`CLOSED-DOOR POLITICS': The party has abolished a regulation that legislator-at-large nominees must have been KMT members for three years or more
By Huang Tai-lin
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday criticized a decision by the party to abolish a requirement that legislator-at-large nominees must have been KMT members for at least three years.

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IN A FLUTTER: Criminals threaten to torture the birds and sometimes even cook and eat them in a bid to extort up to NT$3,000 from racing enthusiasts
By Jimmy Chuang
Racing pigeon owners are desperate after criminals started kidnapping their birds, threatening to pull out their feathers, break their wings and even cook and eat them.

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ROGUE SOLDIERS: US reservists at Abu Ghraib were just having some fun during the night shift, a hearing over Private Lynndie England's involvement was told
Private Lynndie England, the woman who has become the emblem of the US' shame over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, on Tuesday showed little expression aside from an occasional nervous giggle at a hearing to determine whether she should face the full weight of a court martial.

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CRACKDOWN: The UK's Muslim community said it is being victimized, a claim supported by a parliamentary report released yesterday
Thirteen men arrested in an anti-terrorist swoop faced questioning yesterday following a series of raids which police said were part of a continuing investigation.

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Shunned by the World Health Organization (WHO), Taiwan has had to rely on informal sources outside the country to deal with major outbreaks of diseases, including SARS and the avian flu currently striking some Asian countries, Department of Health Director-General Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said on Tuesday.

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