AFP, MIAMIThe US-European Solar Orbiter probe on Sunday night launched from Florida on a voyage to deepen our understanding of the sun and how it shapes the space weather that affects technology on Earth. Space Orbiter is expected to provide unprecedented insights into the sun’s atmosphere, winds and magnetic fields, including how it shapes the heliosphere, the vast swath of space that encompasses the solar system. Drawing on gravity assists from Earth and Venus, Solar Orbiter is to slingshot itself into a bird’s eye view of the sun’s poles, reaching its primary science orbit in two years’ time. Ten state-of-the-art instruments on board are to record myriad observations to help scientists unlock clues about what drives solar winds and flares. “It would be a disaster for mankind.”At its closest approach, Solar Orbiter is to be nearer to the sun than Mercury, a mere 42 million kilometers away.

The committee said that it wished to clarify whether the properties were obtained by the KMT in contravention of the bounds of a political party, or other democratic or legal principles. If the properties — which have already been sold — were ill-gotten, it wanted to know whether the state should demand that the KMT pay it for them and how such compensation should be calculated, the committee added. The KMT had occupied state property illegally and did not return it to the Taipei City Government, even after the provincial government had relocated to Taichung, the committee said. The KMT allegedly made a profit of NT$650 million (US$21.59 million at the current exchange rate) when it sold the building to Universal Real Estate Development Co in 2000, it said. The KMT also obtained ownership of the Housheng building — despite it originally belonging to Taiwan Power Co — and sold the property to a third party in about 2000, the committee said.

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe annual twin-city forum between Taipei and Shanghai would not be halted because of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China, but might be postponed if the situation gets worse, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday. “The twin-city forum is usually held in the summer, when the city council goes into recess, so it is too early to make that decision,” Huang said, adding that the Taipei City Government would evaluate the situation. In other developments, the city government faced accusations that former Taipei City Government deputy spokeswoman Huang Ching-ying returned to her job yesterday without a fair and transparent recruitment process. Taipei City Government deputy spokesman Tai Yu-wen (戴于文) yesterday said that the city government’s Secretariat Office was hiring two personnel, and the deadlines were Friday last week and yesterday. Huang Ching-ying applied for the first job and the city government processed it according to regulations, Tai said.

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office accused Lee of inciting others to contravene Article 118 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits destroying, damaging or pulling down the national flag or emblem in public for the purpose of insulting the nation. The Taipei District Court in September last year acquitted him on the grounds that his act was a form of constitutionally protected speech. Lee disputed the guilty ruling, saying that it was impossible to prove whether the flag that was burned conformed to the proportions specified in the National Emblem and National Flag of the Republic of China Act (中華民國國徽國旗法). The judge in the first ruling had said Lee did not intend a “pure destruction of, elimination of or insult of the national flag,” and that his form of expression was constitutionally protected. The bag did not break and paint did not leak out, but Chen was arrested on site for attempted vandalism.

Staff writer, with CNATaiwan’s first domestically built rocket, the HAPITH-1, is to be launched in Taitung County on Thursday, developer Taiwan Innovative Space Inc (TiSPACE), said yesterday. The rocket is to be launched at 6am in the county’s Nantian Village (南田), home to a community of Aboriginal Paiwan people, TiSPACE said, adding that the ceremony would include a traditional Paiwan blessing. The HAPITH-1 was to be launched on Dec. 27 last year, but TiSPACE called the launch off due to protests by the Aboriginal community. The rocket’s launchpad has already been built and other preparations are being put in place, TiSPACE chairman Chen Yen-sen (陳彥申) said. The hybrid-propellant rocket costs one-10th of a conventional rocket, which makes it highly competitive, Chen added.

Staff writer, with CNABolstered by solid demand for smartphones, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday reported that revenue topped NT$100 billion (US$3.32 billion) for a sixth straight month last month. Consolidated sales last month rose 0.4 percent from a month earlier to NT$103.68 billion, the company said in a statement. The increase was driven by rising global demand for high-end smartphones, allowing it to post growth in a slow season, analysts said. TSMC said it would prioritize epidemic prevention at the two plants in the coming weeks and continue to follow developments closely. Separately, handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) reported consolidated sales of NT$19.82 billion for last month, down 10.28 percent from NT$22.09 billion in the previous month.

BloombergA survey of HSBC Holdings PLC’s 237,000 staff has highlighted falling morale as employees brace themselves for job cuts in a strategy review due later this month. “The increase in neutral sentiment suggests a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to HSBC’s strategy. More than 100,000 employees took part in the survey, including in businesses and countries that are expected to face cuts. In France, where HSBC is already trying to sell its retail bank, less than half the employees said they were confident about the bank’s future. “While we appreciate that this can be unsettling, we cannot and do not comment on media speculation,” the bank told staff.

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporterAbout 70 percent of cross-strait flights were canceled yesterday after the government last week announced that it would allow flights to only five airports in four Chinese cities due to the spreading 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak there. The allowed destinations are: Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao International Airport, Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and Chengdu Shaunglin International Airport, the transportation ministry said. The transportation ministry estimated that the number of cross-strait flights this month would fall from 1,345 to 583. Out of 148 cross-strait flights that were scheduled to operate yesterday, 103 were canceled, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said, citing its statistics. Of the 1,204 cross-strait flights that were supposed to be available from Monday to Friday last week, 602 were canceled, it said.

BloombergChinese hot pot shares fell yesterday in Hong Kong after members of the same family who shared a large dinner last month were confirmed to have the 2019 novel coronavirus. Shares of Xiabuxiabu Catering Management China Holdings Co (呷哺呷哺餐飲管理), a major hot pot restaurant operator, fell as much as 8.3 percent before closing down 7.1 percent. The hot pot sector was a strong spot for the struggling Hong Kong Stock Market last year. Both are near last year’s closing levels, while Xiabuxiabu shares have fallen 22 percent this year, making it one of the index’s biggest decliners. Hong Kong shares yesterday closed lower with investors concerned about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

Thomson Reuters Foundation, LONDONFrom public transport to cycling, sustainable transport is on course to overtake driving in the world’s biggest cities within a decade, a study released yesterday said. Private car trips would drop by 10 percent on average by 2030 to make up less than half of all city journeys, while public transport, walking and bicycle would all increase in popularity, the Mobility Futures study found. “Cities are beginning to understand that you do not build your city around a certain means of transport .. You should build your city around the people,” he said. Trips made on public transport, bicycle or on foot would all rise to reach a combined 49 percent of city journeys over the same period, creating a global “tipping point” toward sustainable travel, the study found. Much of the change is being driven by a rise in rental transport schemes and moves by authorities to share the streets, the researchers said, while a generational shift has seen younger people embrace new ways to get around.

Chien Chun-nan (簡俊男), head of the association of Taiwanese businesspeople in Hubei’s Jingmen, on Sunday helped the Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) deliver the medicine, SEF Vice Chairman Yao Jen-to (姚人多) said on Facebook yesterday. “Just now, Chien of the Jingmen Taiwan business association successfully handed the shots of hemophilia medicine to the mother” of the sick child, Yao wrote. He thanked many people — especially leaders of Taiwanese business associations — for completing the “thousand mile” drug delivery mission. “If necessary, I will go to Zhengzhou myself,” Yao quoted Chien as saying, adding that it was that promise that made the mission possible. Yao said most leaders of Taiwanese business associations in China are like Chien, prepared to spare no effort to help their compatriots in need.

The group has a blueprint of sorts from another business it owns — PT Bank Amar Indonesia. Bank Amar is largely a digital institution, with loans and deposits for consumers handled over mobile phones. The ex-Barclays PLC executive said the inspiration for becoming a digital bank came from an unlikely source — the group’s paper mill operations in tech-forward Estonia. Tolaram is to face stiff competition from incumbents, such as Standard Chartered PLC, which is rolling out digital banking services across the continent. Africa already has a fully digital bank in ALAT, which was started in Nigeria in 2017 by Wema Bank PLC.

Reuters, SINGAPOREBritain takes US concerns about its use of Huawei Technologies Co (華為) equipment seriously, but is confident a trade deal with the US will be among its first after leaving the EU, British Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab said yesterday. “We listened and take the concerns of our American friends very seriously,” Raab said in response to a question about the issue. “We are reasonably confident that we can do a free trade agreement [with the US] in that first wave of post-Brexit trade deals,” Raab said during a visit to Singapore. Britain is in talks with the US, Australia, Canada and others on future technological innovations that could challenge Huawei’s dominance in the field, Raab said. “For 5G, the sooner we can build up our pool of high-trust vendors, the less reliant we will be on high-risk vendors,” he added.

The average Tier 1 capital ratio for banks operating in Taiwan stood at 11.84 percent as of the end of September last year, Taiwan Ratings data showed. Taiwanese banks already scaled down their China exposure to about 4 percent of their total asset book before the outbreak, Lan said. Decreased China exposure had much to do with risk aversion on the part of Taiwanese banks amid the US-China trade dispute, she said. On the other hand, Taiwanese life insurers are more vulnerable to potential capital market shocks as the outbreak evolves, the ratings agency said. A material downturn in the equity market would weaken insurers’ capitalizations, which offer only a thin buffer against volatility, she said.

Reuters, BEIJINGChina’s factory gate prices snapped six months of year-on-year declines last month, although prolonged business closures from the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak mean positive momentum is unlikely to persist. China’s consumer price index rose 5.4 percent from a year earlier last month, beating the 4.9 percent rise tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and a 4.5 percent rise in December. The bureau in a commentary on the data attributed the acceleration in consumer prices to the Lunar New Year holiday, the coronavirus outbreak and a lower base from last year. Food prices surged 20.6 percent last month from a year earlier, while pork prices more than doubled. “That said, we believe PPI inflation is poised to decline due to a big slowdown in property and infrastructure investment.”