The Tai-Ex opened up 36-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 15,105

on turnover of 1.7-billion N-T.

The Tai-Ex closed slightly lower on Wednesday after initial gains were wiped

out (去除; 消滅) on the back of lingering investor concerns about the U-S

Federal Reserve's hawkish outlook on inflation and interest rate hikes.

The bellwether electronics sector gave up early gains amid fears over further

volatility in tech stocks on Wall Street, which prompted investors to lock in

profits, or move funds to the biotech and select old economy sectors towards

the end of the trading day.

**CECC Expects Omicron Subvariant-Induced Outbreak to Peak Earlier **

The Central Epidemic Commander Center is forecasting that new coronavirus

cases induced by the Omicron BA. 5 subvariant are expected to peak

(達到高峰) in mid or late September.

That's some 10 days earlier than had previously been forecast.

Epidemic commander center head Victor Wang says Taiwan is continuing to see

an upward trend in infections, with Wednesday's daily cases increasing by

15.1-per cent compared with last week.

According to Wang, the increase in case numbers is an indication that a peak

is close and the number of new infections could start to break 30,000 per day

from early next week.

**TRLU Drops Strike Plans Amid Progress in Pay Talks **

The Taiwan Railway Labor Union says its members won't be pushing for strike

action on public holidays later this year following progress in negotiations

with the Taiwan Railways Administration on pay issues.

The union had been threatening (威脅) to call a strike on the Mid-Autumn

Festival in September and Double Ten Day in October.

However, union representatives say it members will be reporting for work on

both days after the railways administration agreed to raise the minimum

monthly salary for railway employees to 30,000 N-T.

The pay raise affects 1,300 employees and was one of the key issues the union

hoped would be addressed before it is turned into a state-run corporation in

2024.

**US WH Announces Student Debt Relief **

US President Joe Biden has forgiven a part of student debt (學生貸款) for

most borrowers in the United States.

Caroline Malone reports from Washington.

**WHO: COVID19 Deaths Worldwide Falling **

The World Health Organization says the number of coronavirus deaths reported

worldwide has fallen by 15% in the last week while new infections dropped by

9%.

In its latest weekly assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.N. health

agency said there were 5.3 million new cases and more than 14,000 deaths

reported last week.

WHO said the number of new infections declined in every world region except

the Western Pacific.

It said the predominant (最普遍的) COVID-19 variant worldwide is omicron

subvariant BA.5, which accounts for more than 70% of virus sequences shared

with the world's biggest public viral database.

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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