**Tai-Ex opening **

The Tai-Ex opened marginally higher, rising 2-points this morning from

yesterday's close, at 15,702 on turnover of 1.6-billion N-T.

The market closed higher on Monday as buying was sparked by gains on Wall

Street at the end of last week on the back of better-than-expected U-S jobs

data for April.

The bellwether electronics sector led the upturn in the wake of (在…之後)

rising tech stocks on U-S markets, while buying was also seen among non-tech

stocks, in particular in the electric engineering sector, to give additional

support to the broader market.

**Ko Wen-je Registers for TPP Presidential Primary **

Taiwan People's Party Chairman Ko Wen-je has registered for the party's

presidential primary.

Ko registered at the party's headquarters in Taipei accompanied by T-P-P

Secretary-General Zhou Tai-zhu and former Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang.

Speaking to reporters after registering, Ko said he has until September to

find a suitable running mate and while he believes Huang would be a good

choice, the party is still hoping to garner (收集) more input from its

supporters.

A spokesperson for Ko's office says the T-P-P is now scheduled to officially

announce its presidential nominee on May 17.

**MOTC Calls on Starlux to Review its Scheduling **

Transport Minister Wang Kwo-tsai is urging Starlux Airlines to review is

scheduling amid concerns recent expansion has left the carrier overstretched.

The call comes after flight delays due to bad weather and a mechanical issue

with one of its aircraft left 308 passengers and two of Starlux's three A-350

planes stranded (被困住) overnight at Tokyo's Narita Airport.

Starlux was also forced to postpone flights on its Taoyuan to Los Angeles

route due to those delays.

According to the transport minister, Starlux's recent expansion into North

America has come despite the airline only having only three large A-350

aircraft and shows the company needs to enlarge its fleet and hire more

staff, and also review how it schedules its flights.

**US Welcomes SKoreaJapan Summit **

The US is welcoming a summit held over the weekend between its key

Indo-Pacific allies South Korea and Japan.

Leaders from the two countries met in Seoul for the first time more than a

decade, in an effort to boost bilateral co-operation and thaw historical

tensions.

Chris Gilbert reports.

**Australia Forecasts Balanced Budget **

The Australian government has forecast the nation’s first balanced annual

budget in 15 years.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the forecasted surplus today before

releasing the government’s economic blueprint for next year.

Chalmers did not say how big the surplus will be, but media reported a $2.7

billion surplus was expected.

High prices for commodities including iron ore, coal and gas plus income tax

revenue helped deliver the surplus, which was also buoyed by an

extraordinarily low jobless rate.

The government's budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year aims to ease

financial hardships of the most needy without stoking (煽動，激起) stubbornly

high inflation.

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.

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