Now the international community is on notice that another massive human rights outrage is being committed before its eyes in East Turkestan, now called Xinjiang, in western China. To achieve what the UN has called “cultural genocide,” China employs methods ranging from sophisticated propaganda techniques to “wash clean the brains” of detainees to the brutally primitive practice of mass rape. In recent weeks, the US Senate unanimously passed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which would impose sanctions on Chinese officials who have engaged in violations of the rights of Uighurs. On Dec. 4, by a vote of 400-1, the House of Representatives passed an even stronger version, called the Uighur Act. If the legislation is allowed to languish for technical procedural reasons, Beijing surely will view the bills’ demise as a “prudent” US response to China’s “principled” opposition, and Uighur human rights activists will see it as a defeat and moral abandonment.

AFP, HONG KONGThe Hong Kong Immigration Department yesterday said it has received reports that a man went missing on a cross-border mega bridge to the gambling hub of Macau that hosts a new Chinese mainland police checkpoint. The man was traveling by bus on Friday afternoon along the bridge-and-tunnel network linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai, his son said. The artificial island in the middle of the Pearl River Delta lies in Chinese mainland waters. The Hong Kong Security Bureau declined to comment on whether it was aware of the new checkpoint. Meanwhile, flashmob protests and vandalism broke out in multiple locations in Hong Kong, prompting riot police to use pepper spray and make arrests in at least two shopping centers as members of the public heckled the officers.

ReutersA surge for London-listed companies brought European stock markets within striking distance of an all-time high on Friday as investors cheered the likelihood of an orderly Brexit after a landslide election victory for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The UK-focused FTSE mid-cap index jumped 5 percent to a record high, pushing the broader pan-European STOXX 600 up 1.1 percent to 412 points, up 1.1 percent for the week. Dublin’s ISEQ, also considered a barometer of Brexit sentiment, jumped to a 12-year high. The benchmark European index is just two points shy of a record high hit in 2015. Trade-sensitive German shares jumped 1.3 percent on Friday after the US agreed to suspend a new round of Chinese tariffs in return for Beijing buying more US farm goods.

However, in some segments of Google’s workforce, the reaction to Walker’s argument was immediate and harsh. Employees also had access to notes taken during brainstorming sessions, candid project evaluations, computer design documents, and strategic business plans. Google has flaunted its openness as a recruiting tool and public relations tactic as recently as 2015. “As for transparency, it’s part of everything we do,” Laszlo Bock, then-head of Google human relations, said that year. Last month, Google fired four engineers who it said had been carrying out “systematic searches for other employees’ materials and work.

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the People First Party (PFP) could still cooperate while competing in the Jan. 11 legislative elections, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday. Under the “single-member constituency, two-vote” system, each eligible voter casts two ballots in legislative elections: one for a district candidate and the other for a party. Remarks by TPP and PFP politicians have prompted media speculation about the status of relations between the two parties. Separately yesterday, the NPP, which won 7 percent of overall party votes in the 2016 elections, canvassed in Taichung’s Jianguo Market (建國市場). The NPP received more than 104,000 votes in Taichung, accounting for more than 7 percent of the city’s party votes in 2016.

Staff writer, with CNAA French TV show host praised Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) for its cup-sharing program, as well as other eco-friendly initiatives. Each cup has an identification number and the system tracks how many each person has borrowed, it added. As Pitorin liked the cups, the groups that provide them gave him one as a gift, it said. Siaoliouciou Island attracts a large number of tourists every year, but the increasing number of visitors has also had a negative impact on the local environment, causing a noticeable increase in plastic waste, the statement said. To combat this, several businesses have started offering discounts to eco-friendly tourists, and the effort has been expanded by two environmental groups, Ching Piao and Hiin Studio, it said.

BloombergHong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) yesterday arrived in Beijing for meetings with senior Chinese officials seeking to end pro-democracy protests in the territory. Lam, whose administration has been criticized for its handling of the unrest, arrived at a hotel in Beijing at about midday for an annual visit, Radio Television Hong Kong reported. “The purpose of the duty visit is to give a full account of what has happened in Hong Kong over the past year,” Lam said in a press briefing on Tuesday. “Particularly what has happened in Hong Kong in the last six months.”Lam’s conversations in Beijing are also to focus on how Hong Kong and the central government can cooperate on national-level plans, including China’s global Belt and Road Initiative and integrating the territory into a so-called Greater Bay Area with nearby mainland cities, she said. Meanwhile, five Hong Kong teenagers have been arrested in connection with the death of a man hit on the head by a brick during clashes between pro and anti-government protesters last month, police said.

Five years later, he became the first Taiwanese artist to be selected to Japan’s Imperial Art Exhibition. While many of his pieces have been lost, the original Water Buffaloes still hangs in Zhongshan Hall, while replicas can be found at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. Coming from a poor family, he cherished the chance for an education and focused on schoolwork instead of making art. But Huang was so dedicated to his art that he would choose no other profession. His success inspired other young Taiwanese to pursue a career in art — and, like artists today, he needed a strong support network to survive.

The S&P 500 technology sector and the tech-heavy NASDAQ finished solidly in positive territory, with gains in Apple Inc providing a boost. The benchmark S&P 500 has gained 26 percent so far this year. In company news, Adobe Inc shares rose 3.9 percent after it beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and profit. The S&P 500 posted 76 new 52-week highs and one new low; the NASDAQ Composite recorded 128 new highs and 49 new lows. About 7.4 billion shares changed hands in US exchanges on Friday, above the 6.8 billion-share daily average over the past 20 sessions.

By Wan Yu-chen and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNASeven people died in a suspected arson attack on an apartment complex in Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) early yesterday. Police are questioning a 21-year-old suspect surnamed Tseng (曾), after he called police claiming that he set the blaze. The family was living in the building to care for their daughter, who had a white blood cell disorder, police said. A man surnamed Chang (張) who manages Cian Bei Tang said that Hsieh Jui-lung later arranged privately for Tseng to move into the building. The building’s wood construction combined with the presence of numerous combustibles inside the building caused the fire to spread quickly, it said.

By Peng Wan-hsin / Staff reporterJapan should enforce a law parallel to the US’ Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) to consolidate its partnership with Taiwan, Jikido Aeba, a Japanese lawmaker and academic, told a seminar in Taipei yesterday. While many Japanese hope support for Taiwan can be bolstered, the past 70 years has seen mostly economic collaboration, he said. It is important for Japan that Taiwan maintains its democracy and freedoms, said Genki Fujii, a Japanese academic of international affairs. If Taiwan were annexed by China, Japan’s security, economy and social prosperity would be affected as well, Fujii said, adding that the destinies of Taiwan and Japan are closely tied. Taiwan has followed Japan in its economic development and grown into a democracy, and its political and economic achievements are remarkable in Asia, he said.

His cash would account for half the capital investment of VinFast, which earlier this year began delivering cars to Vietnamese consumers with BMW AG-licensed engines and aims to expand into electric vehicles (EVs). VinFast follows a long list of Chinese automakers that have also had ambitions to sell vehicles in the US going back more than a decade. He owns 49 percent of VinFast, while the parent, Vingroup, holds 51 percent. Adding to these challenges is successfully manufacturing and selling electric vehicles. BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology Co (北汽藍谷新能源科技), China’s biggest maker of pure electric vehicles, forecasts a loss for this year.

Police said that the suspect, surnamed Wu (吳), was captured on surveillance cameras on Thursday night as he approached the building on foot and allegedly placed an improvised explosive device next to the building’s main entrance. On Friday evening, the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Kaohsiung City Police Department traced the man to a fourth-floor apartment on Yongle Street in Lingya District (苓雅), police said. Wu, who is in his late 40s, was renting an apartment in Kaohsiung and the Yongle Street residence where he was arrested belonged to a friend, prosecutors said. After treatment, he is to be questioned as prosecutors seek details about his professional background and possible motives, Lin said. Residents in homes near the Yongle Street standoff said they had been afraid to sleep, as they could hear the police and Wu trading gunfire.

By Ko Yu-hao / Staff reporterPresident Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday unveiled the Great South, Great Development policy aimed at closing the development gap between southern Taiwan and other parts of the nation. She was joined by her running mate, former premier William Lai (賴清德), as well as Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊), Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and DPP Kaohsiung City Councilor Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成), who heads Tsai’s campaign office in the southern city. Kaohsiung has transformed from an industrial city to a “marine capital,” Tsai said. She expressed the hope that development levels in the north and south could be balanced with the help of the Executive Yuan’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, saying that the process must be accelerated. Under the policy, Yunlin County would become the nation’s hub for farming machinery and value-added agricultural and silk products, while Chiayi County would become the headquarters of Taiwan’s tourism, cultural and creative industries, precision machinery and seafood processing.

Lawmakers and White House officials are eager to project the image that they have been focused on anything but the polarizing proceedings that are increasingly consuming their days and nights. Even Trump, no stranger to unpredictability and drama, could only marvel at the week of Washington whiplash. “This has been a wild week,” he said on Friday morning as he hosted the president of Paraguay in the Oval Office. “Take note @SpeakerPelosi - this is what real leadership looks like,” tweeted White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, highlighting the “phase-one” deal. So Democrats and the White House are going all-out to show that they can do their day jobs amid the impeachment drama on TV.