PUBLIC PROGRAMMING: The groups called upon the government to turn TTV and CTS into public stations and do the same to at least six other radio or TV stations
By Cody Yiu
Several civic groups yesterday urged the government to turn Taiwan Television (TTV) and Chinese Television Enterprise System (CTS) into public television stations to provide programs untainted by political and commercial influences.

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CROWDED AGENDA: A last-minute criticism held up a vote on the financial bill while a bill covering military purchases failed to clear the Procedure Commitee
By Debby Wu
A bill extending the Financial Restructuring Fund (金融重建基金) failed to pass the legislature yesterday, but it is slated to be discussed again in the final legislative sittings tomorrow and Friday.

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People in this country are never far away from ads by cigarette manufacturers, a communications professor said yesterday.

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DRYING OUT: Animal Technology Institute of Taiwan researchers say the Phyllanthus urinaria could be used on a short-term basis for detoxification
By Joy Su
Recent experiments reveal that herbs traditionally used to fight Hepatitis B could also aid in expediting alcohol metabolism, researchers from the Animal Technology Institute of Taiwan said yesterday morning.

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Taiwan plans to allow two dissidents who claim to have been persecuted in China for participating in pro-democracy activities to seek asylum in a third country, an official said yesterday.

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ADMINISTRATIVE NEUTRALITY: Government officials and party department heads shouldn't participate in factional activities, the president told his party, but legislators are likely to fall outside of the proposal
By Chang Yun-ping
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday reiterated his plans to address the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) problem of factional politics, saying that government officials and party department heads should be barred from participating in the party's factional activities.

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SUBHEAD SLAMMER:
By Lin Chieh-yu
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday swore in a group of new senior officials, including many younger-generation members of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

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`SOUNDS AWKWARD': Taipei's mayor voiced his reservations about the proposal, wondering if it had first been discussed with the president
By Jewel Huang
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) proposal to make the nation's official name "Taiwan Republic of China" does not make sense, and said the suggestion violates the Constitution and President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "five noes" policy.

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By Melody Chen
China has done little to harass pro-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taiwanese businessmen, even though the People's Daily reported that China does not welcome these people, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.

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COMPATIBLE CLASS: A growing number of Taiwanese businesspeople in China are enrolling their children in Kinmen schools for both educational and family reasons
Six children of Taiwanese business-people in China, commonly known as taishang (台商), graduated from a junior high school in Kinmen yesterday, marking the first such graduates since the "small three links" were launched more than three years ago.

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Malaysia is preparing to ship back nearly 12,000 tonnes of toxic industrial waste to Taiwan which entered the country illegally, a senior official said yesterday.

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Illegal fireworks makers in Chiayi County are camouflaging their operations as pig farms and other businesses, hampering firefighters investigating the illicit trade after a blast at one factory killed six people and injured four, officials said yesterday.

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Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) met with academics from think tanks in the New York area on Monday for wide-ranging talks.

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■ Diplomacy
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