The TAIEX on Friday ended up 9.95 points, or 0.08 percent, at 12,110.43, gaining 0.2 percent from a close of 12,091.59 on Dec. 27, after moving between 12,023.60 and 12,197.64, on turnover of NT$192.78 billion (US$6.4 billion). The market opened up 0.55 percent on follow-through buying from a session earlier, when the TAIEX closed up 0.86 percent. “Despite volatility during the session, the TAIEX moved throughout the session above the nearest technical support at about the five-day moving average of 12,070 points, which means that the main board remains technically healthy for the moment,” Su said. The bellwether electronics sector fell victim to profit-taking, while the optoelectronics industry suffered heavier selling throughout the session, falling 2.18 percent by the end of the session, Su said. United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), a smaller rival of TSMC, shed 1.51 percent to close at NT$16.35 and IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) lost 1.59 percent to end at NT$434.50.

3 reached his highest Test score of 215 in Sydney, with the Australians dismissed just before tea on the second day. Last year, Labuschagne was Test cricket’s leading run-getter, with 1,104 runs, and he is carrying on where he left off. ENGLAND VS S AFRICAVeteran opening bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson yesterday struck early blows for England when South Africa started their innings on the second day of the second Test at Newlands. Broad took two for 12 in a hostile opening spell, dismissing new opening batsman Pieter Malan and Zubayr Hamza for five apiece. Broad was warned for landing in the “danger area” of the pitch immediately before taking his second wicket.

By Han Cheung / Staff reporterJan. 6 to Jan. 11Protesters from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan surrounded a police car in the afternoon of Jan. 8, 1988, after discovering a cache of wooden clubs, spears and swords inside. The churchgoers had gathered in support of Tsai Yu-chuan (蔡有全) and Hsu Tsao-te (許曹德), who were being tried for advocating Taiwanese independence at an event to celebrate the establishment of the Taiwan Political Victims Association (台灣政治受難者聯誼總會). The KMT was not happy, and essentially forced the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan to leave the WCC in 1970, presaging how Taiwan walked out of the UN when China was admitted a year later. Taiwanese independence was not yet mentioned; the church merely did not want Taiwan to be swallowed by China after losing its international clout. To him, the KMT’s insistence on the “one China” policy would only further marginalize Taiwan and lead to its eventual demise.

“Although it is on the 10th floor, the store space is very much like the one in Hong Kong,” Lam said, adding that he has signed the lease and paid rent, and the store is being decorated, including with custom-made bookshelves. The store would likely open after the Lunar New Year holiday ends on Jan. 29, he said. Lam was one of five Causeway Bay Books shareholders and staff members who disappeared into Chinese custody at the end of 2015. He was released on bail and allowed to return to Hong Kong in June 2016 to retrieve a hard drive with a list of the bookstore’s customers on it. The bill has since been scrapped in the wake of mass protests that have developed into a pro-democracy movement.

AFP, MILANZlatan Ibrahimovic on Friday warned that he was not back at AC Milan just to act as a mascot and immediately got off the mark for his new club by scoring in a friendly against a local lower-league side. I hope to play immediately,” the 38-year-old told a news conference in Milan before racking up a goal and an assist in a 9-0 win over fifth-division Rhodense. “A year ago [former AC Milan sporting director] Leonardo had looked for me, but I still didn’t feel ready to make a difference in Italy,” Ibrahimovic said. “Things need to be improved on the pitch and that’s why I’m here,” Ibrahimovic said. Milan chief soccer officer Zvonimir Boban said the club would not just count on Ibrahimovic.

The yen had risen to as high as ￥107.82 per US dollar and was last up 0.48 percent on the day at ￥108.04. The US dollar index initially benefited from the move into safe-haven assets, but those gains were erased after the Institute for Supply Management reported that the US manufacturing sector contracted significantly last month. Petrocurrencies rose slightly on the higher crude prices, but those were then largely offset by the overall move away from risk, Schamotta said. The US manufacturing sector last month contracted by the most in more than a decade, with order volumes crashing to a near 11-year low and factory employment falling for a fifth straight month, the institute said in a report. Although it weakened Friday, the greenback might ultimately benefit if slower US manufacturing dents hopes for global growth this year.

ReutersEuropean shares on Friday slipped from near record highs after a US airstrike in Iraq that killed a top Iranian commander increased Middle East tensions and spurred moves out of risk assets, while an oil price surge hammered airline stocks. The FTSE 100 on Friday rose 18.10 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,622.40, but slid 0.3 percent from 7,644.90 a week earlier. Friday’s moves tipped an otherwise flat week for European equities into the red. Cellnex Telecom SA rose 2.3 percent after agreeing to buy Portuguese telecommunications tower operator OMTEL for about 800 million euros (US$892.8 million). Trading for the first time this year, Swiss stocks rose 0.8 percent after a nearly 26 percent rise last year as investors bought into consumer goods.

Based on a preliminary investigation of the helicopter’s two flight data recorders, mechanical failure could be 80 percent ruled out as the cause, while weather, including elements such as turbulence and wind shear, could be 80 to 90 percent excluded, the official said. However, the flight recorders contain a memory card that can only be decoded by the aircraft’s US-based manufacturer, they said. Eight, including Chief of the General Staff General Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴), died in the crash. Military investigators extracted the flight recorders at about 10:40am the following day. Political Warfare Bureau staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Lee Chun-feng (李均峰) said that he had just been promoted by Yu and reported to the bureau on the day of the accident.

Both Kerber and Barty, along with former world No. She’s such a great player, a great person as well, and I’m really happy for her that she reached the No. “It’s for sure completely different — she has all the pressure, all the expectations, especially here in Australia,” Kerber said. She played so well and I’m really sure she’ll continue to play how she played, particularly at the end of last year.”Since finishing 2016 as world No. “I was really looking forward to 2019 being over and we are 2020 now, so I’m really looking forward to starting again,” she said.

By Wu Po-hsuan / Staff reporterThe National Taiwan University (NTU) Students’ Association yesterday called on the university administration to back freedom of speech in all cases, instead of only supporting Su Hung-dah (蘇宏達), an NTU professor of political science who has been accused of spreading misinformation. The student association submitted a proposal to a meeting of university administrators, calling on NTU to retract its statement. NTU did not issue the statement to support all expressions of opinion among students and faculty, the association said. The university’s administration seems to be inconsistent when it handles cases involving people linked to different political parties, NTU Graduate Students’ Association chairman Wang Yu-chun (王昱鈞) said. The Chen incident is about transitional justice, Students’ Association head Tu Chun-ching (涂峻清) said, adding that hopefully NTU would clarify its stance on Chen’s death.

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that preliminary tests have excluded flu, avian flu or adenovirus infections as possible causes of a pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China, that was first reported last week. CDC officials are boarding all flights from Wuhan to Taiwan — 12 flights per week — to check whether passengers or crew have symptoms indicating a possible case of the disease, the agency said. CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the Chinese government has excluded flu, avian flu and adenovirus as possible causes, but it had not ruled out other novel viruses, such as a coronavirus. Forty-four people had been diagnosed with the illness as of Friday, with 11 in a critical condition, Chinese government data showed. A total of 121 people who have had direct contact with patients are being observed, the data showed.

AFP, SYDNEYAustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced renewed criticism, after yesterday sharing bushfire-themed party campaign ads that opponents condemned as “disgusting” and a respected defense association said was “milking” the crisis. Facing sustained anger for his handling of the months-long crisis, Morrison sought to get on the front foot by announcing increased military assistance to beleaguered volunteer firefighters. Note this disgusting ad was personally authorised by this scum of a PM,” he tweeted. Take down this Liberal Party ad. “People in these situations have a mix of emotions,” Morrison said playing down the interactions and stressing he had been welcomed elsewhere.

By Glenn Chapman and Julie Jammot / AFP, SAN FRANCISCOThe screens will be bigger and bolder, the cars will be smarter and some of the technology will be up-close and personal — even intimate. “We can imagine the voice assistant in the ear, which can do a lot more than it does today,” Forrest said. Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead said that he expects to see “higher-resolution, lower-price 8K televisions,” extending a trend. “There’s a deepening understanding that the companies have a big hill to climb” before deploying fully autonomous cars, Gartner Inc analyst Michael Ramsey said. Others are to use 5G technology and AI to help cars detect pedestrians, bicycles and other vehicles.

However, in Pointe-Noire, a port city that is home to about one-fifth of the country’s 4.5 million people, many say that any upturn has yet to reach them. Deschagrains Ebeh, 37, is head of De-Network, one of many companies that did well out of servicing the country’s rush for black gold. With the oil crash, “we lost 50 percent of our clients and 60 percent of our customers,” Ebeh said. Pointe-Noire Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Crafts president Sylvestre Didier Mavouenzela said that the oil contraction had ricocheted down the job market. Pointe-Noire’s port has recorded a big upturn in container traffic: 900,000 units last year after 800,000 in 2018.

The outbreak, which emerged last month, has revived memories of the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic that started in southern China and killed more than 700 people in the mainland, Hong Kong and elsewhere. The serious response level indicates a moderate effect on Hong Kong’s population of 7.5 million people. The Hong Kong Department of Health on Friday added an additional thermal imaging system at Hong Kong International Airport to check the body temperature of arriving passengers. More staff have been assigned for temperature checks at the West Kowloon high-speed rail station that connects Hong Kong with China. Wuhan’s health commission said that 11 of 44 people diagnosed with the pneumonia were in a critical condition as of Friday.