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CHIP DESIGNERS

MediaTek buyback begins

Shares of MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday rose 2.33 percent to close at NT$308 in Taipei trading after the handset chip designer began its first share buyback scheme in eight years. The company plans to repurchase up to 15.9 million shares on the open market at NT$301 to NT$452 per share. The scheme began yesterday and is to continue until May 22. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) yesterday adjusted downward its growth forecast for MediaTek this year. Jih Sun expects revenue to be NT$282.65 billion (US$9.3 billion), down from its previous estimate of NT$294.7 billion, and net income to be NT$30.92 billion, compared with its earlier estimate of NT$32.58 billion.

STEELMAKERS

China Steel ratifies project

China Steel Corp’s (中鋼) board of directors yesterday approved a NT$9.43 billion investment in the first phase of the construction of a coke furnace and coke dry quenching system, the company said. The five-year project aims to reduce the company’s annual emissions of volatile organic compounds by 63 percent and particulate pollutants by 56 percent, China Steel said. The project would also contribute an extra 273 gigawatts of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 146,000 tonnes, it added. The board also proposed distributing cash dividends of NT$0.5 per common share and NT$1.4 per preferred share.

CLOUD COMPUTING

Wiwynn income up 10.5%

Cloud computing equipment supplier Wiwynn Corp (緯穎科技) reported net income of NT$6.17 billion for last year, or earnings per share of NT$36.42, a 10.5 percent year-on-year increase thanks to improved gross and operating margins. While revenue last year declined 9.6 percent to NT$163.6 billion, gross margin rose from 5.88 percent to 6.94 percent and operating margin increased from 3.92 percent to 4.99 percent, company data showed. The company’s board of directors has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$23 per share, representing a payout ratio of 63.15 percent. Wiwynn shares yesterday closed 4.58 percent higher at NT$639 in Taipei trading.

CHIP TESTERS

King Yuan boosts dividend

IC testing service provider King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子) has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$1.8 per common share, based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$2.49, the highest in three years. The company posted net income of NT$3.04 billion last year, a 69.41 percent year-on-year increase and a record high, while revenue increased 22.7 percent to NT$25.54 billion. However, SinoPac Securities Investment Service Corp (永豐投顧) has trimmed its sales and earnings estimates for King Yuan this year by 4 percent and 9 percent respectively to reflect handset clients’ cautious view about product demand, a US client’s exit from the 5G handset chip market, and sustained weakness in automobile and industrial product testing.

SEMICONDUCTORS

Billings increase 26.2%

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted US$2.37 billion in billings worldwide last month, up 1.2 percent from US$2.34 billion in January, data from global trade group SEMI showed. That represented year-on-year growth of 26.2 percent from US$1.88 billion, the data showed. The growth was an extension of a robust uptrend that began in October last year, SEMI said yesterday.

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title: Taiwan Business Quick Take


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Globalization might seem to be crumbling due to the COVID-19 pandemic as borders close and travel is restricted, but it would be premature to declare the “death of globalization” in light of temporary seal-offs while ignoring the unprecedented growth and benefits it has brought over the past three decades.

The scaling-down of globalization is clear. One example is the manufacturing sector, a key pillar of many economies, which has been hit hard by the effects of COVID-19. Manufacturers are rethinking how to cope with the pandemic and potential future outbreaks as they face acute challenges to restore production amid supply chain disruptions. They are adjusting operating models and re-evaluating the feasibility of building production sites in new areas.

At a minimum, the long-standing model of “taking orders in Taiwan and manufacturing elsewhere” is no longer applicable.

Reducing reliance on China is the first step, which would prevent businesses from halting entirely due to disease-induced lockdowns, as happened in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 emerged. Over the past 30 years, Taiwanese manufacturers have been moving factories out of Taiwan, mostly to China, and using cheap labor and land to slash manufacturing costs and support affordable electronics. The strategy proved successful, but corporate executives are at a crossroads — keep operations going, or increase costs by moving production out of the comfort zone.

With constrained component supplies, a labor shortage and logistics problems due to lockdowns in China, Taiwanese manufacturers redirected production back home. They reduced overseas production last month by 8 percentage points from a year earlier to 40.7 percent of orders received, the lowest in 15 years, Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed.

Flat-panel maker AU Optronics Corp (AUO), which has LCD module assembly lines in China, said that it is pondering a fundamental shift in its supply chain by diversifying production sites, given that the impact of the pandemic is expected to be broader and longer-lasting than the SARS outbreak in 2003.

Such changes would reverse the long-term slide in consumer electronics prices, as production efficiency would no longer be as good, AUO said, adding that it would cooperate with customers to decide on manufacturing locations.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, manufacturers benefited from globalization and passed on the savings to vendors, which led to lower shelf prices. They leveraged large-scale production and industrial clustering. This production mode might be broken, as the clustering effect is fading along with a rising diversity in production locations to smaller developing countries, rather than concentrating on China.

Building or raising inventory should be the second step to minimize operating risks as supply chains become relatively vulnerable and not completely reliable amid the pandemic.

Some manufacturers, automakers especially, have been keeping optimal fund allocations and their operations as agile as possible since the 1980s. With many countries shutting their borders to contain the spread of COVID-19, firms are facing acute challenges to manage the supply of components. Inventory building is the simplest solution.

No matter how the pandemic upends the world, it looks like the globalization trend is here to stay. It is impossible for any country or company to shut the world out.

Agility is becoming the norm for companies to get along in a changing world.

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title: EDITORIAL: Globalization not a virus victim


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There are growing concerns for the health of Rokia Traore, a Malian singer who has been on hunger strike at the Fleury-Merogis Prison near Paris since she was arrested on March 10 on allegations of kidnapping her daughter in a child custody dispute.

“I am very worried,” said Kenneth Feliho, her lawyer. “She is only drinking. She has not been eating for over a week and her immune system is weak.”

Among those calling for the musician’ release are African stars including Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour and Angelique Kidjo.

Malian singer Rokia Traore performs in Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas in Aix-en-Provence, France, on July 3, 2018.
 Photo: AFP

Damon Albarn, who performed with her in the group Africa Express, wrote: “We demand, for humanitarian reasons, the immediate release of Rokia Traore, whose fragile health is deteriorating day by day.”

Traore was arrested at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport while traveling between the Malian capital, Bamako, and Brussels. She had planned to attend a hearing at which she hoped to overturn a decision last year by a Belgian court that had given sole custody of her five-year-old daughter to her former partner Jan Goossens. Goossens is the director of the festival of Marseilles and is a Belgian citizen living in France. Traore has Malian and French citizenship.

Traore had also hoped to challenge a European arrest warrant that had been issued against her for “kidnapping, forcible confinement and hostage taking” of her daughter, because she had refused to hand her over to her father.

In a statement issued from prison she said: “I started a hunger strike ... to ask for a fair trial in Belgium and for the European arrest warrant to cease to be unfairly enforced.”

She has not been allowed any visitors because of the COVID-19 pandemic and even Feliho has not been allowed to see her since Thursday last week.

This is more than a painful celebrity custody battle because it also involves a clash between European and African justice systems. France was acting on an arrest warrant from Belgium, but officials in Mali see the situation very differently. A Malian court gave Traore, not Goossens, custody of the child, and the Malian government issued a statement in support of the singer, saying that she has a Malian diplomatic passport.

Traore filed complaints about Goosens in Mali, France and Belgium, which she says have not been investigated, although later in her prison statement she says they were a major factor in the Malian decision to grant her sole custody.

In an interview with a Belgian paper, Goossens said that “all horrible and false accusations were investigated and dismissed. All attempts to negotiate and achieve solutions were refused. I’m being cut out of my daughter’s life in a brutal way. My wish is that the rule of law can do its work so that our daughter can see both her parents again.”

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title: Traore hunger strike creates concern


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Modi tells Indians to follow orders, save themselves

Streets were deserted in the Indian capital yesterday and office buildings shuttered as a lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus began and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to stay at home and save themselves.

India has reported 415 cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths, but health experts have warned that a big jump could be imminent, which would overwhelm the underfunded and crumbling public health infrastructure.

Modi said many Indians were not taking the lockdown seriously.

A man yesterday sits at a New Delhi border barricade during a lockdown by Indian authorities to limit the spread of COVID-19.
 Photo: Reuters

“Please save yourself, save your family, follow the instructions seriously,” he said on Twitter.

The lockdown in the capital of more than 18 million people is to last for the rest of the month.

Authorities banned gatherings of more than five people in several of India’s states, including Maharashtra in the west, which has had the highest number of cases.

They warned of legal action against people violating the ban.

In Mumbai, suburban trains, which usually carry 8 million people a day, were suspended until the end of the month. Bus services were limited to people in essential services such as healthcare.

Newspapers canceled print runs in Mumbai after vendors refused to distribute them due to worry about the coronavirus.

Muhammed Nizam, who runs a small meat shop in an alley in Delhi’s Nizamuddin neighborhood, said supplies were falling and he had had to raise prices.

“The price of chicken had fallen earlier, because people stopped buying it fearing the virus was being spread through it. But now I don’t have any chicken left, everything’s been sold,” he said.

Nepal ordered all land border crossings with India and China shut until Sunday, saying thousands of people, most of them Nepalese migrant workers, had crossed into Nepal in recent days from India, believing their homeland to be safer.

Nepal has reported only one case of the coronavirus.

“The closing of the border crossings is meant to ensure that no one infected with the virus crosses over to Nepal from India and China,” said Surya Thapa, an aide to Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli.

In Pakistan, the opposition-ruled southern province of Sindh began a lockdown, including in the biggest city of Karachi, even though Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he opposed such a sweeping measure because of the economic consequences for the poor.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ability to remain the public face of the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was thrown into question after she quarantined herself at home following contact with a doctor who later tested positive for the disease.

The doctor on Friday gave Merkel, 65, a precautionary immunization against bacterial pneumonia and the chancellor decided to self-isolate once she learned of his positive test, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Sunday.

Merkel would be regularly tested in coming days and perform her duties from home, Seibert added.

German Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz, left, yesterday sits next to the empty chair of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she participates in a weekly Cabinet meeting in Berlin by telephone after going into self-isolation after a doctor she had contact with on Friday tested positive for COVID-19.
 Photo: Reuters

She was only briefly in contact with the doctor, Merkel’s chief of staff Helge Braun said.

“Given that, we are optimistic that the chancellor is perhaps not infected at all, but she has decided to set a good example and enter quarantine,” Braun told a talk show on ARD television late on Sunday.

Shortly before the announcement, Merkel spoke at a news conference following consultations with regional leaders, detailing new restrictions to try to contain the spread of the virus and was asked how she is dealing personally with the situation.

“I’ve canceled almost all appointments where people would have come into the chancellery or where I would have gone to people,” she said. “So my life has also changed fundamentally and consists mainly of telephone and video conferences.”

Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder yesterday said he had spoken to Merkel and that her quarantine is a “precautionary measure.”

“But you can see from this how serious it is and that it can affect any one of us, that there’s no difference between rich and poor, politician and non-politician,” he said in an interview with ZDF television. “It’s a very, very significant issue for all of us and that’s why I’m pleased that all states have recognized that we have to act. It’s the biggest challenge for our people, I think we can say, since World War II.”

Merkel’s unrivaled status within the council of EU leaders might prove critical in the weeks ahead, as the bloc seeks to agree on plans to finance the stimulus spending required to limit the economic impact of the virus.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Merkel quarantine hurts EU defense


content_text:
DEADLOCK:
 The US’ top diplomat was to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah, and follow up on a stalled peace accord with the Taliban

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul, amid an ongoing political crisis and a raging Taliban insurgency — which further threaten an already-floundering peace process.

Pompeo, in an unannounced visit, was to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his presidential rival Abdullah Abdullah following a contested election last year.

Pompeo is scheduled to meet the men separately and also hold meetings with both together yesterday.

According to a pool report from a journalist accompanying Pompeo, the top US diplomat was welcomed by special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad — the lead US negotiator in recent talks with the Taliban — after arriving at Kabul airport.

The visit came just a day after the Afghan government and the Taliban held their first discussion on arranging prisoner exchanges — a key step in a broader push for peace following a withdrawal deal signed between Washington and the militants last month.

The agreement established a framework for bringing to an end to the US’ longest war following the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

His visit is being watched closely for clues to whether it can resolve the week-long political deadlock.

“We’ll see if ... that would mean things are negotiated and they are ready for a final settlement,” a diplomatic source in Kabul said.

Khalilzad on Sunday tweeted it was “urgent” to quickly conclude plans for the prisoner swap — as called for in the US pact with the Taliban — with the COVID-19 pandemic complicating diplomatic contacts.

The deal called for the release of up to 5,000 Taliban fighters held by Kabul, and up to 1,000 members of the Afghan government forces in insurgent hands.

That was meant to take place before the start of peace talks originally set for March 10 between the government — which was not a party to the negotiations that produced the Doha deal — and the Taliban.

After initially refusing to release the Taliban prisoners, Ghani announced that the authorities would free 1,500 insurgents as a “gesture of goodwill,” with plans to free another 3,500 prisoners after the talks are under way.

The Taliban rejected the offer.

The Doha accord also calls for the gradual withdrawal of US and other foreign troops over a 14-month period — the main focus of the US diplomatic efforts.

The first phase of that withdrawal has already begun, though some troop movements have been slowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

In exchange, the Taliban agreed to fight jihadist groups like al-

Qaeda and promised to negotiate for the first time with Kabul.

However, since the Doha agreement was signed, the Taliban have carried out scores of attacks.

Political chaos in Kabul has further complicated matters, with Abdullah, Ghani’s former chief executive, also claiming the presidency following a bitterly disputed election in September last year.

The impasse and continued fighting, along with the world’s preoccupation with coronavirus, have sparked fears the window for a peace deal is closing fast.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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title: Pompeo seeks to save Afghan peace


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Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) yesterday bowed to the inevitable and suspended its season over growing fears for player safety coupled with tightened government restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The 16-club NRL kicked off two weeks ago and made it through two rounds as one of the last professional sports worldwide still playing during the pandemic.

The cash-strapped league is considered part of Australia’s social fabric and determined efforts were made to keep it going, but the noose began to tighten over the past few days.

The Australian government recommended against all “non-essential” domestic travel and yesterday a shutdown of a range of businesses began nationwide.

A final blow came when Queensland, a major center for the NRL along with New South Wales, joined other states in closing its borders.

“Our pandemic and biosecurity experts said due to the outbreak it is no longer safe for our players to play,” Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys said. “This decision hasn’t been taken lightly. Our experts are very concerned with the rapid rate [of infection]. We were alarmed at how everything changed over the past 24 hours.”

V’landys said the NRL was leaving any potential resumption of the season open.

It follows the Australian Football League suspending its Aussie Rules season on Sunday, with A-League soccer the only competition still going, without fans, in the nation.

Football Federation Australia are scheduled to make a decision on its fate today.

NRL bosses have previously said closing down the season would bankrupt the game and push clubs out of business, with lucrative broadcasts contracts at stake.

V’landys said that it was “catastrophic.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever come across a financial crisis like it,” he said. “Rugby league will always survive in some way, but I can’t guarantee it will in the same way. We’re ready for the worst.”

Desperate to stave off financial ruin, the NRL had earlier been considering relocating the entire competition to a vacant mining town in central Queensland.

All the players would have remained there in isolation with games played at a nearby venue, but the decision by Queensland to close its borders put paid to the plan, with V’landys saying the NRL did not have enough time to carry it out.

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title: Australian rugby league shuts down due to restrictions


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Democratic presidential frontrunner former US vice president Joe Biden on Sunday said that he needed to start vetting possible running mates “in a matter of weeks” and that he had discussed the pick with former US president Barack Obama.

Biden’s vice presidential options would include at least six or seven women who would be subjected to background checks to ensure there would not “be any snafu,” he told donors at a fundraising event held by telephone.

“I have to start that vetting process relatively soon, meaning in a matter of weeks,” he said. “I think there will be a group that is in excess of six or seven people who I’ll look at.”

Former US vice president Joe Biden speaks during the 11th Democratic presidential candidate debate held on March 15 at CNN’s Washington studios without an audience because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Photo: Reuters

He said at a Democratic debate last week that he would pick a woman for the job, a qualification he reiterated on Sunday.

Biden added that the woman would have to agree with his fundamental view on policies, including healthcare, education and the need for expansive US influence in the world.

He said he shared that kind of common ground with Obama — whom he served as vice president — although they sometimes differed on tactics.

Above all, the person would need to be qualified to serve as president immediately.

“I’ve actually talked to Barack about this — the most important thing is that it has to be someone who, the day after they’re picked, is prepared to be president of the United States of America if something happened,” said Biden, 77.

Biden holds a strong lead over US Senator Bernie Sanders, his lone remaining rival for the party’s nomination to face Republican US President Donald Trump in November’s election.

Sidelined from campaigning in public because of the COVID-19 crisis that has put nearly one in three Americans under orders to stay at home, Biden said he would start broadcasting yesterday morning from his home in Delaware.

Those briefings would give Biden a way to offer an alternative to the daily news conferences on the coronavirus held by Trump, whose disaster response Biden has criticized.

Biden added that the election should move forward as scheduled amid concerns the coronavirus might not be fully contained by November.

A number of states have already pushed back presidential nominating contests because of the outbreak.

“I know there’s a lot of rumors and speculation as to, is the other guy going to try to postpone the election in November and all that. There’s no need to do that,” Biden said. “You know, we voted in the middle of the Civil War, we voted in the middle of World War I and II.”

“The idea of postponing the electoral process seems to me out of the question,” he said.

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title: Biden to start vetting running mates


content_text:
Real Madrid forward Marco Asensio has missed all of this season with a serious knee injury, but the time away from the pitch paid unexpected dividends on Sunday when he was crowned champion of La Liga’s FIFA 20 video game tournament.

With Spanish soccer on hold along with most live sports while the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic, players traded the pitch for Playstation in an online tournament organized by e-sports commentator Ibai Llanos and endorsed by La Liga.

More than 170,000 people watched Asensio, playing for Real Madrid, beat Aitor Ruibal of CD Leganes 4-1 in the final, the culmination of a weekend of action involving 18 La Liga sides.

Marco Asensio juggles the ball during a Real Madrid training session at the Saputo Stadium in Montreal, Canada, on July 17 last year.
 Photo: Eric Bolte-USA Today

Barcelona and RCD Mallorca could not take part in the tournament as they are sponsored by Konami, the creators of FIFA 20’s main competitor, Pro Evolution Soccer.

The tournament, which was also broadcast on Spanish television, raised more than 140,000 euros (US$150,000) to fight the coronavirus, which has claimed over 14,700 lives worldwide and more than 1,770 in Spain.

The tournament built on the success of the previous weekend’s FIFA 20 version of the Seville derby between Borja Iglesias of Real Betis Balompie and Sevilla’s Sergio Reguilon, also organized by Llanos to fill the void left by the derby, which had been postponed.

The Spanish sports media enthusiastically covered the online tournament, with leading newspapers Marca and AS broadcasting the matches on their Web sites, as well as publishing match reports and live blogs of the games.

La Liga commentator Miguel Angel Roman joined Llanos in presenting the matches, while players gave interviews afterward in another move to replicate the feel of a real match.

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title: Asensio wins La Liga ‘FIFA 20’ tournament for Madrid


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CORAL CONDITIONS:
 Planes are to cover areas in the southern half of the Great Barrier Reef that escaped earlier bleaching, but whose state might have changed

The full impact of coral bleaching across the Great Barrier Reef would become clearer this week as aerial surveys of hundreds of reefs are completed in the bottom two-thirds of the world’s biggest reef system.

An aerial survey carried out last week over almost 500 individual reefs between the Torres Strait and Cairns revealed some severe bleaching of corals closer to shore, but almost none on outer reefs.

From yesterday, the spotter plane headed south over reefs where satellite observations and temperature readings have shown corals are likely to have undergone higher levels of stress than those in the north.

Fish swim above coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns, Australia, on Oct. 25 last year.
 Photo: Reuters

Scientists say that those corals could be found to have been badly bleached, as they are less used to higher temperatures and had escaped major impacts in 2016 and 2017.

Dave Wachenfeld, the chief scientist at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, told reporters that whatever the survey concluded, the current bleaching should sound “a very loud alarm bell” on the plight of the reef under global heating.

Stress has been building across the length of the reef this summer with many anecdotal reports from tourism operators, tourists and recreational diver of severe bleaching.

Last month, average sea surface temperatures on the reef were 1.25°C above normal and the highest on record going back to 1900.

Corals bleach if the water temperature is too high for too long. Survival from bleaching depends on how high temperatures are and for how long. Some species of corals have higher tolerance than others.

Observations of conditions on the reef from satellites and in-water temperature loggers suggest central and southern parts have accumulated high levels of stress.

However, the authority said the full picture would only come clear once the aerial surveys were completed at the end of this week, and the data had been analyzed.

In 2016 and 2017, the world heritage reef experienced back to-back bleaching that was intense enough to kill almost half the reef’s corals over those two years.

Central and southern parts of the reef were not severely affected in those years, meaning they are not used to the stress and could be harder hit.

Terry Hughes, director of the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, spent 17 hours across four days in the air last week scoring bleaching on reefs with a staff member from the authority.

After completing the first four of nine days of aerial surveys, Hughes told reporters that most of the severe bleaching had been seen at coastal reefs.

On Friday, flying from Lockhart River to Cairns, Hughes said that corals at Princess Charlotte Bay at the bottom of the Cape York Peninsula had been severely bleached, but the impacts were much less on reefs further away from the coast.

Many of the outer reefs in the north — known as “ribbon reefs” because of their slim and snaking appearance from above — had escaped bleaching.

“A lot of the reefs we have been looking at were badly affected in 2016 and 2017,” Hughes said. “They don’t have a lot of corals on them and the corals that are there have managed to survive 2016 and 2017, and so they are tough.”

Hughes said it “remains to be seen what will happen in the south,” but there were more coral species in those areas — including staghorn and table acroporas — that would be more susceptible to bleaching.

Some of those central and southern reefs “have accumulated a lot of heat, particularly near the coast,” he said. “This is shaping up to be strongly coastal — 2016 and 2017 were cooler in the south and, this time around, it is not cool in the south.”

“Even if it turns out to be a relative moderate event compared to 16 and 17, it is still cumulative and because the footprints are different, the cumulative amounts of the reef that’s affected severely or moderately will go up,” he said.

William Skirving, of the US government’s Coral Reef Watch program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the agency’s analysis showed how localized the stress had been.

However, whether that stress had translated to severe bleaching would be be answered by the aerial surveys, Skirving said.

“Let’s cross our fingers that the corals were not as susceptible as they were in the past,” he said.

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title: Reef survey to reveal bleaching


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Southeast Asian leaders consider stronger powers

MORE LOCKDOWNS:
 Philippine lawmakers considered extending government controls over private firms, but Indonesia’s president resisted calls for movement curbs

Southeast Asian countries yesterday considered more emergency powers to tackle the threat of the coronavirus as Singapore Airlines said it was grounding almost all of fleet in the face of the “greatest challenge” it has ever faced.

The virus has infected about 3,700 people across Southeast Asia, with nearly 100 deaths, more than half of them in Indonesia.

The Philippine Department of Health yesterday reported 82 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total to 462, while deaths remain at 33, but officials acknowledge limited testing for the virus means that, like Indonesia, its already overstretched health system could be facing far more infections than the numbers indicate.

About 20 Philippine legislators are present yesterday in keeping with social distancing protocols during a special session of the House of Representatives in Quezon City, Metro Manila. Most of the 300 lawmakers took part in the discussion of a bill on emergency measures through video conferencing.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

Governments are scrambling to raise their defenses with border closures, entry bans and lockdowns.

The Philippine Congress held a special session to consider allowing the government powers, including taking control of private utilities, telecoms and transport operators or businesses in the public interest, and forcing hotels and other venues to accommodate medical workers or quarantine people.

“It is a step we were reluctant to take, but the circumstances and the experience of nations worldwide convinced us that we have no other choice,” Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea told a near-empty Congress, with most lawmakers streaming the session at home.

Duterte’s party has a supermajority in both chambers, so the bill is are expected to pass, although the opposition is concerned about the scope of the powers and potential for abuse.

The Philippines was the first Southeast Asian country to adopt lockdown measures, but more are following suit as cases soar, with Vietnam and Malaysia deploying soldiers to help with quarantines or to enforce curbs on travel and gatherings.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the government might consider extending movement restrictions by up to two weeks, and would announce more economic stimulus to soften the blow from the virus and weak oil prices.

Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, has joined Thailand and Cambodia in shutting bars, movie theaters and entertainment spots.

Indonesia national police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal said 465,000 police across the nation would disperse any public gatherings “for the sake of public safety,” although a photograph posted on social media of a packed commuter train in Jakarta quickly went viral.

Indonesia yesterday reported 65 new cases of the virus, bringing the total to 579, while its death toll rose by one to 49, Ministry of Health official Achmad Yurianto said.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday said that doctors and other medical staff would receive bonuses ranging from 5 million to 15 million rupiah (US$300 to US$900) per month in regions that have declared an emergency. Aside from Jakarta, the East Java region has also declared an emergency.

Widodo has so far resisted calls for tougher lockdowns due to concerns about the impact on businesses and the poor, many of whom are vendors plying their trade on the streets.

Thailand reported 122 new cases, taking its total to 721, a Ministry of Health spokesman said.

Singapore reported 23 new cases on Sunday, taking its tally to 455, while the scale of the disruption was brought home when Singapore Airlines yesterday said it was cutting capacity by 96 percent and grounding almost all of its fleet.

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title: Pandemic leads Azerbaijan to postpone F1 GP

content_text:
Azerbaijan yesterday postponed its June 7 Formula One Grand Prix, leaving the stalled series with a major rescheduling headache after this season’s first eight races have been canceled or postponed.

What would have been a record 22-round season has already lost two of its fixtures, including May’s showcase Monaco Grand Prix which will not feature in the championship for the first time since 1954.

The opener in Australia was also canceled, while Bahrain, Vietnam, China, the Netherlands and Spain have been postponed with no alternative dates proposed as yet and more races in doubt.

Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes celebrates winning the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on April 28 last year.
 Photo: Reuters

Organizers of the race in Baku said in a statement that the decision to postpone was “a direct result of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and has been based entirely on the expert guidance provided to us by the relevant authorities.”

“In coming to this conclusion, the BCC’s [Baku City Circuit] primary concern throughout has been the health and well-being of the Azerbaijani people, as well as all visiting F1 fans, staff and championship participants,” the statement said.

Organizers said they hoped to be able to announce a new race date and all tickets would continue to be valid.

Preparation of the street circuit, which requires the installation of extensive safety fencing and barriers, as well as the sealing of drain covers and asphalting, would have had to start within days.

The track has long, fast straights and a twisting stretch around the old town.

The crowd is usually small, with about 18,000 grandstand seats, plus another 2,000 for hospitality, and up to 15,000 general admission tickets available, but the race has been one of the more entertaining and unpredictable.

The next race that remains on is the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on June 14, but that also looks uncertain due to the coronavirus pandemic, as does France on June 28.

France has stringent restrictions on people’s movements, while Canada has closed its borders to all but essential travel.

Questions are now being asked about whether Formula One, with rounds still to come in Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Europe, would be able to hold even the minimum eight races needed to make a championship.

Formula One has canceled its usual August shutdown, bringing it forward and extending it to three weeks this month and next month in the hope of rescheduling races from earlier in the season, but that could be wishful thinking.

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An opinion poll conducted last month by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy revealed that the proportion of people who identify as Taiwanese has soared to 83 percent, while those who identify as Chinese has plummeted to only 5 percent.

The results contain two significant implications: First, the independence-unification debate has been flipped and, second, there is a collective recognition among Taiwanese that Taiwan is a sovereign, independent nation.

That 83 percent of respondents identified as Taiwanese is truly exciting. The turnaround means that Taiwanese can finally take a big first step toward normalization of the nation, which has evaded them for the past 74 years.

To reach this stage, they have passed through three eras of political debate:

First, there was the era of “no Taiwanese independence,” which began with the 228 Incident in 1947 and ended with the death of former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in 1988. During this 41-year period, all thought, opinion and actions were controlled and distorted by the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government. This inflicted an abnormal cognitive bias on Taiwanese politics.

That was followed by the era of “no unification, no independence” during the presidency of Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who succeeded Chiang in 1988.

Lee began to correct the anomalies of Taiwanese politics by establishing the Guidelines for National Unification and developing the “two states” dictum. The two effectively canceled each other out and laid the groundwork for the “no unification, no independence” doctrine.

When the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gained power for the first time in 2000, then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) did not abolish the Guidelines for National Unification, but introduced a “one country on each side [of the Taiwan Strait]” credo.

In 2008, then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) introduced his own political formula, which advocated the “1992 consensus,” but included the phrase: “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what ‘China’ means.”

In essence, all of these are variations on the “no unification, no independence” theme. During the 28 years after Lee assumed office in 1988, there was a tug-of-war between maintaining the abnormal state of Taiwanese politics and the normalization of Taiwan as a regular state.

Finally, the era of “no unification” began in 2016 when the DPP staged a political comeback, winning a historic majority in the legislature with the election of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Tsai’s guiding policy has been to maintain the cross-strait “status quo,” scrupulously avoiding taking action that could provoke Beijing and operating under the reality of the “Republic of China, Taiwan.”

Meanwhile, the Tsai administration has launched a radical reform program of political, economic and social reforms.

Tsai’s bold pension reform policy, while inducing the wrath of “deep-blue,” pro-KMT retired civil servants, has resonated with most Taiwanese. On Jan. 11, Tsai was re-elected. She has pledged to hand over a “better country” to the next generation.

For most Taiwanese a “better country” means a final repudiation of the “unification” argument advocated by the 5 percent who call themselves “Chinese.”

There is finally a collective recognition that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent nation: We are Taiwanese, not Chinese.

This consensus provides the impetus for Taiwan to move toward political normalization. Hopefully, the consensus moves even further so that in the near future, 100 percent of Taiwanese will identify as Taiwanese.

Robert Liu is a retired EMS professional.

Translated by Edward Jones

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title: Agreement on national identity key to big shift

people: 蔡英文 馬英九 李登輝 陳水扁


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Egyptian forces ‘disappear, torture’ children: group

Security forces under Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi have arbitrarily arrested, forcibly disappeared and tortured children as young as 12 while prosecutors and judges turned a blind eye, an international rights group said yesterday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the US, France and other EU nations to halt their support to Egyptian security forces until authorities take measurable steps to end the abuses and hold those responsible accountable.

“Children are describing being waterboarded and electrocuted on their tongues and genitals, and yet Egypt’s security forces are facing no consequences,” HRW children’s rights director Bill Van Esveld said.

A spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the police, was not immediately available for comment.

In a 43-page report, the New York-based group said it documented abuses against 20 children aged 12 to 17 at the time of arrest.

Fifteen of them said they were tortured in pretrial detention, usually during interrogation while held incommunicado, HRW said.

Seven children said security officers tortured them with electricity, including with stun guns, it added.

The group quoted a boy it said was arrested at age 16 as telling a relative that he worried he might “never marry or be able to have children,” because of what security officials had done to him in detention.

HRW said it and Belady, a nongovernmental organization aiding street children, corroborated statements from the children, their families and defense lawyers, using court documents, appeals to authorities, medical records and videos.

“The harrowing accounts of these children and their families reveal how Egypt’s machinery of repression has subjected children to grave abuses,” Belady codirector Aya Hijazi said.

Hijazi is a dual US-Egyptian citizen who was held in detention for nearly three years over accusations related to Belady, which is Arabic for “our nation.”

She was arrested along with her husband and six others in May 2014 on charges of abusing children; she was acquitted and released three years later.

According to the HRW report, Belal B. was 17 years old when Egyptian security officers arrested him and put him in solitary confinement at a Cairo police station.

“I knew nothing about my parents and they knew nothing about me,” HRW quoted him as saying.

Officers then “tied me to a chair for three days,” causing severe pain, he added.

The group said Egypt’s criminal justice system has failed to “seriously investigate the children’s allegations of torture and ill-treatment.”

The report alleged that a prosecutor in one case threatened to send a boy “back to the officer” who had tortured him if the boy refused to make a confession.

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Virus Outbreak: Africa’s mountain gorillas also at risk from coronavirus

As the coronavirus infects more people around the world, conservationists are warning of the risk to another vulnerable species: Africa’s endangered mountain gorilla.

Congo’s Virunga National Park, home to about one-third of the world’s mountain gorillas, is barring visitors until June 1, citing “advice from scientific experts indicating that primates, including mountain gorillas, are likely susceptible to complications arising from the COVID-19 virus.”

Neighboring Rwanda is also temporarily shutting down tourism and research activities in three national parks that are home to primates such as gorillas and chimpanzees.

Mountain gorillas are pictured in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Nov. 25, 2008.
 Photo: AP

Mountain gorillas are prone to some respiratory illnesses that afflict humans. A common cold can kill a gorilla, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, one reason tourists tracking gorillas are not normally permitted to get too close.

About 1,000 mountain gorillas live in protected areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda, for whom tourism is an important source of revenue.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to restrictive measures.

Virunga National Park’s decision has been welcomed by conservationists in the region.

Paula Kahumbu, chief executive of the Kenya-based conservation group WildlifeDirect, told reporters that “every possible effort must be made” to protect mountain gorillas, because so few are left in the wild.

“We know that gorillas are very sensitive to human diseases,” she said. “If anyone has a cold or a flu they are not allowed to go and see the gorillas. With coronavirus having such a long time of no symptoms in some cases, it means that we could actually put those gorillas at risk.”

Even existing measures might not be enough to protect them.

Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, an Ugandan conservationist with Conservation Through Public Health, said that a study published this year by her group and Ohio University showed that measures in place to protect gorillas from humans are not effective in practice.

The rule on keeping a safe distance from the gorillas was broken almost every time a group of tourists visited, she said.

“What the research found is that the seven-meter rule was broken almost all the time ... like 98 percent of the time,” she said. “But what was interesting is that 60 percent of the time it was tourists that broke it and 40 percent of the time it was the gorillas who broke it.”

If close interaction cannot be prevented, one measure that could potentially improve safety is requiring tourists to wear masks at all times, she said.

Uganda has not announced a shutdown of gorilla tourism, although tourist traffic from Europe and elsewhere has dwindled.

The decision on whether to shut down gorilla tourism is now academic, as there is almost no business amid the outbreak, Uganda Wildlife Authority spokesman Bashir Hangi said.

Still, the few tourists who come are screened for fever and other symptoms, and must obey rules such as not standing within 7m of a gorilla family, he said.

Visitors from virus-affected countries who have gone through quarantine in Uganda need to produce what he called a certificate of isolation before they are permitted to track the gorillas.

Amos Wekesa, whose Great Lakes Safaris organizes gorilla tours in Rwanda and Uganda, spoke mournfully of “hardly any business” as tourists postpone visits or seek refunds.

The region’s mountain gorilla population dropped sharply in the past century because of poaching, illness and human encroachment. Mountain gorillas have been listed as critically endangered or endangered since 1996, although their numbers are now said to be growing as a result of conservation efforts.

However, there have been painful losses. Some gorillas die of natural causes, falling from trees or being killed in fights between males for territory or dominance. A lightning strike last month killed four mountain gorillas.

In Rwanda, where tourism is the top foreign-exchange earner, the government has prioritized the protection of gorillas, even launching a naming ceremony for baby primates.

Tourism revenue is key in protecting mountain gorillas, as authorities can use some of the money to help local communities or invest in anti-poaching activities.

A gorilla-tracking permit costs up to US$600 in Uganda and thousands of tourists pay each year.

A similar permit costs more than US$1,000 in Rwanda.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Colombian prison riot leaves 23 dead

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Panic over the spread of COVID-19 on Sunday sparked a prison riot in Colombia that killed 23 inmates, as Chile became the latest Latin American country to announce restrictions on movement.

Rioting swept through the crowded jail overnight in Bogota amid rising tensions over the virus in the penitentiary system.

Colombian Minister of Justice Margarita Cabello described the violence as an attempted mass breakout, part of what she said was a coordinated plan with inmates who caused disturbances in 13 jails across the nation.

A lone pedestrian on Sunday walks past pigeons in Bolivar Square in Bogota, Colombia.
 Photo: Bloomberg

She rejected accusations by rights groups that the riots were sparked by unsanitary conditions inside a prison system that was unprepared to face the pandemic.

In Chile, the minister of health on Sunday announced that a curfew “will take effect throughout the national territory from 10pm to 5am the next day.”

The country, which has 632 infections, registered its first death from the pandemic over the weekend.

Ecuador, which has seen the region’s second-greatest number of deaths after Brazil, on Sunday marked its highest daily increase, doubling to 14 dead and 789 positive cases.

Quito on Sunday ordered the military to take control of the worst-hit province of Guayas in the nation’s southwest.

Ecuadoran Minister of Government Maria Paula Romo said the armed forces had been authorized “to manage the province of Guayas as a national security zone.”

Governments in the region have been stepping up efforts to try to slow the spread of the pandemic.

Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador and Paraguay are among a growing number of countries to impose a total lockdown of their populations. Colombia is to join the group from midnight tonight with a 19-day mandatory lockdown.

The Bolivian government criticized people for ignoring its lockdown. with Bolivian Minister of Defense Luis Fernando Lopez warning: “We are not going to do this with a 98 percent lockdown. We are only going to defeat the coronavirus with 100 percent commitment.”

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Brazil’s top soccer clubs are handing over their stadiums to allow health authorities to turn them into field hospitals and clinics to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

With soccer in the nation suspended until further notice, more than half the clubs in Brazil’s Serie A have given up their stadiums as authorities in densely populated Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro seek to expand hospital capacity to deal with the crisis.

South American champions Flamengo are handing control of their famous Maracana in Rio de Janeiro to health authorities, club president Rodolfo Landim said.

“In this grim moment, I wanted to invite our great Red and Black nation to renew hope and work for better days. Let us take care of our elders, help those who need it most,” Landim wrote in a message to supporters.

Authorities in Sao Paulo — Brazil’s biggest city — said that they would install 200 beds in a field hospital at the municipal Estadio do Pacaembu to relieve pressure on the city’s hospitals, while two of the city’s big clubs were also lending a hand.

Corinthians said that they have made their Arena Corinthians and their training headquarters available “so that the authorities can evaluate how they can be used to combat the spread of the disease.”

Santos announced that a temporary clinic would be set up in one of the lounges inside the Estadio Urbano Caldeira.

Brazilian Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta on Friday last week predicted that the coronavirus would reach its peak in the nation between next month and June, anticipating a drop in COVID-19 infections from September.

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title: Brazil’s top clubs offer stadiums to help virus fight


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‘SKIMP ON FUNDING’:
 The top Democratic senator said the package failed to assist working Americans, while offering a large corporate bailout with virtually no oversight

A trillion-dollar US Senate proposal to rescue the reeling US economy on Sunday crashed to defeat after receiving zero support from Democrats and with five Republicans absent from the chamber because of coronavirus-related quarantines.

Democrats said that the Republican plan failed to sufficiently protect millions of American workers or shore up the critically under-equipped healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bill proposed an estimated US$1.7 trillion or more in funding to cushion the blow for American families and thousands of shuttered or suffering businesses.

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, center, heads to a meeting with US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Washington on Sunday.
 Photo: Reuters

Despite intense negotiations between Republicans, Democrats and US President Donald Trump’s administration, the roll call was 47-47, far short of the 60 votes needed to advance.

Five Republican senators were in self-quarantine and did not vote, including US Senator Rand Paul, who announced on Sunday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

Even as infighting derailed the plan, lawmakers carried on with closed-door negotiations deep into the day hoping to get the package back on track.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer and US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin “are working late into the night, and they just had another productive meeting,” a Schumer spokesman said.

The shock Senate result heaped major pressure on the US Congress to overcome divisions and swiftly greenlight a federal government intervention — likely the largest of its kind in US history.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted the Democratic opposition and warned of economic devastation ahead if Congress does not act promptly.

“The notion that we have time to play games here with the American economy and the American people is utterly absurd,” he said. “We need to signal to the public that we’re ready to get this thing done.”

He said that he wanted lawmakers to recognize “the need to act before the markets go down further and the American people become even more depressed about our lack of ability to come together under the most extraordinary circumstances.”

Schumer said that the bill falls well short of sufficiently protecting US employees, millions of whom are at risk of losing their jobs as the economy grinds to a halt, while offering a “large corporate bailout with no protections for workers and virtually no oversight.”

He accused Republicans of trying to “skimp on funding” to address shortfalls for hospitals, equipment, medical personnel and other healthcare infrastructure.

Mnuchin, Trump’s key representative in the negotiation, had expressed hope that an agreement could be reached.

Speaking on Fox News, he detailed a separate massive relief plan by US financial authorities that “will have up to US$4 trillion of liquidity that we can use to support the economy.”

Together, the urgent measures represented one of the most dramatic governmental rescue efforts outside wartime, with millions of people thrown out of work, thousands of businesses shuttered, travel severely curtailed and no certainty as to when things might improve.

The measures came as the death toll and contagion confirmations continued to rise and several states, including California, New York and Illinois, effectively went into lockdown in a bid to halt the virus’ spread.

Mnuchin said the congressional rescue would give small businesses enough cash to pay laid-off workers for two weeks, provide direct cash payments to Americans — about US$3,000 for a family of four — and enhance unemployment insurance for those laid off.

Democrats have demanded stronger worker protections.

Schumer has said that he wants the government to pay full wages for four months to workers laid off due to the crisis.

Trump sounded a note of optimism, even as the bill stalled.

“I think that the Democrats want to get there, and ... the Republicans want to get there,” he said.

The US president also said the administration was “considering” the prospect of US lawmakers being allowed to vote remotely, a dramatic departure from Congress rules that mandate all votes be conducted in person.

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title: Virus Outbreak: US rescue package fails in Senate


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Virus Outbreak: NY to run out of ventilators in days: De Blasio

‘IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION’:
 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio urged the president to mobilize the military to help spur production of urgently needed supplies

New York City is days away from running out of essential equipment needed to keep hospitals running, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday, likening the COVID-19 pandemic to the Great Depression.

The city has the highest number of confirmed cases in the US and De Blasio said that its hospitals were at breaking point.

“Bluntly, we’re about 10 days away now from seeing widespread shortages of ventilators, surgical masks, the things necessary to keep a hospital system running,” De Blasio told CNN.

He pleaded with US President Donald Trump to mobilize the US military to help spur production and distribution of urgently needed medical supplies.

“If we don’t get more ventilators in the next 10 days, people will die who don’t have to die. It’s as simple as that,” De Blasio said.

He said that “the worst is yet to come” and called the rapidly spreading outbreak “the greatest crisis domestically since the Great Depression” of the 1930s.

“That’s why we need a full-scale mobilization of the military and we need the [US] Congress to act like we’re on the way to the next great depression,” De Blasio said.

“Forget bailing out the airlines right now. Bail out the people. Bail out the hospitals. Bail out the cities and states and counties,” he added.

Almost 27,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus in the US, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 9,000 of them live in New York City, where there have been 60 fatalities.

A total of 114 people had died in New York state as of Sunday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters.

He said he had asked the US Army Corps of Engineers to build four temporary hospitals and ordered existing hospitals to increase capacity by 50 percent.

All non-essential surgeries would be scrapped from Wednesday to help free up space for coronavirus patients, Cuomo added.

He said that New York state needed 30,000 ventilators, which can cost up to US$40,000 each, lamenting that states are competing with each other to purchase them.

“This is just an impossible situation to manage. If we don’t get the equipment, we can lose lives that we could have otherwise saved,” Cuomo said.

US Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Peter Gaynor, who is in charge of the government’s response effort, said that the demand for supplies, such as ventilators, was a “global problem.”

“We’re working hard every day here to meet those demands,” he told ABC.

The federal government would start “pouring” resources into New York, California and Washington state, US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said.

“The resources that are being marshaled are going to be clearly directed to those hotspots that need it most,” Fauci told CBS.

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UNITED KINGDOM

Army delivering to hospitals

The government yesterday sent in the army to deliver protective equipment to hospitals and told people to stay at home and heed warnings over social distancing or it would bring in more extreme measures to stop the coronavirus spread. The military would help ship millions of items of personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, to healthcare workers who have complained of shortages. So far, 281 Britons have died from COVID-19. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock said the army would drive trucks throughout the day and night to get supplies to medical staff. A much-reduced rail service was introduced yesterday, while jury trials were suspended. Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett said in a statement that jurors summoned this week are being contacted to ask them to remain at home, while ongoing trials would be paused to make sure arrangements are in place to make certain they can continue to operate safely.

IRAN

Death toll climbs by 127

The nation’s COVID-19 death toll has increased to 1,812, with 127 new deaths in the previous 24 hours, Ministry of Health and Medical Education spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told state TV yesterday, adding that the total number of infected people has reached 23,049. Jahanpur said that in the previous 24 hours, about 1,411 people had been infected nationwide.

FRANCE

Free train rides for medics

Health workers responding to calls to reinforce overwhelmed hospitals are to get free transport on trains, the state rail operator SNCF said yesterday. Doctors, nurses and aid workers are in short supply in Paris and in other areas suffering the brunt of the virus outbreak, which has caused 674 deaths nationwide. SNCF Voyages head Alain Krakovitch said that medics who can prove they are travelling to bolster hospitals would ride for free, although rail services were slashed after a nationwide stay-at-home order to curb the outbreak. Officials in the east of the country have made local train and bus services free for health workers, and Nice’s mayor on Sunday said that public buses were now exclusively for the use of health workers.

AUSTRALIA

Hanks, wife, on the mend

Actor Tom Hanks yesterday said he and wife, Rita Wilson, were on the mend, after two weeks in hospital and self-isolation with COVID-19. “Hey folks, two weeks after our first symptoms and we feel better,” he posted in a social media message to fans, urging them to respect lockdown advice. He urged supporters to listen to advice about containing the pandemic: “Sheltering in place works like this: You don’t give it to anyone — you don’t get it from anyone. Common sense, no? Going to take a while but if we take care of each other, help where we can, and give up some comforts ... this too shall pass.”

UNITED STATES

Weinstein tests positive

Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who is serving a prison sentence for sexual assault and rape, has tested positive for COVID-19, New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association president Michael Powers said. Weinstein has been placed in isolation at Wende Correctional Facility, he said. Powers said he is concerned about the corrections officers, who he said lack proper protective equipment. A lawyer for Weinstein said his legal team had not been notified of the diagnosis.

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title: World News Quick Take


title: EDITORIAL CARTOON

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Virus Outbreak: PRC envoy to US breaks ranks with his ministry

China’s ambassador to the US reaffirmed his opposition to promoting theories that the virus that causes COVID-19 originated in a US military lab, in an unusual break with the country’s foreign ministry.

Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai (崔天凱) said in an interview with Axios on HBO that he stood by his Feb. 9 statement that it would be “crazy” to spread such theories.

Since his original remarks, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly posted statements speculating about a possible US origin for the virus, which was first detected in Wuhan.

Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai responds to a reporter’s questions during an interview in Washington on Nov. 6, 2018.
 Photo: Reuters

“Such speculation will help nobody. It’s very harmful,” Cui said in the interview that aired on Sunday. “Eventually, we must have an answer to where the virus originally came from. But, this is the job for the scientists to do, not for diplomats.”

Cui’s comments represent a sharp public rebuke to ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅), who has publicly questioned whether the virus originated in China and even touted the idea that it may have been introduced by US Army athletes.

Such public differences are rare among Chinese officials who are famous for their ability to stick closely to the Chinese Communist Party’s official line.

Cui is appointed directly by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and holds a vice-ministerial rank in China’s political hierarchy. That makes him two levels senior to Zhao, whose official title is deputy director of the foreign ministry’s Information Department.

Zhao continued to promote the theory on Sunday, retweeting speculation from a Twitter user who goes by the name “the lizard king” that COVID-19 has been around in the US “for a while.”

The user is described as a “fl transplant to the desert,” a “mama” and “not an expert.”

Zhao’s statements have been echoed in official state media in recent days and have provoked anger in Washington.

US President Donald Trump has taken to calling the pathogen the “Chinese virus” and has blamed the US’s outbreak on China’s early failures to control the disease.

Asked by Axios about Zhao’s comments, Cui referred the question back to Zhao and his authority as ambassador to speak on behalf of the Chinese government.

“Maybe you could go and ask him,” Cui said. “I’m here representing my head of the state and my government.”

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Virus Outbreak: New Zealand to start nationwide isolation: Ardern

FOR FOUR WEEKS:
 All non-essential businesses have to close over the next 48 hours, but supermarkets, gas stations and banks were to remain open

New Zealand is to go into a nationwide lockdown within two days as the government takes radical steps to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Every household will be required to go into self-isolation, all non-essential businesses will close and schools will be shut, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday in Wellington.

The measures, which are to remain in place for at least four weeks, are aimed at breaking the chain of transmission, she said.

Brian Green, 76, wears a mask yesterday as he loads his car with his shopping purchases outside Pak’nSave supermarket in Christchurch, New Zealand.
 Photo: Reuters

Without them, her advice is that tens of thousands of lives would be at risk and health services would be inundated.

“These decisions will place the most significant restriction on New Zealanders’ movements in modern history,” Ardern said. “This is not a decision taken lightly. But this is our best chance to slow the virus and to save lives.”

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New Zealand jumped by 36 to 102 yesterday, the Ministry of Health said.

There are two cases that cannot be traced to travel and are assumed to be the first evidence of community transmission. The government’s steps to prevent the spread of the virus come as the central bank announced it will launch a large-scale asset purchase program to cushion the economic impact of the crisis.

Telecom company Spark said call volumes spiked “beyond any level of calling ever seen in New Zealand” after the government’s announcement, and urged people to use Internet options.

Appearing with Ardern, New Zealand Minister of Finance Grant Robertson unveiled a range of new economic stimulus measures.

He said the government would expand its wage subsidy scheme to all affected businesses, lifting the cost to NZ$9.3 billion (US$5.2 billion) from NZ$5.1 billion, to ensure all workers receive some form of income during the lockdown.

Other measures include a freeze on rent increases and leveraging the Crown balance sheet to allow banks to extend lending to firms.

The government, the Reserve Bank and retail banks have also agreed in principle to significant support for mortgage holders, Robertson said.

Ardern said supermarkets, doctors, pharmacies, gas stations and access to essential banking services would all remain available throughout New Zealand.

“If you do not have immediate needs, do not go to the supermarket,” she said. “It will be there for you today, tomorrow, and the day after that. We must give time for supermarkets to restock their shelves, there will be enough for everyone if we shop normally.”

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A : Were you left out of pocket after canceling your France holiday?

B : I was able to successfully cancel all of the hotel bookings because I didn’t pay for them in advance.

A : And the flight tickets?

B : That’s more complicated. I should be able to obtain a refund from the airline, but I need to telephone their office in Taipei.

A : 你取消法國假期，是不是損失了很多錢？

B : 我有成功取消假期中的所有訂房，因為並沒有事先付款。

A : 機票呢？

B : 那就比較複雜。我應該能夠從航空公司獲得退款，不過得先打電話到他們的台北辦公室。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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: EVERYDAY ENGLISH


content_text:
Greenpeace says illegal and unregulated fishing is estimated to be worth between US$10 billion and US$23.5 billion annually

It’s going to get easier, I think to myself, as I lie in bed in the darkness, one hand gripping tightly the edge of the mattress, the other pressing hard on the spot where my head just thudded loudly, again, into a wall. In the bunk below, my cabinmate Oleg is dozing deeply. I might not be sleeping yet, but I will once I’ve found my sea legs. I’ve come a long way, I try to reassure myself, considering it’s only my fourth night at sea.

When I arrived on board my temporary new home, Greenpeace’s MV Esperanza, even successfully navigating my way to the bathroom along the ex-Soviet firefighting ship’s labyrinth of narrow corridors had seemed impossible. The environmental NGO had invited me to join them on a month-long polar expedition departing from Patagonia, the final leg of a year-long project to draw attention to the existential threats facing the world’s oceans. The crew had set off from London, before traveling from pole to pole.

Now though, after a series of briefings, tours and tips from seasoned crew members, I know where to do laundry, where to shower, where to muster in case of emergency. I can quickly put on an immersion suit. I understand three different types of alarm. I’ve scoped out the best hiding spots for when I’ll need some privacy: the cubbyhole library; two nets on the boat’s stern where you can sit as the vast expanse of ocean stretches out behind you; and if all else fails, the floor of the linen closet. I can even use the correct maritime terms to describe the different types of wild, sudden movement the boat is making as we cross the notoriously rough Drake Passage into Antarctic waters: “pitching” up and down, or “rolling” from side to side. Still, there’s little anyone can do to help with the tiredness, nausea and bumping into an endless number of metal things that comes with the all-consuming seasickness that has long settled in.

Cruising along the Beagle Channel on our first morning — the calm, breathtaking 240km strait of water we’d sailed through after departing from Ushuaia, on the southern-most tip of Argentina — had lulled me into a false sense of security.

“It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers,” Charles Darwin wrote of the strait, after an expedition here in the 1830s. He was right. Mainland Argentina on one side, Chilean islands on the other, we’d been smoothly delivered from the final frontiers of South America towards Cape Horn and out into open oceans, passing snow-capped mountains and luscious greenery - albatrosses, whales and dolphins escorting us from above and below.

MOTION SICKNESS

I’d taken a single motion-sickness tablet as a precaution, after warnings from people who’d made the journey. Honestly? I didn’t understand the fuss. But it turns out that the Beagle’s waters are somewhat more sheltered than those of the wild and exposed Southern Ocean. Only a few days later I’m counting down the minutes until I can pop the next pill. Wave-hits-boat means head-hits-wall, again. That one was probably pitching, I mutter under my breath.

There’s sunlight creeping in through the porthole now. For days, I’ve seen nothing but water. Staring out to the horizon is the only remedy for my unrelenting unease. I clamber quietly down from my bunk and head out for the relief some much-needed fresh air might bring. Stepping out into the crisp morning, though, a surprise is waiting.

Three huge, jagged icebergs, somehow both deep blue and ghostly white in the orange light of dawn, jut out from the water right in front me, almost welcoming me into a corner of the world I imagined I’d only ever see on screen. A raft of penguins swims alongside. I’m channelling David Attenborough through my delirium. My stomach stirs with excitement — my first encounter with the Earth’s last great wilderness is all that I’d hoped for.

In the distance, the peaks of the remote South Orkney Islands are appearing. I stand transfixed, the butterflies inside growing ever more restless. And then I run to the bathroom. What I thought was awe and wonder in my gut is, in fact, a sign that I’m about to puke.

While landscapes come and go, and weather switches from blissful summer sunshine to blizzard and back again with little warning, the routine on board remains reassuringly constant. At 7:30am there’s a wake-up call while a help-yourself-breakfast wraps up in the mess. From 8am to 9am everyone pitches into the cleaning, and then the crew of 30 heads off to work. On the decks below, engineers and fitters keep us moving; from the bridge, mates navigate. A team of deckhands dutifully ensures everything is in working order, while chef Willy prepares lunch for midday. A queue forms at his hatch on the dot.

Unless you’re on watch duty, clocking off is at 5pm — just in time for an unofficial exercise class in the helicopter hangar or a smoke on the poop deck — before dinner is served up at 6pm. All the while, a small group of investigators, researchers and activists are plotting in a makeshift office. Because while the permanent crew keeps the boat running, it’s these campaigners who truly set its course.

ILLEGAL ‘TRANSHIPPING’

Greenpeace employs three ships to further its environmental efforts.

Each is represented by a toy boat on a map pinned to a wall, reflecting their current positions. And as each traverses the oceans, an ever-changing team is drafted in from Greenpeace’s international offices to take the helm. From climate change to plastic pollution, deep-sea mining and oil drilling, all manner of issues have been explored on this ambitious voyage. Right now it’s an issue called “transhipping.”

After arriving in the Antarctic proper three days earlier, we’ve anchored in a sheltered bay off the South Orkneys. Glaciers lead down to the water, which is peppered with icebergs. On a distant shoreline, a smattering of structures marks the British Antarctic Survey’s Signy Island Base. The waters might have calmed, but on board the atmosphere is anything but tranquil.

Surrounded by maps, charts and laptops, Sophie Cooke, the mission’s lead investigator, is in the campaign room holding a briefing on a direct action set to take place the following morning.

Transhipping, Cooke explains, is how fishing boats transfer their catch on to cargo vessels while at sea, swapping fish for fuel, workers and supplies. It’s a system that allows fishing operations to maximize profits, simultaneously making it possible to travel into distant waters with almost no need to return to port. Earlier that day, Greenpeace had published a report that was three years in the making; it set out the harm transhipping can do, both to the oceans and the fishermen on board.

It’s how, Greenpeace argues, illegal and unregulated fish are laundered into the market, which is estimated to be worth between US$10 billion and US$23.5 billion annually. (“Dodgy fish” is mixed together in freezers with more sustainable, better regulated catch.)

Human rights abuses at sea — including poor working conditions and modern slavery — are well documented, and by transhipping, beyond scrutiny and national jurisdiction, such malpractice is too often out of sight and out of mind. There are three transhipment boats (known as reefers) currently in the South Orkneys, I’m told. Using complex satellite mapping and ship-tracking software, Cooke and her team have identified one of them — a cargo vessel they suspect has dodgy fish on board.

They plan to attach a giant rubber fender — emblazoned with the words “Ocean Destroyer” — to the ship in question, and have a group of climbers scale the side using rope ladders, to conduct a vigilante inspection in an attempt to see what’s hiding in the ship’s refrigerated hold.

VIGILANTE INSPECTION

The next morning, from a speedboat, I watch as the team pulls together with military precision. The distinction between crew and campaigner melts away.

Everyone on board has a story explaining how they ended up here. It’s not the sort of job you can stumble into. For deckhand Usnea Granger, time spent fighting to save ancient Oregon woodland from deforestation as a teenager inspired her to pursue environmental activism. Chief mate

Adrian Arauz describes the fields and rivers of his childhood in rural Panama.

“It was instilled in me from an early age that we should take care of our surroundings, because in the end it’s nature that provides,” Arauz says.

It was an oil spill off the coast of Galicia in northwestern Spain that first got a young Fernando Romo interested in marine conservation. He recalls with vivid clarity a childhood memory: walking down to the beach in his hometown to be greeted by washed-up dead wildlife, the sand drowning in crude oil. While working on a commercial tanker ship in the 1990s, he and his team were tasked with pumping oil-infused water into the sea. Soon after he became a member of Greenpeace. He was working on their ships by 2008, and promoted to the role of captain in 2017.

Compared to my digs, Romo’s cabin is practically palatial. There’s an office with room for a desk and sofa, and penguin postcards pinned to a noticeboard. A thin curtain separates his sleeping quarters from where we’re sitting.

“As captain, you’re the representative of a ship’s owner,” the 49-year-old says, “and you’re ultimately responsible for the whole operation of the ship.”

In normal circumstances, say on a cargo boat, that means getting your goods from port to port on time with no glitches. At Greenpeace, things are a little different: “We don’t deliver shipping containers, we win campaigns.”

This adds another layer of responsibility and risk to Romo’s workload. He’s not just a sailor, he’s an activist, too. It means breaking laws and putting the boat into situations that most other captains would do everything in their power to avoid.

That, Romo says, is how he stays positive. Eco-anxiety and burnout are common among environmental campaigners. I’d have imagined that spending every waking hour fighting for the planet’s future while witnessing firsthand parts of the world most vulnerable to the effects

of climate catastrophe might be hard to handle.

I don’t know why, but I arrived in the Antarctic expecting to come face to face with our shared, dystopian future. I thought that seals were going to be choking on plastic bags, that chunks of once pristine icebergs were going to be melting into piles of greyish mush. I thought it might trigger alarm bells. Instead, the air is fresher than any I’ve ever breathed, there’s wildlife in abundance, the seawater runs clear.

But being here is an eerie reminder that we can’t wait for the consequences of climate change to be visible in places like this — it will be far too late by then. It’s no coincidence, I’m realizing, that the only continent with no permanent population and few visitors is also the one in which nature has best survived the most damaging effects of humankind. And far from despairing, I feel myself becoming more determined than ever to help preserve this unsoiled natural world.

It’s suddenly real, no longer an idea in the abstract, or a scene on TV. Spending time with people who’ve given their lives to defending it is a stark reminder that most of us can, and must, play a bigger part in its survival, if we’re to turn the tide.

“If anything, I think working for Greenpeace has made me more hopeful,” Romo assures me. “You’re doing something positive and proactive, and seeing the results of your effort. Last time we came to Antarctica we were campaigning to make ocean sanctuaries to protect wildlife from overfishing. We didn’t achieve everything, but we forced the boats here into creating buffer zones for penguin feeding grounds, and that’s a win.”

Romo isn’t complacent. That’s why they’ve come back again.

“The climate emergency is the biggest threat to civilization as we know it, and that’s a challenge. But if I’m going to be anywhere to fight it, here’s the right place to be.”

title: The great south sea plunder


events: 冠狀病毒 死亡 COVID-19

countries: 沙烏地阿拉伯 俄羅斯 美國 中國 義大利

things: 經濟 油價

content_text:
Globalization confronts a doomsday virus prediction
十六年前神預言：瘟疫蔓延時，全球化面臨嚴峻挑戰

For the prognosticators on the US National Intelligence Council who sat down in 2004 to consider what the world might look like in 2020, the answer hinged heavily on one big question: What did the future of globalization look like?

Their answer: Not great.

By 2020, they predicted, globalization would face a political backlash in a world increasingly plagued by identity politics. Yet if anything was going to really derail economic integration, it would likely be the mass spread of a virulent new disease.

A jigsaw map of the world. Globalization is under threat.
全球化面臨嚴峻挑戰，權力板塊拼圖岌岌可危。
 Photo: Pixabay
照片：Pixabay

“Short of a major global conflict, which we regard as improbable, another large-scale development that we believe could stop globalization would be a pandemic,” the council warned in a report laying out the findings of its “Project 2020.” A death toll in the millions and a virus that “put a halt to global travel and trade during an extended period” would certainly leave globalization “endangered.”

Nearly three months into 2020 and it’s not hard to make the case for why that rings true.

There is an alternative view that holds globalization may actually be a lot more resilient today than it seemed in 2004, in the halcyon days before smartphones had taken over our lives.

But what would it take in the months ahead to get to Doomsday for globalization? It all hinges on the reaction from policy makers to the coronavirus crisis. So here are three things to watch for. If these happen, we should be ready for the shape-shifting in globalization we’ve seen in recent years to morph into a deep freeze.

1. New barriers to exports

White House trade hawk Peter Navarro, in a recent Financial Times interview, criticized the export controls some countries have placed on medicines and medical supplies like face masks. His motivation may be pure. But Navarro tends to like anything that makes his argument for a shift away from globalization. Navarro has said he wants to repatriate supply chains for national security reasons and advocated stricter controls on tech exports to China. What if he convinced US President Donald Trump to ban exports of not just face masks or medicines but shipments of an eventual vaccine? And other countries followed suit? What if the controls shifted to food stockpiles?

2. New import restrictions

Chinese trade data for January and February pointed to the damage so far from China’s industrial shutdown last month. Exports were down 17.2 percent in dollar terms. But what if the US and other countries started limiting imports of goods coming by air and sea not just from China but from South Korea, Italy and other affected countries? And those countries retaliated and did the same?

3. A collapse in global governance

The emergence of a battle between Saudi Arabia and Russia over oil production early this month caused crude prices to tumble dramatically. What if such discord spills to the G-7 or the G-20? What happens if, driven by fear of a virus, global economic policy makers can’t get on the same page? Or, worse, actively start working against each other in an area like, say, currencies?

Robert Hutchings, the former diplomat and Princeton academic who led the National Intelligence Council as it prepared its 2004 report, said in a recent email exchange that the point they were trying to make was “that globalization is a ubiquitous force that carries with it bad consequences as well as good.”

Ominously, he added: “We particularly wanted to argue that globalization is not irreversible.”

(Bloomberg)

對美國國家情報委員會那些預言家來說，在二○○四年要預測世界在二○二○年之樣貌，答案很大程度上取決於一個大問題：全球化的前景會是如何？

他們的回答是：並不樂觀。

他們在二○○四年所做的這份報告中預測，到了二○二○年，世界越來越受到身份認同政治的困擾，全球化將面臨政治反撲。但若說有什麼事真正會使經濟整合脫軌，那很可能會是一種致命新疾病的大規模傳播。

美國國家情報委員會在這份報告刊載了「Project 2020」（二○二○年計畫）的研究成果，並警告說：「會讓全球化停止的大規模事態發展，除了重大全球衝突（我們認為這不大可能會發生），另一種情況就是全球大流行的疾病」。數以百萬計的死亡人數，以及「讓全球旅行和貿易停擺很長一段時間」的病毒，必定會讓全球化「岌岌可危」。

二○二○年才過了不到三個月，已不難解釋為何此話所言不虛。

另一種觀點則是認為，跟二○○四年相比（那是智慧型手機尚未佔據我們生活的太平日子），現今的全球化其實比當時更有彈性。

未來的幾個月要發生什麼事，才會讓全球化走向末日？這完全要看決策者對冠狀病毒危機是如何反應，而這可從以下三點進行觀察。如果這些狀況發生了，我們就要準備看到全球化在經過近年來的變型後，陷入深深的凍結。

1. 新的出口壁壘

白宮的鷹派貿易顧問彼得‧納瓦羅最近接受《金融時報》採訪時，批評一些國家對藥品及口罩等醫療用品實施出口管制。他的批評或許是出於純粹的動機，但納瓦羅偏好任何能夠反全球化的論點。納瓦羅表示，基於國家安全因素，他想要將供應鏈撤回美國，並主張對中國的技術出口實施更嚴格的管制。若他所說服美國總統唐納‧川普禁止出口的不只是口罩或藥品，還包括最終製成的疫苗，那要怎麼辦？然後其他國家也有樣學樣嗎？如果進行出口管制的也包括儲備糧食呢？

2. 新的進口限制

中國一月及二月的貿易數據，顯示自上個月停工至今所造成的損失。以美元計算，中國的出口下降了百分之十七點二。但若美國與其他國家也開始對中國以外受疫情影響的國家，例如南韓、義大利等，實施海空運進口限制呢？如果這些被禁止進口的國家進行報復，也禁止美國貨物進口呢？

3. 全球治理的崩潰

沙烏地阿拉伯與俄羅斯自三月初開始因石油生產展開鬥爭，使得原油價格暴跌。若這種不和也蔓延到G-7〔七大工業國組織〕或G-20〔二十國集團〕怎麼辦？如果對病毒的恐懼使得全球經濟決策者無法同心協力，會發生什麼事？更甚者，若這些決策者在諸如貨幣之類的領域開始刻意相互對抗呢？

美國國家情報委員會編寫這份二○○四年報告時，是由曾任外交官及普林斯頓大學學者的羅伯特‧哈欽斯擔任主管。哈欽斯在最近一封電子郵件中表示，他們在這份報告中所試圖提出的觀點為，「全球化是普遍存在的力量，同時帶來了好的與壞的後果」。

不幸的是，他補充說：「我們尤其想要論證，全球化並非不可逆轉的」。

（台北時報林俐凱編譯）

FOLLOW UP 讀後練習

Questions

1. What was the main factor identified in the Project 2020 report that could hinder globalization?

2. According to the article, which three aspects of the global reaction to the COVID-19 crisis will provide an indication of the future of globalization?

3. Epidemics have been a major force in shaping human history. What are the similarities and differences between the current COVID-19 crisis and previous disease outbreaks?

4. Despite the warnings of health experts and the predictions of researchers, why do you think that the world was so unprepared for the COVID-19 crisis?

(Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times)

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

全球化

(quan2 qiu2 hua4)

2. identity politics phr.

身份認同政治

(shen1 fen4 ren4 tong2 zheng4 zhi4)

3. economic integration phr.

經濟整合

(jing1 ji4 zheng3 he2)

4. virulent adj.

劇毒的；致命的

(ju4 du2 de5; zhi4 ming4 de5)

5. pandemic n.

大流行病；瘟疫

(da4 liu2 xing2 bing4; wen1 yi4)

6. repatriate v.

撤回；遣返

(che4 hui2; qian2 fan3)

7. vaccine n.

疫苗

(yi4 miao2)

8. ubiquitous adj.

普遍存在的

(pu3 bian4 cun2 zai4 de5)


title: 武漢肺炎》網傳「安倍棚拍作秀」？ 台日合作踢爆照片造假

content_text:
武漢肺炎疫情持續蔓延，臉書與LINE上假消息頻傳，近日出現一張「安倍在攝影棚內拍攝探訪病患的宣傳照」，經台灣闢謠平台「MyGoPen」與日本事實查核推廣協會證實為加工照片，此次是台、日首度進行國際合作。（圖擷自MyGoPen網站）

2020-03-24 00:13:06

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕武漢肺炎疫情持續蔓延，臉書與LINE上假消息頻傳，近日出現一張「安倍在攝影棚內拍攝探訪病患的宣傳照」，經台灣闢謠平台「MyGoPen」向日本事實查核推廣協會（FactCheck Initiative Japan, FIJ）證實為加工假照片，此次是台、日首度進行國際合作。

綜合媒體報導，網路近日瘋傳日本首相安倍晉三的照片，圖片將日本《產經新聞》去年拍攝安倍晉三在風災探視災民的照片，剪貼植入到新聞攝影棚當中，以此造謠「安倍在武漢肺炎期間作秀」。

針對網路廣傳的安倍棚拍假照片，台灣打假網站「MyGoPen」（麥擱騙）在22日首次進行國際合作，與日本事實查核推廣協會（FactCheck Initiative Japan, FIJ）掌握相關資訊，證實原圖由《產經新聞》所攝，拍照日期為2019年9月17日，是日本首相安倍晉三前往福島縣探視風災居民的照片。

此外，「MyGoPen」還實際詢問資深攝影師王創緯，他指出，加工假照片在光線、成像還有焦點的部分，都是可以觀察到的破綻，而且有很明顯的加工痕跡。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

台灣打假網站「MyGoPen」（麥擱騙）在22日首次進行國際合作，與日本事實查核推廣協會掌握相關資訊，證實原圖由《產經新聞》所攝，拍照日期為2019年9月17日，是日本首相安倍晉三前往福島縣探視風災居民的照片。（圖擷自MyGoPen網站）

countries: 台灣 日本

events: 武漢肺炎 風災


taiwan-subdivisions: 高雄 南化 鳥松區 鳳山區 左營區 石門 三民區 清水

title: 高雄水情吃緊 水公司斥資7億汰換管線降低漏水率

content_text:
〔記者陳文嬋／高雄報導〕高雄水情全國最吃緊，水公司七區處今年斥資7億元，推動近百件自來水管線汰舊換新工程，陸續汰換管線62公里，原有管線抽換為延性石墨鑄鐵管，將有10多萬戶受惠，預計今年底前完工，節流降低漏水率，有助改善水情。

高市每日民生用水需求量110萬噸，今年降雨量僅歷年平均值的6成，近來天熱不下雨，高屏溪流量持續下探，今剩下每秒10立方公尺，低於警戒值每秒12立方公尺，水公司啟動備援用水，如地下水、伏流水等因應。

由於高雄與台南共用南化水庫，目前蓄水量不到3成5，大約3100多萬立方公尺，比近年來最慘104年4月差點限供民生用水的2100多萬立方公尺，蓄水量只差1000多萬立方公尺，水公司每日支援台南10萬噸清水，避免動支南化水庫蓄水量。

高市自來水管線大約8000公里，因管線老舊漏水率高，整體漏水率約11%，水公司推動降低漏水率計畫，今年斥資7億元，將辦理近百件工程，汰換管線62公里，目前陸續發包動工，預計今年底前完工。

水公司今年將優先施作鳥松區北平美山路、三民區皓東路、左營區重信路等管線汰舊換新工程；另鳳山區大明路原定去年施工，工程延宕迄今，預計下週一施工。

值得一提的是，重信路鄰近左營高鐵站，因應都市發展，人口成長快速，原有管線已不敷使用，將透過管線汰舊換新工程，將小管換成大管。

水公司說，10年可降低漏水率5%，每天可減少45萬立方公尺漏水量，相當於半座石門水庫每日供水量，10年可減少漏水10億立方公尺，相當於5座石門水庫。


countries: 台灣 中國

taiwan-subdivisions: 鹿野 高雄 屏東 臺東

content_text:
陳吉仲今（23日）在臉書指出，網路上流傳臺東鹿野的鳳梨因武漢肺炎滯銷，此為假消息。（圖擷取自陳吉仲臉書）

2020-03-24 00:10:22

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕近期網路上出現一個網頁，內容流傳台東鹿野鳳梨因武漢肺炎疫情滯銷，行政院農委會主委陳吉仲今（23）日指出，此為不實消息。

陳吉仲表示，該網頁宣稱台東鹿野鳳梨因武漢肺炎滯銷，需要民眾捐款拯救有機鳳梨乾老農民。但經查證，網頁內所使用的老農民照片，是盜用中國一位攝影師所拍攝之肖像。

該鳳梨詐騙網頁，是直接把在中國流傳的簡體字詐騙圖改為繁體，陳吉仲痛批：「如此囂張的行徑，不論是不肖商人想趁疫情嚴峻之際發災難財，還是境外有心人士刻意發動的資訊戰，都已經嚴重侵犯到我們台灣的農民！」

「哪來的滯銷？」陳吉仲指出，台東鹿野的鳳梨產季基本為6月前後，目前鳳梨的產地主要在屏東、高雄等地，台東的產季甚至還沒開始；他表示：「有心人士利用鳳梨滯銷的假消息進行詐騙，打擊農產市場，牟取不法利益，我絕對要求查辦到底。」

最後他也呼籲台灣民眾，正牌的台灣鳳梨品質優良、價格親民，請消費者務必認明產銷履歷，多選購「真」台灣鳳梨。

☆自由時報電子報提醒您，防詐騙專線︰165，報案專線︰110☆

title: 詐騙圖簡體字改繁體 陳吉仲：說台東鳳梨滯銷是假的！


content_text:
副總統陳建仁今晚再度於臉書發文談論武漢肺癌發生率、致死率與病毒檢驗陽性率的相關分析。（資料照，記者王藝菘攝）

2020-03-23 23:53:33

〔記者蘇永耀／台北報導〕公衛專家副總統陳建仁今晚再度於臉書發文談論武漢肺炎發生率、致死率與病毒檢驗陽性率的相關分析。陳建仁認為，目前各國疫情仍處在上升的階段，武漢肺炎肆虐的緩和，至少還需要兩個月的時間。

陳建仁首先說，武漢肺炎全球大流行，帶給全人類相當大的恐慌與憂慮，以及生活上的限制與不便。很多人都盼望能夠早日脫離瘟疫的死蔭幽谷，恢復正常、平安、喜樂的生活！

他認為，目前各國疫情仍處在上升的階段，武漢肺炎肆虐的緩和，至少還需要兩個月的時間。目前各國都努力利用病毒檢驗，來加強發現確診病例，予以適切的隔離治療。只是各國病毒檢驗的對象並不相同，有的進行普遍檢驗，有的加強檢驗密切接觸者和高風險族群！

陳建仁指出，在3月19日，他在臉書分析了官方公布病毒檢驗數超過15,000人的國家的受檢陽性率。陽性率越低，代表受檢者涵蓋越多未感染者。台灣的每千受檢者陽性率排名最低的第三名（5.0），僅次於阿拉伯聯合大公國（0.8）和俄羅斯（1.2），如附表所示。

他也引述，中研院基因體研究中心副主任楊懷壹進一步分析，這13個國家的武漢肺炎發生率 （incidence rate）和疾病致死率（case-fatality rate），台灣每十萬人口發生率是0.45，排名最低的第二名，僅次於俄羅斯的0.14。

他說，進一步分析病毒檢驗陽性率和疾病發生率的相關性，病毒檢驗陽性率越高，武漢肺炎發生率也越高，相關係數高達0.71，呈現很顯著的相關性（P=0.007）。值得注意的是法國、比利時與南韓的發生率，都在每十萬人口16上下，但是每千受檢者陽性率卻有很大的差異，以南韓27.9最低、比利時80.9居中、法國167.4最高！這顯示南韓和比利時可能檢驗了較多未感染者；而法國可能檢驗了較少未感染者。

陳建仁接著說，就武漢肺炎的發生率與致死率的相關性分析，兩者之間並沒有顯著相關！雖然義大利的發生率和致死率都是第一名；但是英國的發生率低而致死率高，可能受檢陽性者以重症感染者居多；而挪威的發生率高、致死率低，可能受檢陽性者較多是無症狀和輕症感染者。法國、比利時與南韓的發生率相近，但是每百名病例致死率卻是南韓（1.1%）與比利時（1.2%）低於法國（3.4%），顯示法國檢驗陽性者的重症占比，高於南韓與比利時！

陳建仁因此說，在每十萬人發生率接近1的台灣，只有零星無法追溯感染源的確診病例，不做普檢，而是加強密切接觸者及高風險族群的病毒檢驗是合宜的、有效的、而且符合成本效益的！在發生率偏高，絕大多數病例無法追溯感染源的國家，才有必要採取普檢。但是採行普檢的國家，必需很慎重地告知檢驗陰性者：「即使今天檢驗結果是陰性，明天仍有可能轉陽，必需作好自主健康管理！」

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

title: 武漢肺炎》陳建仁：全球疫情緩和至少還要兩個月

countries: 義大利 法國 台灣 挪威 俄羅斯 英國 比利時


title: 武漢肺炎》防疫旅館需求不一 黃偉哲建議中央開放跨縣市支援

content_text:
台南市長黃偉哲在與中央流行疫情指揮中心及各縣市首長視訊會議中，建議開放防疫旅館的跨縣市互相支援系統。（記者劉婉君攝）

2020-03-23 23:43:55

［記者劉婉君／台南報導］武漢肺炎疫情快速升溫，部分縣市防疫旅館供不應求，台南市長黃偉哲今天在中央流行疫情指揮中心與各縣市首長視訊會議上，建議中央開放防疫旅館跨縣市互相支援系統。

黃偉哲表示，台南市居家檢疫人數自疫情爆發以來，累計達2000人，居家檢疫不做好會成為最大的破口，若在外面趴趴走，會造成社會很多公衛負擔，因此不管六都或是全台各縣市，再艱難都必須擔下來，否則就不用談什麼防疫。他說，有的縣市防疫旅館不足，但也有的縣市過剩，因此在與疫情指揮中心視訊時，他即建議開放跨縣市互相支援，衛福部長陳時中也表示這個點子不錯，會好好考慮。

而為因應疫情可能的發展，必須超前部署，他也建議，台南市有很多廢棄的軍營，可以暫時徵用做為臨時的集中治療中心，將來如果醫院的病床都滿了，可以做為輕症患者的治療中心，陳時中也表示會納入考量評估。

相關新聞請見︰武漢肺炎懶人包》傳染途徑、預防措施看這裡
「武漢肺炎專區」請點此，更多相關訊息，帶您第一手掌握。

people: 黃偉哲 陳時中


title: I’ve lost my sense of smell: Gobert

content_text:
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, whose positive COVID-19 test prompted the NBA to shut down its season, says that the coronavirus has caused him to lose his sense of smell.

The Frenchman, whose defensive talents have earned him the nickname “Stifle Tower,” tested positive for COVID-19 on March 11, the result bringing the NBA season to an abrupt halt.

In social media posts since then, the 27-year-old had said he was feeling better, but on Sunday he tweeted that he was experiencing one of the lesser-known symptoms of the illness.

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert dunks against the Washington Wizards in their NBA game at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Feb. 28.
 Photo: Russell Isabella-USA Today

“Just to give you guys an update, loss of smell and taste is definitely one of the symptoms, haven’t been able to smell anything for the last 4 days,” Gobert wrote on Twitter. “Anyone experiencing the same thing?”

More than a dozen NBA players have tested positive for COVID-19.

Gobert’s teammate Donovan Mitchell was the second player diagnosed and the total includes four players from the Brooklyn Nets.

The Nets players testing positive included superstar Kevin Durant, who has been sidelined all season recovering from injury.

Days before his positive test, Gobert had shrugged off safety measures aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus, pointedly touching every microphone and voice recorder on a table in front of him at a media event.

The cavalier stunt took a serious turn after it emerged he had tested positive.

Gobert apologized for his actions and said that he wished he had “taken this thing more seriously.”

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: 李克強：以武漢市為主戰場的本土疫情傳播已基本阻斷

content_text:
大陸總理、中央應對新冠肺炎疫情工作領導小組組長李克強今（23）日宣告，「當前，以武漢市為主戰場的全國本土疫情傳播已基本阻斷。」這是新冠肺炎疫情自去年12月檢測發現後，感染肆虐逾三個月以來，大陸官方首度正式表態，抗疫獲得初步成功。

李克強23日召開中央應對新冠肺炎疫情工作領導小組會議，正式宣告以武漢市為主戰場的全國本土疫情傳播已基本阻斷。不過，他表示，零星散發病例和局部暴發疫情的風險仍然存在，疫情在全球出現大流行，形勢依然復雜嚴峻，要保持清醒頭腦，決不可掉以輕心。

李克強要求，要實行「外防輸入、內防反彈」的總體防控策略，維護好來之不易的防控成果。

針對武漢防疫，李克強表示，武漢市和湖北省要緊緊扭住醫療救治和社區防控兩個關鍵環節，繼續做好重症患者救治，及時收治新發病例，並做好流行病學調查。

他強調，各地要堅持實事求是、公開透明發布信息，不得瞞報漏報。一旦發現疫情要實行精準管控，聚焦在病例發生和可能傳播的場所，控制在有限範圍。