20120516 3pm

3PM Intro

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

KMT Critical of DPP Legislative Boycott

in Taiwan news... The KMT has lashed out at opposition filibustering in the legislature ... saying it's meant to stir up publicity for upcoming protest marches. A senior KMT official this morning noted that the DPP is rejecting bills important to the lives of everyday people for the sake of raising the profile of the protests to mark the second innauguration of President Ma Ying-jeou. She said the DPP also should clearly know that the recall motion against the president it tried to introduce into the legislature was a no-go ... as it would incur very high social costs, and was against democratic principles. She said it was not helpful to be blocking bills that enhance the welfare of Taiwan's citizens ... and accused the DPP of acting emotionally ... and called for a return to rational oversight. A senior DPP official rejected the claims as ludicruous ... saying the recall motion was meant as a warning to president Ma to start listening to the people. (jm)

China Outshines Taiwan in Corporate Rankings

Results of a just released survey show that China-based companies outshone Taiwanese firms in terms of total revenue last year. The Chinese-language CommonWealth Magazine survey showed Chinese companies claimed the top three spots among the top 1,000 publicly listed companies on the Taiwan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, which manufactures iPhones and iPads for Apple, was ranked fourth with revenue of 3.5 trillion NT, accounting for nearly 20 percent of Taiwan's gross domestic product for 2011. In terms of profitability, only four Taiwan-based companies made it into the top 50. They were Yuanta Financial Holdings ranked 22nd, Asia Pacific Telecom at 25th, Mega Holdings at 29th and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company at 49th. The magazine said Taiwanese businesses need to have more efficient market strategies due to the country's strong reliance on exports, which accounted for 66 percent of the nation's GDP last year. It also said that Taiwan will face increasing challenges from neighboring countries after the launch of three-way free trade talks between China, Japan and South Korea expected later this year. (jm)

yemen

The US is assisting the Yemeni military in a fierce assault against al-Queda militants, according to Yemeni officials cited by the Associated Press. The report is the first involving the use of US troops guiding operations from a nearby airbase within the country. From Washington Daniel Ryntjes reports...

plane

A plane carrying the newly-inaugurated French President Francois Hollande was struck by lightning. No one was injured in the incident....as Kate Moody reports from Paris.

weather

Taiwan weather forecast for tonight according to the Central Weather Bureau, thunder showers island-wide possible tonight. Lows tonite north, center and south respectively: 23, 23 and 25. At the moment Taipei is cloudy and 27, Taichung thunderstormy and 25, Gauhsiung cloudy and 26.

3PM Outro

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