20120523 3pm

3PM Intro

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

WHO Name Protest to Continue

First, Taiwan news... A senior health official says Taiwan's delegation to the annual World Health Assembly will continue to protest the WHO's denigration of Taiwan's official name. Xu Ming-hui, director-general of the Department of Health's Bureau of International Cooperation, said the delegation will protest the WHO's reference to Taiwan as a "province of China" in official internal documents through appropriate means. The comments come after a Taiwan Solidarity Union lawmaker at the Assembly ... who was allowed in but was not part of Taiwan's official delegation ... was ejected for protesting. Lin Shi-jia entered the area wearing a T-shirt printed with the words "Taiwan is Taiwan, not China" during a speech by assembly Secretary-General Margaret Zhan. Lin says she was immediately asked to leave the venue and had her visitor credentials confiscated by security staff. The WHO issued a letter last September asking WHO members to refer to it as "Taiwan, Province of China" in the organization's internal documents. Taiwan has protested the designation on several occasions but has not yet received an official response from the WHO. (jm)

Taipower Shrugs Off Need to Reinspect No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant

The Taiwan Power Company is rejecting allegations that it covered up problems with anchor bolts at the Number two nuclear power plant ... and says it has no plans to recheck the bolts. A DPP lawmaker has demanded a re-inspection ... while an NTU professor has alleged that the company purposely concealed from the public the possibility that 36 anchor bolts in the plant's first reactor were "probably" fractured. A Taipower spokesman said there are no further safety concerns after sonar inspections of 120 anchor bolts and the replacement of seven fractured bolts in reactor No. 1 were approved by the Executive Yuan's Atomic Energy Council. He added that the utility company has not hidden anything from the public. Wu Zong Cong ... with NTU's Institute of Applied Mechanics ... said the company should conduct regular monthly checks on the reactor's bolts ... while DPP lawmakers have called for third party nuclear experts to conduct inspections. (jm)

nasa

The American space agency NASA says the successful launch of a commercial space vehicle marks a new era in exploration. The Dragon capsule blasted off on top of a rocket, built by SpaceX - a private company. If the mission succeeds, it will become the first non-governmental vehicle to rendezvous with the international space station.

headlines

in Asian news headlines... Ryan Crocker, the unflappable diplomat who became the civilian face of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over two administrations, is stepping down as ambassador to Afghanistan and retiring from the U.S. foreign service after a storied tenure in some of the world's most dangerous hotspots. A U.S. institute claims satellite imagery shows North Korea is upgrading its old launch site in the country's northeast to handle larger rockets, like space launch vehicles and intercontinental missiles.

weather

Taiwan weather forecast for tonight according to the Central Weather Bureau, a fairly clear evening island-wide this evening with lows tonite north, center and south respectively: 23, 23 and 26. At the moment Taipei is clear and 28, Taichung partly cloudy and 29, Gauhsiung clear with haze and 30.

3PM Outro

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