20120518 3pm

3PM Intro

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

Zhanghua Factory Fire Leaves One Dead

First, Taiwan news... Investigators are looking into a massive blaze at a Zhanghua factory that left one person dead and about a dozen others injured ... one criticially injured. An explosion and fire turned the ten thousand square meter factory into an inferno last night ... the heat of the blaze even preventing firefighters who rushed to the scene from getting close. Authorities say flammable materials inside the factory ... that manufactured construction hardware ... fed the blaze that poured smoke and flames high into the air. One worker was killed ... and another is in a local hospital in critical condition with burns over 90 percent of his body. Among the approximately dozen people injured ... three were people outside the factory who were hit with flying debris ... including one man who saw an air conditioner soar thru the air and land on his foot. Investigators have yet to say what caused the blaze ... although a leak of flammable benzene ... not arson ... is suspected as the possible cause. (jm)

Rainy Weekend For Taiwan

The weather forecast for the weekend is not pretty ... with the Central Weather Bureau saying rain and thundershowers are possible island-wide. The CWB says a stationary front is hanging over Taiwan and will be with us throughout the weekend. Currently ... the CWB has issued an advisory ... saying that there is a chance of heavy or even torrential rain in the center and south of the island today ... with heavy rain possible in the mountain areas of the north. The CWB advisory says people should be aware of the possibility of lightning strikes, heavy winds, and flash floods. The forecast calls for the rain to continue into the next week ... with the front expected to move on at that time. Weekend temperatures should be more comfortable than last weekend ... with highs not expected to climb into the 30s. (jm)

zuckerberg

in business news... As social networking site Facebook prepares to float in the US as a publicly traded company, there is a huge amount of hype surrounding the launch. The floatation of 18% of the company will net billions of dollars for founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and the early investors, not to mention the Wall Street firms who got in on the ground floor. But questions remain about the value of the firm for ordinary investors Our New York Correspondent Nathan King has a few words of warning.

citizenship

AP correspondent Jerry Bodlander reports there's a proposal that would require U.S. citizens who've renounced their citizenship to show it wasn't for financial reasons.

weather

Taiwan weather forecast for tonight according to the Central Weather Bureau, the likelihood of thundershowers island-wide this evening with the lows north, center and south respectively: 24, 25 and 26. At the moment Taipei is 27, Taichung 25, Gauhsiung 29.

3PM Outro

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