DOUBT: Tsai Ing-wen said the president inspires little confidence and any peace accord between Taiwan and China should be dealt with by someone who is trusted
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers reacted differently yesterday to comments in an Indian quarterly by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on the subject of a cross-strait peace accord.

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By Ko Shu-ling
Upcoming negotiations between Taiwanese and Chinese agencies will not touch on political issues, a senior Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said yesterday.

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SCRUTINY: A spokesman said that Victor Ma and Michael Ma, sons of Yuanta Group Chairman Rudy Ma, had cooperated and had not been banned from leaving Taiwan
By Rich Chang
Three Yuanta Financial Holdings Co officials were questioned by prosecutors yesterday during their investigation into former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) alleged money laundering.

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By Ko Shu-ling And Rich Chang
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said he would play a low-key role in an upcoming protest organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and other pro-localization groups.

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HOME AGAIN: A blogger who took NASA to task returned to Taiwan from the US in July last year, quitting a well-paid job because of his patriotism
By Tseng Wei-cheng
A NASA Web site that offers researchers downloadable satellite data no longer lists Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China” on the page. After a Taiwanese blogger who goes by the pseudonym “Shortcake” wrote about it in his blog, a large group of Internet users sent protest e-mails to NASA, which changed the name to “Taiwan” on Thursday.

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A group of Chinese academics, including Zhang Mingqing (張銘清), vice chairman of China’s intermediary body, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), arrived in Taiwan yesterday. They are scheduled to take part in an academic symposium in Tainan County today.

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SOUTH AMERICA BOUND: APEC summit host Peru has asked Taipei who will be attending as envoy for the event which is scheduled to open in Lima on Nov. 22
Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) said on Saturday that he hoped President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would name the country’s envoy to next month’s APEC summit before the end of this month.

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GREEN PROCUREMENT: While in 2006 local governments’ purchase rate for Green Mark office products was 88 percent, that figure dropped to 71.9 percent last year
By Chung Li-hua
Some government agencies failed to meet their annual “green procurement” quota last year, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) statistics showed.

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‘PEOPLE UPSTAIRS’: The sales manager at the Chinese company that exported tainted leavening products to Taiwan was summoned to the Xinji town hall yesterday
The Hebei Province-based chemical company that exported a melamine-tainted baking ingredients to Taiwan said yesterday it had begun investigating how the leavening agent was contaminated with the toxic industrial chemical.

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The National Communication Commission (NCC) recently intensified its crackdown on unlicensed radio stations around the country, but admitted this would only temporarily reduce their number.

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By Shelley Huang
The Breastfeeding Association of Taiwan and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store yesterday pushed for a friendlier environment for mothers to breastfeed their children.

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By Liu Li-jen
After seven years of development, the Ministry of Education has completed the first official online dictionkary for Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese).

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By Shelley Shan
Hikers and bikers might be interested in joining the Silver Grass Season on the Caoling Historical Trail (草嶺古道芒花季), which begins next month.

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