It was one of those statistics in which one bland number stood for history. According to the latest data from the International Monetary Fund, central banks around the world have been dumping the euro from their official national reserves: Europe's single currency now accounts for only 24 percent of the money held in the reserve vaults of developing countries, the lowest such figure since euro banknotes first physically came into circulation back in 2002.

It's disappointing, especially after all the brouhaha over giving all Malaysians living abroad the right to vote.

The lesson from the history of totalitarianism is clear: The controlling logic behind the acts of a closed regime is paranoia. It sees enemies everywhere. North Korea's unusually bellicose statements and provocative actions of late may be best understood, then, as paranoid — but, to borrow Henry Kissinger's infamous phrase, even a paranoid has real enemies.

Taipei Deputy Mayor Chang Chin-e (張金鶚) yesterday formed a negotiation team and vowed to offer a proposal in three months to settle dispute surrounding the long-stalled Wenlin Yuan (文林苑) urban renewal project.

“Taiwan Design Chiang” (台灣設計蔣) does not make any sense in either English or Chinese, per se, because it is a verbatim translation of the five logograms.

The topic of alcohol and drinking came up in one of my General English (GE) classes on Wednesday. The next day, a local newspaper ran these headlines on news stories: “'Two-hour' alcohol ban at Kenting Music Festival” (TT 4-4-13 p. 2) and “Lawmaker slams commission's 'drinking program'” (p. 3).

“A real and clear danger,” is how United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on April 3 described North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and South Korea Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se have held a joint press conference in Washington to emphasize military and security partnership.

The work of the Transition Commission for the Bangsamoro region got under way the other day; it is no exaggeration to say that the undertaking is burdened with the high expectations of millions of Filipinos.

Before discussing Taiwan's surging anti-nuclear power movement — a political tsunami that threatens to sink President Ma Ying-jeou's limping boat of a second term — perhaps some background is needed.

The increasingly ballistic bluster pouring out from Pyongyang threatening South Korea, Japan and the U.S. with nuclear attacks has jolted East Asia into “paying attention.”