**Tai-Ex opening **

The Tai-Ex opened down 23-points this morning from yesterday's close, at

14,279, on turnover of $2-billion N-T.

The market gained ground on Thursday, following a rally on Wall Street

overnight as investors assessed minutes from the U-S Federal Reserve's latest

policymaking meeting and welcomed encouraging data on American jobs.

**Fraud Rings Now Targeting Victims with NT$6,000 Rebate in Telephone Scams **

The Cabinet is warning people that fraud rings are now using the government's

planned 6,000 N-T lump-sum tax surplus rebate in telephone scams.

Officials says people have been receiving text messages claiming to be from

the Ministry of Digital Affairs telling recipient to open an included link to

redeem (贖回) their payment.

According to Cabinet Spokesman Luo Bing-cheng, the government will not use

text messages to inform the public of how to apply for and how to receive

payments into their bank accounts.

Luo says the Cabinet has ordered the National Police Agency to investigate

all such telephone scams and to establish a series of preventive measures to

ensure that members of the public are protected against fraud.

The government says those who receive any text messages related to the

lump-sum tax surplus rebate claiming to be from a government agency to call

the 165 fraud prevention hotline.

**Lunar New Year New Bank Note Exchange to Begin on January 13 **

The central bank says members of the public will be able to exchange old

bills for fresh bank notes in the run up to the Lunar New Year.

Old bills can be exchanged for new ones from January 13 through 19 at

designated (指定的) branches of eight local financial institutions.

The central bank says as demand is highest for 100 N-T bills, each individual

will be allowed to exchange a maximum of 100 notes - while the supply of

notes with other values will also be limited.

According to central bank governor Yang Jin-long, between 3 and 4 billion N-T

is allocated annually to print new bills.

The central bank is also urging the public to consider using virtual

transactions during the New Year.

**US House Speaker Election now Longest **

The saga to vote in the next Speaker of the US House of Representatives

continues - breaking records last set almost 165 years ago.

Republican Kevin McCarthy has now lost 11 rounds of voting over three days -

despite making major concessions (讓步) to the group of hardliners in his

party voting against him.

Nick Harper reports from Washington.

**Pakistan Attack Against Polio Vax Team **

Pakistani police say attackers armed with guns and hand grenades ambushed a

police van assigned to guard polio workers in the country's northwest,

wounding five officers.

Police say they returned fire after coming under attack near a bridge on

Thursday in a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but Islamic militants often

target polio teams and police protecting them.

They falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to

sterilize (使絕育) children.

The latest anti-polio campaign started this week in northwestern Pakistan and

is the first in 2023.

That was the I.C.R.T. news,

Check in again tomorrow for our simplified version of the news, uploaded

every day in the afternoon.

Enjoy the rest of your day, I'm _____.

--

Hosting provided by SoundOn