US President George W. Bush yesterday acknowledged that the people of Kosovo were independent, though he stopped short of a formal recognition of the territory's independence.
"We'll watch to see how the events unfold today," Bush said in a live interview aired on NBC television from Arusha, Tanzania. "The Kosovoans [sic] are now independent. It's something I've advocated along with my government."
The breakaway majority Albanian territory declared independence from Serbia on Sunday. Bush was in Tanzania as part of a tour of Africa.
PHOTO: AP
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday said Berlin will not take an immediate decision on recognizing Kosovo's independence but wait for the EU to spell out its position.
"We will not take a decision today on recognizing Kosovo's independence. Ministers from the EU will meet today to put in place a platform that will allow each member to take a position on the declaration of independence," she told reporters in Berlin. "So taking a decision on recognition is not on the order of the day. The order of the day is first of all to answers questions of substance as to the EU's platform."
Germany had been expected to formally recognize Kosovo yesterday along with Britain, France, Italy and the US.
Merkel's announcement came as EU foreign ministers held a crisis meeting in Brussels amid signs of behind-the-scenes wrangling over recognition of the new state.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
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The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
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