**Tai-Ex opening **

The Tai-Ex opened up 88-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 14,895

on turnover of 2.9-billion N-T.

The market gained more than 200 points on Monday as investor sentiment (情緒)

improved on the back of gains on Wall Street at the end of last week.

Those gains were led by large cap tech stocks, in particular semiconductor

heavyweights, which moved higher amid eased investor concerns over another

rate hike by the U-S Federal Reserve later this month.

**Economics Minister Pledges 2.5GW of New Solar Power Capacity **

Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua says the government will add 2.5-gigawatts of

solar power generation capacity (容量) this year.

If the government managed to achieve that goal, it will be the most installed

in a single year.

According to Wang, a total of 1.1-gigawatts of solar capacity was installed

in the first seven months of this year and it's hoped that 1.4-gigawatts can

be installed in the final five months of the year.

Wang says adding new solar power capacity of 2.5-gigawatts this year would

top the previous annual high of 1.883-gigawatts in 2021

Data shows that solar power accounted for 2.7-per cent of all electricity

produced here in Taiwan in 2021 and 3.3-per cent of all power produced in the

first seven months of this year.

**Number of Furloughed Workers Falls **

The Ministry of Labor says the number of furloughed workers fell by 3,020

last week on the back of a tentative (暫定的) recovery in domestic tourism.

According to the ministry, figures show that the number of workers placed on

furlough programs stood at 16,872 as of Wednesday of last week and that was

down from the 19,892 from the previous week.

While the number of companies implementing (實施) unpaid leave programs fell

to 2,605 from 2,990 during the same period.

The decline is being attributed to a slight recovery in domestic tourism, due

to the summer vacation, and the easing of concerns over the coronavirus

situation.

**Kremlin Faces Questions Amid Ukraine Offensive **

The Kremlin, facing mounting questions about the country's invasion of

Ukraine, has sidestepped questions about whether Vladimir Putin has

confidence in his defense minister.

Russian officials now say their forces are outnumbered 8 to 1 by the

Ukrainian army in some parts of the country and are conceding (承認) that

they have lost territory they previously seized there.

In Moscow, there's been growing criticism of the Russian army's performance

in Ukraine on state television, and questions raised about Vladimir Putin's

decision to invade.

Julia Chapman has more from Kyiv.

**ExAfghan Parliament Member Calls on UN to Push for Women's Rights **

A former member of Afghanistan's parliament is urging the world to label the

Taliban a ``gender apartheid'' regime because of its crackdown on human

right.

Naheed Farid, a women's rights activist who was the youngest-ever politician

elected to parliament in 2010, told a U.N. news conference Monday that as a

result of severe (苛刻的) restrictions on women's rights, she is hearing more

stories of Afghan women choosing to take their life out of hopelessness and

despair.

She expressed hope that world leaders meeting next week for their annual

gathering at the U.N. General Assembly would make time to meet and listen to

Afghan women living in exile.

Farid accused the Taliban of using women as a ``bargaining chip'' to demand

legitimacy, funds, and aid from the international community.

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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