above the parapet. There is undoubtedly a personal connection: Hrib studied in Taiwan as an exchange student and has said he often reminisces about the time he spent here.

History provides a more complete answer.

The first Czech Republic — then called Czechoslovakia — was founded in 1918 out of the dying embers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, although the origins of Czech language and culture date back to the Middle Ages.

Between the two world wars, democracy flourished, but was snuffed out in March 1939 when Czechoslovakia was annexed by Nazi Germany. During occupation, 250,00 Czechs died, most of them in concentration camps. The majority were intellectuals and members of the middle class, who were targeted by the Nazis to wipe out Czech identity.

After ridding themselves of one tyranny, the country was overrun by another when Red Army tanks rolled into Prague in 1945. Czechoslovakia was ruled by a proxy dictatorship of the Soviet Union until the 1989 Velvet Revolution restored democracy.

The plucky Czechs understand authoritarian governments better than perhaps any other people on the planet. This is why Prague’s mayor has led the way by refusing to compromise on his country’s ideals of democracy and freedom of speech.

After siding with Taiwan, the sky has not fallen: Prague is doing fine. Hrib is riding high in opinion polls, having done a lot to restore his country’s dignity following years of Zeman kowtowing to Beijing.

Politicians everywhere should take note.

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Japanese purchases of overseas debt last week surged to a record high, in what investors say is likely a coordinated effort by government pension funds to stem a massive rally in the yen.

Domestic investors bought ￥4.2 trillion (US$40.49 billion) in foreign bonds on a net basis during the week ended on Saturday, the highest on record, according to finance ministry data.

The purchases came in the wake of a surge in the yen to a multi-year high against the US dollar as investors shunned riskier assets amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Japanese government officials often express their displeasure when the yen strengthens, as a stronger local currency hurts earnings of local exporters.

A finance ministry official declined to comment when asked what was behind the sudden spike in foreign bond purchases, but market watchers said the move bore the hallmark of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world’s largest pension fund.

“On one level, buying bonds when the yen strengthens makes a lot of sense for a Japanese investor,” Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co chief fund manager Kiyoshi Ishigane said.

“But on another level, these purchases are so large it suggests that pension funds were in the market. We also know that for some time now the Japanese government has been pushing GPIF to shift its portfolio to domestic stocks and foreign bonds,” Ishigane said.

Many currency traders refer to GPIF as the “whale” for its sheer size, and a sudden weakening in the yen is occasionally attributed to selling by GPIF and other Japanese pension funds.

GPIF is expected to rebalance its portfolio this month, and some investors say that this could cause swings in stocks, bonds and currencies because of the amount of money it manages.

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title: Japan’s foreign debt buys hint at pension fund help


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Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) players on Wednesday celebrated with supporters gathered outside the ground after Neymar set them on their way to a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund behind closed doors, taking them through to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.

PSG needed to overturn a 2-1 defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Germany, but Neymar’s 28th-minute header put them ahead on the night in the second leg amid a surreal atmosphere, as banned supporters congregated outside the Parc des Princes instead.

Juan Bernat then deflected in a Pablo Sarabia assist to make it 2-0 and PSG — for whom Kylian Mbappe was only fit enough to appear as a substitute — go through to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2016.

Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain line up in an empty stadium before the start of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 second leg at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Wednesday.
 Photo: Reuters

Dortmund finished the night with 10 men after Emre Can was sent off.

The game was played behind closed doors after the French government banned all gatherings of more than 1,000 people due to the coronavirus pandemic, but many still gathered outside.

Those supporters brandished flares as the team bus arrived before the game, and sang and set off fireworks throughout the match.

PSG players rushed to a concourse at the back of the stadium to celebrate with them at the end of the game after breaking a run of three straight exits in the first knockout round of the competition.

“We played like a team. It was a pleasure to be their coach tonight,” PSG coach Thomas Tuchel told broadcaster RMC Sport. “The atmosphere was great coming here in the bus, with all the ultras singing. We were all singing together and it was a special atmosphere. It needed a huge effort from us — playing without spectators made it all the more difficult.”

Neymar was caught on camera in tears after the match, having shaken off desperate disappointment in the competition in the past two years, with injury preventing him from playing in the second leg against Real Madrid at this stage in 2018 and in both legs against Manchester United last season.

Dortmund were disappointing, with Erling Braut Haaland never looking like he might repeat his first-leg heroics when he netted twice.

Dortmund defender Mats Hummels admitted that his team struggled with the atmosphere.

“It was really bizarre, but for both teams,” Hummels said. “The start of the game was really strange, like a friendly.”

Mbappe’s absence from the starting lineup was just the latest blow for Tuchel, who was also without the suspended Marco Verratti and injured centerback Thiago Silva.

That meant that Edinson Cavani and Pablo Sarabia started through the middle of the attack, while Leandro Paredes was selected in midfield.

Cavani was denied the opener in the 25th minute when Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki stretched out a leg to tip his shot around the post.

The opening goal followed soon after, Neymar stealing in front of his marker to stoop and head in Angel di Maria’s corner.

The PSG supporters outside responded to the Brazilian’s second goal in the tie by exploding more fireworks in celebration.

PSG scored again in first-half stoppage-time. This time Di Maria laid the ball out to Sarabia on the right side of the penalty area, and his low ball was diverted into the far corner by Bernat.

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title: PSG sink Dortmund in empty stadium to reach quarters


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Rocket attack in Iraq kills three US, British soldiers

Two US soldiers and a British soldier were killed on Wednesday, a US official said, in the deadliest rocket attack in years on an Iraqi military base hosting foreign troops.

The attack threatens a dangerous escalation, with suspected US-led coalition airstrikes promptly targeting Iran-aligned Iraqi fighters in neighboring Syria, a war monitor said.

At least 26 fighters were reportedly killed.

Hashed al-Shaabi fighters stand guard at the Iraqi border in Syria’s Deir Ezzor Governorate on Nov. 12, 2018.
 Photo: AFP

On Wednesday evening, a volley of 18 Katyusha rockets hit the Camp Taji air base north of Baghdad that hosts troops from the US-led coalition helping local forces battle extremists.

A coalition statement said that three of its personnel were killed and another 12 were wounded, but it did not provide nationalities.

However, a US official told reporters that the dead were two Americans and a British national.

The Iraqi military said that the rockets were fired from the back of a truck, but it did not comment on any casualties.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab condemned the attack in a telephone call.

The two “underscored that those responsible for the attacks must be held accountable,” the US Department of State said in a statement.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Washington has blamed Iran-backed factions from Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi military network, which is incorporated into the Iraqi state, for similar violence.

Within hours of Wednesday’s attack, three warplanes likely belonging to the US-led coalition bombed Hashed factions stationed on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

At least 26 Iraqi fighters were killed as “10 explosions shook the area near Albukamal,” a Syrian border town with a heavy Hashed presence, observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Hardline Hashed factions have fought alongside Syrian government forces for several years, and have been targeted by coalition and Israeli airstrikes in Syria.

Wednesday’s attack on Camp Taji was the 22nd on US installations in Iraq, including the US embassy, since late October last year.

One of the earlier attacks killed an Iraqi soldier and in late December last year, a volley of rockets killed a US contractor working at a base in northern Iraq. That killing sent tensions spiraling.

Two days later, the US responded by bombing Kataeb Hezbollah, a faction within the Hashed that is heavily backed by Iran and which Washington has blamed for several rocket attacks.

At least 25 Kataeb Hezbollah fighters were killed and their supporters on Dec. 31 besieged the US embassy in Baghdad.

A US drone strike outside Baghdad International Airport on Jan. 3 killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and the Hashed’s deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Iran then retaliated by launching a volley of missiles at the western Iraqi base of Ain al-Asad. While no personnel were killed in that attack, dozens of US soldiers developed brain trauma.

The tit-for-tat attacks on Iraqi soil left Baghdad furious, and in January its parliament voted to expel all foreign soldiers from Iraq in reaction to the killing of Soleimani. Among them are about 5,200 US forces stationed across Iraq as part of the international coalition — comprised of dozens of countries — formed in 2014 to confront the Islamic State extremist group, which took swathes of territory that year.

While the Islamic State has lost its territory, sleeper cells remain capable of carrying out attacks.

On Sunday, two US soldiers were killed while helping Iraqi forces battle Islamic State remnants north of Baghdad.

Parliament’s vote on the ouster must be implemented by the government, but the caretaker Cabinet has yet to make progress on the decision.

US officials previously told reporters that they considered the Hashed a bigger threat than the Islamic State, given the frequency and accuracy of rocket attacks on US troops that could be traced back to the Shiite-majority network.

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content_text:
FEATURE: Medicine overtaking shamanism in Naga, Myanmar

With Malaria and tuberculosis screening out front and sacrifices to jungle gods out back, health worker Htan Pi and her shaman mother are an unlikely double-act in their isolated Myanmar village.

Their family have been the local healers for generations in the northern community of Satpalaw Shaung near the Indian border. This is Naga territory, a tribal region of former headhunters with myriad languages and customs still largely based on animist beliefs.

However, trainee Htan Pi, 24, is helping usher in modern medicine thanks to a band of health mentors on motorbikes.

Medical Action Myanmar personnel cross a bridge on their way to a mobile clinic in Lahe, Myanmar, on Feb. 4.
 Photo: AFP

Sitting on the porch of her family’s bamboo house that doubles as a clinic, Htan Pi who can administer basic healthcare, insists that she is not in competition with her mother, the village shaman.

“People come to me first and only go to my mum if they don’t get better,” she said.

Her mother, Jang Ngon, picks up the story, describing the case of a man with severe swelling all over his body that did not respond to treatment at the hospital, a day’s walk away.

“We needed to call his soul back from the jungle, so we sacrificed a chicken and the patient got better,” said Jang Ngon, who believes she is about 50 years old.

Retreating British colonialists left Naga tribes divided between India and Myanmar.

Those on the Myanmar side of the border remain largely cut off from the rest of the country in an area still desperately underdeveloped.

In Lahe, one of three Naga townships, it can be a walk of several days to reach the nearest developed town, negotiating precipitous, muddy paths over sharp mountain ridges.

Picking up a phone signal is a rare triumph, two in five villages have electricity, and only one in five boasts a government-run health clinic.

“The needs are so huge ... the government cannot do it alone,” said regional member of parliament Kail, who goes by just one name.

To bridge the gap, health workers from non-governmental organization Medical Action Myanmar (MAM) head to the remote communities by motorbike, foot and even boat.

Lines of people await their arrival for the monthly mobile clinics that often run late into the evening by firelight.

Alongside more common ailments, tuberculosis is a constant threat and the hunting traditions of local tribes add risk.

“Their lifestyle is quite injury-prone,” MAM regional head Zaw Min Lay said, wiping the mud from his glasses after undertaking a ride of steep hairpin bends, ramshackle bridges and a river crossing by rowing boat.

However, the group’s success lies primarily in its network of health volunteers.

One person in each of the area’s 275 villages has been trained to distribute basic medicines, from painkillers to rehydration salts, screen for tuberculosis and — crucially — conduct malaria tests.

Patients give a drop of blood and receive a result in just 15 minutes, flagging cases of the often fatal sickness early.

The organization provides transport to the nearest hospital for anyone needing emergency help, saving excruciating journeys by foot.

“We have no motorbikes and no money to pay for a motorbike taxi,” said farmer Mon, 30, visibly relieved after testing negative for malaria in Toe Lawt village.

Improved rural health services are largely credited for driving down malaria across Myanmar by more than 90 percent between 2010 and 2017, WHO data showed.

However, Naga is particularly problematic.

“Language, transportation and zero telecommunications are the major challenges,” Zaw Min Lay said.

The trainees offer a lifeline — however basic — for communities, especially in the rainy season when mud and landslides can leave villages completely marooned.

MAM’s army of volunteers has also uncovered a medical anomaly — a high concentration of rickets.

The bone disease, which can result in irreversible limb deformities and stunted growth, is often caused by a lack of vitamin D, obtained in part from sunlight and hardly an expected problem in tropical Myanmar.

Mon’s six-year-old son, Mg Taing Khite, is one of about 300 such cases in the area, his legs so bowed and painful that he was unable to walk just a few months ago.

Thanks to a course of vitamin D and calcium supplements, Mg Taing Khite now cavorts around with the village’s other children.

MAM is conducting research into the conundrum.

Zaw Min Lay said it could be caused by a combination of a poor diet, genetic predisposition and lack of sunlight in the thick jungle.

As the health workers pack up their bikes to leave Satpalaw Shaung, Jang Ngon said she accepts that modern medicine is easing out the family tradition of shamanism.

It is not easy to take up the shaman trade, she said, reeling off a list of costly sacrifices of chickens, pigs and oxen.

Besides, she is getting older and her eyesight is going, she said.

“I tell educated people to go to the clinic instead,” she said.

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content_text:
RECESSION PREVENTION:
 The package would subsidize the wages for apprentices, give cash payments to welfare recipients and give small businesses up to A$25,000

Australia’s government yesterday said it would pump A$17.6 billion (US$11.3 billion) into the economy to try to stop the coronavirus outbreak triggering a recession, as it weighed an extension of travel restrictions following a formal pandemic declaration.

The country’s first stimulus package since the 2008 global financial crisis, which helped Australia avert a recession then, illustrates the lengths the government would take to pare the economic effects of the outbreak.

Despite only affecting about 130 people in Australia so far, with three confirmed deaths, economists expect the outbreak, classified as a pandemic by the WHO, to cause a recession in the second quarter.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday speaks to the media during a news conference at Parliament House in Canberra.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

The package would subsidize the wages of 120,000 apprentices, offer one-off cash payments for welfare recipients and give up to A$25,000 to small businesses, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a news conference in Canberra.

“This is a comprehensive, a well-thought-through, a well-targeted plan, which is designed to support the Australian economy, and jobs and businesses through the difficult months ahead,” Morrison said.

More than 6 million welfare recipients, notably pensioners and unemployed citizens, would receive a one-off cash payment of A$750 from March 31, Morrison added.

Speaking with the Morrison, Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that most of the package would be spent immediately, potentially boosting the economy by 1.5 percentage points in the second quarter.

News of the stimulus came minutes before US President Donald Trump announced a 30-day ban on incoming travel from continental Europe, sending Australian stocks, which were trading down about 3 percent, tumbling to close down 7.4 percent.

The effects of the stimulus package remain unclear while the pandemic widens.

“Whether a recession can be avoided is still an open question as the management of the COVID-19 health crisis dictates the economic fallout,” Australia and New Zealand Banking Group analysts said in a note.

Further to halting the disease spread, the Australian government said that it would extend by a week existing travel bans on China, Iran, South Korea and Italy, which have reported higher numbers of people with the illness, while an emergency health committee would review whether to place a travel ban on all of Europe.

Ratings agency S&P on Wednesday said that it expected Australia to fall into recession in the first half of this year, but the government’s strong fiscal position allowed for stimulus without threatening its “AAA” credit rating.

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title: Australia deploys US$11.3bn stimulus for outbreak


content_text:
Three or four years ago, celebrity Huang An (黃安), who lived and worked in China for a long time and gained notoriety for accusing people of supporting Taiwanese independence, returned to Taiwan for medical treatment under the National Health Insurance (NHI) system. Now, some legislators are proposing amendments to the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) that would restrict the access of overseas Taiwanese to such treatment, which the media are calling the “Huang An clause.”

I recently received a letter from Taiwan’s representative office in Germany that sought feedback from Taiwanese living overseas to the results of an opinion poll that said more than 90 percent of respondents supported the “Huang An clause,” as the proposed amendments would significantly affect them.

The NHI’s resources are limited and precious so it is reasonable for the government to apply income brackets and restrictions to NHI premiums and allocate subsidies accordingly, for example by examining whether a person’s monthly income exceeds NT$180,000 and whether the person has resided in Taiwan for 183 days each year.

This would promote the rational, fair and appropriate use of the NHI, so the amendments are a good idea in principle.

However, further discussion is needed over the details and implementation.

Legislators want to add an exclusion clause for a seventh category of insured person that would include personnel stationed abroad and their dependents, workers in the offshore fishing industry and overseas students.

This would be a reasonable way to differentiate the treatment they receive, so Taiwanese working abroad or those who are economically disadvantaged would not be affected, in keeping with the NHI’s goal of social justice.

However, the proposal says that insured people would have to report their overseas income, and that those who cannot prove their income would have to pay the maximum premium. This seems reasonable at first glance, but it could cause people to fall into the trap of probatio diabolica, requiring them to prove something they cannot prove.

International marriages and partnerships have become commonplace. Just as there are many foreign spouses in Taiwan, there are also many Taiwanese spouses living abroad.

Although foreign spouses might be knowledgeable and qualified in specialized occupational skills, because of linguistic, cultural or legal barriers, or because of social pressures concerning their sex or race, they might nonetheless find it difficult to apply their knowledge and skills. This could leave them economically disadvantaged.

They might be dependent on their spouse, or their parents if they are divorced or become single parents. If they cannot show proof of their income, they would have to pay the maximum premium, which would run contrary to social justice.

Lawmakers must address how to prevent this unjust burden of proof.

The NHI system is a means of attaining social equity. It provides a social safety net that gives economically disadvantaged people reasonable access to healthcare resources. In the process of formulating the “Huang An” amendments, executive and legislative bodies should address the needs of every Taiwanese who genuinely needs the NHI.

Allen Hertzberger lives in Germany and is the former coordinator of National Taiwan University’s women’s and gender studies program.

Translated by Julian Clegg

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title: Changes to NHI rules could harm some people


title: Boeing cuts spending as orders fall

content_text:
Boeing Co is to suspend most hiring and overtime pay as it works to conserve cash in the face of twin crises over the 737 MAX and a massive slowdown in travel due to COVID-19, the company said on Wednesday.

Shares of Boeing fell more than 18 percent in another bruising day for Wall Street as the company announced the belt-tightening measures after disclosing dozens of MAX plane cancelations.

In addition, sources confirmed that the aviation giant already essentially tapped a US$13 billion loan package finalized just last month.

“It’s critical for any company to preserve cash in challenging periods,” Boeing chief executive David Calhoun wrote in a message to workers.

He said that the company would limit travel and bar overtime except in “critical” cases, and pause new hiring pending a review.

“The year ahead is shaping up to be as challenging for our business as any in the recent past,” the message, which was cosigned by chief financial officer Greg Smith, said.

“On top of the work of safely returning the 737 MAX to service and the financial impact of the pause in MAX production, we’re now facing a global economic disruption generated by the COVID-19 coronavirus,” the message said.

The announcement came as Boeing reported 43 cancelations for the MAX this year as of the end of last month in a monthly update on its Web site.

The company also experienced a big drop in plane deliveries, which stood at 30 at the end of last month, compared with 95 in the same period last year.

Boeing last month reached an agreement with a consortium of large banks for a US$13 billion two-year credit agreement to finance its activities.

Sources confirmed a Bloomberg report that it planned to draw down all of the funds as early as this week.

Carriers around the world have canceled thousands of flights as the coronavirus effectively shuts down key markets like China and Italy, and chills air travel more broadly.

United Airlines Holdings Inc president Scott Kirby on Tuesday said at an investor conference that net bookings to Asia and Europe over the past few days are “now down 100 percent.”

The company has developed contingency plans in case revenue falls 70 percent next month, a scenario it does not expect.

“Based in part on what our experts have told us, as testing expands in the US, many more cases are likely to turn up in many more communities around the country,” Kirby said.

“As such, we’re planning for domestic bookings to deteriorate further in the weeks to come,” he said.

“We’re obviously planning for scenarios that are probably worse than any of you have in your model, we think it will actually be better than that, but it’s better to plan aggressively,” Kirby added.

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content_text:
‘NOT ABSOLUTE’:
 Hong Kong’s government said that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights allows for restrictions to protect public safety and order

Hong Kong yesterday dismissed US criticism of its human rights practices, saying that the territory was “firmly committed” to upholding and safeguarding freedoms.

The former British colony was rocked by months of sometimes violent protests from June last year, triggered by a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extraditions to China.

The US Department of State on Wednesday said in a report that significant human rights issues in the Chinese-ruled territory included police brutality against protesters, interference with the right of peaceful assembly and restrictions on political participation.

A pro-democracy protester, center, is detained by riot police after attending a vigil to mourn a student’s death in Hong Kong on Sunday.
 Photo: Reuters

Hong Kong’s government said that the police were duty bound to take appropriate action, including the use of necessary force, in the face of violence that endangered public order.

“The degree and extent of violence committed by radical protesters was unprecedented in Hong Kong, and it has seriously endangered people’s personal safety, public order and security,” the territory’s government said in a statement.

Safeguarding human rights and freedoms was a constitutional duty, it said.

“The government attaches the utmost importance to and is firmly committed to upholding human rights and various freedoms in Hong Kong,” it added.

The department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices highlighted examples of police brutality against protesters, including on Aug. 31 last year, when police “rushed onto a subway train and beat several individuals while making arrests.”

On press freedom, the department cited many journalists as saying that they were harassed, detained or assaulted while covering the protests, while the house of democracy activist Jimmy Lai (黎智英), who is also an outspoken critic of Beijing and owner of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper, was attacked.

The department also referred to vandalism on the part of protesters, including damage to the office of China’s state-run Xinhua news agency in November last year.

The territory’s government said that freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful assembly were “not absolute.”

“The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that restrictions might be imposed by law if this is necessary to protect, amongst others, national security, public safety, public order or the rights and freedoms of others,” it said.

The unrest in Hong Kong developed into calls for greater democracy, fueled by worries about the erosion of rights guaranteed under a “one country, two systems” formula imposed when the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Hong Kong’s government said that universal suffrage was an ultimate aim, but it needed dialogue in an atmosphere of peace and mutual trust leading to consensus.

“Any allegations of political censorship, restriction of the freedom of speech or deprivation of the right to stand for elections are totally unfounded,” it said.

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title: HK rejects US’ human rights criticism


title: Australia’s top court defers Pell appeal ruling

content_text:
Australia’s highest court yesterday deferred ruling on an appeal to overturn the conviction of former Vatican treasurer George Pell for sexually assaulting two teenaged choirboys in the 1990s.

After two days of legal arguments, the Australian High Court said that it was still considering whether to allow the appeal, the last avenue for the 78-year-old cardinal to clear his name.

If the court does agree to consider the appeal, the seven-member panel of justices would then move straight into deciding whether to acquit Pell or uphold his conviction, a process that would not require another public hearing.

Supporters of George Pell pray outside the Australian High Court in Canberra on Wednesday.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

A third option — sending the case back to a lower court — is also possible.

“The court reserves its decision on this matter,” High Court Chief Justice Susan Kiefel said, after hearing arguments from Pell’s lawyer and the crown prosecutor.

Kiefel did not give a time frame for the court’s decisions.

Pell became the highest-ranked Catholic worldwide to be jailed for child sex offenses when he was sentenced to a six-year term. He has been in prison for a year and would remain there while the court considers its judgements.

Pell was in December 2018 convicted by a jury on one charge of sexual penetration of a child younger than 16 and four charges of an indecent act with a child younger than 16 when Pell was archbishop of Melbourne.

His legal team took the case to the High Court after the Victoria Court of Appeal upheld his conviction with a 2-1 majority.

His lawyers said that the lower court verdict erred in shifting the onus of proof to the defense and in finding that it was open to the jury to find Pell guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Crown Prosecutor Kerri Judd yesterday faced heavy questioning about the facts of the case, which highlighted potential doubts about whether Pell could have committed the offenses.

Pell’s lawyers said that he would have been on the front steps of St Patrick’s Cathedral greeting parishioners at the time that his accuser said he was in the priests’ sacristy alone with two boys.

Pell’s lawyer, Bret Walker, said that it would be wrong for the High Court to send the case back to the Court of Appeal.

“We win this argument, we wish the matter to be over,” he told the justices. “The best way for it to be over is by an order of this court entering acquittal.”

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title: Community action amid COVID-19

content_text:
By King Chwan-Chuen, Wang Liang-Yi,
Chen Yi-Yeh,
Chan Hsiao-Yu

On Feb. 14, American physician-scientist Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the US National Institutes of Health, announced that the number of people infected with COVID-19 is expected to increase and the epidemic is going to continue for an extended period.

He added that the public health systems in countries around the world have to ensure that comprehensive preparations are in place to prevent community transmission of the disease.

That same day, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its Interim Guidance for Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Homes and Residential Communities.

According to epidemiological characteristics, three categories of people are at a heightened risk of infection of SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 causing agent: relatives, household members and intimate partners in close contact with those infected; caregivers in a non-healthcare setting and medical professionals; and people who have been in an enclosed environment with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected persons.

For this reason authorities in Taiwan now require that these three categories of people must comply with isolation or quarantine rules: They, as well as those infected and people who have been in contact with them, should be isolated.

In addition, people with a history of travel or transit in affected areas, such as China, Hong Kong and Macau, and other areas with community transmission, should be quarantined and tested for the virus, and those who have returned to Taiwan from affected areas appearing to be SARS-CoV-2-negative, must enforce “self-management of health” measures at home for 14 days, and can only return to their normal routine after receiving three negative test results, to avoid secondary transmission.

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has announced that as of March 1, local governments have to implement their carer service programs for people in home quarantine and home isolation to ensure that they receive the physical, psychological and medical care assistance they need during the 14 days.

However, should the epidemic develop into community transmission, the focus will shift from containment to mitigation.

Taiwan has a lot of large religious gatherings, such as Matsu festivals, and at this stage the efforts to retard community spread need to focus on three things: risk communication, surveillance and community drills.

First, we would recommend the establishment of community risk communication channels: Each member of a community needs to be aware of proper epidemic mitigation concepts and behaviors, such that they do not become novel coronavirus “transmitters.” This will require reinforcing communication within the community to reach a consensus on how the epidemic prevention efforts are best implemented.

At an individual level, people should record their daily movements and whom they come into contact with, and whether they might have experienced case clusters, so it would be possible to trace the source of an infection.

Fear and prejudice will break trust within society, and this will lead to flaws in the epidemic prevention efforts. It is of paramount importance to avoid witch hunts of infected people. There will need to be a centralized communications channel and designated spokespeople to make announcements within a community, as well as a consultation mechanism, to prevent rumors from spreading or the stigmatization of SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals.

Second, it is important to take an inventory of, and expand, resources and personnel in each community. There should be a delegation of tasks, with specialists, such as community pharmacists, clinic doctors, public health nurses and caregivers assisting with surveillance within the community, so that SARS-CoV-2-positive people with mild symptoms or who are asymptomatic are detected quickly.

At the same time we should also keep an eye on high-risk groups — such as elderly people or people with multiple chronic comorbidities, as well as COVID-19-like symptoms manifested by their family members and neighbors, and people they have been in contact with — and measure their level of hygiene awareness, not simply relying on passive surveillance by local clinics.

District and sub-district leaders, community workers, members of civic groups and temple volunteers should offer their services to help care for and support the community, and address shortfalls and blind spots in epidemic prevention efforts, such as ensuring that vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, illiterate people, those who do not understand Chinese and those who cannot use the Internet get timely assistance.

Third, there should be regular epidemic prevention drills in the community. There has long been a lack of cohesion between specialist resources and community workers, neither have there been organized, regular epidemic prevention drills, and the current situation presents an opportunity to establish community and household guidelines to address this. This will enable experts and community support systems to form a robust response mechanism so that the members of communities throughout the country will be more prepared to deal with the threat of the current and future infectious diseases.

In the deployment of medical and caregiver resources, once the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in a community rises, hospitals should prioritize caring for patients with more severe symptoms. Recovering patients or those with relatively mild symptoms can be treated in solitary quarantine at government-commissioned army barracks, dormitories or other temporary shelters or detention centers. It is imperative that infected people be in one-person rooms and not allowed shared spaces to avoid cross-infection, and to stop emerging or mutated virus strains that might have greater transmissibility, higher viral replication capability or more virulence from getting into the community and exacerbating the situation.

In addition, the fatality rate among elderly people and those with multiple comorbidities is high, so the health of elderly people living in long-term care institutions of all types, and their staff and visitors, including family members, should be monitored closely to prevent transmission clusters.

It is not a question of whether community transmission will occur; it is more a matter of how soon. Government at all levels must immediately establish comprehensive community-based infectious disease prevention networks engaging in the provision of risk communication, surveillance mechanisms and epidemic prevention drills to mitigate the virus’ spread, in addition to linking regional command systems in northern, central and southern Taiwan; Kaohsiung, Pingtung County and Penghu County; and Hualien and Taitung counties. The central government should set up community epidemic prevention networks superior to those in other, more advanced, countries, and the public must be unified and vigilant until this crisis is beaten back.

King Chwan-Chuen is a professor at National Taiwan University’s Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and a consultant for the Taiwan Promoting Public Health Association; Wang Liang-Yi is an assistant professor at National Cheng Kung University’s Department of Public Health; Chen Yi-Yeh is secretary-general of the Taiwan Promoting Public Health Association; Chan Hsiao-Yun is a project specialist of the Taiwan Promoting Public Health Association; and Yen Muh-Yong is an infectious diseases doctor in the Department of Disease Control and Prevention, Taipei City Hospital.

Translated by Paul Cooper

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content_text:
Students on Wednesday clashed with riot police in Chile’s capital, Santiago, during protests that marked the second anniversary of conservative Chilean President Sebastian Pinera taking office.

The protests coincided with the 30th anniversary of Chile’s return to democracy after Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship.

During a ceremony in Santiago, Pinera said that 30 years of democratic rule in Chile had been a “fertile” period that dragged 8 million Chileans out of poverty, but he also recognized shortcomings and inequalities that hurt “the soul of our nation.”

Demonstrators clash with security forces during a protest against the government in Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday.
 Photo: Reuters

“We have not sufficiently taken into account the fears and shortcomings of our middle class. We have not progressed strongly enough towards full equality between men and women. We have not fought with sufficient will against the abuses and the privileges of others,” Pinera said.

Fueled by outrage at Pinera and the Chilean elite that controls most of the nation’s wealth, the South American nation has since October last year seen its worst social unrest since the transition to democracy in 1990.

Thirty people have been killed in the protests, many as a result of a heavy-handed police response condemned as repressive by UN investigators. Thousands have been wounded.

The main aim of the continuing protests is to pressure Pinera to expand social reforms he has already proposed.

The most serious of Wednesday’s disturbances occurred outside the landmark National Institute school in the center of Santiago, just a few blocks from the presidential palace, where police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse stone-throwing students.

The demonstration gained momentum through the afternoon, when other protesters joined the students.

“Before, we protested in Plaza Italia, and now we are here,” said Rodrigo Lagos, a teacher, referring to the square where most of the protests have begun.

“If [Pinera] doesn’t leave the easy way, he’s going to have to leave the hard way,” the 46-year-old added.

The clashes disrupted traffic through the center of Santiago for several hours.

Similar incidents took place elsewhere in the capital, as demonstrators responded to social media appeals to protest against Pinera.

Several metro stations were shut because of the violence, and some transport routes to the south of the city were suspended.

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title: Protests continue as Pinera marks two years in power


title: Virus Outbreak: Doctor speaks out against authorities

content_text:
A doctor in Wuhan, China, has spoken out after seeing several of her colleagues die from the coronavirus, criticizing hospital authorities for suppressing early warnings of the outbreak in an interview censors have been trying to erase from the Internet.

In an interview with the Chinese magazine Renwu, Ai Fen (艾芬), director of the emergency room at Wuhan Central Hospital, said she was reprimanded after alerting her superiors and colleagues of a SARS-like virus seen in patients in December last year.

Now that the virus has claimed more than 3,000 lives inside China, including four doctors at her hospital, one of which was the whistle-blower ophthalmologist Li Wenliang (李文亮), Ai has joined other critics risking their jobs, as well as detention, to speak out about conditions in Wuhan.

Medical staff on Wednesday treat a COVID-19 patient at the Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, China.
 Photo: AFP

“If I had known what was to happen, I would not have cared about the reprimand. I would have fucking talked about it to whoever, whereever I could,” she said in the interview.

Since Tuesday, Ai’s interview has been posted and quickly deleted from Chinese social media sites.

Renwu has removed the article and Ai could not be reached over the telephone, but Internet users have moved quickly to save the article, posting screenshots of it.

New versions of the article, in attempts to evade censors, have proliferated, from one partly written in emojis to another done in Morse code, as well as pinyin.

On Dec. 30, after seeing several patients with flu-like symptoms and resistant to usual treatment methods, Ai received the lab results of one case, which contained the words: “SARS coronavirus.”

Ai said she broke out into a cold sweat after reading the report several times.

She circled the word SARS, took a photograph and sent it to a former medical school classmate, now a doctor at another hospital in Wuhan.

By that evening, the photo had spread throughout medical circles in Wuhan, where it was also shared by Li, becoming the first piece of evidence of the outbreak.

That night Ai said that she received a message from her hospital saying information about this mysterious disease should not be arbitrarily released to avoid causing panic.

Two days later, she was summoned by the head of the hospital’s disciplinary inspection committee and reprimanded for “spreading rumors” and “harming stability,” she told the magazine.

Hospital staff were forbidden from passing messages or images related to the virus, she said.

All Ai could do was ask her staff to wear protective clothing and masks — even as hospital authorities told them not to. She told her department to wear protective jackets under their doctor coats.

“We watched more and more patients come in as the radius of the spread of infection became larger,” she said, as they began to see patients with no connection to the seafood market, believed to be the source of the first cases.

Meanwhile, Chinese officials were still insisting there was no reason to believe the virus was being passed between people.

“I knew there must be human-to-human transmission,” Ai said.

On Jan. 21, the day after Chinese officials finally confirmed there was human-to-human transmission of the virus, the number of sick residents coming to the emergency room had already reached 1,523 in a day — three times the normal volume.

In the interview, Ai described moments that she will never forget: An elderly man staring blankly at a doctor giving him the death certificate of his 32-year-old son, or a father who was too sick to get out of the car outside of the hospital.

By the time she walked to the car, he had died.

Once, when she arranged for the transfer of a man’s mother-in-law to in-patient care, the man took a moment to thank Ai. The mother-in-law died upon arrival.

“I know it was only a few seconds, but that ‘thank you’ weighs heavily on me. In the time it took to say this one sentence, could a life have been saved?” she said.

Over the last two months, Ai said she has also seen many of her colleagues fall sick and four die from the virus. One of those was Li.

Early on during the outbreak, public security officials in Wuhan said eight people had been punished for “spreading rumors.”

Several friends have asked Ai if she was one of those whistle-blowers.

“I am not a whistle-blower,” Ai told Renwu. “I am the one who provided the whistle.”

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content_text:
BTS claims fourth No. 1 album on Billboard chart
防彈少年團 告示牌四度奪冠

South Korean supergroup BTS set another milestone last week, as its new album Map of the Soul: 7 landed on top of the Billboard 200 chart, becoming its fourth No. 1 album in less than two years. According to Billboard, the only group earning four No. 1s faster than BTS was The Beatles.

BTS caused a sensation earlier by performing new single On at the iconic Grand Central Station in New York. The song later debuted at No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart despite sparse radio play, becoming its highest-peaking hit ever. US radio largely ignores its songs, which are mainly sung in Korean, so the single’s success shows that the music industry is shifting from radio play toward non-traditional methods of promotion.

Meanwhile, following BTS’ cancellation of concerts scheduled in Seoul next month due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the group’s fans, known as “ARMY,” have launched a campaign to donate their refunds for the concert tickets to help with the epidemic relief work.

Members of BTS and Lil Nas X, center back, perform at the 62nd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, US, on Jan. 26.
防彈少年團和納斯小子（後排中）在第六十二屆葛萊美獎上演出，一月二十六日攝於美國洛杉磯。
 Photo: AP
照片：美聯社

(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)

南韓天團「防彈少年團」（BTS）上週再度創下里程碑，新專輯《Map of the Soul: 7》空降告示牌專輯榜第一名，成為不到兩年之內的第四張冠軍專輯。據告示牌指出，唯一比他們更快獲得四張冠軍專輯的樂團只有「披頭四」。

稍早時BTS在極具代表性的紐約中央車站，演唱新單曲《On》而造成轟動。隨後該曲在電台播放率偏低的情況下，卻仍衝上告示牌單曲榜第四名，是該團單曲名次新高。雖然美國電台因他們的歌曲主要以韓文演唱而持續予以忽視，新單曲的成功亦顯示，音樂界正從電台播放，轉向非傳統式的宣傳。

而BTS因新冠肺炎爆發，取消原定下個月在首爾所有演唱會後，暱稱為「阿米」（ARMY）的粉絲群隨即發起活動，將演唱會門票退款捐給疫情救援工作。

（台北時報張聖恩〉

Publication Notes
 TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字
 1. supergroup n.

天團 (tian1 tuan2)

2. The Beatles phr.

披頭四 (pi1 tou2 si4)

3. promotion n.

宣傳、推銷

(xuan1 chuan2, tui1 xiao1)

4. donate v.

捐贈 (juan1 zeng4)

5. refund n.

退款 (tui4 kuan3)

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content_text:
UNDAUNTED:
 Although lagging behind in votes, the Vermont senator said he is looking forward to Sunday’s debate with ex-vice president Joe Biden

While acknowledging his deficit in the Democratic race, US Senator Bernie Sanders on Wednesday said that he was pressing ahead with his presidential campaign at least long enough to debate former US vice president Joe Biden this weekend, and try to force him to answer questions about economic inequality and the nation’s fraying social safety net.

The Vermont senator offered no further details on what his campaign might look like before or after he and Biden — the last two major candidates left in the Democratic presidential nomination — spar on Sunday night on stage in Arizona.

That would continue to raise questions — as unlikely as it might seem less than two weeks after losing his front-runner status — about how long Sanders would persist against increasingly daunting odds.

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders continue to buy merchandise outside Huntington Center in Cleveland, Ohio after a rally was cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns on Tuesday.
 Photo: AFP

Sanders addressed reporters after offering no public statements on Tuesday night, when he suffered a devastating primary defeat in Michigan, and losses in Missouri, Idaho and Mississippi at the hands of Biden.

He said that he won North Dakota and the continuing count in Washington state remained close, but admitted that he was trailing badly, perhaps prohibitively, in the race to secure enough delegates to secure the nomination before the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.

“While our campaign has won the ideological debate, we are losing the debate over electability,” Sanders said, meaning Democrats think Biden has a better chance of beating US President Donald Trump in the fall. “That is what millions of Democrats and independents today believe.”

Sanders was quick to add that he believes he is the stronger Democrat candidate.

He promised to question Biden about millions of Americans who do not have health insurance, a criminal justice system he said unfairly targets and punishes minorities, and raising the federal minimum wage.

Sanders also struck his typical, defiant tone, saying he has won a greater percentage of young voters while Biden continues to be favored by older ones.

“Today I say to the Democratic establishment, in order to win in the future, you need to win the voters who represent the future of our country,” he said.

Sanders has indeed been widely favored over Biden by voters under 30, but he has not delivered on his strategy of getting them to the polls in great numbers, according to AP VoteCast surveys of voters in the Democratic primaries.

Moreover, he had shown no overwhelming strength with voters aged 30 to 44, typically a larger share of the vote than the very young, in Michigan and Missouri on Tuesday night.

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title: Sanders pressing on with Democratic primary campaign


title: Mexico subway collision kills one male passenger

content_text:
A two-train subway collision in Mexico City on Wednesday killed a male passenger, injured 41 people and disrupted the bustling metro system that services more than 20 million people.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said via Twitter that one of the trains apparently reversed into the other by accident shortly before midnight.

Twenty-five of the injured were treated at the scene, and the other 16 were taken to hospitals, Sheinbaum said, adding that all the injuries were “light to medium” and not life-threatening.

Rescue workers are pictured at the Tacubaya metro station after two trains collided in the underground metro network in Mexico City on Wednesday.
 Photo: Reuters

Hours later, Sheimbaum’s chief of staff, Rosa Icela Rodriguez, said that only four of the 16 remained in hospitals.

She said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

Metro authorities said the two drivers of the trains were among those hurt.

Mexico City Metro director Florencia Serrania said at a news conference that the “black boxes” from both trains, which would provide a “second-by-second” record of what happened, were turned over to the city prosecutor’s office and their information appeared to be intact.

Workers had separated the stacked metro cars and were working to clear the track.

She said she expected the line to be ready for service yesterday morning.

She said the accident occurred 20 minutes before the end of service on Tuesday night when one train was headed to the garage to prepare for the morning service.

She added that an international expert had been hired to conduct an independent review of the incident.

Images of the accident published in local media showed wrecked subway cars derailed in the Tacubaya underground station, and rescuers carrying people away.

Diana Segura Canchola, who was selling sweets from her street stall outside the station on Wednesday, said that she was packing up the previous night when she heard a loud bang “as if a transformer had exploded,” followed by a burned odor.

Soon people began emerging from the station saying there had been a crash, and about 10 minutes later police, firefighters and ambulances started arriving.

“A lot of people came out disoriented, in shock ... very frightened by what had happened,” Segura said.

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title: Weinstein gets 23 years for sexual assaults

content_text:
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein was on Wednesday sentenced to 23 years in prison, pleading for mercy as his accusers said his punishment in the landmark #MeToo rape case was long overdue.

After two of his accusers confronted him again in a Manhattan court, Weinstein, 67, broke his courtroom silence to say he felt “remorse for this situation.”

However, he also argued that men are being accused of “things that none of us understood.”

Former US film producer Harvey Weinstein speaks as witnesses watch during the sentencing following his conviction on sexual assault and rape charges in New York City on Wednesday.
 Photo: Reuters

“Thousands of men are losing due process. I’m worried about this country,” he said in a calm, but creaking voice. “I’m totally confused. I think men are confused about these issues.”

Weinstein, who has been accused of violating scores of women, was convicted last month of raping a once-aspiring actress in a New York City hotel room in 2013, and forcibly performing oral sex on former TV and film production assistant Mimi Haleyi at his apartment in 2006.

He faced a maximum of 29 years in prison.

The conviction at the landmark #MeToo trial was the first criminal fallout from a raft of allegations that the Oscar-winning movie producer used his clout to lure women, sexually assault or harass them, and then silence them.

“Although this is a first conviction, this is not a first offense,” US Judge James Burke said before revealing the prison sentence.

Both of the women Weinstein was convicted of assaulting spoke in court prior to his sentencing about the impact he had on their lives, and the empowerment they felt during the trial when they testified against him.

“Rape is not just one moment of penetration. It is forever,” said the 2013 rape accuser, who recalled a moment during the trial when she left the witness stand in tears and then could be heard screaming from an adjacent room.

“The day my screams were heard from the witness room was the day my voice came back to its full power,” she said.

Asked later about her reaction after the sentence, she wiped her eyes, raised her arm and nodded her head.

The Associated Press has a policy of not naming people who have been sexually assaulted without their consent.

“I believe that if Harvey Weinstein was not convicted by this jury, it would happen again and again and again,” Haleyi said as she broke down in tears, saying the 2006 attack scarred her deeply, made her rethink her career in the entertainment business, and left her feeling paranoid and afraid of retaliation.

Weinstein, who has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual, showed no visible reaction to the sentence.

Beforehand, he gave a rambling speech that touched on his past charitable fundraising, his filmmaking career and a pledge that his new “mission is to help people.”

He said his “empathy has grown” since his downfall.

He said he had thought he had good friendships with Haleyi and the rape accuser, who exchanged warm e-mails with him after the alleged attacks.

Now that Weinstein has been sentenced, his lawyers can move forward with a promised appeal.

He also faces rape and sexual assault charges in California, where he could get up to 28 years in prison if convicted.

Three more sexual assault allegations are under investigation there.

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title: Movie Review: The Price of Democracy

people: 康惟壤 曾心儀

content_text:
This documentary provides a poignant and contemplative look at the present-day struggles of two aging democracy activists who fought at the grassroots level

The general contours of Taiwan’s struggle for democracy should be familiar to most by now — and if not, information on the events and major players are abundant and easily accessible. But the movement involved countless ordinary, grassroots participants who risked their lives for the nation but did not leave their name in history.

For example, Deng Nan-jung’s (鄭南榕) self-immolation in April 1987 is often mentioned as a key turning point in Taiwan’s democratization. But how many people know about Chan Yi-hua (詹益樺), who set himself on fire in front of the Presidential Office less than a month later at Deng’s funeral?

Having given their all to the cause, many of these unsung fighters sacrificed much personally — and continue to struggle today.

Tseng Hsin-yi is shown attending protest in 2016 in a scene from the documentary The Price of Democracy.
 Photos courtesy of atmovies.com

Chan’s close friend and fellow activist Tseng Hsin-yi (曾心儀), who is one of the two protagonists in The Price of Democracy (狂飆一夢), became estranged from her ex-husband and children during the process, and her sorrow is poignantly portrayed in this film.

Now in his 60s, Kang Wei-jang (康惟壤) was known for his oratory skills and bravery, but today he can barely make ends meet. In a gathering of former activists, Kang and his old protest buddies lament how their children feel they were bad fathers because they were singularly focused on their mission, and now refuse to talk to them. In another scene, he says the sacrifice was worth it because it gave him a sense of accomplishment that felt better than sex.

Taking four years to film, the story jumps between these two characters through present and past, weaving a complex snapshot of their lives that is not very rosy despite the democracy movement’s eventual success. While many activists entered politics and remain well-known public figures, countless more faded into obscurity. What are they doing today, and how did their activism affect their lives?

In the beginning of the film, director Liao Chien-hua (廖建華) notes that he was shocked to find that social progress did not guarantee fairy tale endings for those who helped achieve it. He sets out to explore whether the struggle for democracy was worth it for these minor players, taking his time to dig deep into his characters’ innermost world.

Liao, 30, wasn’t even born during the peak of the movement, but he’s dedicated his brief career to telling the stories from those tempestuous times.

His 2015 debut, The Last Insurrection (最後的叛亂犯) explores the Taiwan Independent Association incident (獨台會案), where four people were arrested in May 1991 — four years after the end of martial law and a week after the abolishment of the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of the Communist Rebellion (動員戡亂時期臨時條款) — causing a public uproar that led to the swift repealing of the Punishment of Rebellion Act (懲治叛亂條例).

Liao’s strong interest in highlighting the unheralded is already evident in this earlier film, devoting as he does significant time on the lesser-known two defendants: Aboriginal missionary Masao and female activist Wang Hsiu-hui (王秀惠). Liao provides narration mostly in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), as he reflects on his interactions with these activists from the previous generation to explain what their exploits and circumstances today mean to a younger audience.

A knowledge of Taiwan’s recent past isn’t needed to make sense of this film. It is heavily focused on the characters instead of explaining history. Through old footage of Kang and Tseng in action, viewers familiar with this part of history get a different perspective of the movement, especially those who became disillusioned with the Democratic Progressive Party and continued to fight social injustice on their own terms.

Liao wisely chose two characters from disparate backgrounds with almost opposite personalities. Tseng is the daughter of a China-born soldier who arrived in Taiwan after World War II, making her a waishengren (外省人), while Kang’s family is benshengren (本省人), referring to those who came to Taiwan prior to 1945.

Liao is a published author, while Kang is a self-proclaimed “uneducated” day laborer who has never held a stable job. What unites them is their passion for Taiwan, their activism on the grassroots level and their struggles with life after failing to enter politics. The differences between the two are not intentionally expounded upon, but one can’t help but wonder if the two knew each other and what they thought of each other’s present-day situation. But the storylines never converge, something that cannot be forced in a documentary.

The pacing is a bit uneven. There is a lot more action in the first half when talking about the characters’ past days of glory, but it gets significantly slower and introspective as the narrative settles into the reality that they face today. But that’s just how the story goes. Was it really worth it? Only the activists themselves know.


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Latin America steps up to slow COVID-19 spread

RESTRICTIONS:
 While the continent has only 150 cases and two deaths, countries have adopted travel bans, and canceled public events and classes to slow its advance

Latin American countries on Wednesday stepped up measures to slow the advance of COVID-19, announcing a slew of restrictions on travelers from the worst-affected nations and shutting down major sports events.

Argentina, Colombia and Peru said that travelers from China, Italy, Spain and France would be isolated on arrival.

El Salvador went further, with Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele announcing late on Wednesday that it was banning entry to foreigners for a period of 21 days.

Students wear masks made with recyclable and biodegradable materials, following a shortage of masks due to the spread of the COVID-19 and pollution, at Julio Cesar Turbay school in Soacha, Colombia, on Wednesday.
 Photo: AFP

The move would affect “any foreigner who is not a resident or diplomat” posted in the country, Bukele said, adding that Salvadoreans arriving from countries hit by the virus would face a 30-day quarantine.

El Salvador — which previously banned entry of those traveling from the worst-affected countries — is among a handful of states in the region yet to declare a confirmed COVID-19 case.

Argentina was on Saturday the first Latin American nation to register a COVID-19-related death, with Panama announcing another on Tuesday.

Cuba registered its first three cases on Wednesday. Three Italian tourists, who had arrived on Monday in Havana, all tested positive for the virus and have been quarantined.

The Cuban Ministry of Public Health said they were “progressing well and none of them is in danger of death.”

The continent still has only about 150 registered cases and two deaths.

Though it pales with soaring global figures of about 128,000 infections and more than 4,700 deaths, the new measures reflect the region’s growing disquiet — particularly given its close links with former colonial power Spain, one of the nations worst hit by the crisis.

Buenos Aires announced a two-week isolation period for people arriving from China, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, South Korea and the US.

“If you don’t comply, you’ll be committing a crime, which is putting the public health at risk,” Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said on radio.

He said Argentina was considering barring travelers from Italy, the worst-affected European country and one from which many Argentines are descended.

Panama has suspended school classes until April 7, while Bukele said El Salvador would suspend university classes as well until the end of the month.

Colombia has seen only three cases so far, but also announced measures against travelers arriving from affected countries.

“Given the implications of the quarantine by China, Italy, Spain and France, the national government is adopting the preventive isolation of people coming from those countries,” Colombian President Ivan Duque tweeted.

Peru followed suit by declaring a two-week “home isolation” for people coming from those same four countries, while also announcing the start of the new school year would be pushed back two weeks to March 30.

On Tuesday, Chile was the first Latin American country to announce a quarantine on arrivals from Spain and Italy. With 23 cases, Chile’s total is surpassed regionally only by Brazil’s 37.

Bolivia has asked people arriving from affected countries to place themselves in isolation for two weeks.

Costa Rica has called off large-scale events, including soccer matches, concerts and festivals.

Guatemala has banned entry to people from China and migrants from Honduras displaying signs of the virus, while also imposing a week-long hospital stay on those coming from Europe.

Paraguay has suspended school classes and large public events for two weeks, and the Dominican Republic has suspended flights arriving from Milan, Italy.

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