Taipei - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou Friday said he welcomes Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit, but only when the time is "appropriate."

"When the timing is appropriate, we welcome him to visit Taiwan to engage in various religious activities because he has many worshippers in Taiwan," said Ma, in an attempt to pacify a growing outcry over his recent hint of declining to host the Dalai Lama.

In a meeting with a group of Italian lawmakers, Ma said Taiwan welcomes all religious leaders to visit the island for religious activities.

He said the Dalai Lama, who has visited Taiwan twice, is highly respected by many worshippers on the island.

Taipei - Madan Kataria, the Indian founder of the international
laughter yoga movement, began a visit to Taiwan Thursday, hoping to
spread his movement from Taiwan into China.

"I am very happy to
be in Taiwan. I hope the laughter yoga movement can spread from Taiwan
to China. There is great potential in China," he told Deutsche
Press-Agentur dpa.

A former physician in Mumbai, Kataria, 53,
was invited by the Taiwan Yoga Laughter Club to visit Taiwan and meet
with the group's members.

During the week-long visit, he will
train leaders of Taiwan laughter clubs, make a speech on laughter yoga

Taipei - A Taiwan court Thursday sentenced a former top intelligence chief to 10 years in prison for his role in a high-profile money laundering scandal implicating the nation's ex-president Chen Shui-bian.

Yeh Sheng-mao, former director of the Investigation Bureau, was convicted on charges of leaking intelligence and helping others gain illicit profits, said judge Huang Chun-ming, a spokesman of the Taipei District Court.

Taipei - Taiwan's cabinet Thursday approved a plan to allow qualified direct institutional investors (QDII) from China to invest 3 per cent, or up to 222 million dollars, of their net worth in the local stocks and futures markets.

The plan, aimed to prop up the sagging bourse on the island, was approved along with 10 public infrastructure projects by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan during a cabinet meeting, according to a Taiwan government news statement.

Taipei - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou came under attack Thursday for refusing to allow Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan.

Parliament speaker Wang Jin-pyng urged Ma to reconsider his decision while some lawmakers blasted Ma for kowtowing to China, which sees the Dalai Lama as a "splittist."

"Dalai Lama is the most-trusted and most-revered religious leader. If we look at it from the religious point of view, then we should reconsider," he told parliament.

Wang said Taiwan should find a way to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan while not affecting Taipei-Beijing ties, which have improved since Ma took office in May.