ENCOUNTER: A newspaper report said Chiang Pin-kun would meet a high-ranking CCP official to negotiate a meeting between the KMT chairman and the Chinese president
By Flora Wang
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials dismissed media speculation yesterday that KMT Chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) plans to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).

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DISCONTENT: Following the DPP's drubbing in the legislative elections, many party members slammed polls that enouraged the nomination of extreme candidates
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun should apologize for adopting the “blue-excluding opinion polls” and the party should focus on actually rooting out corruption rather than just talking about it, a former DPP legislator said yesterday.

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By Loa Iok-sin
Even though transitional justice is essential to reconciliation between ethnic groups in a post-authoritarian country like Taiwan, it should be achieved carefully to avoid causing new tensions, participants at a forum on the subject said yesterday.

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Incoming Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) yesterday dismissed media reports claiming that he described cross-strait flights as direct flights.

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Taiwan and China will resume joint exploration for oil in the Taiwan Strait as president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) seeks to fully open trade with China, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times sister newspaper) reported yesterday.

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ADVICE: At a fundraising event the vice president said students could be helped if people opted to drink less expensive wine and bought fewer designer handbags
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on Saturday called for continued support for a free after-school tutoring program for schoolchildren from disadvantaged families that she launched around the country in March last year.

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ROUND AND ROUND: One China Airlines flight bound for Hong Kong flew back and forth three times, staying aloft for eight hours before finally returning to Taiwan
By Shelley Shan
Heavy rainfall brought by extratropical cyclone Noguri disrupted air traffic between Taiwan and Hong Kong, causing airlines to cancel dozens of flights over the weekend.

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The annual whale-watching season near Gueishan Island officially opened yesterday, with hundreds of tourists and foreign media workers packing onto boats to get a glimpse of whales and dolphins off Taiwan’s northeastern coast.

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For many, the inauguration of the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system was a day worth celebrating. But for Kaohsiung taxi drivers, already jolted by the high price of gasoline that could soon climb higher, the opening of the subway system was another blow that has them worried about their futures.

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DARK NO MORE: The remote tribal area in Hsinchu is using the latest in lighting technology, a move that is lowering electricity bills and saving on infrastructure
Once called the “dark village,” the Smangus Tribe area in Hsinchu County has become a shining example of Taiwan’s illumination renovation, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday.

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By Rich Chang
Prosecutors were considering detaining the Mailiao (麥寮) Township chief in Yunlin County yesterday on suspicion of helping a businessman win a contract from Formosa Plastics Group’s sixth naphtha cracking plant.

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■ ENVIRONMENT