CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: The MAC chief dismissed media reports that Taichung police had asked businesses in the restricted zone to close during the Chiang-Chen meeting
By Ko Shu-ling
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) yesterday assured Taichung residents they would be able to carry on with “their normal lives” during the upcoming cross-strait talks in the city and dismissed speculation that authorities would ask businesses near the venue of the meeting to shut down.

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By Jenny W. Hsu and Shih Hsiu-chuan
Lawmakers across party lines yesterday urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lodge a protest against China over reports that a Taiwanese student in South Korea was harassed by a group of Chinese students for displaying a Republic of China (ROC) flag.

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A series of coordinated attacks struck Baghdad yesterday, including three car bombs that blew up near government sites. At least 103 were killed and 197 wounded in the worst wave of violence in the capital in more than a month, authorities said.

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STUDENT MOVEMENT: Tehran issued the warning after students protesting against the president and the clerical establishment clashed with security forces
Iran will “show no mercy” toward opposition protesters seen as threatening national security, a judiciary official said yesterday, a day after thousands of students staged anti-government rallies.

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US President Barack Obama was to sketch new ideas for creating jobs in the unemployment-scarred economy, amid signs of tempered optimism in the White House after a brutal economic year.

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