Taipei - The Taiwan dollar surged to a six-week high of 32.72 to the US dollar Wed

Taipei - Taiwan will hold a two-day fashion fair in China's capital Beijing this week to promote Taiwanese textile products, the Taiwan Textile Federation said Wednesday.

The fashion fair, the third since 2006, was scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing.

Thirteen Taiwan manufacturers and designers will set up booths and hold two shows to unveil 2009 spring/summer wear and accessories, the federation said in a statement.

A total of 149 Chinese garment manufacturers and designers and 50 clothing retailers will attend the fair to discuss cooperation with their Taiwanese counterparts and place orders.

Taipei - Kaohsiung Harbour's 2008 container volume will drop due to the global economic slump, an official said Wednesday.

In the first 11 months in 2008, the Kaohsiung Harbour's container volume totalled 8.97 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit), down 3.9 per cent from 2007's same period, Huang Kuo-ying, deputy director of the Kaohsiung Harbour said.

Total 2008 container volume is expected to reach 9.9 million TEUs, down 2.9 per cent.

The Kaohsiung Harbour's 2007 container volume rose 4.7 per cent from 2006, but business fell in 2008 due to the global financial crisis.

Taipei - Two giant pandas offered by China to Taiwan are due to arrive in Taipei on December 23, reported Eva Air, the carrier assigned to transport the two animals.

Eva Air spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei said the pandas (named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan from the Chinese words meaning unification) will be picked up from Chengdu the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan and brought to Taipei.

A group of officials, veterinarians, animal caretakers and reporters from Taipei will take the jet to Chengdu to escort the pandas, he added.

Taipei - A Taiwan newspaper and a private foundation on Tuesday said that people had chosen the Chinese character Luan - chaos - as the Word of the Year for 2008.

Out of the 61,624 people who cast votes, 7,936 people chose Luan, the United Daily News (UDN) and the Hsu Yuan-chih Memorial Foundation said.

The UDN and the foundation launched the campaign to select the Word of the Year in October, inviting the public to find one word to summarize the situation of Taiwan in
2008.

Taipei - Taiwan is to provide visa exemptions to certain foreign nationals who have already obtained visas from "advanced countries," press reports said Monday.

Starting January 20, 2009, citizens from India, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia will be allowed to visit Taiwan without a visa if their passports are stamped with permanent residency visas from Canada or the United States, according to the Central News Agency (CNA).