AIMING HIGH: In addition to increasing subsidies to farmers, the Cabinet set a goal of creating 180,000 jobs next year and keeping the jobless rate under 3.8 percent
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
The Cabinet yesterday increased the price of paddy purchased by the government, effective starting next year. The NT$2 raise in the price per kilogram of unmilled rice will give rice farmers an additional NT$21,000 per hectare of production per year.

[ FULL STORY ]

PLATFORM: Hsieh said issues concerning minority ethnic groups should not be decided by the majority alone, as the minority will lose whenever conflicts of interest arise
By Ko Shu-ling
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday lambasted his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), over remarks he made about Aborigines, calling Ma "arrogant" and "ignorant."

[ FULL STORY ]

By Ko Shu-ling
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday opened a center dedicated to fighting vote-buying ahead of the legislative and presidential elections.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Ko Shu-ling
A pro-independence group yesterday praised a great grandson of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) for identifying with Taiwan, but urged the Chiang family to decide soon where to inter Chiang and his son, president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).

[ FULL STORY ]

'SCORCHING SUN': A former 'Next' magazine reporter was sentenced in the US$1 million scheme that involved threats about alleged tax evasion in the US and China
By Rich Chang
A former reporter and her boyfriend were found guilty yesterday by the Taipei District Court of blackmailing Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) for US$1 million (NT$32.6 million).

[ FULL STORY ]

By Shelley Shan
Starting on Tuesday, passengers on domestic airlines will no longer be charged military insurance tax on air tickets, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) announced yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

People who spend too much time playing video games, especially violent video games, may risk damaging brain function and affect their learning and emotional control, a study released yesterday showed.

[ FULL STORY ]

SUSPICIONS: Over 17,000 employees were granted subsidies for performing hazardous duties each year, but some had not even worked on the specified days
By Mo Yan-chih
Taipei City's Department of Government Ethics yesterday acknowledged that several employees had defrauded the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) out of millions of dollars, while promising to continue looking into the case.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
A recent Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) survey showed that nearly 80 percent of respondents would not oppose the government's plan to hold a referendum on seeking UN membership under the name Taiwan because of US pressure.

[ FULL STORY ]

BITING SATIRE: Although the politician Tseng Yen-wei parodied on his Web site was eventually elected commissioner, he still sued Tseng for spreading rumors
By Loa Iok-sin
Tseng Yen-wei (曾彥衛), a blogger sued on multiple charges by Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), voiced his worries yesterday about the verdict that will be handed down next Monday.

[ FULL STORY ]

GROWTH: The National Science Council deputy minister said Taiwan can maintain its competitive edge in the market by staying on top of global technological fields
By Meggie Lu
The nation's expenditure on science and innovation is increasing steadily with a goal of spending 3 percent of GDP on research and development by 2010, National Science Council (NSC) deputy minister Yang Hung-duen (楊弘敦) said at a press conference on Tuesday.

[ FULL STORY ]

More than 110 million sleeping pills containing zolpidem were prescribed in Taiwan last year, marking per capita annual consumption of nearly five pills, Department of Health (DOH) officials said on Tuesday.

[ FULL STORY ]

■ SOCIETY

[ FULL STORY ]