Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News.

The Taiex opened up 178.34 points at 21,271.09, on turnover of NT$4.81

billion.

The upward tick came after the index suffered its third steepest decline in

history, tumbling almost 1,000 points on the back of a sell-off triggered by

Wall Street.

Itself Against China

D-P-P Secretary-General Lin You-chang says Taiwan is determined to defend

itself against China.

During a public seminar hosted by the Global Taiwan Institute in Washington,

D.C., Lin said Taiwan's will to defend itself, as well its investments in

national security, continue to grow stronger ..

.. and while the Lai administration has the ideal of pursuing peace, Taiwan

must not have illusions about China, as Beijing's intention to seize Taiwan

has never changed regardless of which party is in power in Taiwan.

Lin said Beijing has only adjusted its approach from using "shells and

missiles" during Chen Shui-bian's presidency, to "money" during Ma

Ying-jeou's presidency, and "shells, missiles, silver bullets, and cognitive

warfare" during Tsai Ing-wen's presidency.

Lin said that under President Lai Ching-te, China is using all of those

approaches as well as disinformation (假信息) and legal battles in an attempt

to disrupt and infiltrate Taiwanese society.

And,

The Taipei Zoo has announced the deaths of three of long term residents -- a

white rhino, its last American bison, and a Bengal tiger.

American bison (野牛) Chiao-wa died on Wednesday, while Bengal tiger

Hsin-chun and white rhino Hsi-min died on Monday this week.

Chiao-wa was born at the zoo in October of 1999 and it was the last American

bison at the zoo.

Hsin-chun was the last Bengal tiger at the Taipei Zoo, it died after

suffering from chronic kidney disease.

While white rhino Hsi-min was 44 years old and one of the oldest residents in

the zoo's African Animal Area.

U-S authorities say a 14-year-old student has opened fire (開槍) at a Georgia

high school and killed four persons.

Nine people were also wounded.

The dead have been identified as two students and two teachers at Apalachee

High School in Winder.

Haya Panjwani reports.

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North Korea is flying more trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea in the

latest round of Cold War-style psychological warfare between the rivals.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (參謀長聯席會議) says it detected more

balloons launched from North Korea on Thursday morning following launches the

previous evening.

The joint chiefs said North Korea launched around 420 balloons from Wednesday

evening to early Thursday and that about 20 of them had been discovered so

far in the South Korean capital of Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province.

It says the balloons were filled with paper waste, plastic bottles and other

trash but contained no dangerous materials.

A new study finds that every year people create 57 million tons of plastic

pollution.

The material winds up everywhere from the deepest oceans to the highest peak

of Mount Everest to inside people's bodies.

More than two-thirds of it is in the Global South (南方國家)

Researchers in the United Kingdom examined waste produced at the local level

in more than 50,000 cities and towns.

They looked at waste that gets into the open environment, rather than plastic

that goes into landfills or gets burned properly.

But experts say that the study's focus on pollution, rather than growing

plastic production, lets the plastics industry off the hook.

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.

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