Taipei - An Indigenous Defence Fighter jet of Taiwan's air force went missing Monday during routine training over the island of Penghu, a spokesman said.

"We lost contact with the fighter jet shortly after it flew from Chingchuankang air base (central city of Taichung) at 9 am (0100 GMT) to Penghu," said air force training director Chang Chao-hui.

He said two officers, identified as 29-year-old Captain Kuo Chih-pin and 31-year-old Captain Chen Chien-ting, were on board the plane when it went missing over the sea.

Chang said the military has already sent six vessels and two helicopters to search for the plane, developed by Taiwan in the 1990s with US technology.

Taipei - Taiwan Saturday barred the import of Chinese-made ammonium bicarbonate, an ingredient used for baking, in yet another ban related to China's toxic chemical-tainted food scandal, a senior health official said.

"We have found concentrations of 70 to 300 parts per million of melamine in the Chinese-made ammonium bicarbonate, which is a rising agent used as baking soda," said Cheng Shou-hsia, deputy director-general of the Department of Health.

"For this, we have barred the import of ammonium bicarbonate from China and the use of such ingredient in any of our food products effective today," he said.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks ended 2.28 per cent lower Friday, losing its 5,000-point support as jittery investors sold strongly, despite Wall Street's overnight rally, dealers said.

Unaffected by Wall Street's sharp 400-point gain overnight, the Taiex index opened lower and extended its downtrend throughout the trading session to close at 4,960.40, a drop of 115.57 points or 2.28 per cent.

Dealers said investors were worried about the prospect of the market when the Taiwan Stocks Exchange resumes the daily 7- per-cent bottom limit next week. The regulator halved the bottom limit two weeks ago to try to cushion the slump of the local stocks in response to US financial turmoil.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks dropped more than 3 per cent in morning trading Thursday, dampened by overnight drops on Wall Street and the death of Wang Yung-ching, founder of Taiwan's petrochemical giant Formosa Group, dealers said.

The Taiex index had fallen 164.5 points, or 3.14 per cent to 5,081.69 two and a half hours after the stock market opened.

Stocks of all six listed companies of the Formosa Group fell sharply on the death of the group's founder, dubbed the "god of management" and the second wealthiest man in Taiwan.

Taipei - Taiwan's Kaohsiung Harbor may slip out of the world's top ten owing to a fall in container volume while other major ports show robust growth, Taiwan radio said Tuesday.

Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC), quoting a Transport Ministry report, said that in the first three months in 2008, Kaohsiung Harbour, the world's seventh-busiest container port, handled 7.52 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit), down 0.79 per cent year-on- year.

Taipei - Some 30 Taipei residents were being treated for discomfort caused by a mysterious powder which spilled out of a broken bottle on a Taipei street Tuesday.

The incident occurred Tuesday morning on Chunghua Road when a glass bottle fell from a vehicle and was run over by another car, releasing a yellow powder from the bottle, cable television channel ETTV said.

The powder flowed into the air, causing itchy eyes and breathing difficulties to some 30 passers-by and motorcyclists.