20120508 3pm

3PM Intro

Good afternoon. It's time for ICRT news at 3. I'm Mike Woodward.

MOFA Welcomes New AIT Director

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today welcomed the announcement that Christopher Marut will be the next director of the American Institute in Taiwan. The AIT today officially announced that Marut will be taking over for incumbent director William Stanton, whose term will end in August. MOFA says Marut is a diplomat with 27 years of experience, and he is considered an expert on Asia-Pacific affairs. Marut is the currently director of the Office of Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Island Affairs, and has previously served in Taipei, Beijing, and Hong Kong, giving him a deep understanding of US-Taiwan relations as well as cross-strait ties. MOFA also called Marut's appointment a validation of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statements that Taiwan is a key security and economic partner to the US. Ministry officials say they look forward to continued close cooperation between MOFA and the AIT with Marut at the helm. (EG)

Hon Hai Denies Joint Venture with Sharp

Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry is denying a report saying that its China-based subsidiary would form a mobile phone joint venture with Japan's Sharp Corporation. According to Chinese website Sina, Foxconn International Holdings, the world's biggest contract manufacturer of cell phones, the joint venture in China with Sharp would aim to tap into the mobile market through the Japanese company's brand name. Hon Hai clarified that the news was "groundless" and that it would maintain its strong relationships with branded customers. Hon Hai said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that the Hon Hai group has formed close partnerships with a lot of brand vendors to optimize the division of labor in the supply chain, and its business model of not having its own brand has never changed. The report came after Hon Hai announced in late March its acquisition of a roughly 10 percent stake in Sharp for 800 million dollars, which made it the Japanese company's largest shareholder. (jm)

bomb

in world news... Reports in the United States suggest that US and European officials fear that Al Qaeda's supporters in Yemen may have built multiple copies of the newly designed "underwear bomb" that the CIA intercepted last month. US officials announced that they'd foiled one plot by Al Qaeda to blow up an airliner, but there are concerns that there may be other would-be bombers making plans to launch an attack on a US carrier. Our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks says the bomb is an updated version of an explosive device that failed to bring down a Northwest Airlines flight in Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

afghan

High-level Afghan militants have reportedly been released by the United States military, in secret deals with local insurgent forces. According to the newspaper which broke the story, the practice has been going on for "several years". The news comes as the US continues to wrestle with how to engage diplomatically with the Taliban, in pursuit of some sort of 'grand bargain'. Malcolm Brown reports.

weather

Taiwan weather forecast for tonight according to the Central Weather Bureau, fairly clear skies island-wide this evening with nighttime lows north, center and south respectively: 23, 25 and 26. At the moment Taipei has rather clear skies with haze with a temp of 33, Taichung is rather cloudy and 31, Gauhsiung is clear but with haze and 31.

3PM Outro

That's ICRT News at 3. Thank you for listening. I'm Mike Woodward.