Tsai urged members of the public to support her re-election bid as she opened the New Taipei City headquarters for her campaign in Banciao District (板橋). “I would not be who I am today if it had not been for New Taipei City,” she said, adding that she is grateful to it. As the largest special municipality in Taiwan, New Taipei City plays a key role in every direct presidential election, she said. Then-Taipei county became the special municipality of New Taipei City on Dec. 25, 2010, and the nation’s most populous city. If the DPP can win New Taipei City, it would be able to win in the overall elections, she said.

AFP, BERLINThe future of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition was thrown into question on Saturday as her deputy chancellor and finance minister lost the leadership race of his center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). The humiliating defeat for German Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz marks another sign of discontent within the Social Democrats over their partnership with Merkel’s center-right party. Wounded by an election rout in 2017, the SPD had initially sought to go into opposition, but allowed itself reluctantly to be coaxed into renewing an alliance with Merkel. The SPD has also been battered by a series of regional and European election setbacks this year. “The SPD cannot renew itself unless it is in opposition and has new people,” political expert Klaus Schroeder said.

AP, SYDNEYAn Australian teacher held captive with an American colleague by the Taliban for more than three years believes US special forces tried and failed six times to free them. Some of them were so compassionate and such lovely, lovely people. Weeks said he had hugged some of his Taliban guards when they parted company on the day of his and King’s release. Still, the sight of the two US Black Hawk helicopters arriving to take them away had been an enormous relief. “From the moment I sighted both Black Hawk helicopters and was placed in the hands of special forces, I knew my long and tortuous ordeal had come to an end,” he said.

Reuters, BEIJINGBeijing is insisting US tariffs must be rolled back as part of any phase one trade deal with Washington, the Global Times newspaper said yesterday, citing unnamed sources, amid continued uncertainty on whether the two sides can strike a deal. “A US pledge to scrap tariffs scheduled for December 15 cannot replace the rollbacks of tariffs,” the newspaper said in a tweet, referring to an additional round of tariffs on Chinese imports to be implemented in the absence of a trade deal. The Global Times is published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. Top trade negotiators for both countries also spoke again and agreed to continue working on the remaining issues. US Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley told reporters on Tuesday that Beijing invited US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin for in-person talks in Beijing.

Reuters, TAMBAKLOROK, IndonesiaIndonesian fisherman Miskan said the once-abundant catches he used to enjoy have been dwindling in the past few years on the stretch of the Java Sea. “If you have a house on land and then work at sea, it’s hard. But now I work at sea and I live at sea,” said Miskan, 44, who uses one name, speaking outside his small home. Miskan had to borrow from neighbors to pay about 7.2 million rupiah (US$511.58) to hire workers to truck in earth. Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, has about 81,000km of coastline, making it particularly vulnerable to climate change along with neighbors like the Philippines.

Ko, the chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), made the remark on the sidelines of a campaign event for a TPP legislative candidate when asked about Hon Hai Precision Industry founder Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) comments about his ideal number of parties in the legislature. Gou on Saturday said that having two major and two minor parties in the legislature would be ideal, as it would give people more options, as opposed to having one dominant party or two balancing parties. If there are two major parties and one minor party, the latter might become arrogant, he added. Gou’s aides have been included in the TPP’s and People First Party’s (PFP) legislator-at-large nominee lists, and they are among the TPP’s legislative candidates for the Jan. 11 elections. Over the past two decades, the New Party, the PFP, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and the New Power Party have gained popularity, but then declined, he said.

The GuardianThe New Zealand livestock industry has begun a “global first” program that would help to tackle climate change by breeding low methane-emitting sheep. There are about six times as many sheep as people in New Zealand and the livestock industry accounts for about one-third of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Sheep spend 50 minutes in the chamber, and must be measured twice with an interval of more than 14 days. “This is a global first for any species of livestock,” said Mark Aspin, the consortium’s general manager. “Launching the methane breeding value gives New Zealand’s sheep sector a practical tool to help lower our agricultural greenhouse gases.”

The ObserverGiorgio Suppiej was badly beaten up when he campaigned for Venice to break away from its mainland borough, Mestre, in 1979. “It took me two months to recover.”That referendum was unsuccessful, as were subsequent ones in 1989, 1994 and 2003. “Venice is furious,” said Suppiej, whose experience in 1979 only made him more determined to fight for autonomy. Venice’s population has fallen from about 175,000 in the post-World War II years to 55,000 today. Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro is vehemently against the referendum and even took legal action to try to block it, despite promising a vote in his 2015 election campaign.

Klinsmann’s tenure of Hertha began with a lackluster loss at home to 10-man Borussia Dortmund, who held on for a 2-1 win to ease the pressure on coach Lucien Favre. In other games, Cologne drew 1-1 at home against Augsburg and Fortuna Dusseldorf drew against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 1-1. Atalanta moved level on points with fourth-placed Cagliari and fifth-placed AS Roma, with the top four finishers qualifying for the Champions League. In other games, Real Sociedad beat Sociedad Deportiva Eibar 4-1, Valencia beat Villarreal 2-1 and Real Betis Balompie won 2-1 against RCD Mallorca. LIGUE 1Lyon battle to victoryOlympique Lyonnais battled back to claim a 2-1 win over RC Strasbourg Alsace on Saturday, moving to sixth in the table.

AP, HONG KONGThousands took to Hong Kong’s streets yesterday in a new wave of pro-democracy protests, but police fired tear gas after some demonstrators hurled bricks and smoke bombs, breaking a pause in violence that has persisted during the six-month-long movement. A police statement said minimum force was deployed after “hundreds of rioters hurled smoke bombs” and bricks to cause chaos. Officers earlier also used pepper spray after some protesters deviated from the approved route. Hong Kong’s protests have been relatively peaceful during the two weeks surrounding the elections, but yesterday’s disruption indicated there might be more violence if Lam fails to yield to protesters’ demands. Some held banners reading “Let’s make Hong Kong great again” — a riff on Trump’s 2016 campaign pledge to make the US great again.

Taipei Times (TT): Many Taiwanese do not feel as much of a need as before to save money in the bank due to low interest rates. We noticed that Standard Chartered [StanChart] Taiwan’s deposits rose only 1.06 percent last year from a year earlier. Andy Halford: Interest rates go up and go down. The fact is that no one will know how the benchmark rates would change in the next 10 months or 20 months. Even though in a low interest rate environment, customers still need to find a home for their money.

AFP, HAMILTON, New ZealandDespite centuries to Joe Root and Rory Burns, England expressed disappointment at stumps on day 3 of the second Test against New Zealand after losing late wickets in Hamilton yesterday. England captain Root ended his run drought with an unbeaten 114, while Burns rode his luck to 101. However, after they took England to 201-2, the tourists were 269-5 at stumps and still trailing New Zealand by 106. “We’re disappointed to lose a couple of wickets at the back end as well.”With only five wickets remaining and 16 overs washed out by rain in the final session, England’s vision of building a healthy lead was rapidly fading. The tempo swung away from England when Burns was run out, and New Zealand followed up with the quick wickets of Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley.

Ip, who worked hard to push for national security legislation during her stint as the Hong Kong secretary for security, was severely punished by voters for supporting police violence. Although district councils have very little say within Hong Kong’s political framework, the pro-democracy camp has equated the elections to a referendum, and this carries far-reaching political implications. After the elections, councilors-elect representing about 1.6 million voters rushed to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to rescue the students still trapped there. Even so, the pro-democracy camp — including well-known activist Leung “Long Hair” Kwok-hung (梁國雄) — was defeated in 12 districts due to internecine fighting. This raises the question of whether Taiwan will vote against pro-Chinese parties in next month’s presidential and legislative elections.

The Kestrel missile launcher is a disposable, shoulder-launched, single-shot system that can fire a high-explosive anti-tank warhead or a high-explosive squash head. The command deployed the first of them in the capital in October as part of a two-year program first announced last year. It has so far procured 397 missiles, 238 test missiles and five training simulators from the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the command said. The missile systems cost NT$43.03 million (US$1.41 million), it said, adding that next year the command plans to purchase 48 more missiles, 40 test missiles and three training simulators, which would cost of NT$5.97 million. With the lightweight launchers, which could be deployed in high-rises or transported in vehicles, military police can launch mobile counterattacks in urban combat and retake crucial governmental structures, it said.

From January to October, 39.22 percent of victims of offenses against sexual autonomy — including rape, sexual intercourse with a child and sexual obscenity — were females aged 12 to 17, the statistics showed. In that same period, 91.94 percent of victims were female and 97.77 percent of suspects were male, and 21.61 percent of suspects were males aged 18 to 23, the data showedThe number of reported offenses against sexual autonomy has been falling over the past five years, the ministry said. There were 3,263 cases of offenses against sexual autonomy last year, which was 509, or 13.49 percent, fewer than in 2014, according to the ministry’s statistics. More than 90 percent of the reported crimes since 2014 have been committed by people known to the victims, it showed. The decrease in the number of offenses against sexual autonomy could be attributed to joint prevention efforts by government agencies dedicated to social welfare, health, education and judicial matters, the official said.