NO DETAILS: The Chinese premier was all style and no substance in assailing `secessionist forces,' but China's president seemed to present an olive branch of sorts
Delivering the main opening address to China's National People's Congress (NPC) yesterday morning, Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) vowed that Beijing would never permit formal independence for Taiwan.

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By Charles Snyder
The US Congress is concerned that China's proposed "anti-secession" law could change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait or increase the possibility of a Chinese attack, and would respond if the law increased either danger, senior congressional staffers on the House International Relations Committee warned on Friday.

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By Joy Su
The Mainland Affairs Council, the nation's top cross-strait policymaking body, was skeptical yesterday over Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's vow to resolve cross-strait differences peacefully, pointing to the acceleration in military spending.

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FRIENDLY FIRE: In the end, it seems, Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena came closer to being killed by US forces than by the gunmen who abducted her early last month
Looking haggard and worn, freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena returned to Italy from Iraq yesterday hours after US troops fired on the car she was in, wounding her and killing an Italian intelligence officer with her.

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Syrian President Bashar Assad was yesterday expected to announce the pullback of his troops in Lebanon closer to the Syrian border, but US President George W. Bush has rejected anything but a full withdrawal as unacceptable.

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