Taipei  - A Taiwan research institute on Friday revised downward its forecast for the island's 2009 economic growth to 0.89 per cent because of the global economic downturn.

The Taiwan Institute for Economic Research lowered its forecast from 4.11 per cent, which it had made in November.

"Taiwan's economy will contract in the first and second quarter but will grow in the third and fourth quarter," institute researcher Chen Miao said.

Taipei - Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) beat 135 rivals from 24 countries on Thursday to win the contract to design a world-class performing arts centre in the Taiwan capital Taipei.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin announced that OMA, designer of many world-famous landmarks including the Central China Television Centre in Beijing, had been chosen to design the Taipei Performing Arts Centre.

OMA will form a consortium with Taiwan's Artech Inc to design the 2.2-hectare centre, which will house a 1,500-seat theatre and two 800-seat theatres.

Taipei- Taiwan's seasonally adjusted jobless rate skyrocketed to 5.01 per

Taipei  - Two Taiwan men have been arrested after being accused of extorting money from racing pigeon owners and using pigeons to pick up the ransoms, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Chung Jung-chi, 46, and Bao Wen-chin, 39, were arrested Wednesday in Taoyuan County in northern Taiwan for allegedly kidnapping nearly 100 racing pigeons and extorting almost 1 million Taiwan dollars (30,000 US dollars), the China Times reported.

Taipei  - Taiwan on Tuesday admitted it is mulling cutting its armed forces, but denied reports that the cuts could be as much as one-third of its troops.

"Regarding the adjustment of the size of our military forces, it is still being planned. We have not made a decision yet and all possibilities are under consideration," the Broadcasting Corp of China quoted Ho An-chi, a Defence Ministry official in charge of personnel planning, as saying.

Taipei- Taiwan said Monday that it hopes to approve an application by Star Cruises to launch a Taiwan-China cruise service, while the cruise company denied speculation it will quit Taiwan.

"We are still negotiating with Star Cruises and hope to approve its application without violating the Taipei-Beijing sea links agreement," Yin Cheng-peng, an official at the Transport Ministry, which is in charge of sea transport, told the Central News Agency (CNA).