Lawmakers urge action after assault on store clerkBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterLawmakers yesterday urged local authorities to take action to protect workers after a man allegedly assaulted a female clerk at a convenience store in Pingtung County. The attack occurred on Sunday, when the clerk, surnamed Pan (潘), asked the man, surnamed Yang (楊), to wear a mask inside the store. People protest outside the Pingtung County Bureau of Health yesterday, demanding that the authorities deal with a man who allegedly assaulted a store clerk. Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei TimesAs of yesterday, she had undergone several surgeries, but her life was no longer in danger. Meanwhile, about 50 residents of Sinnan Village (新南) in the county’s Kaohshu Township (高樹), where Yang lives, protested at the Pingtung Public Health Bureau yesterday.

Kinmen County Commissioner Yang Cheng-wu (楊鎮浯) and the descendants of the family residence’s original owners attended the ceremony to mark the start of the restoration. The Wang Chin-cheng’s Western House (王金城洋樓) combines Western and Hoklo architectural elements in an elaborate and graceful way, the county government said in a news release. Wang Chin-cheng’s Western House, a 92-year-old county-level cultural heritage site in Kinmen County’s Jinsha Township, is pictured on Wednesday. After that, a neighbor of the Indonesia-based members of the Wang family wired NT$30,000 to repair the house’s roof and outside walls, it said. Military slogans and the national flag were prominently displayed while the house was used by the army, it added.

At an online news conference, Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Secretary-General Chou Shyue-yow (周學佑) extended his congratulations to Kishida. Former minister of foreign affairs Fumio Kishida, center, reacts after being elected as the new president of the Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: AFPThe outcome has raised hopes that Kishida would support Taiwan’s bid to join the CPTPP, given his vocal support for Taiwan during the campaign. In related news, Yuki Tatsumi, a Japanese academic at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, on Wednesday said that Kishida is unlikely to soften his country’s foreign policy toward Beijing. Against that backdrop, Japanese politicians, especially those in the LDP, have revised their stance toward Taipei and are considering further improvement of bilateral relations, she said.

But 13-year-olds are already welcome on social media with few protections and sometimes tragic effects, experts and parents said. Facebook and Instagram had argued that kids are getting phones steadily younger, lying about their ages, getting apps and need something designed for them. “Preteens probably shouldn’t have phones, but parents give them anyway... Young teens shouldn’t be on social media, but parents allow,” Stamos tweeted. But a lack of protection for children online means they will remain sought after targets for social media, especially the youngest users. “The real problem is that the business model is reaching deeper and deeper down the brainstem at a younger and younger age, much like the tobacco companies had to get kids addicted early,” said Harris.

Teco to supply substation for offshore wind farmBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterTeco Electric and Machinery Co (東元電機) is to provide an onshore substation for a 1,044-megawatt wind farm off the coast of Changhua County, the company said on Wednesday, after signing a preferred supplier agreement with the Hai Long Offshore Wind Farm Project Office (海龍離岸風電計畫辦公室). One of Taiwan’s leading suppliers of electric motors, Teco said that the onshore substation would transmit output from three wind farms, located 40km off the coast of Changhua to Taiwan Power Co’s (台電) grid. “This is the third year in a row that Teco has been awarded onshore substation contracts,” Teco president George Lien (連昭志) said. With an additional 15GW of offshore wind development capacity planned by 2035, Taiwan is one of Asia’s most promising offshore wind markets, he said. Teco is expanding as a supplier in the wind farm supply chain, while aiming for business opportunities in energy storage, Lien said.

Hakuho’s exit leaves ‘void’ in sumo: expertsAFP, TOKYOSumo will struggle to fill the “void” left by the retirement of its greatest-ever champion, Hakuho, experts say, with few new stars emerging and public interest in the ancient Japanese sport likely to wane. Yokozuna Hakuho of Mongolia tosses salt into the air as he enters the ring for the final on the second day of the Grand Sumo Tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 10, 2007. His departure leaves just one wrestler, Terunofuji, at sumo’s highest rank of yokozuna — and even his long-term future is unclear. The 29-year-old Terunofuji only reached the yokozuna rank in July, after an injury-plagued career that saw him drop to the second-lowest division at one point. “Sumo is a sport that has always been based around rivalry at the very top of the rankings,” he said.

Eric Chu to take KMT helm next weekStaff writer, with CNAChinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Eric Chu (朱立倫) is to assume leadership of the party at a ceremony on Tuesday next week, a KMT official said on Wednesday. Chu, who won the KMT chairperson election on Saturday last week, is to take over from KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣). The handover date was decided on Wednesday at a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee, which also confirmed the results of the chairperson election and approved Chiang’s resignation, the KMT official said. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Eric Chu, right, grasps the hand of KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an at an event in Taipei on Wednesday thanking party members for voting for him in the chairperson election. The committee decided to hold a ceremony on Tuesday next week, at which Chiang would hand over the party leadership seal to Chu, who previously served as KMT chairperson from 2015 to 2016, the party official added.

Local economist wins APEC prizeINCLUSIVE LABOR: Taiwanese economist Lin Ming-jen worked with two other researchers on ‘How Much Do Long-Term Care Needs Affect Female Labor Supply?’By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterA study coauthored by Taiwanese economist Lin Ming-jen (林明仁) that examines long-term care needs and women in the workplace has won this year’s APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize. The study, titled “How Much Do Long-Term Care Needs Affect Female Labor Supply?”, has yet to be formally published, Lin told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. Taiwanese economist Lin Ming-jen talks with colleagues at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taipei yesterday. Married daughters are 15 percent less likely to participate in the labor market than married sons when parents have long-term care needs, Lin said. The research prize winner was awarded US$20,000, while the two runners-up — from China and Singapore — received US$5,000 each, APEC said.

Taiwan’s free quarantine leaves little cause for complaintDespite horror stories and complaints, government facilities are more than adequateBy James Baron / Contributing ReporterI’m writing this on a beachfront balcony with a spectacular ocean view. In March 2020, the BBC caused a kerfuffle by quoting the mother of a British tourist who had bemoaned the “prison-like” and “filthy” conditions of a quarantine facility in Hualien. In addition, CDC staff came to carry out two PCR tests on the first full day of our and the penultimate morning. Although CDC staff didn’t reveal our destination, this stretch of coast is distinctive. Of course, all bets are off in this COVID era as governments strive to strike a balance, but — based on my two weeks in quarantine — Taiwan continues to excel.

COVID-19: East Asia, Pacific face drop in GDPReutersThe East Asia and Pacific region’s recovery has been undermined by the spread of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which is likely slowing economic growth and increasing inequality in the region, the World Bank said on Monday. Economic activity began to slow in the second quarter of this year, and growth forecasts have been downgraded for most countries in the region, the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Fall 2021 Economic Update said. Photo: Reuters“The economic recovery of developing East Asia and Pacific faces a reversal of fortune,” World Bank vice president for East Asia and Pacific Manuela Ferro said. “Whereas in 2020 the region contained COVID-19 while other regions of the world struggled, the rise in COVID-19 cases in 2021 has decreased growth prospects for 2021,” Ferro said. While that would not eliminate COVID-19 infections, it would significantly reduce mortality, allowing a resumption of economic activity.

LinkedIn is testing the idea of paid online eventsBloombergLinkedIn is testing the idea of letting users charge for virtual events hosted on its platform, potentially creating a new moneymaker for the social network and its users. Photo: ReutersThe move would build on the growth of LinkedIn Events, a program that saw participation surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. It added native live videostreaming last year to better handle virtual event hosts. Earlier this year, LinkedIn started offering hosts the ability to advertise their events. The company said it is exploring other new features — beyond potentially charging money — to make hosting events easier.

Chinese power cuts threaten growthMIXED MESSAGE: State Grid said that upcoming power outages to affect Beijing are part of ‘planned maintenance,’ despite media reports of a nationwide power crunchAFP, BEIJINGGoldman Sachs Group Inc yesterday lowered its annual economic growth forecast for China as nationwide power cuts hit millions of homes and halted production at factories, including some supplying Apple Inc and Tesla Inc.At least 17 provinces and regions — accounting for 66 percent of the country’s GDP — have announced some form of power cuts in the past few months, mainly targeting heavy industrial users, Bloomberg Intelligence data showed. Earlier this month, coal prices hit a record high, with restrictions imposed on businesses and homes amid the supply crunch. Still, China’s power demand in the first half of the year exceeded pre-pandemic levels, the Chinese National Energy Administration said. Goldman Sachs said it expects growth to come in at 7.8 percent, down from 8.2 percent, citing power cuts that led heavy industries to cut output, leading to “significant downside pressures.”It is the second bank to downgrade forecasts in as many days. It cut its annual GDP growth forecast to 7.7 percent.

Brent crude oil soars above US$80‘NOT TOPPED OUT’: An analyst said the oil rally ‘has still got some legs,’ as fundamentals are convincing, demand is recovering and backwardation is increasingBloombergBrent oil roared above US$80 a barrel on signs that demand is running ahead of supply, depleting inventories amid a global energy crunch. Photo: AFPOil has rallied this year as the rollout of vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic aids energy demand, spurring a drop in US inventories. A dramatic surge in natural gas has stoked bets that crude will benefit from spillover demand as users seek alternatives. “It looks like the oil rally has still got some legs,” JTD Energy Services Pte lead strategist John Driscoll said. Crude demand could rise 500,000 barrels a day as high gas prices force a switch, Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar said in a note.

Hon Hai developing improved battery for electric vehiclesBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterHon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is developing a faster-charging, longer-lasting battery for electric vehicles (EV) using lithium iron phosphate thanks to new developments in anode materials, the company said yesterday. “We anticipate that our partnership would help Hon Hai establish a strong place in the global EV battery supply chain and become widely used in electric vehicles, electric buses and battery storage applications,” it said. The first application for the new lithium iron phosphate battery would be in electric buses, which the company has scheduled to reach the market in 2023, Hon Hai said. Hon Hai has stakes in Long Time Technology and Giga Solar Materials. China Steel Chemical is a subsidiary of China Steel Corp (中鋼) that focuses on specialty chemicals for the production of steel.

Toyota banks on mobility technologyAP, TOKYOJapanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp is boosting acquisitions in mobility technology, adding Renovo Motors Inc, a Silicon Valley software developer, to its Woven Planet Holdings team, which is working on automated driving. The addition, announced yesterday, follows the purchase earlier this year of CARMERA Inc, a US venture that specializes in sophisticated road-mapping updates made cheaper and faster by using crowdsourced information obtained from millions of Internet-connected Toyota vehicles. Woven Planet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota, earlier acquired San Francisco-based Lyft Inc’s self-driving division Level 5. “The big picture is Woven Planet creating a ‘dream team’ of software and vehicle engineering people globally to deliver the world’s programmable and safest mobility,” Kuffner told reporters. Kuffner declined to comment on an incident at the Paralympics Athletes Village in Tokyo last month, when a Toyota bus equipped with automated driving technology bumped into a Paralympian athlete and injured him.