The Tai-Ex opened up 91-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 23,131

on turnover of 8.7-billion N-T.

The market bucked the regional downward trend and traded marginally higher on

Monday - as investors shrugged off a decline on Wall Street at the end of

last week.

The Taipei-Shanghai Twin City Forum has gotten underway.

Shanghai's delegation is being led Vice Mayor Hua Yuan - who arrived in

Taiwan yesterday

Hua is leading a delegation of about 90 people to attend today's event.

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an has said he believes the forum can help promote

peace across the Taiwan Strait and that it's a rare platform for official

cross-strait dialogue, which could help ease tensions (緊張局勢) between

Taiwan and China.

The Mainland Affairs Council announced last Friday that it had denied entry

applications for 10 members of Shanghai delegation.

The two cities are expected to sign memorandums of understanding on smart

medical care and zoo animal exchanges during today's forum.

Taichung City Mayor Lu Shiow-yen says she plans to visit Japan next year.

According to Lu, her itinerary is still be worked out, but she's likely to

travel to Miyazaki Prefecture - which recently formed a sister city

relationship Taichung.

The mayor's announcement came after K-M-T Taichung City Councilor Liu

Shih-chou made public that the city has proposed a budget of just over

4-million for city exchange visits next year.

Liu also said the city government should organize ( 安排，籌劃) a visit to

Japan.

Lu Shiow-yen made her first overseas visit in four years in April - when she

traveled to Singapore.

She also traveled to the U-S in July.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President-elect Donald

Trump had a "very warm" phone call according to the Israeli leader.

He said they spoke about the need to complete Israel's victory, and bring

home the hostages being held in Gaza - something Trump has said must happen

before his inauguration (就職典禮).

Kate Fisher reports from Washington

Zakir Hussain, one of India’s most accomplished classical musicians who

defied genres and introduced tabla to a global audience, has died at the age

of 73.

His family said the Indian classical music icon died on Sunday from chronic

lung disease at a hospital in San Francisco.

Hussain was considered the greatest tabla player of his generation and his

career spanned six decades, during which he collaborated (合作) with the

likes of singer-songwriter George Harrison, jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd,

and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

In 2024, Hussain became the first musician from India to win three Grammy

awards in the same year.

Hussain is survived by his wife and two daughters.

That was the I.C.R.T. EZ News, I'm _____.

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