EZ News 08/31/23

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. **U.K. parliamentary report describes Taiwan as 'independent country' ** Taiwan's government has welcomed a new report from the U.K. parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, which stated Taiwan is "already an independent country." The report included Taiwan in its "countries" section, describing it as possessing "all the qualifications for statehood" bar "greater international recognition." According to Committee Chairperson Alicia Kearns of the ruling Conservative Party, the report is the first from a U.K. parliamentary committee to make such statements relating to Taiwan's sovereignty. Meanwhile, the committee report called on the U.K. to develop deterrence diplomacy - building up resilience and defense in order to deter malicious (惡意的) actors - and to use this to protect the self-determination of the people of Taiwan. According to the Central News Agency, MOFA spokesman Jeff Liu says Taiwan welcomed the report's support for Taiwan's international participation, and will continue to do its best to enhance deeper cooperation with the United Kingdom on various fronts for the prosperity of both countries. **New feature on Taipei Metro app makes meet-ups easier ** A new feature on the Taipei Metro mobile app will make it easier for passengers to find each other. The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation says the "train meet-ups" feature on the Taipie MRT Go app allows passengers to share their train information with friends and acquaintances (相識的人) via social media apps. Passengers are required to enter the car number and door number which are located near the door inside each car before sharing a message, which allows the app to locate the train on a real-time MRT map for message recipients. They are then notified near which door in which car the sender is located, so they can wait at the correct spot on the platform, or alternatively find each other if on the same train. The app is currently only available in Mandarin. **N Korean missiles fall short of Japan EEZ ** North Korea says ballistic missiles it fired on Wednesday were part of a tactical nuclear drill. The DPRK launched two projectiles towards the Sea of Japan which fell short of (沒達到) Japanese waters. Chris Gilbert reports from Tokyo. **Canada Bees Spilled on Road ** And from Canada…. Police in the city of Toronto warned drivers to keep their car windows closed after a truck spilled (灑) crates carrying five million bees onto a road. Pedestrians were also asked to avoid the area just west of the city, where the accident occurred. Regional police said they received a call Wednesday morning local time reporting the bee crates had come loose from a truck and spilled onto the road. About an hour after police put out a notice on social media, several beekeepers were in touch with police offering to help. Six or seven beekeepers eventually arrived at the scene. By around 9:15 a.m., police said most of the five million bees had been safely collected and the crates were being hauled away. Some crates had been left behind for the uncollected bees to return to them on their own. 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