`BARBARIC' BLUES: The president continued to slam the opposition on its attempts to defy the CEC and distribute legislative ballots separately from the referendum ballots
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Ko Shu-ling
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said yesterday that the two-step voting format that pan-blue cities and counties propose using for the Jan. 12 legislative elections is illegal under existing laws.

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Japanese prosecutors arrested a former top defense official who is at the heart of a scandal that is exacerbating a parliamentary deadlock and threatens to ensnare the finance minister.

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By Rich Chang
Former Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) spokesman Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正) was sentenced to 16 years in jail yesterday by the Taipei District Court in his first corruption trail.

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By Charles Snyder
A leading supporter of Taiwan in the US Congress has demanded that the WHO explain its failure to notify Taipei of a potentially debilitating bacterial infection this summer, despite data that Taiwan could be affected.

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ANOTHER TRY: George Bush hopes the meeting will jumpstart Israeli- Palestinian negotiations that could lead to a deal before he leaves office
US President George W. Bush was scheduled to host Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a White House summit yesterday, one day after a 44-nation conference where the two Middle East leaders pledged to try to forge a peace treaty by the end of this year that would create a Palestinian state.

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