FIGHTING BACK: The association's president said the proposal to hold a referendum on the nation's UN bid was a strategy designed to counter China's `relentless pressure'
By Charles Snyder
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) has strongly objected to comments made by American Institute in Taiwan Representative Stephen Young earlier this month criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) application to hold a referendum on entry to the UN under the name "Taiwan."

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By Shih Hsiu-chuan
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday called on World Medical Association president Jon Snaedal to "lend Taiwan a helping hand" with the nation's request to participate in the WHO as a full member.

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MENDING THE GAP: The DPP presidential candidate said reducing income tax rates would restore the middle class and combat the growing cleft between rich and poor
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said he would propose reducing income tax for enterprises and individuals and levying energy taxes if elected next year.

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By Jimmy Chuang
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Tseng Tsahn-deng (曾燦燈) yesterday withdrew from the legislative election following his defeat in an opinion poll by his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤).

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BROTHERLY LOVE: Lee Tai-an, the older brother of a man who killed his Vietnamese bride in an elaborate murder plot, had his sentence reduced from life to 18 years
By Jenny W. Hsu
The Pingtung man convicted of being an accessory in the murder of his sister-in-law and sabotaging the southern link railway last year was released on bail yesterday. The court revoked his original life sentence and reduced it to 18 years, on the grounds that he was only an accessory to the murder plot and not the mastermind.

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FUND FRENZY: The railway mutual aid fund, started in 1962, has accumulated approximately NT$1.17 billion in contributions, but it has already paid out NT$1.74 billion
By Shelley Shan
Water balloons and bottles were scattered around the entrance of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday as members of the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) Labor Union demanded the return of their mutual aid fund.

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By Meggie Lu
The National Science Council (NSC) and the the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) yesterday announced the beginning of the first EU-Taiwan science cooperation workshop in Taipei.

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By Jenny W. Hsu
The Ministry of Education will pledge NT$120 million (US$3.7 million) to purchase 8,000 computers for first through third graders from lower-income families in an effort to bridge the nation's digital divide, Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) said yesterday in Taipei.

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A Taiwanese economic official in Italy on Thursday called for collaboration between the Italian and Taiwanese business and industrial sectors.

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MONTHS OF THREATS: The crew members battled scurvy, frequent mock executions and occasional beatings, while Somali pirates threatened to kill the son of Lin Sheng-hsin
With one murdered crewman in the ship's freezer and Somali pirates threatening to execute his son, Captain Lin Sheng-hsin (林勝信) could think of only one thing to do: threaten to throw himself into the shark-infested waters.

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By Meggie Lu
A Taichung power plant's excessive carbon emissions have put Taiwan in the international spotlight, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) said on Wednesday, citing this month's issue of Nature magazine that said the Longjing Township (龍井) plant tops the carbon emission list of all power plants worldwide at 41.3 million tonnes per year.

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■ CRIME

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