Typhoon disrupts travel, cuts power to thousands of homes as it barrels northStaff writer, with AFP and CNATyphoon Chanthu yesterday unleashed powerful winds and heavy rain on eastern Taiwan, disrupting travel and cutting electricity to thousands of homes, but sparing the island a direct hit. Police officers remove a fallen tree from a road in Hualien County yesterday. The typhoon was packing sustained winds of up to 162kph, with gusts of up to 198kph, it said. People struggle to keep their umbrellas open among gusts of wind and rain brought by Typhoon Chanthu in Taipei yesterday. In a rare exception to the rule, not a single typhoon made landfall last year, the first time in 56 years.

Listed firms’ revenue up 11.97%SHIFTING DYNAMICS An imbalance in supply and demand during the pandemic resulted in a boost to the shipping industry, while other sectors also benefitedBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterThe combined revenue of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange last month increased 11.97 percent year-on-year to NT$3.145 trillion (US$113.5 billion), the bourse said on Saturday. The exchange said in a statement that 661 firms reported revenue growth, while 292 reported a decline. The combined revenue of listed firms last grew 14.16 percent from August 2019, before COVID-19 was a factor, it added. Accumulated revenue for the 953 listed firms in the first eight months of the year reached NT$24.1 trillion, up 18.61 percent year-on-year, the exchange said, adding that the increase compared with the same period in 2019 was 16.45 percent. Firms in the shipping and transportation, plastics, and iron and steel industries reported the highest revenue increases during the eight-month period, the exchange added.

Taiwan’s outstanding epidemic preparedness from last year, paired with its ability to meet the needs of the global supply chain, demonstrates that “Taiwan can help and is ready to help,” the Southern Californian groups said. Photo courtesy of the Taiwanese American Center of Northern California via CNA“Now is the time for the UN to accept Taiwan and for Taiwan to make a contribution,” they added. Taiwan is a force for good in the world, TECO in Los Angeles Director-General Louis Huang (黃敏境) said. “Not only does Taiwan need the UN, but the UN needs Taiwan, too,” the groups said, adding that the nation’s excellence in technology, healthcare and soft power, as well as its global trade status, can help the global organization. Representatives from eight Taiwanese expat community organizations in Northern California on Saturday issued a similar call at a news conference in San Jose.

A self-made billionaire’s quest to save EvergrandeAFP, BEIJINGFrom rural poverty to real estate billions, the fortunes of Evergrande Group (恆大集團) chairman Xu Jiayin (許家印) tracked China’s runaway growth for much of the past two decades — but now he is battling to save his conglomerate from a quagmire of debt. They warned that Evergrande is “close to collapse,” with large losses looming for banks, bondholders and home buyers. Evergrande Group chairman Xu Jiayin speaks at an earnings conference in Hong Kong on March 26, 2019. In 2010, Xu bought an embattled Guangzhou soccer team, renaming it Guangzhou Evergrande and pouring money into world-class players and coaches. Without the country’s reform and opening up, Evergrande is not what it is today,” he said.

Han Kuang military war games are to begin todayStaff writer, with CNAThe Han Kuang exercises, the nation’s major war games, are to start today and run for five days. The drills are to include a military aircraft emergency takeoff and landing exercise on a regular roadway on Wednesday, featuring all three fighter jet models in Taiwan’s fleet, a military source said last week. An F-16V jet takes off from a freeway in Changhua County during the Han Kuang military exercises on May 28, 2019. Previously, emergency landing exercises have been held on sections of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. The Han Kuang exercises have been held annually since 1984, including live-fire drills and computerized war games, to test Taiwan’s combat readiness in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Auto parts suppliers’ sales mixed amid chip shortageBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterAuto parts suppliers last week reported mixed sales performances for last month, as shipments of gasoline-powered and electric vehicles continued to be affected by tight auto chip supply for tier-one parts suppliers and automakers. A worker assembles vehicle parts at a factory in Xinyu, China, on April 27 last year. “Generally, electric vehicle and electrification-related supply chain firms saw sales grow in August,” Yuanta analysts said in the note. The auto chip shortage has forced automakers worldwide to trim production, pushing passenger vehicle sales in China to fall 15 percent year-on-year to 1.45 million units last month, while sales of light vehicles in the US dropped 17 percent to 1.09 million units, Yuanta said, citing industry tallies. “Amid low car inventory levels in the US and China and with high used car prices, we believe slower-than-expected car sales are mainly owing to supply chain disruptions rather than a car demand decline,” they said.

Credit card spending down 7.5% due to virus, electronic payments up 43%By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterCredit card spending in the nation fell for a second consecutive month in July, declining 7.5 percent annually to NT$335.4 billion, as consumers purchased less amid a local outbreak of COVID-19, the Financial Supervisory Commission said. In May, when the outbreak began, credit card spending rose 11.6 percent annually to NT$239.6 billion, data released by the commission on Thursday showed. However, credit card spending declined 9.19 percent to NT$215.3 billion in June, as the outbreak affected private consumption, the commission said. Although July’s credit card spending of NT$335.4 billion was down from a year earlier, it was the second-highest for that month, but the momentum came from tax payments, not regular spending, the commission said. For the first seven months, the nation’s cumulative credit card spending totaled NT$1.77 trillion, up 1.78 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

Ticket uptick for food delivers: reportTRAFFIC VIOLATIONS: The National Audit Office said that deliverers last year ran red lights in 19,868 cases and exceeded the speed limit by 20kph to 40kph in 9,054 casesBy Hsieh Chun-lin / Staff reporterTraffic violations and accidents involving food deliverers increased by more than 3,000 cases over the past four years, a report released by the National Audit Office said. The agency compiled data on 101,992 food deliverers registered with Uber Eats Taiwan and Foodpanda Taiwan between October last year and February, and traffic accident data on the vehicles registered to food delivery service providers between 2017 and last year. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesLast year, 30,683 vehicles registered by service providers and driven by 29,378 food deliverers, or about 29 percent of all food deliverers, were involved in 50,224 major traffic cases or 50,841 individual traffic violations, the data showed. Some registered deliverers conveyed meals on unregistered vehicles, such as rental scooters or other private vehicles, while some unregistered drivers borrowed a deliverer’s Uber Eats or Foodpanda registration to deliver meals, the report said. The ministry said that food delivery service providers use motor vehicles to transport goods and get paid for it, so they should obtain motor transportation industry licenses or commission a legal motor transportation company to make the deliveries.

MMA’s Belfort humbles Holyfield with TKO in firstAFP, MIAMIFormer heavyweight world champion Evander Holyfield on Saturday night looked all of his 58 years in a first-round technical knockout loss to mixed martial arts star Vitor Belfort. The American ring great regained his feet only to be sent to the canvas by a combination from Belfort. Holyfield (44-10 with two drawn and 29 knockouts), accepted the Belfort fight on eight days’ notice after Oscar De La Hoya tested positive for COVID-19. Holyfield said he was ready, having been preparing for a proposed comeback bout against Kevin McBride that did not come off. Asked after the fight if he was still interested in making a rematch with his old nemesis Tyson, Holyfield said: “Of course.”

EDITORIAL: Time for TECRO to change nameIf the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US could be renamed to include “Taiwan,” the change would support Lithuania’s difficult decision to host a “Taiwanese Representative Office” and prompt other allies to follow suit. Renaming TECRO is one objective that Taiwanese diplomats have been striving for over many years, and it has garnered support from US lawmakers. By comparison, renaming TECRO without changing its status would be less troublesome. Compared with negotiating a trade agreement, renaming TECRO might be a small, symbolic step, but the change could consolidate Washington’s leadership among democratic allies. Beijing is applying political and economic tricks to pressure Lithuania into reversing its decision to host a Taiwanese representative office.

CDC announces free vaccinations for yellow feverBy Wu Liang-yi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerPeople can get inoculated against yellow fever for free through the end of November, as health authorities want to use more than 9,000 doses of the vaccine before they expire, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. High-risk countries for transmission of the disease generally require vaccination prior to entry, while some countries require travelers from high-risk countries to be vaccinated prior to entry. Taiwan is not a high-risk country for the disease, but does require vaccination of all arriving travelers from high-risk countries, including people who are only transiting. The yellow fever shot is an attenuated vaccine that takes effect within about 10 days, the CDC said. Those getting vaccinated against yellow fever and COVID-19 should ensure there is at least two weeks between the jabs, it added.

The two-way sensation yielded six runs on a career-high nine hits in 3-1/3 innings. Photo: AP“I feel like they were sitting on my cutters and sliders for the most part,” Ohtani said through a translator. “That’s not a guy you would like to face all the time,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said of Ohtani. In Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Pirates slipped past the Washington National 4-3 to spoil Josh Bell’s return to PNC Park. Retired Mets infielder Todd Zeile on Friday talked about playing in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 21, 2001.

European stocks end down as stimulus slowsReutersEuropean stocks closed lower on Friday, down more than 1 percent this week as investors weighed risks from tighter monetary policies after the European Central Bank (ECB) signaled a slowdown of COVID-19-era bond purchases. Defensive sectors such as healthcare and real estate notched the biggest weekly drops, as investors positioned for a possible increase in economic growth. Tech stocks in Europe rose 0.7 percent, while luxury stocks received a boost as France’s LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE rose 0.8 percent after HSBC Holdings PLC recommended buying the stock. European stocks found support after the ECB said it was not about to close the money taps, despite projecting higher growth and inflation for the eurozone. The blue-chip index ended 0.07 percent up at 7,029.20, down 1.53 percent from a week earlier, with miners leading the gains.

FEATURE: Cat abuse case puts spotlight on animal rights lawsStaff writer, with CNAAfter 11 days of intensive care, Tea Tea (茶茶), a tabby cat in New Taipei City, succumbed to his injuries on Aug. 28. Tea Tea was scalded so badly that he had lost a lot of his fur and his ears were curled, Fan said. The low conviction rate was a result of improper law enforcement, namely a lack of animal protection police, animal advocates said. Cheng’s office said that there are three categories of people, either full-time or part-time staff, handling animal protection affairs: animal shelter staff, veterinarians stationed at shelters and animal protection inspectors. Increased civic participation, including help from animal groups, is needed to raise awareness about animal protection and curb abuses, she said.

‘Greater Hsinchu’ plan hinges on Cabinet: sourceBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with staff reporterPresident Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) might support a proposal to upgrade “Greater Hsinchu” to a special municipality statues, a senior official said yesterday. On Tuesday, the Cabinet said that it has not discussed the proposal. The threshold would have to be lowered to 1 million to form a “Greater Hsinchu” special municipality, the source said, adding that a new mechanism for changing the nation’s administrative structure might also have to be created. Hsinchu County has more eligible voters than Hsinchu City, with the county being home to sizeable Hakka communities that do not tend to vote for the DPP, they said. “Lin is not trying to boost selfish political interests; he is trying to create a better future for Greater Hsinchu,” they said.