Pakistan were all out for 302 on day 2 of the pink-ball Test, 287 runs adrift, with a dogged Yasir the last man to go for 113. In a scintillating spell under lights on Saturday, left-armer Starc snapped up four quick wickets and the omens for Pakistan did not look good. However, the gloomy conditions at the Adelaide Oval yesterday offered little movement to the bowlers, and Azam and Yasir took advantage. However, he was out in the second innings for only 8. Mohammad Abbas joined Yasir at the crease and made 29 before he was undone by a Pat Cummins bouncer, caught at gully by Warner.

While the US-China trade dispute has led to a reshuffling of the global supply chain and benefited some local companies, other firms have been hit by the slowing global economy and trade. Meanwhile, market observers fear that a disconnect between the stock market and the real economy might be emerging in Taiwan, as has happened in many other economies. A stock market generally tends to reflect the fundamental conditions of an economy: a booming market indicates that investors are chasing shares of companies that might offer larger dividends, as well as those that have a higher profit outlook amid a growing economy. However, the DGBAS’ forecasts are much more optimistic than those of local and foreign research institutes, which remain cautious about potential risks for the global economy. From the perspective of import and export figures, as well as corporate earnings results, the fundamental risks to Taiwan’s economy still deserve the government’s attention.

By Liu Li-jen and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Russian Empire in 1875 sent a naval vessel to Taiwan proper to investigate after Japan attacked the island the year before, Russian historical records showed. National Taipei University of Education professor Yang Meng-che (楊孟哲) on Nov. 12 visited the Russian Academy of Science’s Taiwan Research Center to examine the documents and talk to researchers. Ibis’ report was published by the Russian military the following year, Yang said, adding that Taiwan researchers in Russia consider the report an impartial account of the Aboriginal communities. “Taiwan has had few exchanges with Russia aside from Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) treatise on the Soviet-China relationship, or the aid provided by Russia following the Jiji Earthquake,” Yang said, adding that the documents are invaluable in the face of the limited exchanges. There are plans to bring the documents to Taiwan next year for an exhibition and have them translated to Mandarin, Yang said.

Southgate was told that Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic feared the prospect of going to Wembley right at the beginning of the tournament, with London one of 12 European cities to host matches. However, the most significant recent meeting between them came in last year’s FIFA World Cup semi-final in Moscow, when Croatia won 2-1. “We have had three really good games, really tight games with them, with very little between the teams all three times,” Southgate said. They then have a final home group game against another familiar opponent in the Czech Republic, who they trounced 5-0 at Wembley in qualifying, but lost to 2-1 in Prague. “In the end you want to try and win every game you play and at least have control of your destiny,” Southgate said.

By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterState-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday announced that it is to increase gasoline prices by NT$0.2 per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.3 per liter today. CPC said that global crude oil prices rose last week due to positive market sentiment regarding the US-China trade talks and major oil producers’ production cuts. It is the fourth consecutive week that domestic fuel prices have increased. After the adjustments, prices at CPC fuel stations are to climb to NT$27.1, NT$28.6 and NT$30.6 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded respectively, while premium diesel is to increase to NT$25.0 per liter, CPC said. CPC announced price cuts for liquefied natural gas (LNG), but left prices unchanged for liquefied petroleum gas this month.

By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterTaiGen Biopharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd (太景醫藥研發控股) on Thursday last week said that it expects sales in China to grow next year, when its oral formulation of antibiotic Taigexyn is to be included in China’s national medical insurance program. “This result from negotiations signals that the [Chinese] National Healthcare Security Administration has a high opinion of our drug,” TaiGen chairman Philip Huang (黃國龍) said. Although people in China have had to pay the full price for Taigexyn this year, demand has been robust, he said, adding that cumulative sales of the tablets have increased 1.7 times in the first three quarters of this year. The potential market for Taigexyn is forecast to total 1 billion yuan per year in China, given that a rival treatment, Bayer AG’s Moxifloxacin, reported annual sales of at least 5 billion yuan, TaiGen said. TaiGen shares advanced 4.15 percent to close at NT$21.35 in Taipei trading on Friday, compared with the Taipei Exchange’s decline of 0.81 percent, the exchange’s data showed.

AFP, LOS ANGELESJames Harden on Saturday tied Michael Jordan for the third-most 60-point performances in NBA history as the Houston Rockets blasted the Atlanta Hawks 158-111. Harden finished with 60 points to reach the mark for the fourth time and tie Jordan. He is the fourth player to score 50 or more points on 20 occasions, trailing Chamberlain (118), Jordan (31) and Bryant (25). Harden sat for the full fourth quarter with Houston up 127-73 at the end of three. “My man had 60 and didn’t play the fourth quarter.

The best way to deal with agricultural risk is agricultural insurance. The government has been testing agricultural insurance in recent years. There is also no agricultural insurance fund, which would make it difficult to achieve financially stable insurance services, and the lack of development of different kinds of agricultural insurance would have an impact on insurance scope and diversity, while the scarcity of independent, complete data and damage surveys would increase the government burden further. In addition, the relationship between agricultural insurance, existing production subsidies and disaster relief, as well as their respective responsibilities, must also be clarified. This would impact the long-term planning and operation of agricultural insurance.

By Sushil SethUnder Xi Jinping’s (習近平) indefinite leadership of communist China, Beijing has apparently set itself a twofold goal. First: Xi is committed to enforce strictly the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with him as its leader for life. With Xi as the core leader, and the CCP his instrument, he personifies both the ruling party and the country. Thirty years on, with Xi as the party leader and the country’s president, the CCP’s control is even more pernicious in this digital age. Of course, it is understood by the CCP leadership that its claim about their infallibility is dubious and regarded as such in the outside world.

AFP, the hague, netherlandsDutch police were hunting an assailant who stabbed three minors in The Hague’s main shopping street as people looked for bargains on Black Friday. Two teenage girls came running into the store after being stabbed, witnesses said. The stabbing took place not far from parliament, which is the seat of government for the Netherlands and home to many international organizations. The Netherlands has seen a series of terror attacks and plots, although not so far on the scale of those in other European countries. Dutch police on Monday arrested two suspected jihadists, one of them in The Hague, and charged them with planning a terror attack using suicide and car bombs.

Reuters, SITIO PARIAHAN, PhilippinesDanica Martinez, 16, grew up in a house that grows taller every few years. Her father raises the stilts of their bamboo hut so water from the sea does not reach the floor. They live in Sitio Pariahan, a coastal village in the Philippines that was once an island and is now without land. Sitio Pariahan, about 17km north of Manila, is sinking about 4cm every year, owing largely to land subsidence from the population’s overuse of groundwater, according to experts. Now rising sea levels caused by global warming could soon make this village unlivable, a problem faced by other countries in Asia, where the poorest communities are hardest hit.

Just last month WhatsApp sued an Israeli surveillance company, the NSO Group, in a US court. The NSO Group has rejected the allegation. The University of Toronto’s CitzenLab has found that the Pegasus spyware is used in 45 countries. On the surface, it seems that constraining the global spyware industry could be impossible. Many say that constraining exports of such software would be folly, since Chinese surveillance companies would step in where Western companies bow out.

AFP, LIMAPeruvian opposition leader Keiko Fujimori was on Friday released from prison after spending 13 months in pretrial detention in a corruption case linked to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Her American husband, Mark Vito, had been on hunger strike outside his wife’s prison on the outskirts of Lima to press for her release. Once Peru’s most popular politician, Keiko Fujimori theoretically now has time to campaign for presidential elections set for July 2021. She is accused of accepting US$1.2 million in illicit party funding for her 2011 election campaign as leader of the right-wing Popular Force party. Odebrecht has admitted to paying at least US$29 million to Peruvian officials since 2004 and bribing four former Peruvian presidents.

AFP, WASHINGTONA prominent US cryptocurrency promoter and former hacker was on Friday charged with sanctions breaches after he allegedly advised North Korea on using virtual money to avoid international controls. Doing so breached US Department of the Treasury bans on “exporting any goods, services, or technology” to North Korea, put in place in response to the country’s nuclear weapons program. North Korean officials at the conference appeared to show particular interest in Griffith’s presentation, it said. He also announced plans to renounce his US citizenship, aiming to “purchase” citizenship in another country, the Justice Department said. “We cannot allow anyone to evade sanctions, because the consequences of North Korea obtaining funding, technology and information to further its desire to build nuclear weapons put the world at risk,” FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said.

The results of a study by National Taiwan Normal University researchers announced on Wednesday found that Taiwanese use humor infrequently and that certain humor types are linked to mental capacity and well-being. It abounds in Taiwan, with examples found in advertising, popular media and social media. The characters, Wu Dalang (武大郎) and his wife, Pan Jinlian (潘金蓮), are known for being unequal, despite “sharing a bed.”However, not all Taiwanese politicians use offensive humor. A more feasible association could be made between the “Chinese culture’s privileging of humility and interpersonal harmony” and the lack of aggressive humor in Taiwan. There is also a different history of the struggle for emancipation in Taiwan than there was for minority groups in the US.