20120528 3pm

3PM Intro

Good afternoon. It's 3 o'clock. I'm _______

Taiwan Consumer Confidence Down

First, Taiwan news... Taiwan's consumer confidence took a hit for May due to concerns about the economy. The National Central University survey found the Consumer Confidence Index ... or CCI ... fell 1.31 points to 77.61 in May from 78.92 in April. It was the second consecutive month that the index dropped, with concerns exacerbated by expectations of volatility in the domestic stock market over the next six months. Confidence in the job market was the only index that rose in May from the previous month. The other sub-indices, which reflect confidence in stock market investments, domestic consumer prices, household finances, durable goods purchase, and the local economy, all lost ground. Among them, confidence in the stock market showed the biggest decline, falling 5.1 points to 54, in the second consecutive monthly decline. Analysts said the drop was a reaction to major volatility in the domestic and global stock markets in recent months and uncertainty over the European debt crisis. They added the government proposal to introduce a capital gains tax on stock investments was also a factor. (jm)

Hog Farmers Urged to Avoid Overproduction

Agriculture officials are warning local hog farmers against overproduction ... as the industry copes with declining prices. Agriculture minister Xu Xing-hua said a supply glut is the main cause behind the recent steep decline in domestic pork prices. Xu called on farmers to abide by the legal quota and not overprice ... or risk exacerbating the situation. Hog farmers are reportedly resisting government efforts to crack down on farms that don't maintain legally established limits. Hog farmers have complained that the government does not play fair, as it punishes them for overproduction, while buying up surplus grains at favorable prices. An agriculture official responded to the claim by saying there are no laws that prescribe penalties for overproduction of grain. (jm)

iran

in news from the middle east... Iran's newly-elected parliament has voted to reinstate a conservative critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as temporary speaker. In the vote, 173 legislators supported incumbent Ali Larijani, defeating Gholam Ali Hadad Adel who gained 100 votes. Both candidates are close to Iran's top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but Haddad Adel supports a less confrontative approach to Ahmadinejad's administration.

Australia

Australia will help pay for additional teachers and doctors for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East through a new 90 million Australian dollar ($90 million) funding agreement with the United Nations. The agreement was signed in the Australian capital of Canberra today by Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Filippo Grandi, commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. Australia will provide the money over five years to support Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Australia and Thailand

The first female prime ministers of Australia and Thailand have announced that lawmakers will begin an exchange program between the two countries to promote women in politics. Prime Minister Julia Gillard told a Parliament House lunch in honor of her Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra today that: ``As the first, we want many other women to feel the same sense of possibility that we have felt.''

rice

Last year's crop sits in storage, deemed unsafe to eat, but Toraaki Ogata is back at his rice paddies, driving his tractor trailing neat rows of seedlings. He's living up to his family's proud, six-generation history of rice farming, and praying that this time his harvest will not have too much radiation to sell. That conflict is shared by several thousand farmers in more than 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) of Fukushima, where some of last year's harvest exceeded government safety standards because of radiation released when the March 2011 tsunami set off the world's second-worst nuclear accident. For their rice to be sold, it will have to be tested _ every grain of it.

weather

Taiwan weather forecast for tonight according to the Central Weather Bureau, possible thunder showers island-wide this evening with lows tonite north, center and south respectively: 22, 24 and 26. At the moment Taipei is cloudy, rainy and 25, Taichung cloudy and 26, Gauhsiung cloudy, misty and 29.

3PM Outro

That's the ICRT News at 3. I'm _____