CHINA QUAKE: The government yesterday reached a deal with Beijing to bring back the more than 2,800 Taiwanese tourists still stranded in the disaster zone
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
The government yesterday reached an agreement with China to bring Taiwanese tourists home from earthquake-stricken Sichuan Province via direct charter flights.

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China warned the death toll from this week's earthquake could soar to 50,000, while the government issued a rare public appeal yesterday for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster. Rescue workers cleared roads to the epicenter in the race to find survivors.

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IN JEOPARDY: While the junta seemed to acknowledge that foreign aid was being pilfered, it began forcing tens of thousands of homeless cyclone survivors into camps
Myanmar's junta yesterday warned of legal action against people who hoard or trade aid supplies meant for the survivors of a cyclone that may have killed up to 128,000 people, the first indirect acknowledgment of problems with relief operations.

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Taiwan's global competitiveness ranking rose to 13th this year after declining for two consecutive years to end up in 18th place last year, an annual report released on Wednesday by the Swiss-based International Institute for Management and Development (IMD) showed.

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Marking the 60th anniversary of Israel's founding, US President George W. Bush yesterday criticized the deadly tactics of extremist groups and denounced anti-Semitism, especially by those who want to wipe the nation "off the map."

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