Taipei- Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou Tuesday urged the country, which did poorly at the Beijing Olympics, to learn from South Korea in training its athletes.

Ma praised Taiwan's athletes for trying their best at the August 8 8-24 Beijing Olympics.

"But sports reflects a country's power. South Korea, whose population is similar to Taiwan's population, did extremely well at the Beijing Olympics. So we have a long way to go," he said when receiving the Taiwan team.

Taipei- The son and daughter-in-law of Taiwan's ex-president Chen Shui-bian Monday returned to the island to face a probe into alleged money laundering implicating the former leader.

The couple, listed as defendants along with the ex-leader and his wife Wu Shu-chen over their alleged roles in the scandal, insisted they knew nothing about a 20 million US dollar fund kept at their bank accounts set up by a Swiss bank in Cayman Islands.

Taipei - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, in a speech to be delivered later Sunday, is expected to discuss broadening relations with China in an attempt to forge better relations between the two countries.

Ma is to speak at Kinmen Island, a Taiwan-held islet off China's southeastern coast, while attending a rally to mark the 50th anniversary of the Kinmen Battle.

On August 23, 1958, China began to bombard Kinmen as it tried to recover Taiwan. Between August 23 and October 5, China is believed to have fired nearly half a million cannon balls on Kinmen, but failed to seize either the islet or Taiwan.

Taipei - Taiwan's economic growth is seen going down to 4.3 per cent in 2008 from 5.7 per cent last year, due to slower exports, rising inflation and skyrocketing fuel prices, a government agency said Friday.

"While the GDP growth in the first quarter has been revised to 6.25 per cent, initial figures have showed a 4.32 per cent GDP growth in the second quarter," the Directorate General Budget, Accounting and Statistics said in a statement.

It said GDP growth in the third and fourth quarters were forecast at 3.04 per cent and 3.75 per cent, respectively, with whole year growth predicted at 4.3 per cent, the agency said.

Taipei - Taiwan's jobless rate rose to an 11-month high of 4.06 per cent in July, due mainly to the increase in the number of fresh graduates and students seeking summer jobs, the government statis

Taipei - The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) is to launch its fifth bond issue in Taiwan to raise funds for economic development in Central America, Taiwan's Central Bank said Thursday.

CABEI has applied to issue Taiwan-dollar bonds worth 7 billion Taiwan dollars (225 million US dollars), and the Central Bank has given it permission to issue the bonds before September 2010, the Central Bank said in a statement.

CABEI has not announced the date for the bond issue.

Since 1997, CABEI has launched four Taiwan-dollar bond issues in Taiwan, worth 17.8 billion Taiwan dollars.