**Tai-Ex opening **

The Tai-Ex opened down 35-points this morning from yesterday's close, at

16,411 on turnover of 4-billion N-T.

The market closed virtually flat on Wednesday as investors were cautious

after Wall Street fell overnight amid renewed speculation the U-S Federal

Reserve could once again raise interest rates.

Artificial intelligence development-related stocks remained popular despite

the weakness of U-S markets overnight, but the financial sector struggled due

to the debt issues faced by Chinese enterprises.

**Military Refusing Comment on Test Launch of Cruise Missile **

The Ministry of National Defense is refusing to comment on reports that it

test fired a new cruise missile earlier this week.

However, local media is citing unnamed military source as saying a classified

missile was test fired on Wednesday, as part of an ongoing three-day

live-fire drill in waters off Pingtung's Jioupeng military base.

Reports have been claiming the Air Force launched a Hsiung Feng IIE missile.

According to the United Daily News, the missile flew for over an hour after

it was launched from a base in Pingtung County.

Defense officials didn't publicly acknowledge the existence of the Hsiung

Feng IIE cruise missile system until March of last year.

**Port Authorities Patch Hole in Sunken Container Ship **

The Taiwan International Ports Corporation says it has patched (修補) a hole

in the engine room of a container ship which sank in Kaohsiung Harbor last

month.

According to the corporation, it now expects to finish the clean-up of a

related oil spill and the removal of containers that fell from the vessel by

later today at the earliest.

The Palau-flagged "Angel" was anchored some 5-kilometers from shore when it

began listing and taking on water on July 20 and it sank the following day.

US President Joe Biden will travel with the First Lady to Maui on Monday,

where they'll meet with first responders and survivors, and survey damage

from wildfires which last week ravaged (嚴重破壞) the island.

The death toll from the state of Hawaii's worst natural disaster in history,

and the country's deadliest US wildfire in more than a century, has now

topped 100 people. Officials say it's expected to rise further. ?

Thousands others have been made homeless.

Benji Hyer reports.

**Germany Cabinet Approves Cannabis Decriminalization. **

Germany’s Cabinet has approved a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis.

The plan foresees legalizing possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis for

recreational purposes and allowing individuals to grow up to three plants on

their own.

The legislation is billed as the first step in a two-part plan and will still

need approval by parliament.

Officials hope their plan will help protect consumers (消費者) against

contaminated (受污染的) products and reduce drug-related crime.

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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