FACING CHALLENGES: During a closed-door conference yesterday, party members discussed organizational development and strategies to use when the party is in power
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) began a new chapter as the senior members — dubbed the party’s princes and princesses by the media — have all refrained from entering the chairmanship election, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday.

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By Jimmy Chuang
Former vice premier Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) last-minute registration for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) chairmanship election remained the center of discussion among DPP figures yesterday.

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CHIANG'S VICTIM: Stephen Yates said that Taiwan was paying the price for Chiang Kai-shek's refusal to accept US efforts to recognize Taiwanese sovereignty
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
Deliberately avoiding Taiwan’s sovereign status has been the predominant theme in US thinking and that trend would likely continue if Taiwan’s leader agrees with the stance, an analyst with the American Foreign Policy Council said yesterday.

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By Jenny W. Hsu
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it will keep close tabs on the presidential election campaign in El Salvador after one of the candidates declared he will open diplomatic relations with Beijing if picked as the new leader next year.

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By Loa Iok-sin
"No more blindfolds! We want a transparent legislature," students representing schools and student organizations shouted yesterday as they demonstrated in front of the legislature.

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TOLERANCE: President Chen condemned China's crackdown in Tibet, saying people should have the right to choose 'the food that nourishes their souls'
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Friday condemned China’s military crackdown in Tibet and said he supports the pope’s message of encouraging “dialogue and tolerance” in solving the problem.

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NO PLACE FOR FIDO: The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp said that in principle pets are banned from trains, with the exception of police dogs and guide dogs
By Shelley Shan
Facing competition from the high-speed rail system, the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) announced that its express-train services would stop more frequently at some of the nation’s second-tier cities.

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By Loa Iok-sin
Despite recent reports of a large oil slick looming off the north coast of Taiwan, an official from the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) water pollution office said yesterday that they have yet to find any hard evidence that an oil slick has occurred.

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IN THE SLAMMER: 'Crazy Chin,' who once topped the nation's most-wanted list, was sent to jail for his part in the blackmail of TV personality Peng Chia-chia
By Rich Chang
Taichung prosecutors are investigating a case in which a well-known criminal is said to have been directing his gang from inside his prison cell, helping it to win several public construction contracts, with a legislator and prison officials allegedly involved in the scandal.

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The Chou Ta-kuan Cultural and Educational Foundation (CTKF, 周大觀文教基金會), a charity dedicated to providing care for children with cancer and other serious diseases, said yesterday that it would donate the proceeds from sales of a collection of poems in the US to an American cancer society to help child cancer patients from poor backgrounds.

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A special exhibition aimed at raising public awareness of global warming and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions opened yesterday, with some 100 activists pledging to conserve energy resources on a daily basis to save the earth.

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■ ENVIRONMENT