The Tai-Ex opened up 39-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 23,526

on turnover of $3.6-billion N-T.

National Security Council head Joseph Wu is rebutting claims by U-S President

Donald Trump that Taiwan stole the semiconductor business from America.

Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Taipei, Wu stressed

that Taiwan "did not steal anything from anybody" ..

…. and stressed that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing "started from

scratch" with "some help from the international community."

The statements come after Trump earlier this week announced that America

could hit semiconductors with tariffs of around 25-per cent in the coming

weeks.

Wu told delegates at the forum that the government is continuing to assess

the potential impact of such a move and will be prepared to adjust its

economic structure if such a need arises.

He warned that those bearing the cost of such tariffs will be U-S consumers,

and he's sure eventually the Trump administration will reconsider (重新考慮)

its decision."

The Taoyuan Metro Corporation says it's preparing to celebrate its

200-millionth passenger trip earlier than expected.

According to the Airport M-R-T operator, the milestone was originally

projected for March, but due increased ridership during the on-going Lantern

Festival, it's now expected to meet the number sometime this weekend.

The lucky passenger who takes the 200-millionth trip will receive a one-year

Greater Taipei commuter (通勤者) pass and a gifts worth 20,000 N-T.

The five passengers before and after them will receive two-month commuter

passes and special gifts.

The Israeli military says the remains of two child hostages have been

identified but another body released by Hamas was not the boys’ mother.

Hamas militants had turned over four bodies Thursday under the tenuous

(脆弱的) ceasefire that has paused over 15 months of war.

Israeli confirmed one body was that of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was

abducted during the Hamas attack that started the war in 2023.

The military said later the remains of Ariel and Kfir Bibas had been

identified and the family notified.

But the military said the additional body was not that of their mother Shiri

Bibas nor any other hostage.

It called the failure to return four hostages Thursday a violation of the

utmost severity of the ceasefire agreement.

The United Nations has once again sounded the alarm bells at the devastating

impact of the continued fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some 35 thousand people have fled the east of the DRC to Burundi since the

beginning of February.

Rwanda-backed M-23 fighters continue to advance (前進) across both South and

North Kivu.

Jody Jacobs has an update from the United Nations Headquarters in New York…

A court in Argentina has dropped charges of criminal negligence against three

of the five people indicted in connection with the death of Liam Payne, the

former One Direction singer who fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in

Buenos Aires last October.

In its decision, obtained (獲得) by The Associated Press on Thursday, the

Argentine federal appeals court ordered the other two defendants in the case

to remain in custody.

They are facing prosecution on charges they supplied the famed British

boyband star with narcotics.

The charge of negligent homicide carries a sentence of one to five years in

prison in Argentina.

That was the I.C.R.T. EZ News, I'm _____.

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