Introducing reform is one thing; making it work is another. The taxation reform imposed on the nation's teaching profession is an example.

Taiwan had a beef war with the United States two years ago. It was touched off by the signing of a protocol under which Taiwan would import “risky” beef and beef offal, which the Americans regard as perfectly safe for human consumption.

In December of last year, a South Korean housewife became the year's 6 millionth foreign national to arrive in Taiwan as a tourist.

Thirty years to the day that Hafez al-Assad's Syria began a massacre of at least 10,000 people in Hama, another one took place in Homs, and two of the world's biggest countries did nothing to prevent a third.

VVG Something, a 42-square-meter bookstore in Taipei's east district, was picked recently as one of the world's 20 most beautiful bookstores by an entertainment website.

VVG Something, a 42-square-meter bookstore in Taipei's east district, was picked recently as one of the world's 20 most beautiful bookstores by an entertainment website.

When the residents of Lane 13, Pucheng Street in downtown Taipei decided that enough is enough, they complained to the Taipei City Government, which on Jan. 31 sent in demolition vehicles to tear down the signs of the “exotic eateries” there and warned the owners they had better seek greener pastures elsewhere.

When a Fortune 500 CEO said something along the lines of “we don't build services to make money; we make money to build better services” or “we expect governments will become more responsive to issues and concerns raised directly by all their people rather than through intermediaries controlled by a select few,” one can almost always sign that off as PR talk and astroturfing.

The newly designated premier and his team will take office later this week. Among the various issues the new Cabinet will have to deal with, the U.S. beef row will probably be one of the thorniest.

Survivors of the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia are now being offered around 11,000 euros in compensation for their lost belongings and psychological damage.