Taipei  - Taiwan stocks fell more than 4 per cent by mid-morning Monday as investors worried about the global economic slump.

The Taiex dropped 236.53 points, or 4.12 per cent, to close at 5,505.

"Major Asian shares dived today because, despite the passing of the 700-billion-US-dollar rescue package in the US Congress, many Americans don't think the package can solve all of America's economic problems," said Chiu Hsin-lin, executive vice president of the Industrial Bank of Taiwan Securities.

Taipei  - Taiwan stocks fell more than 3 per cent by mid-morning Monday as investors worried about the global economic slump.

The Taiex dropped 176.67 points, or 3.08 per cent, to 5,565.56 three hours into trading.

"Major Asian shares dived today because, despite the passing of the 700-billion-US-dollar rescue package in the US Congress, many Americans don't think the package can solve all of America's economic problems," said Chiu Hsin-lin, executive vice president of the Industrial Bank of Taiwan Securities.

Taipei - A Chinese dissident attempting to claim asylum in Taiwan since last year asked to be repatriated on Saturday, following an unsuccessful bid for refugee status.

Cai Lujun, 40, made the request in a letter emailed to the Taiwan government. Taiwan officials have said that they would respect Cai's wish.

Cai, a former businessman in Hebei Province in China, was a jailed for three years in 2003 for criticizing the Chinese government on the internet.

On July 26, 2007, he fled to Taiwan on a fishing boat to seek asylum.

Taipei  - Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan's largest, is losing its competitiveness in both passenger and cargo volume, a government report said Saturday.

According to the Transport Ministry report carried by Taiwan's Central News Agency, Taoyuan was number 15 in the world in cargo volume in 2007, down two places from 2006.

In Asia-Pacific alone, the airport was ranked number six for cargo, the same as 2006.

As for passenger volume in the Asia-Pacific, Taoyuan ranked 14 in 2007, down one place from 2006.

Taipei - Twenty-nine young survivors of the deadly earthquake in China's Sichuan Province were in Taiwan for a holiday to help them recover from the trauma of the May 12 quake which killed 70,000 people, reports said Saturday.

The children, aged between seven years and their teens, were guests of the Chinatrust Charity Foundation, a Taiwanese charity.

Having visited Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, and the Taipei Zoo, the group on Saturday arrived in Nantou County in central Taiwan, to visit the site of the September 21, 1999 earthquake which killed 2,321 people and injuring 8,000.

Taipei - Taiwan's foreign currency reserves dropped by nearly 1 billion US dollars in September due to the net outflow of foreign capital, the central bank said on Friday.

By the end of September, Taiwan's foreign currency reserves totaled 281.1 billion US dollars, down 957 million US dollars from August.

The figure makes Taiwan the holder of the world's fifth-largest foreign currency reserves after China, Japan, Russia and India, the central bank said.