The Tai-Ex opened down 22-points this morning from yesterday's close, at

20,836 on turnover of $5.2-billion N-T.

With the benchmark index closing at a new high Monday, market capitalization

on the local main board surpassed the $66 trillion NTmark for the first time,

according to the data compiled by the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

The data also shows that investors riding the uptrend have earned an average

of $740-thousand NT this year.

The average household in Taiwan is expected to see its electricity bill rise

by more than 70 percent a month when the four-month summer-rate period begins

in June.

TaiPower said households in Taiwan use an average of 413 kilowatt-hours of

power per month from June to September, which costs around 1000 NT monthly

during that period.

While electricity use at other times of the year averages at just 301 kWh per

month, costing around 600 NT.

That means there’s a 73 percent difference in electricity bills between

summer and non-summer months.

But TaiPower says only around 100 NT is attributable to the higher summer

rate.

A TaiPower spokesperson said the summer rates were introduced in 1989, as

more power generators are deployed to meet higher consumer demand, increasing

the company’s operating costs.

Another United Nations staff member has been killed in Gaza.

The UN worker was killed when the vehicle they were travelling came under

fire on Monday in Rafah.

Jody Jacobs has more…

One of Europe’s most notorious (惡名昭張的) human smugglers has been

arrested in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

The regional government’s security agency said it had arrested Barzan

Majeed, known as “the Scorpion,” upon a request from Interpol and “after

the exchange of intelligence information.”

The agency said he had attempted to smuggle 100 migrants to the U.K. in small

boats and trucks.

The U.K.'s National Crime Agency had issued an appeal (求助，懇求) for

assistance in tracking Majeed down in 2022, after he was convicted in

absentia in Belgium of people smuggling crimes.

Officials say Majeed has been handed over to the regional justice department.

The memoirs of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be released in

November.

The publication will come nearly three years after the end of her 16-year

tenure (任期) at Germany's helm (領導地位).

Publishers say the 700-page-long memoir will be published on Nov. 26-th.

Merkel was a scientist who grew up in communist East Germany and became

Germany’s first female chancellor in 2005.

She steered Germany through a succession of crises including the global

financial crisis, the migrant crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.

She was succeeded by current Chancellor Olaf Scholz in December 2021.

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