content_text:
RESTORING ECOLOGIES:
 By introducing large herbivores to new areas, humans had made the world more like the pre-extinction Late Pleistocene period, a study found

When drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot dead in 1993, he left behind a zoo stocked with wild animals alongside his multibillion-dollar cocaine empire.

The lions, giraffes and other exotic species were moved from the luxurious Hacienda Napoles estate east of Medellin to new homes, but nearly three decades later, dozens of hippos, descendants of animals left behind, are thriving in small lakes in northern Colombia, making them the world’s largest invasive animal.

Scientists have said that contrary to the conventional wisdom that large invasive herbivore mammals have strictly negative effects on their new environments, Escobar’s “cocaine” hippos show how introduced species can restore a lost world.

A visitor feeds a hippopotamus at the Hacienda Napoles estate built by drug lord Pablo Escobar in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia, on Feb. 12.
 Photo: AP

A team of conservation biologists has compared the traits and effects on the ecosystems from large invasive herbivore species, such as the Colombian hippo, with their extinct counterparts from the Late Pleistocene period (about 116,000 to 12,000 years ago) such as mammoths, giants sloths and giant wombats.

They found that some modern-day invasive species restore parts of ecosystems not seen since before humans began driving the widespread extinctions of megafauna.

Their new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that some introduced herbivore species are an almost perfect ecological match for extinct species from the Late Pleistocene, such as modern-day wild horses known as mustangs and the extinct pre-domestic horses in North America, while others bring back a mixture of traits.

“The feral hippos in South America are similar in diet and body size to extinct giant llamas, while a bizarre type of extinct mammal — a notoungulata — shares with hippos large size and semiaquatic habitats,” said study coauthor John Rowan, the Darwin fellow in organismic and evolutionary biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“So, while hippos don’t perfectly replace any one extinct species, they restore parts of important ecologies across several species,” he said.

By comparing ecological traits of herbivore species from before the Late Pleistocene extinctions to the present day, such as body size, diet and habitat, researchers were able to quantify the extent to which introduced species were more or less similar to extinct predecessors.

The analysis found that by introducing large herbivore species across the world, humans had restored lost ecological traits to many ecosystems, thereby counteracting a legacy of extinctions and making the world more like the pre-extinction Late Pleistocene.

“The word ‘invasive’ doesn’t really leave any room for organisms that do something that’s beneficial for another species. ‘Invaders’ don’t really help anything, and with that kind of anthropomorphic branding, you end up with a very limited range of research questions that are usually asked,” said Erick Lundgren, lead author and doctoral student at the University of Technology Sydney.

The researchers gave the example of wild pigs, which are widely disliked by farmers across the southern US for destroying crops when large groups are “rooting” for food.

However, Lundgren said the behavior is an ecosystem service that had been performed by other large herbivores that have since become extinct.

“There are many species that did what pigs do: just turning over soil. In North America, there were these giant peccaries. There were all these species that did the same thing in the Late Pleistocene. For millions of years, everything evolved with this kind of rooting behavior,” he said.

“If you actually look at what that rooting behavior does, it is of course density dependent. So if you have 10 billion pigs rooting over every inch of soil, there are species that are going to lose their preferred habitats, 100 percent,” Lundgren said.

“But rooting actually does some interesting things. In Tennessee, they’ve found that trees actually grow faster because of the rooting of wild boar, because they’re incorporating leaf litter in the soil, increasing decomposition rates and more nutrients become available quicker for trees,” he said.

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title: ‘Cocaine’ hippos show a lost world can be restored


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Kim Forest to apply in US for its COVID-19 test kits

Kim Forest Enterprise Co Ltd (金萬林) yesterday said that it plans to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization (EUA) for a COVID-19 testing kit that it developed this month.

Given that the FDA has been issuing such authorizations to expand the pool of available testing resources in the US, it expects to obtain approval, the company said in a statement.

From last month to Tuesday, the US regulator issued 16 EUAs for as many diagnostic devices, according to its Web site.

“Our diagnostic kits are not rapid-screening, but they would be able to provide the results within 50 minutes, compared with a range of three to four hours for existing tests, as we streamlined the test procedure,” a Kim Forest communication official surnamed Wu (吳) said by telephone.

The test kits, which integrate machine and reagents, would limit medical personnel’s risk of exposure to the virus, she said.

As the coronavirus mutates and shows separate properties in different regions, the test kits are designed to identify the different virus strains in Europe, the US and Asia, which would reduce the possibility of producing a false negative result, Wu said.

The company’s marketing partner, US-based Arbelos Genomics Inc, would help submit the application to the FDA, and distribute the test kits to clinics and labs in California if they are approved.

The New Taipei-based company plans to manufacture 6,000 kits in the initial batch, which could be used to test 288,000 people, it said.

The company declined to reveal its revenue projection for the deal, saying that it still needs to negotiate with its US partner.

Kim Forest hopes to market the test kits in Taiwan, but as the government does not allow commercial labs or private clinics to run COVID-19 tests, the company is not in a hurry to apply for marketing approval, Wu said.

“We will adjust our strategy based on the virus situation. So far, the number of infected cases has been rising slowly in Taiwan,” she said.

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content_text:
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), tasked with reforming the party and returning it to the viable political force that it once was, is faced with a Gordian knot. The complexities of the job ahead go beyond appealing to a younger generation of voters.

Chiang might have to decide between jettisoning much of what the party originally stood for and preparing it for a return to the Presidential Office, or doubling down on its founding purpose and representing what is increasingly, in the current state of Taiwanese politics, a minority view.

The KMT, as the founding party and self-proclaimed champion of the Republic of China (ROC), held sway over the nation for decades, initially under martial law as an uncontested authoritarian regime, and then as the architect of the nation’s economic development and — albeit forced by a grassroots pro-democracy movement — democratization.

It has not fared well in the post-democratic period, with the exception of its landslide victory in 2008 that was, at least partially, attributable to the perception among the electorate that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) under former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had become corrupt.

When the KMT had control over the curriculum, media, judiciary and parameters of public discourse, the ROC ideology was sustainable. This is less true after the DPP has had the chance to partially dismantle the KMT’s old party-state apparatus, amend parts of the curriculum and influence public discourse.

Another important trend has been the “natural independence” phenomenon, caused by a generation that has an increasingly higher proportion of people who identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese. A recent survey found that 83 percent identify as Taiwanese, while only 5 percent identify as Chinese.

On Tuesday last week, Chiang perfectly summarized the complexity of the situation, saying: “I was born and raised in Taiwan. I am Taiwanese… From the perspective of blood origin, culture and history, I am also Chinese... On the basis of the ROC Constitution, I am an ROC national.”

He added that the Constitution defined the territory of the ROC — including China — and that the model, short of constitutional amendments, would remain unchanged.

In doing so, he has wedded himself and the party to a vision of the ROC, as encapsulated in the Constitution, which is wildly at odds with objective fact and reality.

If he could abandon this conception and follow a more realistic vision for the nation, appealing more effectively to the majority view of the electorate and to the younger generation, he might stand more of a chance of returning the party to the Presidential Office.

To complicate matters, Chiang must be mindful of representing the party’s young members, many of whom did not vote for him in the March 7 chairperson by-election. His rival, former Taipei mayor and KMT vice chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), did slightly better among those younger than 40. Chiang enjoyed far more support among 60 to 69-year-olds — garnering more than 40 percent, compared with less than 10 percent for Hau.

Another problem is that some young KMT members have views that differ from those of the wider electorate. Some have said that the KMT should return to the concept of the ROC safeguarding a “Free China.”

Concerned that the party has drifted away from being a defender of democracy and become too close to the Chinese Communist Party, they want the KMT to return to this vision and to articulate it more effectively.

The question is, can Chiang bring these contradicting trends — stronger identification with Taiwan and a newly reinforced affiliation to the ROC and KMT of the past — under one tent?

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people: 郝龍斌 陳水扁 江啟臣

title: EDITORIAL: Contradictions confront KMT’s Chiang


content_text:
Averting economic disaster could be the easy part of the pandemic
Comprehensive compensation for lost income from COVID-19 could cost
up to 25 percent of a nation’s annual GDP, which is not as mind-boggling as it might seem

Contrary to initial expectations, the spread of COVID-19 around the world is not following the relatively benign trajectories experienced in China outside of Wuhan and Hubei Province, and in South Korea, Singapore and the rest of Asia. Instead, across Europe — and likely in the US, too — the spread of the virus increasingly resembles the path it took in Hubei.

This threatens to create a medical and economic disaster. While it might be too late for policymakers to avert a public-health crisis, it is still possible to implement the fiscal and monetary measures needed to prevent an economic catastrophe.

To do this, they need to go much further than the monetary steps announced by the US Federal Reserve and the proposals from US President Donald Trump’s administration for untargeted tax cuts and cash handouts thus far.

Initially, the number of cases in EU countries was expected to converge toward the 10 to 100 patients per million seen in Asia outside Hubei, and that the US might follow a similar pattern.

However, Italy, France, Spain and other EU countries are not experiencing the slowdown in the rate of change of acceleration (the second derivative of velocity, or the “jolt” in mathematical parlance), seen in Wuhan and the rest of China by this stage in the epidemic.

One possible explanation is that Italy’s lockdown measures are much less rigorous than those in Asia, and that healthcare systems are less prepared. For example, patients are not removed from their families as quickly, and so infect others.

If so, then the acceleration in the US and the UK would be even more rapid than in continental Europe, because of the piecemeal, and plain misguided, policy responses from Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

It is thus entirely possible that the asymptotic outcome for countries in Europe and the US would be more like Wuhan’s 1,000 cases per million.

Alternatively, in what a few weeks ago would have seemed a nightmare fantasy, but is now a reasonable worst-case scenario, Europe and the US could end up with far more infections per capita than Wuhan.

Italy, with confirmed infections of more than 69,000 in a population of about 60 million, already is approaching Wuhan’s ratio — and the Italian epidemic still appears to be accelerating rapidly at a stage when Wuhan’s was already slowing down.

Meanwhile, the British government publicly contemplated, and then backtracked from, a policy that would allow the virus to infect 60 percent of the population in the hope of establishing “herd immunity.” This would be a rate of infection 600 times the level in Wuhan.

The only good news in this dreadful situation is that, unlike the medical effects of the virus, the economic impact is easy to predict and overcome.

There is one possible policy response that could prevent the pandemic, even in the relatively virulent form experienced in Hubei, from fueling an economic catastrophe worse than the 2008 financial crisis.

Governments in every major economy must guarantee unlimited compensation for lost revenues and wages to all businesses and workers affected by quarantines and lockdowns — if not the full 100 percent, then maybe 80 to 90 percent.

Ideally, this compensation would come through outright grants and fiscal transfers, but another option for larger businesses might be long-term zero-interest loans or loan guarantees.

Luckily, this response is now feasible because of the way the 2008 crisis transformed the world economy and financial markets, offering governments unlimited financing with zero interest rates, low inflation and tolerance for previously unthinkable monetary and fiscal experimentation.

To be clear, in the current situation, monetary policy would not do anything to stimulate economic activity. Nor do policymakers want it to: More economic activity now would only aggravate the public-health crisis.

However, zero rates and huge liquidity injections are still necessary to prevent financial systems from collapsing.

Fiscal measures designed to support recovery should wait until the virus is under control.

What governments can and should do now is reassure their citizens and businesses that they can stay at home and not worry about lost incomes, because the government will make up for the losses once the crisis is over.

Based on China’s experience, the fiscal cost of comprehensive compensation for lost income could easily come to 10 percent of annual GDP. If the epidemic turned out to be worse than in China, which now looks likely, the fiscal cost could be as high as 25 percent of GDP.

These might seem like mind-boggling numbers, but they could be financed in one or more of three ways.

First, every G20 country, with the possible exception of Italy, could easily increase its government debt-to-GDP ratio by 25 percentage points without raising any serious questions about solvency.

Debt-service costs would hardly rise at all if central banks committed to keeping short rates at zero for at least two years, and investors were forced by regulation and financial repression to match liabilities with long maturities.

There is a fundamental difference between a one-off fiscal transfer, however large, and fiscal stimulus through tax cuts or spending commitments that permanently increase annual deficits.

A one-off transfer of 25 percent of GDP does less damage to long-term fiscal solvency than a tax cut of 1 percent or 2 percent of GDP or long-term spending commitments that change the fiscal structure for decades ahead.

Second, central banks could increase their quantitative easing programs to absorb the entire additional debt issuance. In short, the monetary base in every G7 economy could simply expand by 25 percent of GDP.

Lastly, compensation for businesses and workers could come directly from central banks through targeted drops of “helicopter” money.

Agreement among governments and central banks around the world on a single method would boost the credibility of the response. However, in practice, some combination of these three policies could be employed.

Still, there are two objections to full government compensation: It could ultimately prove inflationary, and it would represent an unprecedented intervention by governments to bail out and subsidize businesses.

These are weak objections. Today, everyone wants higher inflation. While this might eventually — maybe by the second half of the decade — turn out to be a mistake, there would be plenty of time to switch to anti-inflationary policies between now and then.

Full compensation is far from unprecedented. Farmers are regularly compensated for agricultural disasters, such as mad cow disease, or even for plunging agricultural prices and trade disputes. Regions and households affected by floods, earthquakes or wildfires are normally compensated through disaster relief or subsidized insurance.

Since 2008, banks, insurance companies and financial markets have received effective fiscal transfers in many countries amounting to far more than 25 percent of GDP.

The difference in this case is that the disaster affects everyone, which, in principle, makes the case for compensation stronger.

The only reason why governments around the world are still thinking in terms of loans and credit guarantees, instead of direct fiscal compensation, is that no special-interest lobby such as farmers or bankers is demanding targeted relief.

Anatole Kaletsky, a former columnist for the Times of London, the International New York Times and the Financial Times, is chief economist and cochairman of Gavekal Dragonomics.

Copyright: Project Syndicate

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content_text:
A : Reservation number QS46926Z and the name is Randy McDonald.

C : Please hold the line... Thank you for holding. I’ve just talked to my supervisor and I’m afraid we won’t be able to process your refund at this time.

A : Why on earth not?

C : I’m sorry, sir, until the flight is canceled we cannot provide a refund.

A : 訂位代碼是QS46926Z，乘客姓名是藍迪‧麥當勞。

C : 請稍候…謝謝您的等待。我剛才已經跟主管談過，恐怕我們沒有辦法現在處理您的退款。

A : 究竟為什麼呢？

C : 先生，我很抱歉，直到航班取消之前，我們沒有辦法退款。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH


title: Jail terms for neo-Nazi ‘terror group’ in Germany

content_text:
Eight members of a neo-Nazi cell were jailed on Tuesday after a German court found them guilty of forming a “terrorist organization” that was planning a campaign of violence.

The higher regional court in Dresden sentenced the accused, aged between 22 and 32, to prison terms ranging from two years and three months to five-and-a-half years for the ringleader of the group that called itself “Revolution Chemnitz.”

The trial, which lasted six months, was closely watched in Germany where concern has been growing over an increasingly militant far-right scene.

A defendant is brought to the courtroom in Dresden, Germany, on Sept. 30 last year, the first day of the trial of a neo-Nazi cell accused of plotting violent political upheaval.
 Photo: AFP

A racist gunman shot dead nine people at a shisha bar and a cafe in the city of Hanau last month, stunning the country and prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to urge Germans to resist the “poison” of xenophobia and hatred.

The eight jailed were part of the hooligan, neo-Nazi and skinhead scene in and around the city of Chemnitz in Saxony state, in Germany’s former communist East.

They banded together in an online chat group in September 2018, shortly after the murder of a German man by a Syrian sparked anti-migrant street riots in Chemnitz.

The court heard how the ringleader, electrician Christian Keilberg, asked the other seven to sign up to a manifesto in the chat group, that called for perceived enemies to be targeted through armed violence.

The text said that the group’s aim was to make the National Socialist Underground “look like a kindergarten group” — a reference to a neo-Nazi extremist group uncovered in 2011 that murdered 10 people and planted three bombs.

During the trial, defense lawyers argued that their clients had either not fully understood the manifesto or did not take it seriously.

Five of the defendants carried out a first attack on Sept. 14, 2018, “armed with glass bottles, weighted knuckle gloves and an electroshock appliance” that hurt several foreign residents in Chemnitz, prosecutors said.

The violence was believed to have been a “test run” for a larger attack on Oct. 3, 2018, the day Germany celebrates reunification.

Judges in Dresden found the five who took part in the assault guilty of serious breaches of the peace.

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title: Praying for wealth

content_text:
From flowers to incense, India’s temple economy hit by coronavirus

Indian shopkeeper Purab Gathani should be gearing up for his busiest time of year selling incense for the spring festival season, when crowds of worshippers usually throng Hindu temples.

Instead Gathani, whose family has sold Hindu prayer items for three generations, is looking at major losses as the coronavirus outbreak forces the country of 1.3 billion people into lockdown and places of worship shut down.

“I never imagined we would close our shop on the eve of a festival,” said Gathani, owner of a store in the western city of Mumbai, which on Wednesday celebrates the Gudi Padwa festival that marks the start of the Hindu year in the area.

Hindu residents wearing protective masks perform prayers on March 13 for the protection against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside a temple, in Ahmedabad, India.
 Photo: REUTERS

“For the first time, there will be no rush at my store before Gudi Padwa and I am so shocked that I have not been able to even comprehend how it will impact my business in the coming months.” Tens of thousands of people work at the bottom of India’s so-called temple economy, which is worth an estimated US$40 billion and includes people selling everything from flowers to oil lamps to images of Hindu gods.

The vast majority form part of the informal sector that makes up about 90 percent of India’s total workforce, meaning they are not protected by labour laws.

Their livelihoods are at risk from a complete three-week shutdown imposed by the government on Tuesday to stem the spread of the coronavirus after the deaths of nine people.

Pradeep Chakravarthi conducts heritage tours in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu, home to 44,000 temples, many of them centuries old and at the heart of local communities.

He said the economies that surround them had grown in recent decades, warning of a major hit to people’s livelihoods as they were closed.

“Even the number of flower sellers have increased, besides more eateries, hotels offering rooms to pilgrims, trinket sellers and of course prayer stores,” Chakravarthi said.

“Most of them are in the informal sector and will bear the brunt of this lockdown.”

‘KEEP THE FAITH’

V Subramanian, secretary of Jankalyan, a spiritual group that organizes prayers and provides aid in disasters, said the shutdown could not have come at a worse time as millions prepare for the spring festival season that begins with new year.

“You know the people working outside temples, particularly the smaller ones, are not millionaires,” he said.

“Certain families depend only on the temple for their livelihood. For many women, in particular, who sell flowers and oil lamps outside temples, the lockdown means no income. And the timing is terrible because festivals are around the corner.”

Pranali Ravindra Ubale, 29, who works in a technology firm in Mumbai, was gearing up for a quieter celebration of Gudi Padwa than usual.

In other years she would buy colors for the traditional rangoli decorations and sweets to wrap in a red sari and hang at the door along with mango leaves, but this year none of that was possible.

“Some of us even participate in bike rallies that are taken out in the evening, but there won’t be rallies this year,” she added.

Priests at the Sri Madhava Perumal temple in Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai now use a side entrance to quietly slip in twice a day and perform rituals, accompanied by the cook who makes the religious offering.

The temple’s manager V P Srinivasan said that for now, devotees must worship from home — something Mumbai shop owner Gathani is already doing as he prays for a better future.

“This will pass and then we will celebrate with fervour and business will pick up again,” he said. “We have to keep the faith.”

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content_text:
Attackers open fire in temple in Kabul, at least 25 dead

At least 25 people were yesterday killed in an attack on a Sikh-Hindu temple in Afghanistan’s capital where worshippers were offering morning prayers, the latest assault claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

The incident came as the nation reels from a US$1 billion cut in US aid and struggles with a raging insurgency, political deadlock and rising coronavirus cases.

Witness Raju Singh Sonny told reporters that a man dressed in a police uniform burst into the temple in central Kabul, shot a guard and started attacking worshippers in the main hall.

Security officers stand guard at the scene of an attack at a Sikh-Hindu temple in Kabul yesterday.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

“Several other attackers also entered the building and they were going from room to room shooting people,” Sonny said.

Only a few thousand Sikhs and Hindus are estimated to reside in what is an overwhelmingly Muslim nation.

The assault started about 7:45am, Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs spokesman Tariq Arian said.

There were conflicting accounts about how many gunmen were involved, with security sources giving differing numbers between one and four. At least one attacker was subsequently killed by security forces in an hours-long clearing operation.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

The Taliban denied any involvement.

Anarkali Kaur Honaryar, a Sikh member of the Afghan parliament, said that about 150 people had been inside the temple, where several families also live and worshippers gather for morning prayers.

“Some people inside the temple are hiding and their phones are off,” Honaryar said while the attack was ongoing.

Arian said that 25 civilians had been killed and eight others wounded, while 80 people had been rescued from the temple.

Graphic images posted online showed several bodies as well as terrified people who appeared to be Sikhs running from the scene.

“Such cowardly attacks on the places of religious worship of the minority community, especially at this time of [the coronavirus] pandemic, is reflective of the diabolical mindset of the perpetrators and their backers,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Sikhism and Hinduism are rooted in India.

The Islamic State has a history of targeting Afghan Sikhs and Hindus including a suicide bombing in Jalalabad in July 2018 that killed 19 people and wounded 21.

In the past few months, the group has suffered mounting setbacks after being hunted by US and Afghan forces as well as Taliban offensives targeting their fighters, but it still retains the ability to launch major assaults on urban centers.

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content_text:
BRAND AND VALUES:
 The KMT is at a ‘critical moment’ in its reform efforts, and it can no longer afford for the trust of the public to be eroded, the party chairman said

Certain Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators-at-large have seriously tested the party’s image and they could face disciplinary measures or have their nomination retroactively rescinded if their behavior proves to be harmful, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday at party headquarters in Taipei.

While Chiang did not say who his remarks were directed at, KMT Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) has sparked controversy by saying that five recent Chinese flybys of Taiwan were “not provocative,” urging the Ministry of National Defense not to mislead the public.

Wu earlier this month requested classified Ministry of National Defense data and reportedly received a briefing by military officials in his office.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang speaks ahead of a meeting of the KMT Central Standing Committee at the party’s headquarters in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

The data he requested reportedly included material on cyberdefense units at the Information and Electronic Warfare Command, and troop deployments of all three branches of the armed forces, as well as updates on combined service units and military operations.

The words, actions and performance of the KMT’s officials and legislators represent the the party’s brand and values, and are “directly connected” to the party’s image, Chiang said.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the KMT should fulfill its responsibility as an opposition party by working with the government on disease-prevention efforts, supervise the government “rationally” and stand with the public, he said.

“However, the political performance of some legislators-at-large has put the party’s image to the test once again,” he added.

Their performance has not only been criticized by rival parties and questioned by the public, but it has also disappointed supporters of the KMT, Chiang said.

During the party’s nomination process for its at-large candidates last year, all of the nominees signed letters promising that if elected, their words and actions would not harm the party’s image, he said.

The same letter stated that if the nominees were found to have done so, they would submit to disciplinary action and have their nominations revoked in accordance with the party’s regulations, he added.

The letter shows that “regarding the words, actions and quality of its legislators-at-large, the party has the power and duty to restrain and counsel,” Chiang said.

The KMT is at a “critical moment” in its reform efforts, and it can no longer afford for the trust of the public to be eroded, he said.

Chiang said he would ask the party’s reform committee to establish a set of rules for assessing KMT legislators and the results would be used to determine whether a legislator should lose their party membership.

Additional reporting by Sherry Hsiao

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title: Johnny Chiang demands hard line on KMT dissent

people: 江啟臣 吳斯懷


title: Virus Outbreak: Trump says virus fight close to end

content_text:
ECONOMY FIRST:
 Despite the rising number of cases, Donald Trump said the US was not built to shut down and he would love the country to open up by Easter

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday declared the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 crisis in the US and called for a quick end to social distancing, even as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo compared the growing pandemic to a “bullet train.”

Trump, who is keen to get his re-election campaign back on track, said that social distancing has caused too much pain to the US economy, prompting the US Congress to debate a historic rescue package.

“Our country — it’s not built to shut down,” he said on Fox News. “You can destroy a country this way by closing it down.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday speaks to the media at the Javits Convention Center in New York City, which is being turned into a hospital to help fight COVID-19 cases.
 Photo: AFP

“I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” Trump said, adding that he could see “light at the end of the tunnel.”

The president said he looked forward to “packed” churches on Easter, which is on April 12 — less than three weeks away.

Social distancing and quarantine measures have been instituted across much of the US, with stay-at-home orders for more than a third of the population, bringing the world’s biggest economy to an abrupt halt.

An Ipsos/Axios poll released on Tuesday found that 74 percent of Americans have stopped attending large gatherings, while 48 percent have canceled travel plans, leaving airports deserted.

Another significant casualty of the shutdown has been the presidential campaign, with Trump having to halt a relentless series of big rallies around the country.

Health experts have advised the measures as the foundation for preventing the easily transmitted, potentially fatal illness from multiplying uncontrollably.

The administration on Monday last week declared “15 Days to Slow the Spread,” a period which expires early next week.

However, Trump made clear that he thinks the response to coronavirus deaths has been blown out of proportion, saying: “We lose much more than that to automobile accidents. We didn’t call up the automobile companies to say: ‘Stop making cars.’”

Later, Trump appeared to retreat from his Easter goal at a press conference alongside Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

“We’ll only do it if it’s good,” Trump said, adding that the reopening could be limited to a “portion” of the nation.

He mentioned areas like farm country, Texas and the west, often sparsely populated.

More than 775 people have died from COVID-19 in the US, while the number of confirmed cases is 55,225, a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University showed yesterday.

The US has the third-highest number of confirmed cases globally, behind China and Italy.

Despite Trump’s optimism, Cuomo warned of “astronomical numbers” in the state and the nation’s biggest city.

“We are not slowing it. And it is accelerating on its own,” he said, comparing the spread of the disease to “a bullet train.”

With his re-election campaign temporarily knocked off track, Trump is now seeking to turn the calamity into a dramatic comeback story that would deliver him a second term in November.

One of his main claims to a second term, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, was the strong economy.

“We can’t lose a Boeing, we can’t lose some of these companies,” he said on the Fox News broadcast from the White House. “If we lose those companies, we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of jobs, millions of jobs.”

However, his push for a quick reopening of the economy carries the risk that some would see it as putting wealth over the survival of the sick, especially the vulnerable elderly.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said as much, urging those over 70 “not to sacrifice the country.”

Cuomo, whose daily news conferences have made him a major national voice during the crisis, shot back at those calling for rapid economic reopening, saying: “My mother is not expendable.”

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title: Asterix the Gaul cocreator Albert Uderzo dies at 92

content_text:
Albert Uderzo, the playful French illustrator behind the magic potion-swigging comic book hero Asterix the Gaul, whose adventures fighting the Roman legions have enthralled readers of all ages around the world, died overnight aged 92, his family said on Tuesday.

“Albert Uderzo died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly, after a heart attack that was not linked to the coronavirus. He had been extremely tired for the past several weeks,” his son-in-law Bernard de Choisy said.

News of his death prompted an emotional outpouring from the generations of fans who have followed the adventures of Asterix and his robust sidekick Obelix in books translated into more than 100 languages as well as films, toys and even a theme park.

Illustrator Albert Uderzo sits next to a model of Asterix during a news conference in Brussels on Sept. 22, 2005.
 Photo: Reuters

“A true legend, the little Gaul is now part of the world’s literary and artistic heritage, and will long continue to embody the values of tolerance and resistance in his adventures,” said Arnaud Nourry, head of Uderzo’s publishing house Hachette Livre.

Uderzo created Asterix in 1959 with fellow Frenchman and writer Rene Goscinny, bringing them to life in the French-Belgian comics magazine Pilote.

With his winged helmet and formidable blond moustache, Asterix and Obelix — who famously fell into the druid’s strength-giving potion as a baby — became a symbol of a France defying outside forces to forge its own path. The series has extended into 38 books.

Goscinny and Underzo had a monumental effect on comics, elevating them from three-panel strips in newspapers to a witty and insightful art form able to sustain stories that could fill a book.

Uderzo was born April 25, 1927, in Fismes, a village in northeast France near Reims, to Italian immigrants.

At birth he had six fingers on each hand, an anomaly corrected by surgery, and was color blind.

Yet he was able to develop his love of drawing by joining a Parisian publishing house after World War II, while also providing comic strips for newspapers.

He met Goscinny in 1951, beginning a friendship that would lead to their dreaming up Asterix and his village in Amorican Brittany, fueled by cigarettes and pastis liquor, in a social housing apartment outside Paris eight years later.

The first Asterix book, Asterix the Gaul, appeared in 1961 and became an overnight sensation.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Athletes’ training and funding to continue

content_text:
Athletes scheduled to compete in the Tokyo Olympics are to continue to receive government resources and training, even though the Games have been postponed until next year, the Sports Administration said yesterday.

The government supports the decision to delay the Games, Sports Administration Director-General Kao Chun-hsung (高俊雄) said, adding that it must have been a difficult decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo Organizing committee.

The Sports Administration has created a contingency plan in response to the postponement, Kao said.

First, it would work with the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee to adjust the timetable for selecting the nation’s Olympic delegation, Kao said.

Second, the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee would be responsible for rescheduling athletes’ hotel reservations and changing the schedules of medical and disease-prevention personnel in the nation’s delegation, he said.

The 400 athletes scheduled to compete in Tokyo would continue their training at the National Sports Training Center and other designated facilities, regardless of whether they have qualified yet, he said.

The athletes have mixed feelings on the postponement, he said.

“The athletes who have secured Olympics qualifications had been working to give their best performances in July, and they wondered why they have to wait another year to reach their peak. Those who had not yet qualified feel that they now have more time to prepare themselves for the qualifiers,” he said, adding that their training plans would be adjusted as well.

The agency said it would increase the number of psychological consultations to help athletes deal with their anxiety and frustrations, adding that it would work closely with the Central Epidemic Control Center to ensure that athletes stay healthy while training.

In related news, the National Middle School Athletic Games, the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games and the National Disabled Games have been postponed, Kao said.

For students who need performances at such events to qualify for sports programs at high schools and universities, or for university graduates who need them to become coaches, the Sports Administration is studying ways to ensure their interests are protected, Kao said.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Team develops system for negative-pressure wards

A cutting-edge air conditioning system that can be used to create negative-pressure wards without polluting the air is soon expected to join the fight against COVID-19, an academic-medical team told a news conference yesterday.

The team, led by National Chin-Yi University of Technology professor Weng Kuo-liang (翁國亮), developed the system, which utilizes the exchange of water molecules between indoor and outdoor environments under different pressure to create a cooler, cleaner space with low pressure.

The system uses separate pipes to collect outdoor air and discharge indoor air, as well as devices to disinfect air and absorb airborne particles, Weng said at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taipei.

National Chin-Yi University of Technology professor Weng Kuo-liang stands next to a prototype of a heat-exchange air conditioning system at a news conference at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times

It can be used to convert an ordinary ward into a negative-pressure ward, while its energy conversion rate can exceed 85 percent, better than that of conventional air conditioners at 65 to 78 percent, he said.

The system, which costs NT$150,000 (US$4,946) would be used by Changhua-based Show Chwan Memorial Hospital in a collaborative project supported by the ministry, he said.

It could be used in other settings, such as households, hotels or regional centers, Weng added.

Taiwan has nearly 1,100 isolation beds, which would be sufficient as long as the nation keeps the COVID-19 pandemic under control, but the hospital hopes to take preemptive action by preparing more space for quarantine, the hospital’s Asian Institute of TeleSurgery dean Wayne Huang (黃士維) said.

Negative-pressure isolation wards for patients with infectious diseases have to be certified by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, while wards with negative-pressure conditions do not need such certification and could be used to quarantine people with suspected symptoms, he said.

The hospital would use the system developed by the team to convert an ordinary ward into negative-pressure space and build two quarantine stations with similar conditions outside the hospital, he said.

Under its industrial value creation program that started in 2017, the ministry has been supporting academics to commercialize their research achievements by working with business partners, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hsu Yu-chin (許有進) said.

Nineteen cases funded through the program have set up start-ups, and their aggregate commercial value have reached NT$4.77 billion, he said.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Lawmakers fear abuse as porn site traffic spikes

PORNHUB:
 Campaigners warn that videos of serious crimes, such as rape, are being uploaded to the site, which has failed to ban or moderate illegal content

British lawmakers and campaigners are calling for urgent action to stop videos of rape, revenge porn and child abuse being posted on Pornhub as traffic to the site booms amid a worldwide COVID-19 lockdown.

Pornhub’s traffic is up a record 12 percent this month compared with last month, as millions of people across the world are told to stay in their homes.

Pornhub owner Mindgeek has used the coronavirus lockdowns to promote its site, giving free Premium access to people living in isolation in Italy, Spain and France.

The offer has led to a huge increase in visits to the site from affected countries: a 57 percent rise in Italy, a 39 percent rise in France and a 61 percent rise in Spain. Pornhub is giving some of its profits to the COVID-19 response.

However, campaigners are warning that videos of serious crimes, such as rape, incest and human trafficking, are hidden among the millions of videos uploaded to the Web site by anonymous users, with Pornhub failing to moderate illegal content or ban those uploading them from the site.

Pornhub said it is taking significant steps to stop illegal content being posted.

British lawmakers said that measures to reform and regulate the porn industry have faltered, putting vulnerable people at risk.

Campaigners against “revenge porn” said parents have contacted them in desperation, unable to get non-consensual videos of their children removed from the site.

Last year, attempts to introduce age verification systems into open access porn sites to stop children being able to access extreme online content stalled, and lawmakers have said that proposed regulation in a new online harms bill, currently at consultation stage in parliament, does not go far enough.

“The online harms bill doesn’t go far enough. We have to get control over this industry,” Labour lawmaker Tracy Brabin said. “We have a duty of care to young people whose videos are being shared who might not want them shared, and ... to potential victims of sex trafficking and rape.”

Labour lawmaker Rosena Allin-Khan has been working to support the UK group Not Your Porn in getting revenge porn removed from Pornhub.

“The most alarming thing is that people can be raped and their video can be posted online. That is absolutely shocking, there should be a national outcry,” she said.

Lawmakers from both sides of the political divide agree.

“These are hugely important issues and [the online harms bill] is taking too long, we have been talking about this for two years now,” said Conservative lawmaker Maria Miller, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee.

She said the promised duty of care should include a way to hold companies to account if unlawful material is posted.

Activist Laila Mickelwait, part of a group of activists at Exodus Cry, whose online petition attempting to force Pornhub to take down rape and abuse videos has attracted more than 500,000 signatures, said: “Pornhub handing out ‘free’ premium content is a way for them to cash in on those around the world impacted by the pandemic.”

“Pornhub is collecting an incredible amount of user data, including IP addresses, by allowing Web beacons and other special information targeting technology on all user devices, and monetizing it for their own gain,” she added.

Pornhub did not respond to a request for clarity over its collection of user data.

Mindgeek also deny the allegations made in the Exodus Cry petition and insist that it has thorough procedures for removing illegal content.

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title: Taiwan Business Quick Take

content_text:
ENTERTAINMENT

Taipei Game Show canceled

The Taipei Game Show has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taipei Computer Association (台北電腦公會) said yesterday. The annual expo was originally scheduled for February, but the association on Jan. 31 postponed it until June 25 to 28 after the WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. As the Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday advised against indoor gatherings of more than 100 people, the association said in a statement that it and most participating companies had agreed to call off the show this year.

SEMICONDUCTORS

China approves ASE merger

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Anti-Monopoly Bureau has lifted restrictions on the merger of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體) and Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd (矽品精密), ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) said yesterday. The companies announced on June 30, 2016, that they planned to merge and establish a holding company. Previously, the transaction had been approved by various anti-trust authorities in different jurisdictions, including a conditional approval by the bureau on Nov. 24, 2017, the world’s largest chip packaging and testing firm said.

ENTERTAINMENT

Kuang Hong proposes payout

Entertainment service provider Kuang Hong Arts Management Inc (寬宏藝術) yesterday said its board has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$4.5 per share, which suggested a dividend yield of 10.7 percent as the company’s shares closed at NT$42.05 in Taipei trading. The planned payout is greater than last year when the company distributed a cash dividend of NT$2 per share, plus a stock dividend of NT$1 each. Kuang Hong also said that the COVID-19 outbreak would negatively affect its business in the first half of this year. Its sales last year rose 39.26 percent to NT$1.61 billion (US$53.1 million), from NT$1.16 billion in 2018.

ELECTRONICS

Everlight income grows

LED chip packager and tester Everlight Electronics Co (億光) yesterday reported that net income last year grew 3.68 percent year-on-year to NT$822 million, or earnings per share of NT$1.86, from a better product mix and the high-end application market. Gross margin improved 0.99 percentage points to 24.46 percent and operating margin rose 0.29 percentage points to 3.98 percent, the company said in a financial statement. However, revenue decreased 12.96 percent to NT$20.97 billion, due to US-China trade tensions and declining LED product prices. The company’s board has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$1.4 per share, down from NT$1.5 last year, but suggesting a payout ratio of 75.27 percent.

TIREMAKERS

Cheng Shin income drops

Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co (正新橡膠), which sells its products under the Maxxis brand, on Tuesday reported net income of NT$3.4 billion for last year, down from NT$3.52 billion in 2018, due to continued weakness in the Chinese auto market. Earnings per share fell to NT$1.04 from NT$1.09 in 2018, although revenue edged up NT$109.57 billion, compared with NT$109.49 billion in 2018. The Changhua County-based company’s board has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$1 per share, down from the NT$1.1 it paid out a year earlier.

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people: 蔡英文 韓國瑜 陳其邁

title: ‘Recall’ Han must face residents’ questions

content_text:
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), still smarting from his Jan. 11 presidential election pummeling, is careening toward another test: his possible recall.

The residents of Kaohsiung have previously impressed the rest of the nation — for example, they completely transformed the Love River (愛河) from a pitch-black, fetid stench of a waterway to a beautiful, romantic attraction.

Han’s fortunes have changed, from his shock victory in the Nov. 24, 2018, mayoral election — where he defeated his opponent, Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), by 150,000 votes — to the presidential election, in which President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) defeated him by 480,000 votes.

It has been quite a ride. Now, people are waiting with bated breath as the residents of Kaohsiung prepare for a potential recall of their mayor: Will they write a new chapter in Taiwan’s history with the first successful recall of a city mayor?

Reach for the popcorn.

Han’s political career of late has resembled an amusement park freefall ride, where you plummet from a precipitous height before you even have time to catch your breath.

His career has perhaps been more like a rollercoaster, hurtling along contorted tracks — one minute accelerating and another deaccelerating, as the car bucks and undulates in time with his political successes and catastrophes.

Nevertheless, it is precisely this type of fickle, disingenuous political hack that people need to resist and weed from Taiwanese politics.

With that in mind, here are five questions to put to the mayor:

First, why has Han stopped his incessant jabbering to journalists, after he wallowed in a media circus during his presidential campaign? When he first took office, he would spout his addled nonsense to a media waiting for the moment he might actually say something of substance.

Second, why has Han ceased his habit of traveling across the nation every other day to attend to business elsewhere, instead of staying in Kaohsiung and getting on with the business of governing?

Third, does Han consider question-and-answer sessions with city councilors to be a right, a duty, or both?

On April 20 and 21, the mayor is to deliver a report to the Kaohsiung City Council and answer their questions. Will councilors wishing to ask him questions be required to draw lots, as they had to in September last year?

Will councilors who have not been chosen be left to sit in silence and watch the proceedings?

The fourth question also concerns next month’s question-and-answer session. Will the mayor, as he did in September last year, turn off his microphone at 6pm on the dot, refuse to take any more questions, declare the proceedings a wrap and promptly leave?

Finally, does Han plan to meet the directors of the Chinese liaison offices in Hong Kong and Macau as he did before?

Of course, with the COVID-19 pandemic, he could hardly travel and meet them in person, but connecting through social media or videoconferencing is a possibility.

He and his laison-office band could discuss the implementation of his “people will flood in, goods will flow out, Kaohsiung will reap the benefits” policy — so long as it is not “confirmed COVID-19 cases flood in, masks flow out, virus outbreaks will cost lots of money.”

Chang Kuo-tsai retired as an associate professor at National Hsinchu University of Education.

Translated by Paul Cooper

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content_text:
As more people work from home, new markets begin to rise
With millions forced to work remotely, demand has exploded for desks, forums and video chat, and experts expect it to continue surging after COVID-19 fades

A few years ago, Marc Rosenberg was trying to figure out what to do with his life after a career marketing toys for the likes of Hasbro. He fancied himself an inventor, but of what?

Rosenberg discovered just what when he stepped into his daughter’s college dorm and saw her roommates on their beds, typing away on laptops. They barely used their desks because they said they were uncomfortable.

An idea was born, and after crowdfunding about US$500,000, Rosenberg in 2016 launched the Edge Desk, an adjustable pop-up workspace with cushioned seats that sells for US$400.

Almost overnight, the pandemic has created a booming work-from-home economy, and Rosenberg’s business jumped eight-fold in the past few weeks.

“It’s been crazy,” said Rosenberg, who has just one full-time employee besides himself. “We’re managing the best we can.”

As the US, and much of Europe, settles into weeks, if not months, of remote work, capitalism is adapting. Rosenberg said he is not just selling a lot more desks, but he has received interest from dozens of potential overseas distributors in Asia and the Middle East.

Shark Tank, a US reality TV contest for entrepreneurs on ABC, even reached out and asked him to apply to be a contestant, he said. The 55-year-old is passing because he wants to focus on his next goal: building a sales team.

“This is going to be a seismic shift,” Rosenberg said, adding that his desk comes assembled and can be collapsed for storage under a bed.

It’s easy to move around, and on many days he works from the backyard of his Deerfield, Illinois, home, he said.

“So many people are demanding that they want to work where they want to work,” he said.

The forced work-from-home shift should not be underestimated, said Kate Lister, who has been analyzing and consulting companies on remote work for more than a decade.

In the US, the evolution of telecommuting has been too slow and elitist, she said. It has often only been a perk for executives and other high-value employees.

The Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 did push firms to expand remote work to cut costs, such as with call centers. Over the past few years, more firms have rolled it out to recruit and retain talent in one of the tightest job markets on record, although unemployment is about to swell.

Even with those incentives, only 7 percent of US firms offer telecommuting and just 3.6 percent of US workers (about 5 million people) spend at least half their labor hours at home, according to government data analyzed by Global Workplace Analytics, the consultancy Lister founded and runs.

The growth of remote work has been plodding along at about 10 percent a year — until now, when tens of millions of Americans are thrust into setting up home offices on the fly.

“This is the perfect storm, and once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s not going back in,” Lister said.

That is precisely the bet Rousseau Kazi is making as cofounder and chief executive officer of Threads, a collaboration tool that employs topic forums like those found on Reddit to speed project work for remote workforces.

The Facebook veteran reckons that the pandemic has sped up the move home by as much as a decade. Threads, founded about three years ago and counting Silicon Valley stalwart Sequoia Capital as an investor, had been adding users slowly, but as its waitlist ballooned and demand surged, it decided to scrap a broader launch later this year and instead this week offered up a version to anyone for free through July 1.

“We decided we needed to help this,” said Kazi, who managed teams at Facebook working on projects ranging from mobile applications to search functions. “Our bet is the world is going to become more distributed.”

The 28-year-old makes a compelling case for why that would happen. Shocks to the system like the virus often cause society to leapfrog. The sharing economy, spearheaded by the likes of Uber and Airbnb, was just getting started when the financial crisis hit.

A few years later, society’s view about vacationing in a stranger’s home dramatically shifted. It is now seen to many as a cheaper — and more fun — way to travel.

“This has taken a trend that’s already happening, just like the sharing economy, and bent the curve,” Kazi said.

What was once just the domain of tech firms is likely to become one of the next in-demand skill sets. Do not be surprised if “distributed management” — a way to work together through online collaboration — starts popping up on many more LinkedIn bios. Expect an increasing number of companies to describe themselves as “fully distributed,” meaning everyone works remotely most of the time.

Global demand for collaboration tools will increase “exponentially” because of the outbreak, said Wayne Kurtzman, research director for social, community and collaboration at research firm IDC.

A big reason is that so many workers already use similar tools in their personal lives, so once they get the corporate version of video chat, instant messaging or forums, adoption would be quick and relatively seamless.

Plus, there is research showing that distributed teams are more productive and happier.

Kazi said one of his customers cut e-mail traffic in half.

“A lot of the friction and time wasted is gone,” said Kurtzman, who has been involved in collaboration software for more than two decades. “That’s what a lot of companies will start learning.”

To make sure the information being shared remotely is safe, companies would have to spend more on data protection, Appsian said.

The cybersecurity firm expects hackers to be readying attacks because of the increased vulnerabilities created by so many more remote workers.

“Without a doubt, there are a lot of really happy bad guys,” Appsian executive director of security Greg Wendt said.

Slack Technologies, which offers a Web-based chat platform, has seen a surge of interest and a massive outpouring of questions from new and existing users, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield said.

Demand for Zoom Video Communications conferencing software has also jumped, with downloads doubling last week, data from Sensor Tower showed.

Research firm Needham said that Zoom is “an exceptional business poised to benefit from the accelerated shift toward work from home,” after initiating coverage with a buy rating on the shares and price target 30 percent above the stock’s most recent close.

The coronavirus “will accelerate the pace of change,” it said.

Meanwhile, back in Deerfield, about 48km north of Chicago, Rosenberg was up at 2am talking to his manufacturing partner in Vietnam. His mind is racing with ideas for where to expand next and new products, like a paintbrush holder that artists can clip onto the desk.

“We are prepared to grow exponentially,” Rosenberg said. “We’re really just getting started.”

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Business sentiment down in all sectors due to virus

Business sentiment in all industries last month weakened further as the number of COVID-19 infections escalated, threatening to push the global economy into a recession, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) said yesterday.

The business confidence gauge for local manufacturers fell 5.31 points to 88.73 from a month earlier, the lowest since January last year, a monthly survey by the Taipei-based institute indicated.

Only 19.3 percent of manufacturers remained upbeat about their business outlook in the coming six months, 6 percentage points lower from a month earlier, while companies with a gloomy outlook rose 9.8 percentage points to 36.9 percent, it said.

“The picture for this month should be bleaker, as the virus outbreak seems not to have peaked yet in light of an increasing number of infections in Europe and the US,” TIER president Chang Chien-yi (張建一) told a media briefing in Taipei.

Unlike the 2003 SARS outbreak, which mainly affected consumer confidence, the COVID-19 pandemic is not only disrupting global supply chains, but is also hurting demand, Chang said.

All manufacturing sectors were hit by the weakening sentiment except for companies that supply the materials used in masks and those that manufacture the machinery needed to produce masks, the survey said.

Food makers also received a boost, after seeing flat business last month, as people fearing a lockdown stormed grocery stores and hoarded canned food.

The number of infections in Taiwan has increased considerably since European countries, the US and others closed their borders, driving up the number of Taiwanese returning home.

The gauge for service-focused firms fell to 86.09 points — the lowest since September 2016 — with most banks, hotels, restaurants and other companies likely to face sluggish business ahead, the survey said.

The confidence measure for real-estate companies declined to 90.02 points, the lowest since June 2017, it said.

Developers and builders have postponed next week’s introduction of pre-sale projects for the spring sales season over concern that the coronavirus is keeping people at home, it said.

If the pandemic continues, the damage to economic activity would surpass belief, Chang said, adding that the local bourse might continue its plunge, despite rebounds this week.

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content_text:
‘TRAFFIC IS BACK’:
 Nearly 80 percent of Nike and affiliated stores in China have opened following nationwide lockdowns, during which digital commerce soared

Nike Inc executives on Tuesday said that shoppers in key Asian markets are beginning to return to stores as it reported a rare drop in Chinese quarterly revenues cushioned by stronger e-commerce sales.

“Traffic is back,” Nike chief executive John Donahoe said of the dynamic in China, which is also beginning to play out in Japan and South Korea, two other countries that have also passed the worst of the outbreak.

“Consumers are back in the stores,” he told analysts during an earnings conference call. “They are often wearing face masks, but they’re back in the store.”

Workers install a Nike Inc logo outside the Wukesong Arena in Beijing on Aug. 28 last year.
 Photo: Reuters

The sporting goods giant said that it would press on with some new product launches originally tied to the Olympics, which became the latest event on Tuesday to be officially postponed because of the global pandemic.

Olympic organizers are doing “what’s appropriate by prioritizing the health and safety of their athletes and fans,” Donahoe said.

When organized sports return, “we’ll be there,” he added.

Net income overall came in at US$847 million, down 23 percent from the year-ago period.

Revenues were US$10.1 billion, up 5 percent, with the company scoring higher sales in North America, Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific/Latin America, offsetting a drop in greater China after 22 straight quarters of double-digit growth.

During the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, 75 percent of Nike-owned stores were closed in the country, but nearly 80 percent of its Nike and affiliated stores in China are now open.

However, the company on Monday last week shuttered all its Nike-owned stores outside China, Japan and South Korea due to the coronavirus.

The company sketched out a multistage evolution in affected markets based on its China experience following a five to six week containment phase where there is a transition period before sales return to expected levels.

“We expect the next several weeks to be a challenging period for those living in the US and Europe, and I can’t precisely predict how long the containment phase of the outbreak will last,” Donahoe said.

“But our experience in China, Japan and South Korea gives us confidence we will see the other side of this crisis in the near future,” he added.

In China, digital sales increased more than 30 percent during the period when shops were closed, a trend that has been mirrored in other markets, including North America, where executives said the surge has been comparable to holiday-season levels.

Donahoe said Nike still planned to launch some new products this year that had been linked to the Olympics — “when the time is right” — citing one running shoe and various products that employ recyclable material.

“I think it’s important to separate those sporting events from our innovation pipeline, because we will continue to move forward,” Donahoe said.

The company said it also expects lower marketing spending in the fourth quarter as it curtails promotions that had been linked to the Olympics and other high-profile sporting events that have been canceled or postponed by the outbreak.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Nike says Chinese shoppers returning


title: SPORTS BRIEFS

content_text:
BASEBALL

CPBL to begin on April 11

The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is to start on April 11, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with games on the opening day to be played behind closed doors. The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association said that games in the five-team league’s season-opening weekend would be played without fans, with the situation due to be assessed on a round-by-round basis. The opening day of the CPBL season was originally scheduled for Saturday. To abide by rules set out by health authorities, the CPBL has said that it would limit attendances to 150 fans once games are opened up to the public. Temperature screening would take place, with fans encouraged to keep their distance from one another and wear masks.

FORMULA ONE

McLaren allowed changes

McLaren would be allowed to make chassis changes next season to accommodate the switch from Renault engines to Mercedes, even though Formula One has decided to keep this year’s cars for another season. The Woking, England-based team are the only ones undergoing a change of engine provider at the end of this season. Formula One earlier this month announced that it was postponing until 2022 planned major rules changes for next season “due to the currently volatile financial situation” caused by the pandemic. Teams would continue to use this year’s cars next season as a cost saving measure. “This decision does not impact our change to Mercedes power units in 2021, and we will be allowed to make the necessary changes to our car to accommodate this,” McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said on the team’s Web site. The pandemic has forced the sport to cancel this month’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix and Monaco showcase, while six other races have been postponed. Formula One chairman Chase Carey on Monday said that he still hoped to start a reduced 15-to-18-race season in the summer.

SOCCER

DFL eyes longer suspension

The German Football League (DFL) on Tuesday announced it would propose that the Bundesliga suspension, due to the pandemic, be extended to late next month. On Monday last week, the DFL, which runs Germany’s two top divisions, put them on hold until at least Thursday next week because of the coronavirus. The DFL is to propose the extension to its 36 clubs at a meeting on Tuesday next week. TV rights represent a large part of the income for top-flight clubs and playing games behind closed doors, but live on TV, would reduce the financial effects of the pandemic. Separately, soccer players at Germany’s top teams, including Bayern Munich, have agreed to take pay cuts to help clubs survive the economic effects of the crisis, media reports said on Tuesday. Bild said that players and club officials at champions Bayern, top of the Bundesliga when the season was halted on March 13, have accepted a 20 percent cut in their salaries. Bayern have a massive wage bill, which last year reached 336 million euros (US$363.6 million), almost half of club turnover. Players at Borussia Moenchengladbach were the first in the league to propose a pay cut, followed by others at Werder Bremen, Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund.

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Virus Outbreak: Ardern declares national emergency ahead of lockdown

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday told the public to behave as if they had the coronavirus and cut all physical contact outside their household when the nation enters a one-month lockdown at midnight.

Ardern declared a national state of emergency as the number of cases of COVID-19 surged by a record 50 cases to take the national tally to 205.

The government has imposed self-isolation for everyone, with all non-essential services, schools and offices to be shut for a month.

People leave a supermarket in Wellington, New Zealand, on Tuesday after buying supplies.
 Photo: AFP

“From midnight tonight, we bunker down for four weeks to try and stop the virus in its tracks, to break the chain,” Ardern told the New Zealand parliament. “Make no mistake this will get worse before it gets better. We will have a lag and cases will increase for the next week or so. Then we’ll begin to know how successful we have been.”

At a news conference later in the day, Ardern said modeling suggested that New Zealand could have several thousand cases of COVID-19 before the numbers start coming down.

“If you have any questions about what you can or can’t do, apply a simple principle: Act like you have COVID-19,” Ardern said. “Every move you then make is a risk to someone else. That is how we must all collectively think. That’s why the joy of physically visiting other family, children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors is on hold. Because we’re all now putting each other first. And that is what we as a nation do so well.”

Major cities such as Auckland and Wellington wore a deserted look yesterday as businesses shut down, cafes closed and all offices locked their doors.

Billions of dollars in support for small businesses, workers and families has been announced and the government has promised more in the coming days.

Yesterday, it announced a six-month freeze on residential rent increases and increased protection from having tenancies terminated.

Parents can go for a walk with their children, people can take a run near their house or drive to get groceries, but everyone must keep a 2m distance, and people might be stopped and questioned by police, Ardern said.

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THAILAND

Benchmark rate unchanged

The Bank of Thailand yesterday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged after an emergency cut last week, while projecting a sharp contraction in the economy this year because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The policy rate was maintained at 0.75 percent following a 25 basis-point reduction to a record low at an unscheduled meeting on Friday. The bank slashed its growth projection for this year to a contraction of 5.3 percent from an earlier expectation of 2.8 percent expansion.

CHINA

PBOC could cut rate: report

The People’s Bank of China could announce a reduction in its benchmark deposit rate in the coming days, the Financial Times reported yesterday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The bank is in discussion with commercial lenders on the possible move, the newspaper reported. If it happens, the cut would be the first since late 2015, intended to help improve banks’ profitability and encourage them to lend cheaper funding to businesses and households.

CHINA

US companies pessimistic

US firms in the country are increasingly pessimistic about how quickly they can rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Half the 119 US companies surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce in China said they have had “significant revenue declines,” and more than half said they expect revenue to fall this year if they cannot get back to normal work levels by the end of next month. Only 22 percent of the companies said they are back to normal, while one-quarter expect to be there by the end of next month. Another 22 percent said they expect further delays through the summer.

INVESTMENT

BlackRock to advise Fed

BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager, would serve as an investment adviser and manage assets for three separate programs in the US Federal Reserve’s debt-buying programs to revive an economy reeling from the spread of coronavirus, the US central bank said on Tuesday. Those include Fed’s plans to buy newly issued credit from large corporations, as well as existing investment-grade bonds and credit exchange-traded funds.

BANKING

Ex-CEO gets 15% pay cut

Credit Suisse Group AG cut former chief executive officer Tidjane Thiam’s pay by about 15 percent in his last year in charge, after the Swiss bank became embroiled in a spying scandal that led to his ouster. His total compensation declined to 10.7 million Swiss francs (US$10.9 million), Credit Suisse said in a compensation report published yesterday. Credit Suisse’s overall bonus pool was reduced by 1 percent from a year earlier to SF3.17 billion.

AUTOMAKERS

Detroit eyes long shutdown

Detroit’s Big Three automakers plan to extend a shutdown of vehicle production in North America into next month as the pandemic continues, people briefed on the matter said on Tuesday. The firms had said on Wednesday last week that they would halt production until at least Monday next week. Two people briefed on the matter said that Ford Motor Co does not plan to restart production until at least April 6, but said that it could be delayed into next month. General Motors Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV also do not plan to resume production on Monday next week, the people said.

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title: World Business Quick Take


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Virus Outbreak: White House, Senate agree on US$2tn rescue fund

The US Senate and White House have reached agreement on a US$2 trillion stimulus package for the US economy and millions of Americans ravaged by COVID-19 crisis, top lawmakers said early yesterday.

“At last, we have a deal,” US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, hailing the massive “wartime level of investment into our nation” reached after five days of arduous and tense negotiations.

“We have a bipartisan agreement on the largest rescue package in American history,” Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, said shortly after McConnell spoke.

US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, center, leaves the offices of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, not pictured, as negotiations continue into the night on a US$2 trillion economic stimulus in response to the COVID-19 pandemic at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
 Photo: AFP

“So many people are being put out of work through no fault of their own. They don’t know what their future is going to be like, how are they going to pay the bills,” Schumer added. “Well, we come to their rescue.”

The Senate and House of Representatives still need to pass the legislation before sending it to US President Donald Trump for his signature.

McConnell said the Senate would vote on the measure later yesterday.

The deal aims to buttress the teetering economy by giving about US$2 trillion to health facilities, businesses and ordinary Americans buckling under the strain of the coronavirus pandemic.

The measure would put cash directly into the hands of Americans hard hit by the crisis, provide grants to small businesses and hundreds of billions of dollars in loans for larger corporations, including airlines, and expand unemployment benefits.

It would also inject about US$130 billion into what Schumer calls “a Marshall Plan for hospitals” and healthcare infrastructure, referring to the huge US aid program to rebuild Europe after World War II.

With viral outbreaks spreading coast to coast, hospitals have been in dire need of equipment, such as protective gear, intensive care beds and ventilators.

McConnell and Schumer negotiated the deal with US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and other White House officials amid days of bitter partisan infighting over what to put into the final package.

Mnuchin had shuttled between the Capitol offices of the Senate’s leaders, as they and staffers hammered out the language of the bill.

The agreement followed multiple failed attempts to advance a Republican-led proposal, and pressure had soared to swiftly reach a compromise that provides relief for hundreds of millions of Americans.

Trump called for an immediate resolution to the stalemate.

“Congress must approve the deal, without all of the nonsense, today,” he said on Tuesday on Twitter. “The longer it takes, the harder it will be to start up our economy. Our workers will be hurt!”

Any relief package that passes the Senate will need to clear the Democratic-led House too before going to Trump.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a more generous US$2.5 trillion counterproposal that included ambitious elements like guaranteed paid and family medical leave, student loan forgiveness and oversight of the US$500 billion earmarked for corporations.

However, she signaled the House might simply take up the Senate bill and try to pass it.

“Much of what we have in our bill is reflected in this supposed agreement,” Pelosi said.

Schumer said the compromise legislation includes an oversight mechanism for the company loans, and expanded unemployment provisions for workers laid off or sickened during the pandemic.

“Every American worker who is laid off will have their salary remunerated by the federal government, Schumer said.

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Virus Outbreak: Chinese urged to splurge in bid to revive economy

Electronics stores, coffee chains and even local authorities in China are slashing prices and handing out millions of dollars worth of discount coupons to kick-start an economy battered by gradually easing, virus-fighting restrictions on movement.

Gome Retail Holdings Ltd (國美零售) and Suning.com Co Ltd (蘇寧易購) plan to hand out more than 620 million yuan (US$88 million) worth of vouchers, while Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s (阿里巴巴) Alipay (支付寶) is giving away 10 million discount tokens for 10,000 retailers on its app.

JD.com Inc (京東) said that from today, it would give out 1.5 billion yuan worth of coupons for branded goods in categories including electronics.

Even the railway authority was from yesterday to cut ticket prices by as much as 45 percent, while local governments, such as those of Hebei, Zhejiang and Guangxi provinces, are giving out vouchers for tourist attractions, movie theaters and shops.

“We’ve launched some discounted set offers to consumers in recent days, hoping to help consumers getting back to their normal life,” a Pacific Coffee Co (太平洋咖啡) chain spokeswoman said, referring to a coffee-and-bun deal priced as low as 20 yuan.

The promotions reflect concern that the outbreak has depressed consumer appetite and could have a lingering effect, even as the number of new locally transmitted cases has dropped.

About 500 movie theaters reopened over the weekend after being shut for almost two months, but took in just 30,000 yuan on Saturday, local media have reported.

Retail sales in the world’s second-largest economy shrank by one-fifth in January and last month from the same period a year earlier, government data showed, during which China began taking dramatic measures to curb the spread of the virus, shutting transport links and asking millions of people to stay home.

The government has loosened restrictions in the past few weeks, which is encouraging consumers to venture back into malls and restaurants, albeit amid concerns over job security and potential wage cuts brought about by a struggling economy.

“Trade, tourism catering and other services not only help to prop up an economy’s growth, but also embody a city’s vitality,” financial magazine Yicai quoted Nanjing Chinese Communist Party Secretary Zhang Jinghua (張敬華) as saying early this month, days before the city announced that it would give away 318 million yuan worth of shopping coupons in a lottery-style scheme.

He stressed the need to grasp the balance between epidemic prevention and rehabilitation, and to create a safe and secure consumer environment.

The city later said it believed its move boosted consumption by nearly 10 million yuan in five days.

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title: Rugby ‘fighting’ to survive: official

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New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson has said that the sport is “fighting for survival” as competitions at all levels are shuttered amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robinson told Sky Sport’s The Breakdown that he cannot say when professional rugby might resume in New Zealand and in what form, whether it would be the five-nation Super Rugby tournament or the domestic Mitre 10 Cup.

Rugby is New Zealand’s national sport and the All Blacks, the national men’s team, are one of the country’s most recognizable brands.

The continuing suspension of competitions has been fully testing rugby’s resilience, Robinson said.

“We’re fighting for sport’s survival in New Zealand around rugby, and if you can’t get motivated by that challenge and the opportunity that sits beyond that, then we’ll never be motivated,” Robinson said. “It’s creating anxiety in our game at all levels, from our clubs and community level and into our professional ranks.”

“We’ve just got to take a little more time to understand the information we have to gather and then we’ll be in a position hopefully early next week to start making some decisions and giving a bit more direction and certainty to people,” he said.

Robinson said that he had taken part in a conference call with World Rugby on Tuesday, but was not able to say whether July test matches would take place.

World Rugby is “in a similar mode to what we all are at the moment, trying to understand a whole range of different scenarios,” Robinson said. “At the moment the dialogue looks very positive and constructive, but, like a lot conversations, we need a bit more time to play out what this might look like.”

“A hell of a lot of work is going on in the background,” he added.

New Zealand Rugby has indicated that it might be forced to call for government assistance if the shutdown persists and further strains its finances. The organization had already taken steps to cut expenditure, but had not yet moved to cut pay to top players.

“The government has done an amazing job in showing leadership,” Robinson said. “In a way, that has left us with the best opportunity to get on the field earlier.”

“If we’re looking at a short turnaround to get through this and past COVID-19, then it presents a great opportunity to be playing rugby all the more earlier,” he added.

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title: Australia ‘strongly objects’ to China indicting writer

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Australia strongly objects to the indictment of Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun (楊恆均) for espionage, who continues to be held in “unacceptable” conditions, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne said yesterday.

Yang, a former Chinese diplomat turned online journalist and blogger, was arrested in August last year on suspicion of espionage, seven months after he was originally detained in Guangzhou.

Espionage is punishable by death in China.

Australia denies that Yang has ever spied for the nation.

Already strained by Australia’s decision to prohibit Chinese company Huawei Technologies from its 5G broadband network and Canberra’s allegations that Beijing is meddling in its domestic affairs, the detention of Yang has added to tensions.

Payne said that Yang should be immediately released.

“The government strongly objects to the formal indictment of Australian citizen and academic Dr Yang Hengjun in China on suspicion of espionage,” Payne said in an e-mailed statement.

“Crises are a time for nations to pull together. It is not in the spirit of mutual respect and trust that our continued advocacy for Dr Yang has not been acknowledged,” Payne said. “Dr Yang’s poor health makes him especially vulnerable to COVID-19.”

Payne said Australian consular officials have been denied access to Yang since the end of last year, which she described as unacceptable.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Australia should respect China’s judicial sovereignty and stop interfering in Yang’s case.

Yang’s legitimate rights have been fully guaranteed, but consular visits for foreigners have not been arranged by the relevant authorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ministry spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) told reporters.

Additional reporting by AFP

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title: Smelling a rat

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Like people, rats cooperate with one another and give food to those in need, but how can they be sure that other rats are being truthful about how hungry they are?

The answer may lie in smell-based cues that signal a rat’s appetite more reliably than its begging gestures and squeaks, a study said Tuesday.

The paper’s lead author, Karin Schneeberger of the University of Potsdam in Germany, said that she was interested in learning more about how social animals identify “cheaters” and freeloaders.

In this July, 2015 file rats eat grains of puffed rice in Allahabad.
 Photo: AFP

She and her colleagues studied Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus), publishing their findings in the journal PLOS Biology. Previous work has shown the rats share their food reciprocally, with the donation of what they deem high value food items, like bananas, more likely to elicit a gift in return than low value items, like carrots. But the scientists believed the calls and gestures used by rats to solicit food might not always reflect their actual needs, allowing dishonest rodents to trick givers out of their hard earned gains.

To test out the idea, they took rats that were either hungry from fasting overnight, or well-fed, and placed them in a separate room from the “focal” rat whose generosity they wanted to test. Air from the rooms of the hungry or well-fed rats was pumped into the chamber of the focal rat. They found that the focal rats were much quicker to provide help — by pulling a food tray within reaching distance of another rat — when the air was pumped from a hungry rat’s room. It took 16 focal rats an average of 29 seconds to provide help for hungry rats, compared to an average of 85 seconds to give help to the well-fed.

The authors then analyzed the air around the rats and found seven different organic compounds that differed significantly in their abundance between hungry and satiated rats.

GOOD RAT CITIZENS

These might result from recently ingested food sources, the metabolic processes involved in digestion, or possibly even a pheromone that indicates hunger. Taken together, these signals form a “smell of hunger” for rats that serves as a reliable cue of need, said Schneeberger.

Apart from identifying freeloaders, the rats may be acting to reduce the suffering of others, she added.

“It could be that they do that out of an emotional state — I don’t really want to call it empathy because that’s something that is very anthropomorphic,” said Schneeberger.

“But having somebody in distress next to yourself can cause stress in yourself too.”

Rats could also be investing in a better rodent society that ultimately serves their own interests, just like humans do, she added.

“Maybe when we are old and we need help crossing the street, then we are also very happy to live in a society where it generally is the rule that you help elderly people to cross the street. “So we try to keep the society as social as possible.”

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