Lawyers

• Taiwan president: Meeting with China's Xi unrelated to elections

  Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on Thursday his upcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping was about further normalizing ties with China and had nothing to do with trying to revive his party's fortunes ahead of the island's elections in January.

• Taiwan, China leaders to hold historic meeting in Singapore on Saturday

  Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold talks with his Taiwanese counterpart Ma Ying-jeou in Singapore on Saturday in the first such meeting of leaders from the two rivals since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949.

• Beijing says won't give up position that Taiwan's part of China

  Chinese people have a "sacred mission" to ensure Taiwan is always considered part of China, a top Chinese leader said on Friday ahead of the 70th anniversary of Japan giving up control of Taiwan at the end of World War Two.

• Unification with China not on agenda, says Taiwan president

  Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on Thursday the island was not ready to discuss unification with China, sending a firm message to an increasingly assertive Beijing eager to absorb what it considers a renegade province.

• In wake of U.S. ruling, Taiwanese rally for gay marriage

  Thousands of gay rights supporters marched through Taipei on Saturday, months ahead of elections that are likely to usher in a pro-gay party and could make Taiwan the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

• Taiwan's new political voices want more openness on China ties

  Taiwan is spinning away from China's idealized model of "one country, two systems" as a renewed spirit of democracy sweeps across its political sphere, rousing a new cadre of grassroots leaders critical of a shared future with China.

• Taiwan opposition leader Tsai aims to contest 2016 presidential poll

  Taiwan opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen has registered as a candidate for the island's presidential primary in March, promising "a new beginning" amid a wave of popular discontent with the China-friendly ruling Kuomintang (KMT).

• Taiwan begins vote testing confidence in China-friendly ruling party

  Voters in Taiwan began trickling into polling stations early on Saturday in a local election that could show support for the ruling party, the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), is waning less than two years before a presidential election.

• Youth's arrest in gang rape case shows Kenya tackling 'epidemic'

  The arrest of a second youth in a high-profile case in which a 16-year-old girl was gang raped and dumped in a pit latrine, breaking her spine, shows Kenya is starting to tackle its "epidemic" of sexual violence, campaigners said.