20120518 10am

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10AM EZ News Intro

Good morning ... it's 10 o'clock and I'm Gavin Phipps w/ EZ News

10AM TAIWAN NEWS ....

The Tai-Ex opened down 123.54 points this morning from yesterday's close at 7,233.23 on turnover of 2.97-billion N-T dollars. -------------- The Presidential Office has released the list of foreign guests slated to attend President Ma Ying-jeou's inauguration ceremony this coming Sunday. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs some 230 foreign guests - including heads of state and politicians, will attend the event. However .. the figure of 230 is less than half the number who attended Ma's 2008 inauguration -- when 530 foreign officials attended the swearing-in ceremony. The ceremony's budget has also been slashed - from some 40-million N-T dollars in 2008 to less than 6-million N-T dollars this year. ------------- Parts of Pingdong County have been hit by flash floods over the past 24-hours. Che-cheng township in the southern part of the county has been hit the hardest --- and saw widespread flooding. The military was called in yesterday to help residents protect their properties from the fast rising flood waters. Local government agencies have also rushed to help --- distributing sand bags to houses in some of the hardest hit areas. ------------ Health Minister - Qiu Wen-da - says his office welcomes the United States' call for "normalization" of the island's participation in World Health Organization activities. The statement follows a report delivered to Congress late last month on its assistance to Taiwan's bid to participate in W-H-O programs and technical activities. In the reports ... the U-S Department of State expressed concern about the W-H-O's restrictions on Taiwan's efforts to participate in such events. Qiu is slated to attend this year's World Health Assembly meeting - that will open on May 21-st in Geneva.

Facebook

Facebook has announced its initial public offering price -- and it's high. The A-Ps Warren Levinson explains ...

Spain ...

Ratings agency - Moody's - has cut the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks -- in a move seen a further blow to country already struggling to deal with the bad debts of its banking sector. Fears about losses at Spanish banks has hit shares across Europe.

Serb ...

The war crimes trial of ex-Bosnian Serb commander - Ratko Mladic - has been postponed because prosecutors failed to disclose some evidence to the defence. The defence has asked for six months to process the material. Mladic is facing 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict. He denies all of them.

UN ...

As the leaders of the G-8 wealthiest nations gather in Washington for a summit hosted by U-S President Barack Obama ..... United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is urging the leaders to consider growth for all. Ban says the old model of growth is broken ...

UK ...

The Olympic flame has been handed over to organisers of the London Games at a ceremony in Athens. The President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee passed the flame to Princess Anne -- president of the British Olympic Association. A British delegation including David Beckham is due to fly with the torch to the U-K later today. It will then be carried 12,875-kilometers by 8-thousand bearers in a 70-day relay around the U-K -- ending at the Olympic Park in London.

Summer ..

U-S singer Donna Summer has died at the age of 63. Summer was one of disco's biggest stars. She was reported to have had cancer.

WEATHER AM .....

Looking at the weather across Taiwan ... We can expect ..... partly cloudy skies and scattered showers in the north - with a high of 28 in the Taipei area --- and cloudy skies with possible thunder showers in the center and south - w/ a high of around 30 in Taichong and Gaoxiong. Current Temperatures .... Taipei -- Taichung -- Gaoxiong --

10AM EZ News Outro

That was EZ News at 10 on ICRT w/ me Gavin Phipps ....