content_text:
Virus Outbreak: German officials condemn anti-French virus insults

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas on Saturday condemned aggression toward French people traveling into border areas, which has flared amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Coronavirus knows nothing of nationality. It’s the same for human dignity. It hurts to see how some of our French friends have been insulted and attacked because of COVID-19,” Maas wrote on Twitter.

“Such behavior is completely unacceptable. And besides: We are in the same boat,” he added.

Maas’ tweet came in response to a similarly apologetic post from Anke Rehlinger, economy minister in Saarland State, which borders France’s Grand Est region.

“Our heart bleeds for the closed borders to France and Luxembourg,” Rehlinger said on Wednesday.

“We have heard that French people have been insulted and had eggs thrown at them. People doing such things are sinning against the friendship between our nations,” she said. “I apologize to our French friends for these isolated incidents.”

Some days before, the mayor of a small town on the border complained of “a certain hostility to our French friends” in his district.

“Some have been insulted or stopped on the street,” while others “no longer dare come here,” Gersheim Mayor Michael Clivot told news site t-online.

The situation in Gersheim became so bad that Clivot posted a video directly addressing the townspeople on Facebook.

Some French people had reported being spat on while out walking or lining up at the supermarket, he said.

One had been told to “go back to your corona-ridden country,” Clivot added.

The French consul in Saarland, Catherine Robinet, confirmed that “isolated” incidents targeting French nationals had taken place in the region.

However, Robinet urged against “generalizing” the anti-French sentiment, adding that she had also received numerous messages of support.

Some people in France also have reacted poorly to Germans in the country, she added.

For Clivot, the incidents showed that a decision by Berlin to close the frontier in the middle of last year in a bid to slow the pandemic’s spread had been mistaken.

“What we needed [at the time] was joint action with France,” he said.

On March 16, Germany introduced tough border controls with neighboring nations including France.

Since then, only goods deliveries and cross-border commuters have been waved through by police, while officers have turned back other travelers.

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

references: Twitter Facebook


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: UK boosts help for abuse victims during virus lockdown

‘EXTREMELY CONCERNING’:
 There has been a 120 percent increase in the number of people seeking help for domestic abuse in one 24-hour period, the home secretary said

The British government on Saturday launched a campaign to help domestic violence victims during the COVID-19 lockdown following an increase in the number seeking assistance, while figures showed that the number of people in the UK dying after testing positive for COVID-19 neared 10,000.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel said the government would bolster online support services and hotlines for domestic violence and launched a national communications campaign that aims to “signpost victims” to where they can access help.

“For the victims of these crimes, home is not the safe haven that it should be,” she said.

A woman runs past street art in appreciation of the British National Health Service near the Francis Drake Bowls Club in Hilly Fields Park, London, on Saturday.
 Photo: AP

Though there has not yet been a sustained rise in reports of domestic abuse during the lockdown to police, Patel said that there has been an “extremely concerning” increase in those seeking help.

Last week, the UK’s national domestic violence hotline reported a 120 percent increase in the number of calls it received in just one 24-hour period, she said.

She also said that the government’s “stay at home” message did not apply to victims of domestic abuse, and that authorities would work to ensure there is refuge for victims and their children if they need to escape their home.

British National Police Chiefs’ Council Chairman Martin Hewitt warned abusers to “not think that this is a time where you can get away with this.”

Overall, there had been a 21 percent decline in crime in the past four weeks compared with the same period last year, he said.

As of Thursday, police had issued 1,084 fines for breaches of coronavirus regulations in England and Wales, Hewitt added.

Earlier, the government reported that 917 more people died in the hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus, taking the total to 9,875.

QUEEN SPEAKS

Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth II stressed the need for the British people to continue to abide with lockdown restrictions.

In a two-minute audio broadcast from Windsor Castle, the queen said that by “keeping apart, we keep others safe” and that the coronavirus “will not overcome us.”

Social distancing rules were observed, with the queen delivering the address alone into a microphone from the castle’s White Drawing Room while the sound engineer was in a nearby room.

Although inevitably different this year, the queen said “Easter isn’t canceled; indeed, we need Easter as much as ever.”

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


title: Unemployment threatens China’s poverty targets

content_text:
Millions of people have lost their jobs in China in the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, throwing into jeopardy an ambitious target to eradicate poverty this year.

Beijing has been working to fire up the economy again after bringing it to a near standstill to curb the spread of COVID-19, but many firms have had a bumpy restart and workers are bearing the brunt of the pain.

Despite being a country of skyscrapers and high-tech innovations, China still has millions of people on meager incomes.

About 5.5 million rural Chinese live in poverty, defined by the Chinese government as surviving on less than 2,300 yuan (US$326) a year.

A slowing economy puts pressure on a key Chinese Communist Party goal to become a “moderately prosperous society” by the end of this year, an ambition in place long before the virus emerged in its Hubei Province late last year.

It also threatens a long-held tacit agreement between people and party that freedoms can be sacrificed in return for economic progress, an understanding that largely forms the basis of the authoritarian government’s legitimacy in the absence of elections.

China has little in the way of social security benefits and workers who lose their jobs have an inadequate safety net, meaning mass unemployment often brings a fear of unrest.

Official statistics show jobless numbers have soared, with roughly 5 million people added to the out-of-work number from December to February.

Data firm Caixin (財新) said that its services purchasing managers’ index, a key indicator of activity in the services sector, showed that companies last month cut staff at the quickest pace on record.

With much of the rest of the world still locked in all-consuming battles against the novel coronavirus, the pandemic is expected to heavily weigh on demand for Chinese goods.

Analysts at financial services firm Nomura Holdings Inc said that China could lose about 18 million jobs in the export sector — nearly one-third of the industry’s workforce.

This growing unemployment will be a major blow to consumption — a key driver of China’s growth, Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics said.

Some businesses still cannot reopen amid lingering lockdowns, while some firms have taken dramatic measures to stay solvent, including paying just a minimal living allowance.

Beijing authorities have allowed companies to waive some social security payments, including contributions to pension, unemployment and work injury funds — measures that could further hit vulnerable workers.

Job losses raise the likelihood of laid-off migrant workers returning to poorer rural areas and slipping into poverty.

Liu Sihua, 49, a domestic worker, has been stranded in her village in eastern Anhui Province since the middle of January with no income or unemployment benefits.

“My landlord in Beijing refuses to allow outsiders to return after the virus scare,” she said. “The family I was working for ... went back to the Netherlands, and now I don’t know when they will come back since China has temporarily banned foreigners from entering.”

To compensate, authorities are easing stringent regulations governing the lives of rural migrants working in urban areas, allowing them greater access to the property market, healthcare and education in some smaller cities.

“Poverty eradication is harder to achieve given the current situation, which could not possibly have been foreseen,” Zhao Litao (趙力濤) of Singapore’s East Asian Institute said.

Other analysts warn not to place too much weight on achieving artificial targets.

Wiping out extreme poverty could prove a “narrow” concept that distorts the real economic picture as local governments pursue all means possible to be seen meeting targets, sometimes at considerable cost, Kuijs said.

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


content_text:
Digitization will not help KMT

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) on March 23 announced that the party would hold an open audition for a “chief digital marketing technology officer,” a new position that is expected to help the KMT enhance its marketing strategy using the Internet.

Ten applicants made it onto the short list for the final audition on Saturday, and the position was won by Oscar Chien (簡勤佑), cofounder of online discussion forum Dcard. The appointment is to be approved at a meeting of the party’s Central Standing Committee on Wednesday.

In early March, when Chiang was running for party chairperson, he posted a promotional video clip on Facebook in which he called for the party to “go online” and become “digitized.”

In the same video, Chiang also proposed “three musts,” saying that the KMT must be more open, modernize itself and step out of its comfort zone to once more become a great political party.

There is nothing wrong with the KMT aiming to go online and become digitized. However, it would be a great mistake if the party keeps attributing its election defeats to its inferior use of digital technology.

When the KMT was trounced in the November 2014 nine-in-one elections, the party put the blame on its opponents’ cyberarmy. This begs the question of whether the same explanation holds true for the KMT’s victory in the 2018 nine-in-one local elections and the serious setback it suffered in the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections.

The KMT’s real problem has nothing to do with the Internet. It is really a matter of the party’s mindset. When other parties are pushing for transitional justice, the KMT is still occupied with visiting the Cihu Mausoleum (慈湖陵寢) and paying tribute to late president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).

When the government is making every effort to prioritize Taiwan and saying that “Taiwan is a sovereign nation whose official title is the Republic of China [ROC],” a KMT lawmaker said the opposite, stating that “the ROC is a country, but Taiwan is not.”

This kind of discourse and mindset is very unlikely to garner public support.

Chang Hui-ho

New Taipei City

Disappointing virus attitude

The government is making a lot of effort to contain the [COVID-19 outbreak], but sadly there are a number of citizens who are way too casual in their approach to it.

Traveling on a train as I do every day, there are still people eating on the train, not wearing masks, etc.

At the two schools I teach at, despite the local government issuing a rule that students have to wear masks, this rule is ignored by students and teachers alike.

I am really disappointed by this attitude.

Taiwan has been fortunate so far. The government has been relentless in its attempts to contain the virus, but sadly there are many who do not share their vision.

Name withheld

Zhubei, Hsinchu County

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

title: [ LETTERS ]


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Wet markets in China’s Wuhan struggle to survive

Fish and vegetable merchants are reopening stalls at wet markets in China’s central city of Wuhan as it lifts a months-long lockdown against the COVID-19 pandemic, but their future looks uncertain with few customers as the virus stigma persists.

The virus, which has infected more than 1.78 million people and killed more than 108,000 in 214 countries, is believed to have originated late last year among wild animals on sale in a seafood market in Wuhan that has been closed and boarded up since January.

That has prompted heavy scrutiny for wet markets, a key facet of China’s daily life, even though only a few sell wildlife.

Some US officials have called for them, and others across Asia, to be closed.

“This is a person-to-person virus, no matter where you are,” said Jin Qinzhi, a vegetable and meat vendor at a wet market, when asked what she thought about demands for their closure. “Even the supermarket is full of people. Here people are more scattered. As long as we take precautionary measures, and we pay attention to disinfecting, it should be fine.”

A common sight across Asia, wet markets traditionally sell fresh produce and live animals, such as fish, in the open air. They tend to be popular with shoppers who believe the items on sale are cheaper and fresher than in supermarkets.

Stall owners in Wuhan said that they were not optimistic after their business was badly hurt by the strict shutdowns in China, which ordered a temporary ban on trade and consumption of wildlife in January.

“There is no business and no one is coming,” said a worker chopping fish who only gave her surname, Zhang. “Everywhere is blocked and people cannot come in. Everyone is scared to go out and contract the virus.”

Wuhan is to spend 200 million yuan (US$28.42 million) to upgrade its 425 farmers’ markets, in a campaign to improve hygiene, city officials said on Friday.

Still, some worry they might not stay around long enough to see it.

“We don’t have any income and business,” Jin said. “If it goes on like this, it will be very difficult for us to survive.”

Many stores remain shut and some curbs continue, even though a sharp drop in new local cases prompted lifting of the lockdown.

China reported 99 new virus infections on Saturday, taking its tally to 82,052, with a death toll of 3,339.

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


content_text:
A: Are you a Beatles fan?

B: Yes, I love their music. You could say I am a huge fan.

A: This year is the 60th anniversary of the band’s formation.

B: The band formed in 1960. It’s amazing that music produced such a long time ago still remains popular today! Everyone can hum at least one Beatles song.

A: 你是披頭四的樂迷嗎？

B : 對啊，我喜歡他們的音樂。應該可以說是他們的鐵粉啦。

A : 今年是披頭四創團六十週年唷。

B : 披頭四在一九六○年創團。這麼久以前創作的音樂今天還是很受歡迎，真是讓人驚嘆！每個人起碼都會哼上一首披頭四的歌。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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

title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH


content_text:
Linyuan Dragon Boat race to be canceled, zongzi-making competition suffers same fate
林園龍舟賽停辦 包粽比賽也喊卡

With the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak continuing to spread, it has now been announced that the Linyuan traditional Dragon Boat competition will also be called off. According to Chen Hsing-fa, head of Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District, the Dragon Boat competition usually takes place over three days, with at least 5,000 people flooding into the area each day. This year, in order to avoid large groups outdoors, not only the Dragon Boat race itself but also the attending zongzi-making competition, have been canceled.

The Linyuan Dragon Boat race was originally held back in the time when Kaohsiung County still existed, in Jhongyun Fishing Port, and would take place at night, which made it unique. The Kaohsiung City Government has already announced that the Dragon Boat race on the Love River has been canceled. The Linyuan Dragon Boat race has had to be called off in the past due to a typhoon, but this is the first time it has had to be canceled because of an epidemic.

According to Chen, the Linyuan Dragon Boat competition attracts around 60 teams registering to participate every year, and during the event tens of thousands of visitors descend on the area. With the COVID-19 coronavirus rearing its ugly head this year, however, the race will have to be canceled, as well the zongzi-making competition that is held at the same time.

The Linyuan Dragon Boat race takes place in this undated photo.
林園龍舟賽登場，拍攝日期不詳。
 Photo: Hung Chen-hung, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者洪臣宏

The Linyuan Dragon Boat race is held according to different categories. The first prize for the social category is NT$100,000, and every year attracts many teams. Last year, there was a record number of teams, with 67 participating, and the organizers put on a special bus and arranged a tour of the Linyuan Ocean Wetland Park, the Japanese Old Street and the Cingshuei Temple, which then went on to Jhongyun Fishing Port for the Dragon Boat race. This tour was very well-received, and this year they wanted to make it happen again, but the pandemic has scuppered those plans.

(Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)

武漢肺炎疫情高燒不退，林園傳統龍舟賽也宣布停辦，高雄市林園區區長陳興發說，以往龍舟賽都會一連舉行三天，每天湧入至少五千人次，為避免室外群聚，不僅龍舟賽，連同包粽子比賽都一併取消。

林園區龍舟賽源自前高雄縣時代就舉行，在中芸漁港舉辦，而且都在夜間進行，成為一大特色。高市府之前已宣布停辦愛河龍舟賽。林園龍舟賽以往曾因颱風臨時取消，因疫情取消倒是頭一遭。

陳興發說，林園龍舟賽每年都吸引約六十隊報名參加，賽事期間有數萬人次前來觀賞，不過隨著武漢肺炎疫情沒有停歇跡象，連同包粽子比賽也都取消。

林園龍舟賽分組舉行，社會組冠軍獎金高達十萬元，每年吸引許多隊伍參加，去年六十七隊創下紀錄，為了行銷觀光舉辦「愛之旅觀光巴士」，安排走訪林園海洋濕地公園、日式老街及清水寺，然後直接到中芸港觀賞龍舟賽，獲得不錯迴響，原本地方希望今年再接再厲打響名號，卻受到疫情搗亂。

（自由時報）

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

taiwan-subdivisions: 林園 高雄市 清水 林園區

events: COVID-19 武漢肺炎 颱風


content_text:
Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google on Friday said that they would work together to create contact tracing technology that aims to slow the spread of COVID-19 by allowing users to opt into logging other phones they have been near.

The rare collaboration between the two Silicon Valley companies, whose operating systems power 99 percent of the world’s smartphones, could accelerate use of apps that aim to get potentially infected individuals into testing or quarantine more quickly and reliably than existing systems in much of the world.

Such tracing will play a vital role in managing the virus once lockdown orders end, health experts say.

The planned technology also throws the weight of the tech leaders into a global conflict between privacy advocates who favor a decentralized system to trace contacts, and governments in Europe and Asia pushing centralized approaches that have technical weaknesses and potentially let governments know with whom people associate.

“With Apple and Google, you get all the public health functions you need with a decentralized and privacy-friendly app,” said Michael Veale, University College London legal lecturer involved in European contact tracing system DP3T.

Centralized solutions such as those proposed in Britain and Germany would no longer work under the new technology, he said.

To be effective, the Silicon Valley system would require millions of people to opt in the system, trusting the technology companies’ safeguards, as well as smooth oversight by public health systems.

The companies said they started developing the technology two weeks ago to streamline technical differences between Apple’s iPhones and Google’s Android that had stymied the interoperation of some existing contact tracing apps.

Under the plan, users’ phones with the technology will emit unique Bluetooth signals. Phones within about 2m can record anonymous information about encounters.

People who test positive for the virus can opt to send an encrypted list of phones they came near to Apple and Google, which will trigger alerts to potentially exposed users to seek more information. Public health authorities would need to sign off that an individual has tested positive before they can send on the data.

The logs will be scrambled to keep infected individuals’ data anonymous, even to Apple, Google and contact tracing app makers, the companies said.

Apple and Google said their contact tracing system will not track GPS location.

“To their credit, Apple and Google have announced an approach that appears to mitigate the worst privacy and centralization risks,” said Jennifer Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The companies could have more safeguards such as specifying that contract tracing features would not be used beyond the pandemic, Granick said.

Apple and Google plan to release software tools in the middle of next month to contact tracing apps that they and public health authorities approve.

Apps including Private Kit and CoEpi, which had contacted Apple and Google for help a month ago, said the new tools would enable them to drop potentially unreliable workarounds.

Apps will be able to focus on developing a simple interface for users and healthcare workers, with Apple and Google handling Bluetooth and privacy issues, said Dana Lewis, a lead developer of contact tracing app CoEpi.

However, Apple and Google plan to release software updates in the coming months so that users do not need a separate app to log nearby phones.

Google said that the tools and updates would not be available where its services are blocked, such as in China or on unofficial Android devices.

Apple is to distribute the technology as an update to its iPhone operating system.

Governments worldwide have been scrambling to adopt software meant to improve the normally labor-intensive process of contact tracing, in which health officials go to recent contacts of an infected person and ask them to self-quarantine or get tested.

Health experts have credited extensive testing and contact tracing with slowing the spread of the virus in nations such as South Korea, but limited testing has held back contact tracing in the US.

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

companies: Apple Google

title: Apple and Google plan contact software


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Amid pandemic, a turning point for telemedicine

For a follow-up visit after her cancer surgery, Gail Rae-Garwood opted for a video consultation with her specialist, avoiding a long journey — and potential exposure to COVID-19 in medical offices.

“I am so thankful not to have to go out that I’ve enrolled my grumpy husband into televisits, too,” said the 73-year-old Arizona woman, who was able to upload data from a blood pressure cuff and glucose monitor to her physician.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely strained the US health system, but telemedicine is being seen as a vital way of coping, including for those affected by the outbreak.

“COVID-19 is very conducive to telemedicine,” said Omar Khan, a family physician and head of Delaware Health Sciences Alliance in Wilmington, Delaware.

Doctors can make a preliminary diagnosis by evaluating symptoms, such as a fever and cough, and the patient’s travel history and contact with others, Khan said.

A lab order to confirm an infection can be transmitted electronically to minimize contact.

“Eighty percent of people with coronavirus don’t need to go to the hospital,” Khan said.

If an infection is detected, “they move from quarantine to isolation” and many still do not need to leave home, he added.

Khan said that he has been handling all his consultations remotely for the past two weeks and that patients have been handling the shift well.

“They know the danger,” he said. “They don’t want to put themselves or healthcare workers at risk, and don’t want to come to the hospital unnecessarily. At a time like this, a hospital is a scary place.”

The crisis has highlighted the value of telemedicine, long touted as a way to deliver medical care to people in underserved areas and to deal more efficiently with issues ranging from minor emergencies to mental health.

“A crisis sometimes ends up giving you an incentive to change things,” said Preeti Malani, a University of Michigan professor of medicine who last year led a survey of telemedicine for older adults.

The survey showed that many older adults had little knowledge or interest in telemedicine a year ago, but the situation has changed dramatically, Malani said.

“In a matter of days we’ve completely switched and particularly older adults, who may be vulnerable to complications, are being told not to come to clinic,” Malani said.

With the virus raging, regulatory barriers to telehealth services have quickly come down.

US authorities last month waived restrictions that had prevented telemedicine for Medicare and Medicaid and a rescue package passed by the US Congress included about US$200 million to help providers establish remote care.

Many US states have lifted restrictions and insurance companies have waived co-payments for these consultations.

Privacy regulations that limited the kinds of technology for video consultations have also been eased, making it possible to use consumer-friendly services like Skype or FaceTime.

“I’ve been pleasantly shocked to see [regulatory moves], which would have taken five to 10 years,” said Courtney Joslin, a researcher following regulatory issues with the R Street Institute, a public policy think tank.

“We’re going to come out of this with a lot of evidence on how well telehealth works,” Joslin said.

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


title: Spanish soccer bodies still arguing despite pandemic

content_text:
Not even the COVID-19 pandemic has softened the power struggle between soccer organizations in Spain. The outbreak has actually strained relationships between the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the National Professional Football League and the Spanish Footballers’ Association union even more.

They have been at odds over a variety of subjects in recent years and the disputes have continued during the pandemic, despite their own calls for unity.

The past few weeks alone have seen several spats:

Royal Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales speaks at a news conference in Madrid on March 18.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

The federation has accused the union of having a “hidden agenda”; the union, in turn, has said it’s under “attack” and accused the federation of leaking private conversations; and the federation and the union have criticized the league for not doing enough to protect clubs financially.

The latest clash involved discussions by a commission that monitors how COVID-19 has been affecting Spanish soccer. All three soccer bodies are part of the commission. The league runs the top two soccer divisions in the country, while the federation controls regulations and matches for professional and amateur games.

After the end of a meeting last week, the federation put out a statement saying it would not accept teams playing games less than 72 hours apart when competitions resume following the pandemic, and that it opposed an alleged agreement between the union and the league to play matches 48 hours apart to complete the disrupted season.

The league and the union denied that the agreement existed.

The union said it disliked the “tone of the meeting” and that it felt it was under “direct attack.”

A few days after the denials, the federation released an audio recording of the meeting in which union president David Aganzo suggested that players would have to be more flexible regarding the time between games to help reduce the economic impact of the crisis.

The union was upset at the release of the recordings and said it planned to sue the federation.

The league also said it would consider its legal options.

The federation said it released the recordings, but denied they were “leaked.”

It said in a statement on Friday that it was clear from the first meeting of the commission that the conversations would be recorded and that no one had opposed doing so.

It said it released the recordings to a local radio station that had requested them, with the federation saying it felt the need to “preserve the truth” and “correct” the misinformation allegedly released by the union over what had happened in the meeting.

The federation also said the meeting was never meant to be considered a secret with “more than 20 people” taking part from different groups, and that the union itself released information about what happened in the meeting.

“The federation solely clarified to the public what really happened,” it said in its statement, adding that it appeared the views of the union president were going against those of players.

It said the request by the union to keep the meetings of the commission secret “leads us to suspect that the association has a hidden agenda” and “intends to hide” its true views from the public and its members.

Federation president Luis Rubiales, a former union president, has been an outspoken figure since taking over the federation in 2018. One of his first acts was to fire coach Julen Lopetegui from the Spanish national team just days before the FIFA World Cup in Russia because he took a job with Real Madrid without first telling federation officials.

Rubiales and league president Javier Tebas, another outspoken figure in Spanish soccer, have been at odds over a series of issues, including the rescheduling of a suspended match between Real Madrid and Barcelona last year, and the league’s attempt to play a regular-season game in the US.

Rubiales said Tebas should have done more to guarantee television rights for the league.

Aganzo criticized the league for not securing Spanish clubs a bigger financial “cushion” for times of crisis like the ongoing pandemic, something Tebas said would have been impossible to do for any sector.

Aganzo and Tebas also failed to reach an agreement over the amount of salary reductions needed for players in an attempt to reduce the economic impact of the pandemic.

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


content_text:
‘UNFAIR’ RESPONSES:
 Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria released statements saying that Chinese authorities had mistreated Africans in their fight against COVID-19

Several African countries have demanded that China address their concerns that Africans in the city of Guangzhou are being mistreated and harassed amid fears there of a potential spread of COVID-19 from imported cases.

In the past few days, Africans in the city have reported being ejected from their apartments by their landlords, being tested for the coronavirus several times without being given the results and being shunned and discriminated against in public.

Such complaints have been made in local media and on social media.

In a statement on Saturday, Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said she had summoned the Chinese ambassador to express her disappointment and demand action to address the “inhumane treatment.”

“I regret and highly condemn this ... ill-treament and racial discrimination,” the minister said.

She said she had summoned Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Wang Shiting (王世廷) to “register my disappointment and call for his government to immediately address the situation and bring their officials to order.”

There was no immediate response from the Chinese embassy in Ghana to a request for comment.

In a tweeted statement on Saturday, the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe dismissed the accusation of Chinese deliberately targeting Africans and suggested reports of racial discrimination and harassment were being sensationalized.

“It is harmful to sensationalize isolated incidents,” the statement said. “China treats all individuals in the country, Chinese and foreign alike, as equals.”

China has ended its more than two-month lockdown in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus infections began, after containing the outbreak there, but authorities are now worried about a potential second wave of infection from imported cases.

At the peak of the outbreak in Wuhan, some African nations refused to evacuate their students from China, expressing confidence in Beijing’s ability to handle the outbreak.

In a statement on Friday, the Kenyan government said that the “stringent testing of foreigners” that China had undertaken had “precipitated unfair responses against foreigners particularly of African origin.”

Nairobi said that it “officially expressed concern,” adding that government was working with Chinese authorities to address the matter.

On Friday, Nigerian Legislator Akinola Alabi tweeted a video of a meeting between Nigerian Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila and Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Zhou Pingjian (周平劍).

In it, Gbajabiamila demanded an explanation from the diplomat after showing Zhou a video of Nigerians complaining about mistreatment in China.

The ambassador said in response to the questions from the house speaker that he took the complaints “very seriously” and promised to convey them to the authorities back home.

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

title: Virus Outbreak: Nations slam discrimination in China


content_text:
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been visiting machine tool companies, textile makers and pharmaceutical developers to thank them for helping in the nation’s all-out effort against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tsai on Wednesday visited SCI Pharmtech, which has donated hydroxychloroquine to help treat mild cases of COVID-19. Some scientists have said that there is limited evidence that the drug might be effective against the disease, creating a worldwide demand for it, and Tsai’s visit was also aimed at reassuring the public that Taiwan is able to build sufficient stock of the drug for the domestic market.

Since COVID-19 broke out, the government has been determined to ensure that important medical devices and materials can be domestically produced, and, most importantly, secure sufficient stocks. Many nations that did not act so expeditiously have found themselves without adequate supplies as demand escalates.

Taiwan is able to produce hospital-grade masks and plastic protective gowns with P3 particulate filters, and the government aims to coordinate and organize local firms to develop rapid screening kits, experimental anti-coronavirus drugs and mechanical ventilators. All goods related to epidemic prevention are strategic supplies and Taiwan should try to have as little reliance on other nations as possible.

Since Taiwan has maintained the development momentum of the manufacturing industry while retaining talent and necessary technology, the related supply chains have been able to respond quickly to emergencies, ramping up production quickly, and eventually helping to build a strong health safety net for the public and frontline medical staff.

Fortunately, Taiwanese manufacturers have also taken the opportunity to explore new businesses, such as textile firms turning to production of medical-grade fabrics from sports and leisure products.

For decades, Taiwanese manufacturers have established operations around the globe, developing a worldwide network of production sites and flexible business strategy, although some have kept their roots in Taiwan despite changing economic conditions.

The US-China trade dispute over the past two years prompted some Taiwanese manufacturers to start shifting part of their production from China, because of the threat of US tariffs, but the pace of breaking the supply chain dependence on China is likely to accelerate with the pandemic, which has resulted in unprecedented supply chain disruptions.

Make no mistake, efforts to move production out of China are not limited to Taiwanese manufacturers.

A Japanese government panel, the Council on Investment for the Future, on Thursday said it would consider ways to protect against disruptions caused by the pandemic, including funding Japanese firms to shift production back home or move production to countries other than China.

Coincidentally, US National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, a top White House adviser, that same day told Fox Business that Washington should also consider measures to assist US companies that want out of China, such as with relocation payments.

Considering a Nikkei Asian Review report last month that Japan is looking to include more Asian economies, including Taiwan, in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to reduce trade reliance on China, clearly it is time for nations to promote domestic manufacturing or look for supply chain deployment beyond China.

Furthermore, the over-reliance on China for a number of raw materials, key components and strategic goods needs to be addressed once the pandemic is brought under control, as national security carries more weight than other considerations.

As more governments mull ways to reduce their reliance on China and Beijing’s regional and global influence, the world’s manufacturing landscape will never be the same.

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

title: EDITORIAL: Manufacturing security paramount


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Pandemic a death sentence for Indians without virus

Liver patient Shahjahan’s family feared the worst when a New Delhi public hospital told her to leave because her bed was needed in a coronavirus unit.

The 40-year-old mother had been on a ventilator with an acute infection for almost two weeks when she left Lok Nayak Hospital on Tuesday last week.

She died at her family home in Delhi the next morning. Other hospitals had turned her away because of the pandemic.

The wife of 38-year-old Upender Safi pushes his wheelchair at a night shelter set up by the Delhi government outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on Tuesday last week.
 Photo: AFP

“The authorities just left her to die. Even when they referred us to another hospital, they refused to give us an ambulance,” said Mohammad Khalid, a relative of Shahjahan.

The capacity of medical facilities around the world has been stretched by the surge of COVID-19 patients as outbreaks worsen in many countries.

It can cause people with other life-threatening diseases to miss out on vital care — especially in places such as India, where healthcare systems are shakier.

Dozens of people with serious medical conditions are camped outside India’s national medical institute in tents set up by the Delhi government.

Many of them had traveled from other cities for now-canceled appointments and cannot go back due to transport restrictions under the nationwide lockdown that began on March 25.

Outpatient departments at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) closed, forcing cancer patients and others with deadly ailments to take shelter in a grimy pedestrian subway and under canvas.

Although aid groups have provided some food and medicine, it had been 12 hours since Saryu Das had eaten when reporters met him.

His son, who had mouth cancer, lay on a thin mattress with his face covered by a scarf. Flies hovered around him. Four days later, he died.

Waste littered the subway floor that is now home to more than 10 families unable to get back to their hometowns, with the mattresses so close that social distancing was impossible.

The AIIMS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the death and the patients outside, but hospitals across the country of 1.3 billion people have been put on alert and its virus death toll is now above 280.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown, he gave millions of Indians taking life-saving drugs only four hours’ notice.

Amulya Nidhi, a health activist based in Madhya Pradesh state, said that the government knew that vulnerable patients — including those with silicosis and tuberculosis, which kills tens of thousands each year in India, as well as pregnant women — were at risk.

“I’m getting distress calls from across India over access to basic medicines and treatment,” Nidhi said.

“It is important to expand healthcare facilities to fight COVID-19. At the same time, hospitals and ambulances have to be available for patients with other problems,” he said.

In February, 39-year-old Maitri Lakra was found to be in the initial stages of tongue cancer. Being HIV-positive only added to her woes.

Doctors at AIIMS referred her to their campus in Haryana state for presurgery tests, which started in the middle of last month, but 10 days later, she was told that all radiology appointments were postponed.

As her condition deteriorated — bleeding from the tongue and in unbearable pain — she filed a petition with the Delhi High Court and has finally been admitted to AIIMS.

“Her cancer is at stage three now. Had she received treatment on time, this would not have happened,” her son, Debashish Dag, said.

Vinay Shetty, from the Mumbai-based Think Foundation, which works with people with the blood disease thalassaemia and organizes blood donation camps, said those needing transfusions are among the most vulnerable.

“Those needing drugs may not have a problem, but anybody needing blood will,” Shetty said, adding that the government had to encourage blood donors.

Public health expert Anant Bhan said that India’s focus on COVID-19 could lead to other diseases such as tuberculosis spreading.

“Family members in lockdown with tuberculosis patients are at risk. After the lockdown is removed and people start social interactions, it could spread the infection the same way COVID-19 patients could spread infection,” Bhan said.

“Deaths because of COVID-19 and not directly of it is something that we need to worry about. We need to ensure those who need essential services have it,” he said.

Time is already running out for Shahjahan’s fellow patients in the subway and tents outside AIIMS.

“The doctors told me they could not do my chemotherapy session now and that they’ll call me when the lockdown is lifted. That call may take weeks,” said Mohammed Shan-e-Alam, a 25-year-old resident of Rampur. “Now I can’t go home and I can’t go to the hospital.”

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


title: Mature response to WHO required

content_text:
It is hardly surprising that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is on the defensive. He is taking hits from all angles — the most recent and high-profile example is a broadside from US President Donald Trump, who attacked Tedros’ organization for moving too slowly and being “China-centric.” (Remarkably, in this case, there was merit to two Trump utterances in short succession.)

Being targeted by Trump is a badge of pride in some quarters and, here too, that might have been the case were it the only source of disdain aimed at the WHO. Instead, Tedros has received sustained criticism from the minute the COVID-19 outbreak went public, precisely because — by common consensus — going public took the WHO far too long.

Some of the strongest censure has come from the health authorities in Taiwan. Given the decades of sidelining and unconscionable treatment the nation has received from the organization at China’s behest, this is understandable.

Of course, this started long before Tedros’ tenure. Retracing the steps down the entire hall of shame is too time-consuming; instead a detour into some of the grubbier side-chambers would suffice.

In 1998, an enterovirus outbreak caused severe infections in more than 400 people, killing 78 (91 percent of whom were children under the age of five). Taiwanese officials cited WHO inaction as critical in preventing timely international cooperation.

Five years later, during the SARS outbreak of 2002 to 2004, Taiwan was forced to wait 50 days for the WHO to answer a request for assistance. When the organization’s experts did show up, it was revealed that they had come in an observational capacity only, having received instructions to refrain from assisting.

With 73 deaths from 346 infections, the epidemic had a 21.1 percent mortality rate (a still shocking 10.7 percent if people with underlying conditions are discounted). When it transpired that China had tried to keep a lid on things, Taiwan was faced with the reality of being on the front line with a gravely irresponsible neighbor.

It was wake-up call, and as a direct result of the SARS experience, the National Health Command Center was established in 2004. This centralized, rapid-response mechanism has been highlighted as a key component of Taiwan’s success in news reports on its approach.

Therefore, Taiwan is well aware that — when moving quickly could be the difference between containment and disaster — Beijing and the WHO cannot be trusted to act in its interests; nor, it now appears, in the interests of anyone, where those interests clash with China’s prerogatives.

Yet, if Tedros is just the latest in a long line of China’s lackeys, he and his subordinates have certainly plumbed new depths in their kowtowing.

In response to the SARS epidemic, Tedros’ predecessor Gro Harlem Brundtland became the first director-general to issue an advisory for a specific region, with the WHO warning against travel to the disease epicenter in southern China in April 2003.

Brundtland even publicly alluded to Beijing’s lack of transparency and failure to allow the WHO access to the area until five months after Chinese officials had first detected the outbreak.

Contrast this with Tedros’ fawning praise for China, including — most ludicrously — Beijing’s supposed “openness to sharing information.”

Tensions have been further stoked by WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward’s now notorious video interview with Radio Television Hong Kong, in which he ducked questions about Taiwan and appeared to hang up mid-interview.

When accusations that the WHO ignored Taipei’s warnings about human-to-human transmissions in late December last year are added to the rap sheet — claims that, despite repeated obfuscations and doublespeak, the WHO has yet to refute — the Taiwanese decision to go public seems positively righteous.

With Taiwan leading the charge, it is hardly surprising that this is where Tedros has focused his retaliation. Where better to divert attention than to a place that nobody cares about, a nation that the WHO says is not a country — a ghost island whose feeble laments Tedros presumably thinks would not be audible from the international wilderness to which it has been consigned?

However, Taiwan has stood its ground, and — as its handling of the pandemic garners praise in almost inverse proportion to Beijing’s response — there are signs that the voice of this thriving democracy is finally being heard.

For this reason, it is important that the reaction to Tedros’ accusations of racism in his press conference on Wednesday last week remain measured and mature.

For the most part, this has been the case.

“We do not condone the use of racist remarks to attack those with different opinions,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in a statement.

So far, so good. Tsai also “strongly protested” the claims that “Taiwan is instigating racist attacks,” and this is where things get a little thorny.

Tedros did not directly say that Taipei had “instigated” the attacks that he alleges he has received; rather, he cryptically referred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs being aware of a campaign of abuse and slurs, from which it failed to “dissociate themselves.”

There is certainly an implication of complicity here, and Taiwanese — officials or the public — are justified in interpreting his words this way.

It is hard to see how Tedros could know whether the Taiwanese authorities were aware of any such campaign, let alone whether they had taken steps to intervene. To the degree that the alleged actions were coordinated or organized, would mean assuming that the individuals involved had gained access to his personal contact details.

Much more likely is that these oblique references are to the kind of abuse that takes place in locations where, unlike their Chinese counterparts, the Taiwanese authorities do not maintain a censorial presence: online.

Indeed, a quick peek at the discussion forums of the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board system, commonly known as PTT and the largest such Web site in Taiwan, provides an idea of the kind of muck that is being hurled.

With this in mind, the remark that, “the Taiwanese people do not differentiate by skin color or language,” which also features in Tsai’s response, is an odd one.

Versions of this claim have flooded social media since the WHO statement, with some of them verging on the absurd and demonstrating an incredible lack of self-awareness.

In a YouTube video comprising an open letter to Tedros, a UK-based medical student called Vivi Lin (林薇) said that Taiwanese “are known for the appreciation of diversity.” This would be news to many.

Racism exists everywhere. While in Taiwan it generally stems from ignorance rather than malice or hatred, and rarely leads to violence of the type encountered in other parts of the world, pretending it is not an issue makes no sense.

Look no further than the treatment of Southeast Asian migrant workers to witness discriminatory behavior, all too often culminating in shocking abuses. Attitudes toward people of African descent also often leave a lot to be desired.

Taiwan is right to challenge Tedros for playing the race card. However, in doing so, officials and citizens should eschew untenable claims and simply call this what it is: a smokescreen designed to draw flak from a beleaguered leader and the increasingly tarnished organization he fronts.

James Baron is a freelance writer and journalist based in Taipei.

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


content_text:
RUGBY UNION

Pichot seeking top job

Agustin Pichot is to run against World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont for the top job in World Rugby this month, the former Argentina international announced yesterday. Pichot, who won 71 caps for the Pumas and has served as a World Rugby vice-chairman under former England skipper Beaumont for the past four years, promised radical change if he were elected chairman. “It is a critical time and a critical election,” the 45-year-old said in a statement. “The current crisis is an opportunity for the global realignment of our game. We cannot miss it. It is time to align our global calendar and our strategic intent to attract the sustainable investment we need, or risk falling back to individual handouts or grants in the absence of a long-term vision for a global game.” Beaumont had already announced his intention to seek another four-year term and his re-election at the World Rugby board meeting next month had been expected to be a formality. If elected, Pichot would be the first chairman from outside Europe’s Six Nations and his candidature is likely to appeal most to those unions in the southern hemisphere or outside the traditional heartlands of the game.

ATHLETICS

Indoor triathlon completed

Former Olympic champion Jan Frodeno on Saturday completed a charity triathlon without leaving his own home. Frodeno, who was 2008 Olympic gold medalist in triathlon in Beijing, completed the course in 8 hours, 33 minutes, 39 seconds. His race at his home in Girona was made up of 3.8km in his counter-current swimming pool, 180km cycling on his roller trainer and running a 42.2km marathon on a treadmill. “That was certainly different and great fun,” the German athlete said. “I’m really pleased we were able to make this happen and to raise money for such good and important causes. We’ve been subject to lockdown for almost four weeks now and there is strict monitoring of compliance with these rules, and rightly so. The situation here is really dire. That’s why I’ve been training at home. However, when I see what the people here in the hospitals are doing for us, this small sacrifice is one I wholeheartedly make.” Frodeno said part of the 200,000 euros (US$218,710) raised would go to the Laureus Sport for Good project in the Spanish city of Girona, where he lives. The rest would be given to local healthcare institutions involved in fighting COVID-19.

CRICKET

Stokes relives ‘great day’

England all-rounder Ben Stokes on Saturday relived his “miracle of Headingley” for the first time, describing the Ashes nailbiter as a “great day.” In August last year, Stokes smashed an undefeated 135 as England beat Australia in the third Test in Leeds by one wicket. He and bespectacled last man Jack Leach put on 76 runs for the final wicket with Stokes hitting 74 in that partnership. With no cricket to fill the live schedules as a result of COVID-19 response measures, British broadcasters turned to their archives to replay the dramatic finale of the Test. Sky TV offered fans the chance to see Stokes, captain Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes dial in via videolink. Stokes told fans what was going through his mind in the closing stages. “It’s the first time I’ve watched it ball by ball. It’s always going to be great memories, isn’t it? One of the great days,” he said.

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

title: SPORTS BRIEFS


content_text:
Colby Cave, an excellent teammate whose lone goal for the Edmonton Oilers this season came on an “awesome” rush down the ice, died on Saturday after a brain bleed this week. He was 25.

The NHL club did not say what caused the bleed.

Cave’s agent, Jason Davidson, has said that the condition did not appear linked to COVID-19.

Colby Cave of the Edmonton Oilers warms up ahead of a game at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Jan. 15 last year.
 Photo: AFP

“Our Colby was loved dearly by us, his family and friends, the entire hockey community, and many more,” his family said in a statement.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Cave’s “life and hockey career, though too short, were inspiringly emblematic of the best of our game.”

“Undrafted, but undaunted, Colby was relentless in the pursuit of his hockey dream,” Bettman said.

Cave was was placed in a medically induced coma on Tuesday at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. He was airlifted to Toronto after being admitted to a hospital in Barrie, Ontario, on Monday. Cave underwent emergency surgery on Tuesday to remove a colloid cyst causing pressure on his brain.

On Wednesday, his wife, Emily, posted an emotional update:

“We need a miracle,” she wrote on Instagram. “Colby’s parents and myself, got to see him through a window and talk to him with a walkie talkie last night. We are no longer allowed to be in the hospital because COVID-19 rules. We have no idea when we will be allowed to see him again.”

“The nurse has tied his wedding band to his ankle. I am dreaming of being able to touch you, hear your voice, squeeze your hand (3 times), and kiss you again. I love you so much, and my heart is shattered into a million pieces without my best friend,” she wrote.

Cave scored once in 11 appearances with Edmonton this season. He had 11 goals and 23 points in 44 games with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Bakersfield Condors.

“Colby was a terrific teammate with great character, admired and liked everywhere he played,” Oilers chairman Bob Nicholson and general manager Ken Holland said in a joint statement.

The Oilers posted Cave’s goal on Twitter this week — an impressive rush down the right wing in which he beat a Pittsburgh defender and stuffed the puck past Penguins goaltender Matt Murray.

“Colby is an awesome person who scored an awesome goal for us this season,” the team said.

Cave had four goals and five assists over 67 NHL games with the Boston Bruins and Edmonton.

Boston forward Jake DeBrusk played with Cave in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and again in the Bruins organization.

“I was lucky to play junior hockey with Colby,” DeBrusk said on social media. “He was our captain and leader. It was an unforgettable moment when we again played together in the NHL for the Boston Bruins.”

Cave played five seasons with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos before joining the Bruins’ organization for the 2014-2015 season after going undrafted. The Oilers claimed Cave off waivers on Jan. 15 last year.

The 185cm, 90kg Cave made his NHL debut with Boston on Dec. 21, 2017, after getting called up from Providence of the AHL. He played three games with Boston that season.

Mark Lamb, Cave’s coach and general manager at Swift Current, recalled an “infectious smile” and a “great person to be around.” “He was just an all-around player,” Lamb said from his home in Prince George, British Columbia, on Saturday. “And probably if he wasn’t the best two-way player in the league, he was right there.”

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

title: The Edmonton Oilers’ Colby Cave dies at 25


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Indonesia orders transport curbs ahead of Ramadan

Indonesia has imposed curbs on public transport ahead of the annual exodus to home villages that marks the end of the Muslim sacred month of Ramadan, in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19, the government said yesterday.

About 75 million Indonesians usually stream home from bigger cities at the end of Ramadan, due this year at the end of next month, but health experts have warned against a surge in cases after a slow government response masked the scale of the outbreak.

Public buses, trains, airplanes and ships would be allowed to fill only half their passenger seats, under a new regulation that also limits occupation of a private vehicle to just half the seats, while a motorcycle may be ridden only by one person.

A woman and a child wait between rail tracks in Jakarta yesterday during the imposition of large-scale social restrictions by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
 Photo: Reuters

“The essence of this new regulation is to carry out public transport control … while still meeting the needs of the people,” Indonesian Ministry of Transportation spokeswoman Adita Irawati said in a statement posted on the Cabinet secretariat Web site.

The capital, Jakarta, is the epicenter of the outbreak in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, with the most infections and deaths among a national tally of 3,842 cases and 327 fatalities.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has been criticized for rejecting calls for an outright ban on the Ramadan travel home, as well as stricter lockdowns such as those imposed by neighboring countries.

Widodo has instead sought to persuade people to stay put by expanding welfare programs.

He has opted for widespread social curbs in some areas, letting local authorities decide on closures of schools and offices, and bans on mass gatherings.

Yesterday’s directive also limits public transport vehicles to half capacity, shorter operational hours and sets out guidelines for motorbike taxis in regions covered by Indonesia’s large-scale social restrictions.

The ministry also ordered public transport operators to check passengers’ temperatures, while bus terminals, train stations, airports and seaports must provide soap and hand sanitizer, as well as standby medical staff.

Jakarta and surrounding cities, such as Bogor, Depok and Bekasi, are under the large-scale curbs.

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


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Australian medical chief says curbs must continue

Australians have done a good job in adjusting to government restrictions and social distancing measures, but it is not the right time to begin easing some of those rules, Australian Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said.

“It’s really important that we look at what’s happened around the world, where people have released restrictions and had to reimpose them,” Murphy told reporters.

Australia reported 51 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the 24 hours to 6am Sydney time yesterday.

A police officer asks a man to move while patrolling during the Easter long weekend at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, yesterday.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

This brings the total number of infections to 6,289, with 57 deaths and more than 351,000 tests conducted.

Australia’s political leaders have unanimously urged people to stay at home over the Easter break to help quell the spread of the virus.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese used Easter messages earlier this week to encourage people to remain at home over the four-day holiday.

Even with the number of confirmed cases remaining low over the past week, Australia’s second most-populous state, Victoria, decided to extend its state of emergency until May 11 to help “flatten the curve” and give its health system the best chance to cope with the virus spread.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack echoed Morrison’s sentiments, urging Australians to continue to obey the rules and not to become complacent.

At the weekend, the US became the country with the most coronavirus deaths, while Singapore has announced plans to fine people who breach social-distancing rules.

I do not want Australians to “see our numbers tracking very well compared to what is being experienced elsewhere in the world and think: ‘Why are we being locked up inside?’” McCormack said on Sky News. “This is not going to take weeks, this is going to take potentially months.”

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that the government would continue to take medical advice about when to ease restrictions, adding that it has repeatedly warned they might be in place for six months.

“I think the Australian people are prepared for restrictions for as long as it takes,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corp’s program Insiders. “It’s very dangerous and unrealistic to move ahead of the medical advice.”

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


title: Reclaiming a stolen tongue

content_text:
Rap, ‘Frozen 2’ help revive northern Finland’s
endangered Sami languages

Sporting a grey hoodie, goatee beard and oversize headphones, rapper Amoc spits a stream of aggressive, staccato rhymes into the microphone of his home studio as he works on new material.

The punchy rhythm of the 35-year-old’s vocals would sound familiar to rap lovers all over the world.

But Amoc’s lyrics are only understandable to the 300 speakers of the seriously endangered language of Inari Sami, from Finland’s far north.

Iiris Maenpaa, Inari Sami teacher and coordinator at the Sami Educational Institute teaches a class in December last year in Finland. Until the middle of the last century, the 10 languages of the indigenous Sami people — who are spread across the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia — were decimated by brutal assimilation policies by their governments.
 Photo: AFP

Until the middle of the last century, the 10 languages of the indigenous Sami people — who are spread across the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia — were decimated by brutal assimilation policies by their governments.

Now, a new generation of young speakers has spawned music, TV program and even a Disney blockbuster, in a “golden age” for Sami languages.

But re-learning the almost-forgotten tongues has stirred up painful memories of past injustices against the Sami.


title: The US$86 trillion question: How to get people back to work

content_text:
There is no off-the-shelf plan to help governments decide when or how to restart their economies, and experts are warning that policymakers should go slow and prepare for setbacks

Officials from Rome to Washington are urgently mapping out plans to loosen lockdowns and begin rebooting their economies even as the coronavirus pandemic still rages across swaths of the globe.

Trouble is, there is no master plan.

The juggling act for policymakers will be to reopen without triggering a second wave of infections that leads to a fresh round of lockdowns and yet more economic damage.

History serves as a warning: The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, the world’s worst health crisis until this one, hit in three waves before finally being contained.

The city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, provides a test case after China last week lifted its months-long quarantine.

Austria, Denmark and Norway are also on course to gradually open up.

Even Italy, which has the highest death toll from the disease, has been weighing its exit strategy after a moderating trend in new infections.

And in the US, President Donald Trump is again talking about getting people back to work.

As leaders prepare to tackle Phase Two of the pandemic — the gradual reopening of the world’s shattered economy — the stakes could scarcely be higher and the trade-offs more unsettling.

With planes grounded, supply chains ruptured and factories idled, the US$90 trillion global economy is enduring one of its worst shocks since the Great Depression.

Unfortunately, there is no off-the-shelf plan for governments to decide when, let alone how, to rev up the economic engines after such an abrupt halt in activity, especially when restarting could put the lives of more people at risk.

“We have to reopen somehow. We can’t go in shutdown mode for 20 months,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

“If we shut down like Wuhan, we destroy society as we know it. If we allow the virus to run willy-nilly, we will destroy our healthcare system and the economy with it,” he said.

Threading that needle is crucial, said Osterholm, who wrote Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs.

One option is to allow young people — those most likely to survive infection — to get back to everyday life and allow many of them to develop immunity.

Reopening economies safely would require antibody tests to identify communities that were least affected.

For now, those “are still not validated in most countries,” said David Heymann, a senior professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Until they’re available, it’s going to be a guessing game.”

Already more than 1.6 million people are infected across the globe, putting healthcare systems under severe strain, and at least 108,994 have died.

Experts say policymakers should move slowly and be prepared for setbacks in a process that could drag on for many months.

WUHAN’S REOPENING

All eyes are on Wuhan, a center for steel making and auto manufacturing, as it begins opening up. While trains, planes and vehicles are allowed to leave again, the transition back to normality is expected to be gradual as some restrictions remain in place.

Authorities say the coronavirus is under control, but they remain wary of another wave, either through a domestic outbreak or through imported cases.

Residents of some housing compounds have to prove they are heading to their jobs to be allowed out.

At least 10 Chinese provinces and cities also require travelers from Hubei Province, where Wuhan is located, to enter quarantine for two weeks on arrival.

The experience of an auto parts maker in Wuhan is one indication of just how onerous rebooting the global economy is going to be.

“We kept having to delay the factory’s restart,” said Gong Jinqian, sales department manager at Digit Stamping Technology (Wuhan).

The company had to apply for approval from the government, commit to disinfecting the factory daily and prove it had enough protective gear for workers.

The risk of a second round has already become real in Asia. A county in central China has been put under lockdown again while Heilongjiang Province, which borders Russia as China’s northernmost province, has reported 125 imported cases and another 111 imported asymptomatic cases this month.

All but one of the imported cases are from Russia.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday said that hospitals were reaching capacity as he declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and its surrounding regions.

Abe called for international coordination on anti-viral drugs and for all G20 governments to spend more to support their economies in a video call between the leaders late last month.

Singapore and Hong Kong have also been forced to implement new restrictions as the virus persists, underscoring that even those with early success in containing the outbreak have little room for complacency.

Singapore on Saturday reported 191 new infections and 198 the previous day, and as in previous days, at least 79 of those on Friday were linked to clusters at foreign worker dormitories that house low-wage workers.

The global emergency has forced unprecedented spending and interest rate cuts as governments unleash more than US$5 trillion in fiscal measures and central banks dive deeper into crisis policy settings to cushion their economies from the shock.

Morgan Stanley estimates that the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England would expand their balance sheets by a cumulative US$6.8 trillion.

Despite those efforts, former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke does not see a quick, sharp economic bounce after a precipitous fall this quarter.

“We’ll probably have to restart activity fairly gradually and there may be subsequent periods of slower activity again,” he told a virtual discussion hosted by the Brookings Institution on Tuesday.

While some parts of the economy would rebound faster than others as employees transition back to the workplace, others would take longer.

Consumers are also likely to be wary about rushing to the mall, hanging out with friends at a pub, or hopping onto an airplane.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, one of Europe’s largest airlines, estimated it would take months until global travel restrictions are completely lifted and years before the worldwide demand for air travel returns to pre-crisis levels.

The company will slash its fleet of planes and shut a low-cost carrier.

SEEKING DATA

Peter Williams, chairman of British clothing chain Superdry PLC, said it is vital for retailers that consumer confidence recovers quickly

“For this to happen, consumers need to believe that it is OK to go outside again and start spending money, a message they will want to hear directly from the medical scientists and not the politicians,” Williams said.

Companies fretting over the lockdowns have turned to data scientists for guidance.

Ayse and Tolga Akcura, a husband and wife duo who run eBrandValue, a data analytics company headquartered in New York City, devised a model to help their corporate clients predict when they might be able to begin operating again.

“People are afraid to die, but I think people are more afraid to collapse financially,” said Ayse Akcura, who worked on Wall Street for more than 15 years.

Based on their findings and what is happening in China, they are saying clients should prepare for the possibility of re-starting operations 15 to 20 days after a country’s peak.

The concern among health experts and the public is that no matter how much you slow the rate of infection, in the absence of a vaccine the virus will return in force once lockdowns are lifted.

The only way to prevent that and to know when and where to lift measures first is through testing.

“Once you raise the lockdown, you have to have an alternative method to suppress the virus — active case finding, testing, isolation, tracking of contacts and strong community education,” WHO Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Mike Ryan said.

The problem is, with some exceptions in countries like South Korea, Singapore and Germany, testing for the coronavirus has been beset by flaws in technology, delays in delivery and shortages in materials.

The UK encountered yet another testing disappointment recently when Oxford University researchers found that kits the nation was counting on to identify people who had been infected were not accurate. That has caused skepticism about the speed and effectiveness of any mass testing effort.

A road map authored by a group of US health specialists including former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb calls for an intermediate stage in which schools and businesses would reopen, but gatherings would still be limited.

People would be encouraged to keep at a distance from one another, and those at high risk would be told to limit their time in public. If cases begin to rise again, restrictions would be tightened.

RETURN IN STAGES

Austria plans such an incremental approach. Small shops, hardware and gardening stores will be allowed to open after yesterday, to be followed by all retailers starting on May 1, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday.

Denmark and Norway also plan to ease restrictions gradually, starting with the reopening of schools. Curbs on the size of gatherings are to remain.

“Norway has managed to gain control of the virus,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told reporters. “The job now is to keep that control.”

Still, opening up relatively small economies like Norway or Austria is a far cry from rebooting countries on the scale of the US, or even Italy.

In Italy, where the pandemic has claimed more than 19,468 lives, selected firms could open in the middle of this month after the level of new cases flattened out, an official familiar with the discussions said last week.

If the situation continues to improve, early next month could bring fewer social restrictions, with some shops reopening, but bars and restaurants remaining closed, the official said.

Social-distancing rules would remain.

The plans that the White House is developing to get the economy back in action depend on testing far more Americans for COVID-19 than has been possible to date, people familiar with the matter have said.

The effort would likely begin in smaller cities and towns in states that have not yet been heavily hit. Hot spots such as New York City, Detroit, and New Orleans would remain shuttered.

“Everyone wants to open up and get back to normalcy, but there isn’t anything that I’m aware of that has the exquisite strategy we need to see where a hot zone might be emerging,” said Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California. “It’s a recipe for failure if there isn’t a way to have people under some type of surveillance to see if the virus is bouncing back.”

A reopening might begin within four to eight weeks, US National Economic Council Director Lawrence Kudlow said.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose daily virus briefings have won him a national following, said the state does not have the “luxury” of waiting until the virus has been stamped out to start getting the economy going again.

He suggested younger workers, who are less at risk from the virus, or those who have already survived and thus developed immunity, might be the first to return to work.

“It’s going to come down to how good we are with testing,” Cuomo said on Tuesday. “You’re going to need to know who had the virus, who resolved the virus, who never had it.”

Governments are grappling with a challenge that the world economy has never faced before and there are probably no good answers.

For all the rhetoric from politicians about getting back to work, they need to prepare their people for a long, hard slog, said WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward, who has led missions to Spain and China.

“It’s not lifting lockdowns and going back to normal,” Aylward said. “It’s a new normal.”

Additional reporting by staff writer

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


content_text:
監委陳師孟今（4）日針對扁案換法官一事，約詢陳水扁前總統，陳水扁並向監察院長張博雅遞交陳情書，抗議過去換法官，現在換監委，非常不公平，還一度激動掉淚。圖／張家銘（資料照）
監察委員陳師孟今（4）日針對扁案換法官一事，約詢陳水扁前總統，約談過後，陳水扁並拜會監察院長張博雅，遞交陳情書，抗議過去司法半途換法官，現在監院是半途換監委，是政治性裁判，非常不公平，陳水扁還一度激動掉淚。

陳師孟日前自動申請調查「2009年司法節慶祝大會演出諷扁行動劇」，監察院紀律委員會6月5日決議，陳師孟應迴避調查，監察院長張博雅核定，依輪序改派馬政府提名的監委江綺雯調查，但監委高涌誠認為認為紀律委員會針對「諷扁行動劇」調查案所做迴避決議極具爭議，有明顯瑕疵，再加上張博雅指派其他監委調查，明顯引用法條不當，因此提案希望在3日談話會中討論。

此外，陳師孟今年4月也立案調查台北地院2008年更換扁案承審法官程序，陳師孟曾表示，將分2次約詢陳水扁，第一次是在3月20日，他帶著3名調查官到高雄市陳水扁住家詢問陳水扁，今天是第二次約詢，陳水扁特地到台北來，台中監獄也知道今天陳師孟約詢陳水扁行程，表示尊重監察委員行使職權，並無違規問題。

陳水扁今天上午10點接受陳師孟約詢，約詢時間約1小時結束，陳師孟事後接受媒體訪問時表示，他上次親自到扁家約詢時，陳水扁表示，無需勞師動眾，自己可以北上監察院接受約詢。

約詢結束後，陳水扁特地到監察院長辦公室拜會張博雅，陳師孟轉述，陳水扁向張博雅提出陳情書「阿扁的請願／抗議：過去司法審判半途換法官，現在監院調查半途換監委！」，強調這不僅是陳情、在某種程度上也是抗議。

陳水扁認為，過去法院在審理扁案時，中途臨時更換法官，台北地方法院當初決定換法官，是剝奪他的權益，沒想到現在監察院也一樣，案件調查到一半，卻把主審的監委換掉，換成馬英九提名的監委，對他太不公平，這是政治性動作。

陳師孟指出，陳水扁希望張博雅能給他公道，但張博雅表示，依照紀律委員會的決議、按照規定處理，對此，陳水扁則是非常失望、非常失望，情緒非常激動，甚至掉下眼淚，想到這10幾年來的冤屈就很痛苦。

陳師孟提到，陳水扁是由隨身看護與醫生陪同前來，從約詢到院長室陳情，陳水扁的情緒都相當激動，陪同的醫生都很緊張，不斷幫他量血壓、心跳；早上約詢時，得知大門有媒體守候，考量中監不得接受媒體採訪的規定，怕引發不必要的困擾，陳水扁後來就由地下一樓離開監察院。

people: 馬英九 張博雅 陳水扁 江綺雯

title: 抗議中途換監委 談及委屈與不平 阿扁激動落淚


content_text:
自古以來就是皇室御用的名貴藥材鹿茸，亦獲得世界衛生組織WHO的認可。鹿茸是雄鹿未鈣化的嫩角，富含多種珍貴營養成分，多種礦物質與維生素，多種磷脂與脂肪酸，酵素等等營養素。

中醫師強調，一般觀念多認為鹿茸只適合男性食用，其實鹿茸富含多種珍貴成分，不燥不熱，男女老幼四季都適合吃。

宗霖鹿園園主吳松志50歲，吃鹿茸讓我每天精神滿滿，體力充沛！ 圖／宗霖鹿園 提供

有38年養鹿經驗的宗霖鹿園園主吳松志表示，依鹿的種類和生長期的不同，目前國產鹿茸以台灣水鹿為主，進口鹿茸以紐西蘭紅鹿及中國大陸梅花鹿與馬鹿為大宗，台灣水鹿是特有品種，取下的鹿茸基本上比進口鹿茸好。台灣水鹿約在農曆年後開始生長鹿茸，約75天左右可採收，接著便逐漸鈣化成為鹿角，藥用價值流失，因此新鮮鹿茸一年只有在4月至6月是採收期，傳統販售方式多為民眾自行前往養鹿場選購，過了產茸期，其餘時間的冷凍鹿茸，不知產地，來源較不明。建議到農委會核准的合法養鹿場選購，除了合法保障外，也可避免買到假貨。

台南市張淑芬53歲，愛和女兒出去玩，愛聽別人說「妳們好像姊妹喔」！愛吃鹿茸讓我健康自在每一天！ 圖／宗霖鹿園 提供

宗霖鹿園1982年成立，是行政院農委會核准的優良合法養鹿場，堅持培育純種台灣水鹿，並以新鮮牧草，天然食材育養，不食用人工飼料，也絕不含生長激素、抗生素、藥物等成分，並依多年養鹿經驗，在鹿茸生長最佳時機取茸，保留鹿茸最多的營養成分，同時能確保鹿隻安全健康，來年繼續生長鹿茸。

吳松志以「自用」的精神出發，經過國際標準製程來製造產品，嚴格品管，層層把關，每一道細節都安全無虞。且經SGS檢驗，絕無西藥、重金屬成分。吳松志強調，宗霖鹿園是運用高科技真空凍結乾燥及低溫超微細研磨技術製程，能促進人體吸收。能夠滋補強身、增強體力、調節生理機能、精神旺盛、青春美麗、維持健康的功效，更是產前產後及病後之補養聖品，男女老幼四季都能每天食用！

宗霖鹿園以「自用」的精神研發製造膠囊產品，保證產地自營、真材實料。 圖／宗霖鹿園 提供

每天一粒、增強體力、青春美麗。

宗霖鹿園電話：07-6525890地址：高雄市大樹區大樹路200號官網：www.zonglin.net宗霖鹿園極品鹿茸膠囊30天份定價3680元 特價2800元全國各地銷售據點也可買到

taiwan-subdivisions: 高雄市 大樹區

countries: 紐西蘭 中國 台灣

title: 守護全家人的健康就靠它


title: 陸新冠疫情小反彈 新增99例

content_text:
大陸新冠肺炎疫情似乎出現小反彈。大陸官方昨（12）日通報，截至11日24時新增99例確診病例，其中97例為境外移入病例，二宗為本土病例皆來自黑龍江哈爾濱。這是大陸近期以來，單日有近百人確診。

據大陸國家衛健委網站，11日新增無症狀感染者63人，無新增死亡病例。目前，累計確診人數為8萬2,052人，死亡3,339人，已有7.7萬人康復出院。

值得注意的是，俄羅斯為大陸近日境外移入病例的主要來源，其中，上海新增52例境外輸入性新冠肺炎確診病例，其中51例，均為中國籍，乘坐同一航班，4月10日自俄羅斯出發，當日抵達上海浦東國際機場，因有症狀，入關後即被送至指定醫療機構觀察，該航班被稱為「最毒班機」。

大陸境外移入個案連日上升，疫情似乎出現反彈跡象，與俄羅斯鄰近的黑龍江更如臨大敵，提升防疫措施，其中哈爾濱市除加大入境人員的檢疫、加強社區防控，還要求對無症狀感染者所在的大樓實行14天封閉。

countries: 俄羅斯 中國

events: 死亡 新冠肺炎


title: 讀者投書泰晤士報反思愛爾蘭政策 掀起挺台聲浪

content_text:
愛爾蘭國立大學總校長曼寧今天投書「星期日泰晤士報」（Sunday Times）愛爾蘭版，呼籲愛爾蘭政府不要因為畏懼中國不悅，而採取反台灣政策，掀起一股支持台灣的聲浪。

曼寧（Maurice Manning）以「愛爾蘭不應只為討好中國而忽視台灣」（Ireland should stop ignoring Taiwan just to please China）為題投書。

他寫道：「我永遠無法理解愛爾蘭政府對台灣的態度。1983年我首次造訪台灣時，台灣正在擺脫軍事統治。今天，台灣是個運作完善的民主國家，擁有自由選舉、獨立的媒體及司法部門、健全的人權保障，以及獨立的大學，這與『（中國）大陸』形成鮮明對比。」

他說，然而愛爾蘭政府因為畏懼引起中國不悅，而採取歐洲聯盟（EU）國家中最嚴厲的反台灣政策。「該是重新考慮（這項政策）的時候了」。

「星期日泰晤士報」同時刊出其他讀者挺台投書，澳洲昆士蘭讀者桑德森（Lisa Sanderson）表示：「世界各國遵守世界衛生組織（WHO）建議，相信中國有關新型冠狀病毒的數據，但各國應該要先了解嚴重急性呼吸道症候群（SARS）爆發後所發生的事。WHO現已毫無信用，顯然是因為中國強大的手在背後操控。」

駐愛爾蘭代表處發布新聞稿表示，曼寧曾任愛爾蘭國會眾議員、參議員20餘年，也曾任愛爾蘭人權委員會主席等要職，德高望重，深受愛爾蘭各界尊敬。

而曼寧的投書，正呼應「星期日泰晤士報」愛爾蘭版專欄主筆奎恩（David Quinn）5日發表的「我們向北京叩頭，但台北對冠狀病毒已有對策」（We bowed to Beijing but Taipei had the answer to the corona virus）。

身兼愛爾蘭智庫約拿研究所（Iona Institute）所長的奎恩，帶動這波反省愛爾蘭與台灣關係的浪潮。

奎恩近期發表一系列專文批評中國，除5日專文外，他3月29日發表「中國政府須對冠狀病毒危機負責，絕非我們的救星」（The Chinese government is culpable for the corona virus crisis. It is no tour saviour），另在他的推特（Twitter）主張「世界衛生組織應該聆聽台北，而非北京」，聲援台灣參與WHO。

中國為洗刷先前隱匿2019冠狀病毒疾病（COVID-19，武漢肺炎）疫情，以致全球爆發大流行、各國深受其害的負面形象，近期透過協助各國採購物資及分享抗疫經驗，並強力發動官方媒體喉舌進行所謂「大外宣」作為。

不過，愛爾蘭媒體等各界對中國企圖撇清責任普遍無法接受，除要求檢討中國應負的責任，以及世界貿易組織未能扮演妥適角色外，也廣泛報導台灣、新加坡及南韓等國如何採取有效抗疫策略，控制疫情擴散，以及台灣被排除參與WHO的不公平事件。

此外，愛爾蘭之前向中國緊急採購2億餘歐元（約新台幣65億元）個人防護裝備（PPE），首批貨品經檢查有20%因品質不良而無法使用，更引發愛爾蘭各界震驚及憤怒，開始深刻檢討愛爾蘭與中國，以及愛爾蘭與台灣的關係。

events: 冠狀病毒 選舉 COVID-19 武漢肺炎

countries: 愛爾蘭 台灣 中國 新加坡 澳洲


title: 土耳其衛生部防疫1個月 內政部宵禁令2小時破功

events: 武漢肺炎 冠狀病毒 COVID-19

content_text:
土耳其內政部於10日深夜10時無預警下達子夜宵禁令，民眾蜂湧上街搶購物資。公衛專家批評，短短的2小時混亂導致衛生部防疫一個月的努力破功，「破口」估計1週到10天就會出現。

內政部長索魯（Suleyman Soylu）10日深夜宣布，31個省自當天子夜起宵禁48小時。此一禁令影響占全國人口約78%的6400萬人。報導指出，這是繼2000年10月22日人口普查日以來，土耳其再度「封城」。

但宵禁令宣布後，各地紛紛出現恐慌性搶購潮，民眾開車採買導致道路塞車，商店和麵包店更是大排長龍，包括在疫情嚴重的伊斯坦堡和西北部的松古達克（Zonguldak）皆如此。由於大批民眾一起上巿場而且沒有保持社交距離，民眾擔心，兩小時的亂局恐怕就足以讓土耳其2019冠狀病毒疾病（COVID-19，武漢肺炎）疫情再升溫。

這樣的憂心不是憑空想像。衛生部2019冠狀病毒科學諮詢委員會有委員對此表示，衛生部過去一段時間的防疫恐已「破功」。

委員之一的亞夫茲（Serap Simsek Yavuz）指出：「那一個小時裡，民眾沒戴口罩、沒戴手套，所有規定全被打破。（衛生）部長30天以來的努力白費心血，只為了購買蘇打水和麵包。希望疫情未來幾週不會攀升。」

另一位委員歐茲魯（Tevfik Ozlu）也表示，出現「破口」，民眾蜂擁上街將助長疫情蔓延，估計1週到10天就會出現。

無預警宣布宵禁讓索魯飽受批評。他在「自由日報」（Hurriyet）專訪強調自己「有聽到批評並且虛心接受」。

索魯說，兩個小時期間有些地方交通阻塞，「我沒有事先想到」。他表示：「民眾以為禁令會一直繼續下去，才會導致壅塞。不過有一件事可以確定：任何作法必有風險，那一個小時出門的人約達25萬到30萬人。」

他強調，宵禁決定建立在不破壞生產與供應鏈的基礎之上，「從這層意義上來說，那是個重大決定」。

索魯指出，觀察其他國家作法，若於宵禁前2、3天就宣布，只會造成商店更加擁擠，「我們不希望發生那種情況」。他表示：「有人說我們應該於深夜11時59分宣布，但即使是這樣，我們還是會碰到其他問題。」

報導指出，擁有約1600萬人口的第一大城伊斯坦堡街道空蕩蕩，廣場闃無人聲，猶若鬼城，第2、3大城安卡拉、伊茲米爾（Izmir）情況也差不多。南部阿達那省（Adana）警方甚至出動直升機在空中盤旋尋找違規民眾。

警方在街頭設哨攔查並且加強街頭巡邏。內政部表示，有將近1萬9000人違反宵禁令而吃罰單

對動物友善出了名的土耳其，宵禁期間又有友善動物的作法。索魯表示，民眾於禁足的48小時內溜狗不算違規，如果因此挨罰將會予以撤銷。他表示，當局也派志工繼續餵食流浪動物。

內政部日前曾指示地方政府，定期在指定地點對流浪貓狗等動物提供食物和飲水，以免因為民眾居家隔離沒有出門，而使牠們飢腸轆轆。


content_text:
英國首相強生上週因感染2019冠狀病毒疾病（COVID-19，武漢肺炎）入院治療，他今天出院後表示，治療期間「好轉或惡化都有可能」。根據最新統計，英國死於武漢肺炎人數已破萬。

強生（Boris Johnson）今天從倫敦的聖湯瑪斯醫院（St Thomas' Hospital）出院後，隨即在推特發布短片說：「國家醫療保健服務（NHS）救了我一命，言語難以表達我虧欠的恩情。」

強生在影片中還感謝所有英國人遵守社交距離準則，他並相信全國上下的努力是值得的。

英國國家醫療保健服務今天公布，境內醫院過去24小時合計通報新增737起武漢肺炎死亡病例，累計達1萬612例。

新增死亡有657例在英格蘭。英國今天新增不治人數已由前2天的每日超過900例下降。

events: 死亡 COVID-19 冠狀病毒 武漢肺炎

title: 英國死亡病例破萬 強生自曝治療過程命運難料


title: 桃市風景區拚防疫停車場車流管制開跑 虎頭山連2天超標

taiwan-subdivisions: 石門 成功 烏來 桃園 大溪 中正

content_text:
〔記者李容萍／桃園報導〕時值武漢肺炎防疫期間，桃園市政府風景區管理處轄管各園區即起實施進入室內空間均需全程戴口罩及量測額溫，每半小時至1小時廣播宣導在戶外空間保持社交距離，於虎頭山、大溪中正公園及大溪老街周邊、慈湖、小烏來等停車場執行車流管制，當停車數達50％時即於CMS（道路之資訊可變標誌）、愛企桃網站、桃園智慧遊app等發布警示，達60％時由轄區警方管制車輛進入。

這項風景區車輛管制措施甫上路，這2天各風景區皆為陰雨天，僅虎頭山風景特定區停車場達到60％而啟動車流管制機制，由警方於三聖路、成功路口執行車流管制。

[2]

觀光旅遊局局長楊勝評表示，風景區管理處於4月28日起會在上述景點加上人流警示燈號，民眾每小時可查看即時燈號，確保在安全人數內前往旅遊。此外，觀光旅遊局前年10月起陸續在大溪橋、石門水庫、拉拉山、小烏來、角板山、虎頭山、大溪老街等景點建置「即時影像」服務，民眾可先上網觀察景點最新人潮現況，再決定是否前往。


content_text:
臉書社團《靠北警察》今年「警官場現形記2.0」版中，彰化縣警局長方仰寧獲得評價褒貶不一。（記者湯世名攝）

2020-04-12 23:13:41

〔記者湯世名／彰化報導〕臉書社團《靠北警察》粉絲專頁設立的「警官場現形記」，讓基層對長官打分數，分數從1到5分，去年掀起警界熱烈議論，今年「警官場現形記2.0」版中，全國各縣市警局從局長以降至中階警官都被拿出來評論，有人不吝給予肯定，卻也有人抨擊不留餘地，其中去年掀起警界「南北戰爭」的彰化縣警局長方仰寧，今年同樣褒貶不一，有人認為他「創新作為累死下面」，但也有人認為他「做事認真、為人正直」，評論是否公允則見仁見智。

《靠北警察》去年設立的「警官場現形記」，掀起基層為單位主管甚至警察局高層表現「打分數」的熱潮，不論是六都警察局長或縣市警察局長，或者警察局刑警大隊長、警分局以降至基層派出所的所長、副所長，都被基層直接點名拿出來批評，部分警察局長被抨擊的體無完膚，基層絲毫不留情面，卻也多少顯示出其「帶兵無法帶心」的窘境；不過也有部分主官備受基層推崇，認為是「史無前例」照顧基層的好長官，評論相當兩極化。

其中去年3月到任的彰化縣警局長方仰寧，因為在彰化基層員警評論中得分頗低，引發曾當過他下屬的台北市警局基層不滿，紛紛留言「請把方神還給台北市」，當時還曾因此引發警界「南北戰爭」。

《靠北警察》粉絲專頁「警官場現形記2.0」版本最近捲土重來，同樣掀起基層熱烈發言，部分去年分數墊底的警察局主官，今年照樣被基層慘「電」，其中，彰化縣警局長方仰寧又躍上版面，成為討論人選之一，有基層認為他「想要升官，想要有績效，又怕底下出事，限制東限制西，搞得什麼都不是」，還有人認為他「富有創意及想像力，不幹警察絕對當藝術家」。不過也有人力挺認為「認真做事的警員會喜歡他，混的會討厭他」，以及「做事認真、為人正直」。

警界人士認為，基層為長官「打分數」本來就是個人主觀意見居多，不失為基層紓壓的管道之一，是否公允則見仁見智。

title: 警官場現形記2.0？引爆警界「南北戰爭」的方仰寧褒貶不一


title: 避免防疫破口 基隆廟口夜市、愛四路夜市人流上限2000人

taiwan-subdivisions: 基隆 基隆市

content_text:
基隆市廟口夜市及愛四路夜市即日起實施容留人數總量管制，同時間容留人數上限為2000人。圖為基隆廟口夜市週日晚間6點40分用餐情形，人潮銳減不到往日的3到4成。（記者俞肇福攝）

2020-04-12 21:09:25

〔記者俞肇福／基隆報導〕為避免因為民眾用餐成為防疫破口，基隆市政府今天下午宣布，即日起，對廟口夜市及愛四路夜市實施容留人數總量管制，同時間該區域容留人數上限為2000人。基隆市長林右昌表示，請民眾配合政府防疫政策，出入人潮密集公共場域，需戴口罩，並依照中央流行疫情指揮中心規定的保持社交距離，一齊對抗疫情。

不過，記者今天晚間6點40分實地走訪廟口夜市與愛四路夜市，人潮雖然較往日銳減，只剩下3到4成，但是部分熱門美食攤位，仍會發現民眾緊鄰用餐，記者趨前詢問，為何沒有保持1公尺社交距離，受訪者多表示是親人、同學、朋友，都知道對方健康情況，緊鄰用餐應該沒有關係。攤商表示，如果不是一同上門的客人，還是會用珍珠板將客人隔開來。

林右昌表示，基隆的廟口夜市、市場都是開放式空間，管制上難度甚高，不過經過產發處的協調，針對廟口夜市區域試辦容留人數總量管制，即日起實施進出人流管制，以該處空間與中央防疫指揮中心所訂「室外社交距離1公尺」之標準，換算其同時間容留人數為2000人，並由產業發展處、警察局合作進行勸導與管制。

管制路段依區域營業時間執行，廟口夜市自中午12時至夜間12時；愛四路夜市自下午4時至夜間12時，分別於愛三路、仁三路口；愛四路、仁三路口以及愛四路、仁二路口共計三處設置管制點，由市府相關人員進行容留人數總量管制，並勸導民眾戴口罩，未來將視執行成效考量擴大執行區域的可行性。

依中央流行疫情指揮中心指引，林市長日前即請民政處要求各大小廟宇，要求參拜民眾戴口罩，並規劃動線進行人流管制，出入口設酒精、乾洗手；也請產發處針對各公有市場、傳統市場、夜市研議措施，民眾前往必須戴口罩（不限任何材質），並規劃單一出入口，進行分流管制、食物遮罩、禁止民眾試吃。

林右昌說，針對市內景點、飯店也責成觀光及城市行銷處要求業者，規劃執行人流管制計畫、分流措施，以及櫃台等待線、用餐、帶位等保持1.5公尺的社交距離，並準備警語提醒。

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


title: 基隆法拍爭議》律師：沒錢繳罰款可協商分期繳納 唯一解套是重新買回

content_text:
2020-04-12 23:18:55

〔記者俞肇福、吳昇儒／基隆報導〕律師林富貴表示，當查扣存款沒有效果時，才能對其他動產或不動產強制執行，如果不先查扣存款就直接對不動產執行，才算違反比例原則，與罰款高低無關，此案當事人陳男沒有存款，依法拍賣房子符合法律的比例原則；至於陳男指控未貼封條有法律瑕疵，林富貴說，房子被查封卻未貼封條，但鑑價及訂拍程序已合法送達，仍可視為法律程序補正，法拍並無瑕疵。

林富貴表示，本案已經完成法拍而且過戶了，唯一解套的方式就是陳男去找得標的買主，請求再把房子賣還給他，依一般實務，陳男可能必須酌予貼補費用並動之以情，才有可能把房子重新購回自己名下。但據了解，陳男有透過關係詢問對方，但已遭到拒絕。

他指出，法律所謂的比例原則，是指國家為了達到行政目的，必須選擇侵害人民權益最小的方式進行，例如行政執行機關可以針對受執行人的任何財產施以執行，例如存款、汽機車及不動產等，因為標的（欠繳金額）很小，執行機關必須先就侵害人民權益最小的存款先執行，只有扣不到存款時，才能對其他動產或不動產執行，如果不先查扣存款就直接查扣房子，才是違反比例原則，與罰款高低無關。

林富貴說，從催繳罰款、到債權人家中履勘、請鑑價單位到家中鑑定房價，到行政執行署公告拍賣不動產，過程中有十多次的公文書寄送告知，大多採取雙掛號的方式以求慎重，當事人在法拍前都有機會繳納清償，執行署宜蘭分署人員到陳宅鑑價、請鎖匠到場開門，轄區派出所警察也有到場，並無法律瑕疵。

至於陳男表示因四處打工，母親不識字且未轉交掛號信等，林富貴說，如果陳男實際居住地不是戶籍地，可以通知寄件地址變更，如未申請變更，同居的家人收受並簽收公文書，就視同公文收受有效，不管收到公文的人是否了解內容。

林富貴呼籲說，民眾收到司法單位的公文書，如果對內容有疑問或個人經濟狀況困窘，可到各縣市政府服務台請教義務律師免費諮詢，以免個人權益受損

taiwan-subdivisions: 基隆 宜蘭

things: 經濟 人權


content_text:
2020-04-12 21:58:35

［記者吳俊鋒／台南報導］「武漢肺炎」在國內持續延燒，五一連假放不放，各界議論，台南市長黃偉哲今天受訪時表示，雖然目前單日確診病例相對減少，但料敵從寬、禦敵從嚴，應該用比較謹慎、小心的態度去面對疫情，他認為等到本月的19、20日再決定仍來得及，現在還不用急著論斷。

黃偉哲指出，一般居家檢疫或隔離都是要2個禮拜的時間，若從清明連續假期的4月5日算起，要等到19、20日再做最終的決定還不遲。

黃偉哲說，距離五一連假的時間還早，如果4月中旬以後，疫情趨於嚴峻，當然是建議中央要採取更高規格的方式來管制，包含入園、停車，甚至戴口罩等的防疫作為都是。

黃偉哲提到，如果本月中旬之後，疫情趨緩，對於戶外的風景區，人流的管制似乎是可以考慮一下，但是餐廳、酒店等，是否要維持高強度的管制，還是要尊重疫情指揮中心的做法，總之，相忍為防疫，希望大家能夠謹慎小心。

黃偉哲強調，現在一些管制的不便，就是希望將疫情壓下來，防疫階段的第2回合才算勝利，若疫情急轉直下，以歐美為例，很多國家在當初是零確診，結果才2個禮拜就變成3位數，甚至4位數的病例，因此台灣真的不可以掉以輕心。

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

title: 武漢肺炎》五一連假該不該放？黃偉哲說話了


content_text:
2020-04-12 21:56:41

〔記者李容萍／桃園報導〕真的，比礦泉水還便宜！超級柴油每公升原本只要13塊多？喊漲0.6元還是超級便宜！

由於主要產油重新協商減產，國際原油暫緩頹勢、價格上漲，中油自明（13）日凌晨零時起汽、柴油價格每公升各調漲0.6元，終止連六跌。調整後的參考零售價格分別為92無鉛汽油每公升17.9元、95無鉛汽油每公升19.4元、98無鉛汽油每公升21.4元、超級柴油每公升15元。油價終止連六跌，不過，位於桃園市中壢區的好市多中壢加油站，早從3月23日起已都是1字頭的優惠油價，4月6日起實行的一週油價，即使13日微幅調漲，仍讓前往加油的會員直呼還是「超便宜」。

原來，好市多中壢加油站4月6日起公告的一週油價： 95無鉛汽油每公升16.2元、98無鉛汽油每公升17.8元、超級柴油每公升13元，即使13日凌晨零時起汽、柴油價格每公升各調漲0.6元，消費者怎麼算都還是覺得「好像這1、20年來沒有加過這麼便宜的油」，這1、2個月來，來這裡加油的會員人數變的更多，消費者顧不了時間就是金錢，甘願大老遠、大排長龍來這裡等候加油。

雖然油價變便宜，中油不忘提醒，國內油價每週隨國際油價變動調整，有漲有跌，調幅大小完全取決於油價公式的計算結果，絕對沒有「漲多跌少」或「只漲不跌」。國內所需的油源幾乎全從國外進口，來之不易，呼籲消費者體認全球油源蘊藏量有限，珍惜資源、節約用油。

taiwan-subdivisions: 桃園 中壢

title: 油價終止連六跌 桃園這加油站便宜到會員甘願大排長龍等


title: 深夜特集》防疫在走趣味要有 台日韓洗手舞大集合

content_text:
2020-04-12 21:00:00

〔影音新聞／綜合報導〕防範武漢肺炎，除了佩戴口罩，與人保持社交距離室內1.5公尺、室外1公尺之外，更重要的是要勤洗手，而正確洗手七步驟「內、外、夾、弓、大、立、腕」你知道嗎？這週深夜小組邀請大家跟我們一邊跳防疫洗手舞，一起暢遊台灣、環遊世界，讓宅在家想出門的你，也可以邊洗手邊看世界各地的美。

本周除了Piko太郎蒞臨現場大跳PPAP洗手舞，深夜小組還邀請到4位神秘嘉賓合體，究竟是誰呢？

本週《深夜可以看》防疫洗手舞大挑戰，精彩內容4/12（日）21：00準時上線！

《深夜可以看》播出時間：每週日晚間九點鎖定「自由時報」粉絲團、Youtube頻道「自由Fun送」首播。

追蹤我們：Youtube頻道、Instagram


title: 感念父親    「紅蟳先生紀念樹園」造福地方

taiwan-subdivisions: 新營區 信義

content_text:
感念父親林紅蟳愛樹愛人精神，信義公益基金會董事長林信和（中）無償提供6分地種植500株樹木造林，希望打造友善、永續的環境，造福故鄉。（記者王涵平攝）

2020-04-12 22:12:43

〔記者王涵平／台南報導〕感念父親愛樹愛人精神，信義公益基金會董事長林信和無償提供6分地種植500株樹木造林，希望打造友善、永續的環境，造福故鄉。

姑爺里旅外子弟林信和在2018年無償提供土地給新營區姑爺里成立「紅蟳先生紀念公園」後，占地約400坪，目前為姑爺社區樂齡營造據點。

今年再無償提供六分地打造「紅蟳先生紀念樹園」，今日邀地方各界人士種植五百株樹苗，包括「蘋婆」、「毛柿」、「黃槿」、「森氏紅淡比」、「水黃皮」與「穗花棋盤腳」等，希望為故鄉營造優質生活環境。

植樹活動邀請市長夫人劉育菁、新營區長魏文貴、姑爺里長王月順等地方各界人士共襄盛舉，林信和提到父親林紅蟳時一度哽咽得說不出話，他表示，父親留下來的土地，希望能庇蔭姑爺里，將來造林後可以讓大家散步、吸取芬多精，居民生活品質、遊客旅遊環境都可以提升。

姑爺里居民65歲以上佔22%，是新營區典型的超高齡社區，早年多仰賴農耕經濟作為收入，故仍保有傳統農村社區，但目前有不少閒置農地，王月順感謝林信和董事長無償提供土地，陸續打造「紅蟳先生紀念公園」、「紅蟳先生紀念樹園」。

姑爺里老、中、幼三代居民今日也一起種下象徵傳承與環保的樹苗，希望社區能朝低碳永續樂齡綠色社區發展。


content_text:
2020-04-12 21:02:18

〔記者顏宏駿／彰化報導〕彰化縣永靖鄉市區有一座「獸魂碑」具文化價值，2年前公所建請文化局將其拆除，地方文化界認為有保留必要，建請文化局提報為文化資產列冊追蹤，惟本月10日文資委員解除列冊，引發地方人士憂心，認為這是為「拆除」預作準備，但今天文化局予以否認。

局長張雀芬表示，獸魂碑為縣府財政處的財產，經列冊追蹤兩年，財政局無拆除的動機，其它人亦無權更動，所以解除列冊。

她表示，當初地方建議拆除的原因係因該碑屬於極陰之物，有礙風水，但縣府已舉辦法事，將該碑之獸靈移請至溪湖肉品市場獸魂碑，就民俗信仰來說，永靖獸魂碑有物而無靈，不會影響風水。

該獸魂碑位於永靖市區，土地為縣府所有，其樣式為一方座、尖碑模樣，洗石子施作，上有「獸魂碑」三字。當地民眾說，因這裡已沒有屠宰場，民眾不會祭拜該碑，不過偶爾會有人前來憑弔。

當地人對於保留與否分兩派意見，邱先生說，這早該拆了，妨礙交通，拆了可以讓整個停車場動線更順暢。他説，這種獸魂碑到處都有，「這碑沒什麼特別」。

70歲的陳先生說，他覺得不該拆，它有沒有意義，需要再教育，它位於縣府土地，又沒礙著誰，縱然中元節地方居民沒有祭拜，但為什麼這裡有獸魂碑？獸魂碑的意義是什麼？都值得讓永靖子孫知道。

taiwan-subdivisions: 彰化 永靖 彰化縣 溪湖

title: 彰化永靖鄉獸魂碑解除列冊 文化界憂被拆


content_text:
2020-04-12 20:48:16

［記者江志雄／宜蘭報導］武漢肺炎疫情延燒，造成娛樂場所生意慘澹，主打火辣傳播妹陪唱、大眾化消費的「私包」，生意也是直直落，宜蘭縣業者透露，業績少掉三分之二，面臨雪崩式衝擊。

「私包」屬於視聽伴唱娛樂場所，遍及全國各地，多數沒有招牌，隱身於民宅、商辦、農舍，坐檯小姐採外送，以中國及越南女子為主流，她們除了陪唱，還會陪客人划拳、擲骰子、跳熱舞助興，大膽作風遊走在法律邊緣。

宜蘭縣「私包」業者說，幾年前營運黃金期，通常下午就有客人揪友來店消費，人來人往營業到隔天凌晨，每年春節前後，因有年終獎金加持，生意特別好，今年因疫情影響，許多客人裹足不前，經他估算，縣內各家業績平均掉了三分之二。

近來傳出台北地區酒店女公關確診，不少「私包」業者擔心，因預期心理影響，業界生意恐雪上加霜，大嘆錢難賺。

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

taiwan-subdivisions: 宜蘭 宜蘭縣

countries: 越南 中國

title: 火辣傳播妹也難敵疫情 「私包」面臨雪崩式衝擊


content_text:
中時電子報對留言系統使用者發布的文字、圖片或檔案保有片面修改或移除的權利。當使用者使用本網站留言服務時，表示已詳細閱讀並完全了解，且同意配合下述規定：

請勿重覆刊登一樣的文章，或大意內容相同、類似的文章
請不要刊登與主題無相關之內容
發言涉及攻擊、侮辱、影射或其他有違社會善良風俗、社會正義、國家安全、政府法令之內容，本網站將會直接移除
請勿以發文、回文等方式，進行商業廣告、騷擾網友等行為，或是為特定網站、blog宣傳，一經發現，將會限制您的發言權限或者封鎖帳號
為避免留言系統變成發洩區和口水版，請勿轉貼新聞性文章、報導或相關連結
請勿提供軟體註冊碼等違反智慧財產權之資訊
禁止發表涉及他人隱私、含有個人對公眾人物之私評，且未經證實、未註明消息來源的網路八卦、不實謠言等
 請確認發表或回覆的內容（圖片）未侵害到他人的著作權、商標、專利等權利；若因發表或回覆內容而產生的版權法律責任將由使用者自行承擔，不代表中時電子報的立場，請遵守相關法律規範

違反上述規定者，有權刪除留言，或者直接封鎖帳號！請使用者在發言前，務必先閱讀留言板規則，謝謝配合。

title: 好市多斷貨神物重新上架 「夢幻粉紅」網網暴動了


title: 人間自有溫情 星網友暖回台灣捐口罩

content_text:
星網友回應台灣捐口罩。（圖／取自PTT）

外交部日前宣布，將捐贈100多萬片口罩給予新南向國家，其中包括新加坡。而新加坡總理夫人何晶（Ho Ching）分享了相關新聞報導，卻寫下「呃……」（Errrr ....），引起外界關注，而據了解，何晶臉書也遭到台灣部分網友出征。

行政院也緊急在今天下午做出回應，發言人Kolas Yotaka表示，「星國總理夫人的個人臉書評論，行政院不會評論其在臉書上的意見，未來會繼續同星國維持友好關係」。外交部呼籲國人，珍惜台星兩國得來不易的情誼。

不過此事件在網路上持續發酵，PTT上有部分網友持續對新加坡謾罵，由於PTT是匿名制，無法分辨是否確實是台灣網友。

另外，有人貼出新加坡總理夫人何晶臉書下方留言，除了繼續戰台灣政府捐口罩一事之外，也有比較溫暖的留言，例如（有些留言經過翻譯年糕翻譯，因此擇要意譯）：請轉達台灣，要求台灣為人民留著口罩，因為看到他們需要用電鍋蒸過再用。也有人表示：謝謝台灣，但請留給台灣人民，因為他們需要排隊幾個小時，才可以買到配額。

references: 網友 臉書 PTT

countries: 台灣 新加坡


title: 新冠病毒複製沒完！專家：14天隔離期無效

content_text:
香港《南華早報》報導，香港知名傳染病學者、香港大學微生物系教授袁國勇領軍的團隊刊登於「臨床傳染病」期刊（Clinical Infectious Diseases）的最新研究顯示，新冠病毒在人體內的複製能力極強，48小時內能夠複製出100個分身。

袁國勇帶領的研究團隊是全球第一個採集新冠患者肺部檢體進行實驗的團隊，團隊讓檢體額外再感染SARS病毒，結果顯示，部分新冠病毒活力超強，48小時內能夠複製出100個病原體，相較之下，SARS病毒在高峰期時，最多只能複製10至20個。

不過研究也顯示，儘管新冠病毒再製效率高，它卻較少激起人體免疫反應，速度也較慢，和SARS病毒相反，新冠病毒進入人體48小時內，幾乎沒有誘發任何蛋白干擾素，蛋白干擾素是激發免疫系統對抗病毒的關鍵。

香港大學醫學院助理教授陳福和表示，新冠病毒就像「忍者」，在人體內不斷複製，卻只會造成較小的發炎反應。

由於多數新冠患者都只有輕微症狀，甚至是無症狀患者，令世界各國難以控制住疫情，袁國勇表示，目前約9成人口都未免疫，他警告，7月前，幾乎不可能控制住疫情，呼籲大眾要持續戴口罩，進入校園或辦公室前要消毒雙手。

研究也顯示，各國祭出的14天隔離期入境措施根本不夠，認為邊境重新開啟後，仍須對入境旅客進行篩檢。


content_text:
▲口罩放顯微鏡來做比對，發現使用過的口罩相當髒。（圖／翻攝陸媒）

記者柯振中／綜合報導

新冠肺炎疫情嚴重，不少民眾出門時會配戴口罩，以降低感染的風險。不過，口罩未使用與使用過有什麼區別？陸媒《健康時報》將使用過的口罩放在顯微鏡下放大，結果發現纖維上附著許多顆粒、汙垢與移動的病菌，看起來相當可怕。

陸媒《健康時報》將使用前、使用後的口罩放在顯微鏡下，結果發現使用前的口罩纖維乾淨，使用過後，纖維上附著了許多黑色顆粒，若再繼續放大，能夠看見密密麻麻的纖維，未用過的口罩纖維相當晶透，使用過的則布滿污漬。

▼口罩使用前後，放顯微鏡下的對比。（圖／翻攝陸媒）

接下來將顯微鏡放大到1000倍，可以看見使用過的口罩上卡著黃色汙垢，看起來非常髒，但也是這層將空氣中的髒汙擋下，替人們過濾空氣。放大到2000倍，則可以在上方看見白色顆粒，這些顆粒是被阻擋下來的病菌。

因此，《健康時報》建議，無論佩戴口罩前後，都應該洗手，以免手上的病菌沾染到口罩上，摘除口罩時，也盡量不要用手直接觸摸口罩外表，新冠病毒仍以飛沫、接觸傳播為主，若不小心碰到，又沒洗手，病毒很容易透過口、眼、鼻進入人體。

►酒精乾洗手特惠組！～防疫殺菌神器來囉～

▼口罩使用後，放顯微鏡放大到2000倍，上面有許多白色顆粒。（圖／翻攝《西瓜視頻》）

events: 新冠病毒 新冠肺炎

title: 用過的口罩超可怕！　放大2000倍驚見「白色顆粒」亂竄…布滿黃色汙垢


content_text:
2020-04-13 00:33:23

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕一名男大生日前在網路分享自己「脫魯」的故事，超神展開讓網友直呼「這樣也可以」？

該名男大生在匿名平台「Dcard」上表示自己昨天（12日）開車載女同學回家，稱自己遇到三寶，差點撞上闖紅燈的機車，急煞車讓原PO及女方因慣性定律往前傾。原PO表示當下怕女同學撞到頭，下意識用手想去擋住，沒想到回過神發現手竟然抓著女方胸部，讓原PO尷尬到極點。

這時女方表示「你要對我負責喔」，氣氛瞬間改變，原PO也開玩笑表示「沒問題！我們交往吧 」沒想到兩人就這樣在一起了！超神展開讓網友紛紛表示，「這樣也可以？」、「傻眼，我進來不是要看這個結局」、「上次我也這樣做，一回神發現我已經在警察局了」。

原PO在留言中也向網友表示，其實他和女同學本來就是曖昧關係，剛好利用這次機會告白，沒想到竟然就成功了。

title: 急煞車摸到女同學胸部脫魯神展開 網驚：這也行？


taiwan-subdivisions: 石門 成功 烏來 桃園 大溪 中正

title: 桃市風景區拚防疫停車場車流管制開跑 虎頭山連2天超標


countries: 美國 西班牙

content_text:
【記者陳俊村／編譯】美國一項新的民調顯示，有將近一半的美國受訪者認為，這波中共肺炎（武漢肺炎）疫情是神對人的警示，提醒人們回歸對神的信仰。

在這項由「約書亞基金」（Joshua Fund）委託麥克拉夫林及聯盟（McLaughlin and Associates）民調公司在3月23日至26日所做的民調中，有1千名美國受訪。

44.3%的受訪者（含基督徒和非基督徒）說，他們相信中共肺炎與其導致的經濟衰退是喚醒人們回歸對神的信仰的一個警訊，或即將到來的大審判的前兆，或兩者皆是。

其中，39.3%的單身受訪者回答「是」（49%的已婚受訪者回答「是」）；54%的軍人眷屬回答「是」；51.7%的西班牙裔回答「是」；63.6%的非裔回答「是」；26.3%的亞裔回答「是」；40.3%的白人回答「是」。

在各年齡層的受訪者中，年齡介於56至65歲的族群，回答「是」的人最多，占50.9%；相較之下，超過65歲者回答「是」的人最少，只占39.6%。

當被問到這波疫情有沒有讓他們更想了解神與心靈上的事物時，21.5%的非基督徒表示，這波疫情讓他們開始研讀《聖經》等宗教典籍，了解歷史上的預言，並與親友進行更多有關心靈上的對話。而表明會這麼做的基督徒則占40.1%。

此外，有29.4%的人相信，中共肺炎與其導致的經濟衰退是人們正處在《聖經》上記載的「末日」的徵兆。

其中，50%的西班牙裔相信這是「末日」的徵兆。這個比例超過非裔（40%）、亞裔（14.2%）和白人（24.7%），是所有族裔中最高的。◇

title: 民調：近半美國人認為 疫情是神的警示


events: 新冠病毒 COVID-19 死亡

countries: 中國 美國 法國 英國 香港 泰國 南極洲

content_text:
【記者張婷／綜合報導】英國外交政策智庫「亨利·傑克遜協會」（HJS）近日發表報告說，中共在處理新冠病毒（中共病毒）疫情問題上違反《國際衛生條例》，給全球帶來無法衡量的損失，僅G7的損失就高達4兆美元。

報告總結說，各國可通過10個法律應對途徑，讓中共為這場全球爆發的疫情承擔後果。

HJS：中共病毒不僅帶來人類悲劇 也造成嚴重經濟損失

HJS在報告中寫到，全世界處於危機之中。COVID-19（中共病毒引發的肺炎疾病）於2019年11月或12月在中國武漢出現，由於其極高的人與人之間的傳播率，病毒迅速擴散，造成數萬人死亡，並對全球經濟造成了嚴重的衝擊。到4月1日為止，除了南極洲外，其餘大陸都受到了病毒衝擊。儘管COVID-19不是21世紀第一個大流行，但卻是最致命的一次。

報告說，COVID-19的爆發首先帶來了人類悲劇，也對全球經濟產生了日益嚴重的影響。許多國家／地區已實行大規模隔離，旅行限制和社交疏離措施，導致消費者和企業支出下降。國際貨幣基金組織（IMF）總裁基奧爾吉耶娃（Kristalina Georgieva）在3月23日發表講話時說，今年世界將面臨「至少與2008年全球金融危機期間一樣嚴重或更嚴重的大衰退」。

法國經濟和財政部長布魯諾·勒·梅爾（Bruno Le Maire）日前也表示，受到疫情衝擊，法國正面臨自第二次世界大戰以來最嚴重的經濟衰退。

根據HJS的報告，由於疫情帶來的損失，美國可向中共索賠至少1.1萬億美元，英國可以要求索賠約4300億美元。七國集團（G7）是世界主要發達經濟體，這7個國家可向中共提出4萬億美元的索賠。

中共違反《國際衛生條例》

HJS的調查報告表示，有證據表明中共政府違反了國際衛生責任。如果在這次疫情爆發期間，中共履行了《國際衛生條例》中規定的義務，許多當前的災難就可以避免。但是中共似乎還沒有吸取當年SARS的教訓。在病毒爆發初期，當局一次又一次地對疫情撒謊。他們壓制了討論該病毒的醫生的聲音，有的「謠言散布者」甚至被警方拘留。

報告說，即使中共當局於2019年12月31日向世衛組織報告了疫情，它們（中共）也沒有提供其所掌握的人際傳播證據的詳細信息，並繼續壓制在這方面的明確數據，直到他們於2020年1月23日對武漢進行封鎖，但那時已經有500萬當地人離開了武漢。

1月13日，泰國登記了首例COVID-19病例，患者是剛從武漢回來的一名旅行人士。1月23日，兩名中國遊客抵達意大利米蘭，並在1月30日，成為意大利發現的首例COVID-19患者。

報告說，中共決定在COVID-19爆發的早期階段不對外分享信息，這一做法的一個直接後果就是，這種疾病的傳播速度比它們（中共）分享出的信息要遠遠快得多，全球各國對預防病毒傳播的回應也受阻。

報告認為，如果中共在早期關鍵階段提供了準確的信息，阻擋病毒向國外輸出是有可能的。

英國南安普敦大學（University of Southampton）的一項研究發現，如果中共對疫情的回應提前1週、2週或3週，感染病例則可能會分別減少66%、86%和95%。

中國（中共）是2005年《國際衛生條例》194個締約國之一，因此該條例對中共政府具有法律約束力。美國海軍戰爭學院斯托克頓國際法中心的主席，兼國際海事法教授克拉斯卡（James Kraska）表示，就有關可能構成國際隱患的公共衛生突發事件，中共有責任迅速收集信息，並為達成國際共識作出貢獻。

《國際衛生條例》第六條要求各國迅速、及時、準確地向世衛組織提供有關潛在公共衛生緊急情況的充分詳細信息，以便採取預防世界大流行的措施。世衛組織在第十條中還有一項任務，對於病原微生物的非官方報告向各國進行核實。各國須在24小時內按要求提供及時和透明的信息，並參與對所出現的風險進行協作評估的工作。然而，中共拒絕了世衛組織在1月下旬（以及美國疾病控制和預防中心在2月初）一再提出的流行病調查援助，並沒有作出任何解釋。

HJS在報告中說，中國共產黨領導的中國政府未能履行其義務。實際上，這至少有可能是蓄意的撒謊行為。

報告說，中共的舉動是來自其專制劇本。中共試圖對外掩蓋國內的壞消息。北京重複犯了2003年的許多錯誤，當時它阻礙了SARS危機的信息流通，從而使危機更加嚴重。

而現在，和SARS危機不同的是，中共通過部署一場先進而復雜的虛假宣傳運動來做出回應，以說服世界：北京不但不應該為這場危機承擔責任，相反，世界應該對中共所做的一切表示感激。中共在推特上發起大規模宣傳活動，利用數萬名五毛在推特的帳戶上為其服務。

報告說，事實是，中共對COVID-19傳播負有責任。如果全球對北京提起法律訴訟，中共可能要支付巨額賠償。該報告記錄了中共在爆發初期的過失，並分析了這是如何導致病毒傳播的。

各國可利用十大法律途徑對中共提出訴訟

報告總結了十種各國可利用的法律途徑，要求中共對疫情大流行所帶來的損失進行賠償。報告說，各國政策制定者們可能希望利用這些途徑，原因有二：首先，抗擊疫情給各國帶來了巨大的經濟負擔；第二，要使基於規則的國際秩序具有意義，就必須要維護。COVID-19事件上，中共違反國際法導致全球經濟受到破壞，令大量人喪生。如果國際社會這次對這種違反國際法的行為不做出回應，那麼他們什麼時候將會做出回應？

報告認為，採取行動既需要勇氣，也需要全球團結。中共有對其所感到的威脅在世界舞台上進行侵略性回應的記錄。因此，眾多要求索賠的國家一起行動會更有利，也可以在一個國際組織的支持下行動。

這些國家可通過以下十個法律途徑要求中共賠償：1. 將爭端報告給世衛組織，闡明中共違反《國際衛生條例》所規定的義務；2. 向國際法庭提出索賠請求；

3. 通過常設仲裁法院（Permanent Court of Arbitration）審理；4. 個人、公司或國家根據《國際投資協定》（Bilateral Investment Treaties）採取解決爭端行動；5. 依據《聯合國海洋法公約》的規定採取行動。

6. 依據世貿組織規則採取相關行動；7. 向香港法院提出訴訟，指控中共的行為違反了《經濟、社會及文化權利國際公約》規定的權利；8. 在美國聯邦法院對中共提出符合《外國主權豁免法》（FSIA）例外情況的訴訟；9. 在美國聯邦法院對與中共政府有關聯的商業實體提出訴訟；10. 在英國法院對與中共政府有關聯的商業實體提出訴訟。◇

title: 英智庫：全球可用十大法律途徑 要中共賠償


title: 大學教師持續高齡化 50歲以上比率達5成8

content_text:
大專教師持續高齡化，教部統計顯示，108學年大專教師50歲以上比率已達5成8，也是近11年新高。圖為示意圖。（大紀元資料室）
【記者呂適約／綜合報導】根據教育部最新統計資料顯示，各級學校教師50歲以上比率皆持續增加，其中以大專教師比率最高，108學年已達五成八，也是近11年新高。

根據教育部最新統計，108學年各級學校專任教師達29.7萬人，以國小教師約9.6萬人最多，其次是幼兒園教師約5.3萬人、高中教師約5.2萬人、大專教師約4.6萬人、國中教師約4.6萬人。

教育部表示，幼兒園教師人數有明顯成長，98學年僅1.6萬人，108年已達5.3萬人，可能與持續擴大幼兒教保服務公共化、提升幼兒入園率有關，因此導致教師人數也連動增加。

至於其他教育階段，教育部指出，高中和大專教師人數持續減少，而國中小因為新課綱上路，提高教師員額編制，因此108學年教師人數有比107學年微幅增加。

根據教育部資料，觀察108學年50歲以上教師人數達7.8萬人，約占教師總數的26.1%。各級學校50歲以上教師人數比率持續增加，幼兒園和國中仍在二成以下，國小和高中介於二成到三成，而98學年大專教師50歲以上比率約占三成三，到108學年已達五成八，也是近11年新高。

教育部表示，近年來大專校院專任教師漸趨高齡化，日後恐因人才斷層而影響教研能量，將持續檢討，並加強扶植青壯年學者，相關制度也將滾動調整。◇


title: 布克2K錦標賽奪冠  NBA官方有意續辦

content_text:
【記者尚上禮／綜合報導】由NBA官方舉辦的電玩《NBA 2K》球員錦標賽，12日圓滿落幕，由太陽一哥布克（Devin Booker）總決賽直落二擊敗隊友艾頓（Deandre Ayton）奪冠，NBA和球員工會將以布克的名義向亞利桑那食物銀行及全球人道組織捐贈10萬美元，以對抗肺炎疫情。

由於中共肺炎疫情導致NBA停賽，NBA官方邀集球星參加「NBA 2K球員盃」電競大賽，共計16名球員參賽，依其在《NBA 2K》的能力值決定種子序，進行為期2週的錦標賽。

太陽主力得分後衛布克，一路擊敗金塊波特（Michael Porter Jr.）、巫師八村壘和快艇哈瑞爾（Montrezl Harrell），決賽則碰上隊友艾頓。首戰布克用火箭以72：62擊敗艾頓選的湖人，第二戰艾頓改用密爾瓦基公鹿，布克則是以丹佛金塊應戰，結果金塊下半場一路碾壓，最終以74：62大勝，直落二奪冠。布克在球員盃不僅一敗難求，在出賽的6場比賽中有5場比賽還都以兩位數差距大勝。