Those who think that handing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) a two-thirds legislative majority (or a three-quarters majority if minor parties and independents come on board) is going to make the more aggressive members of the KMT more respectful of democratic processes and their underlying principles are in for a real shock.

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By Tseng Wei-chen 曾韋禎
To alleviate concern that the legislative majority held by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) indicates a step backward for Taiwan's democracy, KMT vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) has cited Singapore, ruled by a party with an absolute majority.

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Kenyans should not be told that they cannot expect their general elections to be free and fair
By Jeffrey Sachs
Kenya is aflame after a presidential election on Dec. 27 widely believed to have been rigged to secure the re-election of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. Kibaki's opponents took to the streets, the government issued shoot-to-kill orders, and hundreds have died at the hands of the police as well as from gang rampages and ethnic violence.

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By Alok Jha
Warmer seas and a record hurricane season in 2005 have devastated more than half of the coral reefs in the Caribbean, according to scientists. In a report published on Wednesday, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) warned that this severe damage to reefs would probably become a regular event given current predictions of rising global temperatures as a result of climate change.

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Oxford University's Denis Noble is attempting to convince biologists that the genome is not like a computer program. To do this, he is using powerful computers
By Christine Evans-Pughe
There's a widely accepted view that the genome is the computer program of life, and genes the software subroutines that code from DNA via RNA to proteins; and that like computers, when the software goes wrong bad things happen.

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Be honest with me, dear reader. Am I settling into a comfortable routine in my old age, or is my beloved country doing it for me?

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If it's OK for emperors ...

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