In China's eighth defense “white paper” published on Tuesday, titled “The Diversified Employment of China's Armed Forces,” (中國武裝力量的多樣化運用), for the first time, the coded numbers of all 18 army combined corps of the PLA Army were published. And through this gesture, it seemed to some that the Chinese government embarked — at least symbolically — on a new era of transparency.

“My dear son Martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston. My wife and daughter are both recovering from serious injuries.

Authorities recently arrested two suspects behind bombs placed on a high-speed train and outside a legislator's office. Luckily for Taiwan, the explosives did not go off, with the train bomb discovered by a commuter who smelled something funny.

The Boston bombings sent shockwaves across the globe and here in Taiwan the horror left us wondering what harm would have been inflicted on us had the attempted bomb attacks targeting the local public last week succeeded.

After years of flip-flops on whether poultry dealers should be banned from killing chickens, ducks and geese at traditional markets, the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA, 行政院農業委員會) said Monday that such a ban would finally be enforced in response to the H7N9 bird flu scare.

It took a long time — 17 years in fact — to half-solve the issue of fishing rights in waters that Taiwanese fishermen used to call “No Man's Land,” and that they were free to fish in before 1972. The area is dominated by the Diaoyutai Islands, which the Japanese claimed in 1895 as terra nullius, which in Latin means “land belonging to no one.”

Today's world is not the Wild West, but still it is fraught with danger. A lone gunman can easily intrude into a school and unleash unspeakable carnage, and a weapon-welding local bully can terrorize an entire neighborhood by hurling verbal abuses at his rich but timid neighbors or, in some cases, inflicting physical injuries on them.

It took a long time — 17 years in fact — to half-solve the issue of fishing rights in waters that Taiwanese fishermen used to call “No Man's Land,” and that they were free to fish in before 1972. The area is dominated by the Diaoyutai Islands, which the Japanese claimed in 1895 as terra nullius, which in Latin means “land belonging to no one.”

The announcement by China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Tuesday that commercial banks in China are allowed to begin the exchange of New Taiwan dollars — trading under the code “TWD” — is a move that will allow greater participation by Taiwan's financial sector in the mainland market. Banks — including Taiwan's banks — in the mainland will now be able to buy and sell New Taiwan dollars, among other denominations.

Former Premier Frank Hsieh said Monday that his party's cross-strait policies have failed, and that if it does not reconsider its position, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will have a hard time returning to power.