The Cabinet recently announced several measures designed to boost the property sector and speed up urban renewal.

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By Lin Cho-shui 林濁水
In the past, every time the pan-blue camp or mainstream discourse came upon the question of independence, the typical response was to insist that it was unethical for separatists to manipulate issues of ethnicity. The assumption behind the ethnicity argument is that Mainlanders are pro-unification whereas ethnic Taiwanese are separatists. This perspective has become a static preconception in Taiwanese society.

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By Jan Schlotthus
For a long time, the ASEAN was perceived as an inward-looking entity, sometimes labeled a mere "debating club" with little impact on larger-scale regional politics. Today, ASEAN not only demonstrates the willingness and ability to reform its organizational structure, but at the same time it follows a skillful hedging strategy by engaging major powers in East Asia and beyond through various cooperative frameworks.

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By Nick Tsou 鄒文仁
In English classrooms in Taiwan, reading is an ever elusive goal. From the time a six-year-old starts to learn English at school to the time he or she graduates from high school, most of his or her English classes are devoted to "studying English."

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Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts has caused a huge controversy by providing abortions for women living in countries where the procedure is illegal -- by making use of a legal loophole and working on a ship in international waters
By Julie Ferry
Rebecca Gomperts, abortion doctor and activist, arrives straight from London-Heathrow airport, dressed in a smart suit, a big smile lighting up her girlish face. She is stopping off briefly en route to another engagement -- a special screening of the film Vera Drake. She isn't keen.

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By Chris McGreal
"This thing of rape," said Colonel Edmond Ngarambe, shifting uneasily on his wooden bench high in the mountains of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. "I can't deny that happens. We are human beings. But it's not just us. The Mai Mai, the government soldiers who are not paid, the Rastas do the same thing. And some people sent by our enemies do it to cause anger against us."

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