Taiwan's front pages are dominated by a political fight over budget cuts and a crackdown on illegal AI chip exports to China, with markets opening weak.

• Premier Cho is under fire for saying budget cuts left him able only to make phone calls instead of inspecting disaster areas.
• Nine people were indicted over illegal exports of Nvidia AI servers to China, a sign of tighter enforcement on chip smuggling.
• A KMT lawmaker faces questions over alleged corruption and fake assistant-fee claims.
• On markets, Taiwan stocks opened lower and the US dollar rose against the Taiwan dollar.
• Reports point to the US buying about $1 trillion in bonds to support markets, while Washington draws a hard line on Iran.

Outlook: Typhoon Saudel is weakening but passes closest to Taiwan on Friday, and the budget-cut row looks set to keep hurting the premier.