Taipei - Taiwanese are busy searching for information about spirits during Ghost Month, Taiwan press said on Sunday.

Internet searches related to Ghost Month taboos led the hits on Taiwan's search engine Yahoo-Kimo, with the phrase "10 major Ghost Month taboos" in Chinese ranked second most popular as many users looked for information about the most frightening month of the year, the Taipei Times daily and the Central News Agency (CNA) said.

Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday met two leading Taiwanese politicians in the latest sign of improving diplomatic ties across the Taiwan Strait.

Hu met separately with Lien Chan, the honorary chairman of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party), and People First Party Chairman James Soong, both of whom were scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing later on Friday.

State media gave no details of any talks between Hu and Lien and Soong, and state media portrayed the meetings as "party to party" rather than diplomatic events.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks ended 2.63 per cent higher on strong financial gains on Friday, despite Wall street's overnight fall, dealers said.

The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange opened flat as sentiment was dampened by Wall Street's sharp overnight fall, but started picking up by the mid-morning session and continued its upward trend to close at 7,209.04, up 184.46 points or 2.63 per cent.

Dealers said strong gains in the financial sector were one reason for the sharp rise in the local index.

Taipei

Hanoi - Vietnam Airlines has decided to sue a passenger who opened an airplane's emergency door at an airport in Taiwan this month, a company official said Friday.

The passenger, Le Van Hanh, 26, of Vietnam, would face charges of serious violation of aviation safety regulations, airline spokesman Trinh Ngoc Thanh said.

Kabul, Aug 7: Afghanistan’s spy agency - the National Directorate of Security has reportedly accused a member of the Pakistan consulate in Kabul that he was proving aid to the Taliban to weaken the Afghan government.

Without disclosing the name of the Pakistan consulate staffer, the spy agency maintained that he gave “orders and money” to Mullah Rahmatullah, a Taliban militant in the region who was captured earlier this week.

The spy agency added that this information was gathered during the interrogation of a Taliban militant captured by Afghan intelligence agents on Tuesday.