20120525 7pm

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7PM EZ News Intro

Good evening. It's 7 o'clock. I'm _____ and time for EZ News on ICRT.

Cancer remains top killer in Taiwan

Cancer remained the No. 1 cause of death in Taiwan for the 30th consecutive year in 2011, responsible for 28 percent of the total number of deaths recorded that year. According to a report released today by the Department of Health, the five deadliest cancers in Taiwan were lung, liver, colorectal, breast, and oral cancer The report said one person died of cancer every 12 minutes and 21 seconds. Coming in second was heart disease, followed by cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, and pneumonia. Meanwhile, suicide was once again excluded from the top 10 after dropping out of the list for the first time in 2010. The average life expectancy was 76 years among men and 82.7 years among women, an increase of 1.9 years and 2.7 years, respectively, compared with 10 years ago. (jm)

484 suspects nabbed in cross-border telephone fraud case

Taiwan police say another Taiwanese-led telephone fraud ring has been broken up through cross-border police cooperation, leading to the arrest of 484 suspects in various countries. The suspects, who include 300 Taiwanese and 165 Chinese nationals, were captured in Taiwan, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Fiji. The first group of 45 Taiwanese suspects were repatriated from Cambodia today. The Criminal Investigation Bureau launched an investigation into the case late last year after being notified by Chinese police that a Jiangsu Province woman had been swindled out of 12 million Chinese yuan, or 1.9 million dollars. The investigation found that the ring members posed as police, prosecutors and bank staff to swindle money out of their victims.

China

China today rejected a U.S. State Department report that criticized China's human rights record, saying Washington's critique was inaccurate and irresponsible. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called the China section of the annual State Department human rights report ``baseless, biased and completely wrong.'' The State Department report said that China's human rights situation deteriorated in 2011, with more aggressive silencing of activists. Hong said China has made world-recognized gains in improving human rights since broad social and economic reforms were launched 30 years ago. Beijing says Washington is hypocritical to lecture others on rights when it has so many problems of its own, such as high crime, homelessness, racial discrimination, and killings of civilians and other abuses by U.S. forces overseas. China also fired back, as it does every year, with the release of its own report on the human rights situation in the United States. The report criticized the arrest of Occupy Wall Street protesters and other alleged violations of civil and political rights.

Spain

Shares in one of Spain's biggest and part-nationalised banks has been suspended. Our Europe correspondent Sandra Gathmann reports:

Bank

In related news, a top European Central Bank officials says the 17 countries that use the euro need an ``urgent overhaul'' of their banking and financial system to deal with the debt crisis. Peter Praet says that the crisis has been reversing much of the financial integration brought about by the euro. He called for a eurozone-wide banking regulator with the money and authority to restructure banks operating across borders. Right now national banking regulators have been slow to force shaky banks to restructure. Praet also called for a eurozone-wide deposit insurance program similar to the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Profit

Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs. An analysis by The Associated Press finds that the head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011. That was up more than 6 percent from the previous year and the second straight year of increases. The figure is also the highest since the AP began tracking executive compensation in 2006. Companies trimmed cash bonuses but handed out more in stock awards.

Weather

Central Weather Bureau forecasters say it'll be somewhat clear all around Taiwan this evening, with lows of 23 in the north and center, 24 to 26 in the south. Tomorrow, things will start off partly cloudy, though there may be afternoon thunderstorms in the very north and central parts of the country, and showers in southern parts. Highs then will hit 32 or 33 islandwide. Right now, it's 28 in Taipei, 28 in Taizhong, and 29 in Gaoxiong.

7PM EZ News Outro

That's EZ News at 7. I'm _____