20120430 7pm

7PM EZ News Intro

Good evening. It's 7 o'clock. I'm _____ and time for EZ News on ICRT.

Former Judge Gets Compensation for Unjust Jail Time

A former judge has been given more than 150 thousand NT for having been jailed unjustly on a conviction for insider trading that was later overturned. The case has been winding its way through the judicial system for close to two decades. Former judge Xu Cong-yuan was initially found guilty in his first trial and subsequent appeal ... but later trials on the same charge found him innocent. The Supreme Court later upheld his innocence ... and prosecutors exceeded the deadline to file any further appeals ... so the verdict stood. Xu however spent some 77 days in jail ... having been refused bail at one point. A court today rejected Xu's demand for close to 400 thousand NT in compensation ... saying his behavior was questionable for his position even though he was found innocent. However, it awarded him two thousand NT for each day he was jailed ... for a total of some 150 thousand NT. (jm)

Taiwan students above average in leading American math contests

Taiwanese students scored higher than the global average recently in a number of prestigious American Mathematics Competitions, with one student even getting a rare perfect score in an advanced test. Taiwanese accounted for roughly 40 percent of the students worldwide who finished in the top 2.5 percent of the AMC 10 (for 10th graders or younger) and top 5 percent of the AMC 12 (for 12th graders or younger), despite accounting for only 9 percent of all test takers. New Taipei ninth grader Chang Lai-ho was one of only five students globally to put up perfect marks and the first Taiwanese to accomplish the feat in 12 years. Tainan eighth grader Chen Shao-ming was another star performer who got only one question wrong in the AMC 10 contest. (EG)

Myanmar

Ending a week of constitutional deadlock in Myanmar, pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she will now take the oath of office and take up her seat in parliament. Nathan King reports.

Algeria

A newspaper says that Algerian security forces have killed 20 members of an al-Qaida splinter group who were allegedly about to attack a fuel tanker. The El Khabar newspaper, considered close to Algerian security services, reported that a convoy carrying members of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa was hit near the Malian border. The raid could complicate efforts to free seven Algerian diplomats believed to be in the hands of the movement, which has fought the Algerian government for the last two decades. The diplomats were taken from a consulate in northern Mali when militants stormed the building in early April as Tuareg rebels swept across the northern part of the country.

Al-Qaida

Al-Qaida's North African affiliate has offered to free a British hostage if London allows radical cleric Abu Qatada to leave Britain for another country. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said it would release Stephen Malcolm if Abu Qatada were let go. It warned that the British government would be responsible for the consequences if it deports him to Jordan, where he faces a terrorism trial. Authorities in Britain have been trying to expel the Palestinian-Jordanian preacher since 2001. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in January that he could not be deported to Jordan because of a risk that evidence obtained through torture would be used against him there.

Europe

Inflation in the 17 countries that use the euro fell to an annual 2.6 percent in April, but was still higher than analysts' expectations. The figure fell from 2.7 percent in March, but remained above the 2.5 percent average forecast. Fed by higher oil prices, inflation has remained stuck well above the European Central Bank's goal of just under 2 percent, a target that it now says won't be reached until early 2013. The stubborn inflation rate is important to the eurozone debt crisis because it discourages the central bank from cutting its 1 percent benchmark interest rates. Lower bank rates can help growth but worsen inflation.

Weather

Central Weather Bureau forecasters say it's going to be cloudy islandwide tonight, with chances of thundershowers all across Taiwan. Lows tonight will range from 23 in the north to 25 in the south. Tomorrow, more of the same, with highs of 32 in the north, 30 south and center. Right now, it's 31 in Taipei, 27 in Taizhong, and 29 in Gaoxiong.

7PM EZ News Outro

That's EZ News at 7. I'm _____