The Tai-Ex opened up 12-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 21,248

on turnover of 2.7-billion N-T.

The market lost ground on Tuesday - as financial and old economy stocks led a

downturn.

This comes after President Lai Ching-te's inaugural address on Monday failed

to offer any surprises to boost market sentiment.

Analysts say the bellwether electronics sector remained resilient (有彈性的)

through much of the trading day.

This stabilized the broader market on the back of gains posted by tech stocks

on Wall Street overnight.

The United States is urging Beijing to act with restraint and not use

Taiwan's transition as a pretext for provocative or coercive (脅迫的)

actions.

According to a U-S State Department spokesperson, Washington welcomes the

comments made by President Lai Ching-te in his inaugural address.

In the speech, Lai voiced his commitment to peace and stability across the

Taiwan Strait and to maintain the status quo.

The spokesperson says the inauguration was part of a normal, routine

democratic process.

The spokesperson says if Beijing chooses to escalate tensions or pressure

Taiwan as a result, it "should be seen as the provocateur (挑釁者)."

The spokesperson also stressed that U-S policy toward Taiwan has not changed

and it continues not to support Taiwan independence.

Master Transportation Bus Manufacturing has announced that it will invest

30-million U-S dollars to build an electric bus manufacturing and assembly

plant (組裝廠) in Paraguay.

The statement follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Taipei

between the company and the Paraguayan government.

According Master Transportation Chairman Wu Ding-fa, the project's goal is to

"enhance the development of public transportation in Paraguay".

When completed, the plant will create an estimated 2,600 local jobs.

Under the M-O-U, the bus manufacturer will establish the first fast-charging

bus chassis and body manufacturing plant in Paraguay.

And the manufacturer will assist in bringing a Taiwan-developed intelligent

transportation system to the South American country.

A federal judge has dismissed the felony convictions of five retired military

officers who had admitted to (承認) accepting bribes from a Malaysian

contractor Leonard Francis, nicknamed “Fat Leonard.

AP’s Lisa Dwyer reports.

Thailand's National Museum has welcomed back two ancient statues illegally

trafficked (非法買賣) from Thailand by a British collector of antiquities.

The statues were returned from the collection of New York’s Metropolitan

Museum of Art.

The objects — a tall bronze figure called the Standing Shiva and a smaller

sculpture called Kneeling Female — are thought to be around 1,000 years old.

The Metropolitan Museum had announced last year that it would return more

than a dozen artifacts to Thailand and Cambodia after they were linked to the

late Douglas Latchford.

The art dealer and collector was accused of running a huge antiquities

trafficking network out of Southeast Asia.

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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