Mon, Jun 01, 2020
Americans awoke yesterday to charred and glass-strewn streets in dozens of cities after another night of unrest fueled by rage over the mistreatment of African Americans at the hands of police, who responded to the violence with tear gas and rubber bullets. Tens of thousands marched peacefully through streets to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who died on Monday last week after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing. However, many demonstrations sank into chaos as night fell: Vehicles and businesses were torched. The words “I can’t breathe” were spray-painted all over buildings. A fire in a trash bin burned near the gates of the White House. The fury sparked by Floyd’s death was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left millions out of work and killed more than 100,000 people in the US, including disproportionate numbers of black people. “We’re sick of it. The cops are out of control,” protester Olga Hall said in Washington. “They’re wild. There’s just been too many dead boys.” People set fire to squad cars, threw bottles at officers and busted windows of storefronts, carrying away TVs and other items, even as some protesters urged them to stop. In Indianapolis, Indiana, multiple shootings were reported, including one that left a person dead amid the protests, adding to deaths in Detroit, Michegan, and Minneapolis in the past few days. In Minneapolis, police, state troopers and National Guard members moved in soon after an 8pm curfew took effect on Saturday night to break up the demonstrations. At least 13 police officers were injured in Philadelphia, and at least four police vehicles were torched. In New York City, dangerous confrontations flared repeatedly as officers made arrests and cleared streets. A video showed two New York Police Department cruisers lurching into a
The nation marked its 49th day with no new domestic COVID-19 cases yesterday, and there were no new imported cases, but that does not mean the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) can relax its attention, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said yesterday in Tainan as he and a team of health officials wrapped up a weekend visit to the city. The visit is part of the center’s efforts to promote domestic travel under the “new disease prevention lifestyle.” Among the 442 confirmed cases, 423 have been released from isolation and 12 people remain hospitalized, Chen said at the center’s daily news conference, which was held at the Jian Shan Pi Jianganan Resort (尖山埤江南渡假村), the second time it has be held outside of Taipei. Chen joked with reporters that he had not been working while in Tainan, simply enjoying seeing the sights, trying various local delicacies and appreciating the warmth of the residents’ welcome. Asked if he was worried that people will let their guard down following the center’s announcement on Friday that it would loosen disease-prevention regulations starting from Sunday, including those barring food sampling at supermarkets and night markets, Chen said: “It is inevitable that people might feel more relaxed after June 7, just like people slacken after mid-term exams are over.” “That is why in April we began promoting a ‘new disease prevention lifestyle,’” he said. “I have to bore people by repeatedly reminding them every day to wear a mask or keep safe social distances, wash their hands frequently, take their temperature and implement a real-name registration system, because I hope they internalize the ‘new disease prevention lifestyle’ into their daily habits,” the minister said. While people are excited about easing the regulations, the move will be a big test for the CECC, so the health officials
EXTRA INVITATIONS: Russia, Australia, South Korea and India would be asked to a later summit dedicated to countering China, Donald Trump said US President Donald Trump has been forced to cancel a planned face-to-face summit of G7 leaders this month and now wants to host an expanded meeting in September dedicated to countering China to which Russian President Vladimir Putin would be invited. Trump on Saturday announced that he had canceled the June meeting, which he had billed as a symbol of the US “transitioning back to greatness,” after German Chancellor Angela Merkel told him in a telephone call that she saw the summit in Washington as a health risk. Hundreds of security staff, journalists and officials also attend the two-day summits. Reports suggest the call between Merkel and Trump on Thursday was stormy, ranging from German plans for the Nord Stream gas pipeline, to Hong Kong and the potential health risks of a face-to-face summit. Trump’s new plan, outlined to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, is to host an expanded G7 meeting — including Russia, Australia, South Korea and India — dedicated to building an alliance against China. The plan is likely to be controversial because Russia has been banned from Western-led summits since Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and is not seen as a natural ally in the defense of human rights in Hong Kong. Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron would also be reluctant to provide Trump with a prestigious platform to set out his China strategy weeks before the US presidential election. Justifying the cancelation of this month’s meeting and his proposed new format, Trump said the current makeup of the group was “very outdated” and does not properly represent “what’s going on in the world.” He said he had not set a precise date for the new meeting, but suggested it might be around the time of the annual UN General Assembly in New York City, which is normally
China’s state media yesterday lashed out at possible retaliatory moves by the US to impose sanctions and end Hong Kong’s special status if Beijing imposes new national security laws on the territory. The China Daily said US President Donald Trump’s pledge to “take action to revoke Hong Kong’s preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory,” and to impose sanctions on unspecified individuals, would hurt the US, and unite Hong Kong with mainland China. “China has already prepared for the worst. No matter how far the US goes, China will keep its company. If Trump’s plan continues, Washington will soon run counter to the interests of most Hong Kong people,” the Global Times wrote. A Hong Kong government spokesman expressed regret the US continued to “smear and demonize the legitimate rights and duty of our sovereign” to safeguard national security. In a sign of diplomatic maneuvering, the US government said it would put one of its prime properties in Hong Kong up for sale — a luxury residential complex worth up to HK$5 billion (US$645.09 million). A US consulate spokesman said the move was part of the US’ global reinvestment program. Chinese government spokespeople and official media also compared the unrest in the US over the weekend with the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Chinese media also circulated video clips suggesting Hong Kong police were “restrained” in comparison to actions seen in the US. “US House [of Representatives] Speaker Nancy Pelosi once called the violent protests in Hong Kong ‘a beautiful sight to behold’… US politicians now can enjoy this sight from their own windows,” Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin (胡錫進) wrote on Saturday. Additional reporting by AFP
RELATIONSHIP ‘TERMINATED’: US Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the president’s action was ‘an act of extraordinary senselessness,’ a tone Chinese media echoed US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that Washington would withdraw funding from the WHO, end Hong Kong’s special trade status and suspend visas of Chinese graduate students suspected of conducting research on behalf of their government. Trump said in a White House announcement that Chinese officials “ignored” their reporting obligations to the WHO and pressured the organization to mislead the public about the outbreak. “We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engaged with them directly, but they have refused to act,” he said. “Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating the relationship.” The US is the largest source of financial support for the WHO and its exit is expected to significantly weaken the organization. Trump said that the US would be “redirecting” the money to “other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs,” without providing specifics. He said that the US contributes about US$450 million to the world body, while China provides about US$40 million. Congressional Democrats last month said that withholding money from the WHO would be illegal without approval from the US Congress and that they would challenge it. US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday described the move as “an act of extraordinary senselessness.” The WHO declined to comment on the announcement. At an event later on Friday, Trump was asked about ties with China. “Well, we’re certainly not happy with what happened with respect to China,” he told reporters. Tensions over Hong Kong have increased over the past year as China has cracked down on pro-democracy protesters and sought to exert more control over the former British territory. Trump said that his administration would begin eliminating the “full range” of agreements that had given Hong Kong a relationship with the US that mainland China lacked, including exemptions from controls on certain
The government yesterday said that it would closely monitor the situation after US President Donald Trump announced that he would withdraw US funding from the WHO, which Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said could create an opportunity for closer cooperation between the two nations. Trump on Friday said that the US is “terminating the relationship” with the WHO, accusing the global health body of failing to hold China accountable for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said in a news release that it would continue observing the situation and draft a response strategy prioritizing the nation’s best interests. Separately, Chen said that if the US established a new international public health body, Taiwan would strive to join it. While the government would wait for the US’ next steps, Taiwan certainly hopes to deepen collaboration with Washington to boost its disease prevention response, said Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that Taiwan has won global acclaim and appreciation for its successful response to the pandemic. “Taiwan can help. Taiwan is helping,” which is why many countries have voiced support for Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO, Su said. Taiwan hopes for there to be no borders in disease prevention efforts, as it could contribute more to the world if it is included in the WHO, he said. Former deputy minister of foreign affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said that Taiwan should closely follow the next moves of the US and other like-minded partners while continuing to make its appeals known. Most importantly, the nation should demonstrate its legitimacy in containing the disease, Kau said. Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan executive director Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said that as the nation’s foreign policy is to side with the US, the government should prioritize national interests when
A DECADE’S WORK: The two-volume, 1,400-page lexicon has collected more than 20,000 words and phrases, and is expected to help people learning the Liu Dui dialect The Liu Dui Culture Research Association on Saturday unveiled the nation’s first domestically compiled lexicon of Hakka-language words in the Liu Dui dialect, an effort that took a decade of work and cost about NT$7 million (US$233,085 at the current exchange rate). The two-volume, 1,400-page lexicon collected more than 20,000 phrases and words, and is estimated to be of great value in helping people learn the Liu Dui dialect and culture, the association said. It could also become a reference book for teachers, the association added. The lexicon collected phrases and common words used in daily speech, as well as local sayings, phrases and words describing the history of the area and the local life, it said. Association Director Tseng Tsai-chin (曾彩金), a retired teacher, served as the editor-in-chief of the project. Reached for comment yesterday, Tseng said he wanted to compile the lexicon because he thought that the Sisian (四縣) dialect, which is the main dialectal group to which the Liu Dui subgroup belongs, was underused at meetings or when presiding as a judge over events related to the Hakka language. The two most-used dialectal groups out of the five groups of the Hakka language used in Taiwan are the Sisian, which is more prevalent in southern Taiwan, and the Hailu (海陸), which is more prevalent in the north. The other three groups are the Dapu (大埔), Raoping (饒平) and Jhaoan (詔安). The 12 Hakka-speaking townships spread across Pingtung County and Kaohsiung all speak the Liu Dui subdialect, which can be further subdivided into three smaller groups — one used by those in Neipu (內埔), Wanluan (萬巒), Jhutian (竹田) and Linluo (麟洛) townships in Pingtung; the second used in Gaoshu (高樹), Changjhih (長治), Jiadong (佳冬) and Sinpi (新埤) townships; and the third used in the Mainong (美濃), Shanlin (杉林) and Liouguei (六龜) districts of Kaohsiung. This is evidence
EXPANSION: The transportation ministry is to subsidize Taipei and Kaohsiung’s purchase of 63 multipurpose taxis, as well as the payment of incentives for drivers The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is appropriating nearly NT$60 million (US$2 million) to subsidize plans by the Taipei City Government and the Kaohsiung City Government to expand their multipurpose taxi fleets, it said over the weekend. The ministry said that it has since 2013 subsidized the multipurpose taxi service nationwide, as it has become a way for disabled people to travel. The nation has 980 multipurpose taxis, including 301 in Taipei and 272 in Kaohsiung, ministry statistics showed. Last year, the service was accessed more than 200,000 times in Taipei and 460,000 times in Kaohsiung, which the ministry said shows that the service has helped facilitate the transportation of physically challenged people. The city governments of Taipei and Kaohsiung have asked for subsidies to expand their multipurpose taxi fleets due to rising demand for the service, the ministry said. After reviewing their plans, the ministry agreed to provide a subsidy of NT$19.46 million to Taipei and NT$39.50 million to Kaohsiung, it said. The subsidies would help the cities purchase a total of 63 vehicles for the service — 20 in Taipei and 43 in Kaohsiung — as well as cover the incentive bonuses for drivers and pay for part of the leasing fees for multiple-card readers, the ministry said. “We hope that the two city governments can quickly find qualified taxi service operators so that the new vehicles could be added to the fleets before December,” it said. Multipurpose taxis should be equipped with wheelchair lifts or detachable ramps, with each driver receiving up to NT$400,000 in subsidies to purchase the vehicles, the ministry said. Multipurpose taxi drivers who serve disabled passengers more than 50 times per month can apply for a bonus of NT$50 per trip, with the maximum bonus being capped at NT$5,000 per month, it said. To allow
The John Tung Foundation yesterday marked the WHO’s World No Tobacco Day by inviting people to spread its message against cigarettes online. The foundation’s tobacco control division shared statements on Facebook, including “I refuse to smoke, I am proud,” and “Protect what you love, all tobacco products get out,” and calling on users to repost the messages. It also asked for donations of receipts for the uniform invoice lottery. The theme of World No Tobacco Day this year is “Protecting youth from industry manipulation and preventing them from tobacco and nicotine use.” The rate of cigarette smoking among adolescents in Taiwan has increased for the first time in a decade, said Chen Miao-hsin (陳妙心), head of the Health Promotion Administration’s Tobacco Control Division, citing an agency study from last year on adolescent smoking behavior. Electronic cigarette usage among senior-high school and vocational high school students was 5.6 percent, a 60 percent increase from 2018, the study showed. Electronic cigarettes are a gateway to smoking cigarettes and using drugs, Chen said, adding that companies use “coolness” to attract adolescents or mislead them into thinking that electronic cigarettes are less harmful so that they continue using them, leading to addiction. Foundation chief executive officer Yao Ssu-yuan (姚思遠) said tobacco companies are using the same marketing techniques they have traditionally used to sell cigarettes to promote electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products and other new forms of products. The companies use popular culture and social media to market various products, he said, adding they want to develop a “new generation” of people with addiction — echoing one of the WHO’s main taglines for this year’s World No Tobacco Day: “The secret’s out: If your product killed 8 million people each year, you’d also target a new generation.” Lin Ching-li (林清麗), head of the foundation’s tobacco control division, said traditional and new forms
A Taichung doctor on Wednesday warned parents with children who have asthma to avoid smoking around them after treating a boy who had an asthma attack after his father began smoking more at home. The father was forced to take unpaid leave amid the COVID-19 pandemic and was therefore spending more time at home than usual, Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital Department of Pediatrics doctor Yu Meng-kung (余孟恭) said. The boy had stopped taking asthma medication about one year ago, as his condition had improved, but he was rushed to the hospital after a flare-up, Yu said. Although the father had been smoking on the family’s balcony with the door closed, the smoke was entering the home through small openings in the door and windows, Yu said, adding that second-hand and third-hand smoke can trigger asthma. The chemicals from lit cigarettes permeate the smoker’s clothes and surfaces in the home, and can be breathed in by others even if they were not directly exposed to the smoke, he said. In people with asthma, inflammation of the respiratory tract can cause coughing, wheezing, chest pain and difficulty breathing, among other symptoms, Yu said. If the symptoms are ignored, they could lead to damage to the pulmonary alveolus, an increase in mucus in the bronchial tube and a thickening of the muscles surrounding the bronchial tube, all of which obstruct the respiratory tract, he added. Parents with children who have asthma are advised to seek treatment for their children as early as possible to avoid impeding the healthy development and functioning of the cardiopulmonary system, he said. Parents should also pay close attention to how temperature differences between day and night affect their children, and keep living spaces free of air pollutants and dust, he said. Smoking especially should be avoided around children, he said.
The One Bear Museum in Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), a teddy bear museum once touted by the county government as a “luminous pearl” along Provincial Highway No. 13, is facing possible closure. The museum’s building, which was provided by the county government, has a serious water leakage problem and lacks a parking lot for buses to bring in tour groups, Hsinchu County Councilor Lo Shih-shi (羅仕琦) said on Saturday. The county government should step in to rescue the museum, or the negative reviews about the museum on the Internet might affect visitors’ impression of the township and the county, he said. The building used to be an illegal construction that served as a recreational center for farmers, Lo said. The county government later legalized the building and the museum was opened about two years ago. It is said to be the largest teddy bear museum in Asia, he added. However, as the building is old, it has problems, including water leakage, frequent elevator malfunctions, falling tiles from the ceiling and exposed steel reinforcing bars in the walls, causing safety concerns among visitors, he said. Museum general manager Chou Hua-wen (周華文) said he was fond of the building’s large space and invested more than NT$40 million (US$1.33 million at the current exchange rate) to establish the museum. He had expected that it would attract about 15,000 to 18,000 visitors per month, but it only attracted 4,000 to 7,000 visitors per month, Chou said. The reasons for low visitor numbers include water leakage, facility malfunction and nearby parking lots always being occupied, he said. The management has been reluctant to promote the museum for fear that it might lead to more negative reviews, he said, adding that travel agencies were also concerned about receiving complaints if they promoted the museum to their clients. The county government last year started
‘NATIONAL SECURITY PROBLEM’: Two DPP legislators said the government needs to help public agencies replace Chinese equipment and pass legislation banning their use More than 200 government entities are together using 1,108 telecommunications devices from Chinese brands, posing a cybersecurity risk, a government report showed. At the suggestion of the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee last year, the Executive Yuan investigated 7,704 public institutions to see whether they were using or had procured telecoms equipment manufactured by Chinese companies. They found that as of April 13, of the 3,837 public institutions that responded to their requests, 228 said they had been using equipment made by Chinese brands, including mobile phones, video cameras, drones and other Internet-related devices. The report highlighted products from seven brands considered to pose a cybersecurity threat: Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology’s video cameras; Huawei Technologies’ smartphones, tablets and wireless routers; Da-Jiang Innovations Technology’s drones; TP-Link Technologies’ wireless routers and network switches; Oppo Mobile Telecommunications’ smartphones and mobile phones; Xiaomi’s smartphones, tablets and virtual reality equipment; and Dahua Technology’s video cameras. Five ministries or agencies on the national level and 36 on the local level, as well as four schools, said that their staff used Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo smartphones, it said. Video cameras were mostly used for security purposes, with seven central and 20 local agencies, as well as 29 schools, saying that they used Hikvision or Dahua’s surveillance cameras and webcams, it said. Respondents said that they used as many as 366 sets of video recording equipment produced by Hikvision, making it the most widely used Chinese brand among public institutions, the report said. Most respondents said that they used drones for location scouting, while networking devices were mostly used for Internet access at small offices, it said. A majority of respondents said that they opted to use Chinese brands for budget reasons, as the products were usually cheaper, but could still meet basic requirements, it said. Executive Yuan spokesman Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) yesterday said that the Executive
‘HONEYMOON’ IS OVER: A political science professor said that the Tsai administration’s popularity peaked after it successfully contained COVID-19, but is waning President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) approval ratings fell significantly this month in the wake of the government’s handling of the distribution of relief funds and stimulus coupons to people and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll released yesterday by the New Power Party (NPP) showed. The poll showed that 68 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with Tsai’s performance, down 8.9 percentage points from last month, while 21 percent said they disapproved of her performance. Her approval among respondents aged 20 to 29 fell 14.7 percentage points, the largest decrease when compared with other age groups. Su’s approval rating slid 7.9 percentage points to 65 percent, and 25 percent said they were dissatisfied with his performance. Similarly, his approval rate fell the most among respondents aged 20 to 29, dropping 22 percentage points, the poll showed. NPP Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said that the decline was normal as the Tsai administration had been in its “honeymoon” phase after she was re-elected in January. The administration needs to be careful that its approval does not fall too quickly, Hsu said, adding that the decline might be connected with how the administration mishandled the distribution of relief funds and stimulus coupons. “It appears that people were critical of the chaos when the Tsai administration implemented the policy of distributing financial relief funds to people and businesses affected by the COVID-19 outbreak,” National Taiwan Normal University political science professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said. The administration’s ratings reached their peak when it succeeded in containing the spread of COVID-19, but it began to slide after its stimulus package, Fan said. The “honeymoon” is over, Fan added. The decline in approval among younger respondents was worrisome, and might be indicative of how they would vote in the recall election of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Saturday, Fan
Former National Immigration Agency (NIA) director-general Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) yesterday announced that he is to leave the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to join the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) as secretary-general. In a statement on Facebook, Hsieh said he has accepted an invitation from TPP Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to serve in the position. Taiwan’s democratic politics have entered a “state of complete imbalance” because of the Democratic Progressive Party’s dominance, he wrote. He said that he could “no longer stay out” of the matter, citing alleged injustices such as the suppression of different voices, the manipulation of international developments for party interests and the use of the law to serve a specific position. In the statement, Hsieh, who represented the KMT in the 2014 and 2018 Keelung mayoral elections, thanked the KMT for nurturing him. He said that he had hesitated to join the TPP, “but for the normal development of Taiwan’s democracy, I have no choice. I must stand up.” Even though he would no longer be a member of the KMT, Hsieh said that he would “always be the KMT’s good friend.” In a statement following Hsieh’s announcement, the KMT said it regrets Hsieh’s decision. The party gave Hsieh many opportunities to perform, it said. It is to follow the relevant procedures and address the matter at a meeting of the party’s disciplinary committee this month, it added. KMT Keelung City Councilor Sung Wei-li (宋瑋莉), who had competed against Hsieh for the KMT’s nomination for the 2018 Keelung mayoral election, said it now looks like conceding the nomination to Hsieh had been a mistake. Sung, who had polled higher at the time, said she had dropped out of the primary to prevent a dispute within the party from affecting the KMT. Tsai Chih-ying (蔡智潁), head of the KMT’s Keelung chapter, said that although he regrets Hsieh’s departure
Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), wife of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), yesterday said that the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) claim that Taiwan had warned the WHO about possible human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 was “far-fetched.” The US on April 9 said that the WHO had put politics first and ignored Taiwan’s early warning in December last year, which the WHO denied the following day. The WHO said that it received an e-mail from Taiwanese authorities on Dec. 31 last year, but that “there was no mention in the message of human-to-human transmission.” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, on April 11 made public the e-mail that the Centers for Disease Control had sent to the WHO International Health Regulations Focal Point. The message said that “at least seven atypical pneumonia cases were reported in Wuhan, China” and that “cases have been isolated for treatment.” The minister said that any public health or medical professional would understand the circumstances that would require patients to be isolated. Peggy Chen, a pediatrician at Taipei Municipal Hospital, said that the e-mail read to her as Taiwan asking the WHO for more information about the disease. “Taiwan did not have confirmed cases at that time, so claiming that it was an e-mail warning the WHO is a little far-fetched,” she wrote. “Instead of making the unreasonable argument that we had the foresight to warn the WHO with this e-mail, why not promote Taiwan’s past successful infectious disease prevention experience to win everybody’s heart,” she added. Chen Shih-chung yesterday in Tainan said that he respects different opinions. “The e-mail has been made public, and while some people understand it, some do not, and I cannot force everyone to understand it,” he said.
PLANNED OUT: The government is lifting sale and export restrictions on 60% of the 20 million masks made daily, but people can still make purchases using their NHI cards Twenty thousand boxes of 50 masks each would be on sale at FamilyMart convenience stores starting tomorrow, Taiwan FamilyMart Co Ltd (全家便利商店) said yesterday. A box of 50 masks would cost NT$249 for those with FamilyMart memberships and NT$299 for those without, with no limits placed on how many boxes a person can buy, the company said. Convenience store chain operator Hi-Life International Co Ltd (萊爾富) said that it would also start selling masks from tomorrow. It has yet to announce details about prices and quantity. Hypermarket chain operator Carrefour Taiwan (家樂福) said that it would start selling packs of five and seven masks from today, with customers limited to one pack each. Carrefour said that the 18,000 packs of masks it plans to sell are previously imported stock. Cosmetics chain operator Poya International Co Ltd (寶雅國際) said that it has 1 million domestically produced masks to sell at its stores, with sales possibly starting as early as Thursday. The masks would be sold in boxes of 50, as well as smaller numbers, and masks for adults and children would be available at NT$5 to NT$7 each, Poya said. There would be no limit on the amount of masks a customer can purchase, Poya said. Other retailers, including drugstore chain Cosmed (康是美), supermarket chain Simple Mart (美廉社), hypermarket chain A-Mart (愛買) and President Chain Store Corp’s (統一超商) 7-Eleven convenience store chain, all said that they are either waiting to judge consumer demand or are at different stages of ordering from domestic manufacturers. After the nation’s first COVID-19 cases were confirmed, the government on Jan. 31 began requisitioning domestic masks, before launching a rationing system on Feb. 6 using National Health Insurance (NHI) cards. Since then, daily production capacity has been increased from 1.88 million masks to about 20 million. From today, the
BOOSTING BUYING: A source said that the idea of pre-ordering vouchers online is being considered, but the preliminary plan is for people to buy them at post offices A stimulus voucher program to be rolled out next month to boost consumption would be available not only to Taiwanese, but also foreign nationals and Chinese spouses who hold residency permits, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The government is fine-tuning the details of the program, which involves issuing vouchers for in-store purchases to revive buying amid the COVID-19 pandemic. During a radio interview on Monday last week, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said that the plan is to allow anyone, regardless of age or income level, to buy NT$3,000 (US$99.89) worth of vouchers for NT$1,000. They can then be used to shop at stores, buy train tickets or pay taxi fares. However, Kung did not specify whether all Taiwan residents or only citizens would be eligible for the vouchers. A source, who asked to remain anonymous, said that foreign nationals, including Chinese spouses of Taiwanese, who have obtained residency permits, would also be able to buy the vouchers. The source said that the NT$3,000 vouchers, which are to be issued in paper and electronic form, would also be available free of charge to 1.2 million mid-to-low-income households. The preliminary plan is for people to buy the vouchers at post offices nationwide, the source said. The idea of pre-ordering vouchers online is being considered, the source said, adding that they would be collected at convenience stores. Those who take advantage of the stimulus program by using an electronic or credit card payment method would receive a NT$2,000 refund after spending NT$3,000, the source added. The stimulus voucher program is expected to cost the government NT$50 billion, including voucher printing and related administrative costs, the source said. The final version of the program is to be announced by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) tomorrow, before it is rolled out for
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) is expected to recover quickly from the effects of COVID-19, as life returns to normal and thanks to the government’s domestic travel incentives, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a note on Friday. THSRC’s business might have bottomed out after revenue fell 49.83 percent year-on-year to NT$2.03 billion (US$67.59 million) in April, the lowest in nearly 10 years, while combined revenue in the first four months dropped 26.44 percent to NT$11.63 billion, as the COVID-19 outbreak reduced ridership, the investment consultancy said. “The worst should be over in April as domestic tourism has started to resume in May after a half month without local coronavirus cases and THSRC carried out a promotion plan for students from May 27 and will provide more plans for all types of groups such as commuters,” Yuanta analyst Elle Yang (楊郁容) said in the note. THSRC on Friday said that it is to provide six extra services per week from today and add 33 extra services during weekends from Friday next week to meet increased demand due to the government’s incentive programs for domestic tourism as the coronavirus situation stabilizes, the company’s Web site says. “The ‘disease prevention tourism’ policy to be launched by the government by providing subsidies for tourism accommodation on July 1 should stimulate the domestic tourism industry and also increase demand for THSRC,” Yang said. As people reduced their use of public transportation for tourist and business trips amid the COVID-19 outbreak, THSRC’s daily average ridership fell 17.2 percent year-on-year to 151,000 people in the first quarter, while its passenger load factor dropped to 53.7 percent, compared with 67.5 percent a year earlier, a company document released after an investors’ conference on Thursday showed. As a result, the high-speed railway operator reported that net income decreased
Affected by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have implemented disease prevention measures such as city lockdowns, factory closures, travel restrictions and border controls. These resulted in slowing economic activitiy and dwindling global trade, which have negatively affected Taiwan’s export-reliant economy. Consequently, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) last week revised downward its economic growth forecast for Taiwan for the second time this year. The DGBAS on Thursday predicted the nation’s GDP would expand 1.67 percent this year. The agency’s new forecast is lower than the 2.37 percent it estimated in February, and weaker than Taiwan’s economic growth of 2.71 percent last year. Most importantly, the new figure fell below 2 percent, a psychological level meaningful to the public. The situation has caused some to wonder if GDP growth would struggle to stay above 1 percent this year in case the pandemic persists, hurting consumer confidence and world trade. Based on the DGBAS’ report, the nation’s economy contracted by a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3.57 percent in the first quarter, with the year-on-year growth slowing to 1.59 percent, 0.21 percentage points lower than its previous prediction. The agency reduced its growth forecasts for the second and third quarters by 0.2 percentage points and 0.79 percentage points from its previous predictions to 0.5 percent and 1.96 percent respectively, while the growth forecast for the fourth quarter was increased by 0.14 percentage points to 2.54 percent. The forecasts reflected that the DGBAS has taken a more conservative view of the nation’s economic outlook as the impact of COVID-19 at home and abroad appears to be broader and longer-lasting than expected. In February, the agency had thought the outbreak would come and go as quickly as SARS in 2003 and believed that most negative effects would emerge in the first
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in her inaugural address on May 20 firmly said: “We will not accept the Beijing authorities’ use of ‘one country, two systems’ to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo.” The Chinese government was not too happy, and later that day, an opinion piece on the Web site of China’s state broadcaster China Central Television said: “While Tsai’s first inaugural address four years ago was read by Beijing as an ‘unfinished answer sheet,’ the one she presented this time was even more below-par.” Speaking to the China Review News Agency, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies vice president Yan Anlin (嚴安林), who also heads the Shanghai Association of Taiwan Studies, said: “Throughout Tsai’s address, the key to the realization of cross-strait peace and stability was nowhere to be found.” On May 21, the Study Times, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Party School, on its official WeChat account posted a long article on a tiring old topic titled “How the Qing Dynasty unified Taiwan.” Meanwhile, prominent Chinese military monthly magazine Naval and Merchant Ships released 11 minutes of footage on its Sina Weibo page, outlining a potential attack by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on Taiwan and saying that China’s military forces could “liberate” Taiwan in 24 hours. How should the saber rattling coming out of Beijing be interpreted? The best answer is that Beijing’s mouthpieces, the CCP media outlets and overseas agencies are striking out at the US and Taiwan in full force and playing the old “mobilization through nationalism” card in a bid to “protect the emperor”— Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Such protection is particularly essential during the annual meetings of China’s top political, legislative and consultative bodies, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress — sometimes referred to as
French firm DCI-DESCO in April won a bid to upgrade Taiwan’s Lafayette frigates, which has strained ties between China and France. In 1991, France sold Taiwan six Lafayette frigates and in 1992 sold it 60 Mirage 2000 fighter jets. To prevent arms sales between the nations, China negotiated an agreement with France and in 1994 in a joint statement, France promised that there would be no future arms sales to Taiwan. From China’s point of view, the DCI-DESCO deal constitutes a breach of the agreement, but the French stance is that it is not selling Taiwan new weapons, but instead providing a service in accordance with the original contract. These weapons have been in service for more than 25 years and they are long overdue for upgrades, but France has been reluctant to provide such services due to the restrictions of the France-China agreement. Without support, the Ministry of National Defense had no choice but to put several Mirage 2000 fighter jets in storage. France agreeing to upgrade the frigates suggests that there is hope of a future deal to upgrade the fighter jets. It would be interesting to know why French President Emmanuel Macron, who is seen as a “Gaullist” and who has been friendly to China since taking office, changed his attitude. “Gaullism” is based on the foreign policy of Charles de Gaulle, the first president of the Fifth French Republic. The core of Gaullism is diplomatic autonomy. At the start of the Cold War, France was under the US military umbrella, resulting in French colonies seeking independence one after another. The Algerian independence movement in 1958 marked the peak of dissatisfaction with the government and the French public called for constitutional reform. Soon after taking office, De Gaulle made a series of moves, including conducting nuclear arms tests, breaking away from NATO and establishing diplomatic
DISTANCING RULES: The government said social distancing should be maintained during disputes and celebrations, but conceded it would not be possible during play The Premier League on Saturday was given British government approval to press ahead with its June 17 restart, although players will have to stay apart during goal celebrations and disputes to maintain social distancing. Further details of the league’s plans for dealing with COVID-19 cases have been disclosed with clubs likely to have to play even if they only have 15 fit squad members. In a further boost to the league’s restart plans, there were no positives in the fourth round of twice-weekly testing. Tests were conducted on 1,130 players and club personnel on Thursday and Friday as contact training resumed. The season was suspended in March and the government is now willing to allow games without fans if prevention protocols for the novel coronavirus are followed by those in stadiums. Where possible, social distancing must be maintained at games including “during any disputes between players and referees, or scoring celebrations,” the government said. However, there is a recognition that players will not always be able to stay 2m apart while playing, it said. “There is still much work to be done to ensure the safety of everyone involved,” Premier League chief executive officer Richard Masters said. “This includes consulting with our clubs, players and managers — along with all our other stakeholders — as the health and welfare of our participants and supporters is our priority. “If all goes well, we will be thrilled to resume the 2019-[20]20 season in just over two weeks’ time,” Masters said. The league agreed to a government request for some games to be broadcast for free, whereas they are usually only available on subscription channels, to make them accessible to fans unable to attend games. However, authorities want Liverpool’s key games — before they almost certainly clinch the trophy — to be played away from the city and in neutral stadiums. Liverpool
Gilbert Burns dominated former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley to win a unanimous decision on Saturday in the mixed martial arts promotion’s return to Las Vegas. Brazilian heavyweight Augusto Sakai employed some unpunished gamesmanship to eke out a split-decision victory over Bulgaria’s Blagoy Ivanov in the penultimate bout of the UFC’s first show in its hometown since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The event was held without fans at the UFC Apex, a small gym with broadcast facilities on the promotion’s corporate campus. The UFC used minimal personnel to stage the fight and the promotion said that everyone involved was subject to strict health and safety protocols. The 33-year-old Burns (19-3) dominated on his feet and on the ground, finishing his first main-event bout with likely the biggest win of his career and his sixth consecutive victory since July 2018, including four straight since moving back up to welterweight. From a first-round knockdown to a strong finish, the Florida-based Brazilian soundly defeated one of the most accomplished welterweights in UFC history and made his case for a shot at champion Kamaru Usman, his training partner. “I trained so hard for this fight and I knew I could do it,” said Burns, who entered the bout ranked sixth in the crowded 170-pound division. “I was calling these guys out for a reason. I’m coming to stay. That was a former champion right there. You saw a dominant performance against a former champion. I’m ready. I feel so good right now.” The judges all gave all five rounds to Burns, scoring it 50-45, 50-44 and 50-44. Burns called out Usman in his post-fight interview. “I love the champ, my training partner, but come on, give me a shot,” Burns said. “A lot of respect, a lot of love for you, but I think I’m next... If they want to make
The losing captain thanked the winning team’s players for their personal sacrifices leading into the match and a charter flight pilot received a big round of applause when his plane beat incoming fog to touch down after midnight following another game as feel-good stories off the field matched those on it as the National Rugby League (NRL) restarted its season in Australia over the weekend. The New Zealand Warriors’ 18-0 win over St George Illawarra was the Auckland-based team’s first of the season after three rounds and it could not have come at a better time. Due to international travel restrictions for international passengers into Australia, the Warriors arrived on May 3 and had to undergo two weeks of quarantine before beginning full training. They will likely be without their families until October, when the NRL season ends. That fact was not lost on the Dragons, despite having lost three straight matches to start the season. After the match, the Warriors gathered on the field while St George Illawarra captain Cameron McInnes addressed the team to thank them for their sacrifices to restart the league. Warriors coach Stephen Kearney said the goodwill shown to the club from other NRL teams has been humbling — typified by the Sydney Roosters loaning them Poasa Faamausili for four weeks — despite the Roosters having not won a game before the weekend. “I was pretty pleased for the boys. I’m really proud of the way they’ve gone about the last couple of months,” Kearney said. “They’ve just got on with the job and that’s what I was most pleased about,” he said. “It means a great deal to not only the group, but to families back home,” he said. “We’ve got a footy club that’s still operating, all our footy staff back home, administration and all of our fans.” The Canberra Raiders beat
“Road Runner” Alphonso Davies lived up to his nickname with another lightning sprint on Saturday as Bayern Munich opened a 10-point lead in the Bundesliga. Having defeated second-placed Borussia Dortmund 1-0 away in midweek, Bayern enjoyed a 5-0 romp over Fortuna Duesseldorf. Defender Mathias Joergensen scored an early own-goal before Benjamin Pavard, Robert Lewandowski (2) and Davies scored for Bayern. With five games remaining, the defending champions, who have won their past eight league games, are comfortably on course for an eighth straight league title. Davies scored the best goal of the game when the fleet-footed defender pressed Duesseldorf into making a mistake, barged past several defenders and fired home. “It was very special, I did my job as a defender, I pressed high up the pitch and got the ball, then put it in the back of the net,” Davies said. The 19-year-old, who was born in a Ghanaian refugee camp before his parents emigrated to Canada, was nicknamed Bayern’s “Road Runner” by teammate Thomas Mueller after the win in Dortmund. Mueller joked that Davies is Bayern’s version of the fast-running Looney Tunes character after the left-back sprinted to dispossess Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland, himself no slouch. “When the opponent thinks: ‘Oh, I have time,’ ‘meep, meep, meep’ the Roadrunner comes and steals the ball,” Mueller said after Davies clocked 35.3kph to catch Haaland. Davies said he likes his new nickname after running even faster against Duesseldorf. “Yeah, I know the cartoon, I watched it when I was growing up,” said the Canadian teenager, who clocked 35.4kph in a sprint at the Allianz Arena. He was just short of the Bundesliga record of 36.49kph, which Borussia Dortmund’s Achrif Hakimi set earlier this season. “Yeah, I am quick, but him [Mueller] calling me the ‘Road Runner’ is a compliment which I take to heart and it was a good nickname,” Davies
STRICT GUIDELINES: Saudi Arabia’s mosques opened with new measures, such as time limits on sermons, while worshipers at Al-Aqsa had their temperatures taken Tens of thousands of mosques across Saudi Arabia yesterday reopened for the first time in more than two months, but worshipers have been ordered to follow strict guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as Islam’s holiest site in Mecca remained closed to the public. Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third-holiest site for Muslims after Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and Medina, also reopened for prayers for the first time since it was closed since the middle of March. Throngs early yesterday waited outside the holy site’s gates before it opened, with many wearing masks. As they were allowed to enter, the faithful stopped to have their temperature measured. The mosque was one of Jerusalem’s many holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Western Wall, that were restricted to worshipers at the height of Israel’s coronavirus outbreak. Throughout that period, worshipers continued to pray in the alleyways outside the mosque. In Saudi Arabia, the government prepared for the reopening of about 90,000 mosques after sanitizing prayer rugs, washrooms and shelves holding copies of the Quran. The Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs said millions of text messages were sent to people in multiple languages to inform them about the new rules for public prayer, which include keeping a 2m distance between people during prayer, wearing masks at all times and abstaining from greeting one another with handshakes or hugs. Children under 15 would not be allowed inside mosques. Elderly people and those with chronic conditions are being told to pray at home. People are also being advised to perform the mandatory ablution at home, as washrooms at mosques would be closed, to use hand sanitizers and to bring their own prayer rugs and copies of the Quran. The restrictions call for mosques to open just 15 minutes before each of the five daily prayers and
Senior advisers to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government on Saturday said that it was too early to lift the lockdown, just two days before the UK is to further relax COVID-19 restrictions. As people reveled in soaring temperatures by flocking to beaches and parks, several members of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) told ministers that they risked a second wave of infection. One — epidemiologist John Edmunds — said the move was “a political decision.” Another prominent scientist, Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and also a member of SAGE, warned explicitly on Twitter that the government was wrong on its timing. “Covid-19 spreading too fast to lift lockdown in England,” Farrar wrote. “TTI [test, trace and isolate] has to be in place, fully working, capable [of] dealing [with] any surge immediately, locally responsive, rapid results & infection rates have to be lower.” From today, the British government is to begin easing lockdown rules imposed in March and partially reopen schools in England and allow up to six people from different households to meet outside. Reacting to the warnings, British Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden said it was “absolutely right to urge caution.” However, he said that “the government scientific advisory group consists of more than 50 scientists, all of whom will have their different perspectives ... the government takes a collective view on the entire advice from SAGE.” Deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam, speaking alongside Dowden at the government’s daily coronavirus briefing, added that SAGE had a “high degree of confidence” that continued social distancing and other measures combined with effective contact tracing would not push the so-called R transmission rate up above the critical one figure. Put simply, the R number is the calculation of how many people an infected person is thought to
DISAGREEMENT: The Brazilian president has clashed with governors over quarantine orders, while Europe and some US states moved toward reopening their economies The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide yesterday topped 6 million, with Brazil registering another record surge in daily infections, as divisions deepened on how to deal with the pandemic. Latin American countries are bracing for difficult weeks ahead as the disease spreads rapidly across the region, even as much of the world exits lockdowns that have wrecked economies and stripped millions of their jobs. In Brazil — the epicenter of South America’s outbreak with nearly 500,000 confirmed cases, lagging behind only the US — disagreement among leaders over lockdown measures has hampered efforts to slow the virus as the number of fatalities in the country nears 30,000. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who fears that the economic fallout from stay-at-home measures would be worse than the virus, has berated governors and mayors for imposing what he calls “the tyranny of total quarantine.” As the global death toll from the pandemic surpassed 369,000, US President Donald Trump’s decision to permanently cut funding to the WHO has been broadly criticized. The number of confirmed cases worldwide is more than 6 million, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. “Now is the time for enhanced cooperation and common solutions,” the EU said in a statement, adding: “Actions that weaken international results must be avoided.” German Minister of Health Jens Spahn said that the “disappointing” decision was a setback for global health. Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet medical journal, said it was “madness and terrifying both at the same time.” As the virus progresses at different speeds around the globe, there has been pressure in many countries to lift crippling lockdowns, despite experts’ warnings of a possible second wave of infections. India on Saturday said it would begin relaxing the world’s biggest lockdown in stages from early this month, even as it marked another record daily rise in infections. Iran meanwhile announced that collective prayers
With listicles of local attractions including Costco and numerous children’s playgrounds, I was not expecting much. Opened on Jan. 31, the Taipei MRT’s Circular Line, or Yellow Line, made life in the nation’s capital even more convenient. But judging from Internet search results, it hasn’t opened up many new tourism opportunities, unsurprising as the route mostly crosses densely populated areas and industrial parks. Places like a sports stadium with rainbow colored bleachers perfect for Instagram selfies wouldn’t do it for me either, and it’s pointless to list attractions at the connecting stops that have existed for years. As a history nerd, there was just one place that I really wanted to check out: the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park (白色恐怖景美紀念園區), about a 10-minute walk from Shisizhang MRT Station (十四張). A gray, gloomy afternoon the day after attending my friend’s noise music performance seemed like the ideal time to visit this former detention center for political prisoners during Taiwan’s White Terror era. But to end the day on a lighter mood, I took the train crosstown to Xingfu (“happiness” in Chinese) MRT Station (幸福) in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊) to take a stroll along the Zhonggang Main Drainage (中港大排) park, a once heavily polluted canal turned pleasant riverside walkway that struck me as being similar to, though on a far smaller scale, Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon. I like exploring random neighborhoods, and I can make a day out of even the most dull, industrial neighborhoods of sheet metal shacks. And these parts of New Taipei City, which seem half stuck in the 1980s but also dotted with futuristic upscale residence towers and malls, make for some fun urban photography. DETAINED FOR SEDITION The bright yellow-colored train pierces the gray monotony of the day. I disembark at Shisizhang station, which has an expansive outdoor plaza with a perfect
June 1 to June 7 In February 1988, Robert Wu (吳清友) set aside NT$17.5 million to purchase two Henry Moore sculptures from London’s Marlborough Gallery. He never bought the pieces. Feeling slighted that the gallery manager initially looked down on him as a Taiwanese, he decided that night to use the money to open his own art space back home. “Without selling any art, that money could support the gallery for four years. If I feature one artist per month, that provides a stage for at least 100 artists,” Wu said in the book Eslite Time (誠品時光) by Lin Ching-yi (林靜宜). The businessman had many friends in Taiwan’s art scene, and knew how hard it was for them to shine internationally. “I felt that Taiwan was lacking in the arts and humanities,” Wu continued. “Businessmen always meet at hostess clubs or hotels, while ordinary citizens have few places to visit besides movie theaters or parks.” Despite unexpectedly striking gold in Taiwan’s surging real estate market and becoming a billionaire by the age of 35, Wu remained unfulfilled. Several months after returning home from London, Wu was diagnosed with Marfan’s syndrome and almost died during surgery. After recovery, he knew what he needed to do. On March 12, 1989, Eslite’s Dunnan store opened its doors with a concert by the Taipei String Quartet. “The store’s decor, displays and products are all highly artistic, and naturally, it chose an artistic performance for its opening,” reported the Minsheng Daily (民生報), one of the few media outlets to cover the event. Eslite Dunnan moved to its current location in 1995 and became the world’s first 24-hour-bookstore in 1999. It closes its doors for good today, with the Xinyi location carrying on the mantle of Taiwan’s “sleepless bookstore.” FIRST INCARNATION It was a good time for Taiwanese
Captain Wynn Gale — a fifth-generation Georgia shrimper — is on the side of the road on an April morning, selling shrimp at the same street corner where his dad sold shrimp. “How’s the pandemic treating you?” I ask. “Sales have dropped off by about two-thirds. No out-of-towners coming through on the I-95. No local traffic.” He sighs. “I’m going to tough it out. I can survive with what I’m selling. But that’s all I’m doing. Most shrimpers don’t have 401k retirement plans, you know?” Gale would rather be out on his boat, a 1953 trawler he had for nine years but recently sold to a man in North Carolina. “It made me good money, but I couldn’t find a crew! You just can’t find anyone who wants to work shrimp boats any more. Most of ‘em are on drugs. Give ‘em a check and they’re gone.” He has a small boat he can run himself now. In the past, shrimping was an admirable vocation. Gale first got out on a shrimp boat when he was 12. “Mama wouldn’t let me go any earlier, but from 12 years on out — every weekend I wasn’t in school or summer vacation I was on a shrimp boat.” He spent the next 20 years learning from his dad, who shrimped for 45 years. “What was an average day like?” “I’d leave about 4:30 in the morning and get to the dragging grounds about 6:30, maybe 7am. I’d put out in daylight, make three or four drags that day. The latest I’d be out would be 4pm,” he says. “Look,” he tells me. “What I’m doing right here, right now, selling shrimp on this corner — it sucks. It’s way better out there on the water. It’s where I’ve lived all my life. If I wasn’t in the ocean, I
With the recent heavy rainfall and humidity, wild mushrooms have been shooting up in mountain forests and grasslands. In Nantou County’s Puli Township a man picked some unfamiliar fungi growing in the National Chung Hsing University experimental forest area along Nanan Road and took them home to cook. The result was that the whole family of five had to rush to hospital. For the sake of filling their bellies they almost lost their lives. It was truly a case of biting off more than they could chew. You hear many stories of people eating unfamiliar mushrooms and giving themselves food poisoning, and yet people still do it, especially when the plum rains season arrives and the weather gets hot and humid, providing the perfect conditions for fungi growth. This is when the Puli Christian Hospital received a case of a family of five mistakenly eating poisonous mushrooms and rushing to seek emergency treatment. According to the hospital, a 47-year-old man was walking around the National Chung Hsing University experimental forest area along Nanan Road on the evening of May 21 and discovered a cluster of white mushrooms on slender stalks sprouting among the grass. He picked some of them and took them home, where he cooked up a pot of wild mushroom soup, which he shared with his wife, mother and two children. That night, one after the other, the five of them developed a stomachache, nausea, vomiting and numbness, and wondered whether it was the mushrooms. They quickly packed up the leftover mushrooms and rushed off to the emergency room. After the five of them were treated with anti-toxins the symptoms gradually abated, and they were then admitted to the hospital and kept in for observation and treatment. As to the identification of the wild mushrooms that caused the food
A: Argh! B: What is it? A: Cockroach! Over there by the bookshelf. It’s huge! B: Oh no, not another one. I’m beginning to think there’s a cockroach nest inside our apartment. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it. A: 啊！ B: 怎麼了？ A: 有蟑螂！在書櫃那邊。超大隻！ B: 哦不，不要再來了。我開始覺得我們公寓裡有蟑螂窩了。別擔心，我會處理的。 English 英文: Chinese 中文:
The sudden sharp fall in greenhouse gas emissions recorded in the early part of this year may seem like an environmental blessing, a breathing space as the world fights climate breakdown. Skies clear of aircrafts and streets free of cars have encouraged the return of nature and brought visions of a cleaner world. Carbon dioxide emissions had fallen by 17 percent on average by early April, according to a definitive study published in Nature Climate Change on May 19, as a result of the lockdown measures put in place around the world to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the unprecedented decline is “nothing to celebrate,” according to leading experts. It will be temporary and will make little difference to the world’s ability to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and stave off catastrophic levels of global heating. The causes of the steep fall, the economic convulsions and the possibility of lasting economic damage also mean urgent work must be done to repair the economy. “This decline in emissions, the biggest in history, is the result of economic trauma,” said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, whose own analysis backs up the Nature paper in showing that this is the biggest drop in carbon in history. “It is nothing to celebrate. It is not the result of policy. This decline will be easily erased if the right policy measures are not put in place.” Dave Reay, a professor of carbon management at Edinburgh University, called the paper “sobering stuff” as it revealed that the massive changes made to cope with the pandemic would have only a minor effect on emissions, and the climate. “All those billions of lockdown sacrifices and privations have made just a small and likely transient dent in global greenhouse gas emissions. COVID-19 is no help
| New Taipei City | 29-33 | 90% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 29-32 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu City | 29-31 | 20% | |
| Taipei City | 28-33 | 90% | |
| Miaoli County | 30-33 | 20% | |
| Taoyuan City | 29-33 | 60% | |
| Keelung City | 29-32 | 80% | |
| Yunlin County | 29-32 | 20% |  |
| Taichung City | 30-33 | 20% | |
| Nantou County | 30-33 | 20% |  |
| Changhua County | 31-34 | 10% | |
| Chiayi County | 30-33 | 10% |  |
| Chiayi City | 30-34 | 20% | |
| Tainan City | 30-33 | 10% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 31-32 | 10% | |
| Pingtung County | 31-34 | 20% | |
| Yilan County | 28-33 | 90% | |
| Hualien County | 29-32 | 60% | |
| Taitung County | 29-31 | 50% | |
| Kinmen County | 28-30 | 50% |  |
| Penghu County | 28-31 | 0% | |
| Lienchiang County | 24-25 | 90% |  |
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