英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

Municipality leaders are blasting a new debt proposal from the cabinet. The most furious among them is Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin, who could see his city’s remaining borrowing power lowered by over two-thirds. The proposal would free up the other four municipalities to borrow more money, but the mayors of Taichung and Kaohsiung say the changes don’t go far enough. 

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin led a contingent of eight KMT lawmakers from the city in protest today. They are furious over a proposed amendment to the Public Debt Act, which would lower the remaining debt his city could still take on from NT$269 billion to NT$85 billion.

Hau Lung-bin
Taipei Mayor
Work may have to slow down or even stop on the Wanda Line, the Airport Line passing through Xinzhuang and the East Section of the Circular Line through Xinyi.

Alex Tsai
KMT Legislator

Divers have a new reason to visit Kenting, even if it is something they can barely see. Tiny hairy shrimp, under a centimeter in size, have been spotted in Kenting’s waters and were filmed by a diver there recently, drawing plenty of interest. 

This is a hairy shrimp filmed by a diver in waters off Kenting. As the name suggests, the mollusk has tiny hairs on its shell. One can also see its eyes and long antennae.

Divers in Kenting have spotted both orange and the much rarer green variety of hairy shrimp. 

Also known as algae shrimp, the crustaceans are tiny, under a centimeter in length and often barely 5 millimeters. They’re mostly found in waters in East Asia. To catch a glimpse of them, Taiwanese divers have headed in the past to the Lembeh Strait in northern Indonesia. 

But local divers are thrilled to have found that compared with the Lembeh Strait, Kenting’s waters have far more of the tiny creatures. 

Just as it tries to recover from severe flooding, England is about to get hit by a cold front that could eventually deliver record low temperatures. Authorities there are bracing for the worst. 

Heavy rains in recent days have caused flooding throughout England. As cleanup efforts begin, many areas and homes are still submerged in water, cut off from outside transportation links. The authorities have warned that some rivers could still surge.

Even worse, weather forecasters are saying temperatures over the weekend could fall to minus three degrees Celsius and could fall to minus 20 in December and January. The arrival of what could be England’s coldest winter on record was simply more bad news for those already displaced by the floods.

The unusual weather has extended to southern Italy. A massive tornado struck the port of Taranto on Wednesday, causing severe damage to a steel factory. About 20 workers were injured and one was still unaccounted for. Video of the tornado as it rolled into the town showed a big burst of fire.

In northern Italy, the region of Tuscany has experienced heavy rains and flooding, and a small coastal town was ravaged by a tornado, the roofs of many houses badly damaged and trees uprooted. Exhausted firefighters continue to clean up the area.

Ahead of preparatory fishery talks, negotiators from Taiwan and Japan signed two unrelated agreements today. Analysts interpreted it as a gesture of goodwill ahead of the more sensitive talks tomorrow, but officials said the close timing was simply coincidental. 

Taiwanese and Japanese officials will discuss fishery rights tomorrow. Before then, the chairman of the Japan Interchange Association met with Liao Liou-yi, head of Taiwan’s Association of East Asian Relations. They signed an agreement to mutually recognize each other’s inspections of machinery and electronics goods and an MOU on industrial cooperation. Analysts think the timing shows that the two sides want to ease tensions following the recent controversy over the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands. 

Liao Liou-yi
Association of East Asian Relations
Your question overanalyzes. This wasn’t the meaning. It just happened that the 37th trade meeting took place at the end of November. It was the original plan. We are working hard to sign MOUs and MRAs, and the timing of the two unrelated events just happened to overlap.

Fishermen in Taiwan are most concerned about fishing talks, specifically where they will be allowed to fish. For an answer, they’ll have to wait for another day.

The cabinet has announced that second-generation health insurance will begin from Jan. 1. At that time the insurance rate will fall to 4.91 percent, though some people will have to pay an additional premium on certain kinds of supplementary income. 

Second-generation health insurance begins next year. At that time, the insurance rate will fall from 5.17 to 4.91 percent, reducing revenues by nearly NT$21 billion. The government will recoup the shortfall by levying a supplementary premium of 2 percent on income outside of regular salaries. The Department of Health gave an initial estimate of premiums rising for 3 million people. The remaining 85 percent of the population will pay a lower amount.

Su Ching-chuan
KMT Legislator
The premium calculation base should be expanded, so it will include rental income, interest income and dividends. What’s wrong with that?

Eva Teng
NHI Civic Surveillance Alliance