ECONOMIC PARTNERS: The MAC also sought to reassure DPP lawmakers that the government would not sign a CEPA when China’s top cross-strait negotiator visits
By Flora Wang And Jimmy Chuang
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) yesterday denied that China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) had asked that no Republic of China (ROC) flag be shown in any of the sites that its chairman, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), would visit when he comes to Taiwan.

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DUMMY ACCOUNTS: The former president also rebutted allegations he used his bodyguards to channel funds abroad, and pointed to Lee Teng-hui
By Ko Shu-ling
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday filed a defamation lawsuit against a political commentator, who claimed that Chen deposited more than NT$30 billion (US$926 million) in Japan.

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By Shelley Shan
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday asked the National Communications Commission (NCC) to stop clamping down on underground radio stations.

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By Jimmy Chuang And Ko Shu-ling
Law enforcement officers did not violate former minister of the interior Yu Cheng-hsien’s (余政憲) rights when they detained him on Wednesday, Taipei Chief Prosecutor Lin Ling-yu (林玲玉) said yesterday.

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By Shelley Shan
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday defended Ever Rich DFS Corp’s exclusive right to operate duty-free shops at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, saying the company secured the right in a legal bid.

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By Jenny W. Hsu
Taiwan’s high investments and frequent cultural exchanges with Southeast Asian countries are two powerful bargaining chips in its quest to join ASEAN, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said yesterday, adding that recent improvements in cross-strait relations presented a prime chance for Taiwan to forge closers tie with the region.

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BUSINESS AS USUAL: Wang Yung-ching’s death rocked the stock prices of Formosa Plastics subsidiaries, but ratings agencies were not expecting any immediate impact
By Lisa Wang
Shares in several subsidiaries of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) tumbled by almost the 3.5 percent daily limit yesterday as the death of the group’s founder, Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), gave an extra jolt to already weak investor confidence.

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By Joyce Huang
He may have left billions of dollars, but what the business community will remember most about Wang Yung-ching (王永慶) was his business vision, pragmatism and the virtues of hard work and thrift.

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PARTY CRASHER: DPP Legislator Twu Shiing-jer, a former DOH minister, showed up at the conference to criticize the government’s handling of the melamine scandal
By Meggie Lu
China’s Duqing Company, King Car Industrial Co’s supplier of non-dairy creamer, “is definitely accountable” for the high-level melamine content in King Car’s 3-in-1 drink packages, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.

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By Shih Hsiu-chuan
The Cabinet yesterday said it would create an agency modeled on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to strengthen inspection mechanisms and improve food and drug safety in the country, Minister of Department of Health Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said.

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DODGED: City councilors accused former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou of skipping an environmental analysis on the system by licensing it as a transportation project
By Mo Yan-chih
The geology of the Muzha (木柵) area was never able to sustain the Maokong Gondola, and the cable car system should be permanently terminated for the sake of public safety and environmental protection, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors said yesterday.

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By Loa Iok-sin
Because the UN refuses to allow Taiwan to be a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a number of the nation’s women’s groups have decided to write their own alternative report.

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By Loa Iok-sin
Funded by the Council for Hakka Affairs, 1895, a movie that tells the story of the resistance against the Japanese invasion in 1895 — the biggest war in Taiwan’s history — will be shown in theaters next month, director Hung Chi-yu (洪智育) said on Wednesday.

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NOT SO PRICEY: The nation’s largest telecom services provider plans to lower the monthly cost of its FTTX service from NT$650 to NT$550
By Shelley Shan
The National Communications Commission (NCC) on Wednesday approved Chunghwa Telecom’s proposal to reduce the monthly subscription fees for its 10Mbps optical fiber service, as well as that of its new 3Mpbs service.

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By Flora Wang
A survey released yesterday showed that many of the country’s teenagers were active in expressing themselves with new media technology.

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■ CRIME
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