CHANGE: Calling the design of the tax exemption unfair, Chien Hsi-chieh, an advocate of tax parity, urged teachers to stop boycotting and instead demand a bigger budget
By Crystal Hsu
The Tax Reform Committee reached a consensus yesterday to scrap the 30-year-old income tax exemption for military personnel as well as primary and junior high school teachers, starting next year.

[ FULL STORY ]

FACE VALUE: Meanwhile, officials insisted that the decision to have a girl lip-sync another’s song during the opening ceremony was not about who was cuter
Up to eight Tibet activists who staged a protest yesterday near the main Olympics venue and a British television journalist were detained by police, a rights group and a TV producer said.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Shelley Shan
Taiwan opened its Olympic baseball campaign with a 5-0 win against the Netherlands at the Wukesong Baseball Field in Beijing yesterday — but a Taiwanese player tested positive for a banned substance.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Mo Yan-chih
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dismissed allegations yesterday that it had agreed to Beijing’s arrangement of the Olympics opening march in exchange for Chinese media referring to Taiwan’s Olympic team as Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北, Chinese Taipei).

[ FULL STORY ]

CLOSE TO THE HEART: Alexander Lomaia, the head of Georgia’s national security council, said that Russian tanks entered the city yesterday morning
A column of Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) seen leaving the Georgian city of Gori yesterday was not heading to the capital, Russian and Georgian officials said.

[ FULL STORY ]