Taiwan's Consumers' Foundation and a few other private non-profit organizations, including the Housewives' Association, are planning to propose a referendum on the importation of American beef and beef products that may by a one-in-a-billion chance cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease.

As more game-fixing scandals are coming to light, President Ma Ying-jeou and his Premier Wu Den-yih had to promise all-out government efforts to try to save Taiwan's ailing Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBA).

Could the taste of fish soon be something you can only describe to your children? That is the conclusion of the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature.)

More than two millennia ago, the story goes, King Hui of Liang asked Meng Ke for advice about ruling his people. Master Meng, being the philosopher now known in the West as Mencius, answered by way of analogy.

Once again, former President Lee Teng-hui has hit the campaign trail seeking votes for candidates of his Taiwan Solidarity Union.

It is often difficult to draw a clear line between public and private affairs. It is always arguable whether a government official's love affair should be considered a matter that could be put under public scrutiny.

In Taiwan, the expression one would apply when strongly protesting something outrageous is pronounced the same as “cow.”

To keep or not to keep our professional baseball league is a question that has been raised after a fifth game-fixing scandal in five years came to light last week as soon as the Uni-President Lions had beaten the Brother Elephants four games to three to win this year's best of seven “pennant” race (unlike the American Major League, our Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) presents a trophy, not a pennant, to the champions).

President Ma Ying-jeou became chairman of the Kuomintang last Saturday. The first thing he did as head of the ruling party was to inaugurate its new central standing committee.

Democratic Progressive Party leaders are up in arms against the administration for signing a protocol of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-related measures for the importation of beef and beef products for human consumption from the territory of the authorities represented by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).