**Tai-Ex opening **

The Tai-Ex opened down 25-points this morning from yesterday's close, at

16,737 on turnover of $4-billion N-T.

The Tai-Ex plunged by more than 294-points on Thursday as investors await the

outcome of a trip to China by U-S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and amid

concerns America's central bank will continue to hike interest rates this

month.

**About Time Technologies Offering Free Checks after Smartwatch Fire **

A local smartwatch manufacturer says it will compensate the family of a

10-year-old schoolboy who sustained second-degree and first-degree burns

after the device he was wearing caught fire.

According to New Taipei-based About Time Technologies, it will also offer the

family free testing of all models in its Herowatch series.

The company has also issued apologizes to customers for the incident and says

it will have the device examined by a third party to determine the reason it

caught fire, if the customer agrees to that.

The statement comes after the smartwatch caught fire on June 30.

The 10-year old now requires skin grafts (植皮).

The National Communications Commission says it could order a recall of the

battery used in the smartwatch pending an investigation.

**Pakistan Death Toll Rises Due to Monsoon **

Officials in Pakistan say the death toll from two weeks of monsoon rains rose

to at least 55 on Thursday after at least 12 people died in weather-related

incidents.

The eastern city of Lahore had a record-breaking downpour the previous day,

flooding many streets and disrupting normal life.

Officials say since Wednesday, 19 people have died in the city due to

collapsing roofs and electrocution (觸電死亡).

Heavy rain also continued to lash Pakistan, overflowing the main rivers in

the Punjab province, prompting the disaster management agency to be on high

alert for fear of flash floods.

**Twitter Threatens to Sue Meta Over Threads App **

Twitter has threatened (威脅) to sue rival Meta over its new Threads app,

according to multiple media reports.

Ira Spitzer reports.

**Brazil Amazon Deforestation Drops **

New government data indicates that deforestation in Brazil's Amazon

rainforest dropped 33.6% in the first six months of President Luiz Inacio

Lula da Silva’s term.

From January to June the rainforest had alerts for possible deforestation

covering 2,650 square kilometers, down from 4,000 square kilometers during

the same period last year under former President Jair Bolsonaro.

This year's data includes a 41% plunge in alerts for June, which marks the

start of the dry season when deforestation tends to (傾向於) jump.

Lula campaigned last year with pledges to rein in illegal logging and undo

the environmental devastation under former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Next month, Lula will preside over a meeting in Belem, bringing together

heads-of-state from all Amazonian nations to discuss means to effectively

cooperate in the challenging region.

Lula has promised to end net deforestation in Brazil's Amazon by 2030.

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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