Executive Yuan Spokesman Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉) said at 6 p.m. yesterday that Premier Sean Chen had accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如).

Democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday began her first trip abroad in 24 years by telling an ecstatic crowd of Myanmar migrants in Thailand she would do all she could to help them.

Taiwan was ranked 7th in the 2012 global competitiveness rankings by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management and Development (IMD), falling one notch from 2011 due mainly to the country's lackluster economic performance, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012 released yesterday by the Lausanne-based business school.

The European Commission advocated direct aid from a eurozone rescue fund to recapitalize distressed banks in a move that could eventually help Spain, the latest front in Europe's debt wars, overcome a worsening banking crisis.

Fubon Life yesterday purchased a commercial property in the prime area of Taipei City for NT$1.939 billion, translating into NT$14.53 million per ping of land, a record-breaking price. A ping is 3.3 square meters.

Finance Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) yesterday handed in her resignation over the great difference between the Ministry of Finance's (MOF) original version of the stock gains tax draft and the more recent Kuomintang (KMT) version. She is currently waiting for further directions from her superiors, namely Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) and President Ma Ying-jeou.

Finance Minister Christina Liu's (劉憶如) resignation yesterday has been dubbed by the public and media as part of a "stock gains tax jinx," as her mother, who served in the finance minister position over 20 years ago, also stepped down due to the exact same reason: troubles implementing a stock gains tax.

Share prices in Taiwan rose 2.89 percent yesterday, boosted by a capital gains tax proposed by Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers that would limit investors' tax exposure more than an earlier proposal put forward by the Cabinet.

Spain's sovereign risk premium shot to a euro-era record Tuesday as Madrid announced new bonds to finance debt-struck regions and as banks scrambled to clean up bad loans.

Japan and China said Tuesday they will start direct currency trading this week, marking the first time Beijing has let a major unit other than the dollar swap with the yuan.