title: World Business Quick Take

content_text:
CHINA

Q1 plunge of 9% forecast

China’s economy is set to post a 9 percent plunge in the first quarter from a year earlier, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said yesterday. A day after retail sales, industrial output and investment data plunged by far more than the median estimate of analysts, Goldman economists said that their new forecast for real GDP growth this year is 3 percent, down from 5.5 percent. The previous first-quarter forecast was for an expansion of 2.5 percent.

ENVIRONMENT

McDonald’s targets toys

McDonald’s Corp yesterday pledged to end the use of plastic found in toys served with children’s “Happy Meals” in the UK and Ireland by the beginning of next year. The plastic items would be replaced with a “soft toy, sustainable paper-based gifts or books,” the US fast-food giant said. “This represents the biggest reduction in plastic by McDonald’s UK and Ireland to date and is the next step in its mission to reduce its environmental impact across all areas of the business,” the company said in a statement.

RETAIL

Carphone to shut stores

British electricals retailer Dixons Carphone PLC is closing all of its 531 UK standalone Carphone Warehouse stores as part of a plan to turn around its mobile business, the company said yesterday. The stores, representing 8 percent of Dixons Carphone’s total UK selling space, are to close on April 3. The closures would result in 2,900 redundancies, with 1,800 other workers expected to take new roles internally.

RETAIL

Nordstrom revises forecast

Apparel retailer Nordstrom Inc on Monday withdrew its forecast for the current fiscal year and said that it would close stores in the US and Canada for two weeks, starting yesterday, in an effort to arrest the spread of COVID-19. The stores closing include Nordstrom full-line, Nordstrom Rack and Trunk Club clubhouses. It would provide pay and benefits to its store employees during the period, Nordstrom said.

AVIATION

S&P downgrades Boeing

S&P Global Ratings on Monday downgraded its rating for aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. “Boeing’s cash flows for the next two years are going to be much weaker than we had expected, due to the 737 MAX grounding, resulting in worse credit ratios than we had forecast,” S&P said in a statement. “In addition, the significant reduction in global air travel due to the coronavirus will likely result in an increase in aircraft order deferrals, further pressuring cash flows.” It lowered its rating for the company to “BBB” from “A-.”

TECHNOLOGY

Huge French fine for Apple

The French Competition Authority on Monday slapped a record 1.1 billion euro (US$1.2 billion) fine on US tech giant Apple Inc for anti-competitive behavior toward its independent retail distributors. It found that Apple acted to prevent independent retailers in France from competing on price and abused its economic power over them, the agency said. Authority President Isabelle de Silva said that it was “the heaviest fine against a firm” as well as in any case, which also included two of Apple’s wholesalers in France who were hit with fines worth nearly 140 million euros.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Global Airlines slash flights over virus

content_text:
‘UNPRECEDENTED’:
 The trade group Airlines for America released a wish list including grants, loans and tax relief, saying that the drop in demand was ‘much worse than 9/11’

Major world airlines on Monday announced further deep cuts to service as the worsening COVID-19 crisis ravages demand, accentuating talk of government support with US carriers formally releasing a plea for a bailout of about US$50 billion.

Citing an “unprecedented” drop in demand that is “getting worse by the day” and “much worse than 9/11,” the trade group Airlines for America (A4A) unveiled a wish list including grants, loans and tax relief.

“This is a today problem, not a tomorrow problem. It requires urgent action,” A4A president and chief executive officer Nicholas Calio said.

The group said that the industry was on track to suffer a drop of US$23 billion in liquidity at the end of this year under an “optimistic” scenario and a drop of US$53 billion under a “pessimistic” scenario.

“As of the morning of March 16, the pessimistic scenario is looking most likely,” the group said.

White House officials have highlighted airlines as a major concern and signaled broad support for a federal plan to fortify the industry.

“We have to back the airlines,” US President Donald Trump told a briefing. “It’s not their fault. In fact, they were having a record season.”

Earlier, European carriers announced additional cutbacks in service due to the crisis.

International Airlines Group (IAG), owner of British Airways PLC and Spanish carrier Iberia SA, announced that it would slash flight capacity by 75 percent during next month and May owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, while Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it would trim seating capacity on long-haul flights by up to 90 percent, affecting mainly routes to Africa, the Middle East and South America.

Britain’s Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd added that it has decided to park 75 percent of its total fleet, and in April this would rise to as high as 85 percent.

Virgin has reportedly called upon the UK government to inject emergency support totaling ￡7.5 billion (US$9.2 billion) to help keep Britain’s aviation industry flying.

“Last week saw a rapid acceleration of the impact of COVID-19 on global aviation and tourism,” Virgin Atlantic said in a statement. “The situation is deteriorating at pace and the airline has seen several days of negative bookings, driven by a huge volume of cancellations as customers choose to stay at home.”

British no-frills carrier EasyJet PLC said that it might have to ground “the majority” of its fleet, urging governments across Europe to help their airlines maintain access to liquidity.

EasyJet chief executive officer Johan Lundgren said that “European aviation faces a precarious future,” and called for government backing if the industry is to survive.

Irish budget carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC did not rule out a full grounding as it unveiled stinging flight cutbacks.

IAG said that it was taking measures including cuts to nonessential spending, a freeze on recruitment and reducing work hours.

A management shake-up had also been put on hold, and Willie Walsh, who was due to step down on March 26, would remain as IAG’s chief executive officer, the company said.

Air France would slash flight capacity by 70 to 90 percent over the next two months, while Austrian Airlines AG would suspend all flights from tomorrow, and Finnair Oyj is cutting 90 percent of capacity until the situation improves.

The German government on Monday said that it was planning to shield companies from going under because of the pandemic, by suspending legal obligations for firms facing acute liquidity problems to file for bankruptcy.

German tourism and hotel group TUI AG said that it was applying for state aid to keep it afloat, as it suspended the “majority” of its operations.

In London, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson signaled that the government would examine help for affected businesses, not just airlines, via tax authority Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

“HMRC is ready to help all businesses including airlines experiencing temporary financial difficulties due to coronavirus,” Johnson’s spokesman said.

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Virus Outbreak: Australian researchers map immune response on way to COVID-19 vaccine

Australian researchers yesterday said they have mapped immune responses from one of the country’s first COVID-19 patients, findings that Australian Minister of Health Greg Hunt has said are a crucial first step in developing a vaccine and treatment.

While the bulk of those infected experience only mild symptoms, it is severe or critical in 20 percent of patients. The virus has been fatal in about 1 percent of reported cases.

As scientists scramble to develop a vaccine, researchers at Australia’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity said they have taken an important step in understanding the virus.

By examining the blood results from an unidentified woman in her 40s, they discovered that the immune system responds to the coronavirus in the same way that it typically fights the flu.

The findings would help scientists understand why some patients recover, while others develop more serious respiratory problems, the researchers said.

“People can use our methods to understand the immune responses in larger COVID-19 cohorts and also to understand what’s lacking in those who have fatal outcomes,” University of Melbourne microbiology and immunology professor Katherine Kedzierska said.

As researchers monitored the Australian patient’s immune response, they could accurately predict when she would recover, which she ended up doing.

The research is a major development, Hunt said.

“It’s about fast-tracking a vaccine by identifying which candidates are most likely to be successful,” Hunt told reporters. “It’s also about fast-tracking potential therapies and treatments for patients who already have coronavirus.”

At least a dozen pharmaceutical companies around the world are working on vaccines or antiviral, and other treatments for the fast-spreading contagion.

However, investment costs for vaccines could run as high as US$800 million in a process that, even if accelerated, is likely to take more than a year until approval, executives of companies involved in the effort said.

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title: EDITORIAL: Naming and shaming not right move

people: 蔡英文 陳時中

content_text:
Extraordinary situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can bring out the worst in humanity, and while nothing too vile has happened in Taiwan so far, news of callous and irresponsible behavior has been constant ever since the virus was first diagnosed in the nation almost two months ago.

From spreading fabricated news to breaching quarantine to unnecessarily traveling abroad, the unpredictable human factor can put the entire nation in danger.

More shameful behavior has included the abuse of public health workers and pharmacists as well as rampant littering of used masks, but these are blatant transgressions that need not be expounded.

The government has done a great job keeping the virus at bay, especially considering the situation abroad, and has delivered on its promise to punish offenders who put other people’s lives at risk.

Those who disseminate false information or ignore quarantine orders have been fined, but with two dozen new cases confirmed this week alone in people who had traveled abroad, the authorities are clamping down harder.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Monday said that the government might release the names of people who contract the disease after making an unnecessary trip to an area for which the government has issued a level 3 travel alert. These people would not be eligible for subsidies for their treatment, and might have to pay extra fees and fines as well, he said.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has urged people to “make concessions for Taiwan’s sake,” although she stressed that Taiwan is safer than other nations.

Some have criticized the name-and-shame plan as a violation of privacy, but, as Chen said, these are extreme times.

If people knowingly break the rules in a potential life-or-death situation, such as the pandemic, something scarier than fines is needed to deter such behavior.

With carriers offering extremely low airfares, there would always be people who are willing to take the chance to travel even if it could put the entire nation at risk.

The government said it would only release offenders’ names after assessing the graveness of the situation and the person’s behavior, but not any further information.

However, the problem is that Taiwan’s Internet users have a history of tracking down and harassing — and even physically attacking — people who have allegedly contravened social mores.

It is already happening, even without any names being released. The personal details of one confirmed case — a man who allegedly lied to his employer about his travel history, resulting in all of his coworkers being quarantined — have been posted on the Internet. A borough warden who took a tour group to Europe last week has also been tracked down and subjected to a barrage of threats and harassment. A man was fined last month for posting information about a recent returnee from Wuhan, China, on Facebook, claiming that the entire family had been infected.

These people have already become “public enemies” without the government releasing any information about them.

Such vigilante behavior is not acceptable, but it seems to be deeply rooted in society.

Chen has denounced vigilantism, but would publishing the names of offenders not cause just that, or worse?

Strict punishments are definitely needed for those who put people’s lives at risk, but the ministry might want to reassess how those are doled out.

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There are the elderly couples who died hours apart and without their families around them. There is the 47-year-old woman who died at home, and who remained there for almost two days because funeral companies refused to collect her body. There are the doctors who lost their lives after assisting their infected patients.

Among the 2,158 people killed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy as of Monday, the oldest was 95 and the two youngest were 39.

“The reality is this virus is spreading like wildfire. Death is not certain, but the contagion is real,” said Luca Franzese, whose sister, Teresa, 47, died at home in Naples on 7 March.

A mural by Franco Rivolli Art depicting a nurse wearing a mask, with wings behind her back and cradling a map of Italy, is pictured on a wall of the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, Italy, on Monday.
 Photo: AFP

“My parents are heartbroken, they are destroyed,” he said.

Teresa Franzese, who lived with her elderly parents, sister, brother-in-law and their two children, suffered from epilepsy, but was otherwise in good health. A week before she died, she came down with the flu.

“My parents called her doctor, but they refused to come to the house, despite knowing she had a disability,” Luca Franzese said.

“She went into a coma on 7 March, we tried to call the emergency hotline, they arrived after 40 minutes. In the meantime, I tried to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,” he said.

Teresa Franzese tested positive for the virus postmortem. Luca Franzese spoke of his family’s frustration at being “abandoned” by the authorities after his sister was left to die at home.

It was only after he made an appeal for help via Facebook that a local funeral company eventually came to collect her body. However, as with other COVID-19 victims, she was buried quickly and without ceremony to mitigate the risk of infection posed by her corpse. Her parents, who have underlying health issues, tested negative for the virus, as did Luca Franzese and a nephew. The rest of her immediate family of seven have tested positive.

Silvio Brusaferro, the president of Italy’s Higher Institute of Health, said on Friday that the average age of COVID-19 victims was 80.3, with the majority having suffered underlying illnesses. The most common additional health issue was arterial hypertension followed by chronic heart disease, atrial fibrillation and cancer.

More than 70 percent of those who have died were men. The two 39-year-old victims were a man with diabetes and a woman with cancer. The vast majority of deaths have been in the northern Lombardy region (1,420 as of Monday night), followed by Emilia-Romagna (346) and Veneto (69).

However, not all of the dead had other health issues, at least as far as is known. Luca Carrara lost his father, Luigi Carrara, 86, and mother, Severa Belotti, 82, within a few hours of each other. He told the Italian press they were in good health.

“I was unable to see my parents, they died alone, that’s what this virus is,” he added. “The truth is this is not a banal flu and if you end up in hospital, you leave either alive or dead.”

The couple lived in Albino, a town in the badly affected province of Bergamo in Lombardy. The harrowing impact of the virus on the area can be gleaned from the obituary section of the local newspaper L’Eco di Bergamo.

On Friday, reader Giovanni Locatelli shared online footage comparing the newspaper’s obituary section on Feb. 9, when listings took up just one page, to a copy dated 13 March, when 10 pages were needed to commemorate the dead.

In Codogno, the Lombardy town where the outbreak began, Enrico Palestra lost his 80-year-old father, Giovanni, who was otherwise in good health.

“It’s not a normal flu like people are saying,” Palestra said, without elaborating.

Another victim in Codogno was the 74-year-old uncle of Alessandro, who asked for his surname not to be used.

“He got a fever five days ago and died on Sunday,” Alessandro said. “He was in good form, didn’t smoke and had no previous illnesses. A good part of my family are sick with this virus.”

Alessandro, who lives in Lake Garda, between the Lombardy and Veneto regions, added: “People who don’t live here don’t realize how bad it is. We’re hearing ambulances every half an hour as they take the sick to hospital. It’s striking.

“What amazes me is that other countries are seeing these things, not only England, but have taken precautions too late — or not been decisive enough ones. This worries me,” he said.

Several medics have died, among them Roberto Stella, the president of the order of doctors in Varese, Lombardy. The 67-year-old was tending to patients until he started to suffer symptoms and went into intensive care himself. He died on Wednesday last week.

“They are all doctors who had no fear of going into combat knowing the risks they were running,” said Saverio Chiaravalle, vice president of the Varese doctors order and a close friend of Stella.

“They died on the field, but when you are in combat you don’t imagine it could happen to you. The enemy is invisible, but this is like a war, and the only solution is to isolate — those who have to work must work with precautions, the rest must stay at home,” he said.

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title: Virus Outbreak: ‘This is like a war’ — coronavirus in Italy


title: Virus Outbreak: Japan eyes tax cuts as BOJ injects cash

content_text:
SERIOUS MATTER:
 Many analysts are expecting the Japanese economy to shrink for a second quarter, which is the technical definition of a recession

Japanese policymakers are considering new stimulus measures to tackle the economic fallout from COVID-19, aiming to further bolster markets after the central bank’s biggest cash injection since the global financial crisis.

The government would consider tax cuts and other measures to battle the damage from the outbreak, Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Yasutoshi Nishimura said yesterday.

With global stock markets reeling from the crisis, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) pumped US$30.272 billion into the financial system with an 84-day dollar funding operation, the largest since December 2008.

Passersby are reflected in a screen displaying stock prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo yesterday.
 Photo: Reuters

A group of ruling party lawmakers proposed last week that the government temporarily eliminate Japan’s 10 percent sales tax and prepare a ￥30 trillion (US$281 billion) supplementary budget for spending.

Although extreme, the proposal highlights the seriousness of issues facing the world’s third-biggest economy.

Sales tax revenue is important to fund social welfare costs, but the government must take all available measures to support the economy, Nishimura said.

“We’ll look into a wide range of options on tax, fiscal policy and deregulation,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting, when asked about the lawmakers’ proposal.

The government’s decision to implement a long-mooted increase in sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent in October last year has been widely blamed for hurting the world’s third-biggest economy, which shrank 7.1 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of last year.

Many analysts are expecting another contraction this quarter amid the virus outbreak, which would mean two straight quarters of negative growth — the technical definition of a recession.

Nishimura’s remarks come after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday said that the proposal to lower sales tax was among options worth considering to support the economy.

Policymakers across the globe are scrambling to deal with the fallout from the pandemic, which has sent global stocks into a tailspin.

Abe’s government is working on a huge fiscal spending package, acknowledging an agreement by G7 leaders to use all available policy tools to support growth.

“Business confidence is tanking to levels comparable to those during the Lehman crisis” in 2008, Nishimura said.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average has fallen 28 percent so far this year.

The benchmark yesterday traded either side of even following the BOJ’s cash injection, which exceeded the US$17 billion offered by the US Federal Reserve in its 84-day operation on Monday.

The BOJ’s move came after the world’s six major central banks took a joint step to provide more cash dollars on Sunday, as a rout in financial market over the past week led to a scramble by banks and companies for dollar liquidity.

Yet, even after the Fed’s emergency 100-basis-point rate cut over the weekend and the renewal of its quantitative easing program to increase cash in markets, there was little noticeable easing in the rush for dollar financing.

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content_text: Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: EDITORIAL CARTOON


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: VW warns of ‘very difficult’ year due to coronavirus crisis

German auto giant Volkswagen AG yesterday said the group was preparing to shutter most of its European plants as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts supply chains and sends demand plummeting.

“Production will be halted at our Spanish plants, Setubal in Portugal, Bratislava in Slovakia and the Lamborghini and Ducati plants in Italy before the end of this week,” Volkswagen chief executive officer Herbert Diess said. “Most of the other German and European plants will begin preparing to suspend production, probably for two to three weeks.”

Diess said that the German auto giant was bracing for a “very difficult” year as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc with the global economy.

The group did not unveil an outlook for this year, saying the volatile situation and the unprecedented shocks to supply and demand made it “almost impossible” to make a reliable forecast.

“2020 is a very difficult year. The corona pandemic presents us with unknown operational and financial challenges,” Volkswagen chief executive officer Herbert Diess said in a statement.

“We will succeed in overcoming the corona crisis by pooling our strengths,” he added.

The stark assessment came as the group published its full results for last year, having already released partial figures last month.

The firm, whose stable of 12 brands includes Porsche, Audi, Seat and Skoda, saw revenues climb 7.1 percent to 252.6 billion euros (US$281.3 billion).

It achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of 13.3 billion euros, up 12.8 percent from 2018, driven by strong sales of more expensive models.

As more European governments impose measures to keep people at home to stem the spread of the virus, automakers have begun shutting down factories.

Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV has halted production at six plants in Italy and one each in Serbia and Poland until Friday next week.

France’s PSA Group, whose brands include Peugeot, Citroen and Opel, has said that it, too, would shutter its European production sites this week.

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The UK’s anti-doping body is expected to look into allegations in a newspaper report in which a farmer said that he was offered money to provide an alibi in support of Tyson Fury in a doping case involving the world heavyweight champion.

Fury and his cousin, Hughie Fury, were handed retrospective two-year bans by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) in 2017 after initially testing positive in 2015 for nandrolone, which they blamed on eating meat from an uncastrated wild boar.

In the case, farmer Martin Carefoot said that he provided the Furys with wild boar, but he has backtracked in an interview with the Mail on Sunday newspaper, saying he was offered ￡25,000 (US$31,000) to make up the story to aid their case.

Britain’s Tyson Fury, right, punches Deontay Wilder of the US in their World Boxing Council heavyweight championship match at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Feb. 22.
 Photo: AFP

Boxing promoter Frank Warren, who works with Tyson Fury, has described the farmer’s claims as “outrageous” and “a load of rubbish.”

“We’ll leave this with UKAD to look into and don’t expect it to go any further,” Warren said.

Asked for comment on the new claims about the anti-doping case, UKAD said: “We will always review any potential evidence in relation to any anti-doping offense, and take investigatory action where necessary.”

UKAD urged anyone with information that could be of interest to contact it and said it would only comment on an investigation when it is concluded, and only then if there was a successful prosecution.

Neither Fury has publicly commented on the newspaper story.

Tyson Fury’s representatives, MTK Global, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tyson Fury beat Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas last month to become World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champion.

In November 2015 — after he tested positive for nandrolone, but before he was charged and subsequently handed a ban — he became a World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion by beating Wladimir Klitschko.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told the Sun newspaper that the issue “does not impact on him [Tyson Fury] being our heavyweight world champion” because the boxer was “not involved with the WBC” at the time of his case with UKAD.

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title: Fury doping allegations resurface


title: Virus Outbreak: Europe flights hit hard by advisories

content_text:
By Hsiao Yu-hsin
and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
and CNA

Flight routes to Europe have been heavily affected since the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday upgraded travel advisories for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and 27 European countries to a level 3 “warning” — the highest level.

The center advised people to postpone any nonessential travel to countries with a level 3 advisory, saying that travelers to such countries would need to undergo 14-day home quarantine upon their return.

China Airlines yesterday announced that it had suspended its flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Vienna, effective immediately.

Other routes to Europe are to be adjusted based on traveler needs, the airline said, adding that travelers should visit the COVID-19 service area on its Web site, or download its mobile app, to be apprised of the latest developments.

EVA Airways said that it is limiting each of its European routes to three flights per week in light of the pandemic.

Flights and staff allocation would be adjusted based on the circumstances, EVA Airways said, adding that travelers should check the company’s Web site for the latest flight information.

Emirates, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Air France have already suspended flights to Taiwan.

Air New Zealand yesterday said that it would halt flights between Taipei and Auckland, due to measures by the New Zealand government to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

All flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Auckland Airport are to be suspended from March 30 to June 30, the airline said after the New Zealand government on Saturday announced that everybody arriving in the country, including New Zealanders, would be required to self-isolate for 14 days.

During the period, the carrier, which operates three to four flights per week between Taiwan and New Zealand, is also suspending flights between Auckland and Chicago; San Francisco; Houston, Texas; Buenos Aires; Vancouver; Narita International Airport near Tokyo; Honolulu; and Denpasar, Bali.

The suspensions came after the airline halted its flights to Shanghai on Feb. 2 and to Seoul on Feb. 4.

The announcement followed a similar move by Japan’s Peach Aviation, which on Monday said that it would cut or reduce 1,282 flights between Japan and 17 foreign destinations from later this week until late next month.

Most of the flight disruptions are in Taiwan.

For example, flights between Taipei and Narita International Airport would be reduced from three flights per day to one, while flights from Fukuoka, Sapporo and Sendai to Taipei would be suspended, the budget carrier said.

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title: UEFA to postpone Euro 2020 by a year

content_text:
EURO 2021:
 News of the postponement broke after Reuters had earlier learned that UEFA had canceled its hotel bookings in Copenhagen, one of the host cities

UEFA Euro 2020 has been postponed for a year as the world fights to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the Norwegian and Swedish soccer associations said yesterday.

“Postponed until 11/6-11/7 2021. Will get back to you after the meeting,” Swedish Football Association chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson said in a message to Reuters during a UEFA videoconference call.

The Norwegian Football Association also tweeted the news from its Twitter account.

UEFA, which was yet to confirm the decision, was under pressure to push back the tournament to give suspended domestic leagues time to be completed.

European soccer’s governing body was holding a video conference with all 55 of its affiliated national federations, as well as representatives of clubs, leagues and players.

The decision was to go before the UEFA executive committee to be rubber-stamped later yesterday.

It is the first time in the competition’s history that the finals have been postponed.

CANCELED BOOKINGS

News of the postponement broke after Reuters had earlier learned that UEFA had canceled its hotel bookings in Copenhagen, one of the host cities for the championships that had been scheduled to be held from June 12 to July 12 this year.

The CPH Hotel told Reuters by telephone that UEFA had booked 80 of its 102 rooms, but canceled them a little over a week ago.

The Marienlyst Strandhotel, where the Denmark squad is usually based, told Reuters in an e-mail that UEFA had also canceled the rooms booked on behalf of the national team.

The decision to put back the 24-team tournament follows soccer, like numerous other sports, being brought to a virtual standstill by the coronavirus outbreak.

All five of Europe’s top domestic soccer leagues — England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany — have been suspended, along with the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, as well as FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

DOMESTIC WOES

The leagues have urged UEFA to prioritize completing domestic competitions, reflecting a concern that clubs throughout Europe would lose significant ticket and associated match-day revenue by not completing the season while still having to pay their players’ salaries.

Canceled seasons would also risk significant compensation claims from rights-holding TV broadcasters.

The European championships are usually held in one or two host nations, but the Euro 2020 tournament was spread around Europe in what organizers said was a “romantic one-off” event.

The host cities are Amsterdam; Baku; Bilbao, Spain; Bucharest; Budapest; Copenhagen; Dublin; Glasgow, Scotland; London; Munich, Germany; Rome; and St Petersburg, Russia.

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content_text:
Juventus defender Daniele Rugani, the first Italian top-flight soccer player diagnosed with COVID-19, on Monday said that he was “doing well” and hoped his case “served to sensitize everyone” to the illness.

“I’m fine, I reassure everyone. I’ve always been quite well, I haven’t had any serious symptoms. I consider myself lucky,” Rugani told Juventus TV.

The 25-year-old Italy international was diagnosed on Wednesday last week, with the Turin club saying that he was asymptomatic.

Daniele Rugani of Juventus, right, vies for the ball with Lokomotiv Moscow’s Eder in their UEFA Champions League match in the Russian capital on Nov. 6 last year.
 Photo: AP

Since then a total of 11 Serie A players have being diagnosed with the illness.

“There was a huge media explosion right away. A lot of people wrote to me and I thank them,” said Rugani, who was self-isolating in a room at the team’s J-Hotel, beside the Italian champions’ training center. “I hope it served to raise awareness, especially those who had not understood the seriousness of this problem.”

“I’m going to get over it, we’re going to get by and I hope we’ll all come out even stronger,” he said. “The quarantine is tough, even more so because you are alone, so I can’t wait to embrace all my loved ones.”

In Spain, La Liga side Valencia said more than a third of their playing and backroom staff have tested positive for COVID-19, but that all the cases were asymptomatic.

The club had reported five cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, with Argentina’s Ezequiel Garay and France’s Eliaquim Mangala both confirming they were among those who had contracted the coronavirus.

“Several further tests for the COVID-19 coronavirus amongst Valencia coaching staff and players have come back positive,” the club said in a statement.

Valencia traveled to Milan, Italy, last month for a UEFA Champions League match against Atalanta BC played at a packed San Siro.

“Despite the strict measures adopted by the club after the Champions League game ... these latest results show the exposure inherent in such matches has caused a positive test rate of about 35 percent,” the statement said. “All cases are asymptomatic and those involved are currently isolated at home, receiving medical assessment and carrying out their scheduled training plan.”

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title: Juve’s Rugani ‘doing well’ after COVID-19 diagnosis


title: Virus Outbreak: Malaysia shuts; Singaporeans leery

content_text:
Singaporeans yesterday rushed to stock up on food amid fears of a disruption in supplies after Malaysia announced the closure of its borders to combat the spread of COVID-19, although the Singaporean government said there would be no shortages.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday announced that Malaysia would shut its borders, restrict internal movement, and close schools, universities and most businesses after its tally of coronavirus cases became the highest in Southeast Asia.

The order is to take effect today and last for two weeks, he said.

People line up to pay for groceries at a supermarket in Singapore yesterday.
 Photo: AFP / The Straits Times

Malaysia is a key source of staples for Singapore, which imports more than 90 percent of its food. Tens of thousands of Malaysians commute every day into the wealthy city-state to work in businesses from restaurants to semiconductor manufacturing.

“Who knows how long this shutdown will go on?” one 70-year-old retiree loading up his supermarket trolley with packets of noodles said. “We have to stock up to some extent, but what’s the point of hoarding stuff. No use for everyone to be panic buying.”

Supermarket chain Fairprice has started imposing purchase limits on essentials such as toilet paper, noodles, rice and eggs.

A shopper at another market told reporters that chicken and pork had run out, and prices of some vegetables had spiked.

A Singaporean minister sought to calm fears of shortages, saying the city-state had stocks of proteins and vegetables for more than two months of normal consumption, while stocks of noodles and rice would last for three months.

“We have plans to manage this contingency, with a combination of stockpiling, building up our domestic production capacities, and diversifying our supply sources to many countries,” Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing (陳振聲) said.

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title: Measures compound Chinese banks’ woes

content_text:
The COVID-19 outbreak is having a much greater and more profound effect on China’s financial sector than the 2003 SARS epidemic.

First, people living in COVID-19-affected areas in China account for 90 percent of the country’s total population, whereas people living in SARS-affected areas in 2003 only accounted for 18 percent.

Second, the areas affected by COVID-19 normally contribute 92 percent of China’s GDP, while SARS-affected areas accounted for 26 percent.

Third, financial revenues generated from the areas affected by COVID-19 account for 86 percent of China’s nationwide revenue, while revenues from SARS-affected areas contributed 24 percent.

Regardless of whether the outbreak has been contained, the Chinese government rushed to rebuild its seriously severed financial network, beginning by dealing with debt.

On Feb. 1, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and other financial regulators issued a “Notice on Further Strengthening Financial Support to Prevent and Control Pneumonia of New Coronavirus Infection.”

Financial institutions may extend due dates or renew loans for businesses that are experiencing difficulties with repaying loans, lower interest rates on loans, increase the provision of medium and long-term loans, and reduce guarantee and re-guarantee fees, the notice says.

Last month alone, the Chinese government approved 500 billion yuan (US$71.4 billion) specifically for disease prevention to finance smaller enterprises on top of the 300 billion yuan relending quota authorized earlier by the PBOC.

This explains why there have been so few bounced checks and nonperforming loans, although this is only delayed by the policy.

The notice also urged adopting a “green channel policy” to expedite the review and approval processes for bonds issued to raise funds for epidemic prevention and control.

Data compiled by Shanghai-based financial information provider Wind Information Co showed that 249 corporate and municipal bonds for epidemic prevention and control were issued last month, with a total nominal value of 187.212 billion yuan.

It is bewildering as to who could afford to buy these bonds at the moment.

In compliance with government policy, Chinese banks have long been forced to buy municipal bonds, and this time is no exception. The banks not only have to provide underwriting services for bonds issued to fight the disease, but are also the main subscribers.

To add to their woes, interest rates on the bonds, issued to fight the disease, are only about 2 to 3 percent, far lower than other bonds.

Moreover, many of these bonds are not necessarily related to disease control.

Banks bearing municipal bonds have long been considered a major source of systemic risk in China’s financial sector.

China’s stock markets offer a clue as to whether its banks can continue to bear the burden.

Among the 36 banks listed on the A-shares market, 27 saw their share prices plunge below the price-to-book ratio.

This dire performance reflects the lack of investor confidence in the banks’ financial reports and asset quality, which are deeply affected by the bad debt imposed upon the banks.

As it resorts to the old habit of forcing banks to bear debt in an attempt to recover from the outbreak, the Chinese government is surely at its wits’ end.

Honda Chen is an associate research fellow at the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance.

Translated by Chang Ho-ming

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Experts assess effects winter would have on the COVID-19 outbreak in Australia

In many parts of the world, wintertime tends to be when people get sick from viruses that cause colds and influenza.

The illness COVID-19 broke out during China’s winter and spread in Iran, Italy and the rest of Europe as those countries endured their coldest months.

As Australia heads into winter, what could this mean for the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19?

A woman stands before the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House during the winter solstice in Australia on June 22 last year.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

Experts have said that cooler temperatures can affect the behavior and spread of a virus in three interconnected ways:

First, temperatures can affect the virus directly. Some viruses might have a temperature range where they can survive for longer and this is partly dependent on their “envelope” — the outer layer that is made of lipids (which is why washing hands with soap is effective, because it disrupts the lipids).

Second, when temperatures drop, this changes the behavior of the human population. People tend to spend more time indoors and in closer contact, making it easier for the virus to spread.

Third, we already know that like in other parts of the world, winter in Australia is when other viruses circulate and this can affect the immunity of populations.

Associate professor Tom Kotsimbos of Monash University, who is also a respiratory physician at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, said that seasonality can cause an increase in the spread of viruses.

“That is well-established, but whether we understand that deeply is another thing. It does have an influence, but we don’t understand it specifically. This is a new virus, and that does not mean it will be like the others,” Kotsimbos said.

“We know it’s about the biology of the virus, the general and specific immunity of us and the environmental and behavioral conditions,” he said.

However, there is much less certainty about how important each factor is when it comes if a person gets sick, he added.

“It’s interesting that [COVID-19] has spread all over the world quite quickly — both north and south,” he said, adding that this suggested either the new virus was not dependent on temperature or that this dependency was not as important as the lack of immunity in the population that was helping it to spread.

Does the coronavirus have a preferred temperature?

Some studies that have not yet been peer-reviewed have tried to find out if there is a clear link between temperature and the rate of infection of COVID-19, but have been inconclusive or contradictory.

“There is no clear evidence to suggest a relationship between outdoor temperatures and spread of coronaviruses,” said Meru Sheel of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at Australian National University.

“We don’t know enough about SARS-CoV-2 yet to know how change in weather will affect outbreak and the disease epidemiology,” Sheel said.

“In some tropical countries, such as Pacific island countries, despite the warm weather, there is some seasonal influenza activity and it is related to increase in travelers from countries such as Australia and New Zealand, and to a much lesser extent related to change in weather,” she added.

Do viruses do well in winter because we all head indoors?

Sheel said that rather than the temperature itself, the change in the way COVID-19 spreads “is likely influenced by frequency at which people interact during cooler versus warmer weather.”

Chris Burrell, emeritus professor of virology of the University of Adelaide, said that there were other known coronaviruses that had been around for a half-century and these were also prevalent in winter.

“But that’s because of people congregating together,” he said.

He said one example of this effect was with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that causes a common respiratory disease in young children that tends to arrive in winter.

“If you think of children in preschool, in the summer they’re out in the sun and don’t have a lot of personal contact with each other. In winter, they’re inside and breathing the same air,” Burrell said.

“I think that any effect of temperature on coronavirus won’t be nearly as important as the effect of limiting its spread by isolating people,” he added.

What about COVID-19 spreading during flu season?

Ten years ago, Kotsimbos led a task force of respiratory specialists that looked at what impact a potential early winter arrival of swine flu could have on Australia’s population.

“Clearly this is a different virus — but we have been here before ... but we don’t know how COVID-19 will behave,” he said.

Kirsty Short, a virologist at the University of Queensland, said: “My concern is that [in winter] people tend to be in closer contact and it coincides with our flu season.”

“My main concern is that when you think of the healthcare system, that does get pushed in a bad flu season. If we combine a moderate flu season with a moderate coronavirus season, that could be problematic,” Short said.

“As Australia moves into cooler weather, we are likely to see an increase in respiratory diseases, such as common colds, influenza and RSV infections,” Sheel said.

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content_text:
ORIGIN:
 While Beijing objected to the US’ use of the term ‘Chinese virus,’ Washington bristled over Chinese officials saying that the US army brought the virus to Wuhan

A spat between the US and China over a novel coronavirus yesterday escalated as US President Donald Trump angered Beijing by referring to the pathogen as the “Chinese Virus.”

The two countries have sparred over the origin of the virus for days, with a Chinese official promoting conspiracy theories claiming it was brought to China by the US army and US officials using terms seen as stigmatizing a nation.

“The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus,” Trump tweeted on Monday night.

Trump’s allies had previously referred to the pandemic as the “Chinese coronavirus.”

Beijing yesterday said it was “strongly indignant” over the phrase, which it called “a kind of stigmatization.”

The US should “immediately stop its unjustified accusations against China,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) told reporters.

A commentary by Xinhua news agency said using “racist and xenophobic names to cast blame for the outbreak on other countries can only reveal politicians’ irresponsibility and incompetence which will intensify virus fears.”

The war of words reignited diplomatic tensions between the two countries, which have tussled over trade and other disputes since Trump took office.

Trump’s comments were criticized inside the US, with warnings it could incite a backlash against the Asian-American community.

“Our Asian-American communities — people YOU serve — are already suffering. They don’t need you fueling more bigotry,” tweeted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose state is one of the hardest-hit by the virus in the US.

The new coronavirus virus was first detected late last year, with Chinese health officials initially saying its source was a live animal market in the city of Wuhan, whose government had initially tried to cover up the outbreak.

However, China has sought to distance itself from the virus, saying the origin is still unknown, while seeking global goodwill by offering aid to countries facing serious outbreaks.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a phone call he initiated with Chinese Communist Party Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) voiced anger that Beijing has used official channels “to shift blame for COVID-19 to the United States,” the US Department of State said.

Pompeo “stressed that this is not the time to spread disinformation and outlandish rumors, but rather a time for all nations to come together to fight this common threat,” the department added.

The State Department on Friday summoned Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai (崔天凱) to denounce Beijing’s promotion of a conspiracy theory that had gained wide attention on social media.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) suggested on Twitter last week that “patient zero” in the global pandemic might have come from the US.

“It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation,” tweeted Zhao, who is known for his provocative statements on social media.

Pompeo himself has sought to link China to the global pandemic, repeatedly referring to the “Wuhan virus,” despite advice from health professionals that such geographic labels can be stigmatizing.

Yang issued a “stern warning to the United States that any scheme to smear China will be doomed to fail,” Xinhua said in its summary of the call with Pompeo.

He “noted that some US politicians have frequently slandered China and its anti-epidemic efforts and stigmatized the country, which has enraged the Chinese people,” Xinhua said.

Yang called on the US side to “correct its wrongful behavior.”

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title: Virus Outbreak: US, China trade barbs over virus


title: Virus Outbreak: Duterte locks down  main island of 60m

content_text:
‘INITIAL PACKAGE’:
 The Philippine government has unveiled fiscal measures to fund tourism, aid affected workers, and acquire test kits and health equipment

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has widened a month-long quarantine in the Manila region to cover all of the country’s main island, a move that risks stalling one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies to prevent COVID-19 from spreading.

The “enhanced quarantine” of Luzon, which has 60 million people and is responsible for 70 percent of the Philippines’ economic output, would place tens of thousands of daily wage earners at risk of penury.

Hours after the announcement, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said policymakers are “inclined” to cut the key interest rate by 50 basis points when they meet tomorrow.

A police officer checks the temperature of a truck driver at a checkpoint on the border of San Pedro and Muntinlupa in the Philippines yesterday.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

“We still have a lot of monetary space” to support the economy, Diokno told reporters yesterday. “We recognize at this point that a coordinated move by monetary authorities and national government will be more effective. In other words, we expect the national government to also use their fiscal space.”

The government late on Monday unveiled a 27.1 billion peso (US$525.49 million) package of fiscal measures. The bulk of the money would go to funding tourism projects, aiding affected workers, and acquiring virus test kits and health equipment.

“That’s the initial package, assuming that the contagion will end shortly after mid-year,” Philippine Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez said yesterday. “Other measures will be considered together with the private sector, as the effects of the contagion become more evident.”

Duterte said Luzon is to remain under lockdown until April 12, and that people should leave the house only to buy food, medicine and basic survival items.

The escalation prompted the suspension of Philippine stock, bond and currency trading from yesterday, although Philippine Stock Exchange President Ramon Monzon told traders that he plans to reopen by tomorrow.

The fiscal package comes as governments across Asia and globally enact stimulus to blunt the blow from the coronavirus, but analysts have said that Manila’s move likely would not be enough.

“The fiscal package looks small at just 0.1 percent of GDP to offset these risks, even if one assumes these are all new spending rather than budget reallocations,” Singapore-based Nomura Holdings economist Euben Paracuelles said. “The lockdown expanded to the whole of Luzon will clearly place greater downside risks to growth, as the economic contribution of the island is larger and the fear factor could be magnified.”

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Chile, Peru close borders to halt virus

FINANCIAL TOLL:
 South American stock markets were battered, with several falling by double digits. The Brazilian real dropped to less than US$0.20 for the first time

Chile and Peru on Monday announced a total closure of their borders while Latin America’s largest airline said that it was reducing operations by 70 percent as the region scrambled to stem the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

Latin America has registered more than 800 cases and seven deaths, according to an Agence France-Presse count, after the Dominican Republic became the latest nation to report a fatality.

“We’ve decided to close all our country’s terrestrial, maritime and aerial borders for the transit of foreigners,” Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said.

The announcement came as Chile on Monday said that its number of coronavirus cases had more than doubled since Sunday to 155.

Peru followed suit soon afterward, with Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announcing a two-week border closure from midnight, while Colombia announced that it would close its borders until May 30.

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay confirmed partial border closures. Paraguay also imposed overnight curfews.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro late on Monday said that his country would enter “collective quarantine.”

LATAM Airlines said that it was reducing operations by 70 percent, just four days after already cutting back by 30 percent.

“If these unprecedented travel restrictions increase ... we’re not ruling out being forced to decrease our operations even more,” airline vice president Roberto Alvo said.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador bucked the trend, saying that he would not ban public gatherings or stop greeting people with “hugs” until public health officials said otherwise.

Chile rolled out a number of coronavirus control measures as the central bank slashed interest rates by 75 basis points to 1 percent.

The move failed to stop the Santiago stock exchange from closing down 14 percent, its worst fall in three decades.

Regional stocks were battered, with the Sao Paulo exchange losing almost 14 percent, Buenos Aires falling nearly 10 percent and Colombia plunging more than 15 percent.

Brazil’s currency fell below US$0.20 for the first time ever, prompting an emergency government investment of almost 150 billion reals (US$30 billion) into the economy.

Chile’s closed borders caused a problem for a quarantined cruise ship in the country’s deep south.

More than 200 passengers and crew aboard the Silver Explorer in the remote port of Caleta Tortel are in lockdown after six people tested positive for the coronavirus.

Authorities want to evacuate the other passengers back to their home countries, but might need special permission.

Cuba said that it was allowing a British cruise ship to dock, despite five people on board testing positive for COVID-19 and nearly 40 others in isolation with flu-like symptoms.

“We are working around the clock to arrange evacuation flights from Cuba to the UK as soon as possible for passengers on the Braemar cruise ship,” a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said.

Cuba is also sending specialist doctors to Nicaragua to help the Central American country treat COVID-19 patients.

Ecuador, which has seen 58 cases and two deaths, on Monday banned tourists from the Galapagos Islands while authorities in Rio de Janeiro used megaphones to order people at the beach to go home.

Rio’s Clube de Regatas do Flamengo soccer club, the reigning Copa Libertadores champions, revealed that Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the latest sports star to have tested positive for the virus.

The city’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue was also closed to the public.

Honduras announced a week-long lockdown to prevent people from going to work, using public transport or taking part in religious activities.

The Argentine government announced work exemptions for public and private employees of nonessential sectors, as well as parents with school-age children.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Journalists test positive, media change methods

SOCIAL DISTANCING:
 ‘Today’ show hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie sat at least 1m apart, saying that they were setting an example, ‘because it’s important’

Six people at CBS News have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, including a correspondent stationed in Italy, as US media organizations on Monday fought against the pandemic they are charged with describing.

Five employees with the virus work in CBS’ New York offices, where most of its journalists were ordered to stay away as a result.

“Everyone works remotely unless specifically requested to come in,” CBS News president Susan Zirinsky said in a memo to her staff.

A staffer checks the temperature of journalists before a news conference by US President Donald Trump and members of the coronavirus task force at the White House in Washington on Saturday.
 Photo: Reuters

ABC News on Monday said that a journalist who worked on the network’s coverage team of the outbreak in Seattle had tested positive for coronavirus.

The person, who works in ABC’s Los Angeles bureau, has been isolated since last week and has exhibited only mild symptoms.

The network said that it has told its Seattle coverage team to stay home and has closed its Los Angeles bureau for a thorough cleaning.

Meanwhile, at NBC, an employee who worked on the Today show’s third hour tested positive, forcing the show’s anchors, Craig Melvin and Al Roker, and others who came into contact with the person to be ordered to isolate in their homes as a result.

The Today show’s 7am anchors, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, went to work, but kept their distance.

They sat at least 1m apart as the show opened on Monday, saying that they were setting an example by following guidelines for “social distancing.”

“It does matter,” Kotb said. “We’re practicing that at home, we’re practicing that with our children and we want to practice that at work, because it’s important.”

It was a subtle trend throughout the TV world.

The white couch on Fox News Channel’s Outnumbered, typically crowded with four women and one man, held only Harris Faulkner and Melissa Francis on Monday. The other guests, Nicole Saphier, David Webb and Jessica Tarlov, were stationed in different studios.

CBS News correspondent Seth Doane, who lives in Rome, on Monday said that he was one of the network’s employees to test positive.

Italy is one of the worst-hit countries in the world.

“For the most part, I feel OK,” Doane said in an interview on CBS This Morning.

However, he said that he coughed enough to worry people around him, had a slight fever and felt pressure in his chest, so he chose to get tested.

He said that he has felt worse in the past with colds and the flu.

Most people who get COVID-19 have only mild or moderate symptoms, similar to what Doane described. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover.

It was a point Doane wanted to illustrate: Symptoms can be so mild that people can spread the disease while not even realizing they have it.

“The psychological part for me has been worse than the physical part,” Doane said, referring to how he has had to call people that he has been in contact with.

The cases in CBS’ New York studios have had cascading effects. New York’s WCBS-TV broadcasts from there, so late last week New York’s local news was delivered by anchors in a Los Angeles studio.

The syndicated Inside Edition also airs from there and late last week Deborah Norville did the show from her kitchen at home.

John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight tapes in a studio in the New York complex, and there were also people in the HBO show’s office that tested positive. So Oliver on Sunday night taped a show without an audience from a studio where he sat in front of a white backdrop.

His abbreviated show was part comedy, part social commentary and part service journalism. He went through specific instructions of what viewers could do to avoid the coronavirus and implored viewers to be careful about e-mailing or posting false information.

“We’re going to need to look out for one another,” Oliver said.

With society shutting down and many Americans housebound for an undetermined length of time, there are preliminary signs that it might boost TV audiences, particularly for news.

Over the past two weeks, Fox News has averaged 3.57 million viewers in prime time, up 40 percent from the same two-week period a year ago. MSNBC had 2.44 million, up 13 percent, and CNN had 1.63 million, up 72 percent, Nielsen Media Research said.

About 10.83 million people watched Sunday night’s US Democratic presidential primary debate between former US vice president Joe Biden and US Senator Bernie Sanders on CNN, Nielsen said.

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content_text:
A: Did you really swim with sea turtles? That’s amazing!

B: Yep. It was so cool. Many of them were really huge: about 40 to 50cm long. They are really tame, so you can swim right next to them.

A: Did you touch one?

B: Absolutely not! They will bite you, but more importantly they are a protected species. You could be fined up to NT$300,000 for touching one.

A: 你真的跟海龜一起游泳哦？也太棒了吧！

B: 對呀。這真的很酷。那邊有許多很大隻的海龜：大概有四十到五十公分。海龜們都很溫和，所以你可以在它們旁邊游泳。

A: 你有觸摸海龜嗎？

B: 當然沒有！它們會咬你哦，而更重要的是，海龜是保育類物種，觸摸它們可能會被處以最高新台幣三十萬元的罰款。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH


content_text:
Carry on camping: Virus-wary Taiwanese shun hotel rooms for tents under the stars
逃疫露營去 全台假日搶訂露營區

Taiwan’s domestic tourism and hotel industries are suffering from the COVID-19 outbreak. However, campsites emphasizing their locations within the great outdoors, are bucking the trend. Bookings are stable and even on the up, with some sites reporting they are already fully-booked through to the Dragon Boat Festival. Those within the industry believe the reason for the increased interest is mainly because guests are able drive to campsites under their own steam, thereby negating the need to use public transport. Additionally, campsites allow guests to enjoy an entire day outdoors without the usual frenetic itinerary, dashing from one scenic spot to another. Guests can relax in relative isolation, far from the madding crowd and the airless confines of a hotel room.

Yilan County’s hotel industry has seen a sharp decline in the number of bookings this month, while the usually thriving five-star hotel sector is reporting that room occupancy rates have slumped to 30 percent. Many of the smaller sized hotels are encouraging their staff to take annual leave and even closing for refurbishment as a way to reduce wage costs.

Wang Jung-sung runs Syano Campsite in Yilan County’s Datong Township accomodates a total of 18 pitches. The campsite has been able to maintain a stable occupancy rate during weekdays throughout the virus outbreak — even increasing occupancy by 30 percent during weekends — and Wang says he currently has bookings all the way up to the Dragon Boat Festival. Wang adds that parents and children alike enjoy the act of camping: everything from pitching the tent and cooking meals fills the day with a full set of fun activities.

A hammock is strung in front of a tent within a camping site in Yilan County in an undated photograph.
位於宜蘭縣一場露營區，一條吊床擺在帳篷前面，拍攝日期不詳。
 Photo: Chang Yi-cheng, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者張議晨

Taiwan has undergone a camping trend in recent years, with campsites throughout the nation experiencing rapid growth. There are approximately 80 campsites in Yilan County, most of which are clustered around Jiaosi, Toucheng, Datong and Nanao townships. Chen Chun-yu, director of the Yilan County Camping Industry Development Council, says that the council’s members have not yet experienced any impact from the COVID-19 outbreak. Conversely, Chen says members have actually seen an increase in business and adds that there will be opportunities for expansion in the near future with more people traveling outside of urban areas as a way to escape the epidemic.

(Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times)

國內旅宿業受武漢肺炎疫情衝擊，不過，主打親近自然的露營區卻異軍突起，入住率持穩甚至增加，假日熱門，有的營區帳位已被預定到端午節。業者認為是露營遊客以自駕為主，營區又在戶外可玩整天，不用四處跑景點，住宿環境與旅館等密閉空間不同，人群接觸少，成為出遊熱門選項。

宜蘭縣住宿業三月住宿率大幅下滑，平時業績長紅的五星級飯店，三月住房率僅剩三成，還有多家旅館「鼓勵」員工休假，甚至提前閉館「整修」，減少人事開銷。

大同鄉「夏諾營」業者王榮松經營四年，擁有十八個帳位，平日入住率與疫情爆發前持平，但假日業績增加約三成，預約單排至端午節。他指出，露營是親子同樂的活動，搭帳篷、煮飯就能玩一整天。

台灣近年吹起露營熱潮，各縣市露營區雨後春筍冒出來，宜蘭縣目前約有八十處露營區，集中在礁溪、頭城、大同、南澳等地。宜蘭縣露營產業發展協會理事長陳俊宇指出，協會會員普遍未受疫情影響，業績持平甚至增加，仍有發展機會，他看旺未來「逃疫」出遊的露營市場。

(自由時報記者張議晨)

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taiwan-subdivisions: 大同 礁溪 宜蘭縣 南澳 頭城


content_text:
CHINA

Rocket’s maiden flight fails

A new Chinese medium-lift rocket, part of a family of launch vehicles meant to support most of the nation’s launch missions in future, failed on its debut flight, Xinhua news agency reported. The Long March 7A, a variant of the Long March 7, blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan on Monday morning, but later malfunctioned, with authorities investigating the cause, Xinhua said. With its specifications and capabilities, the rocket, known as the LM-7A, is well-placed to become the nation’s main rocket for communication satellite missions, potentially replacing older rockets in the LM-2, LM-3 and LM-4 range. The LM-7 family is also expected to be central to the construction of the nation’s space station, due for completion in 2022. It was not clear how the timetable for near-term orbital launches would be affected by the failed LM-7A mission.

ITALY

Virus kills famed architect

Vittorio Gregotti, an Italian architect who helped design the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics stadium, died on Sunday at the age of 92 after catching COVID-19. Gregotti died of pneumonia after being hospitalized in Milan, the Corriere della Sera newspaper and AGI news agency reported. He also designed the Merassi stadium in Genoa for the 1990s World Cup in Italy and the Arcimboldi Opera Theatre in Milan, a futuristic structure built to allow the season to continue while the La Scala underwent renovation in 2002 to 2004. Other highlights of a career that also saw him build a housing district in Shanghai include the Belem cultural center in Portugal and the Grand Theatre de Provence in France. Paying tribute, fellow Italian architect Stefano Boeri called Gregotti a “master of international architecture” who “created the story of our culture.”

IRAN

About 85,000 prisoners freed

The government has temporarily freed about 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners, judicial spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said yesterday, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Some 50 percent of those released are security-related prisoners ... Also in the jails we have taken precautionary measures to confront the outbreak,” he said. On Tuesday last week the UN special rapporteur on human rights said he had asked Tehran to free all political prisoners temporarily from its overcrowded and disease-ridden jails to help stem the spread of coronavirus. The nation’s death toll from the coronavirus has reached 853, with confirmed infections reaching 14,991 people.

CAR

UN peacekeeper killed

The UN Security Council on Monday strongly condemned the killing of a UN peacekeeper during an attack by members of the anti-Balaka group in the Central African Republic. The peacekeeper from Burundi was killed on Sunday when troops were trying to stop an attack in Grimari, Ouaka Province, which began when anti-Balaka fighters under the command of Dimitri Ayoloma opened fire on the homes of the mayor and a regional official. The UN mission said peacekeepers in Grimari immediately intervened trying to end the assault, and the rebels deliberately opened fire against them, fatally injuring the soldier from Burundi. Mankeur Ndiaye, who heads the peacekeeping mission, condemned the “heinous act.” The UN Security Council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ndiaye said that any attack on a UN peacekeeper might constitute a war crime.

UNITED STATES

Tech giants team up on virus

Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Reddit said that they are teaming up to provide accurate information about COVID-19. “We’re helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world,” the companies said in a joint statement on Monday. The technology giants and social networks said that other companies are welcome to join their efforts. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on Monday said that it “has convened, and will continue to, a number of meetings with different groups of American tech companies and industry associations as part of our whole-of-America response to COVID-19.”

UNITED STATES

Authorities release inmates

Authorities in southern California are taking steps to reduce jail populations, including by letting some inmates out early, as the coronavirus spreads. The sheriff’s office in San Diego County is preparing to release an unspecified number of inmates early to free up beds for quarantine, a spokesman for the agency said late on Monday, confirming earlier media reports. In Los Angeles County, bail amounts are being adjusted so that fewer people are booked into custody, which is meant to lower the chances of the virus being introduced into the jail system, the county sheriff’s office said. In addition, the sheriff has begun releasing early some inmates who had fewer than 30 days remaining in their sentences, BuzzFeed reported.

UNITED STATES

Vernal equinox comes early

Stuck at home this week? The planets and the moon are providing some early morning entertainment. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and a crescent moon are to be clustered together in the southeastern sky just before daybreak. Mercury will peek above the horizon. All this is happening amid the earliest March equinox in 124 years. The vernal equinox, which marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere — and autumn in the southern hemisphere — is to occur late tomorrow night. That is the earliest since 1896. This is also a good time to spot Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Barely 8.6 light years away, Sirius is especially brilliant this time of year. It is also known as the “Dog Star,” because it is in the Canis Major constellation.

CANADA

Syrup shipments accelerated

Toilet paper is not the only item that shoppers are stocking up on during the coronavirus pandemic. Maple syrup buyers such as supermarkets are requesting rush shipments of their orders from Quebec, the world’s largest producer. The accelerated delivery is being fueled by concerns that shipping could become difficult in the coming months, Maple Industry Council head Daniel Dufour said. “We don’t know what’s going to be the situation in two, three, four months from now,” Dufour said by telephone. “They want us to rush now, ship faster.” The US is the biggest buyer of syrup, followed by Germany and Japan, he said. Canadian maple syrup is sold as a pure ingredient for use at home and in restaurants, and in other food products, such as maple butter and maple smoked bacon. The good news for pancake lovers is that there is no shortage of syrup. The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers has a strategic reserve of 45,359 tonnes of syrup in case of a shortfall.

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references: Twitter Facebook

title: World News Quick Take


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Asia’s slum dwellers bear brunt of virus spread, experts say

Millions of homeless people and those living in informal settlements across Asia are at heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 due to their dire living conditions, housing experts said yesterday.

The novel coronavirus has infected about 180,000 people worldwide and killed more than 7,000, according to a Reuters tally.

While the data do not show how many lived in slums, the high density of settlements and meager facilities raises their vulnerability, said Cecilia Tacoli, a researcher at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development.

“Proximity is an important driver of infection, and low-income settlements in many cities of the Global South are very densely populated,” she said.

“Given that new infectious diseases will likely continue to spread rapidly into and within cities, low-income settlements need more effective infrastructure,” she said.

Globally, about 1.8 billion people live in inadequate housing and homelessness, the UN has said.

While handwashing is a basic precaution against the coronavirus, about 40 percent of the world’s population do not have such a facility with water and soap at home, UNICEF has said.

Isolation is also hard when space is constrained and rooms are often shared, said Annie Wilkinson, a research fellow at research organization the Institute of Development Studies.

“Slums’ informal or illegal status often undermines both the collection of data and the implementation of policies to improve health,” she said.

“There is a real risk that the impacts on the urban poor will be considerably higher than elsewhere,” she said.

In Hong Kong, where thousands of people who have recently visited China or might have had contact with patients are confined to their homes under quarantine orders, it is particularly risky for those who live in partitioned flats.

These units generally have poor ventilation and drainage, and residents are more vulnerable because of the shared kitchen and toilets, said Choyu Cheung, a community organizer for the nonprofit Society for Community Organization.

While the Hong Kong government has announced handouts to tackle the outbreak, some public housing has been converted into quarantine centers, thereby reducing an already constrained supply of public housing.

In South Asia, authorities have reported rising numbers of COVID-19 cases. In India, at least 4 million people are homeless in urban areas, and more than 70 million live in informal settlements, nonprofit Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) said.

In addition to providing emergency accommodation and healthcare services, authorities must enforce a moratorium on evictions, HLRN executive director Shivani Chaudhry said.

“The government is closely monitoring the needs of homeless citizens. There will be no evictions for now,” said Bipin Rai, a member of the Delhi Urban Slum Improvement Board.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Scores of prisoners escape from jails in Brazil’s Sao Paulo

Hundreds of prisoners have escaped from four semi-open prisons in Brazil’s southeastern Sao Paulo state after Easter prison holidays were canceled and restrictions on visitors tightened because of COVID-19.

Videos showed dozens of prisoners fleeing down a street near one coastal prison and flooding across a soccer pitch on a beach.

There were riots and escapes from semi-open prisons in Tremembe, Porto Feliz and a wing of a prison in Mirandopolis in Sao Paulo.

In one video, hordes of prisoners could be seen running away in Mongagua on the Sao Paulo coast — where 400 reportedly fled — while a man shouts: “Come back Monday, OK?”

Other videos showed dozens on a beach.

News Web site G1 reported that 40 prisoners had been recaptured.

The Sao Paulo state penitentiary department said that it had postponed the Easter prison break — one of five annual breaks for prisoners in semi-open regimes who work in the day — because of the coronavirus.

“The measure was necessary because the benefit would include more than 34,000 convicts of the semi-open regime who, returning to prison, would have high potential to install and propagate coronavirus,” the department said in a statement, adding that semi-open prisons do not have armed guards.

Police and prison officer riot teams recovered control over the four prisons and recaptured 174 prisoners, it later said.

Human rights news Web site Ponte estimated that as many as 1,500 prisoners had escaped.

“These prisoners were unhappy about the decision that suspended the Easter leave,” said Lincoln Gakiya, a prosecutor in Sao Paulo and a specialist in drug gangs. “The prisoners were told and in some units, rebelled.”

The rebellions echoed the situation in Italy’s crowded prisons, where 10 have died in riots following restrictions on visits from family members.

Other security specialists said that anger over the treatment of leaders of Brazil’s biggest drug gang, the Sao Paulo-based First Capital Command, was also a factor.

Some prisoners have complained over the treatment of the gang’s leaders, refusing to go to hearings in what is called a “white strike,” Brazilian Public Security Forum director president Renato Lima said.

Eight guards were taken hostage in Mongagua and there would have been many more if the state did not have a centrally controlled locking system, Lima said.

Gruesomely violent prison riots and breakouts are common in Brazil’s overcrowded prisons, many of which are controlled by drug gangs — 57 people were killed last year in just one rebellion in Altamira in the Amazon.

However, COVID-19 poses a new threat, Lima said.

In 2017, one-third of Brazil’s prisoners, 234,000 people, did not have a health station in their prisons and nearly 9,000 prisoners were older than 60.

“It’s a time bomb,” Lima said.

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content_text:
Major League Baseball (MLB) on Monday pushed back its opening day until mid-May at the earliest because of the COVID-19 pandemic after the US government recommended restricting events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement following a conference call with executives of the 30 teams.

“The clubs remain committed to playing as many games as possible when the season begins,” the MLB commissioner’s office said in a statement.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday recommended that gatherings of 50 people or more be canceled or postponed across the nation for the next eight weeks.

“The opening of the 2020 regular season will be pushed back in accordance with that guidance,” Manfred said.

However, there is no telling at this point when games could start.

“We’re not going to announce an alternate opening day at this point. We’re going to have to see how things develop,” Manfred told the St Louis Post-Dispatch at a Cardinals camp in Jupiter, Florida.

He did not want to speculate about the possibility of playing in empty stadiums, saying part of that decision would depend on timing.

The MLB on Thursday last week called off the rest of the spring training schedule and said opening day, which had been scheduled for March 26, would be postponed for at least two weeks.

Teams and players agree that two to four weeks of additional spring training would be needed before the season begins.

“I’m just treating this as January of the winter time,” Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Stephen Vogt said in a text. “I am working out with the anticipation of baseball activities ramping up over the next month. But my mentality is back to preparing for the season.”

Under an agreement last week between the MLB and MLB Players’ Association (MLBPA), players are allowed to decide whether to stay at spring training or go home, but some teams have ignored that deal and told players to leave.

“There should be no organized activities in the camps,” Manfred told the Post-Dispatch. “We did agree with the MLBPA that spring training sites would remain open, but the thought there is with a skeleton crew, really to give players some place to use a gym, as opposed to being forced out into a public gym and the like.”

Any change to the 162-game schedule would necessitate bargaining with the MLBPA over an array of issues, including when and how much players get paid.

The league has not had a mass postponement of openers since 1995, when the season was shortened from 162 games to 144 following a seven-and-a-half-month strike by the players that also wiped out the 1994 World Series.

Opening day was pushed back from April 2 to April 26 and player salaries were reduced by 11.1 percent because of the games lost to the strike.

After a 32-day spring training lockout in 1990 caused opening day to be delayed a week until April 9, the season was extended by three days to allow each team a full 162-game schedule.

Baseball’s first strike lasted from April 1 to 13, 1972, and the season started on April 15.

The 1918 season was cut short because of World War I.

US Provost Marshal General Enoch Crowder announced a regulation on May 23, 1918, that men not involved in useful occupations appear before the draft board.

The US Department of War initially did not rule baseball was non-essential under the “work or fight” order, but US Secretary of War Newton Baker on July 26 announced that baseball had to comply by Sept. 1.

After negotiation, the season ended on Sept. 2 and the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs in a World Series played from Sept. 5 to 11.

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title: MLB delays season opener to middle of May at the earliest


content_text:
UNDERREPORTED:
 While the global focus has been on Africa, female genital mutilation also takes place in developed countries like the US, the UK and Australia

The number of women and girls who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) could be much higher than previously estimated, as a new report shows the practice is carried out in more than 90 countries around the world.

The UN estimates that 200 million women and girls have undergone FGM — but this figure is drawn from only 31 countries — 27 in Africa — where national data have been collected.

After pulling together data from indirect estimates, smaller surveys, academic studies and from anecdotal evidence, researchers from Equality Now, the End FGM European Network and the US End FGM/C Network found that hundreds of thousands of cases have been documented across 92 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America and Latin America.

Children walk under a billboard that is part of a national campaign to encourage families to stop circumcising their daughters, outside the train station in Minya, Egypt, on Dec. 5, 2007.
 Photo: AP

FGM involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia for non-medical reasons.

In the report published yesterday, the three organizations are calling on governments to commission national surveys to create a more accurate picture of global prevalence rates, which would allow a more cohesive response to the problem.

Divya Srinivasan, a lawyer and Equality Now’s South Asia consultant, said the purpose of the report was to “spotlight that it is happening all over the world.”

PROGRESS IN AFRICA

Srinivasan said the focus on stopping FGM has been targeted in Africa, where there has been some success.

A study published in 2018 showed that prevalence rates had fallen sharply across Africa since the mid-1990s. In east Africa the rates fell from 71.4 percent in 1995 to just 8 percent in 2016.

“But we assume it’s not happening in the rest of the world. The international community and governments need to scale up efforts across the world,” she said.

Limited data means governments can “turn a blind eye and pretend it’s not happening,” she said.

According to the report, more than 500,000 women and girls in the US have undergone FGM or are at risk of doing so. In Australia, more than 50,000 women and girls had been cut, while an estimated 600,000 have undergone the practice across the EU. In the UK, 137,000 women and girls had been cut and more than 67,000 are at risk. About 70,000 had undergone FGM in Germany. Cases were also found in regions of India, Iran, Israel and Russia.

However, Srinivasan, who was lead author of the report, said these figures are likely to be underestimates as they are largely based on figures related to diaspora communities from countries where FGM is known to be practiced.

In the US, for example, the figure excludes Christian communities.

In an interview for the report, Jenny, who grew up in a conservative Christian home in the US Midwest, said she underwent FGM when she was five.

She was taught to believe that women should be submissive and that “sex for pleasure was wrong for women.”

KENTUCKY

It is only recently that she has begun to talk about her experience, and started a petition to get the practice banned in Kentucky, one of 15 US states where FGM is legal.

A bipartisan bill to ban FGM in Kentucky unanimously passed in January and is now heading to the US Senate for consideration.

“I think it is important for people to understand just because so few Americans have spoken up, it does not mean it is not happening here,” Jenny said.

“There is such a silence that surrounds this practice, that until we are talking about it more, we are really never going to know the amount of girls in the US that have been affected. We have to remove the shame, make it a subject safe to talk about,” she said.

In 2015, 193 governments agreed to eliminate FGM by 2030 as part of their commitment to meet the UN’s sustainable development goals.

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title: FGM practiced in over 90 countries


title: Taking the KMT back to its roots

content_text:
Young KMT party members voice their concerns about the direction the party has been taking over the past decade, and what the future holds

Lin Chia-hsing (林家興) is a 29-year-old with aspirations for the future and a head full of new ideas and political ideals. He has been a paid-up member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for 10 years now, although he is not the kind one would normally associate with the image of today’s KMT.

Lin joined the party in 2010, during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) first term in office, when the KMT was still seen as a reformist party pursuing an anti-corruption agenda.

A decade on, and the party’s image is somewhat tarnished. Even the two candidates for the March 7 party chairmanship contest had to admit that the KMT’s image was old, pro-Chinese communist and drastically in need of reform.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Lin Chia-hsing holds up a Republic of China flag at his graduation ceremony at New York University, US, in this undated photograph.
 Photo courtesy of Lin Chia-hsing

When Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) won the chairmanship, Lin wished him luck, but stopped short of offering congratulations. For Lin, the party has become plagued by deep-rooted interests, and real reform will require hacking through these gnarly roots, while persuading them it’s all for their own good.

“The KMT is no longer the party it used to be. It’s lost its political vision for the nation and in what direction it wants to take the Republic of China (ROC). If it doesn’t make this clear, it’s going to be difficult for the party to persuade the electorate.”

For Kuang Po-teng (匡伯騰), 37, a lawyer who joined the party around four years ago, KMT reform will need to start right from the very basics of its vision for the nation. The KMT, he says, has changed from being its anti-communist self in days gone by to its present incarnation as a virtual byword for a pro-Chinese communist stance. This, according to Kuang, is due to the party’s failure to clearly articulate its national vision.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Wang Ching-lun, 22, who joined the KMT at 18, says that his generation, which was born into a democratic society, is concerned that the KMT is “the pro-Chinese communist political party in Taiwan.”
 Photo courtesy of Wang Ching-lun

“During the era of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), the KMT was about ‘liberating its compatriots in China, and uniting the country under the doctrine of the three principles of the people.’” The ”1992 consensus” of the KMT today, he adds, is a mechanism for interacting with the other side of the Taiwan Strait, “but who knows where these ties are going to take the ROC? The KMT has yet to make this clear.”

At 48 years old, Johnny Chiang is the KMT’s youngest ever chairman. Yet, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he appeals most to the younger generation in the party.

According to an online opinion poll conducted on Feb. 21 and 22 by the online media outlet Formosa, only 47 percent of respondents believed that the successful candidate would have any bearing on the party’s future, and of those with a preferred candidate, Chiang’s rival for the chair, former party vice chair Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who is almost 70, actually fared slightly better among those in the under 40-year-old age group. Chiang enjoyed significantly more support — over 40 percent for Chiang, compared to less than 10 percent for Hau — in the 60-69-year-old age group.

people: 江啟臣 馬英九 郝龍斌