A settlement that could pay up to US$657.5 million to more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center goes before a judge Friday, and he has said he favored a settlement but planned to analyze it carefully to make sure it was fair.

The earth shook and shook Thursday as dignitaries walked in for the swearing-in of Sebastian Pinera as Chile's president. It shook some more as they waited for him.

Premier Wu Den-yih named Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-ming Friday as acting minister of justice after formally approving Wang Ching-feng's resignation from the ministerial post.

Premier Wu Den-yih defended Friday his quick approval of Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng's resignation over a death penalty row, saying there is no room for any stay of execution when upholding the rule of law.

Anti-government protesters massed around Thailand on Friday ahead of a march they hope will paralyze the capital and force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call new elections.

The earth shook and shook Thursday as dignitaries walked in for the swearing-in of Sebastian Pinera as Chile's president. It shook some more as they waited for him.

A suicide bomber targeting an army vehicle in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore killed 12 people Friday, police said.

Washington's new policy of engagement with Myanmar's military government appears to be failing, a senior U.S. official indicated Friday, noting the junta's decision to bar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from upcoming elections.

In the face of public protest and urgings for her to step down, Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng officially resigned from her post late last night.

The Presidential Office yesterday said that "the administration must abide by the law," referring to a statement by Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng two days earlier that no executions will be carried out during her tenure.

Tuna brokers at Japan's largest fish market protested a proposed international trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna Thursday, saying it would unfairly hit Japan and its massive tuna market.

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, knocking Microsoft founder Bill Gates into second spot, as the wealth of the world's billionaires grew by 50 percent over the last year, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday.

There are a total of 18 Taiwanese people on the Forbes magazine's 2010 list of the world's top 1,000 wealthiest, sharply up from only 5 in 2009 as a result of significant growth in cross-Taiwan Strait trade.

Canadian parliamentarians tucked into a meal of seal meat on Wednesday to defy both animal right activists and the European Union, which has banned imports of seal products.

The United States said China and Iran's rights record had worsened as it raised the alarm about growing anti-Semitism worldwide and the discrimination of Muslims in Europe.

The 2012 presidential and legislative elections may be held at the same time, but if absentee voting is introduced, it might be better to start that system in the presidential election, a senior election official said Thursday.

A government unit that manages public shareholding has formulated regulations to cap monthly salaries paid to the heads of government-owned or partially state-funded financial institutes at NT$320,000 (US$10,100) in light of a recent self-enrichment incident involving the head of a government-owned company.