The Taiex opened down 59 points this morning on the first trading day of the year, at 22,975, on turnover of $3.87 billion NT.

President Lai Ching-te is describing China as the "real barrier" to cross-strait exchanges - not Taiwan - and he is urging Beijing to hold talks with Taipei to ease restrictions on tourism.

Speaking at the Presidential Office following his New Year's Day address, Lai said if China is genuinely sincere about reopening tourism links …

… then the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and the Association for Tourism Exchange across the Taiwan Straits should begin negotiations to ease those restrictions."

Lai cited government data - saying the number of Taiwanese traveling to China for tourism or business reached 2.05-million between January and November of last year - while only 285,000 Chinese tourists visited Taiwan during the same period.

He also criticized Beijing for banning Chinese students from pursuing (追求) degrees in Taiwan.

The under construction Tamkang Bridge linking New Taipei City's Bali and Tamsui districts has made CNN's list of the top 11 architecture projects set to shape the world in 2025.

The 920-meter long road, light rail and pedestrian bridge was designed by Iraqi-British architect architect Zaha Hadid.

When completed it will be the world's longest single-tower, asymmetric (不對稱的) cable-stayed suspension bridge.

It ranks 11th in CNN's list of architectural projects set to shape the world this year.

CNN describes it as featuring "a surprisingly slender profile, with the entire structure supported by just a single concrete mast - which the firm's project description says minimizes the bridge's visual impact on its surroundings."

The bridge is set to open for traffic in the first half of next year.

Montenegro’s interior minister says at least 10 people, including two children, were killed in a shooting in the western city of Cetinje.

The shooter, who was on the run, also seriously wounded four people in the attack on Wednesday.

Police dispatched (發送，派遣) special troops to search for the attacker in the city, located some 30 kilometers northwest of the capital, Podgorica.

A statement said the man fled the scene armed after opening fire at the bar.

Police in Las Vegas are investigating a vehicle explosion outside the city's Trump Towers hotel complex.

Videos circulating online show a Tesla cyber truck exploding (爆炸) in front of the hotel entrance.

Ira Spitzer reports.

Electric power has been restored to nearly all affected customers across Puerto Rico after a sweeping blackout plunged the U.S. territory into darkness on New Year’s Eve.

By Wednesday afternoon, energy officials said power was back up for 98% of Puerto Rico’s 1.47 million utility customers.

Luma Energy, the private company overseeing transmission and distribution of power in the archipelago, said lights returned to households as well as Puerto Rico’s hospitals and water and sewage facilities after the massive outage that exposed the persistent electricity problems plaguing (困擾) the island.

Still, the company warned that customers could still see persistent temporary outages.

It said full restoration across the island could take up to two days.

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