Formosan black bears, Thailand protests, DPP’s China policy consensus (or lack thereof), wiretapping and food safety laws being debated in the parliament, and NCKU’s plaza controversy in The Debrief this week.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs report to the Legislative Yuan on US-Taiwan relations, old farmer’s allowance handouts, special prosecutor Huang Shih-ming’s impeachment and Taiwan’s tollbooth-free freeways.

On the first update of 2014, we cover Dapu land abuse victims’ day in court, the DPP’s dilemma over dropping its Taiwan independence charter, a new multilingual news service in Taiwan and the giant rubber duckie in Keelung.

A media conference in Beijing attended by Taiwanese media management, the history of the Losheng Sanatorium controversy, a nuclear deal between Taiwan and the US, and A-mei’s free concert to support gay rights.

This week we cover a 200 year land dispute, policy changes requested by foreign home caregivers, tax breaks for companies investing in new free economic pilot zones, and a tech company’s dumping toxic wastes.

We cover Singapore’s Little India riot, a confusion in the Taiwan-China services trade agreement, women in the labor force and a controversy over naming National Cheng Kung University’s new plaza.

Tribute to Nelson Mandela, Taiwan’s same-sex marriage rally, continued hot air over China’s air defense zone, US trade investigations into Taiwan’s steel exports and controversy with confusion over where the capital is.

Visit by China’s Taiwan affairs official, major Taiwan firms’ US expansions, China’s new air defense zone, Tiananmen Square dissident Wu’er Kaixi turning himself in, EU-Taiwan relations, and shark consumption in Taiwan.

The Gambia breaking diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the annual Autumn Struggle labor demonstration, Public Television personnel issues, Eslite Bookstore’s censorship controversy and the new metro line in Taipei.

Taiwan’s reaction to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party’s central committee meetings, yet another land expropriation tragedy, cooking oil scandals and sex education in Taiwan.

In this pilot episode of our new weekly news briefing podcast, we talk about the same-sex marriage bill, singer Deserts Chang’s UK concert, Taiwan’s trade with Myanmar, and a documentary that has been breaking records in Taiwan.