ICRT News on Demand 7/27

9AM INTRO
Good morning .. it's 9 o'clock ... and I'm Gavin Phipps w/ the top of the
hour news .....
9AM TAIWAN NEWS ....
Looking at the main stories from here in Taiwan this morning ......

Taiwan's under-12 W-B-S-C Baseball World Cup team continued it winning ways
Sunday - beating Cuba 6-5 at the Tainan Stadium.

The win was Taiwan third in the tournament's opening round since the event
began last week.

It was the first game between Taiwan and Cuba since the final game in the
2011 U-12 Baseball World Cup -- which Taiwan won 3-2.

------------------

Former President Lee Teng-hui arrived back in Taiwan Sunday evening following
a six-day visit to Japan - during which he angered the Ma administration with
controversial remarks about the sovereignty of the Diao-Yui-Tai Islands.

Lee was greeted by scores of both supporters and opponents on his arrival
back in Taiwan.

Police were forced to cordoned off areas being occupied by the China Unify
Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union's youth league.

Controversy surrounding Lee's Japan visit stems from his his telling members
of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on July 23-rd that the
Diao-Yu-Tai Islands belong to Japan.

---------------------

A spokesman for K-M-T presidential candidate Hong Hsiu-chu has quit.

Yu Tzu-hsiang said Sunday he will step down on August 1-st -- just over a
month after he accepted the position.

Writing in a post on his Facebook page, Yu said he will return to his
teaching job at Shi Hsin University, but will continue to advise Hong's
campaign team on matters related to public and media relations.

He gave no reason for his sudden decision to quite.

------------

And ....

C-P-C has cut domestic gasoline prices by 0.2 N-T per liter and diesel prices
by N-T 0.3 per liter, starting this morning.

Formosa Petrochemical has also announced similar price cuts.

C-P-C says the decrease in the prices of gas and diesel at the pump are due
to falling global crude oil prices, as the market anticipates a serious
oversupply with Iran's return to the crude oil market after the nuclear deal
with the U-S.




In international news ...

U-S President Barack Obama is visiting Ethiopia on the second-leg of his trip
to Africa.

-----------------

Police inNigeria say a a 10-year-old girl has carried out a suicide bombing
in the north-east of the country -- killing at least 16 people.

----------------

And ....

Britian's deputy speaker of the House of Lords has resigned after publication
of photos and a video allegedly showing him using cocaine with prostitutes.


Turkey has called on NATO for a meeting to discuss threats to its security
and its airstrikes targeting Islamic State militants in Syria and Kurdish
rebels in Iraq.

The move came as Turkey's state-run media reported that Turkish F-16 jets
carried out air strikes on across the border in northern Iraq.

NATO says its decision-making body will meet Tuesday after Ankara invoked the
alliance's Article 4 -- which allows member states to request a meeting if
they feel their territorial integrity or security is under threat.


Saudi-led coalition airstrikes came to a halt in Yemen early today, after a
five-day humanitarian truce went into effect.

However, officials say ground fighting broke out almost immediately in the
restive city of Taiz following random shelling by Shiite Houthi rebels in
three neighborhoods.

The Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition of Gulf Arab states has been waging
an air campaign since March against the Iranian-backed rebels -- who control
most of northern Yemen and the capital, Sanaa.


A small plane crashed into a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo Sunday -- killing
the pilot, a passenger and a woman on the ground.

The single-engine prop plane plowed into and set ablaze a row of houses just
minutes after taking off from an airport used by small aircraft in a western
Tokyo suburb.

Officials say the dead included the pilot, one of the four passengers and a
woman who was inside the house that the plane crashed into.


Iraqi officials say government forces recaptured Anbar University from the
Islamic State militant group Sunday after hours of fierce clashes.

The university is located 5-kilometers south of Anbar's provincial capital.

The Iraqi military launched a large-scale operation this month to retake
Anbar province, in which most of the biggest cities are held by the Islamic
State group.

Government-backed forces are also assembling around the militant-held city of
Fallujah, which was the first major city in Iraq to fall to the militant
group in early 2014.



A wildfire in northeastern Spain has forced the evacuation of several hundred
people.

The blaze broke out Sunday afternoon in dry woodland, and burned about 450
hectares within hours.

Firefighters say some 400 people were evacuated.

The affected area is some 50-kilometers from Barcelona.



And finally .....

Chris Froome became the first Briton to win the Tour de France twice when he
safely reached the finish line in Paris at the end of the three-week race
Sunday.

The win for Froome means a Briton, and Team Sky, have now won three of the
last four of cycling's showpiece races.

Froome beat Colombia's Nairo Quin-tana to the yellow jersey by 72 seconds.




Looking at the weather across Taiwan ...

We can expect ....

Partly cloudy skies and occasional afternoon thundershowers in the north, w/
a high of 35 in Taipei.

And partly cloudy skies with occasional showers or thundershowers in the
center and south, w/ a high of 33 in Taichong and a high of 31 in the
Gaoxiong area.

Current Temperatures ....

Taipei --

Taichung --

Gaoxiong --


That was the I-C-R-T news at 9 .... w/ me Gavin Phipps .....