News stories by Dennis Engbarth, page 3

Seven months after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan, Japanese citizens and relief organisations are working to learn from the tragedy in order to mitigate the fatal impact of future natural calamities at home and abroad.

A Taiwan military tribunal has confirmed that the late Air Force private Chiang Kuo-ching had been wrongfully executed in August 1997 for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl. But campaigners against the death penalty doubt that this will restore the moratorium on capital punishment the Taiwan government broke in April last year.

Taiwan prosecutors certified that Air Force private Chiang Kuo-ching had been wrongfully executed in August 1997 for the rape-murder of a five-year-old-girl at an air force headquarters compound in Taipei, but failed to indict any of the nine military officers responsible for extracting his 'confession' through torture.

A coalition of Taiwan social activists has warned that the island country's democracy is now in a state of ''stagnation'' after three years of government under the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) administration of President Ma Ying-jeou.

Taiwan may become the first country in East Asia with a female head of state if opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen wins the island country’s fifth presidential election next Jan. 14.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman and former Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen has announced a proposal for a '2025 Non-Nuclear Home Plan' that will allow Taiwan to eliminate reliance on nuclear power by the end of 2025.

The unfolding disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has reignited debate over Taiwan’s own nuclear power programme and the controversy over continuing construction of a fourth nuclear facility here.

Revelations that an Air Force private had apparently been wrongfully executed 15 years ago for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl have reopened the debate over Taiwan’s retention of the death penalty.

A coalition of journalist and civic organizations is waging a campaign to rid the Taiwan media of government propaganda masquerading as news, and signs are that the campaign has taken 'the first steps' towards victory.

The Taiwanese government’s plans to partially decriminalise the sex trade has revived deep divisions within society, including between advocacy groups who stress the need for equal treatment and ‘autonomy’ for sex workers and those worried about the impact of such a move on human trafficking and child prostitution.