Washington, July 25 : In its latest report, the International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned that the Taliban had developed sophisticated infrastructure and was carrying out an effective propaganda, and that the Afghanistan government should also develop an equally strong paraphernalia to counter the Taliban’s might.

The report titled “Taliban Propaganda: Winning the War of Words?,” examines the Taliban communication apparatus, which is exploiting popular disillusionment with the government and the US and other foreign troops.

Using the full range of media, the Taliban are successfully tapping into strains of Afghan nationalism.

Taipei - Taipei is inviting international architects to design a world-class performance centre so that Taipei can have a good venue to stage large performances, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Taipei city government will invite world-renowned architects to join a competition to design the performance centre at Shilin on the north-western edge of Taipei, the Taipei Times said.

The 2.2-hectare Taipei Performing Arts Centre will house a 1,500- seat theatre and two 800-seat theatres.

Taipei  - A Taiwan man nearly died after his girlfriend bit him on the arm, infecting him with the rare a-hemolytic streptococcus bacterium, a Taipei hospital said Thursday.

The 28-year-old and his girlfriend quarreled early this month and she bit him on his left arm, leaving a one-centimetre wound, according to the Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH).

"Later that day, his arm was swollen, and the next day he was had a fever, had rashes all over his body and had a high count of white blood cells," said Doctor Lin Yi-chun of the hospital.

Taipei- Taiwan's military said Thursday it is testing a smart bomb that could destroy the runways of air bases along the south-east coast of China.

The military stressed it has no immediate plan to put the weapon, a Taiwanese version of the AGM-154 US Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), into mass production.

"The Wan Chien cluster bomb is in the testing and inspection phase and far from being in mass production. Actually, we have yet to make any decision on whether to mass produce it or not," said Major General Lisa Chi, spokeswoman for the defence ministry.

Taipei - Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission approved Polaris Securities Company's application to set up a branch in Singapore, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Taipei - Taiwan's most exclusive restaurant on Wednesday gave in to protests from US and Taiwanese conservation groups and agreed to remove serving shark's fin from its banquet menus.