20120514 9am

9AM Intro

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

9AM TAIWAN NEWS ....

Members and supporters of some 30 pro-independence organizations began an eight-day protest against the Ma administration yesterday. Speaking at a protest outside the Taipei train station ... the groups said the protest is aimed at opposing President Ma Ying-jeou's poor performance and calling for the release of former president Chen Shui-bian on medical grounds. The protest will take place in the plaza in front of the train station until May 20-th -- the day Ma is inaugurated for a second term. Meanwhile ... The National Security Bureau has passed laws governing what it calls special "protest zones" -- which means protesters will now have to remain some 100-meters from Ma wherever he is. -------- The Finance Ministry says the government will reduce the national debt and achieve a balanced budget within 10 years. The statement follows reports that Taiwan's national debt per capita rose for the sixth consecutive month in April. According to the ministry ... it plans to reduce the national deficit by 20-billion N-T dollars to 40 billion per year - while at the same time keeping expenditures at their current levels. The island's national debt - which includes the central government's long-term and short-term debt - amounted to 5.2-trillion N-T dollars at of the end of last month - that figure is up from 5.1 trillion in March. ---------- The National Freeway Bureau says ventilation fans in the Xueshan Tunnel were working normally last Monday - when a bus collision and ensuing fire last week resulted in the deaths of two people and injuring of more than 20 others. According to the Bureau Director-General - Ceng Da-ren ..... although 13 tunnel ventilation fans were not operational - the ventilation system had been adjusted to ensure normal operations. The ventilation fans were not operational, as five were being repaired. The bureau says maintenance work was being carried out due to water seepage problems.

germany

Voters in Germany's most populous state inflicted an embarrassingly heavy defeat on Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives Sunday and strengthened a regional government that the German leader's party had portrayed as irresponsibly spendthrift. The center-left Social Democrats and Greens _ Germany's main opposition parties _ won combined support of 50.4 percent in the election in North Rhine-Westphalia. That gave them a majority in the state legislature, which they narrowly missed in the last regional election two years ago. The outcome boosted Germany's center-left opposition, and was a bitter pill to swallow for Merkel's Christian Democrats as the country looks toward national elections due late next year and the chancellor grapples with Europe's stubbornly persistent debt crisis.

afghan

A gunman in a car assassinated a former high-ranking Taliban official working to end the decade-long war in Afghanistan, dealing a powerful blow yesterday to the fragile, U.S.-backed effort to bring peace to the country. Arsala Rahmani was killed a week before a key NATO summit and just hours before President Hamid Karzai announced the third stage of a five-part transition that is supposed to put Afghan security forces in control of their country by the end of 2014. Rahmani was a former deputy minister of higher education in the Taliban regime that was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. He eventually reconciled with the government and was trying to set up formal talks with the insurgents.

yemen

A pair of drone air strikes is seen as part of the increasing pressure on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The AP's Tim Maguire reports.

yahoo

Yahoo swept out Scott Thompson as CEO Sunday in an effort to clean up a mess created by an exaggeration about his education that destroyed his credibility as he set out to turnaround the long-troubled Internet company. Ross Levinsohn, who oversees Yahoo's content and advertising services, is taking over as interim CEO. He becomes the fourth person to run Yahoo in eight months. Though, Yahoo is one of the Internet's most-visited websites, the company has struggled to grow in face of competition from the likes of Google and Facebook.

WEATHER AM .....

clear skies in the morning, but theres a chance of afternoon thunder showers in the north w/ a high of 33 in the Taipei area -- clear skies in the center and south all day..... highs of 33 in both Taichong and Gaoxiong. Current Temperatures .... Taipei -- 28 Taichung -- 28 Gaoxiong -- 30

9AM Outro

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