20120608 7pm

9AM Intro

Good morning, it's 9 o'clock. I'm Bill Thissen

9AM TAIWAN NEWS ....

Premier Sean Chen has named former Deputy Finance Minister Zhang Sheng-ho as the new head of the Ministry of Finance. However .. the appointment is pending approval by President Ma. Zhang retired as deputy finance minister in February and is currently holds posts at the Kai-nan and National Taiwan universities. The appointment came two days after Christina Liu resigned as finance minister over differences between her proposal for a capital gains tax on stock transactions and a version submitted by the K-M-T. Meanwhile .... The Executive Yuan submitted a revised version of the capital gains tax plan late yesterday. The move followed a meeting earlier in the day between Premier Sean Chen and K-M-T lawmakers. The K-M-T's original proposal - which was drafted on Monday - had come under fire from tax reform groups. Three major revisions have now been made to the K-M-T caucus' original version. Under the new proposal ...tax payments based on the level of the weighted index will be scrapped in 2017 - wealthy individuals will be banned from using the index-based tax payment method - and only four categories of individual investors will need to pay securities capital gains tax. The K-M-T's legislative caucus is set to finalize this version later today. ------------ Vice Economics Minister Francis Liang says Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks with the United States could resume by year's end if the government can resolve the on-going U-S beef import dispute. The statement come a day after the American Institute in Taiwan said the issue of the import of U-S beef products containing ractopamine is the "only factor hindering" a resumption of the talks. TIFA talks have been stalled since 2007.

syria

Syria yesterday blamed up to 800 rebel fighters for the massacre in central Syria last week that killed more than 100 people, nearly half of them children, in its most comprehensive explanation to date of the bloodshed. The narrative starkly contradicted accounts of witnesses who blamed ``shabiha'' or the shadowy gunmen who operate on behalf of President Bashar Assad's regime. The U.N. also said it has strong suspicions those pro-regime gunmen were responsible for much of the carnage on Friday in a cluster of villages known as Houla. Facing international outrage over the killings, Damascus launched its own investigation into the deaths and announced that special prayers for the victims would be held at mosques across the country on Friday. A Houla-based opposition activist said its clear that there had been no government investigation.

paks

The U.S. military has taken another small step toward improving American relations with Pakistan. The APs Sagar Meghani reports from the Pentagon.

john

John Edwards talks about his 'sins,' after his mistrial. The APs Sandy Kozel reports.

ireland

Ireland's debt-burdened voters confronted a dilemma yesterday as they decided in a referendum whether to ratify the European Union's deficit-fighting treaty. Pro-treaty forces stress that Ireland could lose its access to European bailout loans next year unless the treaty passes, leaving Ireland no reasonable choice but to say yes. Opponents say it would be better to pursue a showdown with EU partners now, and demand better debt-reduction terms at the risk of triggering a worse eurozone crisis, rather than commit to new rules requiring tougher deficit targets that Ireland simply can't meet. Saying yes could mean dooming Ireland to more long, hard years of austerity. But saying no could mean national bankruptcy next year.

WEATHER AM .....

mostly cloudy skies and showers in the north w/ a high of 28 in the Taipei area .... mostly cloudy skies in the center w/ a high of 29 in Taichong cloudy skies w/ possible thunder showers in the south w/ a high of 30 in Gaoxiong. Current Temperatures .... Taipei -- 24 Taichung -- 27 Gaoxiong -- 30

9AM Outro

That's the ICRT News at 9. I'm _____