EZ News 02/27/24

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened up 16-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 18,964 on turnover of 4.2-billion N-T. The market gained ground on Monday, despite fluctuating in early trading. Analysts say investors this week are awaiting updates on the pace of growth in the U-S economy, inflation and what central banks may do on interest rates. CSBC to Conduct Final Harbor Acceptance Tests on "Narwhal" C-S-B-C has announced that it will begin conducting a series of final tests on its first domestically built submarine prototype today. According to the shipbuilder, the assessments are part of its ongoing (正在進行的) harbor acceptance test before it moves onto the sea acceptance test. The "Narwhal" has been undergoing harbor acceptance tests since October of last year at a C-S-B-C factory in Kaohsiung. The shipbuilder says the submarine will be moved to a nearby a floating dock before being transferred to a dry dock where it will undergo the final phase. The submarine was officially named by President Tsai Ing-wen during its launch ceremony in late September. Taiwan Remains 4th in Global Economic Freedom Index Taiwan has once again been ranked fourth in the 2024 Index of Economic Freedom. It means the island maintain its best ranking achieved last year in the annual report released by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation. The report assesses 184 countries on four key aspects comprising (包括) 12 sub-factors. Those are then equally weighted and averaged to produce an overall score. Taiwan scored higher than the global average in all 12 subcategories. And its overall score of 80, means that Taiwan's economy is categorized as "free" along with that of Singapore, Switzerland and Ireland. Fukushima to Begin Discharging Treated Wastewater Japan is set to begin a fourth discharge of treated, radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from Wednesday. The owner of the wrecked (被毀的) Fukushima nuclear power plant, TEPCO, has been releasing the water in batches since August last year. Chris Gilbert reports from Tokyo China Overseas Bloggers Claim Police Investigating Followers Two prominent Chinese bloggers in exile said that police were investigating their millions of followers on international social media platforms. Former state broadcaster CCTV journalist Wang Zhi’an and artist-turned-dissident (批評政府者) Li Ying said separately that police were interrogating (審問) their followers, and urged followers to take precautions such as unfollowing their accounts, changing their usernames, avoiding Chinese-made phones and preparing to be questioned. Li shared screenshots of private messages he received from followers over the past few months, which claimed that police had interrogated individuals, and that one person had even lost their job. This comes after a recent leak of documents from I-Soon, a private contractor linked to China’s top policing agency and other parts of its government, describing tools used by Chinese police to curb dissent on overseas social media. 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