(TAIPEI, Taiwan) — Taiwan’s ruling party was handed a major defeat Saturday in local elections seen as a referendum on the administration of the island’s independence-leaning president amid growing economic and political pressure from China.

Soon after the results came in, President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as head of the Democratic Progressive Party. She will remain as president and her resignation will have no direct effect on the business of government, although the results bode ill for her re-election chances in two years.

The DPP lost the mayoral election to the Nationalist party in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, where it had held power for 20 years. The Nationalists also defeated the DPP in the central city of Taichung, home to much of Taiwan’s light industry, while Ko Wen-je, the independent mayor of Taipei, the capital, appeared on track to win a second term.

At a brief news conference at DPP headquarters late Saturday, Tsai announced she was stepping down as DPP chair an..

(ROME) — The Catholic Church’s global organization of nuns has denounced the “culture of silence and secrecy” surrounding sexual abuse in the church and is urging sisters who have been abused to report the crimes to police and their superiors.

The International Union of Superiors General, which represents more than 500,000 sisters worldwide, vowed to help nuns who have been abused to find the courage to report it, and pledged to help victims heal and seek justice.

The statement, issued on the eve of the U.N.-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, was the first from the Rome-based UISG since the abuse scandal erupted anew this year and as the sexual abuse of adult nuns by clergymen has also come to light. The Associated Press reported earlier this year that the Vatican has known for decades about the problem of priests and bishops preying on nuns, but has done next to nothing to stop it.

In the statement Friday, the UISG didn’t specify clergy as t..

(LONDON) — Nicolas Roeg, the prominent British film director known for making provocative films and working with rock stars Mick Jagger and David Bowie over a six-decade career, has died. He was 90.

The director of “Don’t Look Now” and many other films died Friday night, his son, Nicolas Roeg Jr., told Britain’s Press Association.

“He was a genuine dad,” Roeg Jr. said. “He just had his 90th birthday in August.”

He didn’t provide details about his father’s death during a brief telephone call.

Roeg worked with Jagger in “Performance” and Bowie in “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” Bowie played an alien who crashes on Earth looking for a way to save his own planet.

Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” in 1973 is regarded as one of his most outstanding successes. It is also remembered for the realistic sex scene between stars Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland.

Roeg’s last major film was “The Witches,” in 1990, which starred Anjelica Huston.

The British Film Institute has named “Don’t Look Now” and ..