ZERO TOLERANCE: State Public Prosecutor-General Lu Jen-fa yesterday announced that any cases of vote buying and political bribery will be prosecuted relentlessly
By Jimmy Chuang
Whoever accepts free-trip offers from election candidates will be regarded as being involved in bribery, State Public Prosecutor-General Lu Jen-fa (盧仁發) said yesterday.

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HOME SWEET HOME?: The 8-year-old boy in the conter of a bitter custody battle was handed over to his family in Brazil with 40 police officers standing quard close by
Eight-year-old Iruan Ergui Wu (吳憶樺) finally arrived at his Brazilian grandmother's modest home Friday after a bitter international custody battle between Iruan's Taiwanese uncle, Wu Huo-yen (吳火眼), and his grandmother, Rosa Leocadia da Silva Ergui.

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By Chiu Yu-Tzu
Ecological engineering methods adopted in Taiwan to not only restore sites damaged by natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes, but also ensure ecological sustainability, are very innovative, according to foreign experts attending an international conference sponsored by the Public Construction Commission (PCC) yesterday in Taipei.

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Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that he will instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out how the Brazilian authorities are handling the return of a Taiwanese-Brazilian boy to his legal guardian -- his grandmother in southern Brazil -- and to react accordingly.

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MONEY MATTERS: Members of the Taiwan Community Hospital Association say the BNHI's reimbursement system is badly flawed, leaving many of the them in the red
By Joy Su
Hospital representatives yesterday threatened to end their contract with the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) to protest the movable rate used to calculate the compensation hospitals receive for their services.

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By Debby Wu
The pan-blue and pan-green camps remained obsessed with political donation and "black gold" issues yesterday, with the pan-blue camp pursuing questions about a Pacific SOGO Department Store donation while the pan-green camp focused on an alleged case of Tuntex Group embezzlement.

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FACE TO FACE: President Chen Shui-bian will focus on national construction and his vision for the future
By Chang Yun-ping
The country's first-ever televised debate between presidential candidates will be held this afternoon between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Pro-gressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰).

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By Debby Wu
The Securities and Futures Commission said yesterday that there was no question of insider trading in connection with first lady Wu Shu-chen's stock trading.

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STEPPING OUT: Campaign aides say the KMT chief is more than ready to dispel the notion that he can't mix it with the president in an unrehearsed, live forum
By Huang Tai-lin
On the eve of the nation's first-ever televised presidential debate, a pan-blue camp task force made up of think-tank members, acade-mics, specialists and legislators last night came together to compile electoral data for Chinese Nationalist Party Chairman Lien Chan (連戰).

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President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and visiting Kiribati President Anote Tong signed a joint communique yesterday, pledging to promote peace based on parity and reciprocity and to step up two-way cooperation.

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LOW-PRIORITY TEST: Only 66 of 1.6 million donations were infected with HIV last year and all were removed from the blood supply, but the tests could be improved
By Joy Su
Sixty-six units of donated blood infected with HIV were detected and destroyed last year, the Chinese Blood Services Foundation said yesterday.

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The first of two televised debates today between the two presidential candidates will be simultaneously translated in the Hakka language.

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■ Health
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