The benchmark Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index provider yesterday announced it has lowered Taiwan's weighting in two of its key indexes as part of a half-yearly review.

China has been quietly and gently pressuring North Korea to scrap plans for a third nuclear test, said two sources with knowledge of closed-door discussions between the countries, but there is no indication how the North will react.

Greece's president spoke of "fear that could develop into panic" at the country's banks in the weeks before fresh elections that could precipitate Athens' exit from the eurozone.

Taiwanese pitcher Wei-Yin Chen maintained his strong early season form and improved his record to 4-0 in leading the Baltimore Orioles to a 5-2 win over the New York Yankees and the previously undefeated C.C. Sabathia on Tuesday.

Premier Sean Chen yesterday appointed Vice Premier Jiang Yi-huah to head a special task force to help monitor stock trading and shore up investors' confidence in the local stock market that has been pounded by the world economic slowdown and domestic uncertainties.

New French President Francois Hollande called for a European pact for growth to balance out German-driven austerity measures in his inaugural address on Tuesday, hours before taking his challenge to Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

The Agency Against Corruption (AAC, 廉政署) yesterday launched investigations into the Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower, 台灣電力公司), questioning five people including Nuclear Engineering Department Deputy Director Lin Chun-lung (林俊隆) as part of a corruption probe concerning the Forth Nuclear Power Plant.

Europe dodged a bullet Tuesday after the economy of the 17 countries that use the euro narrowly avoided a recession in the first quarter of the year despite a raging debt crisis that's raising the specter of the breakup of the currency union.

Leading European Union finance officials promised to stand by Greece as a member of the eurozone provided it sticks to its bailout terms and stays the course of its painful austerity program to prevent even worse economic hardship.