PSG are next to face Olympique Lyonnais, who beat Lille OSC on penalties on Tuesday, in the final at the Stade de France on April 4. The hosts — eighth in Ligue 1, 20 points behind PSG — also made changes from their past league game, as Reims coach David Guion reshuffled his midfield. Neymar set up the first goal for his fellow Brazilian Marquinhos, another star brought back after a coach-enforced rest, after nine minutes. Neymar, who produced a combative display, and Mbappe played the full 90 minutes, even though the game was settled by the 77th minute. After 73 minutes, Reims midfielder Marshall Munetsi received a straight red card for scything down Marco Verratti.

Texas Instruments has the biggest customer list and widest product range in the semiconductor industry, making its earnings an indicator of demand across the economy. In Wednesday’s report, which also included fourth-quarter results, Texas Instruments posted its fifth consecutive period of year-over-year revenue declines. Texas Instruments’ key industrial and automotive markets are close to returning to growth, he said. Three months ago, Texas Instruments said that the US trade dispute with China, the world’s largest market for semiconductors, was adding to customer caution. On Wednesday, Texas Instruments reported fourth-quarter net income fell to US$1.07 billion, or US$1.12 per share, from US$1.24 billion, or US$1.27, in the same period a year earlier.

By Lin Chia-nan and Chen Ching-min / Staff reportersThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday lodged a protest with the WHO for listing a coronavirus infection in Taiwan as part of China’s infection cases. The WHO on Wednesday released a situation report on the novel coronavirus — first reported in Wuhan, China — following the first on Tuesday. In the second report, Taiwan’s only infection case was listed as from “Taiwan, China,” alongside Hubei, Guangdong and other provinces of China. As a global health body, the WHO should reject political pressure and endeavor to allow every human being to enjoy “the highest attainable standard of health” as stipulated in its constitution, the ministry said. Even during the SARS epidemic 17 years ago, Taiwan’s prevention efforts were better than those of other nations, he said.

Four airlines with services between Taiwan and Wuhan canceled their flights after Wuhan transportation systems were shut down. China Airlines announced that both it and its subsidiary Mandarin Airlines would cancel flights to Wuhan — China Airlines flights (CI541/542) between Taoyuan and Wuhan and Mandarin Airlines flights (AE217/218) between Songshan airport and Wuhan — until the end of next month, as the Chinese airport is closed. The airline said that it would help passengers scheduled to return to Wuhan during this time to fly to a nearby city. The Tourism Bureau said that local travel agencies have been asked to help Chinese tourists from Wuhan return to China. A total of 130 tourists from Wuhan were visiting Taiwan, the bureau said on Wednesday, adding that some were scheduled to return yesterday and today.

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporterFar Eastern Air Transport (FAT) employees yesterday petitioned the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to give the airline a second opportunity and assist it in resuming flight services. Led by FAT deputy manager Lu Chi-rong (盧紀融), about a dozen employees turned in a written petition with 580 staff signatures to the ministry and the Executive Yuan. Employees would get their salaries so long as the government assists the airline in resuming flight services,” Lu said. This procedure is the only way that the airline could restart flight services, regardless of whether the ministry decides to revoke its air operator certificate, he said. On Wednesday, he said that the company could only secure new funding if the ministry allows the airline to resume flight services.

The respiratory virus has claimed 17 lives since emerging from a seafood and animal market in Wuhan, infected hundreds of other people nationwide and been detected as far away as the US. All of Huanggang’s movie theaters and Internet cafes, as well as the central market, were to shut down. A third city, Ezhou, with a population of 1.1 million, announced that its train station had been temporarily closed earlier in the day. The 17 people who died in China were aged 48 to 89 and had pre-existing health conditions, Chinese health authorities said yesterday. Animals are suspected to be the primary source of the outbreak, with Chinese health officials saying that the virus originated from the market, where wild animals were illegally sold.

Staff writer, with CNA, LOS ANGELESThe first shipment of Taiwanese guavas to the US has arrived after more than 20 days at sea, an event that was celebrated on Wednesday by Taiwan’s representative office in Los Angeles. With the shipment of the 13 metric tonnes of guavas to Los Angeles, Taiwan became only the second country in the world to supply the fruit to the US, after Mexico. Edlefsen also said guavas were his favorite fruit when he lived in Taiwan for five years. “We hope that in the future, there will also be guavas going to Switzerland from Taiwan,” Gehrig said. In addition to guavas, Taiwan also exports lychees, carambolas, longans and mangoes to the US, according to Lin Li-fang (林麗芳), head of the agricultural division at Taipei’s representative office in Washington.

China has routinely sent bombers and other aircraft close to Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following Tsai’s re-election, Chinese state media suggested that China could flex its muscles near Taiwan to register Beijing’s continued displeasure with Tsai. A US warship last week sailed through the Taiwan Strait, with the US Navy conducting sporadic transits of the waterway since 2018. China sailed its newest aircraft carrier, the Shandong, through the Taiwan Strait twice in the run-up to the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections.

By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterAs new home mortgages granted by Taiwan’s five major state-run banks reached a five-month high, the average interest rate on new housing loans hit a record low, central bank data released on Tuesday showed. Total new mortgages extended by the five banks for all of last year amounted to NT$592.55 billion, the highest since August in 2011. The rise in mortgages reflected that December is usually the peak month for the domestic housing market. The central bank attributed the situation to lenders competing with each other to offer preferential rates for quality clients, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported on Wednesday. Some local lenders were reportedly offering mortgage rates as low as 1.56 percent annually for military personnel, civil servants and public school teachers, while rates for others were around 1.6 percent, the newspaper said, citing central bank officials.

AP, SYDNEYThree people yesterday died when a C-130 Hercules aerial water tanker crashed while battling wildfires in the Snowy Monaro region of Australia’s New South Wales, officials said. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the deaths and crash in comments to reporters, as Australia attempts to deal with an unprecedented fire season that has left a large swath of destruction. It’s crashed and there was a large fireball associated with that crash,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said, adding that all three aboard were US residents. Also yesterday, the Canberra Airport closed because of nearby wildfires and residents south of Australia’s capital were told to seek shelter. A second fire near the airport, which started yesterday morning, is at the “watch and act” level.

Reuters, WASHINGTON and CHICAGOBoeing Co chief executive Dave Calhoun told reporters on Wednesday the US planemaker expects to resume 737 MAX production months before its forecast mid-year return to service and said it did not plan to suspend or cut its dividend. Calhoun said the company is not considering scrapping the MAX and expects it will continue to fly for a generation. “I am all in on it and the company is all in on it,” Calhoun said, adding that Boeing will not launch a marketing campaign to get customers to get back on 737 MAX planes. The company said on Tuesday it now expects regulators to approve the plane’s return to service in the middle of the year. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday told CNBC Boeing is a “very disappointing company.”United Airlines said on Wednesday it does not expect to fly the Boeing 737 MAX this summer.

By Natasha Li / Staff reporterState-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday cut power generation by more than half at its coal-fired Singda Power Plant (興達) in Kaohsiung and the Taichung Power Plant, citing environmental concerns, as well as falling electricity consumption during the Lunar New Year holiday. As industrial production and commercial activity across the nation slow to a halt during the long holiday, Taipower said that it would maintain lower power generation from the two plants throughout the period and take advantage of the lower demand to carry out routine inspections. “We already halted two generators at the Singda Power Plant and cut power generation by nearly 60 percent for the remaining two generators at the plant,” a Taipower official surnamed Lin (林) told the Taipei Times by telephone. The Environmental Protection Administration on Monday approved Taipower’s plan to build two new natural gas-fired generators at the plant. Taipower posted pretax losses of NT$14.7 billion (US$489.9 million) for last year, mainly due to unadjusted electricity rates, which remained at about NT$2.62 per kilowatt-hour.

AP, DETROIT, MichiganThe meteoric rise of Tesla Inc shares that recently pushed the company’s value over US$100 billion could turn into a supercharged payday for CEO Elon Musk. Tesla shares closed at US$569.56 on Wednesday, giving the company a market capitalization of US$102.7 billion. Shares have tripled in value since May, meaning Tesla’s market capitalization now exceeds the value of Ford Motor Corp and General Motors Co, combined. For Musk, hitting US$100 billion in market value triggers an option to buy 1.69 million shares of Tesla stock for US$350.02 per share. Musk could get more stock payouts for every additional US$50 billion increase in market capitalization.

AP, BOSTONJayson Tatum on Wednesday scored 23 points before leaving the game in the third quarter with a groin injury as the Boston Celtics routed the Memphis Grizzlies 119-95. Daniel Theis had 14 points, while Enes Kanter finished with 13 points and eight rebounds to help Boston win their second straight. Jonas Valanciunas led the Grizzlies with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Jaren Jackson Jr and Solomon Hill each added 13 points. The Grizzlies went scoreless for 6 minutes, 51 seconds until Valanciunas scored with just 1.3 seconds left before halftime.

BloombergPanic coursed through the world’s second-largest equity market as investors sold stocks on concern a deadly virus will worsen over China’s week-long trading break. The Shanghai Composite Index settled 2.8 percent lower after the close of trading, the worst end to a Lunar Year in its three-decade history. Macau casino stocks also tumbled as the city reported its second case of the novel coronavirus and announced it would cancel all Lunar New Year festivities. In Hong Kong, where two cases have also been confirmed, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped 2 percent and the Hang Seng Index fell 1.5 percent. After an extended break in May, the Shanghai Composite fell 5.6 percent as investors reacted to escalating trade tensions with the US.