The government has not ruled out the possibility of temporarily shutting down all schools if there is a massive outbreak of A(H1N1) swine flu in Taiwan.

Visitors to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in downtown Taipei will see the name plaque of the landmark restored to its original official one this morning while the Liberty Square plaque was left unchanged.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday sent to the Central Election Commission (CEC) a total of 150,000 endorsements needed to initiate a proposal to hold a public referendum on whether or not Taiwan should sign a planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.

Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that if her relatives violated the regulations of the party, she would surely ask the Central Executive Committee of the party to deal with the case, stressing that there is no room for bargaining in this regard.

Over 100 members of the Federation of Medical Students in Taiwan yesterday petitioned the Control Yuan, the government's highest watchdog, to investigate a controversial decision made by the Ministry of Examination under the Examination Yuan to allow Taiwanese graduates from Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland to take national examinations for doctors.

The garbage volume generated by people living and working in Taiwan increased 0.7 percent during the first four months of the year from same period of last year while recycling of waste and discarded materials rose at a higher rate of 1.8 percentage points.

Minister of Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) Mao Chi-kuo announced a budget of over NT$11.5 million for the planning phase of a shorter, more direct rail track between Taipei and Yilan to alleviate the congestion at Hsuehshan tunnel, on a tour of Yilan infrastructure yesterday.

In the fourth round of oil quality spot checks, the Department of Health of Taipei City yesterday found nine out of 265 stores using substandard cooking oil, including two branches of the ubiquitous T.K.K. Fried Chicken chain, local media reported.

All ten hotels surveyed by the Consumers' Foundation (CF) failed to provide qualified accommodation coupons to customers, a newspaper reported.

The government will work to expand the total acreage for organic agriculture to 5,000 hectares and increase the sector's annual production value to NT$3 billion (US$90.9 million) by 2012, an economic planning agency said yesterday.