STANDING FIRM: The president said the referendum seeking UN membership does not violate his commitments and he could not stop it because it's the will of the people
By Ko Shu-ling and Shih Hsiu-chuan
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt yesterday warned President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) not to make any decisions during the remainder of his term in office that would cause problems for his successor.

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Australia's new government, making its second big policy shift in just a week in power, began yesterday to scrap a controversial scheme which sent refugees to remote foreign islands for processing.

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RIGHTS ROW: The Taiwan Human Rights Jingmei Park in Sindian is located where a military court and detention center used to stand during the KMT's Martial Law era
By Ko Shu-ling
The opening of a park commemorating victims of military repression during the Martial Law era attracted activists keen to criticize the government over their own human rights.

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A suicide car bomber blew himself up close to a school bus carrying children of Pakistan air force employees in a northwestern town yesterday, injuring at least five children, the military said.

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Mortar shells slammed into an Interior Ministry jail yesterday, killing at least seven inmates and wounding 23, police and a hospital official said. One of Iraq's main refineries came under fire in a separate attack in the capital -- the latest strike against an oil industry vital to the country's economic recovery.

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DOUBLE TROUBLE: It was unclear if the two incidents were related, however the Arvada police chief said there was reason to believe such a link was a possibility
Four people were killed and six were wounded in two separate shootings at religious establishments in the state of Colorado on Sunday, local authorities said.

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