Taipei- The number of foreigners visiting Taiwan rose 5.6 per cent to 1.9 million from January to June, amid Taiwan's efforts to find ways to lure more foreign tourists, the government said Friday.

The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said that of the 1.9 million foreigners, 44.7 per cent were tourists, 24.5 per cent were business visitors and 30.8 per cent were foreigners entering Taiwan for other purposes.

Taipei - Taiwan's new de facto ambassador to the US said on Friday there is no arms sale freeze from the US, despite recent acknowledgement of such a policy by a top US military commander.

"No one, particularly those in charge of the issue, told me they are going to freeze any arms sales," said Jason Yuan in a news conference in Taipei before assuming office in the US on August 4.

He said from the State Department to the Defense Department, no officials have said there would be an arms sale freeze for Taiwan.

Taipei - A Taiwan computer engineer was swindled out of 13.86 million Taiwan dollars (440,000 US dollars) when he was looking for a date on the internet, Taiwan radio said Friday.

The man, only identified by his family name, Huang, was looking for a one-night stand when he came across a girl, Yuan Yuan, who agreed to meet Huang, 38, for a certain charge, the Broadcasting Corp of China reported.

Looking for paid sex on the Internet is common in Taiwan, though illegal. The practice, called either yuan jiao, which means compensated dating, or enjo kosai, which means an exchange of sex for cash or gifts, originated in Japan but is now popular among adolescents in Taiwan.

Taipei - Taipei is inviting international architects to design a world-class performance centre so that Taipei can have a good venue to stage large performances, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Taipei city government will invite world-renowned architects to join a competition to design the performance centre at Shilin on the north-western edge of Taipei, the Taipei Times said.

The 2.2-hectare Taipei Performing Arts Centre will house a 1,500- seat theatre and two 800-seat theatres.

Taipei  - A Taiwan man nearly died after his girlfriend bit him on the arm, infecting him with the rare a-hemolytic streptococcus bacterium, a Taipei hospital said Thursday.

The 28-year-old and his girlfriend quarreled early this month and she bit him on his left arm, leaving a one-centimetre wound, according to the Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH).

"Later that day, his arm was swollen, and the next day he was had a fever, had rashes all over his body and had a high count of white blood cells," said Doctor Lin Yi-chun of the hospital.