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By Lee Li-fa and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Forestry Bureau’s Pingtung Area Forestry Management Office has announced that it is to introduce a badge for climbers who have reached the summit of the tallest mountain in southern Taiwan — northern Dawushan (北大武山) — to encourage the public to visit and be closer to nature.

At 3,092m in height, northern Dawushan is the only mountain in the southern Central Mountain Range to exceed 3,000m and is one of the nation’s five tallest.

The Paiwan Aborigines consider it their holy mountain, calling it Meli-miligang, or “Fantastic Beauty.”

A badge marking a successful ascent to the summit of northern Dawushan in a customized frame is pictured at the Pingtung Area Forestry Management Office on Monday.
 Photo copied by Lee Li-fa, Taipei Times

Northern Dawushan is also home to the largest virgin forests in the nation, the bureau said.

The Pingtung County Government holds a rite of passage for young people every year that involves climbing northern Dawushan, it said.

The badge is to be accompanied by a frame with a representation of Taiwanese hemlock as viewed from Siduoli Cliff (喜多麗斷崖), as well as a photograph of the climber on the summit of northern Dawushan.

The framed badge and photograph will cost NT$800, the bureau said.

A climber surnamed Chen (陳) said that reaching the summit of northern Dawushan is not easy, and the badge and photographs would be official recognition for all those who complete the climb.

The badge is good quality and would become a collectible item, he said.

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title: Badge announced for conquerors of northern Dawushan


people: 高嘉瑜 林淑芬 管碧玲 鍾佳濱

title: Planning amendments advance despite defiance

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Controversial amendments to the Spatial Planning Act (國土計畫法) yesterday advanced to committee review, despite a united effort by opposition parties to vote them down.

Opposition lawmakers objected to a motion tendered by the Executive Yuan that would advance the amendments it proposed last month to the Internal Administration Committee for a preliminary review.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Taiwan People’s Party and the New Power Party caucuses filed a countermotion to return the bill to the Procedure Committee, which was put to a vote.

Legislators protest draft amendments to the Spatial Planning Act at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: Chien Jung-feng, Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬), who was instrumental in getting the act passed in 2015, abstained, while DPP Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) voted for the motion to be stricken down.

The motion was vetoed 58-41.

DPP caucus secretary-general Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) later said that Kao told him she mistakenly voted in favor of the motion.

Shortly after the draft amendments were unveiled, environmentalists called for them to be scrapped.

At the heart of the controversy are two proposals that would allow local governments to indefinitely postpone submitting regional spatial plans, and give the Executive Yuan the right to revise national or regional spatial plans to make way for “major construction projects.”

The proposed amendments have sparked concern that they could encourage excessive development at the cost of environmental protection.

DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that the Executive Yuan had not attempted to “sneak in” the draft amendments amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as some people have claimed.

The bill was submitted because an April 30 deadline for the submission of regional spatial plans by local governments is approaching, and only 10 of 18 local governments who need to turn in a plan have done so, she said.

The proposals are not meant to “let local governments who have not submitted a plan off the hook,” she said.

The caucus plans to submit its version of the amendments during a committee review and set an extended deadline for local governments to submit spatial plans, instead of allowing them to procrastinate indefinitely, she said.

It would clearly define the scope of “major construction projects” approved by the Executive Yuan, and limit them to green energy, agricultural and cultural projects, she said.

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title: Blaming COVID-19 on asylum seekers increases risk for all

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Nationalist politicians’ claims that refugees and forced migrants were the source of the coronavirus’ spread are not only cruel and false, but also dangerous

As the WHO tracks the status of the novel coronavirus, upgrading it from an outbreak to a pandemic, a second scourge has followed in its path: a virulent racism that scapegoats refugees, asylum seekers and foreigners more generally as the cause of the outbreak.

This is not only false and cruel, but also dangerous. Politicizing the crisis and stigmatizing whole populations risks turning fiction into fact by stoking fear and driving the disease underground, making it more difficult to manage. Have we forgotten the central lesson of the HIV/AIDS pandemic?

Italy’s populist leader Matteo Salvini was among the first to target migrants in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic — and, as usual, without any evidence. Salvini called on Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to resign after the government allowed a boat with 276 Africans rescued at sea to dock in Sicily. Arguing for “armor-plated” borders, he said that Conte had failed to “defend Italy and Italians.”

Asylum seekers had nothing to do with the spread of the virus in Italy. In fact, an Italian visiting Algiers is believed to have been responsible for one of the first two African cases of COVID-19.

Unfortunately, Salvini is not alone. Nationalist leaders across Europe are using the crisis to close borders and even to call for an end to the EU’s Schengen Area of border-free travel.

This reactionary chorus includes National Rally president Marine Le Pen in France, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and leaders of far-right parties in Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Austria. US President Donald Trump’s administration has stopped flights from Europe in a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus, and said that it is “very strongly considering” closing the country’s southern border.

Even more cynically, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened his country’s borders and bused more than 10,000 Syrian refugees to the frontiers of Greece and Bulgaria. Erdogan aims to use the specter of a rerun of the 2015 refugee crisis — amplified by the COVID-19 threat — to wrest concessions from the EU.

The conservative Greek government responded by closing the country’s borders, suspending asylum processing and summarily deporting arriving asylum seekers. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis invoked an EU directive allowing member states to elevate border security if public health is at risk.

“We will do whatever it takes to prevent the appearance of the virus — particularly there [the Greek islands],” Mitsotakis said.

Hungary also has blocked access to asylum. Predictably, the EU — which has failed either to craft an effective asylum policy of its own or to provide adequate support to frontline countries such as Turkey — faces another political crisis.

However, the real Achilles’ heel in Greece, as in other countries hosting refugees, is the abysmal conditions in which asylum seekers are forced to live. More than 40,000 migrants languish in Greek island camps that are designed to house a small fraction of that number. The camps lack the most basic healthcare and sanitation, with one toilet for hundreds of people in some locations.

These conditions exist five years after the Mediterranean refugee crisis and in an EU member state. Conditions on the other side of the Mediterranean — in Libya and Lebanon — are even worse.

The crisis could become much worse. The coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Iran, which hosts 1 million Afghan refugees. The country’s health system is considered to be one of the best in the Middle East and yet it is struggling to cope.

In Lebanon, public health is weak and refugees face rampant discrimination. Iraq, Syria and Yemen have fragmented, underfunded healthcare systems that have been crippled by war. Millions of Syrians are on the move again as a result of the horrific Russian aerial bombing of Idlib, fueling even more pressure on Turkey’s borders.

It is these populations — weakened by the effects of conflict, and forced to flee and endure desperate conditions in the process — that have the most to fear and lose from COVID-19.

The singling out of border-crossing migrants is morphing into broader attacks on diversity. In many countries, people of Asian descent are reporting racist attacks, saying that they feel fearful living and working in the communities they used to think of as home.

“The government is helping the spread of the virus,” a headline in the right-wing Italian daily Libero read. “For Conte and his scientists, racism is the disease, not coronavirus.”

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson said that liberals would “let you die before they admitted that diversity is not our strength.”

Under international law, governments addressing public health threats can adopt only measures that are supported by science, proportionate to the risks involved and anchored in human rights, including the right to seek asylum and the prohibition of discrimination.

Responses that stigmatize whole populations and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable are not only wrong, but would also fail to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, the international community should ensure that places with large refugee and migrant populations have the necessary resources to serve all of their residents. All healthcare facilities should be free of immigration enforcement and COVID-19 responses should not trigger any immigration enforcement.

Refugees and forced migrants were not the source of COVID-19’s spread. Blaming these vulnerable groups damns them twice — and exposes everyone to even greater risks. The history of epidemics shows that how we treat our most vulnerable populations determines the fate of us all.

Gregory Maniatis is director of the Open Society Foundations’ International Migration Initiative. Monette Zard is director of the Forced Migration and Health Program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

Copyright: Project Syndicate

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title: Xi’s ‘army’ stamps out dissent — not disease

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During a meeting in Beijing on Feb. 23, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) delivered a speech on coordinating prevention and control of COVID-19, and economic and social development.

“We have improved and strengthened external propaganda, using various methods to make timely statements in the field of worldwide public opinion, such as telling positive stories about China’s fight against the disease,” Xi said. “We have also promptly exposed the slander, rumors and disinformation spread by people with ulterior motives who want to create trouble. By doing so, we have created a good atmosphere of public opinion for disease prevention and control.”

Following his speech, China’s official real-time epidemic monitoring Web site showed that there were no newly confirmed cases or deaths that day. Such a miracle could only be achieved thanks to the wisdom of the great Emperor Xi.

It is clear that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) figures can only be viewed from a political perspective and not as an evaluation of data.

Five days before Xi’s speech, the CCP’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission urged all media outlets to follow Xi’s order to “increase the promotion of advanced models/outstanding individuals, and further extol a healthy social atmosphere, boost public morale and stimulate positive social energy.”

The call gave special importance to using new media platforms, such as the microblogging Web site Sina Weibo, messaging app WeChat, video app TikTok and video streaming service Kuaishou.

News reports reflecting people’s conditions were immediately “harmonized” — read “censored.” A front-line reporter, recognizing the austere atmosphere, said he had run into a similar situation during the July 2009 Urumqi riots, but that the censorship was not as strict as it is today.

Curiously, the order was not issued by the CCP’s Publicity Department. This implies that the commission has replaced the department, which no longer has the authority to make decisions in its capacity as China’s primary publicity channel.

The replacement reveals a silent transition of power inside the party apparatus. The transition suggests that Xi does not trust the Publicity Department and instead has turned to the commission, which he referred to as the daobazi (刀把子), or a knife handle that must be held firmly.

The officials sent to stamp out the epidemic in Hubei Province and its capital, Wuhan, are essentially “Xi’s army” from China’s political and legal affairs apparatus. They went there not to eliminate the disease, but to wipe out the truth.

When former commission secretary Zhou Yongkang (周永康), also known as China’s “security czar,” was brought down on corruption charges, many Chinese, both members of the public and intellectuals, cheered, as if sacking a treacherous official would restore peace to the land.

Even though I was once nearly beaten to death by Zhou’s thugs, his downfall did not give me even the slightest bit of optimism. Zhou might have been sacked, but as long as the commission — which is in charge of the public security bureau, courts and prosecutors — remains unchanged, Chinese authorities would continue to act unlawfully, and enforcement would continue to be about knowing the law to break it.

It is not surprising that Xi would refer to the commission as a “knife handle” — a blood-drenched metaphor. The political and legal affairs apparatus has become an impenetrable independent kingdom that only listens to the instructions of the CCP general secretary and fiercely suppresses civil society and dissent.

Yu Jie is an exiled Chinese dissident and writer.

Translated by Chang Ho-ming

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Virus Outbreak: Iran asks IMF for emergency loan as death toll rises

Iran on Thursday said that it had asked for an emergency US$5 billion loan from the IMF to help fight the spread of COVID-19, which has infected more than 10,000 people and killed hundreds in the country.

Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced in a now-daily televised news conference that 75 people had died in the prior 24 hours and more than 1,000 new cases of infection had been confirmed, pushing the death toll to 429 and confirmed cases to 10,075.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday on Twitter urged the IMF to “stand on right side of history & act responsibly” by releasing the funds through its Rapid Financial Instrument.

Central Bank of the Islamic Republic Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati said that he last week made the request for US$5 billion in a letter to IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva.

The IMF has said that it stands ready to support countries battling the virus.

Zarif has urged countries to assist Iran by providing N95 respirators, ventilators, surgical gowns, testing kits and other medical supplies. The WHO sent a shipment of medical gear, including 1,100 virus testing kits that can test more than 105,000 people.

Iran’s economy has been battered by US sanctions, which have choked Tehran’s ability to sell its oil.

The outbreak has compounded its economic woes, with all of Iran’s neighbors closing their borders to Iranians and multiple nations cutting travel links with Iran, including shipping in some cases, which is affecting imports, as well.

Multiple top officials in Iran — from the senior vice president to Cabinet ministers and members of parliament to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, health workers and health ministry officials — have contracted the virus. Some of those officials have died.

There are concerns that the number of infections across Iran is much higher than the confirmed cases reported by the government, which is struggling to contain or manage its spread. The rising casualty figures each day in Iran suggest that the fight against the new coronavirus is far from over.

Outside of Iran, only Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon have recorded deaths from the virus in the Middle East. Iran has one of the world’s worst death tolls outside of China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Confirmed cases in Israel on Thursday rose to 100, alongside 31 cases in the West Bank and none reported in the Gaza Strip.

A third Lebanese man died from the coronavirus, state-run media reported.

Qatar late on Wednesday reported a massive jump in coronavirus cases, with 262 infected. The more than 200 new cases had been found in quarantine.

In Bahrain, confirmed cases also rose by nearly 70 percent to 189, after about 77 new cases were confirmed on a flight of Bahrainis returning from Iran.

Kuwait on Thursday closed all workplaces and nonessential business for two weeks, including restaurants, cafes and health clubs. Schools and universities have already been suspended.

Egypt late on Wednesday reported seven more cases, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 67.

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TURBULENCE AHEAD:
 Last year, 41 airlines went bankrupt, and more could go under this year with dramatically reduced flights and temporary lay-offs

The fallout from COVID-19 yesterday spread across the Pacific, with Australian travel firms issuing profit warnings and Japanese carriers cutting capacity, while US airlines rushed to cut flights to Europe in the wake of new travel restrictions.

US travel curbs on much of continental Europe announced on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump deepened the sector’s misery that began after the virus emerged in China late last year and reduced traffic.

United Airlines Holdings Inc warned of US travel disruption as the virus spreads domestically and major tourist attractions like Walt Disney Co’s theme parks in California and Florida said they would close.

A woman on Thursday walks away from a departure board at Washington Dulles International Airport, a day after US President Donald Trump announced travel restrictions on flights from Europe to the US for 30 days to try to contain the spread of COVID-19.
 Photo: Reuters

American Airlines Group Inc and United said they would continue normal flights to and from Europe for the next week, but would be reducing capacity to Europe by around 50 percent next month.

American also said it was cutting international capacity by 34 percent for the summer travel season and accelerating the retirement of its Boeing Co 757 and 767 planes.

Delta Air Lines Inc also said it would significantly reduce its US-Europe schedule after tomorrow as it continues to watch customer demand.

German airport operator Fraport yesterday said that passenger numbers at its key Frankfurt airport dropped by around 30 percent in the first week of this month due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We have to assume that the strong decline in air traffic volumes will continue during the next few weeks and months,” CEO Stefan Schulte said in a statement.

Air France KLM SA said that it had drawn down on 1.1 billion euros (US$1.23 billion) worth of its revolving credit facility to help its financial position.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global industry group representing airlines, called on governments to consider extending lines of credit, reducing infrastructure costs and cutting taxes.

IATA last week estimated that the crisis could wipe out some US$113 billion of industry revenue, in a forecast that did not include the US clampdown on European travel.

“There is a heightened concern there will be increased airline bankruptcies in 2020 given the fallout from the coronavirus,” Cowen analyst Helane Becker said.

“We expect some governments to step in to help some airlines, but ultimately we expect more airlines to fail this year than last year,” she said in a note to clients, citing Cirium data that 41 airlines with 324 aircraft went bankrupt last year.

Cash-strapped low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA on Thursday said it would cut 4,000 flights and temporarily lay off up to half of its employees due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Indian government said it would extend the deadline for submission of early bids for ailing state carrier Air India until April 30 in part due to the virus situation.

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd, Auckland International Airport Ltd, Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd and Corporate Travel Management Ltd said they would take hits to earnings from reduced travel demand.

Australia’s No. 2 carrier, Virgin Australia, said it would offer discounted fares and cut some flights from Sydney to Los Angeles as demand for trans-Pacific travel fell.

Virgin and Flight Centre joined a growing list of travel companies, which includes the big US airlines, that are freezing hiring, halting executive bonuses and offering unpaid leave.

Earlier in the day, Singapore Changi Airport said that seat capacity for this month was down nearly 30 percent from what was originally scheduled.

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title: Travel sector in crisis over virus


content_text:
GOVERNMENT FUNDING?
 The removals of gold bars worth about US$350 million lowered the reserves in the central bank to about 90 tonnes, the sources said

The Venezuelan government removed about 6 tonnes of gold from the central bank’s vaults between late last year and early this year to raise more hard currency for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s cash-strapped administration, two government sources familiar with the movement said.

Last year, Maduro’s government repeatedly withdrew monetary gold to exchange it abroad for euros in cash, sources said at the time, as falling oil production, an economic collapse and US sanctions hit public income and restricted access to credit.

The government has never publicly commented on this.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks at a news conference in Caracas on Thursday.
 Photo: EPA

The new removals of gold bars worth about US$350 million lowers the central bank’s reserves to about 90 tonnes, the sources said, down from 129 tonnes at the start of last year.

Neither the central bank nor the Venezuelan Ministry of Communication and Information, which handles media inquiries for the government, responded to requests to comment.

The bank’s public financial records show that on Dec. 30 the reserves’ value dropped by US$800 million to US$6.63 billion that day.

A third source familiar with the bank’s reserves said this was, in part, due to a “withdrawal of monetary gold,” without detailing providing further details.

It is unclear how many withdrawals the central bank carried out between late last year and early this year.

The government sources declined to specify dates or where the gold was headed.

The use of euros in Venezuela’s hyperinflationary economy became more commonplace last year. Venezuelan domestic banks began to offer euros supplied by the central bank to local companies and the government paid off suppliers and contractors in the currency, sources said.

The central bank last year exported gold to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, according to Turkish government data and a confirmation from an Abu Dhabi investment firm that purchased several tonnes.

The US, which is backing an attempt by Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido to force Maduro to step down and call new elections, has warned bankers and traders not to deal in Venezuelan gold.

Maduro’s government also has been seeking to repatriate about 31 tonnes of gold in the Bank of England’s vaults on fears it could be caught up in international sanctions on the country.

The bank has said it does not comment on customer relationships.

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title: Venezuelan gold taken from vault, sources say


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A man became violent after he was fined for breaching quarantine, officials at the Taoyuan Department of Public Health said yesterday, while law enforcement agencies continued to crack down on people disseminating misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Taoyuan man surnamed Lee (李), 29, was subdued after he allegedly spit at police officers and health workers, health officials said.

He was taken to a health rehabilitation center and put under police watch, the officials said.

Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau Information and Communication Security Division Deputy Chief Liu Chia-jung speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday about a case of alleged disinformation regarding COVID-19 infection.
 Photo: CNA

Lee on Feb. 29 returned to Taoyuan from Xiamen, China, and was ordered into home quarantine for 14 days.

“However, he flouted the health measures,” officials said. “He went shopping and ate at restaurants, among other activities outside.”

“He did so on March 2, 3, 5 and 10,” they said.

The department reviewed the evidence and fined him NT$1 million (US$33,102).

Officials said that Lee was in a sour mood yesterday morning at the center after learning of the fine.

He swallowed several sleeping pills and was taken to a local hospital, they said.

When Lee woke up in the afternoon, he became violent, assaulting healthcare workers, they said.

A witness told officials that Lee refused to wear a mask and demanded to be allowed to go home.

Lee began spitting at people, claiming it was proof that he was not infected, the witness said.

In other news, officials at the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau yesterday said that five people face charges of breaching the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) over four cases of alleged dissemination of misinformation or unsubstantiated reports on the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it had questioned a 30-year-old man in Tainan over allegations that he posted messages about knowing someone who was confirmed to be infected.

The information was false, the CIB said.

Officials said that the man would face charges.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Man fined after quarantine breach


title: Hurricanes edge Chiefs in Super Rugby thriller

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Jordie Barrett’s late penalty yesterday set up a dramatic 27-24 Super Rugby victory for the Wellington Hurricanes over the Waikato Chiefs in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The two rivals scored three tries apiece, but Barrett’s kick in the 83rd minute proved decisive, stunning former Wales coach Warren Gatland’s Chiefs.

It came after a marathon 36-phase effort from the Hurricanes in the game’s final moments, when the scores were locked 24-24.

“We’re pretty disappointed,” Chiefs captain Sam Cane said.

Hurricanes captain Dane Coles said that the Wellington team had been chasing a victory in Hamilton for a long time.

“We’ve been coming here since 2009 and it’s my first win against the Chiefs here, which makes me bloody happy,” he said.

The Hurricanes made the early running and were rewarded in the ninth minute when Ben Lam crossed after a free-flowing backline move in which the ball passed through five pairs of hands.

Lachlan Boshier muscled his way over the line for the Chiefs, but Hurricanes flyhalf Fletcher Smith found a defensive gap to put the visitors ahead 10-14 at halftime.

Both sides came close after the restart, but it was Chiefs center Tumua Manu who broke through before Hurricanes halfback TJ Perenara was sin-binned for a high tackle. Shaun Stevenson added another for the hosts, lifting their lead to 24-14.

A penalty and an Asafo Aumua try from a lineout drive leveled the scores at 24-24, setting up the blockbuster finale which Barrett decided with his late kick.

SIX NATIONS

Wales’ final Six Nations match with Scotland is to go ahead with spectators permitted to attend despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) announced yesterday.

Their decision comes despite the other two games — France at home to Ireland and Italy hosting England — having been postponed due to the outbreak.

English Premier League chiefs on Friday suspended all matches through April 3, after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi tested positive for the virus.

However, the WRU is to follow the lead of horse racing authorities — whose showpiece event of the National Hunt season, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, was due to go ahead later yesterday — and government advice.

“Throughout, the WRU Board have followed the scientific advice of government, Public Health Wales and medical experts and determined that any game would be held or postponed based on that advice,” the WRU statement read.

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Virus Outbreak: American man confirmed as Taiwan’s 50th virus case

An American man was yesterday confirmed as Taiwan’s 50th COVID-19 case, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said, adding that it would consider placing certain US states on the nation’s travel advisory list.

The coronavirus outbreak in the US has almost reached “a critical point” and Taiwan could issue a travel warning for the US, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.

However, due to the size of the US, the center would issue the advisories at the state or regional level, he added.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, holds a placard showing the number of masks pre-ordered online through a new system at a center news conference in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

Chen did not answer media queries on whether the US capital, Washington, and the states of Washington, New York and California would be listed first.

Taiwan’s newest case is an American office worker in his 50s who lives in central Taiwan and might have contracted the disease after hosting two American couples on Feb. 24, Chen said.

The man was on Saturday last week hospitalized in a quarantine ward after experiencing chills, coughing and a fever for more than a week, and his positive test result was confirmed yesterday, he said.

The man is enrolled in the National Health Insurance program, but the cost of his hospitalization would be covered by the central government per the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), Centers for Disease Control Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said.

A CECC investigation found that one of the man’s friends had experienced chills, coughing and fatigue on the group’s arrival on Feb. 24, while their partner exhibited similar symptoms after leaving Taiwan on Feb. 26, Chen said.

A relative of the couple living in Seattle was on Tuesday confirmed to be infected, he said.

One member of the other couple also exhibited respiratory symptoms after leaving Taiwan, also on Feb. 26, he added.

Judging from his contact history, the 50th case was likely infected by his friends, Chen said, adding that while the man developed symptoms in Taiwan, the cause of infection was probably from abroad.

The CECC has identified 64 people who had contact with the 50th case, and it would continue to investigate the places the man and his friends visited while they were in Taiwan, he said.

Asked about the effects of a month-long lockdown of Manila on Philippine workers in Taiwan and Taiwanese in the Philippines, Chen said that while he is not sure about the severity of the situation, the outbreak in the capital, or even the entire nation, might be more serious than its confirmed cases imply.

The CECC would maintain communication with Taiwan’s representative office, travelers and businesspeople in the Philippines to obtain more information about the local situation, he said.

In related news, the 361 Taiwanese who were evacuated from China on charter flights earlier this week have all tested negative for the novel coronavirus, Chen said.

They remain housed in several quarantine facilities and the CECC would continue to monitor their health, he said.

The CECC said that it is developing an information system to monitor the whereabouts and health of people undergoing 14-day self-health management — a quarantine measure for people returning from countries or regions under a level 1 or 2 travel advisory.

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content_text:
The oil market could see a record surplus of about 6 million barrels per day (bpd) by next month, considering a bigger-than-expected surge in low-cost output, while a slump in demand was “increasingly broad” triggered by the coronavirus outbreak, Goldman Sachs said on Thursday.

Brent crude was set for its biggest weekly loss since 2008, as oil prices plummeted this week after top producer Saudi Arabia slashed its selling prices amid a price dispute with Russia and pledged to unleash more supply onto a market already reeling from falling demand due to the virus.

“The high-cost producer response at our second quarter 2020 [US]$30 [per barrel] Brent forecast will not be sufficiently fast to offset the record large inventory builds set to occur in coming months,” the Wall Street bank said in a note.

The jump in inventories could also force some inland high-cost producers to shut production, since storage logistics might be stretched, the bank’s analysts added.

While all production limits have been scrapped due to the collapse of the OPEC+ deal, prompting Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates to say they would both ramp up output to record levels, the top producers also promised to expand capacity, suggesting a longer term strategy to win market share from US companies and other producers.

The bank pegged the demand loss due to the fast-spreading COVID-19 outbreak at about 4.5 million bpd, but it also pointed to some signs of improving Chinese oil demand.

The accumulation of oil inventories over the next six months could be similar to a build up over 18 months in 2014 to 2016, it said.

Global demand growth, on the other hand, would see a reduction of about 310,000bpd next year and comfortably offset any fast supply response from high cost producers, especially with the shale output now forecast to drop by 900,000bpd in the first quarter of next year, the bank added.

“Finally, any potential re-escalation of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East would not prevent the bearish pressure of quickly accumulating inventories unless it led to a historically large outage,” it said.

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title: Oil market set to hit record surplus


people: 江啟臣 莊瑞雄

title: Virus Outbreak: Lawmakers approve special budget

content_text:
FLEXIBILITY:
 As the special budget is not bound by Articles 62 and 63 of the Budget Act, funding can be transferred between government agencies as needed

Lawmakers yesterday approved a NT$60 billion (US$1.99 billion) special budget to fund disease prevention efforts, as well as bail out and support sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The budget, planned according to the Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Recovery (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例), was passed unanimously in its entirety just 16 days after it was unveiled.

The Legislative Yuan had earlier this month held three joint committee reviews, during which lawmakers agreed to leave the budget intact based on a consensus that disease prevention is the top priority.

A teacher speaks to students sitting at desks with yellow dividers — a measure against the spread of COVID-19 — at Dajia Elementary School in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to receive the lion’s share of the budget, NT$20.49 billion, which is to cover guarantees for small and medium-sized enterprises that need to take out loans, subsidized loans and coupons redeemable at stores, restaurants and beverage shops, traditional and night markets, and shopping districts.

It is also to use the funds to pay for the expropriation of mask production machinery and the development of new screening kits, support manufacturers developing new technologies and facilitate companies’ efforts to boost their exports.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare would receive NT$16.96 billion, which would go toward the research and development of drugs and vaccines targeting COVID-19; isolation and hospitalization of COVID-19 patients at designated facilities; compensation for medical personnel stationed at quarantine sites, quarantined people and those taking care of quarantined family members; and the procurement of kits, equipment and consumables to test for the novel coronavirus.

Legislative Speaker You Si-kun bangs his gavel at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday to mark the passage of the central government’s special budget to fund disease-prevention and industry relief efforts.
 Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to receive NT$16.77 billion, which is to be used to bail out operators in the transportation and tourism industries that have been significantly affected by the pandemic, as well as to improve tourist destinations in preparation for plans to attract international tourists after the disease is under control.

The Council of Agriculture is to receive NT$3.56 billion to fund efforts to increase exports of produce, seafood and meat products, as well as to subsidize farmers and fishers.

The Ministry of Culture is to receive NT$800 million, which would be used to support cultural and arts venues, offer discounts when people shop at such venues and hold events to revitalize the arts and cultural sectors.

The budget is not bound by Articles 62 and 63 of the Budget Act (預算法), meaning that the funding can be transferred among agencies.

However, a resolution passed during cross-caucus negotiations on Thursday says that if an interdepartmental transfer of funds would exceed NT$50 million, the concerned agencies should first notify the legislature of the transfer.

Speaking after the passage of the budget, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) thanked lawmakers across party lines for the swift review of the budget and the flexibility given to the agencies to use the funds.

He expressed gratitude to medical personnel who are on the front line in the fight against the virus, saying he hoped that the budget would lessen their burden as they safeguard public health.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that while not all agencies had rendered a report on the effects COVID-19 would have on the industries under their jurisdiction, lawmakers gave them the budgets that they had requested.


title: Virus Outbreak: Measures help stem steep losses

content_text:
Governments and central banks yesterday readied more emergency measures to tackle the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping financial markets pare some of their steep losses, while more major events were canceled or postponed.

The respiratory disease has now infected almost 135,000 people and killed more than 4,900 worldwide.

Experts have said that due to a lack of testing and unreported cases, many more people might be affected by the global outbreak, which late last year emerged from Wuhan, China.

Global stock markets suffered historic falls as panic spread on March 13 over the spiralling COVID-19 coronavirus crisis.
 Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP

Japan’s Nikkei 225 yesterday closed down 6 percent after the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped about 10 percent on Thursday, its worst day since the 1987 “Black Monday” crash.

However, Asian markets were off lows for the day as policymakers stepped in to help ease a liquidity squeeze as cratering stock markets triggered a rush for cash.

The Bank of Japan pledged to buy ￥200 billion (US$1.87 billion) of five-to-10-year Japanese government bonds and also inject an additional ￥1.5 trillion in two-week loans.

“We should see more action from central banks, because what we need here is a short-term liquidity bridge,” Citigroup head of Asian trading strategy Mohammed Apabhai said. “The issue is that if we don’t see that, then this situation risks becoming a more systemic problem.”

US lawmakers and the White House neared agreement on a coronavirus economic aid package, with US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying that she hoped to announce a deal yesterday.

The US Federal Reserve on Thursday offered a hefty US$1.5 trillion in short-term loans to stimulate the US economy and stabilize the financial system.

The Reserve Bank of Australia followed suit, pumping an unusually large amount of cash into the system yesterday as panic selling across global markets threatened to drain liquidity and push up borrowing costs.

Australian Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said that he had tested positive for the virus.

Travelers in Europe rushed to board flights to the US after US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping restrictions on travel from the continent, a decision that angered European leaders and frightened investors.

Trump also suggested that the Tokyo Olympics could be delayed by a year.

“Maybe they postpone it for a year ... if that’s possible,” Trump told reporters. “I like that better than I like having empty stadiums all over the place.”

Tokyo organizers said that they were moving ahead with preparations to hold “safe and secure” Games on schedule in July.

European leaders warned that things would get worse before they get better.

“It’s going to spread further,” British Prime Boris Johnson told a news conference. “I must level with you, level with the British public — more families, many more families, are going to lose loved ones before their time.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country was facing its worst public health crisis in a century, and announced measures including the closure of schools, daycare centers and universities from Monday next week.

In Italy, where the death toll passed 1,000 in Europe’s deadliest outbreak, the government imposed a blanket closure of restaurants, bars and almost all shops except food stores and pharmacies.

Several Latin American countries stepped up measures to slow the spread of the virus, halting European flights, banning public gatherings and closing schools.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison advised against gatherings of 500 people or more, but not for schools, universities, public transport or airports.

He said that he was going to a rugby match over the weekend.

Thailand issued a warning to the party-going public after a cluster of 13 cases was traced to a group of friends who shared cigarettes and drinks.

Small island states in the Pacific, ill-equipped to deal with an outbreak, have imposed strict lockdown measures, including denying access to supply vessels and prohibiting human-to-human contact during aircraft refueling.

Separately yesterday, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that the first case of COVID-19 can be traced back to November last year.

Chinese authorities had identified at least 266 people who contracted the virus and were placed under medical surveillance, with the earliest case on Nov. 17 last year — weeks before authorities announced the emergence of the new coronavirus, the newspaper said, citing unpublished Chinese government data.

For about one month after that date there were between one and five new cases reported each day, the newspaper said, adding that by Dec. 20 last year there were 60 confirmed cases.

A 55-year-old from Hubei Province could have been the first person to contract COVID-19, it said.

Additional reporting by the Guardian

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content_text:
VACCINE DEVELOPMENT:
 The institute’s president said it is focusing on peptide vaccines, but would also develop recombinant vector, DNA and subunit vaccines

Rapid screening kits being developed by the National Health Research Institute (NHRI) for COVID-19 could be available by the end of the year, NHRI president Liang Kung-yee (梁賡義) said on Wednesday.

The institute is testing the virus identification capacity of antibodies that were selected for the development of the kits, Liang said, adding that the testing is expected to be completed by March 31.

The subsequent steps are to conduct technology transfers to companies and undertake clinical trials with human tissue, Liang said.

An Adimmune Corp employee holds test samples of a vaccine in development for COVID-19 in an undated photograph.
 Photo courtesy of Adimmune Corp

The kits, like those that are used for influenza, would not be 100 percent accurate, he said.

Nevertheless, they are a “vital step” for public health, he said.

The state-run institute is using antibodies for SARS, which was a major outbreak in Taiwan in 2003, as the basis for its development of the kits to test for COVID-19, which has spread rapidly worldwide since it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Academia Sinica is also developing COVID-19 rapid screening kits.

Asked about progress on development of a vaccine, Liang said that the institute is focusing on peptide vaccines, but would also develop other types, such as recombinant vector, DNA and subunit vaccines.

The NHRI hopes to determine the best candidate vaccine by early June, after which it would start toxicology studies and animal experiments, he said.

After the Food and Drug Administration approves clinical trials, the NHRI would proceed with them, which, due to safety reasons, is expected to take at least one year, he said.

The WHO on March 4 released a Draft Landscape of COVID-19 Candidate Vaccines, which listed 35 projects in development, but did not include the Taiwanese efforts.

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title: Virus Outbreak: NHRI screening kits expected by year end


content_text:
S Hotel’s occupancy has fallen to 20 to 30 percent from an average of 80 percent last year, as tourist arrivals come to a virtual standstill amid the COVID-19 outbreak, it said.

Like most of its peers, the boutique facility in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) is attempting to stay afloat by cutting its headcount and reducing working hours, as well as offering customers takeout food services and discount rates.

Taipei labor authorities confirmed that the hotel filed to place 55 employees on unpaid leave between last month and this month to cope with a sharp decline in business.

The hotel’s Chinese celebrity owner Wang Xiaofei (汪小菲) said on his blog that he does not want to let anyone go and hopes his colleagues could help the hotel through the tough time.

The hospitality industry is bearing the brunt of the global travel restrictions imposed to hinder the spread of COVID-19.

The hotel, with 103 designed rooms, is seeking to attract domestic travelers through room rate discounts and shore up sales at its restaurant by offering takeout food at NT$280 per set.

“The strategy is expected to drive up food revenue before things can return to normal,” S Hotel director of sales Vivienne Lee (李雅惠) told the Taipei Times.

The hotel’s restaurant and bar facility fares better than its rooms, thanks to its relatively affordable menu in a neighborhood with plenty of professional workers, Lee said.

Hong Kong chef Constant Cheung (張卓智) has updated the menu to feature nouvelle cuisine at NT$680 per set at lunch and from NT$1,580 at dinner.

The hotel is also offering guests a 25 percent discount for dinner sets priced at NT$1,580 and NT$1,980, plus a 10 percent service charge.

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title: S Hotel’s occupancy slips in face of COVID-19


title: Australia crush NZ in first ODI

content_text:
NO SPECTATORS:
 Cricket Australia barred fans from attending the match due COVID-19, leading to the strange sight of players acknowledging milestones to empty grandstands

Australia yesterday crushed New Zealand by 71 runs in the first one-day international (ODI) at an empty Sydney Cricket Ground.

After New Zealand earlier kept the home side to 258-7, Australia’s bowling attack dominated New Zealand’s batsmen to dismiss the visitors for 187 in the 41st over.

Cricket Australia barred spectators from the match in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the strange sight of players acknowledging milestones to empty grandstands.

New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill tries to play a hook shot during their first one-day international against Australia in Sydney yesterday.
 Photo: AFP

It was also revealed that Australia fast bowler Kane Richardson was in quarantine early in the day and had been tested for the virus after feeling unwell.

However, he was subsequently cleared of the virus and returned to the ground to rejoin his teammates.

Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and chose to bat, with the home side at one stage looking at a score in excess of 300, following a superb opening partnership from Finch and David Warner.

However, once Warner (67) and Finch (60) were dismissed, Australia’s innings lost momentum and New Zealand clawed their way back into the game.

New Zealand must have given themselves a good chance of taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, but some superb bowling by Australia in the first 10 overs meant that the visitors were always behind in the run chase.

None of the New Zealand batsmen was able to dominate and wickets fell at regular intervals as Australia took control.

Test spearhead Pat Cummins was the pick of the bowlers with 3-25, while all-rounder Mitchell Marsh claimed 3-29.

Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood both picked up two wickets in an impressive team display.

Earlier, New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi reined Australia in after Finch and Warner’s bright start.

Warner brought up a chanceless half-century, but soon began to struggle when New Zealand’s fastest bowler, Lockie Ferguson, came round the wicket, and he eventually fell when he was beaten by pace and sliced a Ferguson thunderbolt to mid-on.

Santner struck next when Finch got a faint edge to ’keeper Tom Latham to leave Australia 145-2.

He then rocked the home side when he bowled Steve Smith (14) with the addition of only one run.

Leg-spinner Sodhi was expensive early, but he adjusted his length and claimed the next three wickets to give New Zealand hope of chasing down Australia’s total.

The second match is to take place on Sunday, also at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

ENGLAND VS SRI LANKA

England’s cricket team yesterday abruptly pulled out of a tour of Sri Lanka over the “unprecedented” crisis caused by the pandemic.

A practice match in Colombo was halted as the team announced that they would be flying back to London, and the first of two Test matches due to start on March 19 has been indefinitely postponed.

“At this time, the physical and mental well-being of our players and support teams is paramount,” an England and Wales Cricket Board statement announcing the end of the tour said.

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content_text:
Everything in your smart home, from the lightbulbs to the thermostat,
could be recording you or collecting data about you

During an interview with the BBC last year, Google Devices and Services senior vice president Rick Osterloh pondered whether a homeowner should disclose the presence of smart home devices to guests.

“I would, and do, when someone enters into my home,” he said.

When your central heating thermostat asks for your telephone number, your TV knows what you like to watch and hackers can install spyware in your home through a lightbulb security flaw, perhaps it is time that we all started taking smart home privacy issues more seriously.

Just this week the British National Cyber Security Centre issued a warning to owners of smart cameras and baby monitors to review their security settings.

You can get a quick overview of privacy options for many smart home devices by using the Mozilla “privacy not included” guide, but if you have already invested in particular technology, all is not lost.

A few configuration tweaks could help put you back in control when it comes to balancing device performance with data privacy — and they do not involve wearing anything like the ludicrous-looking “bracelet of silence,” which jams smart device microphones, as recently demonstrated by a team from the University of Chicago.

SMART TELEVISIONS

When the FBI warns users that their televisions could be listening to and watching them, maybe it is time to reflect on how dumb we are when it comes to smart TVs. Most of us buy a big TV with all of the Internet streaming and program guide functionality we can afford and kick back in front of it. Beyond the initial tuning in of stations and maybe adjusting the color to our taste, there is not much configuration tweaking that goes on — which is a mistake when both privacy and security issues are in the picture.

Contemporary TVs connect to the Internet, have Web browsers, run apps and can be controlled by your voice. Automatic content recognition (ACR) watches what you see, from TV programs to games, and the resulting data can target you for personalized advertising and produce viewing recommendations — often across various platforms.

You probably agreed to ACR being used when you were setting up your new TV. To disable it — although this varies from TV to TV — head for the general or advanced settings and look for a “viewing information” or “viewing data” option. This would stop some smart features, such as recommendations and even some voice activation functions, from working properly, so bear in mind that ACR data is anonymized before heading for the off button.

SMART SPEAKERS

Smart speakers and digital assistants come in many guises. What they all have in common is that, by necessity, they are always listening.

Research suggests that 59 percent of smart speaker users have privacy concerns, with unwanted listening and data collection being front and center.

Of course, only you can determine whether having a voice-controlled “Star Trek computer” in your home outweighs the privacy concerns.

It is possible to retain the smart performance while minimizing the privacy “threat surface.” To prevent the Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant account holder from being able to view any requests that you have made or questions you have asked, you can tell Alexa to “delete what I just said” and Google Assistant to “delete my last conversation.”

However, this does require the account holder to have enabled the “delete by voice” option in their settings. If you are the account holder, you can use the “voice match” function for Google Assistant to prevent your results from being available to anyone who simply asks for them.

Google Assistant users can use the Home app via Settings | More Settings | Your Data to pause collection of any more voice recordings, but Google warns that this can “limit or disable” more personalized experiences across Google as a result.

You can manage how Amazon uses your data by opening the Alexa app and heading for Settings | Alexa Privacy and toggling the “help improve Amazon services” option off, along with the “use messages to improve transcriptions” setting.

SMART DOORBELLS

A home security surveillance system requires video cameras to record what is going on. When those security cameras are connected to, and accessible from, the Internet, questions about who is watching the watcher come to the fore. When those connected cameras can be found in everything from your doorbell to the baby monitor in the nursery, privacy issues cannot be ignored.

Amazon-owned Ring is perhaps most famous for its video doorbells. In the US Congress, Amazon is facing questions about the sharing of Ring data, including video footage, with more than 900 US police departments.

Following investigations that found that Ring had shared information with the likes of Facebook and Google, the company said that it does not sell personal information to anyone and has suspended the use of most third-party analytics services in Ring apps while it works to provide greater ability to opt out in its new Control Center.

This already lets users manage privacy and security options such as two-factor authentication, sharing information with third parties for personalized advertising and managing any shared users.

Clicking on the authorized client devices option would show all of the devices that can access your Ring account — and therefore your videos. This would show the device and whether it is logged into your account. To remove any that you do not recognize, remove all authorized client devices as one and then re-enroll them individually.

SMART HEATING

That we are even talking about privacy concerning your thermostat is pretty crazy, but fears over central heating technology and privacy are a reality.

In the case of the Google-owned Nest thermostat, such fears are ill founded. Despite some news reports to the contrary, your Nest thermostat has neither a camera, nor a microphone inside.

However, thermostats such as the Alexa-supporting ecobee4 do have microphones. The ecobee4 also has a privacy mode that can be activated once the thermostat is installed: Tap the microphone icon at the bottom right of the thermostat screen and select voice control off. You would no longer be able to use Alexa to control the thermostat, but nor would it listen continuously for wake words or send recorded messages to Amazon.

Both ecobee4 and Nest users can have all of their personal information removed upon request, but this deletes their account and disables the remote access and smart connected functionality that you bought the device for. A Nest thermostat collects data such as your setup information, environmental data from its sensors, and heating and cooling usage.

SMART LIGHTBULBS

Earlier this year, security researchers confirmed that a vulnerability could enable a hacker to launch an attack on your home computer network, and therefore your data, by way of a Philips Hue smart lightbulb.

The vulnerability, without getting too technical, was actually in a low-power wireless protocol used to control many different Internet of Things smart devices. Philips was quick to issue a new firmware update that fixed the problem before it was publicly disclosed.

You can make sure your lightbulbs are protected by opening the Philips Hue app and heading to Settings | Software Update. This would alert you if an update is needed, but to prevent any further checking, you can enable the “automatic update” option on the same page.

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title: How to stop your smart home from spying on you


content_text:
TELECOMS

Trump bars Huawei gear

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed legislation that bars carriers from using US subsidies to purchase network equipment from Huawei Technologies Co (華為), ZTE Corp (中興) and other companies deemed a national security threat. The law also requires the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to help small providers with the costs of removing prohibited equipment or services from their networks and replacing it. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai asked the US Congress “to appropriate the necessary funding to reimburse carriers for replacing any network equipment or services found to be a national security threat.” The Rural Wireless Association praised the measure that authorizes the not-yet-appropriated US$1 billion. It marks “the first step in securing necessary funding to replace rural carriers’ Huawei and ZTE equipment so that critical network infrastructure in rural areas continues to be available,” the association said.

SEMICONDUCTORS

Broadcom rescinds forecast

Chipmaker and Apple Inc supplier Broadcom Inc withdrew its annual sales forecast and gave weak near-term guidance, demonstrating how deeply the coronavirus outbreak is poised to hurt demand. Although Broadcom CEO Hock Tan (陳福陽) said that he “did not see any material impact” from the outbreak in the first quarter, “we believe it prudent to withdraw our annual guidance until visibility returns to pre-COVID-19 level.” Sales in the current period would be US$5.7 billion, plus or minus US$150 million, the company said on Thursday. That missed Wall Street expectations. While Broadcom’s supply chain is unscathed by the virus so far, Tan said it is impossible to assess yet how much consumer demand for electronics would decline.

JAPAN

Unions score small raise

Workers in the nation’s biggest labor union are receiving the smallest pay raise in seven years, another blow for households facing a higher sales tax and the likelihood of a deep recession triggered by the COVID-19. Average monthly pay for members is to rise by 1.91 percent, initial results from this year’s wage negotiations released on Friday by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation show. That follows a bump of around 2.2 percent last year. With corporate profits likely to be hard hit by the virus, unions had less bargaining power than might have been expected given the country’s labor shortages. This year’s results present a further challenge for households whose budgets have been squeezed by the second sales tax hike in the span of about five years. The confederation entered this year’s negotiations demanding only about a 3 percent pay increase.

PHARMACEUTICALS

FDA permits faster virus test

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued emergency authorization for a faster coronavirus test made by Swiss diagnostics maker Roche, a move aimed at boosting screening capacity to help contain the outbreak. The new tests provide results in 3.5 hours and can produce up to 4,128 results daily, the company said yesterday, a boost to tests the company has offered until now. The emergency authorization clears the tests to be deployed in the US and markets that conform to European standards. Roche said it is “going to the limits of our production capacity” to deliver as many of the faster tests as possible.

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title: World Business Quick Take


title: Sawgrass closes doors to golf fans

content_text:
The potential for a Masters free from spectators dominated discussion during the first round of the Players Championship, after the PGA Tour imposed a closed-door policy for the final 54 holes at Sawgrass as worries increase over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that he held discussions with US President Donald Trump before announcing a ban on spectators that is to remain in place for three subsequent tournaments. Attention has turned toward the first major of the year, with an update expected from Augusta National imminently.

Empty galleries are to form the backdrop on the last three days at Sawgrass, as they would for the entirety of the Valspar Championship, World Golf Championship Match Play and the Texas Open.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama hits a tee shot during the first round of the Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Thursday.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

Speculation is rife that the public would not be able to attend the Masters — due to tee off on April 9.

“It would be very unusual without hearing the roars echoing through the valley,” 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth said of an empty Augusta. “You can feed off a crowd anywhere and it can also add a bit of pressure as well, in certain situations. This isn’t ideal for anyone, but I think if you polled the players, we would rather have the Masters go on without spectators than not go on at all. I think you would probably get a unanimous vote on that one — but it’s a shame.”

The Tour’s stance was criticized by Briton Lee Westwood.

“Considering the approach of other sports in the US, I’m surprised how little the PGA Tour is doing,” the former world No 1 said. “I know we don’t play in such a confined arena, but surely our age-range of fans is more susceptible.”

Taiwan’s Pan Cheng-tsung withdrew from the Players Championship just hours before the first round, while aiming a broadside at the lack of coronavirus safeguards at the course.

“I’m probably the only one who is not playing,” Pan posted on Twitter. “Same number as the hand sanitizers in the clubhouse, locker and dining.”

Monahan had sought to emphasize differences between golf and other US-based sports — for example, the NBA, which has suspended competition completely. Yet, owing to the fluid nature of the situation, golf might still follow the same path.

“Obviously we’re an outdoor sport, we’re not in a stadium, and here this week at Sawgrass, our players are making their way over 400 acres,” he said. “We felt by taking this step to address the problem with our fans, we’re in a position where we can continue to operate the events as of right now.”

There would be a “significant” financial hit from the Tour’s flagship competition going spectator-free, Monahan said.

About 200,000 tickets have been sold for the week.

Hideki Matsuyama ignored the fraught backdrop to return a nine-under-par 63 on Thursday, matching the course record at Sawgrass.

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content_text:
The Liberty Times Editorial: Accelerating transitional justice

Feb. 28 marked the 73rd anniversary of the 228 Incident, in which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government of then-president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) — based in Nanjing, China — sent troops to crush an uprising in Taiwan. As she does every year, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) attended and spoke at the main ceremony commemorating the incident at the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei.

The Tsai government has been administering Taiwan for four years. Although her administration lists transitional justice as one of its core tasks, it is still far short of its short-term and long-term objectives. With a second four-year term ahead of her, Tsai will need to race against time.

As Tsai said at last year’s 228 Incident memorial ceremony, “time is indeed the greatest enemy of transitional justice.”

The numbers of victims of the 228 Incident and the ensuing White Terror era, and of their family members who lived through the decades of authoritarian rule, are gradually dwindling. Regrettably, few of them are left to see the fruits of transitional justice. If modern democracy can make some contribution to righting past wrongs, the most basic condition for doing so is to strive to get closer to the truth by completing the puzzle on the basis of existing historical documents and files.

However, the job of laying this foundation for pursuing transitional justice has not gone at all smoothly. In the days of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), there was a multitude of intelligence and security agencies, so many files were distributed among different agencies.

Over the years, these various agencies have been downsized or merged. In the process, some have preserved their files better than others.

Around the beginning of last year, the National Archives Administration started the task of collecting political files. In some agencies, the people in charge could not say how many files had been left over from their predecessors, while Tsai has commended some other agencies for opening their archives and willingly cooperating, and for having diligently preserved and categorized their files.

There are some intelligence agencies that have not declassified all their key files. Their attitude is controversial in this day and age, when democracy and transparency have become the norm.

It is especially unacceptable to certain members of Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration who served time in prison for political reasons. Consequently, there are disagreements within the government about how to handle such matters.

The key factor in the job of processing historical documents and files is whether the whole government has a consensus and unified approach, so the Tsai administration’s pursuit of transitional justice is really a process of self-transformation within the government.

In 2017 Tsai for the first time attended the main 228 Incident commemoration ceremony in her capacity as president. In her speech on that occasion, she said that we should “put to rest the idea that in the 228 Incident there were only victims, and no victimizers.”

She added that when that “when the victimizers are willing to apologize, and the victims and their families are willing to forgive ... Taiwan’s democracy will take another step forward.”

The 228 commemoration ceremony in 2018 took place not long before the Transitional Justice Commission was established and commenced operations. At that ceremony, Tsai said that the commission would “conduct an institutional review of systemic infringement from the authoritarian era.”

As well as proposing specific demands, Tsai’s government placed the heavy responsibility of seeking transitional justice on the shoulders of the commission.

However, in August of that year came the “eastern depot incident,” in which a meeting of one of the commission’s committees was exposed as having discussed targeting then-KMT New Taipei City mayoral candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜). This incident undermined trust in the commission’s independence and the work of transitional justice became tainted with political struggle.

This was one of the reasons the DPP suffered a heavy defeat in the November 2018 local government elections.

Following the DPP’s election setback, Tsai sought to rescue the commission’s reputation by reshuffling its membership.

However, with regard to the commission’s advocacy of removing the influence of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo, Tsai said at a news conference on Dec. 18, 2018, that neither she nor the commission had the sole power to make such decisions. She also redefined the role of the commission as clarifying the truth and promoting public reconciliation regarding historical events.

Tsai urged the commission to concentrate on investigations and research. However, the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) says that one of the commission’s five missions is “removing authoritarian symbols.”

The DPP’s election losses detracted from the government’s legitimacy, so the bonds of realpolitik caused Tsai’s government to restrain itself with regard to transitional justice.

At last year’s 228 commemoration ceremony, Tsai did not raise specific demands, but rather spoke about the long-term goals of transitional justice.

“We want to make it possible for every single person living in Taiwan to feel [a] sense of ease each day,” she said. “We want them to be able to … express their opinions freely. We want to work together to build a better democratic society.”

Another battlefield of transitional justice is to recover ill-gotten party assets, but this, too, is a long and arduous task. The Cabinet’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee has throttled the umbilical between the KMT’s finances and its ill-gotten assets. However, most cases have been bogged down by litigation over the definition of party assets or affiliate organizations.

As well as spending a great deal of time fighting on this front, the committee has many times run up against “dinosaur” court judgements. This problem intersects with Tsai’s pursuit of judicial reform. Various parts of the judiciary are out of step with transitional justice, and the crossfire between progressive and regressive forces is slowing the progress of reform.

Tsai was first elected president in 2016, when her party also gained a majority of seats in the legislature. With control of the executive and legislative branches of government, the DPP felt very sure of itself, but it had limited success in promoting transitional justice over that four-year term.

From the point of view of victims’ relatives, out of the three stages of procedural justice that they call for — truth, justice and reconciliation — the process is still stuck at the stage of clarifying the truth.

The experience of these four years shows that what transitional justice has to confront is not just how to restore the true face of history or respond to the needs and demands of victims’ relatives, but the question of whether the entire government has really moved toward “transition.” For example, there is the issue of what to do about the “banal evil” of those who played a part in government in the authoritarian era. Without thorough reform, government departments will continue to trip over themselves and even obstruct one another.

Aside from clarifying the past, an even more important goal of transition is to advance toward a progressive future where the wrongs of the past will never be repeated. Responsibility for guiding such reforms lies with Tsai herself.

Taiwanese voters have authorized Tsai to serve a second four-year term. They have given her greater legitimacy with the biggest-ever number of votes for a presidential candidate in the nation.

Tsai’s duty as president is not just to offer consolation. It is even more meaningful for her to tell victims, their relatives and everyone else what more she can do in the coming four years to promote reform within the government.

Translated by Julian Clegg

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people: 蔡英文 侯友宜


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Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has committed US$100,000 to help workers at the team’s arena and members of the support staff affected by the suspension of the NBA season.

The league, which was already considering contingencies for the COVID-19 pandemic, including playing in empty arenas, on Wednesday night suspended play after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.

The NHL and Major League Soccer on Thursday followed suit, when Major League Baseball announced that it was postponing the March 26 start of its season.

The dearth of games — not to mention concerts and other events — at arenas around the country would be a big financial blow to the legion of ticket takers, ushers and food vendors who keep the events running, but do not get paid when not working.

“I’m concerned about the level of anxiety that everyone is feeling and that is why I’m committing US$100,000 through the @KevinLoveFund in support of the @Cavs arena and support staff that had a sudden life shift due to the suspension of the NBA season,” Love wrote on Instagram.

“I hope that during this time of crisis, others will join me in supporting our communities,” Love added. “Pandemics are not just a medical phenomenon. They affect individuals and society on so many levels, with stigma and xenophobia being just two aspects of the impact of a pandemic outbreak... I encourage everyone to take care of themselves and to reach out to others in need — whether that means supporting your local charities that are canceling events, or checking in on your colleagues and family.”

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban also touched on the plight of arena workers who are paid an hourly wage, saying that he hoped to formulate a plan to compensate them during the suspension.

The team have come up with a program by which for the next four “would have been” Mavericks games “we’ll pay our employees, our hourly employees, as if they worked,” Cuban told ESPN on Thursday.

The Philadelphia 76ers also issued a statement saying that they are committed to assisting their arena associates and Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler said that he would create a program for workers at the State Farm Arena.

Charlotte Hornets center Cody Zeller vowed to help.

“We all have fun playing and watching NBA games, but many of our hard working hourly employees and support staff depend on wages from our home games,” Zeller wrote on Twitter. “We’re going to make sure that they’re taken care of. Even if I have to pay out of pocket to help out.”

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title: Cavs’ Love to give US$100,000 for idled arena workers


content_text:
2019 Mosque Attacks: Racist threat lingers, Ardern says

‘WHITE SUPREMACIST’:
 New Zealand’s prime minister said the best way to honor the victims of last year’s mosque attacks was to call out racism, bullying and discrimination

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday said there was “much more” her country could do to tackle white supremacists a year after the Christchurch mosque massacres.

Ardern was widely praised for her compassion toward the Muslim community after a lone gunman attacked two mosques on March 15 last year, killing 51 in New Zealand’s worst modern mass shooting.

However, she said some in the South Pacific nation continued to espouse the views of the Australian attacker, a self-avowed white supremacist who targeted Muslims at Friday prayers.

“New Zealand is not free of those groups who define themselves as extremist white supremacists, those groups exist here,” she told reporters.

“The responsibility we have is to combat not only that existence, but the precursors to that existence. There is much more that we can do,” she said.

Ardern, who was speaking ahead of a national memorial service tomorrow, said the best way to honor victims was to call out racism, bullying and discrimination.

“People will feel safe when they feel supported ... when they feel the community is looking after them and when they feel they are not facing discrimination or jibes in the street or comments that make them feel unsafe,” she said.

Ardern said the March 15 attacks “fundamentally changed” New Zealand, she hoped for the better.

“I would like to think there is a growing resolve amongst New Zealanders that we wish to be defined by what we are not as much as what we are,” she said.

Her remarks came after police arrested a 19-year-old man this month over a threat against one of the mosques attacked last year.

“It is unfathomable to me that, after everything the Muslim community has experienced, we have people who are ... [making] threats against our Muslim community,” she said.

Ardern later joined more than 1,000 Muslims for their Friday prayers as the Al Noor and Linwood mosques held a combined service and were joined by fellow Muslims from around New Zealand.

Nasir Ali, who flew in from Auckland with his family, said it was important to share the “sorrow and hardship” and keep the memory alive.

“We need to keep it on the radar that this sort of tragedy and this sort of extremist ideology does exist and we need to continue to be vigilant about it,” he said.

Farid Ahmed, whose wife was killed by the gunman, said 12 months on he was still at a loss to understand why the killing occurred.

Ahmed has publicly forgiven the gunman and said he refuses to be cowed.

“I feel I could die anytime and I should not be afraid, because I have got my freedom not to be afraid. No one or nothing can take that away,” he said.

“The lesson is that hate does not solve any problem. If there are differences there is another way and that is the peaceful way,” he said. “We should talk, we should dialogue, we should ask one another questions and we should not be afraid of one another.”

Taj Mohammed Kamran, who was shot three times while his friend beside him was killed by the gunman, said he felt safe at the Friday prayers because of the large police presence.

“But I was sad because my friend was not there,” he added.

The alleged mosque attacker Brenton Tarrant, an Australian national, is due to go on trial on June 2 facing terrorism charges, plus 51 counts of murder and 40 of attempted murder over the killings.


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2019 Mosque Attacks: Shot nine times, survivor of attack overcomes fear

When the gunman walked into the Al Noor Mosque, Temel Atacocugu was kneeling for Friday prayers. He looked up into the man’s face, thinking he was a police officer because of his paramilitary outfit. Time slowed. Atacocugu saw a puff of smoke come from the raised gun, felt a bullet smash into his teeth, and thought: “Oh, my God, I’m dying.”

However, despite being shot nine times, Atacocugu survived the attack at Al Noor, one of two mosques in Christchurch that were attacked on March 15 last year, in New Zealand’s deadliest modern-day mass shooting.

Tomorrow, New Zealand is to commemorate the 51 people who were killed in the attacks. Atacocugu, 45, is slowly overcoming his own physical and psychological injuries from that day. And he has even found himself ready to face a childhood fear: sharks.

Al Noor Mosque shooting survivor Temel Atacocugu points to the scar of a bullet wound in his arm during an interview at his home in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Feb. 25.
 Photo: AP

On the day of the attacks, Atacocugu was in a buoyant mood when he walked into the mosque. An active man who loves soccer, fishing and running, he had just finished his last acupuncture session for a sports injury and was feeling in great shape.

Growing up in Turkey, he had been through compulsory military training, so he quickly realized what was happening. Medical staff would later tell him he was incredibly fortunate that the bullet, which struck his upper jaw, deflected downward rather than continuing into his brain or an artery.

Atacocugu said that after that first shot to his mouth, he leapt up in shock and was shot four more times in both legs. People were screaming. Another worshiper rushed at the gunman and was killed, but it gave Atacocugu a couple of seconds to react and to run as best he could.

There was no obvious way out, so he lay down motionless on the floor. He was later shot four more times in his left arm and leg, as the gunman fired indiscriminately into the piles of bodies.

Atacocugu spent a month in a hospital and underwent four operations that included bone and skin grafts. He will need at least three more surgeries in the coming months.

to come.

“The biggest change after the attack was that I can’t be free the same as before,” Atacocugu said. “Because very limited moving around. And I was feeling like a little baby, because somebody has to look after me all the time.”

Yet his physical recovery a year later is remarkable. The wheelchair and cane are gone. His left arm remains weakened, but when he walks down the street or plays with his Labradoodle dog, Max, Atacocugu’s limp is barely noticeable.

A few weeks ago, he started playing soccer again with a group of his friends, joking that these days he is being outrun by fit men in their 70s. In one game, he showed off his skills by tackling, spot kicking and back-heeling a pass.

Atacocugu’s mental recovery is taking longer. He has been seeing a psychologist who is helping him work through the images and flashbacks that still haunt him.

“He’s trying to pull out the dark spot from my brain,” he said.

Atacocugu has experienced bouts of depression and has been taking antidepressants since the shooting. He figures he will need to keep taking the medication for at least another year. He has found that his memory and ability to concentrate have also been affected.

He said he does not want to keep working at the kebab shop he ran with a business partner at the time of the attack and is now trying to sell his stake. He has helped out at the shop a couple of times since the shooting, but has found himself nervous around strangers, not wanting to explain.

“It’s just too crowded and too big,” he said. “People keep asking: ‘Oh, what’s happened to your arm?’”

Atacocugu said he is thinking instead of turning back to his skills as a painter and decorator.

It is more peaceful, working alongside a trusted crew with only a single customer to deal with at any one time, he said.

He has also recently put in an offer to buy a new home in Christchurch, which he hopes will help him make a fresh start.

Atacocugu moved to the South Pacific nation after meeting a New Zealand woman in Turkey and marrying her in 2001. They thought Christchurch would be a good place to raise their children, in an environment that seemed friendly and safe.

The couple separated in 2016 and Atacocugu stayed in Christchurch to be near his two teenage sons.

He plans to attend the trial of the 29-year-old Australian white supremacist who is accused of carrying out last year’s massacre.

Brenton Tarrant has pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism, murder and attempted murder, and his trial is scheduled to start in June. If found guilty, he faces life imprisonment.

Atacocugu said the way New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and people throughout the country came together in unity after the shooting shows the gunman has already failed in his quest to sow division.

Hate has lost and love has won, he said.

“As a human, yes, I’m so angry,” Atacocugu said. “But also, deep of my heart, my religion makes me calm down and be patient. So I know the New Zealand law system is going to punish this man, this terrorist, as much, as high as can be possible, under the law.”

Over the past year, Atacocugu has found moments of peace during two overseas trips. One was to Turkey, where he spent time with his mother and other family members and friends. The other was a trip to Saudi Arabia for the hajj, the annual pilgrimage that most Muslims are required to perform during their lifetime.

Atacocugu was among 200 survivors and relatives from the Christchurch attacks who traveled to Saudi Arabia as guests of King Salman.

“Pretty much my whole life is upside down and changed,” Atacocugu said. “But spiritually, in a religious way, I’m much stronger than I used to be.”

That newfound strength has filtered through into other aspects of his life. Atacocugu recalls watching the Jaws movies when he was a boy, an experience that for months left him terrified of swimming.

Years later, he drew up a list of new things to experience during his life, including diving with sharks. Still, he could never quite get over that childhood fear.

But after he was shot, he began to think about it a lot, he said.

A couple of months ago, he drove to the southern end of New Zealand and, on a picture-perfect day, went on a tour boat and was submerged in a protective metal cage among great white sharks that swam within a body length of him. The experience left him exhilarated.

“I faced my fear,” he said.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Duterte locks down Metro Manila, shuts government

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES:
 The lockdown was leaked, triggering panic buying and sending people rushing to bus stations as they anticipated restrictions in movement

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is to place about 12 million people in Metro Manila on lockdown and largely suspend government work for a month in an effort to stop COVID-19 from spreading.

Duterte on Thursday said that he was suspending domestic travel to and from Metro Manila from Sunday to April 14, and restricting entry of travelers from nations that had recorded local transmissions of the coronavirus.

Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Ramon Lopez, in a televised briefing yesterday, said that a 60-day price freeze on basic goods is in effect in Metro Manila to prevent a sharp rise in prices.

He assured that the delivery of food and basic supplies would remain unimpeded.

Duterte’s order, which leaked on social media hours before the announcement, triggered panic buying and sent people rushing to bus stations as they anticipated the restriction in movement.

“We don’t want to use that, afraid to say lockdown, but it is a lockdown,” Duterte said in a televised briefing on Thursday.

After his speech, the Philippine Department of Health announced that three more people had died of the coronavirus, bringing the death toll to five out of 52 confirmed cases.

Duterte encouraged private companies to adopt flexible work arrangements and lifted a ban on overseas workers traveling to China — except Hubei Province, the epicenter of the pandemic.

Philippine Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning Ernesto Pernia said that the lockdown’s impact on economic growth would be “minimal and ephemeral.”

Philippine Secretary of Agriculture William Dar told reporters that the department was working with local governments to ensure availability of food in Metro Manila.

He said the nation’s inventory of rice was good for 80 days.

“During times of crisis like this coronavirus epidemic, people want to be reassured our leaders know what they are doing,” Philippine Star columnist Boo Chanco wrote.

Schools are to remain shut until April 12 and public gatherings prohibited, while local government officials have been empowered to impose community to province-wide quarantines.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Chinese official claims US behind virus outbreak

RUMOR-MONGERING:
 Zhao Lijian cited a Montreal-based Web site that is replete with conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the US

A Chinese official has suggested that the US military might have introduced COVID-19 into China, without providing any evidence to support his eyebrow-raising claim.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) late on Thursday made the assertion on Twitter, echoing similar conspiracy theories proliferating on Chinese social media that blame the US for the pandemic.

The head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the source of the virus was wild animals sold at a market in the central city of Wuhan.

However, in the past few days Chinese officials and a prominent health expert have claimed that the virus might have originated elsewhere, while Beijing has angrily hit back at US officials for calling the disease the “Wuhan virus.”

In his tweet, Zhao posted a video of the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) testifying before the US Congress that some Americans who were believed to have died from the flu were posthumously diagnosed with COVID-19.

“CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals?” Zhao said on Twitter.

“It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!” he added.

Zhao yesterday doubled down, tweeting an article that he said showed “further evidence that the virus originated in the US.”

The Montreal-based Web site (http://globalresearch.ca) on which the article appears is replete with conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

Chinese officials have been accused of attempting to cover up the coronavirus outbreak as police in Wuhan reprimanded and silenced doctors who had raised the alarm about the virus as early as December last year.

US officials have angered China by linking the virus with the country, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling it the “Wuhan virus.”

The ministry has rejected the term as “despicable” and “disrespecting science.”

US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien on Wednesday said that the birthplace of the virus was China.

“This virus did not originate in the United States, it originated in Wuhan,” O’Brien said at the Heritage Foundation think tank.

“Unfortunately, rather than using best practices, this outbreak in Wuhan was covered up,” he said.

China had “cost the world community two months to respond” to the epidemic, he added.

Had China been more cooperative and allowed foreign experts on the ground earlier, “we could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what is now happening across the world,” O’Brien said.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) on Thursday called OBrien’s remarks “extremely immoral and also irresponsible.”

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title:
Bangladesh slum fire leaves many homeless
孟加拉貧民窟大火  數千人無家可歸

content_text:
A massive fire ripped through a slum in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka on Wednesday, leaving thousands of people homeless. Hundreds of shanties were destroyed in the Rupnagar slum in the city’s Mirpur area, witnesses said.

As many as 150 firefighters scrambled to get access to enough water and battled for three hours to bring the flames under control, said fire service official Zillur Rahman.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Video footage showed heavy plumes of smoke billowing all around the congested slum area.

People affected by the fire stand in ruins after a fire ripped through Rupnagar slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Wednesday. Hundreds of houses were wiped out in the fire.
火災受災戶本週三站在廢墟中，這場大火吞噬了孟加拉首都達卡的魯普納加貧民窟。數百間小屋在大火中被燒毀。
 Photo: EPA-EFE
照片：歐新社

Lax regulations and poor enforcement have often been blamed for large fires in the South Asian nation that have killed hundreds of people in recent years.

At least 25 people were killed in March last year when fire broke out in a 22-storey commercial building in Dhaka’s upscale area of Banani.

In February last year, an inferno in a centuries-old neighborhood of Dhaka killed 71 people and injured dozens.

A man searches for his valuable items in the ruins after a fire ripped through the Rupnagar slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Wednesday.
一名男子在火災廢墟中尋找值錢的個人物品，，本週三攝於孟加拉達卡的魯普納加貧民窟。
 Photo: EPA-EFE
照片：歐新社