SAFETY FIRST: The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said it would cease to block the purchase of 12 Lockheed P-3C surveillance aircraft and 384 PAC-3 missiles
By Mo Yan-chih and Jimmy Chuang
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday it would vote to approve funding for the purchase of a US anti-missile system, having blocked the budget in the legislature for more than two years.

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Hong Kong's leader said yesterday he asked Beijing to allow greater democracy in the Chinese territory after more than half the population said they supported direct elections by 2012.

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Emergency workers searched for bodies and survivors yesterday after twin truck bombings by an affiliate of al-Qaeda targeted UN offices and a government building in Algiers, killing at least 30 people.

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FAIR ENOUGH: The DPP's presidential candidate said Taiwan was willing to listen to advice from friends, but also had to consider its own interests
By Ko Shu-ling
Promising to mend relations with the US if elected, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday thanked American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chair-man Raymond Burghardt for his concern over the impact the UN referendum could have on the nation's next leader.

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A call for rich nations to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 may be "too ambitious" to include in an international statement on climate change, the UN chief said yesterday, strengthening a US-led drive to remove it from the text.

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