Staff writer, with CNAPassengers on the Taipei MRT metropolitan rail system’s Tamsui Line would be allowed to carry pets categorized as medium-sized or large starting today, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said. Passengers with pets in carriers ranging between 175cm and 210cm would be required to pay NT$80 per ride, while there would be no charge for those in carriers smaller than 175cm, the company said. Pets can currently be transported free of cost on all trains in the network as long as their carriers not do not exceed 140cm, it said. The new regulations are to be introduced today on a six-month trial basis on weekends only on the Tamsui Line, also known as the Red Line, the company said. However, it did not specify what kinds of pets would be allowed on the MRT, saying only that a notice would be posted on bulletin boards in MRT stations.

As of this year, Taiwan has officially entered a climate emergency, the association said. It cited the Oxford Dictionaries’ choice of the term — defined as “a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it” — as its word of the year for last year. The association’s warning comes just over six months after more than 30 groups marched in Taipei calling on the government to declare a climate emergency and urging politicians to pay more attention to climate issues that pose a threat to national security. The Environmental Protection Administration, in a press release on Nov. 13 last year, said that the government had created a National Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan aimed at responding to eight aspects of climate change, but since the headline was “Taiwan can be a valuable partner in the global response to climate change,” cynics might question whether the action plan was little more than a public relations effort. The association certainly seems to believe that the government should do more.

BloombergA group of Amazon.com Inc employees who pushed the company to combat climate change that say Amazon has threatened to fire some of them if they continue to speak out about their employer’s internal affairs. Maren Costa, a user experience designer, was threatened with termination after speaking to the Washington Post, according to a statement from the group. In late 2018, the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice began discussing ways to persuade its employer to curb its contributions to climate change. The employees say Amazon changed its policy on workers speaking to the media after the September walkout was announced. The updated policy requires employees to seek approval before speaking about Amazon in any public forum in which they are identified as an Amazon employee, the employee group said.

By Sean Lin / Staff reporterDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) yesterday resigned as spokeswoman for President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) campaign office after equating “advocating unification” with “treason” in an interview. “Constitutionally, and presently, we consider the Chinese Communist Party a menacing party and a menacing regime. They have missiles targeting us and have incessantly threatened to invade us by force,” Lin said. The nearly half-hour-long interview could be misunderstood or overinterpreted, which has sparked controversy, she said. Deutsche Welle later ran a correction notice on its Web site, saying that the interview’s original title was misleading and changing it to “Advancing unification borders on ‘treason.’”

A total of 46 suspects were detained in the raids across the county related to the 37 cases, which involved NT$132 million in wagers, Lin said. “Proprietors of underground gambling pools had flourished in past elections, but law enforcement agencies and local police have intensified their sweeps to crack down on these and other illegal activities related to the elections,” Lin said. “Over the past several years, we have seen less vote-buying, but more illegal gambling on election outcomes through these operations,” he said. Last month’s 56 increased the total number of cases related to illegal wagers on the election outcomes to 113 for the whole of last year, Bureau Deputy Commissioner Chu Tsung-tai (朱宗泰) said. An examination of the evidence is under way to confirm the total amount wagered and investigate the money flow in the 56 cases, he added.

By Dennis Xie / Staff writer, with CNAThe Taiwan Disaster Prevention Industry Association on Thursday declared a climate emergency in Taiwan, urging the government to devise medium to long-term measures to prepare for climate change. That is why leaders in Taiwan should propose strategies, one of which should be to integrate disaster prevention systems across all governmental levels, association director Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said. “Taiwan is no longer a frog sitting in tepid water, the water is already boiling,” Shan said. Japan proposed a nationwide disaster prevention project in 2013, Wang said. Second, the government should integrate its disaster prevention systems across all levels, and introduce a complete set of disaster prevention laws and plans, it said.

By Sean Lin / Staff reporterThe Executive Yuan yesterday published this year’s Gender at a Glance report, which used indicators in the UN’s Gender Inequality Index and found that, if it were included in the index, Taiwan would be the top Asian nation in terms of gender equality and rank ninth in the world. The results were derived after incorporating the five indicators of three areas of the index: health, empowerment and labor market, the Executive Yuan’s Gender Equality Committee said. Japan’s ratio that year was five deaths per 100,000 births, while China’s was 27 deaths per 100,000 births, it said. The 16.1 percentage point gap was close to Singapore’s 15.8 percentage points and much smaller than Japan’s 19.3 percentage points and South Korea’s 20.5 percentage points, it said. Switzerland was ranked highest in the gender equality index with a score of 0.037, followed by Denmark and Sweden sharing second at 0.040, it said.

Porter scored a season-high 25 points, helping the Nuggets battle back from a double-digit percentage deficit in the first half and leading them past the Pacers 124-116. “It was cool,” said Porter, whose first appearance on the Bankers Life Fieldhouse floor came as a fourth grader. All this on a night that Jokic struggled due to foul trouble — the Nuggets needed someone else to step forward. Everybody on the bench was happy for him.”Jeremy Lamb had a season-high 30 points for the Pacers, who have lost four of their past six games. Domantas Sabonis had 18 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, falling just short of his first career triple-double for the second time this week.

Reuters, LIVERPOOL, EnglandGoals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane on Thursday helped English Premier League leaders Liverpool restore their 13-point advantage at the top of the table as they saw off a valiant Sheffield United 2-0 at Anfield. Mane tapped in from close range on 64 minutes after his original effort had been saved to secure a victory that marked Liverpool being unbeaten in the top flight for a year. Juergen Klopp’s side have 58 points from 20 games — a feat only matched by Manchester City’s 2017-2018 title-winning side — while Sheffield United sit eighth, seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. When we played them at our place, we laid a glove on them and made it difficult, but they won every first ball, dropped on every second ball, ran forward and ran back. They did that miles better than us.”“They still had the humility and desire to do all that as world champions, as European champions and they’re well on their way to being Premier League champions,” Wilder added.

Reuters, MELBOURNEAustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced enraged hecklers and an angry firefighter in a town ravaged by bushfires, piling pressure on the leader amid an unprecedented crisis that has killed at least 18 people. A firefighter refused to shake Morrison’s hand when he visited the town of Cobargo in New South Wales state on Thursday. Video footage showed Morrison trying to grab the man’s hand, who then got up and walked away, sparking an apology from the prime minister. Morrison had walked away from a Cobargo woman who urged him to provide more funding to the town and state firefighters. Even a state politician from his own Liberal party whose seat is in the region took a swipe at the prime minister.

AFP, BAGHDADA furious Iran threatened to avenge a US strike yesterday that killed a top Iranian commander at Baghdad International Airport, raising fears of a wider regional conflict between the archfoes. Hashed al-Shaabi confirmed that both Soleimani and its deputy chief, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were among those killed. A leading member, Hadi al-Ameri, said that the attack would “only make us more determined.”The network said “Iranian advisers” were among those killed, but did not specify how many. Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized the US strike as “extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation,” as Khamenei declared three days of mourning. “Oh Qasem Soleimani, this is a divine victory,” protesters chanted as some danced in the streets.

Yet, I would further argue that, in a university, it is completely unacceptable to have a chair professor of law who is asleep. Based on constitutional theory, one independent state must be independent from another to achieve one of the elements of sovereignty. If Taiwan is a sovereign state, then it is independent from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This act is a special statute, which is more overruling than a general statute, let alone an administrative regulation. As a chair professor of law, Ma should have read the fundamental theory on hierarchical structure proposed by Austrian jurist Hans Kelsen, but he is apparently too busy with under-the-table negotiations with China.

The gaming monitor industry has so far shown strong growth, with shipments rising 57 percent year-on-year to 8.5 million units last year from 5.4 million a year earlier, the report said. There was a significant increase in market share for vertical alignment (VA) panels last year, thanks to the growth in popularity of curved gaming monitors, the report said. As a result, curved gaming monitors claimed about 60 percent of the overall gaming monitor market last year, it said. Along with Samsung, MSI is to release updated curved gaming monitors at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, next week, TrendForce said. Monitor and PC makers are mulling expansion into the high-end gaming monitor segment, the researcher said.

Reuters, HONG KONGHong Kong retail sales extended their freefall in November as months of pro-democracy protests scared off tourists, which affected spending and threatened the survival of small businesses. Sales fell 23.6 percent from a year earlier to HK$30 billion (US$3.85 billion), Hong Kong government data showed yesterday. In volume terms, retail sales fell 25.4 percent, compared with a revised 26.4 percent drop in October. Tourist arrivals in Hong Kong plunged 55.9 percent year-on-year in November last year, the steepest fall since May 2003, when the territory was hit by a SARS outbreak. The Hong Kong Retail Management Association estimates that about 7,000 businesses, or more than one in 10 retailers, will be forced to close in the next six months.

Spinner Mitchell Santner joined them in the sick bay on Thursday and while he was ruled out altogether on Friday, Williamson and Nicholls were allowed a net to test their fitness. Both those guys have been tough competitors and tough people,” coach Gary Stead said. “We just felt we wanted a bit more pace out there with what Matt offers over Tim,” Stead said. That decision looked all the more questionable once stand-in captain Tom Latham lost the toss. “We make decisions on what is in front of us,” Stead said of the three-man selection panel.