UNPERSUASIVE: The KMT chairman said he had urged President Chen Shui-bian to separate the UN referendums and the presidential election, but to no avail
By Mo Yan-chih AND KO SHU-LING
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday expressed the party's opposition to a third referendum to replace the two UN referendum bids, while urging the government to reshuffle the Central Election Commission (CEC).

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LU TAKES AIM: Annette Lu said Henry Lee should explain why he said that she was the main target of an assassination attempt rather than the president
By Ko Shu-ling
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday urged a speedy revision to election laws after forensic expert Henry Lee (李昌鈺) said she was the prime target of the election-eve assassination attempt on her life and that of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

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By Mo Yan-chih
The fight between the pan-blue and pan-green camps over permits for holding rallies on Ketagalan Boulevard ahead of the presidential election continued yesterday, as the pan-greens condemned the pan-blues for wanting to occupy the boulevard for a whole week before the election.

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By Shih Hsiu-chuan
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) will present a statement on his administrative policies to the new legislature today before fielding questions from lawmakers as the spring session begins.

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By Mo Yan-chih AND KO SHU-LING
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his running mate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) yesterday criticized the Cabinet's tax reform package, saying it failed to take care of low-income families. Ma also challenged the government's motives for pushing the cuts just before the presidential election.

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By Ko Shu-ling
A majority of people polled in a recent survey said presidential candidates' performances in debates would not affect their support for them.

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By Nadia Tsao
Nine members of the US Congress sent a joint letter to US President George W. Bush yesterday calling for an end to the US' "one China" policy.

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REACHING OUT: For Cheng Shih-chung, a dermatologist, better communication between physicians and patients was his goal in promoting education in his native tongue
By Loa Iok-sin
The Ministry of Education honored nine organizations and 17 individuals for helping to preserve and promote their mother tongues during an award ceremony on International Mother Language Day yesterday.

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Taiwanese police yesterday warned against publicly circulating nude pictures of a Hong Kong actor and his actress girlfriends, saying that violators could be jailed for two years.

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MORE: Since the National Applied Research Laboratories were formed, development has been limited because of the lack of collaboration between labs, the president said
By Meggie Lu
The National Science Council's (NSC) National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) said yesterday at a press conference that reform of its organizational framework would enable it to extend its role to become more proactive in facilitating technological innovation.

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By Shih Hsiu-chuan
The Price Stabilization Commission yesterday said it would continue freezing local oil prices with the expectation that international oil prices will go down this year, Executive Yuan Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said yesterday.

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ILLEGAL STRUCTURES: Many residents of the Sanying Community along the Dahan River protested the destruction of their homes yesterday
By Loa Iok-sin
Despite shouting, cursing, tears and physical clashes, the Taipei County Government demolished 11 homes in the Sanying Aboriginal Community (三鶯部落) yesterday and vowed to remove the rest by the end of the month.

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Most people around the world are indifferent toward human-rights abuses, Canadian human-rights attorney David Matas told an international forum in Taipei yesterday.

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By Meggie Lu
When it comes to the education of students in rural areas, it will take more than money to improve their lot, National Taiwan Normal University professors Sharon Chen (甄曉蘭) and Wang Li-yun (王麗雲) said yesterday.

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