20120508 9am

9AM Intro

Good morning, it's 9 o'clock. I'm Bill Thissen

9AM TAIWAN NEWS ....

The head of the European Economic and Trade Office says relations between the European Union and Taiwan will not be affected by the outcome of Sunday's presidential election in France. Frederic Laplanche said he does not expect there to be big changes, as E-U policies are not decided by a single country but based on the consensus of 27 member countries. Speaking of E-U-Taiwan trade negotiations ... Laplanche says he believes the E-U will still seek to balance liberalization in any trade talks with partners, such as allowing both sides to open markets to each other. ---------- Taiwan Glass Industry is denying charges it abused Filipino employees. According to a prepared statement issued by the company yesterday .... the accusation is "exaggerated and unacceptable." However ... it acknowledged there was room for improvement in its working conditions, but said it could not accept some of the accusations because they were overstated. The company said it was unacceptable that the accusations painted its operations as worse than a sweatshop. The company has faced charges of refusing to allow employees to take hot showers, not giving them access to air-conditioning and forcing them to work in temperatures reaching as high as 60-degrees Celsius. -------- Taiwan's Consumer Price Index rose to 108.04 in April --- up 1.44-per cent from the year-earlier level. The government is attributing the rise in part to an average 6.32 percent year-on-year increase in fuel prices -- which helped push up the index by 0.24 percentage points in April. However ... a drop in the prices of some fruits and lower telecommunications service charges helped prevent an even sharper rise in the index.

chen

A Chinese activist who triggered a diplomatic dispute between China and the United States said yesterday he is confident that Beijing will hold up its end of a tentative deal to let him study overseas. Chen Guangcheng is a blind, self-taught legal activist who made a daring escape from brutal house arrest in his rural town into U.S. diplomatic custody in Beijing more than a week ago, setting off a diplomatic standoff. The activist is in a Beijing hospital where he was taken to receive medical care and was joined by his wife and two children.

airline plot

U.S. officials say the CIA foiled a new al-Qaida underwear bomb plot against a plane headed to America. The AP's Sagar Meghani reports from the Pentagon.

yemen

Al-Qaida militants staged a surprise attack yesterday on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 22 soldiers and capturing 25. This came just hours after a U.S. drone strike killed a senior figure in the terror network wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. However, its not clear if the pre-dawn attack was in retaliation for the killing of Fahd al-Quso, an al-Qaida leader on the FBI's most wanted list.

un-syria

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says he believes more UN monitors will arrive in Syria later this week, taking the total number to 130. He says he hopes to have a full complement of up to 300 monitors on-the-ground within a month. He once again urged all sides in Syria to lay down their weapons, adding that the deployment of more monitors is a precondition for creating political dialogue in Syria.

hostage

The White House says the Obama administration does not and will not negotiate with al-Qaida even though it is concerned about the safety and well-being of a 70-year-old American aid worker kidnapped in Pakistan nine months ago. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration condemns the kidnapping of Warren Weinstein and called for his immediate release. In a video released by al-Qaida, Weinstein said he will be killed unless President Obama agrees to the group's demands.

phil

Phil Mickelson has been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame for 42 wins and four majors in a career that is still going. Mickelson was inducted along with two-time major champion Sandy Lyle of Scotland, writer Dan Jenkins, British player and broadcaster Peter Alliss and LPGA player Hollis Stacy. The induction ceremony today at the World Golf Village brought the Hall of Fame membership to 141.

WEATHER AM .....

partly cloudy skies in the north mostly clear skies this morning w/ possible thunder showers in the afternoon in the center clear skies in the south Highs.....33 n,c,s. Current Temperatures .... Taipei -- 25 Taichung -- 26 Gaoxiong -- 28

9AM Outro

That's the ICRT News at 9. I'm _____