`BETRAYAL': MOFA announced it was cutting ties with its Central American ally after 63 years following President Oscar Arias' decision to establish relations with China
By Jewel Huang, Shih Hsiu-chuan and Ko Shu-ling
Taiwan yesterday severed diplomatic ties with Costa Rica, with whom it had maintained ties since 1944, after the Central American nation switched its allegiance to China.

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`STAMPED OUT': The outbreak was the first since March last year, but authorities said quick action had succeeded in localizing the disease
Malaysia has confined bird flu to three villages near its capital as teams of government workers and volunteers cull flocks of chickens and ducks to stamp out the H5N1 virus, officials said yesterday.

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By Jimmy Chuang
The Air Force chief of staff yesterday denied allegations of bribery amid media reports that an aircraft subcontractor had received payment after faking maintenance reports last year.

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North Korea test-fired short-range missiles yesterday, less than two weeks after its previous launch, the South Korean defense ministry said.

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A newspaper in southwest China has sacked three of its editors over an advertisement saluting mothers of protesters killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, a source with knowledge of the gaffe said yesterday.

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