A high-ranking Kuomintang (KMT) official has confirmed that current Vice Premier Sean Chen (陳冲), who has been tipped as premier for weeks, will be appointed to the position on Jan. 31.

Front-runners in the race for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus convener said yesterday that they want internal unity and harmony in the electoral process.

Key policymakers from Europe and the United States thrashed out ideas for pulling the eurozone out of its debt crisis at the Davos forum on Friday, days ahead of a key European summit.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants to step off the "high wire of American politics" after two decades and is again tamping down speculation that she might stay in government if U.S. President Barack Obama wins a second term.

The Pentagon unveiled a 2013 budget plan on Thursday that would cut the size of the U.S. military by eliminating nearly 100,000 ground troops, mothballing ships and trimming air squadrons in an effort to reduce spending by US$487 billion over the next decade.

Premier and Vice President-elect Wu Den-yih said yesterday it was not up to him to talk about an imminent Cabinet reshuffle.

The global economic slowdown will affect Asia this year but the region will remain the economic powerhouse of the world, led by China, India and Indonesia, the head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron backed the idea of a free trade deal between the European Union and the U.S. on Thursday, suggesting that a trans-Atlantic pact could deliver a much-needed boost to global commerce.

Weather over the upcoming days will be warmer and relatively stable around the final days of the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday as the recent cold front drifts further away from Taiwan, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB), yesterday.

A Chinese man who visited Taiwan on solo tour was killed in a traffic accident in eastern Hualien county Wednesday, according to media reports yesterday.

The Federal Reserve cut its U.S. growth forecast Wednesday and said that with business investment and the housing sector depressed, it expected to keep interest rates near zero for another three years.

Stable and peaceful cross-strait exchanges are expected to continue in part thanks to the re-election of President Ma Ying-jeou on Jan. 14 and with the anticipated transition of power from Chinese President Hu Jintao to his expected successor, Vice President Xi Jinping, scholars said.