The Tai-Ex opened down 10-points this morning from yesterday's close, at

16,816 on turnover of $4-billion N-T.

Taxi fares in outlying Kinmen County will be increased from January 1st 2024

for the first time in 13 years.

The Kimen County government said it approved the increase proposed by the

association of local taxi drivers due to the rising cost

Each journey will charge an additional $5 NT for every 200 meters after the

first 1,000 meters and for every accumulated (累積) two minutes during which

the taxi travels slower than 5 kilometers per hour.

The basic fare for each journey is currently $100 NT for a journey of less

than 1,000 meters, with journeys at night charging 20 percent more than

during the day.

North Korea is lashing out at the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier battle

group in South Korea, calling it a provocation and again raising the specter

(對於…的恐懼（或憂慮）) of using nuclear weapons to defend itself.

The North's state media issued that threat today, a day after the USS Ronald

Reagan and its battle group arrived at South Korea’s southeastern port of

Busan following a U.S.-South Korean-Japanese naval exercise in international

waters earlier this week.

South Korean defense officials said the carrier is to be docked at Busan for

five days as part of an agreement to increase the temporary deployments of

powerful U.S. military assets in response to the North’s growing nuclear

program.

The World Food Programme is warning that the humanitarian situation in the

Gaza Strip is "dire" after Israel said it will not life its blockade of the

territory until Hamas frees all the Israeli and foreign hostages that it

seized (抓住) last weekend.

Meanwhile, Jewish community sites worldwide are on alert after the former

leader of Hamas called for Friday to be a day of jihad against Jewish

targets.

Our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports.

The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended by the IOC for breaching the

Olympic Charter by incorporating sports bodies in four regions in eastern

Ukraine.

Russian Olympic officials provoked (激起，引起) the dispute last week by

accepting the councils in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its

members.

The suspension does not immediately affect any Russians who are returning to

compete in international sporting events as neutral athletes.

The Russian Olympic Committee can challenge the IOC decision at the Court of

Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

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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