20120507 10am

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10AM EZ News Intro

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

Taiex opens down

The Taiex opened dramatically lower today from its previous close, moving down 118.9 points at 7,582 on turnover of 2.93 billion N-T dollars.

Former premier under fire in DPP chairmanship debate

Former Premier Su Tseng-chang came under fire yesterday in the second of three televised debates among candidates vying for the DPP chairmanship. Former DPP Chairman -- Hsu Hsin-liang -- described a previous remark by Su that he would not rule out exchanges with China as long as Beijing does not have pre-set conditions ... as "empty words," and accused the former premier of failing to propose a meaningful China policy. Cai Tong-rong also attacked Su's political decisions ... criticizing him for running for Taipei mayor, which forced former DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen to run in New Taipei rather than Taipei. For his part, Su vowed to streamline the party by allowing more participation among party members ... and aiming for a DPP victory in the seven-in-one local elections in 2014. Meanwhile, former Tainan Magistrate Su Huan-chih expressed support for the idea of levying a capital gains tax, but argued that the revenues collected should be allocated to subsidize social welfare. The other candidate in the five-way race, former Vice Premier Wu Rong-i, said Tsai Ying-wen remains the best choice to represent the party to run in the 2016 presidential election. The DPP will vote for a new chairman on May 27th.

Taiwan Inspection Group Monitoring US Beef

An inspection group from Taiwan is in the US to monitor beef safety in the US. The inspection comes after mad cow disease was found in a dairy cow in California last month. However, the US has not agreed to let the Taiwanese officials inspect the farm where the infected cow was raised. Taiwan has the authority to inspect beef slaughterhouses and processing plants in the US ... as part of an agreement that allowed a ban on imports of US bone-in beef to be lifted in 2009. The Taiwanese group is seeking to visit the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Iowa, as well as slaughterhouses, feed processing plants and cattle farms in Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Utah, Colorado and California. The inspection trip is expected to last two weeks.

france

Socialist Francois Hollande has claimed victory in France's presidential election.... defeating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy with about 52 percent of the vote. Kate Moody reports from Paris.

syria

In Syria...fighting between rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's forces erupted in an oil producing province in the east yesterday, the eve of a parliamentary election the authorities say shows reforms are under way. The army still has tanks and heavy weapons in cities and towns and rebels are continuing their attacks on military convoys and army roadblocks that have cut off swathes of the country. According to witnesses and opposition sources, both sides are in violation of a ceasefire being monitored by a U.N. team. Fifty out of a planned total of 300 U.N. observers are now in Syria to monitor the ceasefire declared on April 12, but their presence has not ended 14 months of violence.

gitmo

The U.S. has finally started the prosecution of five Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the September 11th attacks in New York that killed nearly 3-thousand people. However, the trial won't be starting anytime soon, and both sides say the case could continue for years. Defense lawyer James Connell said a tentative trial date of May 2013 is a ``placeholder'' until a true date can be set for the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the attacks, and his co-defendants. They face 2,976 counts of murder and terrorism in the 2001 attacks that sent hijacked jetliners into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The charges carry the death penalty.

Weather ... May 7

possible thunderstorms up north and center, with a high of 32 degrees cloudy skies down south with a high of 33 Current Temps: Taipei: 26 Taichung: 27 Gaoxiong: 28

10AM EZ News Outro

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