**Tai-Ex opening **

The Tai-Ex opened up 14 -points this morning from Friday's close, at 15,850

on turnover of 2-billion N-T.

The market moved slightly higher on Friday, despite investors erring on the

side of caution ahead of the release of a U-S job market update that traders

are hoping will encourage America's central bank to ease off on plans for

more interest rate hikes.

**AIT Reports US Monitoring Chinese Military Drills Around Taiwan **

The American Institute in Taiwan says the U-S is closely monitoring China's

military exercises around Taiwan.

According to A-I-T, channels of communication with Beijing remain open and

Washington has "repeatedly asked China to show restraint and refrain from

unilaterally (單方地) altering the status quo."

Reuters is citing an A-I-T spokesperson as saying the U-S is "comfortable and

confident" that it has the means to maintain peace and stability in the

region.

The statements comes as Beijing is continuing to a conduct drills around

Taiwan on response to President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with U-S House Speaker

Kevin McCarthy last week.

**Tai Tzu-ying Plans to Retire at End of 2024 **

And,

Tai Tzu-ying has revealed that she plans to retire from badminton at the end

of next year.

According to Tai, she will cease playing on the professional circuit "even if

she still can still play then."

Tai has talked about retiring from time to time over the past two years, but

this is the first time she has pinpointed an exact timeframe - and her plans

imply that the Paris 2024 Olympics will probably be her last competition.

The 28 year old is currently ranked fourth in the world in the Badminton

World Federation women's singles rankings.

Tai began competing internationally at age 15 and has won three All England

Open titles and three B-W-F World Tour Finals titles.

She also won silver at the Tokyo Olympics.

**France Fire in Collapsed Building **

Officials say eight people remain missing after the building they lived in

exploded and collapsed early Sunday near the port of Marseille.

Mounds of burning debris hampered rescue operations Sunday.

More than 100 firefighters worked to extinguish flames deep within the

rubble, but more than 17 hours later, officials said the situation remained

unstable.

Five people suffered minor injuries from the collapse, which occurred shortly

before 1 a.m. local time.

A neighboring building also came down.

Officials say the presence of the fire under the debris means both water and

flame-extinguishing foam could also be danger to people trapped underneath.

Robots were reportedly being deployed.

**US Health Secretary Criticizes Abortion Pill Ruling **

A top US health official says nothing is off the table when it comes to

making sure a commonly-used abortion pill remains available to women.

AP correspondent Julie Walker reports.

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 _____.

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