Episode Details

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



PLA helicopter crosses Taiwan Strait median line

The Ministry of National Defense says a Chinese military helicopter was

detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait median line on Monday.


Officials say the helicopter and a drone were detected between 10:20AM and

7:40PM on Monday.


Chieh Chung, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security

Research, says he believes it is the first time a Chinese military helicopter

has been detected crossing the median line.


Chieh says that represents a new form of "gray-zone" operation.


Defense officials have not said whether the detected helicopter was a

shipborne aircraft (艦載機) or had been dispatched from a nearby Army aviation

base along China's coast.




Taiwan enters new COVID-19 epidemic phase: CDC

Taiwan has officially entered a new COVID-19 epidemic phase after more than

47 hundred people sought treatment for the disease during July 12-18.


The Centers for Disease Control says that figure marks a 66.5 percent

increase from the previous week.


Officials say Taiwan has sufficient supplies of antiviral medications and

vaccines to respond to the outbreak.


She said the NB.1.8.1 variant has remained the dominant strain in Taiwan for

the past four weeks.


The most common symptoms include sore throat, cough, nasal congestion (鼻塞) or

a runny nose, fever, fatigue, headache and muscle aches.


COVID-19 activity is also increasing in China, Hong Kong, Japan and South

Korea, Tseng said.





Taipei retains** 14th place in global student city rankings**


Taipei ranked 14th in the U.K.-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student

Cities 2027 rankings.


The rankings were based on indicators including university rankings,

desirability, affordability, student mix and employer activity.


QS noted that Taiwan's ranked cities performed particularly well for

affordability (可負擔性), with all placing among the world's top 30.


But Taiwan's cities lagged in employer activity, which measures how strongly

employers associate a city with producing high-quality graduates.


Globally, Seoul topped the 2027 rankings, followed by Tokyo, London and

Melbourne. Munich and Sydney tied for fifth, ahead of Paris, Berlin, Vienna

and Zurich.





US STRIKES IRAN FOR TENTH CONSECUTIVE DAY

A 10th straight day of attacks between the United States and Iran across the

Middle East has overshadowed (使蒙上陰影) diplomatic efforts in Pakistan to

salvage an interim ceasefire deal that collapsed earlier this month.


US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the Iran war has cost $37.5 billion,

so far.


It is now unclear what new arrangement might be reached to end the war…

which has turned into a battle for control over the Strait of Hormuz…


Ed Donahue reports on the mood from the White House.




France social media ban

French lawmakers have approved a bill banning children under 15 from using

social media.


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