TWELVE STEPS: The KMT candidate promised to pump NT$1.4 trillion into creating rapid transit systems in cities and counties nationwide and boost GDP by NT$4 trillion
By Mo Yan-chih
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) unveiled his "i-Taiwan 12 projects" economy platform yesterday, promising NT$2.65 trillion (US$81 billion) in government investment over the next eight years to boost the nation's economy by expanding domestic demand.

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By Flora Wang and Rich Chang
As legislative hopefuls gear up for their campaigns ahead of the Jan. 12 legislative elections, last Friday's ruling on vote-buying allegations concerning the Kaohsiung mayoral election risks generating more controversy before their campaigns are over, political analysts said.

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PUBLIC PROPERTY: The KMT took over Japanese property that should have become state assets, but has kept them as private property, academics said
By Ko Shu-ling
Historians at a forum yesterday said that much of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) assets were acquired illegally and should be returned to private individuals or the state coffers.

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SPY VERSUS SPY: The National Security Bureau said it took legal action against Hsiao Tai-fu because he had been advised not to publish when he sent a draft copy for review
By Flora Wang
Hsiao Tai-fu (蕭台福), a retired deputy section director at the National Security Bureau (NSB) who has been charged by Taipei prosecutors with violating the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), yesterday accused the NSB of infringing upon his constitutional right to publish.

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By Jimmy Chuang
Legislators quarrelled yesterday following an announcement that the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office had started an investigation into an allegation involving a CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC) franchise gas station in Taipei City after being told that it was selling gasoline blended with methyl alcohol, the office's deputy chief prosecutor said yesterday.

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By Loa Iok-sin
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) yesterday questioned the Council of Indigenous Peoples' (CIP) sincerity in giving the nation's Aborigines the power to manage resources in their own domains, citing a lack of participation by Aborigines in the matter.

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A GOOD READ: A survey showed better literacy depends on the amount of time spent reading independently and the number of books students are able to choose from
By Meggie Lu
Success in the education of the next generation depends on increasing the amount of time spent and the scope of their reading, the National Science Council (NSC) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday.

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CAUSE FOR CONFUSION: The government spokesman said that the two-step procedure could lead some voters to inadvertently forget to cast referendum ballots
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Flora Wang
The one-step voting format adopted by the Central Election Commission (CEC) for the Jan. 12 legislative election and referendums has three advantages over the two-step procedure favored by pan-blue authorities, Government Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said yesterday.

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TaiwanMoney Card, the country's first contactless payment card which can be used for shopping and paying for transportation in southern Taiwan, will also be able to be used on the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit, which is scheduled to begin operations tomorrow, a Kaohsiung City official said yesterday.

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By Shih Hsiu-chuan
China's attempts to help a group of Taiwanese people in their bid to claim repayment from Japan for goldmarks they say they were forced to buy after World War I are doomed to fail, an official said yesterday.

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■ EARTHQUAKES

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