On Saturday, president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) told a business gathering in Taichung that he would implement direct charter flights on weekends starting on July 1.

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By Eswar Prasad
The World Bank recently announced that the Chinese and Indian economies are 40 percent smaller than previously estimated. Since these are the fastest-growing large economies, the bank's revision has clipped half a percentage point off world growth over the last five years, the IMF says.

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By Alex Liebman
Taiwanese voters have overwhelmingly elected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) with a 17 percent margin. The KMT now has control of the legislature, the presidency and most local governments. In short, the KMT now enjoys the strongest political position it has held since the beginning of open, democratic politics in Taiwan. But now the difficult task of governing starts, and no issue will be more difficult than to manage cross-strait relations. My advice to Ma in this endeavor is to follow the lead of Theodore Roosevelt, the US president from 1900 to 1909: "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

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By Gina Kolata
Some people have reported that they felt so good when they exercised that it was as if they had taken mood-altering drugs. But was that feeling real or just a delusion? And even if it was real, what was the feeling supposed to be and what caused it?

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Are you a net junkie? Heavy Internet users may suffer from isolation, fatigue and withdrawal symptoms, a recent article in a psychiatric journal says
By David Smith
Tense? Angry? Can't get online? Internet addiction is now a serious public health issue that should be officially recognized as a clinical disorder, a leading psychiatrist says.

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I agree with Kao Shih-fan (高士凡) ("The best time for learning English," March 25, page 8) and Steven Krashen's letter (Letters, March 27, page 8) that starting English studies at a very young age is not necessary for success. It also seems true that older children learn faster. Yet I do not see these as reasons to avoid kindergarten or preschool English studies.

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