AP, BANGKOKThe Mekong River has acquired an aquamarine color that may beguile tourists, but also indicates a problem caused by upstream dams, experts in Thailand say. The water levels have also become unusually low, exposing sandbanks that would allow those willing to stand in the middle of the river. Around 70 million people depend on the Mekong River for water, food, commerce, irrigation and transportation. Critics charge that large-scale development projects such as the Xayaburi dam dangerously disrupt the region’s ecology. The dam’s developers have denied that they were responsible for low water levels that some critics tied to trial runs of the generators that began in March.

By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterAided by Taiwanese hospitals, Belize has produced its first epidemiological report on kidney diseases and Paraguay has shortened patients’ waiting time by 60 percent, the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) said yesterday. The semi-official agency yesterday held a forum in Taipei on international public health aid development, inviting representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and major hospitals to share their experience. The fund in 2013 started working with domestic hospitals to conduct foreign aid programs and they have this year made many remarkable achievements, ICDF Secretary-General Timothy Hsiang (項恬毅) said. To show its appreciation for Taiwan’s help, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in August inaugurated its embassy in Taipei, Liu said. The fund has an online platform to match the needs of other nations with the specialties of domestic hospitals, ICDF Humanitarian Assistance Department Director Wang Hung-tzu (王宏慈) said.

BloombergChina yesterday was in the process of waiving retaliatory tariffs on imports of US pork and soy by domestic companies, a procedural step that might also signal that a broader trade agreement with the US is drawing closer. The ministry is working to waive the tariffs resulting from the trade dispute on those goods, it said in a statement. China began issuing waivers on US soybeans, cotton, corn, sorghum and pork as the Asian nation sought to press forward on a trade deal. Still, unless new quotas for waivers are issued, US exporters might not see a huge inflow into China. Buyers have used up almost all of their waivers to purchase US soybeans, people familiar with the matter told reporters earlier this week.

AFP, LONDONJose Mourinho on Wednesday endured an unhappy return to Manchester United as Marcus Rashford struck twice in a 2-1 defeat for Tottenham Hotspur, while Liverpool maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League, putting five goals past Everton. Mourinho’s first loss since taking charge of Spurs eases the pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as United moved above Tottenham, up to sixth in the table. Yet, for all United’s dominance in the first half, one moment of brilliance from Dele Alli pulled Spurs level before the break. He plucked the ball out of the air and skipped beyond two United defenders with one touch before slotting home his fourth goal in as many games since Mourinho took charge. The scoring did not stop there as Richarlison cut the deficit once more, but Georginio Wijnaldum hammered the final nail in the Everton coffin as an eighth defeat in 11 league games sees the Toffees slip into the bottom three.

AP, DETROIT, MichiganGiannis Antetokounmpo was ready to go toe to toe with Blake Griffin during a second-quarter flare-up between division rivals Milwaukee and Detroit. “They’re just a great defensive team and just play really physical,” Antetokounmpo said. The Bucks also beat Detroit last month in their first meeting of this season. The first involved Antetokounmpo and Griffin after they collided around midcourt in the second quarter. In a competitive game, it’s going to happen,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said.

AP, EDMONTON, AlbertaThe Ottawa Senators did not have to wait long to make up for a tough loss one night earlier. Tyler Ennis on Wednesday night had a goal and two assists as the Senators beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2. Mikko Koskinen gave up three goals on 12 shots before leaving in the second period. The Senators surged into the lead with two goals 12 seconds apart early in the second period. Ottawa tied it shortly after a power play expired when Anisimov tucked a shot past Koskinen at 5 minutes, 15 seconds.

AFP, WASHINGTONDemocrats in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday presented a forceful case for impeaching and removing US President Donald Trump from office in a report detailing “overwhelming evidence” of misconduct in office and obstruction. “President Trump and his senior officials may see nothing wrong with using the power of the office of the president to pressure a foreign country to help the president’s reelection campaign,” it said. Trump also pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a “conspiracy theory” that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 US election, to benefit the Democrats, the report said. “President Trump’s ongoing effort to thwart Congress’ impeachment power risks doing grave harm to the institution of Congress.”In London for a NATO summit, Trump again accused the Democrats of playing a political game. “At the end of a one-sided sham process, Chairman Schiff and the Democrats utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump,” she said in a statement.

Under Australia’s immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted at sea are sent to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Independent lawmakers and the opposition joined forces in February to give doctors the right to order sick asylum seekers be sent to Australia if they required medical care. As a result, Morrison said the medical evacuation legislation is unnecessary and undermines Canberra’s border policy, designed to discourage asylum seekers from undertaking dangerous sea voyages to Australia. In 2016, Australia agreed a deal with former US president Barack Obama to offer refuge to up to 1,250 asylum seekers. Australia has rejected offers from New Zealand to take a further 150 asylum seekers, fearing refugees would use it as a “backdoor entry” to Australia.

AFP, LONDONA Polish kitchen porter who had a one-on-one fight with London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan on Tuesday said he acted on instinct by tackling him with a stick. Lukasz, who only wanted to give his first name, said he was recovering from stab wounds and coming to terms with the incident. Others joined in and, outnumbered, Khan tried to run outside, but was trapped. Khan went into the reception and the cloakroom before a showdown in the entrance hall. When Khan got outside, “the first one after him is Lukasz, shouting at everyone to get out of the way, get back,” Williamson said.

Cha, 27, was found dead on Tuesday, police said, adding that the cause of the death was not immediately known. The singer-actor posted on Instagram the day before he was found dead, telling his fans to take care in the cold winter. Cha’s death comes after K-pop singer Koo Hara, 28, was found dead in her home last month. Her death followed the apparent suicide of a fellow K-pop idol star, Sulli, a former member of girl group f(x), in October. Last week, two male former K-pop band members were convicted of sexual assaults and sentenced to prison terms.

AFP, KABULA Japanese doctor whose long career was dedicated to helping some of Afghanistan’s poorest people was among six people killed yesterday in an attack in the east of the country, officials said. The armed assault in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar Province, prompted appalled reactions in Afghanistan and internationally. A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called Nakamura “one of the closest friends of Afghanistan.”Nakamura in 2003 was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award — often called Asia’s Nobel Prize. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan expressed “revulsion” at Nakamura’s killing. It was “a senseless act of violence against a man who dedicated much of his life to helping” Afghanistan’s most vulnerable, the mission said.

Thomson Reuters Foundation, BANGKOKEfforts to protect Thai seafood workers from labor exploitation and modern slavery risk has stalled as most international brands and retailers refuse to pay their suppliers more to comply with new anti-slavery policies, researchers said yesterday. Thai seafood suppliers are struggling with rising production costs as they seek to improve labor conditions and meet new anti-slavery laws and regulations, with little or no financial help from big buyers, a study found. “The costs of protecting workers from exploitation and forced labor should be distributed equitably across the value chain,” she added. “Thai suppliers note haphazard financial support for social auditing but none for improving working conditions, and report no increase in price,” the researchers said in the report. Workers in the Thai seafood industry might end up suffering additional labor rights abuses, despite greater attention on the issue, if buyers do not pay higher prices, the report said.

Some who came to Taiwan from China identify with Taiwan and have become Taiwanese, and some of them even support Taiwanese independence. However, there are plenty of others, like Kuo, who do not identify with Taiwan, but see themselves as its colonial rulers. They did so because they cannot accept how democracy lets everyone play an equal part in politics, which spells the end of colonial rule. The 1936 Xian Incident took place because Chiang Kai-shek sent troops to fight other Chinese instead of resisting the Japanese. In Chinese history, Chiang Kai-shek should be listed as a king who lost his country, but Chinese in Taiwan call him a national savior.

Spreading disinformation to influence public opinion is wrong, and yet it has always been a part of the politician’s toolkit. When Typhoon Jebi hit Japan on Sept. 4 last year, it forced Kansai International Airport to shut down, stranding thousands of passengers. The conflation of disinformation efforts and the suicide, and specifically the opposition’s political weaponization of the tragedy, are deeply problematic. Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, immediately posted a video criticizing the use of cyberarmies. If the Han camp is better financed in the presidential election than it was in the mayoral, would it be more “acceptable” to pay people to distort public opinion?

AFP, LONDONThis year’s prestigious Turner Prize is to be shared by all four shortlisted artists after they formed a collective to show solidarity at a time of global “political crisis,” in a shock win announced on Tuesday evening. Oscar Murillo, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock and Tai Shani were all named winners at a ceremony at the Turner Contemporary gallery in the seaside town of Margate, in southeast England. Turner Contemporary director Victoria Pomery has described their work as “fantastic exhibitions.”Murillo had been the favorite to win. “We have very strong individual voices, but somehow the prize needed to be concluded in this way,” he said after the announcement. Part of his submission for the coveted prize involved recreating the acoustic memories of former inmates of a Syrian prison.