STRONG FOUNDATIONS: Export volume hit US$24.3 billion last month, with a 25.5 percent rise to China, a 24.2 percent to Europe and a stunning 114.7 percent to India
By Crystal Hsu
Taiwanese exports rose 21.3 percent year-on-year last month, fueled by demand from China and other emerging markets in Asia while trade with the US continued to decline, a report released by the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

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Taiwan’s inflation accelerated by the fastest pace in eight months as fuel and food costs climbed, increasing the likelihood that the central bank will continue raising interest rates.

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A suicide car bomber rammed the Indian embassy in Kabul yesterday, killing 41 people, including two Indian envoys, in the Afghan capital’s deadliest attack since the 2001 fall of the Taliban, officials said.

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SUHUA PAINS: The government was accused of seeking to please both sides in the controversial matter, while detractors said the premier was acting like a president
By Flora Wang, Meggie Lu and Rich Chang
Cabinet officials held a press conference yesterday in which they sought to highlight the difference between the proposed Suhua Freeway (蘇花高) and an alternative highway project, a day after comments by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) in Hualien County reignited debate on the subject.

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Aid for Africa — and whether enough is coming from the world’s major economic powers — was in the spotlight yesterday as the G8 countries prepared to meet with seven African leaders at their annual summit.

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Pakistan’s largest port city Karachi was shaken yesterday by a series of bomb blasts that injured over two dozen people, with at least one confirmed dead, police and paramedic sources said yesterday.

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