EZ News 02/13/23

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. **Tai-Ex opening ** The Tai-Ex opened down 21-points this morning from Friday's close, at 15,564 on turnover of 2.6-billion N-T. The market closed slightly lower on Friday as investor sentiment turned cautious after Wall Street lost ground amid renewed concerns over an aggressive (積極的)Federal Reserve. Although stocks across the board remained largely weak, select large-cap tech and financial stocks appeared resilient, providing some support to the broader market to prevent further losses by the close of Friday's session. **Taiwan Search and Rescue Teams to Leave Turkey ** The National Fire Agency says Taiwan's search and rescue teams that have operating on southern Turkey since last week are scheduled to arrive back in Taiwan on Wednesday afternoon. According to the agency, all 130 personnel and five search and rescue dogs are now leaving the disaster zone ( 災區) and heading to Adiyaman Airport in batches. They will fly out of Istanbul Airport Tuesday evening on a special EVA Airways charter flight. Taiwan's search and rescue teams are known to have pulled three people from the rubble of collapsed buildings since they arrived in southern Turkey last week. **Over 1 Million Visit Taiwan Lantern Festival ** The Tourism Bureau says more than 1-million people visited the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taipei on Saturday. That's the highest single-day figure so far for this year's event. The bureau is attributing the mild and dry weather over the weekend for the huge turnout and the surge (急遽上升) in volume of traffic across Taipei's 12 districts, each of which hosts a lantern display. Figures show that number of passengers using the five M-R-T stations that are near the major displays was more than 300,000 on Saturday - and that's an increase of around 130,000 from last year's Taipei Lantern Festival. The 2023 Taiwan Lantern Festival runs until February 19. **US Shoots Down Flying Object Near Great Lakes ** The United States military has brought down a fourth flying object over Lake Huron in Michigan near the US Canada border. The incident (事件) was confirmed by the state's governor who said she'd been in contact with the federal government. Our Washington correspondent Jagruti Dave has more. **Arab Islamic Leaders Condemn Israel Actions in West Bank ** Dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries have condemned recent Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged between Israel and the Palestinians. The meeting in Cairo on Sunday was hosted by the Arab League and attended by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Speakers at the meeting condemned (譴責) Israel’s “unilateral measures” in Jerusalem and the West Bank, including home demolitions and expanding settlements. They also condemned visits by Israeli officials to the city’s contested holy site, which is sacred to both Jews and Muslims and has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest. 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 _____. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn