The president has given the Philippines 72 hours to respond to demands regarding the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman or face the consequences, Presidential Office spokeswoman Garfie Li said yesterday.

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday warned that heavy downpours which have caused flooding in some parts of Northern Taiwan may continue around the island today.

Millions of Pakistanis turned out to vote in landmark elections on Saturday, defying deadly Taliban attacks to take part in an historic democratic transition for the nuclear-armed state.

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was back in court on Saturday for a retrial on charges of complicity in the murder of protesters, reopening a case that has shown the difficulty of transitional justice in post-revolutionary Egypt.

Pakistanis voted in a landmark test of democracy on Saturday and were quickly reminded of the militant violence that plagues the country, with election-related bombings in several cities.

Michelle Knight, freed earlier this week as the longest-held of four captives in a dungeon-like Cleveland house, was discharged from the hospital on Friday and went into seclusion.

The Philippines' top envoy to Taiwan yesterday offered an apology to the family of a Taiwanese fisherman who was killed on Thursday by an official Philippine vessel while the Taiwanese boat was operating in waters claimed by both countries.

President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday said the Philippines should not have used force against a Taiwanese fishing boat in the two countries' overlapping exclusive economic zone a day earlier, in an attack that left a veteran Taiwanese fisherman dead.

The U.S. dollar soared above 100 yen for the first time in more than four years Friday, driven by aggressive credit-easing aimed at reviving Japan's sluggish economy and improved U.S. economic figures.

A seamstress buried in the wreckage of a collapsed garment factory building for 17 days was rescued Friday, a miraculous moment set against a scene of unimaginable horror, where the death toll shot past 1,000.

An Ohio prosecutor vowed on Thursday to seek murder charges that could carry the death penalty against a former Cleveland school bus driver accused of kidnapping and raping three young women who endured a decade as captives in his house.

Britain said on Thursday it was "very likely" the Syrian government had used chemical weapons, and Turkey announced it was stepping up testing of people fleeing the Syrian civil war for traces.

One Taiwanese sailor was shot dead yesterday when a boat registered to Pingtung County was attacked by the Philippine military in the disputed South China Sea, according to Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA).

Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said yesterday that the stock gains tax will be reviewed and a new version of the tax may be proposed by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) within a month.