NOT APPROPRIATE: Hsieh accused Ma of failing to recognize the nation's sovereignty and said ruling out Taiwanese independence was not an option for an aspiring president
By Mo Yan-chih
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday brushed off his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterpart Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) criticism of his policy on cross-strait relations.

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THE CHOICES: Academic Tsay Ting-kuei said the DPP lost the legislative elections because it did a poor job, but the KMT does not deserve to govern because it buys votes
By Ko Shu-ling
Pro-independence groups yesterday endorsed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), saying Taiwan cannot afford to return to one-party rule following the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) victory in Saturday's legislative elections.

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By Loa Iok-sin
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Chun-hsiao (朱俊曉), who lost to his Democratic Progressive Party rival Yu Tien (余天) in Saturday's legislative election, said yesterday that he would file a lawsuit to annul Yu's election.

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By Jenny W. Hsu
The government of the Marshall Islands remains committed to its ties with Taiwan despite the recent election of a pro-China presidential candidate, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

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By Mo Yan-chih
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday said it would not infringe on the rights of its legislators to propose bills, after Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was urged to screen proposals before sending them to the floor.

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LOOKING FORWARD: Chang Chun-hsiung also instructed the Central Election Commission to start preparations for the presidential poll in March
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
Calling the instances of vote-buying uncovered during the legislative elections a "humiliation to the country's democracy," Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) has vowed to follow up on the 4,688 reported cases without delay.

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Three of Taiwan's diplomatic allies have urged the WHO to include Taiwan in the International Health Regulations (IHR), a legal framework for global infectious disease control, an official posted in Geneva said on Tuesday.

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READING RNA: A radical new cancer test could be ready to use within five years and could save time and money in the development of `tailor made' treatments
By Meggie Lu
Lung cancer patients may soon be granted peace of mind and be spared an uncertain prognosis, as a National Science Council sponsored team of Taiwanese medical professionals has successfully located a micro ribonucleic acid (RNA) signature that has proven to offer accurate predictions of their survival rates and the outcome of treatments.

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By Shen Hui-yuan
National Chiao Tung University announced on Wednesday that it would build a prosthetic technology platform together with Chi Mei Medical Center and other academic institutions and enterprises to jointly develop intelligent prosthetics, especially electronic chips that can be installed in human brains to treat epilepsy and even Parkinson's disease.

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READY TO ROLL: Passengers wishing to buy tickets for the Eastern Line can book from 6am tomorrow morning, while Western Line bookings begin at the same time on Sunday
As many as 460,000 passengers a day are expected to travel by railway during the Lunar New Year holiday, a 40 percent increase in passenger numbers compared to an ordinary day, the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) said on Wednesday.

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By Loa Iok-sin
Lunar New Year is one of the peak periods of abuse and accidents involving children each year, World Vision Taiwan officials said yesterday, calling on parents to be extra cautious during the coming holidays.

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MANAGING MOGGIES: The Taipei Stray Cat Protection Association neutered almost 500 cats last year and it is hoping to double that this year
By Angelica Oung
Animal welfare organizations yesterday held a press conference calling on Taipei residents to help capture stray cats so they can be neutered, a process approved by the Taipei Municipal Institute for Animal Health (TMIAH).

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SETBACKS: According to the report, China remained the world's most populous 'not free' country as the government continued to crack down on dissidents
Washington-based Freedom House, an NGO that rates countries' freedom based on surveys detailing their political rights and civil liberties, announced on Tuesday that global freedom suffered notable setbacks last year but saw Asia as a bright spot, with democratic success stories in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India and Indonesia.

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A total of 12 of the country's 18 commercial airports saw decreases in passenger volume over the first three quarters of last year compared with a year earlier, a Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) official said.

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ACCURATE: The head of the police agency's Traffic Section said it wanted to avoid the controversy that the machines do not always calculate correctly
By Jimmy Chuang
The National Police Agency (NPA) yesterday announced that police will stop issuing speeding tickets to motorists caught by cameras with induction-loop triggers.

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■ TOURISM

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