Stronger-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter of this year and an upward nudge for the full-year economic growth forecast offered the public a rare glimpse of good news last week following a slew of worrisome reports about the US subprime mortgage crisis. The pause to catch our breath has been welcome, but no one should be so optimistic as to believe that the worst is now over.

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By Liu Chung-ming 柳中明
Typhoon Sepat was the third typhoon to strike the nation within two weeks. It caused incessant heavy rains all over the country. But in the rest of the world, there have been even more serious natural disasters and meteorological phenomena this year.

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By Liu Kuan-teh 劉冠德
As expected, the administration of US President George W. Bush took the opportunity to punish President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) during his transit in the US en route to the nation's diplomatic allies in Central America. The reason for this, without any doubt, lies in Chen's insistence on pushing for a referendum on using the name "Taiwan" to apply for membership in the UN.

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Credit cards, mobile phones and log-ins monitor us at work and play -- and now there is the prospect of surveillance that will manage us, rather than the other way around
By Simon Caulkin
Some radical friends didn't share the enthusiastic reception for Lives of Others, the haunting recent film about life under the Stasi, the East German secret police.

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Heshw Mohammed tried to kill herself three times when her father would not let her marry the man she loved, swallowing tablets and surviving only because her stomach was pumped.

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By Melvyn Krauss
The possibility that the European Central Bank (ECB) may raise interest rates in the midst of a financial crisis recalls the great US orator William Jennings Bryant's famous "Cross of Gold" speech in 1896.

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There has been no shortage of news coverage on the government's pledge to crack down on illegal foreign teachers. Many foreigners work in private schools that specialize in kindergarten care during the morning and elementary classes in the afternoon.

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Many letters to the editor in this newspaper have correctly pointed out some important aspects of English education in this country, and how it needs improvement. I hope the nation's educators are listening. However, it has been my experience, and it's my view, that young Taiwanese have made giant strides in the last 10 years or so in learning English. Rather than always criticizing the current state of English learning, why not offer some positive words of encouragement for a change?

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China's restrictions on media freedom are nothing new. This time around, the fabricated story of cardboard-filled meat buns by a Beijing television reporter lends weight to the government's excuse for maintaining media control.

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