Taipei - Typhoon Kalmaegi caused severe destruction in Taiwan, leaving at least five people dead and several missing as it moved towards China on Friday.

An army officer slipped into a ditch and died while inspecting the barracks in Taichung county, press reports said.

In Tainan County, a boy and a girl were buried alive under a collapsed house, while a couple drowned when they fell from a rescue boat into a flooded river.

The death toll was expected to rise because several people swept away by flood water were still listed as missing.

President Ma Ying-jeou cut short his physical checkup at a Taipei hospital to visit the disaster centre in Hsintien, near Taipei, to coordinate rescue efforts and assess typhoon-caused damages.

Taipei - Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) signed a deal with a Canadian firm Thursday to jointly mine oil sands in Canada.

Taipei - Taiwan's stock market surged nearly 4 per cent Thursday in response to the government loosening restrictions on investment in China.

Taipei - Taiwan issued a land warning Thursday for Typhoon Kalmaegi, which is hurtling across the Pacific Ocean toward the island.

Taipei  - Taiwan's free trade agreement (FTA) with Honduras has gone into effect, further expanding trade ties between Taipei and Tegucigalpa, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Taipei - A Taiwan a