DUAL LAWMAKERS: MOFA has little to report in the case of KMT Legislator Diane Lee, who has been accused of holding US citizenship while serving in the legislature

By Jenny W. Hsu
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that late last month it had received a request from the Legislative Yuan to investigate any possible cases of legislators holding foreign citizenship.

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OUT OF POCKET: Welfare groups say they often have to pay for government-sponsored projects on their own because the money they apply for is withheld

By Loa Iok-Sin
A dozen social welfare groups staged a demonstration in Taipei yesterday, saying the government owed them millions of NT dollars, before filing a complaint with the Control Yuan.

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Burning incense and ghost money during Ghost Month, the seventh month of the lunar year, induces asthma cases among children, a pediatrician said yesterday.

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HEAPS OF PRAISE: A spokesman said that Panamanian and Paraguayan leaders called the president’s cross-strait plans a wise decision and the correct direction
By Shih Hsiu-Chuan
Staff Reporter, in Asuncion

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By Jimmy Chuang and Loa Iok-Sin
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office has started an investigation into suspected money laundering by the former first family, based on information provided by Swiss authorities, a spokesman said yesterday.

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GOING LOCAL: Democratic Progressive Party legislative whip Chang Hwa-kuan asked if the president wasn’t planning to abolish the Ministry of Foreign Affairs altogether
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) deputy legislative caucus whip said yesterday that the government’s UN strategy had “broken the hearts of the Taiwanese people.”

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By Shih Hsiu-Chuan
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said on Thursday that Taiwan would launch new cooperation projects with Paraguay and may increase aid to the impoverished South American country.

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FASTEN YOUR SEATBELATS: An investigator said that passengers on an FAT flight experienced something like a rollercoaster ride when their plane took evasive action

By Meggie Lu
The Aviation Safety Council (ASC) yesterday concluded a 21-month investigation of a midair incident over South Korea between Taiwanese and Thai passenger aircraft, and said that both the Taiwanese pilot and the South Korean air traffic controller were at fault.

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FACING THE BULLETA: Air travel on the western Taiwan corridor has been seriously affected by the high-speed train system that went into service in January last year
Flights between Taipei and Kaohsiung will be maintained for another month, despite a request from Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) to halt the service.

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The Kaohsiung City Government’s Transportation Bureau said yesterday that five shuttle bus routes are being planned to serve passengers using the Orange Line of the Mass Rapid Transit system when it opens shortly before the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept. 14 this year.

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Marine biologists at Academia Sinica have spotted a previously unknown patch of algal reefs along the coast of Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣) in Taitung County, with a total surface area estimated to be larger than any other algal reef in eastern Taiwan, sources at the institution said on Thursday.

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Taiwanese traditional hand puppets and France’s Guignol puppet tradition yesterday shared the stage in a play titled La Boite (The Box) at the 10th Taipei Arts Festival, telling a story of an intercultural voyage beyond the language barrier.

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■AGRICULTURE [ FULL STORY ]