EZ News 08/17/26

Good afternoon, I'm _ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened up 30-points this morning from Friday's close, at 45,841 on turnover of 10.9-billion N-T. The market lost ground last Friday, on profit taking ahead of the nearest technical resistance around 46,000 points as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing gave up its earlier gains. Lawmakers to attend Asian Pacific Parliamentarians' Union meetings A delegation of 13 lawmakers is slated to travel to to Japan later this month to attend the Asian Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union 54th General Assembly and 88th Council Meeting. The delegation will be led by Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang. The event this year will held under the themes of inter-parliamentary cooperation to maintain (維持) a free and open economic order and strengthen regional supply chain resilience. Taiwan hosted the Asian Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union General Assembly last year. Starlux's Sorayama-themed A350 arrives in Taiwan A Starlux Airbus A350-1000 featuring livery by renowned Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama has arrived at Taoyuan International Airport. The aircraft, named "Airsorayama Gold," is at the airport ahead of its commercial debut flight (首航) on the carrier's Taipei-Tokyo route later this week. Starlux says it is the second plane in the airline's "Starlux Airsorayama" art project, which showcases Sorayama's signature metallic aesthetic. The new aircraft features a gold-themed livery and the airline says it complements its first Sorayama-designed jet, the "Airsorayama Silver." The aircraft is scheduled to enter commercial service on Starlux's Taipei-Narita route starting Thursday. TRUMP ORDERS PENTAGON TO SCALE BACK JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES WITH SOUTH KOREA HOURS BEFORE DRILLS DUE TO BEGIN US President Donald Trump has ordered Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale back annual joint military exercises with South Korea, posting on Truth Social just hours before the drills were due to begin that they send a message he called hostile to North Korea. The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises were set to run for eleven days and involve (使參與) around eighteen thousand South Korean troops alongside American forces stationed on the peninsula. The announcement came days after North Korea's eleventh ballistic missile test of the year, and a day after President Trump posted a photograph of himself alongside North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Reporter Nick Harper in Washington says Trump also linked the decision to South Korea's refusal to support the American-led campaign in Iran. Italy Museum Theft Thieves have stolen four works attributed to Sicilian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina from a regional museum in the city of Messina in Sicily. According to local news, the theft occurred on Saturday during the Italian Ferragosto holiday. The thieves bypassed (繞過、避開) alarm systems in the evening, taking three panels of the San Gregorio Polyptych and a double-sided panel of the Virgin Mary and the dead Christ. The museum was closed on Sunday while investigators gathered evidence. The theft comes just days after police in the northern Italian city of Parma announced that they had recovered three stolen artworks by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth about $11.5 million US dollars. Five people have been detained in the March theft in Parma province. That was the I.C.R.T. EZ News, I'm _. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn