content_text:
The US’ most polluted region is battling the country’s biggest plastics plant
The new Formosa Petrochemical factory
would not only worsen pollution in a
heavily polluted town, but also contribute considerably to greenhouse emissions

Gail LeBoeuf makes an unlikely climate justice campaigner. Although the 67-year-old resident of Gramercy, a small town in southern Louisiana by the banks of the Mississippi River, has been fighting against local pollution for the past few years, she spent most of her career working at an area plastics manufacturer.

“These plants just kept popping up, one after another, built by these billionaires who decided they just want to make money — so they come into these little river parishes and sweep everyone else aside,” she said.

On a marshy roadside, facing a sea of sugarcane fields, she pointed toward the horizon, where the latest polluting plant in this heavily polluted region of the US — known locally as Cancer Alley — is due to be built.

Named the Sunshine Project, the planned plastics manufacturing complex, a project of the Taiwan-based Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) through its subsidiary FG LA LLC, has become a focal point in the fight against industrial pollution in Saint James parish and the surrounding region.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality in January granted the Sunshine Project a final set of permits, allowing construction of the complex’s 14 separate plants to begin.

Saint James parish neighbors Saint John the Baptist parish, home to the most toxic air in the US. Local campaigners such as LeBoeuf have been saying for years that the cocktail of new pollutants — including the cancer-causing compounds ethylene oxide, styrene and benzene — creates an intolerable risk to local health.

In District 5 of Saint James parish — 26,700 hectares of land — there are eight industrial plants operating, and the new project is to occupy 931 of those hectares.

The Sunshine Project would not only be a major contributor to local toxic pollution, but would also be a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. The department has permitted Formosa to release an astonishing 13.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year, the equivalent of three-and-a-half coal-fired power stations.

The facility could emit less greenhouse gas than permitted, as the totals in the permit “were generated based on the facility operating at maximum levels, 100 percent of the year,” a Formosa Petrochemical spokeswoman said, without citing a separate figure.

The company would “perform a variety of emissions testing and monitoring activities” at the facility, the spokeswoman said.

The permits mark the project as the single biggest emitter of climate pollution under construction in the US, an analysis of oil and gas industry proposals conducted by the Washington-based advocacy group Environmental Integrity Project showed.

Since 2010, the industry has announced about US$204 billion in spending on 340 new or expanded projects, the American Chemistry Council said.

Many of the projects are to produce plastics — a sector that the research firm IHS Markit forecasts is to expand an average of 3.5 to 4 percent per year through 2035.

This boom in plastics manufacturing is fueled by cheap oil and gas released by hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking.

The fracking sector is planning 157 new or expanded plants and more drilling over the next five years, a report released by the Environmental Integrity Project said.

These projects are to release up to 205.93 million tonnes of additional greenhouse gases by the end of 2025 — a 30 percent increase from the sector’s footprint in 2018.

Oil companies are banking on plastics growth for when oil demand in the transportation industry peaks, said Steven Eric Feit, an attorney for the Center for International Environmental Law’s Climate and Energy Program.

“The story from the oil industry for how they’re going to see growth in the 21st century is plastics — that’s what they’re saying,” Feit said.

Many of the biggest facilities are along the US’ Gulf Coast — with eight of the top 10 by size in Texas or Louisiana. The other two are in the Appalachian region of the eastern US, a region that has been struggling with the coal industry’s decline and toxic legacy.

Like other environmental justice battles in the southern US, the fight to stop Formosa is being fought by a group of local African-American women, such as LeBoeuf and Sharon Lavigne, founder of Rise Saint James.

Sitting in her home in Welcome — less than a kilometer from the planned Sunshine Project — LeBoeuf said that Democratic US presidential hopefuls should be doing more to view the struggle against toxic polluters such as Formosa Petrochemical in the context of the climate crisis.

“The federal government needs to step in on this,” she said. “I think all the candidates for president who are talking about fossil fuels need to be in our corner too.”

However, environmental justice campaigners in Louisiana have begun to realize that they are also part of a global struggle against the climate crisis.

At a Jan. 20 meeting with newly elected Saint James councilman Mason Bland, LeBoeuf and other advocates from the environmental group Rise Saint James persuaded their representative to rescind a series of land-use permits granted to Formosa Petrochemical.

LeBoeuf said that she also asked her local representative to think about Formosa’s direct links to the climate crisis.

“Do you believe in global warming and climate change?” LeBoeuf recalled asking.

“I’m not going to answer that question,” Bland said, according to LaBoeuf.

All seven members of the Saint James parish council, including Bland, were contacted about whether they are concerned about the climate crisis and Formosa Petrochemical’s contribution to it, but none responded.

The discovery of fracking — a method of injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure to release oil and gas — vastly expanded the supply available to drillers. In turn, oil and gas prices plummeted.

Fracking has also made it cheaper to make plastics, which come from a by-product of the extracted gas.

Experts have said that the rapid boom in plastics production has been overlooked as the lower-emitting gas has allowed the US to phase out coal plants, at a benefit to the environment.

“Industry is saying this is good because we’re replacing coal, but they don’t talk about what else they’re doing with it — which is making plastic and chemicals,” Environmental Integrity Project director of research Courtney Bernhardt said.

A legal complaint filed against Formosa by lawyers representing local residents said that the amount of greenhouse gases released by the plant would be the equivalent of 6.5 percent of Louisiana’s total energy-related emissions based on 2016 standards.

The permits issued by the department skirt the issue of greenhouse gas emissions, saying that there is no reason to block construction of the complex because there is no way to measure precisely how the project’s emissions would affect the surrounding area.

Beyond greenhouse gases, the 157 oil and gas projects planned across the US could emit thousands of tonnes of pollution that contribute to smog and the particle pollution that contributes to asthma and heart attacks. They would also emit sulfur dioxide, which damages the lungs, and nitrogen oxides, which feed fish-killing “dead zones” in waterways.

A new initiative to confront the climate crisis in Louisiana, which faces severe coastal erosion and rising sea levels as a consequence of global heating, was announced last week by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a staunch supporter of the Sunshine Project.

“Louisiana will not just accept or adapt to climate change impacts,” Edwards, a Democrat, said at a news conference in Baton Rouge. “Louisiana will do its part to address climate change.”

The governor has created a climate initiatives task force to reduce emissions among the dominant oil, gas and petrochemical industries in the state, and has committed at least another US$115 million to combatting coastal restoration.

Edwards did not announce any binding emission reduction targets.

The plan is “laughable,” Louisiana Bucket Brigade founding director Anne Rolfes said, adding that the most effective way to combat climate change in the state would be to implement a moratorium on new petrochemical facilities.

“If we’re serious about reducing carbon emissions, let’s move toward halting them,” Rolfes said.

LeBoeuf and other Rise Saint James members had not been contacted about the governor’s new task force and did not expect to be part of the initiative.

On a marshy roadside, facing a sea of sugarcane fields, she pointed toward the horizon, where the latest polluting plant in this heavily polluted region of the US — known locally as Cancer Alley — is due to be built.

As LeBoeuf pointed toward the site on which Formosa plans to begin constructing the Sunshine Project this year, she spoke about media reports that two suspected slave graveyards were found on the land.

Formosa did not inform the community of the archeological discovery. It was only made public following a public records disclosure.

The information has led Rise Saint James to urge the parish council to reconsider its permits, an argument that has thus far gained little traction.

“It’s still a plantation,” said LeBoeuf, who traces her ancestry back through generations of local slaves. “Those people were slaves on the plantation back then. Now we’ll be slaves to an industrial plantation.”

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content_text:
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the credit outlook for Chailease Finance Co (中租), the nation’s top leasing services provider, from “stable” to “negative,” as disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak could affect its asset quality and profitability, while sapping its access to capital.

The revision would not affect the company’s long-term issuer default rating of “BBB,” as it has adequate capital and liquidity buffers to withstand the challenges from the pandemic, Fitch said.

The weakening environment would significantly affect the firm’s asset quality and profitability given its focus on financing small and medium-sized enterprises, whose credit profiles are more susceptible to a sharp economic downturn, Fitch said.

The mounting uncertainty from COVID-19 would heighten operational challenges from its increasingly complex cross-border businesses in a notably weakened global economic environment, leading to higher credit costs, lower profitability and greater difficulty in accessing funding, Fitch said.

The ratings for Chailese are based on its credit profile across the region, Fitch said, adding that loans from Taiwan accounted for half of its leasing portfolio last year, while China made up 34 percent and Southeast Asia 15 percent.

Chailease Finance’s credit rating would be downgraded if the economic conditions result in a material deterioration in its asset quality and profitability, reducing Fitch’s tolerance for leverage, the agency said.

Signs of deteriorating sentiment toward the company’s ability to access funding — possibly caused by uncertainty and contagion effect from its overseas businesses — or a retreat in the company’s competitive position or financial strength could also lead to a negative rating action, Fitch said.

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title: Chailease credit outlook lowered


content_text:
‘SHOW RESTRAINT’:
 Kismayo elder Adan Jama said that dead bodies were strewn in the battle zone and civilians were fleeing as the fighting had affected several villages

At least 20 people have been killed in southern Somalia in clashes between militia from rival clans fighting over land, officials and witnesses said on Thursday.

Tensions between fighters from the Owrmale and Majerten clans, which live about 30km outside the southern city of Kismayo, have been rising in recent weeks.

“The fighting intensified today, and 20 people from the two sides were killed and dozen others including civilians wounded. This is a horrible situation that needs to be stopped,” local government official Abdikarin Mohamed said.

“The dead bodies are strewn in the battle zone and civilians are fleeing as the fighting has affected several villages. We have been informed that 20 people died and more than that were wounded during the past three days,” Kismayo elder Adan Jama said.

Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo called on both sides to show restraint and end the bloodshed.

“I call on the brotherly people who are fighting in the western Kismayo to stop the bloodshed urgently and unconditionally,” the president said in a statement published by the Somali National News Agency.

“It is unfortunate today that people are fighting among themselves instead of uniting to fight al-Shabaab terrorists and liberate their territories,” he added, referring to Islamist militants linked with al-Qaeda who carry out regular attacks in the country.

Intra and inter-clan clashes are common in Somalia, many relating to land disputes and water resources.

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title: At least 20 killed in Somalia clan fights


content_text:
As countries try to slash air pollution and step up action on climate change, many are looking at a key culprit: tailpipes.

India in 2016 put into effect its first fuel-economy standards for passenger vehicles and by 2021 is expected to have lowered planet-warming carbon emissions from new vehicles by 30 percent.

Mexico similarly launched pioneering regulations to cut emissions in 2014, focused on reducing pollution from its millions of vehicles.

Supporting those efforts — and dozens of other cleaner air standards worldwide — is a quiet group of engineers few have heard of, but whose efforts could help decarbonize the global transport sector by the middle of the century.

The Washington-based International Council on Clean Transportation — which on Thursday won a US$1.5 million prize from the Skoll Foundation — gathers and crunches data to give countries the ammunition they need to draw up effective policies, council executive director Drew Kodjak said.

However, what the council might be best known for is discovering — as its engineers tried to make sense of unusually high diesel pollution levels in tests — that Volkswagen had installed an emissions “defeat device” on millions of its vehicles.

The software, which let vehicles pass emissions tests and then produce vastly more nitrogen oxide pollution on the road, eventually led to a US$2.8 billion fine by a US judge in 2017, and an embarrassing admission of guilt by Volkswagen officials.

“The ripple effects are still being felt,” Kodjak said, with Europe, for example, passing new regulations to rein in pollution from diesel vehicles.

Besides providing data, the council also guides bureaucrats through the long and often politically arduous slog of introducing tougher policies, and links them with colleagues in other places to share expertise.

Since 2013, the group has helped drive the creation of more than 20 major national rules, from China to Brazil, to cut climate-changing emissions from vehicles, Kodjak said.

When fully implemented by 2030, those would reduce carbon emissions from the global transport sector by 2.4 gigatonnes per year, or about 25 percent of its emissions today, council calculations showed.

“Most people think of [the US] Congress enacting laws, or the president signing an order,” the environmental lawyer said.

However, most of the real work happens in agencies tasked with turning laws — such as the US Clean Air Act — into a reality, he said.

“Data is the primary currency,” Kodjak said. “Data and good analysis, this is what drives things.”

The council got its start after Michael Walsh, a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official working on vehicle emissions, resigned because former US president Ronald Reagan’s administration reversed policies he had fought for.

Walsh then began consulting with countries from Europe to Japan to help them adopt policies for cleaner fuels and vehicles.

Along the way, he developed an informal global network of officials who were passionate about emissions reductions and the environment — eventually leading to the creation of the council.

“They were really dealing with the same issues, and the same global industries of automobiles and oil — but there was no forum to let them share experiences, trade information and discuss strategy,” said Kodjak, a former US EPA attorney.

At the start, the council — which now has offices in Washington, Beijing, Berlin and San Francisco — focused mainly on cutting air pollution, in part by cleaning up fuels, but by 2008, it was addressing climate change, too.

In Mexico, over several years, the council helped gather data on every vehicle in the country, new and old, and analyzed auto makers’ plans and potential imports, former Mexican deputy minister of the environment Rodolfo Lacy said.

The data collection allowed Mexico to design a cutting-edge regulation, and get it past politicians and manufacturers, he said by telephone.

“I was able to pass the first carbon dioxide climate regulation in my country thanks to their help,” said Lacy, now director of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Environment Directorate.

Efforts to cut emissions are happening too slowly, especially with studies by the council estimating the health impacts of global transport emissions at US$1 trillion per year from 2010 to 2015, Kodjak said.

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title: FEATURE: Engineers wage quiet battle for cleaner air


title: Virus Outbreak: Pandemic may trigger massive carbon decline

content_text:
SEEKING PERMANENCE:
 Experts said there might be a 5% drop this year, but warned that a rebound was likely unless substantial changes were implemented

Carbon dioxide emissions could fall by the largest amount since World War II this year as the COVID-19 pandemic brings economies to a virtual standstill, according to the chair of a network of scientists providing benchmark emissions data.

Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, which produces annual emissions estimates, said that carbon output could fall by more than 5 percent year-on-year — the first dip since a 1.4 percent reduction after the 2008 financial crisis.

“I wouldn’t be shocked to see a 5 percent or more drop in carbon dioxide emissions this year, something not seen since the end of World War II,” said Jackson, who is a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University in California.

“Neither the fall of the Soviet Union nor the various oil or savings and loan crises of the past 50 years are likely to have affected emissions the way this crisis is,” he said in an e-mail.

The prediction — among a range of new forecasts being produced by climate researchers — represents a tiny sliver of good news in the middle of the pandemic: Climate scientists had warned world governments that global emissions must start dropping by this year to avoid the worst predictions of climate change.

However, the improvements are for all the wrong reasons, tied to a global health emergency that has shuttered factories, grounded airlines and forced hundreds of millions of people to stay at home to slow the contagion.

Experts warn that without structural change, the declines could be short-lived and have little effect on the concentrations of carbon dioxide that have accumulated in the atmosphere over decades.

“This drop is not due to structural changes, so as soon as confinement ends, I expect the emissions will go back close to where they were,” said Corinne le Quere, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia in eastern England.

After world greenhouse gas emissions dipped in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, they shot back up 5.1 percent in the recovery, Jackson said.

The pattern of a swift rebound has already begun to play out in China, where emissions fell by an estimated 25 percent as the country closed factories and put in place strict measures on people’s movement to contain the novel coronavirus, but have since returned to a normal range.

That kind of resilience underscores the magnitude of the economic transformation that would be needed to meet the goals of an international deal brokered in Paris in 2015 to try to avert the most catastrophic climate change scenarios.

“Our estimates indicate that the pandemic’s climate silver lining is vanishingly thin,” said Seaver Wang, a climate and energy analyst at the institute. “It’s as if we went back in time and emitted the same amount we were a few years ago — which was already too much. In the grand scheme of things, it really makes no difference.”

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Baseball, soccer to return next weekend without fans

Taiwanese sports are to return next weekend, with the baseball and soccer leagues starting their new seasons, although there are to be restrictions for spectators and protective measures due to COVID-19.

The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) season was originally scheduled to begin on March 14, then pushed back to March 28, before settling on next Saturday.

“To conform with the government’s mandate limiting crowds at outdoor events, we will strictly limit the total number of people at each league game at fewer than 200,” CPBL secretary-general Feng Shen-hsieng (馮勝賢) said. “This figure will include the players, coaches, team employees, ballpark workers, league officials and members of the media.”

Fubon Guardians mascot Frankie, wearing a mask, cheers for the team in an empty Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City during a warm-up game against the Wei Chuan Dragons.
 Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Bans are also in place on fans gathering outside ballparks and seeking players’ autographs, while reporters must adhere to “social distancing” regulations during post-game interviews and other restrictive measures, he said.

Baseball fans are being urged to watch the games on TV or use online streaming, Feng said.

“These restrictions are needed to deal with the coronavirus situation. After consultations with government officials and health authorities, we have implemented measures to protect the players, referees and other personnel,” he said.

The Rakuten Monkeys are to host the Brothers Baseball Club at the Taoyuan International Stadium next Saturday in a traditional matchup of the championship finalists from last season.

All four teams are in action the following day, with the Monkeys taking on the Fubon Guardians in Taoyuan and the Uni-President Lions visiting the Brothers Baseball Club in Taichung, all behind closed doors, Feng said.

The nation’s top soccer leagues also begin next weekend, with three matches in the women’s Taiwan Mulan Football League at Taipei Municipal Stadium next Saturday.

The men’s Taiwan Football Premier League season begins with four matches the following day.

Similar to the baseball, there is to be a ban on spectators at all the matches to protect the players and officials.

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content_text:
The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) insisted it is aware that players must “share the financial burden” during the COVID-19 pandemic as a row over wage cuts for Premier League stars mounted on Thursday.

British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock called on top-flight players to take a pay cut after several clubs furloughed nonplaying staff.

Premier League players should “make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part,” Hancock said.

A match ball featuring the Premier League logo is displayed before a match between Burnley and AFC Bournemouth at Turf Moor in Burnley, England, on Feb. 22.
 Photo: Reuters

The English season has been suspended until at least April 30 due to the pandemic and there is little chance of a return to action for some while after that.

The optics of top stars, many on multimillion-dollar contracts, being fully paid during the crisis are bad for the union and the Premier League, especially with Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Norwich City all using the government’s job retention furlough scheme to save money.

Pressure is mounting on players to accept wage cuts or deferrals, with talks under way between the union, the Premier League and the English Football League.

The matter was yesterday to be debated again at a meeting of English soccer’s major stakeholders.

The union hinted at a resolution, saying in a statement: “We fully accept that players will have to be flexible and share the financial burden of the COVID-19 outbreak in order to secure the long-term future of their own club and indeed the wider game.”

“Our advice going out to players at this point reflects that expectation,” it added.

AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe and his Brighton & Hove Albion counterpart Graham Potter have in the past two days agreed to wage cuts, along with other senior staff at those clubs.

Players and management staff at EFL Championship leaders Leeds United have agreed to defer wages.

Former Tottenham striker Gary Lineker on Thursday criticized his old club for using the furlough scheme, while the union added that clubs should only be doing so if it is absolutely necessary.

“We are aware of the public sentiment that the players should pay nonplaying staff’s salaries. However, our current position is that — as businesses — if clubs can afford to pay their players and staff, they should,” the statement said.

“The players we have spoken to recognize that the nonplaying staff are a vital part of their club and they do not want to see club staff furloughed unfairly,” it said.

“Any use of the government’s support schemes without genuine financial need is detrimental to the wider society,” it added.

Hancock’s demand followed comments by his Conservative colleague Julian Knight, who is chair of the British House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

Knight has told Premier League chief executive Richard Masters that clubs who furlough nonplaying staff, but do not impose cuts on player wages, should be subjected to a windfall tax if they do not change approach by Tuesday next week.

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title: Players must ‘share financial burden’ of crisis: PFA


title: World Business Quick Take

content_text:
OIL

OPEC mulls coordinated cuts

The OPEC+ coalition is rushing to pull together a meeting of its members — and possibly other oil producing nations — after US President Donald Trump called for a coordinated production cut to stem the historic rout in crude prices. A virtual meeting is to be held on Monday, a delegate said. It will be open to all producers — not just OPEC members and allies — but it is not yet clear which will attend, the delegates said. The US so far has given no indication it is prepared to join. The guest list is crucial as Saudi Arabia has made clear it would only cut production if others, including the US, shoulder some of the burden. Saudi Arabia called for the meeting, saying it should aim for a “fair agreement.”

JAPAN

Households to get ￥300,000

The government is planning to distribute ￥300,000 (US$2,766) to virus-hit households as part of its biggest-ever stimulus package, but will not lower its sales tax, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said yesterday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved the value of the handouts ahead of the announcement of the package next week, LDP policy head Fumio Kishida said after meeting Abe and Minister of Finance Taro Aso. The details emerged three days after the party unveiled a ￥60 trillion package of measures aimed at supporting households and businesses battered by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.The party also approved emergency tax changes to be part of the package, LDP tax policy head Akira Amari said.

NORWAY

Jobless rate jumps to 14.7%

The unemployment rate rose sixfold last month to a record 14.7 percent, the Labor and Welfare Agency (NAV) said yesterday, as the economy ground to a halt amid efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. As many as 10.7 percent were fully unemployed, while the remaining 3 percent were registered as partially unemployed, NAV added. The government three weeks ago announced emergency shutdowns of many public and private institutions, including schools and kindergartens, sending the economy into a tailspin and triggering hundreds of thousands of layoffs. Although many job cuts were classified as temporary, such as restaurants and airlines expecting to bring back employees when restrictions are eventually lifted, economists have said that many firms might struggle to recover.

EUROPEAN UNION

PMI hits a record low

Eurozone business activity collapsed last month as attempts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic pushed governments across the continent to shut down vast swathes of their economies, from shops to factories to restaurants, a survey showed yesterday. IHS Markit’s final composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) plummeted to a record low of 29.7 last month from February’s 51.6, lower than the flash reading of 31.4 and marking by far its biggest one-month drop since the survey began in July 1998. “The data indicate that the eurozone economy is already contracting at an annualized rate approaching 10 percent, with worse inevitably to come in the near future,” IHS Markit chief business economist Chris Williamson said. The new business index sank to 27.7 from 51.2, much weaker than the flash reading of 29.5. Activity in the bloc’s dominant service industry also almost ground to a halt. Its PMI dropped to a survey-low of 26.4 from February’s 52.6, below the preliminary estimate of 28.4.

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content_text:
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker found himself in need of an assist to help the state fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

He called on the New England Patriots.

One of the team’s private airplanes on Thursday evening landed in Boston after returning from China carrying more than 1 million masks critical to healthcare providers fighting to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Palettes of N95 respirators are off-loaded from the New England Patriots’ customized Boeing 767 airplane at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday.
 Photo: AP

Members of the Massachusetts National Guard met the airplane and offloaded the containers of masks onto waiting trucks for transport to warehouses for distribution.

Baker secured the N95 masks from Chinese manufacturers, but had no way of getting them to the US. He reached out to Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who loaned the Boeing 767 painted in the team’s colors and logo that is usually used to carry the team to and from NFL games.

Baker detailed the joint venture in a news conference, at one point getting emotional as the thanked the Kraft family for their assistance.

“The Krafts were terrific,” the Republican governor said. “They were a phone call away and immediately went to work on the logistics associated with this and did not stop until they could make it happen. This was a total team effort on every level.”

Kraft Sports and Entertainment chief operating officer Jim Nolan said in an interview on Patriots.com radio that the Chinese government did not officially sign off on the trip until on Friday last week.

The hurdles included legal logistics that were only cleared thanks to cooperation involving multiple state, US and international entities, Nolan said.

Chinese technology company Tencent was a huge help in the process, Nolan said, adding that it agreed to gather the masks, got them through the inspection process, stayed with them to ensure their security and eventually their movement on to the Patriots’ airplane.

“This isn’t in their wheelhouse, but they thought it was the right thing to do,” Nolan said.

There was little margin for error once the airplane arrived in China, which granted the Patriots three hours to fill the airplane with the masks.

It was on the ground for 2 hours, 57 minutes according to flight tracker data Nolan monitored.

Tencent looked after approximately 1.7 million masks, while the Patriots’ airplane took on 1.2 million, Nolan said.

They are working with Tencent to bring additional equipment back from China via a cargo plane, he added.

The masks are to go into Massachusetts’ stockpile for distribution to medical personnel.

Nolan said that 300,000 of the masks would also be going to New York to help medical personnel there.

Rhode Island would also receive some of the masks, Baker said.

Patriots running back James White said in a conference call that he was not surprised Kraft stepped up to help.

“As soon as you step into the building, you see how much the Kraft family does helping out not only the Boston community, but the community across the world and it makes you want to help others,” White said.

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title: Patriots fly masks from China to Massachusetts


taiwan-subdivisions: 中山 南港 桃園

title: March housing transactions rose 7.8%

content_text:
NO ILL EFFECT:
 Last month’s data mainly reflected deals made in February, when the spread of COVID-19 was still relatively mild in Taiwan, housing brokers said

Housing transactions in the six special municipalities totaled 19,824 units last month, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier, brokers said, citing government data.

Last month’s data mainly reflected deals made in February, when the pinch of the COVID-19 pandemic was not yet evident, they said.

Taoyuan posted the largest improvement, with housing transactions soaring 36.6 percent year-on-year to 3,676 units, local government data showed.

Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) attributed the pickup to the completion of two presale residential projects in the municipality.

Houses in Taoyuan have increasingly gained in popularity in the past few year years due to relatively affordable home prices and improving infrastructures, such as the Asian Silicon Valley project, the Taoyuan Aerotropolis (桃園航空城) and the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT, Taiwan Realty research manager Chen Ping-chen (陳炳辰) said.

That helped boost Taoyuan’s population by 200,000 in the past five years to 2.25 million, the broker said, adding that the trend fueled real demand and asset allocation needs.

Taipei reported a 20.8 percent increase in housing deals from a year earlier to 2,483, also aided by transfers of newly completed projects in Nangang District (南港), Chen said.

Zhongshan District (中山) was another hot spot, he said.

Transactions in New Taipei City rose 5.1 percent to 4,849 and surged 18.7 percent to 3,826 in Taichung, data from the local governments showed.

However, southern Taiwan put up a weak showing, with transactions dropping 4.9 percent in Tainan and plunging 18.9 percent to 3,088 in Kaohsiung, official tallies showed.

Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) spokesman Jay Hsieh (謝志傑) attributed the fall in Kaohsiung to a higher base last year, when a new residential complex was completed.

The spread of COVID-19 in February was relatively mild in Taiwan and abroad, except for China and South Korea, but its impact might start to emerge going forward, analysts said.

The virus has since rapidly swept across Europe and the US, with no sign of easing, dashing hopes of a return to normalcy soon, Hsieh said.

Businesses in Taiwan cannot stay above a looming global recession induced partly by draconian isolation measures worldwide to contain the pandemic, Hsieh said.

There is no room for optimism as figures of business closures and people on unpaid leave escalate, Hsieh said.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Global virus cases top 1 million, deaths pass 50,000

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has soared past 1 million and fatalities have topped 50,000 as the US reported the highest daily death toll of any country so far.

Despite more than half the planet living in some form of lockdown, the virus is continuing to spread rapidly and claim lives, with the US, Spain and Britain all seeing their worst days yet.

The US now accounts for about one-quarter of all known infections around the globe. About 6,000 people have died in the US outbreak, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, more than 1,100 of them on Thursday.

People applaud from balconies for a man, bottom, playing a French horn during a COVID-19 lockdown in Pamplona, Spain, on Thursday.
 Photo: AP

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents to cover their faces when outside and US Vice President Mike Pence said there would be a recommendation on the use of masks by the general public in the next few days.

Europe has been at the center of the crisis for weeks, but there have been signs that the epidemic could be approaching its peak there.

Spain and Britain saw record numbers of new deaths in a 24-hour period — 950 and 569 respectively.

Italy and Spain together account for almost half of the global death toll, but experts have said that the number of new infections in both countries is continuing to slow.

“The data show the curve has stabilized” and the epidemic has entered a “slowdown” phase, Spanish Minister of Health Salvador Illa said.

The virus has chiefly affected elderly people and those with pre-existing medical conditions, but recent cases of deaths among teenagers and even of a six-week-old have highlighted the dangers for people of all ages.

“The very notion that ‘COVID-19 only affects older people’ is factually wrong,” WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said on Thursday.

Severe cases have been reported among teens and young adults, with some requiring intensive care and several deaths, he said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to “massively increase testing” as his health minister said the aim was 100,000 tests per day within weeks.

Britain was also rushing to build field hospitals, with the government yesterday saying that it would erect two new facilities to cope with 1,500 patients.

Russian President Vladimir Putin extended paid nonworking days until the end of this month as the number of confirmed cases jumped by more than one-quarter to 3,500.

Most of the Russian population is on lockdown, while Thailand became the latest country to impose strict measures with the introduction of a curfew yesterday.

Meanwhile, the head of Germany’s disease control agency yesterday said that the number of people who die of COVID-19 is likely being undercounted.

Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute said that he believes “we have more dead than are officially being reported.”

It was not immediately clear whether Wieler was suggesting that deaths are being undercounted only in Germany, or worldwide, and reporters were unable to ask follow-up questions during his online news conference.

One reason that deaths might be higher than thought is that by the time autopsies are performed the virus cannot be detected, Wieler said.

Additional reporting by AP

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content_text:
Ice cream vans are normally a common sight on Britain’s residential streets and in parks when warmer days arrive in the spring and summer months, but with the country in lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no customers to buy their cones, ice lollies and choc-ices.

However, in Belfast at least one van is still operating — bringing essential supplies to elderly and vulnerable people forced to stay at home.

“When we had seen that the current situation was starting to arise, we knew that there would be problems for some families and elderly who cannot get access to food,” Steven Pollock of the Greater Shankill Action for Community Transformation group said.

A man holds a bag of potatoes that be bought from a repurposed ice cream van in Belfast on Wednesday.
 Photo: AFP

The group asked an ice cream van owner to carry supplies to under-served areas with at-risk residents in self-isolation to avoid infection.

“The community are totally over the moon with it,” Pollock told reporters. “They’re just concerned about shops and going out in general.”

“It gives them a bit more peace of mind that it’s basically on their doorstep so they’re not leaving anything to chance,” he said.

Parked in west Belfast on Wednesday, two workers in rubber gloves and masks sold toilet rolls, bread, milk and eggs through the hatch.

For the duration of the pandemic, whipped ice creams are off the menu on the side of the van as its fridges are stocked with essential foodstuffs.

Drivers still play the cheerful music, which in normal times is the sign for children to pester their parents for a sweet treat.

This year it lets elderly and vulnerable people know that they will not go without potatoes, cornflakes and even hand sanitizer as they wait out the pandemic.

The British government has advised elderly and vulnerable people to self-isolate.

“The critical thing we must do is stop the disease spreading between households,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is himself recovering from COVID-19.

For elderly and vulnerable people without a support network, that can create issues. Each trip to the shop becomes a gamble.

“They say it’s quite handy, especially for the older people and people with disabilities and health problems — they don’t have to travel too far,” 21-year-old van worker Kyle Milligan said.

Those on low incomes are also forced to make more frequent trips as they cannot “stockpile” like others have done.

Across Northern Ireland, about 40,000 pensioners live in poverty, according to a 2018 report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

“A lot of elderly people, or people who might not have as much, are only operating on a weekly or day-to-day basis,” Pollock said.

On Wednesday, Northern Ireland Minister of Health Robin Swann estimated that under a “worst-case scenario” 3,000 might die across the province over a 20-week epidemic.

If the crisis lasts that long, Pollock is prepared to continue and expand the project to serve other areas of Northern Ireland with more vans.

“We have been looking at ways that are long term and sustainable answers to this, so that it’s not just a quick reactionary solution,” he said. “We’re starting to see that people want it replicated throughout the country.”

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title: Virus Outbreak: Ice cream van delivering essentials


title: Virus Outbreak: Chinese returning home face scrutiny

content_text:
DIVIDED YOUTH:
 There is a belief that overseas students see themselves as superior, which is compounded by perceptions of their extreme wealth and multiple nationalities

Chinese students flying home from overseas to escape the COVID-19 pandemic face a frosty reception from sections of the public who view them as wealthy, spoiled — and potentially contaminated.

The number of officially reported cases in China has dwindled dramatically over the last month, but the country is now taking drastic steps to try and stem a second wave of infections brought in from abroad.

With most international flights canceled and nearly all foreigners barred from entering the country, the vast majority of returnees are Chinese nationals, including many students.

The situation has exposed animosities over class and privilege in Chinese society, fueled by online posts stereotyping returning students as ungrateful and even dangerous — using the irresponsible behavior of a few individuals as proof.

“Right now, public opinion in China is very unfriendly towards Chinese overseas students, and quarantine facilities there are mixed,” Yale University master’s student Hestia Zhang said.

She has decided to stay in self-isolation on campus rather than go back, despite the US now accounting for almost a quarter of reported global infections.

“There are also a lot of risks on the journey home, so I might as well stay here and wait it out,” she said.

Meanwhile Cathy, who landed in China on Tuesday morning, is resigned to the fact that she might encounter prejudice.

Using her English name to conceal her identity, she said she had “no choice but to bear it.”

Nearly half of the country’s 800 imported virus cases are overseas students.

Most returnees need to spend two weeks in isolation, and a widely shared video of a returned student who tried to escape her quarantine accommodation in the city of Qingdao has prompted outrage online.

A similar angry reaction met clips showing another returnee angrily demanding bottled mineral water from quarantine facility workers in Shanghai.

“They eat food from our bowl, yet turn on the motherland as soon as they stop eating. We don’t need to take them back,” wrote one user, garnering thousands of likes.

There is a widely held belief that international students see themselves as superior to their fellow citizens, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University media and communications professor Chin Yik-Chan said.

This is often compounded by perceptions of the students’ extreme wealth and multiple nationalities, she said.

The vast majority of China’s 1.6 million outbound students are still overseas, China’s Ministry of Education said.

Many want to return, but face astronomical ticket prices and grueling multiple-transit flights, plus the increased risk of infection en route.

Beijing chartered a flight on Monday to rescue about 200 overseas students left stranded in Ethiopia after their transfer flights to China were canceled last-minute, and another took off on Thursday to bring students back from the UK.

“I hope those you’re taking back are conscientious and patriotic, and not a group of ungrateful, China-hating wretches who are only concerned with living a life of luxury,” one user fumed.

However, there has been some sympathy, especially as many overseas students donated medical supplies in the initial stages of the outbreak.

“Who emptied global supermarket shelves of protective supplies and sent them back to China? International students!” wrote film director Lu Chuan in an online post.

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title: Venezuela said to have arrested two of Guaido’s allies

content_text:
‘NEW ASSAULT’:
 About 30 officers dressed in black and with heavy weapons took part in the operation to arrest Demostenes Quijada, a spokesman said

The opposition on Thursday claimed that two members of Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido’s team were arrested on the same day that he was due to appear before prosecutors investigating an alleged “attempted coup d’etat and magnicide.”

Demostenes Quijada and Maury Carrero were arrested at their homes on Thursday morning by military intelligence agents, Guaido’s office said in a statement.

“With this new assault by the dictatorship, there are now 10 members [of Guaido’s team] who have been detained by security forces. Five of them in the past 72 hours,” Guaido’s office wrote on Twitter.

Neither the administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, nor police or military authorities confirmed the arrests.

About 30 officers “dressed in black, masked and with heavy weapons” took part in the operation to arrest Quijada, said Guaido’s human rights representative Humberto Prado, who accused the agents of “ransacking the home and arbitrarily confiscating” two vehicles.

A similar operation was conducted against Carrero, opposition lawmaker Delsa Solorzano said.

The arrests happened on the same day Guaido had been called to appear before the public prosecutor.

The subpoena is based on an alleged seizure of arms in Colombia that were due to be sent to Venezuela as part of a plot to assassinate Maduro and other high-ranking officials, Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab said.

Guaido was apparently implicated in the alleged plot by Cliver Alcala, a retired military leader who was close to former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, but fell out with his successor, Maduro.

Last week, Alcala turned himself in to the Colombian authorities after he was listed as one of more than a dozen present and former Venezuelan officials — including Maduro — accused by the US of drug trafficking.

Washington had offered a reward for information leading to Alcala’s capture. He had been living in Colombia since falling out with Maduro.

Guaido has ruled out appearing before Saab.

“There’s no point given he doesn’t even have a position” of authority, Guaido told the Miami-based online EVTV channel.

Guaido last year declared himself acting president in a challenge to Maduro’s authority and that of his regime. He has been recognized as such by more than 50 nations, including Colombia, the US and much of the EU.

The US, which on Wednesday launched an anti-drugs operation in the Caribbean, has warned Maduro’s regime against arresting Guaido.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Jewish leaders split on digital Seders during Passover

The Jewish holiday of Passover has long inspired intense debate, with favorite topics including whether Moses actually parted the Red Sea or if the plagues in ancient Egypt were an ethical response to enslavement.

However, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, a previously unthinkable question has consumed Jewish debate less than a week before the holiday starts: Is it permissible to hold the traditional Seder meal over Zoom?

The videoconferencing application has emerged as an essential tool during a crisis that has confined people across the globe in their homes, but the app and similar tools that have connected people through the pandemic have created divisions among Jewish leaders.

Passover, an eight-day holiday that marks the Jewish people’s Biblical exodus from Egypt, begins on Wednesday evening with a Seder, one of the most important events of the year for Jews. A typical Seder involves large gatherings of relatives crowded around a table, who recount the Exodus story through song and prayer while sharing a multicourse meal.

Israel, which has more than 6,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases, has banned people from straying more than 100m from their homes except for essential activities.

A benefactor floated the idea of donating 10,000 computers to confined elderly people, allowing them to join loved ones in digital Seders.

He asked a group of Orthodox rabbis from the Sephardic tradition, which is rooted in southern Europe and North Africa, to assess if the plan was consistent with halacha, or Jewish law.

Rabbi Rephael Delouya, one of the 13-member panel that studied the issue, told reporters that the answer was “easy.”

Digital Seders were permissible to alleviate loneliness that isolated elderly people were experiencing during the pandemic.

“Loneliness can lead to a weaker mind, which causes lower immunity,” Delouya said. “Mental health and physical health are connected.”

The Sephardic rabbis also issued a formal ruling, or posek, declaring that conferencing apps like Zoom could be used in an “emergency” to aid the “elderly” and the “sick.”

It could “give them motivation to continue fighting for their lives and to prevent them from falling into depression” the ruling said.

Delouya said that the decision was based on guidance from “wise” Sephardic leaders, who more than 50 years ago approved the use of certain electrical devices, such as an oven light, on Jewish holidays.

They were later overruled by Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz of the Ashkenazi tradition of eastern Europe, whose guidance against using electricity on holidays prevailed across the Orthodox world.

Israel’s chief rabbis — David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef — pushed back against the videoconferencing decision.

“Loneliness is painful and we must respond to it, perhaps by having a video conference on the eve of the holiday before it begins, but not by desecrating the holiday,” they wrote.

An expert in Orthodox movements at Israel’s Bar Ilan University, Kimmy Caplan, told reporters that the debate hinged on tensions Judaism has faced previously when Orthodox rabbis confront social challenges.

“Overall, the orthodox stance on many issues is that we don’t [adjust] for social issues ... when they contradict the letter of the law,” Caplan said.

The typical response from Orthodox rabbis is: “I don’t bend my legal system because of a social situation,” he said.

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content_text:
STIMULUS FUNDS:
 Companies that report weak sales can apply for the financial aid, while subsidies for a one-time injection of working capital would also be available

The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said that it would subsidize up to 40 percent of workers’ salaries for businesses that have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funded by a NT$39.6 billion (US$1.31 billion) budget — part of a newly expanded NT$1.05 trillion economic stimulus package approved by the Executive Yuan on Thursday — the ministry plans to assist companies with employee wages to help prevent job cuts.

Companies facing an annual drop in sales of at least 50 percent for two consecutive months can apply for the financial aid, which would cover up to 40 percent of their employees’ monthly salaries for a maximum of three months, the ministry said.

The ministry said that it would also subsidize a one-time injection of working capital for such firms, based on their number of employees, and hand out a 30 percent discount on utility rates.

The financial aid comes on top of another plan launched last week, which includes a 5 to 10 percent discount on utility rates for companies with at least a 15 percent decline in revenue on an annual basis.

The ministry said that it is also offering to defer rent for one to three years with no interest for companies operating production sites in the nation’s industrial parks and export processing zones.

While the ministry has aimed to shelter local industries from a global economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, its approach toward boosting consumer spending has been relatively timid.

Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) on Thursday announced that a budget for coupons, which are to be issued by the end of the month and would be valid for up to three months, had been increased to NT$11 billion.

Capped at NT$1,000 per person per month, the coupons would mainly be redeemable when using mobile payment systems and consist of a 25 percent discount on purchases — translating into spending of at least NT$4,000 per person.

The coupons would not be usable for purchases on e-commerce platforms, delivery services, convenience stores, supermarkets or hypermarkets, which have reported growing sales amid the virus crisis, the ministry said.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Companies to get salary assistance


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: UN calls for global ‘cooperation’ and ‘multilateralism’

The UN General Assembly on Thursday approved a resolution calling for “international cooperation” and “multilateralism” in the fight against COVID-19, in the first text to come out of the international body since the pandemic began.

The resolution, approved by consensus, also said there was “the need for full respect for human rights” and that “there is no place for any form of discrimination, racism and xenophobia in the response to the pandemic.”

Russia was unsuccessful in opposing the resolution with its own text, which was supported by four other countries.

The UN resolution emphasizes the central role of the body in the global health and economic crisis. It was submitted by Switzerland, Indonesia, Singapore, Norway, Liechtenstein and Ghana, and adopted by 188 of the 193 states that make up the body, diplomats said.

The Russian text — which also discussed cooperation, but included an implicit demand for a general lifting of international sanctions, seen as a brake on efforts to fight the virus — was supported by the Central African Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Unlike the UN Security Council, resolutions adopted by the General Assembly are not binding.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the novel coronavirus is “the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War.”

Just last week, as the pandemic spread around the world, killing thousands and infecting many more, Guterres warned that unless the world came together to fight the virus, millions of people could die.

On March 23, he called for an “immediate global ceasefire” to protect vulnerable civilians in conflict zones from the ravages of the pandemic.

Few countries have heeded his appeal.

“Unfortunately, hostilities have gone unabated,” said Laetitia Courtois, the UN representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

On the council, which has been silent since the start of the pandemic, the five permanent members — the US, the UK, Russia, China and France — are divided on reaching a resolution to support Guterres’ appeal.

They have yet to produce a concrete solution, to the increasing exasperation of the 10 non-permanent members.

“The council missed an opportunity to be relevant — in a way that might have been life-saving — during the early stages of the pandemic,” international think tank Crisis Group policy director Stephen Pomper said.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Virus delays Democratic convention

content_text:
‘CLIMATE OF UNCERTAINTY’:
 Fifteen states and one territory have postponed their primaries, but a Wisconsin court refused to delay its primary, despite health warnings

The COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday disrupted the US presidential race when the Democratic Party was forced to postpone its national convention until Aug. 17, delaying the likely nomination of former US vice president Joe Biden to challenge US President Donald Trump for the White House.

The party was also faced with another wrinkle when a Wisconsin court refused to delay the state’s primary on Tuesday, despite warnings that the vote could put the health of thousands at risk.

Several other states have postponed their primaries due to coronavirus concerns, leaving the Democratic nomination in limbo just when it should be coming to a high-profile climax.

Democratic presidential candidates former US vice president Joe Biden, left, and US Senator Bernie Sanders do an elbow bump before the start of a Democratic candidates debate at CNN’s Washington studios on March 15.
 Photo: Reuters

The Democratic National Committee said that the coronavirus crisis has forced a five-week postponement of the convention, a grand affair that brings several thousand party luminaries together in one arena.

“In our current climate of uncertainty, we believe the smartest approach is to take additional time to monitor how this situation unfolds so we can best position our party for a safe and successful convention,” committee chief executive Joe Solmonese said in a statement.

The decision came after Biden said the convention originally scheduled for July 13 to 16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, would probably need to be delayed.

Convention planners are to use the coming weeks to assess all options to reduce risks to health.

“These options include everything from adjusting the convention’s format to crowd size and schedule,” the statement said.

The Republican National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 24 to 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Biden, 77, signaled that his party would need to be prepared for alternatives if the pandemic persists or worsens.

“We don’t know what it’s going to be unless we have a better sense of whether this curve is going to move down or up,” Biden told NBC on Wednesday.

The Democratic nomination race has boiled down to moderate Biden, the front-runner, and self-declared democratic socialist US Senator Bernie Sanders, but with Biden expecting to land a hammer blow against his lone remaining rival, no primary has been held since March 17, the race is essentially stagnant.

Fifteen states and one territory have postponed primaries and are broadening vote-by-mail options.

Wisconsin is still scheduled to hold its primary on Tuesday, defying demands from political officials — and from Sanders — that the election be delayed.

“People should not be forced to put their lives on the line to vote,” Sanders said on Wednesday.

Biden suggested he was open to holding the vote.

“A convention having tens of thousands of people in one arena is very different than having people walk into a polling booth with accurate spacing six to 10 feet [1.8m to 3m] apart” and polling machines routinely disinfected, Biden said.

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title: Tree climbing growing among women

content_text:
At a campground in Nantou County, a team of women are using ropes to shimmy up a towering seven-story tall Chinaberry tree, fighting their fear of heights and reconnecting with nature.

Tree climbing remains somewhat niche in Taiwan, but a growing number of women are embracing the challenge thanks to the island’s first international certified female climber arborist.

Sylvia Hsu (許芢涵), 26, said she was inspired to set up her own women-only tree climbing classes after seeing the popularity of similar gatherings in Europe.

Female students climb on a tree during a training class organized by the Women`s Arb Camp in Nantou county on March 7.
 Photo: AFP

“A women-only camp is a more relaxed environment,” she said. “I was hooked on trees after my first climb... As I learn more about trees, the more I appreciate them.”

Many of those attending the course were once novices terrified of the prospect of climbing up 30m tall trees.

“I threw up the first time I climbed to 10m... It wasn’t pretty, and everyone underneath screamed and scattered away,” Chen Yun-hsin, a documentary filmmaker, recalled.

“I got used to it and went even higher. I feel a tree is like a living being, it protects me even when a wind is blowing,” she added.

Tree climbing tends to fall into two categories. Arborists — also known as tree surgeons — who maintain trees for a living, and those that climb simply for fun.

Recreational climbing has been growing in popularity worldwide since US arborist Peter Jenkins began promoting it in 1983, using techniques and tools from his profession and also borrowing from cavers and rock climbers.

Tree Climbers International, the organization he founded, now has more than 700 member instructors listed around the world teaching tree climbing.

The hobby side ranges from kids being pulled up on ropes to adrenaline-filled speed climbing competitions.

Both the professional and amateur communities were often something of a macho sport, but slowly that is changing.

Boel Hammerstrand, a Swedish national, started a women-only event four years ago in the UK and now travels widely to help others do the same.

Women in Europe working in the arborist profession have increased significantly, the 13-year veteran said.

“It’s a lot more about brains than brawn,” she said at the camp in Taiwan.

Hsu says her classes have doubled in the last three years, especially with city dwellers and their children looking for a way to enjoy nature.

“Twenty years ago, parents would say ‘Come down, it’s too dangerous.’ Now parents think it is interesting and sign up their children to come,” Hsu said.

Cheng Han-chien, a high school teacher at the camp, said that the “magical feeling” you get in the canopy keeps drawing her back.

“I love trees, but before I could only touch their roots,” Cheng chuckled. “Now, I can be really close to its body.”

Out of the 29 certified arborists in Taiwan, only three are women, including Hsu.

Many struggle to find enough work given that it is often cheaper and quicker to hire a crane and anyone with chainsaw skills.

“My family, like most families in Taiwan, do not think you can support yourself climbing trees,” Hsu recalled of her parents’ reaction when they first found out about her career choice.

However, an unusual source of income in the last few years has been retrieving drones.

In the last two months alone, Hsu and her climbing buddies have successfully found and retrieved 41 drones.

Each retrieval cost between US$100 to US$160 plus mileage reimbursement.

“We have a drone rescue squad... and business has been brisk.”

Mina Wang, a 22-year-old university student, said she plans to become a professional tree surgeon after she graduates this summer.

She is brushing up on her skills before taking her certification exam.

“Every time I am with a tree, I feel like I am with a friend and companion,” she said. “I want to help trim its twigs and branches so that it can happily grow again.”

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title: EDITORIAL: Hong Kongers cannot rely on Lam

content_text:
In times of crisis, the public looks to government leaders for guidance, reassurance and action, but it is crucial that people can trust them.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted — sometimes brutally — the disparities in leadership ability worldwide, with some nations or territories fortunate to have competent, if not exceptional, officials, while others are burdened with politicians who have dithered or even sought to settle scores with their critics and further quash dissent.

The actions of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s (林鄭月娥) administration this year remain a prime example of failing leadership, from its unwillingness to take early action to restrict travel from China to its “business as usual” approach in arresting critics over alleged actions during last year’s pro-democracy protests. Its inability to serve the best interests of the public it governs has been demonstrated by measures large and small.

At a time when the territory is faced, like many places, with a shortage of protective gear for medical personnel — to the point where it is exploring ways to reuse hospital workers’ N95 respirators — as well as the threat of a looming food shortage after authorities in Shenzhen, China, moved to restrict truck deliveries across the border by imposing new health checks on drivers, Lam’s government is preoccupied with keeping its masters in Beijing happy by chipping away at Hong Kongers’ basic rights and freedoms.

On Thursday, Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau (邱騰華) accused Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) of breaching the “one China” principle after one of its reporters on Saturday last week asked WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward whether the WHO would accept Taiwan as a member.

Yau said that RTHK’s action had breached its charter as a public service broadcaster, an accusation that the station has denied.

Also on Thursday, the Hong Kong Civil Service Bureau told lawmakers that 42 civil servants had been suspended from their jobs after being arrested for taking part in last year’s protests — even though none of them have been convicted — but claimed that the move was “not a disciplinary punishment and there is no presumption of guilt.”

It also said that it was “actively studying” whether all civil servants should be required to swear allegiance to the territory’s Basic Law, even though the law itself states that only the chief executive, principal officials, Executive Council and Legislative Council members, and judges must swear to uphold the Basic Law and allegiance to the territory’s government.

Pro-democracy advocates have complained that police are abusing new anti-epidemic rules for political purposes by targeting restaurants and cafes known for supporting the protests.

Then there was last week’s arrest of Central and Western District Council Chairwoman Cheng Lai-king on sedition charges over a Facebook post about a police officer, not to mention the arrests of Next Media founder Jimmy Lai (黎智英), Labour Party Vice Chairman Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) and former Democracy Party chairman Yeung Sum (楊森) on Feb. 28 on charges of illegal assembly for taking part in last year’s protests.

It is no wonder that an opinion poll, conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong for the South China Morning Post and released on Wednesday, showed that most Hong Kongers are so unhappy with their government’s response to the virus that the vast majority feel that they would only have themselves to thank if the territory succeeds in containing the virus’ spread, not Lam’s administration.

Of course, that has been the lesson of the pro-democracy protests: Hong Kongers have only themselves to rely on to defend their rights and interests, because their government is increasingly unwilling — or unable — to do it for them.

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content_text:
CRIME

FAT chairman detained

The Taipei District Court on Thursday ordered that Far Eastern Air Transport Corp (FAT) chairman Chang Kang-wei (張綱維) be detained and held incommunicado on charges of fraud and embezzlement. The court approved Chang’s detention two days after prosecutors appealed its decision to release him on bail after a preliminary hearing of the case. Chang was charged in connection with false property declarations, fraud and embezzlement. He has been under investigation since the airline abruptly canceled all of its flights in December last year and laid off nearly 1,000 employees, citing financial problems. A month later, the government revoked the airline’s civil aviation flight permit, and its air rights for domestic and international flights were reassigned to other carriers. Prosecutors have since been investigating the nature of the company’s financial problems.

ENVIRONMENT

Dead fish removed

Nearly 1 tonne of dead fish has been removed from Tainan’s old transport canal, their deaths likely caused by a lack of oxygen, the Tainan Environmental Protection Bureau said yesterday. The fish, including milkfish and mullet, were found in the canal, which separates Anping District (安平) from downtown Tainan, in the section between Linan Bridge (臨安橋) and Yunghua Bridge (永華橋). The carcasses, many of which were about the size of a human palm, were removed from the waterway after the incident was first reported on Wednesday, the bureau said. An initial investigation suggested that the fish most likely died from suffocation, it said. After days of heavy downpours, sediment and domestic sewage may have washed into the canal from rising water levels in drainage channels, leading to a sharp drop in dissolved oxygen, officials said.

LOTTERY

Jackpot donated to charity

Eighteen people won the NT$10 million jackpot in the January and February uniform invoice lottery, one of whom donated the entire prize to charity. The winner, who spent NT$300 online on Gash Points, a gaming currency supported by a wide range of online gaming platforms, designated his winnings as a charitable donation, the Ministry of Finance said. As the winner decreed that the invoice be donated to the Humanistic Education Foundation at the time of the purchase, the prize money would go to the foundation, the ministry said. Among the winners, seven spent less than NT$50 to win the top prize, including one who spent only NT$12 on a pack of tissue paper at a grocery store in Tainan. The winnings can be claimed from Monday to July 6, the ministry said.

JUSTICE

Files to be published

A total of 407 declassified files on 118 political cases during the White Terror era have been transferred from the National Security Bureau to the National Archives Administration, which is to make them available to the public, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said. Tsai made the announcement on Facebook, assuring the public that the Transitional Justice Commission would expedite the review process and help expose the historical truth behind the nation’s past authoritarian rule. The declassified files include information on the deaths of veteran political activist Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) mother and twin daughters, who were stabbed to death on Feb. 28, 1980, she said. Another pertains to the death of democracy activist Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), who died in mysterious circumstances in 1981 during the Martial Law era.

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title: Taiwan News Quick Take


title: Virus Outbreak: Virtual forum touts ‘Taiwan Model’

content_text:
Officials from Taiwan and the US on Tuesday attended a virtual forum on sharing the successful “Taiwan Model” of containing COVID-19 and on reinstating Taiwan’s observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

“High-level officials representing the American Institute in Taiwan [AIT], the US Department of State, the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office and the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened for a virtual forum on expanding Taiwan’s participation on the global stage,” the US Department of State said in a news release.

The AIT in a separate release said that the discussion “focused on creating forums to share the internationally lauded ‘Taiwan Model’ on fighting the pandemic with other countries.”

An employee wears a mask with a national flag design at a factory making nonwoven filter fabric in Taoyuan on Monday.
 Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters

Participants also discussed efforts to reinstate Taiwan’s observer status at the WHA, and ways for closer coordination between Taiwan and the WHO, it said.

“Countries around the world can benefit from better understanding the Taiwan Model, as well as the generous contributions and impressive expertise Taiwan — a vibrant democracy and force for good — brings to the global community,” it said.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kelly Hsieh (謝武樵) and Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰) led the Taiwanese delegation, including officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, at the forum held in Taipei and Washington, the foreign ministry said.

The US’ attendees included AIT Washington Office Managing Director John Norris, AIT Director Brent Christensen, Acting US Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Pam Pryor and US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Atul Keshap, it said.

The number of senior officials attending showed that both sides valued the forum, as well as close Taiwan-US ties, it said, thanking the administration of US President Donald Trump and the US Congress for continuing to support Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.

Taiwan would continue working with the US and other like-minded partners to expand its international participation, so as to realize its promise that “Taiwan can help, and Taiwan is helping,” the foreign ministry said.

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content_text:
Tesla Inc’s early-year deliveries fell less than expected from record levels reached late last year, winning support from investors who pushed the shares 14 percent higher in pre-market trading yesterday.

Tesla handed over 88,400 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter, down 21 percent from the final three months of last year, but the total beat analysts’ average estimate for about 78,100.

The automaker’s stock was priced at US$516.21 in premarket trading, up from a close of US$454.47 in New York.

Tesla Inc’s Model 3 vehicles are pictured during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 7.
 Photo: Reuters

“I’m shocked they did so well,” Gene Munster, managing partner of venture capital firm Loup Ventures, said by phone. “I don’t know how they did it. They had every excuse in the world to put out a bad number.”

Musk, 48, tried to salvage as much business as possible last month by introducing “touchless” deliveries at a time when authorities around the globe are urging would-be car buyers to shelter in place. While Tesla managed to deliver more vehicles than same quarter last year, the improvement was small considering the company added a new product — the Model Y — and opened an assembly plant in China.

Tesla did not give an update on whether it still expects to deliver at least 500,000 vehicles this year.

Analysts anticipate Tesla would sustain a significant blow along with all other automakers from the spread of COVID-19. With a global recession increasingly likely, consumers are expected to be less interested in making big-ticket purchases like new vehicles even once they are able to leave their homes.

The vehicles delivered in the quarter include the first Model Y crossovers that started reaching customers in the middle of last month.

Musk has predicted it would be a big seller, potentially eclipsing the combined volume of all other vehicles in Tesla’s lineup: the Model 3, S and X.

Tesla did not say how many vehicles it built during the quarter at its plant near Shanghai, which started production late last year. While the company suspended output when measures to contain the coronavirus forced plant closures across China, government authorities bent over backward to help the company reopen quickly.

“The production number was very good, especially with what was going on in China,” Robert W. Baird analyst Ben Kallo said of the 102,672 vehicles Tesla built in the quarter.

Kallo said he is not bothered by the company neglecting to update its 2020 forecast.

“It shows they don’t have visibility in this environment. Saying nothing is better than saying something at this point,” he said.

Tesla’s lone US assembly plant in Fremont, California, stopped production on March 23 after days of back-and-forth with city and county officials. San Francisco Bay area health authorities have since extended “stay-at-home” orders to at least May 3.

Tesla delivered about 14,000 fewer cars than it produced in the quarter, meaning the automaker built inventory.

Musk warned in July last year — long before the coronavirus outbreak — that the first quarter of this year would be “tough.”

Tesla’s vehicles are no longer eligible for federal tax credits in the US, and buyers also are getting less-generous support from the Netherlands, a market that contributed to record fourth-quarter deliveries.

“I view it as a small victory during a dark time,” said Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst who rates Tesla a hold.

“The devil is in the details and the big question is around 2Q cash burn given this unprecedented, treacherous environment,” Ives added.

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title: Tesla shares rally as deliveries fell less than expected


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Fishing boats that anchor abroad set to be quarantined

Crews on deep-sea fishing boats that have anchored off other nations or engaged in improper interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic would be subject to a 14-day quarantine on their vessel when they return to Taiwan, effective immediately, a government official said.

Crew members of deep-sea fishing vessels and near-sea tuna fishing boats operating in waters between Taiwan and Japan, who are mostly migrant fishers, would be covered by the new regulation as part of the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, Fisheries Agency Director-General Chang Chih-sheng (張致盛) said on Wednesday.

Deep-sea fishing vessels have been targeted because they spend more time operating in waters far from Taiwan, while tuna fishing boats have been included because a large number of Taiwanese ships are engaged in the trade as the peak season approaches, he said.

Vessels in the two categories that did not visit ports in other nations, did not interact with other ships, did not change their crew and were not inspected by foreign officials in the 30 days prior to their return to Taiwan are to be excluded from the measure, Chang said.

The crew members of such vessels would be allowed to enter Taiwan as long as they do not have a fever, cough or other COVID-19 symptoms when examined, he said.

As the agency traces the movements of all fishing boats operating on the high seas around the clock, it can determine whether they anchor off other nations or engage in any of the listed interactions, an agency official said.

There are 9,680 migrant workers — 7,526 from Indonesia, 1,436 from the Philippines, 690 from Vietnam and 28 from Thailand — employed on Taiwanese fishing vessels, agency data showed, a level similar to that of past years.

There are also 799 Chinese fishers working onboard Taiwanese vessels, the data showed.

New migrant workers scheduled to begin working on Taiwanese fishing vessels would undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arriving in Taiwan, as with all arriving foreign nationals, in line with Central Epidemic Commander Center regulations, Chang said.

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title: Photo News

content_text:
Relatives and friends gather sand and stones while burying 13-year-old boy Yassin Hussein Moyo at a Muslim cemetery in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday. The boy was shot in the stomach the night before, allegedly by police officers, in the Huruma slums of Nairobi while he was at the balcony of his house. The police officers were patrolling the area as they enforced the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the Kenyan Government as a measure to stop the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.
親友們週二在肯亞首都奈洛比的一座伊斯蘭教墓園堆起沙石，埋葬十三歲男孩亞辛胡生莫尤。據說男孩前晚在位於奈洛比葫蘆馬貧民窟的自家陽台，遭警方開槍射中腹部。警方當時在該處巡邏，以執行肯亞政府為遏止武漢肺炎爆發，所實施的徹夜宵禁令。
 Photo: AFP
照片：法新社

Homeless persons line up outside a shelter in Johannesburg, on Saturday last week, after having been rounded up by police officers. South Africa came under a nationwide lockdown on Friday last week, joining other African countries imposing strict curfews and shutdowns in an attempt to halt the COVID-19 outbreak across the continent.
無家可歸的街友們上週六被南非約翰尼斯堡警方聚集在一起，排在該市的庇護所外。南非自上週五起實施全境封城，並加入其它非洲國家嚴格宵禁和停工的行列，以試圖遏止武漢肺炎在非洲大陸蔓延。
 Photo: AFP
照片：法新社

People maintain the recommended distance while waiting to receive free grocery items distributed by police officials during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 outbreak in Amritsar, India, on Monday.
人們依照建議保持距離等待警方發送免費雜貨，印度政府則實施全國封城以預防武漢肺炎爆發，週一攝於印度阿姆利則。
 Photo: AFP
照片：法新社

Neighbors of opera singer Michal Janicki listen to the performance he gave from the balcony of his flat last Saturday in Warsaw, Poland, amid the new coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The Polish government has urged citizens to stay at home for a few weeks to limit the spread of the disease.
在武漢肺炎爆發之際，歌劇聲樂家米哈爾簡尼克的鄰居們於上週六，聆聽他在波蘭首都華沙自宅陽台上進行演唱。波蘭政府近日力勸市民待在家中數週，以限制肺炎疫情擴散。
 Photo: AFP
照片：法新社

Lausanne’s police officers patrol to prevent the gathering of more than five people during the state of emergency to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak in Lausanne, Switzerland, last Saturday.
警方上週六在瑞士洛桑市巡邏，以預防超過五個人群聚在一起。當地因武漢肺炎已宣告進入緊急狀態。
 Photo: EPA-EFE
照片：歐新社

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countries: 波蘭 南非 肯亞 印度 瑞士


content_text:
Hon Hai offering university graduates starting pay of NT$45,000 per month

DEVELOPING TALENT:
 The electronics contractor is looking to recruit people to work in core tech fields and emerging industries like electric cars and robotics

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, has launched a recruitment drive, offering a monthly salary of no less than NT$45,000 (US$1,485) to university graduates.

For those with a master’s degree, the starting pay would be NT$52,000 per month at the minimum, while doctorate degree holders would receive at least NT$60,000 a month, Hon Hai said a statement issued early this week.

The latest recruitment drive is aimed at attracting talent in core technology fields — artificial intelligence, semiconductors and next-generation mobile communications — and emerging industries — electric vehicles, digital healthcare and robotics, the company said.

The company will offer comprehensive training in technology, management and general knowledge to help its new employees build successful careers, it said.

For example, all new recruits would be trained to become future middle management staff, it said.

Interested people can apply via its Web site and interviews of selected applicants will be conducted online, it said.

Hon Hai has been working to expand into software development and to integrate that with its hardware manufacturing proficiency.

In related news, with the global economy reeling under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, two foreign brokerages have cut their target prices for Hon Hai, which assembles iPhones.

A Hong Kong-based securities house said the pandemic could force Apple Inc to postpone the launch of its new iPhones amid the economic uncertainty, which has slowed demand for tech gadgets.

If Apple does not release its next-generation iPhones in September as it usually does, Hon Hai’s shipments are likely to drop in the second half of the year, the brokerage said in a research note.

It therefore downgraded its rating on Hon Hai from “buy” to “hold,” and lowered its target price from NT$100 to NT$75, it said.

Apple accounts for about 40 percent of Hon Hai’s total sales, market estimates showed.

A Japanese brokerage also cut its target price for Hon Hai from NT$92 to NT$82, but maintained its “overweight” rating of the stock, saying that despite the impact of the pandemic, it remained upbeat about the company’s efforts to upgrade its technologies and extend its reach to emerging industries.

Nonetheless, the Japanese brokerage lowered its forecasts for Hon Hai’s earnings per share for this year and next year by 10.4 percent and 5.2 percent to NT$7.78 and NT$9.7 respectively.

On Wednesday, Hon Hai shares rose 0.14 percent to end at NT$70.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange before the market closed for the four-day Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.

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content_text:
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE:
 About 10 million Americans lost their jobs over the past two weeks, which means unemployment might already be near 10 percent

The US unemployment rate would shoot past 10 percent in the second quarter and GDP growth rate would decline by more than 7 percent as the COVID-19 crisis grips the US economy, according to projections released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Thursday.

Interest rates on 10-year US Treasuries are forecast to be below 1 percent during the quarter, said the office, which provides nonpartisan economic analysis to the US Congress.

On Thursday the yield on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note hovered at 0.62 percent.

Framing designer Leticia Bartelle Lorenzoni makes masks for her friends at home after losing her job at a framing art gallery in Los Angeles, California, on Wednesday.
 Photo: AFP

The CBO said that its projections were based on information available through Friday last week and that it is working on new estimates factoring in more recent information on the crisis, which “has been more negative than anticipated.”

It said it included the possibility of later coronavirus outbreaks and a slow drop-off of social distancing in its projections, and expected an unemployment rate of 9 percent at the end of next year.

In recent weeks US lawmakers have raced to pass bills that would quell the public health emergency and economic turmoil unleashed by the coronavirus epidemic.

They are negotiating with US President Donald Trump’s administration to draft a fourth legislative package aimed at boosting the economy.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said that she would form a bipartisan select committee to oversee the spending of the more than US$2 trillion Congress has already approved to respond to the pandemic.

The CBO said it would incorporate the effects of the legislation in projections to be published later this year.

US Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said that US unemployment could rise as high as 15 percent as the nation forcibly shuts down important parts of its economy to help contain the pandemic.

About 10 million Americans lost their jobs over the past two weeks, based on initial jobless claims reported on Thursday — far exceeding forecasts.

The numbers mean unemployment might already be approaching 10 percent, nearly matching its peak following the financial crisis of 2008-2009, as fallout from the contagion ravages the labor market.

“I was anticipating that in the first half of the year we were going to have some really bad numbers, and seeing that number today just confirms how bad it is,” Mester said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg News.

“You don’t like to see those numbers because it means people really are impacted by this,” she said. “It will take some time to get it back down, and we’ll see a big hit to output growth in the second quarter because we’ve shut the economy down.”

The US central bank is racing to prepare additional emergency programs, on top of the six it has already announced. One, the Main Street Lending Program, will aim to deliver loans to small and medium-sized businesses.

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren on Wednesday said that facility would not be ready for “another couple weeks.”

Mester said that she could not provide any more information on the timing or details of the program.

“People and businesses need aid now,” she said. “I can tell you we understand the sense of urgency and the Fed is working as quickly as possible.”

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title: Virus Outbreak: US jobless rate to jump past 10%: CBO