20120504 10am

10AM EZ News Intro

Good morning. It's 10 o'clock. I'm _______ and time for EZ News on ICRT.

10AM TAIWAN NEWS ....

The Tai-Ex opened lower this morning from yesterday's close - opening 45 points down at 7,615 on turnover of 2.254-billion N-T dollars. ------- Former K-M-T lawmaker - Jiang Lien-fu - has been arrested at a private motel in Puli, Nantou County. Jiang was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in late March for vote buying - but failed to appear to begin serving his prison term. He was taken to the Taichong District Court earlier this morning - where prosecutors processed his case. Authorities say Jiang and his wife had been at the motel for two to three days. ------- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Washington will brief the government on issues raised when China's Defense Minister - Liang Guang-lie - holds talks with U-S officials this weekend. According to foreign ministry officials ... Washington has always briefed Taipei on U-S China high-level exchanges -- and Liang's visit will be no exception to the norm. The Ministry of National Defense says it will "pay close attention to developments." ------- The D-P-P yesterday announced details of its May 19-th rally - at which it plans to protest against what it charges to be President Ma Ying-jeou's poor performance. The protest will take place on the eve of Ma's second-term inauguration -- and the D-P-P says it hopes to mobilize 100-thousand supporters. According to the D-P-P, participants will be voicing their demands that Ma freeze fuel and electricity prices, retain the ban on U-S beef imports containing ractopamine and drop his "one country, two areas" proposal.

chen

The White House has confirmed that more talks are underway with Chinese officials over the future of activist Chen Guang-cheng. Just 24 hours after he left the protective custody of American diplomats in Beijing, Chen now says he wants to travel to America. Speaking from a hospital in Beijing, Chen told reporters that he was coerced into leaving the US Embassy, after Chinese officials threatened to kill his wife. The Obama administration denies that US officials ever heard that threat, or communicated it to Chen. White House spokesman Jay Carney says the situation in Beijing is fluid. Carney also said President Obama is not concerned about possible political fallout from the Chen affair. Kenneth Lieberthal, an expert on U.S-Chinese relations at the Brookings Institution, says the U.S. has its hands tied Kenneth Lieberthal.

syria

At least four people were killed after security forces raided student accommodation in Syria's second city of Aleppo yesterday. According to activists, live ammunition was used to disperse an anti-government protest outside dormitories adjacent to Aleppo University's campus. As many as 200 students are thought to have been arrested during the raid.

sunni vp

The terror trial of Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice president was postponed until May 10th yesterday as his lawyers appealed to have parliament create a special court to hear the case. Tariq al-Hashemi, one of the nation's highest-ranking Sunni politicians, was not in court to face charges that he ran death squads that targeted government officials, security forces and Shiite pilgrims. Instead, his lawyers filed motions to have Iraq's Supreme Court direct parliament to set up a special tribunal for high-ranking officials. The Shiite-led government accuses al-Hashemi of links to about 150 bombings, assassinations and other attacks. The vice president is in Turkey, and has denied the charges.

taylor

Prosecutors say former Liberian president Charles Taylor deserves an 80-year sentence for the war crimes he was convicted of last week, including aiding and abetting murder and rape on a mass scale. Judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone ruled Taylor played a crucial role in helping rebels to continue a bloody rampage during that West African nation's 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002 with more than 50-thousand dead. The court does not have the death penalty.

WEATHER AM .....

The weather bureau says we can expect heavy rain islandwide over the next few days --- as the first plum rains of the season arrive. Parts of Gaoxiong and Pingdong counties have already recorded over 13-centimeters of rainfall over the past 24-hours - and flooding has hit part of New Taipei City. Today........ cloudy skies w/ rain and possible thunder showers islandwide -- w/ a high of 25 in the north a high of 26 in the center and a high of 30 down south Current Temperatures .... Taipei -- 20 Taichung -- 25 Gaoxiong -- 25

10AM EZ News Outro

That's EZ News at 10. I'm _____