Taipei  - Three Taiwan groups, angry that President Ma Ying-jeou said it was not a good time for the Dalai Lama to visit, plan to invite the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to come to Taiwan for religious purposes, reports said Tuesday.

Kaohsiung County Magistrate Ynag Chiu-hsing on Monday joined Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in welcoming the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan.

Taipei  - Despite the global recession, Taiwan plans to hold a large computer show in 2009 to showcase the world's newest computers and peripherals, a newspaper said Tuesday.

Computex Taipei 2009, the world' second-largest information and communication technology show after Germany's CeBIT, will be held at a record five halls in Taipei and the nearby town of Nankang June 2- 6, 2009, the Taipei Times quoted the organizer as saying.

The show is expected to have 4,800 booths, compared to 4,495 booths at Computex 2008, the paper quoted Yeh Ming- shui, vice president of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), as saying.

Taipei- Sales of Taiwanese information security products are expected to surge by 15 per cent annually in the next three years as global companies become increasingly concerned about computer viruses and spam, a research agency said Monday.

Taipei - Taiwan's exports, plagued by the global downturn, slumped to a seven-year low of 16.8 billion US dollars in November, the finance ministry said Monday.

Total exports declined for the third straight month by 5.1 billion US dollars in November, down 23.3 per cent from the same month last year, the ministry said in a statement.

Imports totaled 15.3 billion US dollars, the lowest since March 2002, representing a drop of 2.32 billion dollars or 13.2 per cent year-on-year, the ministry said.

Taipei  - Taiwan and China are making preparations to launch direct shipping next week, ending the five-decade ban imposed by Taipei in 1949 at the end of the Chinese civil war, harbour officials and media reports said Monday.

The Transport Ministry said that it would announce details of the launch after the parliament passes the pact on direct shipping, signed in Taipei on November 4.

According to the pact, direct shipping should start on December 15.

Taipei  - Taiwan's stocks surged 4.57 per cent on Monday, bolstered by Wall Street's strong rally on Friday, dealers said.

The main Taiex index opened with a bang, tracking strong gains in Wall Street, as semiconductor and financial shares rose sharply. The upward trend continued all the way to the end of trading, with the local index soaring 193.26 points, or 4.57 per cent, to close at 4,418.33.