Last year, the Dauphins achieved an overall readiness of 69.45 percent, but their readiness has declined yearly from a high of 79.45 percent in 2018, it said. For example, over a 90-day period, the three Dauphins assigned to the Kaohsiung unit achieved a readiness rate of 50 percent on 55 of the days, it said. Five of the Black Hawks, or 35 percent of the fleet, failed to achieve the readiness goal, with the worst Black Hawk logging a readiness rate of only 31.51 percent, it said. Over the past three years, four of the five Black Hawks, as well as the Beechcraft, have consistently failed to meet maintenance standards, it added. Asked for comment on Saturday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that a readiness rate of 65 percent was the bare minimum required for the corps to function.

The man, who goes by his last name, Chiu (邱), is unmarried and has no children, and has never celebrated his birthday or Father’s Day, which was yesterday, Chiu said. Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times“This is my first time eating a cake made especially for my birthday — and my first time experiencing the joy of Father’s Day,” Chiu said. An 82-year-old Taichung resident surnamed Chiu looks at the van in which he lives in Taichung on Saturday. A son hugs his father after sending him a Father’s Day cake and best wishes with the help of Huashan Social Welfare Foundation in Hsinchu County on Saturday. The foundation said it is happy that the pandemic has eased its grip on Taiwan so that it can resume visits to those in need.

COVID-19: Blood shortage due to outbreak worsens amid rainsStaff Writer, with CNAThe Taiwan Blood Services Foundation yesterday called on the public to donate blood, as Taiwan’s blood banks on average had 4.1 days of blood supply, well below the official safe level of seven days. The shortage is mainly because of surging blood demand from hospitals across Taiwan, where regular surgeries have resumed after a nationwide COVID-19 outbreak was brought under control, Lin said. About 40,000 fewer bags of blood have been donated in Taiwan since the middle of May, when the COVID-19 outbreak started, Lin said. Supplies of type A blood was at 3.6 days, type O at 3.7 days and type B at 5.5 days, it said. The city’s blood banks on average only had 2.5 days of blood supply, it added.

Rains continue as nation recoversLITTLE CHANGE IN SIGHT: More heavy to extremely heavy rain could occur in central and southern Taiwan, a Central Weather Bureau forecaster saidBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterHeavy rain brought by a southwest jet stream continued to fall in southern Taiwan yesterday, as large parts of the nation were recovering from damage caused by torrential rains on Saturday. Yesterday, heavy rains were concentrated in the very south of Taiwan, with the 10 Central Weather Bureau (CWB) stations that recorded the highest amounts of rainfall being in Pingtung County and Kaohsiung. Independent Legislator Su Chen-ching, front row left, and others inspect an embankment that was washed away by the Linluo River in Pingtung County yesterday. Passion fruits destroyed by torrential rain rest on protective nets at a farm in Nantou County yesterday. Heavy to extremely heavy rain could also occur throughout central and southern Taiwan, he said.

Gadget, phone demand boosts Hon Hai, LarganStaff writer, with CNAHon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), an iPhone assembler, has benefited from solid demand for Apple Inc’s latest smartphones and other gadgets such as high-end servers, reporting a monthly sales increase of more than 4 percent last month. People walk into Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District on June 5, 2019. The Zhengzhou plant, Hon Hai’s second-largest factory in China, employs 250,000 people who assemble 500,000 iPhones per day, accounting for about 50 percent of global iPhone production, Chinese media reported. Hon Hai’s consolidated sales in the first seven months of the year totaled NT$3.12 trillion, up 26.69 percent from a year earlier. Largan’s consolidated sales in the first seven months of the year fell 16 percent year-on-year to NT$25.74 billion.

Novatek bets on better product mixBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterNovatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠) expects revenue and earnings to continue to increase this quarter on the back of a better product mix, the company said on Thursday after posting better-than-expected financial results for last quarter. The Novatek Microelectronics Corp logo is pictured at the company’s headquarters in Hsinchu City in an undated photograph. Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei TimesNovatek expects gross margin to expand to 48 to 51 percent and operating margin increase to 33 to 36 percent this quarter, on the back of continued product mix adjustments and product price hikes. The company has been improving its product mix of large display driver ICs (DDI), system-on-chip solutions for TV controllers and OLED DDIs. Cathay’s target price for Novatek compares with Taishin Securities Investment Advisory Co’s (台新投顧) NT$660, Capital Investment Management Corp’s (群益投顧) NT$619 and Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) NT$870.

Taiwan semiconductor firms hungry for workers; wages lag US, JapanStaff writer, with CNATaiwan’s semiconductor industry has been aggressively recruiting talent this year, with its demand for workers in the second quarter rising more than 44 percent from a year earlier, Web site 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) has said. In a white paper on the semiconductor industry’s workforce, 104 Job Bank said that Taiwan-based semiconductor companies averaged 27,701 job openings per month from April to June, the most in six-and-a-half years. The booming stay-at-home economy, including the rising popularity of online learning and remote work, has also boosted demand for semiconductors, driving the need for more workers, 104 Job Bank said. IC engineers accounted for about 55 percent of the job openings advertised in the semiconductor industry per month on average, 104 Job Bank said. The average pay, including bonuses, in the local semiconductor industry was NT$1.7 million, lower than the NT$2 million to NT$3.5 million seen in the US, Singapore and Japan, 104 Job Bank said.

Net profit in the April-to-June quarter rose 85.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.05 billion (US$37.8 million), the highest in nearly 11 quarters. Consolidated revenue rose 25.2 percent annually to NT$7.05 billion, while operating income expanded 107.6 percent to NT$1.43 billion on improved margins. Gross margin and operating margin both increased by about 8 percentage points from a year earlier to 36.12 percent and 20.25 percent respectively, the company said. Hiwin started to raise product prices in the first quarter of this year in response to rising prices of raw materials. The company plans to raise prices for some products again in the third quarter if raw material prices continue to soar, it said.

Tokyo 2020: Wen Tzu-yun takes pride in her bronze, despite bitter lossStaff writer, with CNATaiwanese karate star Wen Tzu-yun is known for her competitiveness and perseverance, so the way she was ousted on Thursday from the Olympics a step short of a gold medal bout might have been hard to accept. The 27-year-old karateka won bronze in the women’s kumite 55kg category in Tokyo after a loss to world No. Taiwanese karateka Wen Tzu-yun poses with her bronze medal at the awards ceremony for the women’s kumite 55kg category at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday. In 2013, Wen injured her hip during the gold medal match against then-world No. Thinking back to Thursday’s performance in Tokyo, Wen thanked everyone who supported her along the way, especially her family.

Chung Yuan Christian Unversity’s Chang Ching-yu Library is one of Wang Chiu-hwa’s best known projects in Taiwan. After 30 years in the US, Wang returned to Taiwan to take care of her parents. When Wang died at the age of 96 last month, she was remembered as the “mother of Taiwanese libraries.”A certificate given to Wang Chiu-hwa by mentor and collaborator Percival Goodman before she moved to Taiwan. She has worked on libraries at National Changhua Normal University, National Taiwan Ocean University, National Palace Museum and National Chung Cheng University. “I didn’t design so many libraries because I like libraries,” she once said.

Yilan honors model fathersBy Tsai Yun-jung / Staff reporterThe Yilan County Government yesterday honored 13 model fathers ahead of Father’s Day today. Blind masseur Huang Wen-han, center right in mauve shirt, and his family hold bouquets and gifts in Yilan County yesterday after Huang was honored as a model father on the eve of Father’s Day. Widowed father Yu Huo-sheng on Friday wears a “model father” sash awarded to him by Yilan County’s Dongshan Township before being honored by the Yilan County Government yesterday. His son, Huang Ching-en (黃慶恩), described his father as his role model, saying that he is keen to offer help and seldom blames others for his own suffering. Yu Huo-sheng’s daughter Yu Wen-chueh (游文雀) said many neighbors told her to study at a vocational school and work at a garment factory after graduation.

Pingtung County’s Wutai Township (霧台) recorded 693mm of rain between midnight Friday and 3:30pm yesterday, the highest accumulated rainfall in Taiwan, the CWB said. People stand in floodwater in Cijia Village in Changhua County’s Shengang Township yesterday. Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei TimesAffected by flooding and landslides, 600 residents in Wutai and Majia had been evacuated, the CWB added. People clutch umbrellas as they run across a pedestrian crossing in Taipei yesterday. Watermelons lie partly submerged in a flooded field in Yunlin County yesterday.

New Kestrel rocket to be tested on Pratas: reportDEFENDING TERRITORY: The shoulder-launched weapon, designed to penetrate armor or concrete, would be tested amid increasing Chinese presence in the South China SeaStaff writer, with CNAThe Coast Guard Administration is to hold two live-fire exercises to test an indigenous anti-armor rocket on the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea next month. A member of the Marine Corps simulates firing a Kestrel anti-armor rocket on March 4, 2016. However, the Central News Agency reported that locally developed Kestrel anti-armor rockets would be launched on both dates. The Pratas Islands, which are almost 450km southwest of Kaohsiung, are one of two territories controlled by Taiwan in the South China Sea. Taiwan, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam all claim part of the South China Sea as their territory.

Storm is expected to return to TaiwanStaff writer, with CNATropical Storm Lupit has been downgraded to a tropical depression and is expected to approach Taiwan a second time with a southwesterly system primarily affecting the nation’s west, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. Lupit is expected to pass through the Taiwan Strait today and affect northern Taiwan later today and early tomorrow before moving away, it said. Two men stand in floodwaters in a coastal village in Yunlin County yesterday. Photo: Lin Kuo-hsien, Taipei TimesHeavy rain is forecast for western areas of Taiwan today and tomorrow morning, the CWB said. As of press time, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Pingtung County, Chiayi City and Chiayi County have canceled work and classes today.

COVID-19: Legislators urge expanding voucher schemeBy Chien Hui-ju and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe next round of government COVID-19 stimulus vouchers should include childcare centers and cram schools, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday. These enterprises should be included as payable to parties in the new voucher program, as many are going out of business and some have already been forced to close, she said. “We hope the Executive Yuan’s new voucher program would include our industry and give it the boost it needs to recover from COVID-19,” he said. Chang Hao-jan (張浩然), director of the Taipei Supplementary Education Association, said that COVID-19 restrictions have led to serious losses for cram schools. Huang Yueh-ying (黃月盈), an official at the National Development Council, said the voucher program is a work in progress and that the lawmakers’ suggestion would be considered.