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Good morning. It's 10 o'clock. I'm _______ and time for EZ News on ICRT.
Subject: 10AM Taiwan news Return to Table of contentsProsecutors are refusing to speak about the arrest of a Presidential Office
staffer and one other person earlier this week.
The two men -- Wan Ren-bing and his close friend -- Chen Ping-ren -- are
charged with violating the National Security Act.
They were arrested after police searched Wang's office in the Presidential
Building last Wednesday.
The two are accused of giving classified documents to Chinese intelligence
officers.
The documents are said to be related to the May transfer of power from the
D-P-P Administration President Ma Ying-jeou's Administration.
Prosecutors say they believe the information was handed over to Beijing
between March and April of last year.
Authorities added that Wang and Chen's detention is to prevent them from
cooperating with each other to give false statements.
A member of the prosecutors office says that both men have denied the
accusations ... but their individual statements contradict each other.
Wang began working at the Presidential Office in 2001 in the office of then
deputy secretary-general Chen Zhi-nan.
He was later transferred to the Department of Special Affairs in April of
last year.
Chen worked as an assistant for both K-M-T and People First Party lawmakers.
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Former Minister of Foreign Affairs -- James Huang -- is expressing regret
over his impeachment.
He was impeached along with the former head of the National Security Council
-- Qiu Yi-ren -- earlier this week.
The impeachment comes after a scandal over a failed attempt to create
diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea.
The scandal saw Taiwan lose approximately 30-million U-S dollars to two con
men.
Huang says creating diplomatic ties with other countries carries "a high
degree of risk" ... and the government should not put limits on diplomatic
work just to avoid such risks.
He added that he was extremely upset about the damage the case did to the
country's image.
However, Huang says he told judicial authorities of the situation immediately
and did not try to hide any information about the case.
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The Legislative Yuan has passed the government's 2009 budget bill yesterday.
Howeve, it also cut the budget by 20-billion N-T dollars.
The budget bill was passed at a provisional session after the legislature
failed to agree on it during its regular session due to opposition D-P-P
lawmakers.
The Executive Yuan had originally proposed budgets of 1.7-trillion N-T
dollars in revenue ... and 1.82-trillion N-T dollars in expenses for 2009.
The budget gap will now be bridged with an extra 9.78-billion N-T dollars.
The 9.78 billion N-T dollars was left over from 2007 along with the Central
Bank's annual earnings -- which totaled 23-billion N-T dollars.
Subject: gaza Return to Table of contentsPalestinian officials say destruction from Israel's attack in the Gaza Strip
has cost the Palestinian economy at least 1.4 billion U-S dollars.
The Palestinian Statistics Bureau says some 26-thousand Gazans are unable to
live in their homes.
The bureau put the cost of rebuildling at close to 1 billion U-S dollars.
However, with fighting continuing, the final cost could be much higher.
The Palestinian death toll from the almost three weeks of attacks is at least
1,105.
Some 5,100 are wounded, and a Palestinian rights group says about 700 of the
dead were civilians.
Thirteen Israelis have been killed, including 10 soldiers and three civilians
hit by Hamas rocket fire.
Subject: plane Return to Table of contentsin news from the U-S ...
A U-S Airways jet with 155 people on board emergency landed in the freezing
Hudson River off Manhattan today.
It landed there apparently after hitting a flock of geese.
Officials say everyone was rescued.
U-S Airways says 150 passengers and five crew were on board the Airbus A-320,
which was headed for Charlotte, North Carolina.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised the pilot for making sure all those
on board, including a baby, were safe.
The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into reports that the plane
hit a flock of birds after taking off from New York's LaGuardia airport.
Subject: inauguration Return to Table of contentsA federal court has denied a proposal from atheists to ban prayers at
President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.
Among other things, the group is against the use of the phrase "so help me
God" at the end of the presidential oath of office ... because the oath,
according to the U.S. Constitution, does not include those words.
Historians argue over how the phrase came to be used.
Some say the words were added by George Washington at the first presidential
inaugural in 1789.
Obama will be sworn in as the 44th U.S. president January 20th.
Subject: Weather ... AM ... Return to Table of contents----- cloudy skies w/ a high of 21 in the north.
----- showers w/ highs of between 19 and 22 along the east coast.
----- clear skies w/ a high of 23 in the center ...
----- and clear skies w/ a high of 24 in the south ....
Current temperatures ....
Taipei --- 16
Taichung --- 14
Gaoxiong --- 17
Subject: 10AM EZ News Outro Return to Table of contentsThat's EZ News at 10. I'm _____
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