Chinese President Hu Jintao met in Lima, Peru Friday with a senior Taiwan envoy in the highest level meeting to take place overseas between the rivals since their split in 1949, officials said.
Taiwan > China-Taiwan Relations

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan gave a report to the lawmakers of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) yesterday about the government's plan of allocating NT$500 billion over the next four years to carry out a new wide-ranging economic stimulus program.
Taiwan > National > National News

With no end in sight to economic bad news, President George W. Bush on Friday ensured that millions of laid-off workers will keep getting their unemployment checks as the year-end holidays approach.
World > Americas

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's plane made an emergency landing in Japan on Friday after her husband fell ill on board, airport police said.
Asia > Japan

European markets fell further Friday as early gains on Wall Street were wiped out amid mounting fears about the U.S. economy and the future of banking giant Citigroup Inc. in particular. Asian stocks closed mostly higher earlier in the day.
Business > Europe

Taiwanese prosecutors questioned jailed former President Chen Shui-bian over graft allegations, local TV stations reported, as he extended a hunger strike for a 10th day.
Taiwan > National > National News

China launched a new attack on the Dalai Lama's drive for Tibetan autonomy on Friday, vowing not to compromise with leaders of the Tibetan exile community meeting to debate the future of their movement.
China > National News

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the no-nonsense ally in President George W. Bush's war on terror, was hospitalized Thursday after he collapsed during a late-night speech and lost consciousness.
World > Americas

Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr converged on a central Baghdad square Friday for a mass prayer to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact.
World > Middle East

Israel's foreign minister rebuffed a new attempt by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday to ease a bruising blockade of the Gaza Strip, pledging retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks and calling on the world to condemn them, an aide to the minister said.
World > Middle East

A mudslide triggered by days of heavy rain buried houses in a southern Philippine gold mining town, killing five people and leaving at least two missing, officials said Friday.
Asia > Philippines

A blast killed at least eight mourners Friday at the funeral of a Shiite cleric in northwestern Pakistan who was gunned down hours earlier, police said.
Asia > Pakistan

Taiwan's annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to drop to a 7-year low of 1.87 percent for 2008 and inch up to 2.12 percent for 2009, the Cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) forecast yesterday.
Taiwan > Business

People will be able to buy anything with consumer vouchers the government will issue next Jan. 19 as a Chinese New Year bonus. This year, Chinese New Year's Day falls on Jan. 26.
Taiwan > Business

World economic misery spread on Thursday with forecasts of a global recession running well into 2009, Japan's exports to Asia falling for the first time in six years and job losses mounting.
Business > Global Markets

European stocks markets plunged in afternoon trading on Thursday with London down 4.52 percent as recession fears deepened on new data showing a surge in U.S. jobless claims.
Business > Global Markets