FINE LINE: While a yes vote would usher in a draft bill written by people answerable to the military, a no vote would allow the military to impose its own constitution
Moving back toward democracy after last year's coup, Thailand is to hold its first-ever national referendum today to choose a new constitution. But the choice is limited to voting yes or no on a charter designed to curb the power of politicians.

[ FULL STORY ]

`RIDICULOUS': The `United Daily News' claimed that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng had been asked to urge the prosecutor not to appeal in Ma's court case
By Mo Yan-chih
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday rebutted a media report that party officials asked Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), a distant relative of Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁), to press Hou not to appeal the ruling in the corruption case against KMT presidential candidate and former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

[ FULL STORY ]

NARCOTICS: Suave men from Nigeria and Iran sweep young women off their feet before asking them to deliver parcels to their `friends,' police said
Two Iranians and a Nigerian have been employed as Casanovas by an international drug syndicate to entice Malaysian women into smuggling drugs abroad, reports said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

Most state media have been banned from reporting on the deadly collapse of a bridge in southern China, with local officials punching journalists and chasing them from the scene, reporters said.

[ FULL STORY ]

INTERFERENCE: Winston Dang said that almost every environment and energy official he met in Washington had been urged by China's embassy not to receive him
Environmental Protection Agency Minister Winston Dang (陳重信) said in Washington on Friday that he had exchanged ideas with his US counterparts on climate change issues despite Beijing's repeated protests.

[ FULL STORY ]

LATEST POLL: The MAC said that 78 percent of those polled rejected Beijing's claim that the nation does not qualify for international bodies
More than 70 percent of respondents in a survey supported the nation's bid to join the UN under the name "Taiwan," a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Nadia Tsao
The Rand Corporation, a US think tank, has issued a study arguing that positive US-China relations hinge on finding a peaceful resolution of cross-strait tensions.

[ FULL STORY ]

BREAKOUT: The minister of the interior defended the immigration agency, saying it was too short on staff and funding to effectively administer the detention center
Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said that he had asked National Immigration Agency Director Wu Chen-chi (吳振吉) to stay on to help improve security at the nation's detention centers.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Hsieh wen-hua
National Taiwan University (NTU) said yesterday it would establish a scholarship in memory of assistant professor Hsieh Huann-ju (謝煥儒).

[ FULL STORY ]

MYSTERIOUS CALL: An anonymous phone call helped police find the body of a man missing for months, leading to the arrest of a suspect in a case involving a cash dispute
By Rich Chang
Taichung police said yesterday they had solved a murder case, but did not know who tipped them off and helped them find the victim's body.

[ FULL STORY ]

Hong Kong has returned a letter from the Taipei government protesting an immigration dispute over Falun Gong members and accused it of stirring up controversy, a government spokeswoman said on Friday.

[ FULL STORY ]

■ DIPLOMACY
[ FULL STORY ]