Taiwan

A jetliner departed Taiwan for China to open a new era of direct air and shipping services with the mainland. The flight from Taipei to Shanghai came after an improvement in relations since President Ma Ying-jeou took office in Taiwan in May and moved to reverse pro-independence policies.

Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee grew up in Taiwan and started his career there. Now he wants to give back to its movie industry. He and younger brother and fellow filmmaker Lee Kang have started a program to cultivate Taiwanese directors by financing them and providing help in marketing, Lee Kang said Friday. "Nowadays directors have to do everything -- raising money, writing the script, securing government grants, shooting, producing and marketing," he said.

Taiwanese prosecutors indicted presidential hopeful Ma Ying-jeou on corruption charges, dealing a blow to the Harvard-educated lawyer considered to be a front-runner. Ma denied the charges in a televised speech. However, he announced that he would step down as chairman of the Nationalist Party in line with a promise he made repeatedly in the last several weeks.

What's in a name? Quite a bit if you're talking about China-Taiwan relations. China on Wednesday blasted Taiwan's president for a recent name-change campaign that deletes references to "China" and "Taiwan province" at state-run organizations in favor of "Taiwan." China considers Taiwan part of its territory and is deeply suspicious of any move that downplays the island's cultural and historical ties to China or suggests the island is an independent entity.

Thousands of opposition supporters marched through Taipei to denounce a government campaign condemning modern Taiwan's founder, Chiang Kai-shek, for stifling the island's early attempts at democracy. Chiang exerted a tight control over Taiwan after his Nationalists fled Communist forces when they took over mainland China in 1949. The Nationalists, now the main opposition party, credit him with developing Taiwan's economy and fending off a possible Chinese invasion by building a strong army.

A zoo worker had his forearm reattached after his colleagues recovered the severed limb from the mouth of a Nile crocodile. The crocodile severed Chang Po-yu's forearm at the Shou Shan Zoo in Kaohsiung when the veterinarian tried to retrieve a tranquilizer dart from the reptile's hide, zoo officials said. The 17-year-old reptile is one of a pair of Nile crocodiles kept by the zoo. Officials said the zoo got the reptile from an area resident, who had kept it as a pet.

China is calling it the "journey of harmony." But the Olympic torch relay that is to precede the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and showcase the nation's rise in world standing ran into discord as soon as the route was announced Thursday. The path and its characterization by China drew the immediate wrath of Taiwan, where Chinese Nationalists fled in 1949 after a lengthy civil war.

kingstown, st. vincent and the grenadines -- When the Yurumein-Taiwan Bridge a few miles north of here opened last month, nearly a third of this island chain's population turned out to celebrate. The link at Rabacca means that tourists can reach the active La Soufriere volcano year-round, that investors can build luxury resorts and marinas along the pristine north coast beaches and that farmers in the lush interior mountains can get their produce to the Kingstown docks and airport.

A former premier who has pushed for better relations with rival China was the surprise winner of the first phase of the ruling party's presidential primary vote. The witty, sharp-tongued Frank Hsieh still needs to win a second round of voting to clinch his bid to be the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate in next year's election. But the victory nearly guarantees him a place on the ticket.