James Harden joins Michael Jordan on 60-point list
AFP, LOS ANGELESJames Harden on Saturday tied Michael Jordan for the third-most 60-point performances in NBA history as the Houston Rockets blasted the Atlanta Hawks 158-111. Harden finished with 60 points to reach the mark for the fourth time and tie Jordan. He is the fourth player to score 50 or more points on 20 occasions, trailing Chamberlain (118), Jordan (31) and Bryant (25). Harden sat for the full fourth quarter with Houston up 127-73 at the end of three. “My man had 60 and didn’t play the fourth quarter.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
England score tons, but disappointed with wickets
AFP, HAMILTON, New ZealandDespite centuries to Joe Root and Rory Burns, England expressed disappointment at stumps on day 3 of the second Test against New Zealand after losing late wickets in Hamilton yesterday. England captain Root ended his run drought with an unbeaten 114, while Burns rode his luck to 101. However, after they took England to 201-2, the tourists were 269-5 at stumps and still trailing New Zealand by 106. “We’re disappointed to lose a couple of wickets at the back end as well.”With only five wickets remaining and 16 overs washed out by rain in the final session, England’s vision of building a healthy lead was rapidly fading. The tempo swung away from England when Burns was run out, and New Zealand followed up with the quick wickets of Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
Yasir hits 113 as Pakistan limp into day 4
Pakistan were all out for 302 on day 2 of the pink-ball Test, 287 runs adrift, with a dogged Yasir the last man to go for 113. In a scintillating spell under lights on Saturday, left-armer Starc snapped up four quick wickets and the omens for Pakistan did not look good. However, the gloomy conditions at the Adelaide Oval yesterday offered little movement to the bowlers, and Azam and Yasir took advantage. However, he was out in the second innings for only 8. Mohammad Abbas joined Yasir at the crease and made 29 before he was undone by a Pat Cummins bouncer, caught at gully by Warner.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
Southgate ready for Croatia rematch
Southgate was told that Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic feared the prospect of going to Wembley right at the beginning of the tournament, with London one of 12 European cities to host matches. However, the most significant recent meeting between them came in last year’s FIFA World Cup semi-final in Moscow, when Croatia won 2-1. “We have had three really good games, really tight games with them, with very little between the teams all three times,” Southgate said. They then have a final home group game against another familiar opponent in the Czech Republic, who they trounced 5-0 at Wembley in qualifying, but lost to 2-1 in Prague. “In the end you want to try and win every game you play and at least have control of your destiny,” Southgate said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
SOCCER SHORTS
Klinsmann’s tenure of Hertha began with a lackluster loss at home to 10-man Borussia Dortmund, who held on for a 2-1 win to ease the pressure on coach Lucien Favre. In other games, Cologne drew 1-1 at home against Augsburg and Fortuna Dusseldorf drew against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 1-1. Atalanta moved level on points with fourth-placed Cagliari and fifth-placed AS Roma, with the top four finishers qualifying for the Champions League. In other games, Real Sociedad beat Sociedad Deportiva Eibar 4-1, Valencia beat Villarreal 2-1 and Real Betis Balompie won 2-1 against RCD Mallorca. LIGUE 1Lyon battle to victoryOlympique Lyonnais battled back to claim a 2-1 win over RC Strasbourg Alsace on Saturday, moving to sixth in the table.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
CPC, Formosa announce increases in fuel prices
By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterState-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday announced that it is to increase gasoline prices by NT$0.2 per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.3 per liter today. CPC said that global crude oil prices rose last week due to positive market sentiment regarding the US-China trade talks and major oil producers’ production cuts. It is the fourth consecutive week that domestic fuel prices have increased. After the adjustments, prices at CPC fuel stations are to climb to NT$27.1, NT$28.6 and NT$30.6 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded respectively, while premium diesel is to increase to NT$25.0 per liter, CPC said. CPC announced price cuts for liquefied natural gas (LNG), but left prices unchanged for liquefied petroleum gas this month.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
EDITORIAL: Dangers to the economy remain
While the US-China trade dispute has led to a reshuffling of the global supply chain and benefited some local companies, other firms have been hit by the slowing global economy and trade. Meanwhile, market observers fear that a disconnect between the stock market and the real economy might be emerging in Taiwan, as has happened in many other economies. A stock market generally tends to reflect the fundamental conditions of an economy: a booming market indicates that investors are chasing shares of companies that might offer larger dividends, as well as those that have a higher profit outlook amid a growing economy. However, the DGBAS’ forecasts are much more optimistic than those of local and foreign research institutes, which remain cautious about potential risks for the global economy. From the perspective of import and export figures, as well as corporate earnings results, the fundamental risks to Taiwan’s economy still deserve the government’s attention.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
Russia investigated Taiwan in 1875
By Liu Li-jen and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Russian Empire in 1875 sent a naval vessel to Taiwan proper to investigate after Japan attacked the island the year before, Russian historical records showed. National Taipei University of Education professor Yang Meng-che (楊孟哲) on Nov. 12 visited the Russian Academy of Science’s Taiwan Research Center to examine the documents and talk to researchers. Ibis’ report was published by the Russian military the following year, Yang said, adding that Taiwan researchers in Russia consider the report an impartial account of the Aboriginal communities. “Taiwan has had few exchanges with Russia aside from Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) treatise on the Soviet-China relationship, or the aid provided by Russia following the Jiji Earthquake,” Yang said, adding that the documents are invaluable in the face of the limited exchanges. There are plans to bring the documents to Taiwan next year for an exhibition and have them translated to Mandarin, Yang said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
TaiGen expecting a sales bump in China next year
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterTaiGen Biopharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd (太景醫藥研發控股) on Thursday last week said that it expects sales in China to grow next year, when its oral formulation of antibiotic Taigexyn is to be included in China’s national medical insurance program. “This result from negotiations signals that the [Chinese] National Healthcare Security Administration has a high opinion of our drug,” TaiGen chairman Philip Huang (黃國龍) said. Although people in China have had to pay the full price for Taigexyn this year, demand has been robust, he said, adding that cumulative sales of the tablets have increased 1.7 times in the first three quarters of this year. The potential market for Taigexyn is forecast to total 1 billion yuan per year in China, given that a rival treatment, Bayer AG’s Moxifloxacin, reported annual sales of at least 5 billion yuan, TaiGen said. TaiGen shares advanced 4.15 percent to close at NT$21.35 in Taipei trading on Friday, compared with the Taipei Exchange’s decline of 0.81 percent, the exchange’s data showed.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
Many sexual autonomy crime victims under 18
From January to October, 39.22 percent of victims of offenses against sexual autonomy — including rape, sexual intercourse with a child and sexual obscenity — were females aged 12 to 17, the statistics showed. In that same period, 91.94 percent of victims were female and 97.77 percent of suspects were male, and 21.61 percent of suspects were males aged 18 to 23, the data showedThe number of reported offenses against sexual autonomy has been falling over the past five years, the ministry said. There were 3,263 cases of offenses against sexual autonomy last year, which was 509, or 13.49 percent, fewer than in 2014, according to the ministry’s statistics. More than 90 percent of the reported crimes since 2014 have been committed by people known to the victims, it showed. The decrease in the number of offenses against sexual autonomy could be attributed to joint prevention efforts by government agencies dedicated to social welfare, health, education and judicial matters, the official said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
Protesters return to Hong Kong’s streets
AP, HONG KONGThousands took to Hong Kong’s streets yesterday in a new wave of pro-democracy protests, but police fired tear gas after some demonstrators hurled bricks and smoke bombs, breaking a pause in violence that has persisted during the six-month-long movement. A police statement said minimum force was deployed after “hundreds of rioters hurled smoke bombs” and bricks to cause chaos. Officers earlier also used pepper spray after some protesters deviated from the approved route. Hong Kong’s protests have been relatively peaceful during the two weeks surrounding the elections, but yesterday’s disruption indicated there might be more violence if Lam fails to yield to protesters’ demands. Some held banners reading “Let’s make Hong Kong great again” — a riff on Trump’s 2016 campaign pledge to make the US great again.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
Time to pass agricultural insurance legislation
The best way to deal with agricultural risk is agricultural insurance. The government has been testing agricultural insurance in recent years. There is also no agricultural insurance fund, which would make it difficult to achieve financially stable insurance services, and the lack of development of different kinds of agricultural insurance would have an impact on insurance scope and diversity, while the scarcity of independent, complete data and damage surveys would increase the government burden further. In addition, the relationship between agricultural insurance, existing production subsidies and disaster relief, as well as their respective responsibilities, must also be clarified. This would impact the long-term planning and operation of agricultural insurance.
Source:Taipei Times
December 01, 2019 15:56 UTC
Peru opposition leader leaves prison
AFP, LIMAPeruvian opposition leader Keiko Fujimori was on Friday released from prison after spending 13 months in pretrial detention in a corruption case linked to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Her American husband, Mark Vito, had been on hunger strike outside his wife’s prison on the outskirts of Lima to press for her release. Once Peru’s most popular politician, Keiko Fujimori theoretically now has time to campaign for presidential elections set for July 2021. She is accused of accepting US$1.2 million in illicit party funding for her 2011 election campaign as leader of the right-wing Popular Force party. Odebrecht has admitted to paying at least US$29 million to Peruvian officials since 2004 and bribing four former Peruvian presidents.
Source:Taipei Times
November 30, 2019 16:07 UTC
US charges crypto expert for advising North Korea
AFP, WASHINGTONA prominent US cryptocurrency promoter and former hacker was on Friday charged with sanctions breaches after he allegedly advised North Korea on using virtual money to avoid international controls. Doing so breached US Department of the Treasury bans on “exporting any goods, services, or technology” to North Korea, put in place in response to the country’s nuclear weapons program. North Korean officials at the conference appeared to show particular interest in Griffith’s presentation, it said. He also announced plans to renounce his US citizenship, aiming to “purchase” citizenship in another country, the Justice Department said. “We cannot allow anyone to evade sanctions, because the consequences of North Korea obtaining funding, technology and information to further its desire to build nuclear weapons put the world at risk,” FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said.
Source:Taipei Times
November 30, 2019 16:07 UTC
Broad effects of climate change on Philippine island
Reuters, SITIO PARIAHAN, PhilippinesDanica Martinez, 16, grew up in a house that grows taller every few years. Her father raises the stilts of their bamboo hut so water from the sea does not reach the floor. They live in Sitio Pariahan, a coastal village in the Philippines that was once an island and is now without land. Sitio Pariahan, about 17km north of Manila, is sinking about 4cm every year, owing largely to land subsidence from the population’s overuse of groundwater, according to experts. Now rising sea levels caused by global warming could soon make this village unlivable, a problem faced by other countries in Asia, where the poorest communities are hardest hit.
Source:Taipei Times
November 30, 2019 16:07 UTC