APOLOGY REQUESTED: The opposition politician is asking for just NT$1 in compensation -- and for the president to say he's sorry in newspaper ads
By Caroline Hong
People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) filed suit against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday, demanding restitution for defaming him with accusations that he had met with a Chinese official in the US earlier this year.

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CROSS-STRAIT NEGOTIATIONS: The president said this year and next offer the best chance for discussions with Hu Jintao, an opportunity that he said shouldn't be missed
By Huang Tai-lin
This year and next are the "windows of opportunity" in cross-strait relations, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday.

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By Rich Chang
The secretary to former minister of transportation and communications Lin Ling-san's (林陵三), Soong Nai-wu (宋乃午), was released on bail by Taipei prosecutors yesterday after being charged for allegedly taking bribes in a scandal involving the ministry's Electric Tool Collection (ETC) system.

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By Jewel Huang
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials said the People First Party (PFP) defamation lawsuit against President Shui-bian (陳水扁) will not affect the political cooperation between the parties.

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By Huang Tai-lin
No matter how China develops politically, democracy will be its final destiny, said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in an article in remembrance of today's 16th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre.

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Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) son, Lien Sheng-wen (連勝文), decided yesterday to enter the election for KMT delegates.

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Former US deputy assistant secretary of state Randall Schriver said on Thursday he is scheduled to visit Taiwan next month and will meet President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

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INTERACTIVE: With interest in learning Chinese as a second language increasing worldwide, Taiwan may be poised to become a leading center for language learning
By Mo Yan-chih
The rapid development of e-learning has opened up new opportunities to reinforce Chinese language learning. As Chinese becomes one of the most popular foreign languages, Taiwan should seize the opportunity to improve its Chinese learning environment in a multimedia setting, academics and experts said yesterday.

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`ENDANGERED': Taiwan is `capable and willing' to help Chinese farmers, as it has helped develop agriculture in Third World countries for decades, the MAC's You said
Taiwan is willing to extend its experience and expertise in the development of agricultural economy to Chinese farmers to help them shake off poverty, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said yesterday.

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Both the volume of drug busts and the number of drug addicts have surged noticeably over the past seven years, while the age that people first have contact with narcotics has dropped, sources from the Department of Health said yesterday.

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By Jimmy Chuang
The Cabinet yesterday said that officials will seriously consider the idea of men not having to wear suits to work every day.

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By Staff Writer
Rumors have emerged from both the Taipei First and Second Municipal Mortuary that unscrupulous funeral directors are selling the offerings brought by family and friends of the deceased to restaurants, according to local media reports yesterday.

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An image museum long planned by the Government Information Office (GIO) to collect documentary films and other images was inaugurated yesterday in Taichung, central Taiwan.

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DETAINED REPORTER: China has accused Ching Cheong of spying, but his wife said his access to classified data was part of some work he was doing
The wife of a veteran journalist accused of spying in China has said her husband helped write reports for the Chinese leadership about Hong Kong and Taiwan and was privy to confidential conversations between leaders.

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CRUSHING DISSENT: While some had speculated that he would be more liberal, Hu Jintao exerts more control over the Chinese people than his predecessor, Jiang Zemin
Sixteen years since the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square, China's grip on dissent has tightened under the leadership of President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), disappointing those who hoped he might represent a more tolerant leadership.

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The death toll from torrential rains in parts of China rose to 71 yesterday with another 58 missing as emergency relief supplies were rushed to help more than 200,000 people forced from their homes.

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■ Politics
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