**Tai-Ex opening **

The Tai-Ex opened up 29-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 15,627

on turnover of $3.5-billion N-T.

The Tai-Ex lost ground on Thursday, as other regional markets ended the

trading day mixed amid lingering investor uncertainty over interest rate

hikes and inflation.

**iRent Fined for Data Leak **

The Ministry of Transport and the Taipei City Government have both fined

vehicle rental and sharing services platform iRent for it failure to properly

protect is users data.

According to the Directorate General of Highways, it opened an investigation

in to the company on February 4 and that probe found iRent had violated

(違反) of the Personal Data Protection Act as well as other regulations

related personal information security.

The bureau, which operated under the transport ministry says it has fined the

company 200,000 N-T for those violations.

Meanwhile, the Taipei City Government has fined the platform's is operator,

Ho Ing Mobility Service, 90,000 N-T for violating a city autonomous ordinance

that regulates vehicle sharing services.

The Taipei Department of Transport says it could also file a civil case

against the company either under the Damages and Class Action of the Personal

Data Protection Act or the Consumer Protection Act.

**Ukraine President To Address Russia at Olympics **

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address a group of sports

ministers meeting Friday to discuss Russian participation at next year’s

Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee is working on a plan to allow Russian and

Belarusian athletes who have not actively supported the war to enter

qualifying events (排位賽) for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris despite the

ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

As Ukraine pushes for Russian athletes to be barred and threats of a boycott

mount, officials from 30 countries planned the summit to discuss how to

respond.

Zelenskyy has previously said any neutral flag for Russia would be “stained

with blood.”

He is due to address the online summit by video link.

**US Biden Rally in Florida **

The US president holds a rally in Florida.

AP correspondent Shelley Adler reports.

**Twitter Fails to Provide EU Report on Combating Misinformation **

Twitter has failed to provide a full report to the European Union on its

efforts to combat online disinformation, drawing a rebuke from top officials

of the 27-nation bloc.

The company signed up to the EU’s voluntary 2022 Code of Practice on

Disinformation last year — before billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the

social media platform.

Under the code, online platforms including Google, TikTok, Facebook and

Instagram parent Meta agreed to commit to measures (措施) aimed at reducing

disinformation.

They filed their first “baseline” reports last month showing how they’re

living up to their promises.

All who signed up to the code submitted complete reports except Twitter.

Twitter didn't respond immediately to a request for comment Thursday.

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