The Tai-Ex opened down 396-points this morning from yesterday's close, at

23,373 on turnover of 13.6-billion N-T.

The market lost more than 200 points on Wednesday as Taiwan Semiconductor

Manufacturing share price tumbled after Donald Trump once again claimed that

Taiwan had taken "100-per cent" of America's "chip business."

Analysts say Trump's comments and his being seen as possibly winning

November's U-S election are raising concerns that T-S-M-C's global expansion

will be affected if he returns to the White House.

Premier Cho Jung-tai has announced the establishment of a Cabinet-level task

force which will be responsible for formulating (制定) policies to tackle

various economic issues.

The Economic Development Commission will convene (召開) for the first time

today.

According to the premier, the first issue on the agenda will be discussion

refarding how Taiwan can further attract overseas investors and skilled

workers.

The premier says other issues, including driving innovation, modifying

taxation rules, raising salary levels and funding the construction of social

housing will also be discussed by the task force in the future.

Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke has been indicted along with 11 other

people on corruption charges.

According to prosecutors, Yang and the 11 others knowingly shielded (庇護)

Fong Yi Construction from legal responsibility after the company caused a

severe sinkhole in the county last year.

Prosecutors say Fong Yi Construction failed to properly stabilize the ground

of a new residential project in order to save over 100-million N-T in costs.

And the company's use of substandard materials led six collapses and

sinkholes appearing on roads adjacent to the construction site between April

of 2022 and April of 2023.

Yang continues to serve as Hsinchu County Magistrate despite the indictment.

The United Nations warns that further regional spillover (溢出效應) conflict

in the Middle East is increasing by the day, at a meeting on the ongoing

crisis in Gaza.

Jody Jacobs reports…

Nine crew members were rescued and another died as teams searched for others

after an oil tanker capsized this week off the coast of Oman, according to

the country's state news agency.

The tanker, the MT Prestige Falcon, had 16 crewmembers on board, mostly

Indians, when it capsized in the Arabian Sea late Monday southeast off Oman's

Ras Madrakah area.

The cause of the capsizing (傾覆) and the condition of the tanker and its

cargo were not immediately known.

But the Indian navy, which sent a warship to help in the search operations,

said the rescue teams were dealing with rough seas and strong winds.

Several tons of fish have died along one of the main rivers in Brazil's Sao

Paulo state after an alleged illegal dumping of industrial waste from a sugar

and ethanol (乙醇) plant.

Prosecutors say a preliminary analysis estimates that between 10 and 20 tons

of fish died on the Piracicaba River.

The initial investigation points to an “irregular discharge of wastewater”

from Estiva’s Sao Jose plant in the community of Rio das Pedras, and it

reached a stream that flows into the river.

Prosecutors have requested a full report into water conditions and are

waiting for further technical information before taking the next steps

regarding civil and criminal liability.

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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