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Subject: Nangang Exhibition Hall Case Begins
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First Taiwan news...

Seven defendants in the Nangang Exhibition Hall case have plead not guilty
during the first day of court proceedings.

The seven evaluation committee members are accused of influence peddling
while accepting bids for the Taipei World Center Nangang Exhibition Hall's
construction, and of receiving kickbacks from winning vendors.

The defendants, who are all professors and associate professors from various
universities, say they have never met the key witnesses in the case, much
less taken bribes from them.

As for accusations that bank accounts under their names and their spouses
names have seen unusual activity, the professors are asking for relevant
witnesses to be subpoenaed, so that they can show there is no such activity
going on.

The defendants also suspect that prosecutors have influenced witnesses to
give false testimony.

(EG)

Subject: Sun Moon Lake's tourism
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With the completion of the number 6 National Expressway from Cao-tun to Pu-li
this April, the Sun Moon Lake, in Nan-tou County, is poised to become an even
bigger tourist attraction.

Transportation Minister Mao Zhi-guo, who signed his Ministry's first-ever
Build, Operate and Transfer project in the lake area with a Hong Kong real
estate company this morning, said a cable car system is also in the pipeline
to connect the lake with the Taiwan Railway.

Mao says every year an average of 3 million tourists visit the lake, and more
are expected to come now that there are regular cross-strait direct flights
every day.

Last month, for example, a total of 11,500 Chinese tourists stopped over at
the Lake to admire the beautiful scenery.

Meanwhile the B-O-T project will see two hotels built in the vicinity of the
lake, one is a complex with a hotel and a convention center, due to be
completed four years later.

The other one will be a high-end hotel with 101 rooms that'll cost between
4,500 and 6,000 NT for a room.

(JL)

Subject: Israel
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in news from the middle east...

Israel's foreign minister is flying to Washington today to cement U.S.
guarantees on stopping the flow of arms to Hamas, a core Israeli condition
for ending its 20-day-old offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Tzipi Livni's mission follows a proposal by the besieged Palestinian Islamist
faction for a year-long, renewable truce under which the Jewish state would
withdraw its troops within a week and all Gaza border crossings would open
immediately.

Israel did not immediately address those terms, which were relayed through
Egyptian mediators as bloodshed crested yesterday with Israeli forces
pushing into the city of Gaza and killing a senior official in the Hamas
administration.

The air, ground and sea assault, launched on Dec. 27 to counter Hamas rocket
fire, has killed some 1,105 Palestinians and wounded 5,100.

A Palestinian human rights group put the civilian death toll at around 700.

Surveyors say the war has cost the impoverished coastal territory at least
$1.4 billion dollars in infrastructure destruction.

Subject: Japan
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in regional news...

Political chaos in Japan looks set to stifle the tentative global ambitions
that inspired it to send troops to Iraq and the Indian Ocean, potentially
damaging its diplomatic clout as rival China forges a higher profile.

That could get Tokyo off on the wrong foot with U.S. President-elect Barack
Obama and give China, now the world's third largest economy after the United
States and Japan, the opportunity to project an internationalist image.

Chinese ships set sail for waters off Somalia last month to help with an
international anti-piracy operation, in a public relations coup for Beijing
and an embarrassment for Tokyo officials, who have been agonizing for months
over how it can contribute under its post World War Two pacifist
constitution.

Subject: Hockey
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in hockey news...

The Bruins picked up their 7th straight road win by nipping the NHL's worst
team.

Peter Schwartz reports.

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Subject: weather forecast
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Taiwan weather forecast for tonight according to the Central Weather Bureau,
clear skies in the north, center and south with nighttime lows reading from
north to south: 13, 12 and 15.

Tomorrow: mostly clear skies all over Taiwan with the highs north, center and
south respectively 22, 24 and 25.

The CWB forecasts the temperatures continuing to rise slowly but steadily
through the weekend.

Current temperatures: Taipei 20, Taichung 22 and Gauxiong 23.

Subject: 4PM EZ News Outro
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That's EZ News at 4. Thank you for listening. I'm Mike Woodward.

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