Taiwan's legal system attracts withering criticism from professional and lay quarters, and at times not without reason. Rarely mentioned, however, is the fact that the day-to-day workings of the legal system proceed with little controversy. The need for reform is clear, but for now the fundamentals are attended to and there are mechanisms of appeal in place to protect against error and excess to some degree.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Sushil Seth
While the US is over-stretched in Iraq and increasingly mired in domestic politics, China is systematically modernizing and expanding its military capability. Its defense budget has seen double-digit annual increases in recent years. It is working to develop anti-satellite missile capability, as well as a nuclear submarine fleet equipped with long-range nuclear missiles.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Chen Gau-tzu 陳昭姿
At an international food safety conference in Beijing in May, EU Director-General for Health and Consumer Protection Robert Madelin argued that Chinese food products are of dubious quality, putting the health of consumers at risk.

[ FULL STORY ]

A small number of stores and pawn shops account for a large number of weapons used in crime in the US. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is trying to close some of them down
By David Caruso
When criminals need guns, they have plenty of options in a country with nearly 100,000 licensed gun stores. But drug dealers and other crooks do not shop just anywhere. They have their favorites.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Mon Mon Myat
Environmentalists in Myanmar have expressed their shock at seeing mountains of logs being transported on trucks across the border into China despite efforts to halt the trade to save the country's forests from total destruction.

[ FULL STORY ]

In May I attended the play Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss, performed by the students at the English Department of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei. I was deeply impressed by the great passion and energy of those young actors and actresses.

[ FULL STORY ]

We are glad that live fish has been taken off the menu of the restaurant mentioned in your article ("Restaurant owner heavily criticized for serving live fish," July 9, page 2). It seems ridiculous to have to point this out, but deep-frying a fish while it is still alive and serving the suffering animal to diners is not only gross, it's cruel.

[ FULL STORY ]