Taiwan ranked 28th globally in 2026 Press Freedom Index, down four places

The Hualien County government on Thursday held evacuation drills with three local townships to prepare for a potential disaster involving a barrier lake on Matai'an Creek following an earthquake.

The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office on Thursday appealed the 17-year sentence handed down to Taiwan People's Party founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in March, saying the court's ruling had improperly excluded evidence of a NT$15 million (US$472,830) bribe received by Ko.

Taiwan's High Court on Thursday upheld negligent homicide convictions for four contractors over the 2019 collapse of Yilan County's Nanfang'ao Bridge, which killed six fishermen and injured 12.

Taiwan's government on Thursday blamed China for President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) canceled trip to Eswatini, while declining to comment on reports that Germany and the Czech Republic denied transit requests.

A former intelligence chief of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) has called on Taiwan's Legislature to pass a NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.56 billion) supplementary defense budget "with all due haste," saying that Taiwan should look beyond 2026 and not allow "temporary" headwinds to derail its critical defense strategy.

Comicon Napoli will open Thursday in Italy, featuring more than 20 newly published titles from Taiwan along with live drawing and signing events by three Taiwanese artists.

Taiwan's manufacturing sector rebounded in March as domestic demand and AI-driven growth gathered pace, but growing geopolitical risks in the Middle East continued to cast a shadow over the outlook.

Taiwan's household wealth rose to a record NT$183.7 trillion (US$5.81 trillion) in 2024, driven by the benchmark stock index, which surged past 20,000 points for the first time that year, according to government statistics released Wednesday.