Taipei - Taipei stocks reboun

Taipei  - Taiwan on Tuesday suspended the operations of the local unit of the investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and said it might help Taiwan investors seek damages from its US-based parent company.

On the order of the Financial Supervisory Commission, investigators went to Lehman Brothers' Taipei office to check the company's financial records.

The commission ordered the Taiwan office to suspend operations until the parent company's financial crisis is over.

Taipei - Rescuers in Taiwan searched Tuesday for victims of Typhoon Sinlaku, which left at least seven people dead, 11 missing and 20 injured.

At the Fengchiuming Tunnel in central Taiwan's Nantou County, rescuers dug out a minivan, a car and two bodies from a mudslide that buried nine vehicles.

Several backhoes were used to remove earth and rocks that buried the mountainside tunnel and buried one volunteer who was directing traffic Monday afternoon.

Rescuers had managed to rescue seven people and retrieve three dead bodies by Tuesday afternoon.

Taipei - Taiwan's stockmarket tumbled 4.89 per cent on Tuesday, falling below the key 6,000 level for the first time since November 2005, amid a sharply bearish sentiment brought on by US financial woes, dealers said.

The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange opened down 5.03 per cent and continued to tumble until after the government stepped in to ease the sliding trend. In the end, the local index lost 295.86 points or 4.89 per cent to close at 5,756.59, dealers said.

Taipei - Rescuers were searching Monday for five missing people whose cars fell into a raging river after a bridge collapsed as Typhoon Sinlaku lashed Taiwan, killing at least five and causing an estimated 6.7 million US dollars in farm losses, officials said Monday.

Three cars plunged into the rising Tachia River in the central county of Taichung when a section of the 2,000-foot-long bridge collapsed Sunday night amid strong winds and torrential rains, officials of the National Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission said.

Taipei - Taiwan's stock market shed nearly 4 per cent Monday due to investors' fears that the US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc may declare bankruptcy.

In mid-morning trading, the TAIEX index fell 211.39 points, or 3.35 per cent, to 6,099.29 points.