Taipei - Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves hit a record high of 294.2 billion US dollars in February on interest and other gains, the Central Bank reported Thursday.

Taipei - Taiwan's year-on-year inflation rate dipped to a six-year low of 1.31 per cent in February, a senior official of the government's statistics agency said Thursday.

"Reduced demands amid the global downturn forced down prices, especially those on transports, clothing and food," said Wu Chao-ming, a spokesman of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

Beijing  - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday hailed "major breakthroughs" in dialogue with Taiwan and reaffirmed the ruling Communist Party's commitment to working for a peace agreement between the two sides.

"Positive changes occurred in the situation in Taiwan and major breakthroughs were made in cross-Strait relations," Wen said in his opening speech to the annual National People's Congress, the party's nominal parliament.

China is "ready to make fair and reasonable arrangements through consultation on the issue of Taiwan's participation in the activities of international organizations", he told some 3,000 NPC delegates.

Taipei - Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian on Wednesday denied accepting bribes in a land deal and embezzling state funds during a pretrial hearing in Taipei.

A fiery Chen, apparently angered by the court's rejection of his plea for release the night before, lashed out at prosecutors for using what he claimed was "questionable testimony" from a witness who had accused him of corruption.

Taipei - Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, the world's largest electronics components manufacturer, and IBM Inc agreed Wednesday to jointly develop technologies to fight carbon emissions.

Hon Hai and IBM signed the agreement at Hon Hai headquarters in Tucheng near Taipei on delivering and deploying GreenCert, the world's first system that can calculate and certify the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by a facility.

Taipei - Hon Hai, the world's largest electronics components manufacturer, and IBM will sign a pact Wednesday on jointly developing environment-friendly products, the Central News Agency (CNA) said Tuesday.

Parliament Speaker Wang Jin-pyng and Environmental Protection Administration Minister Shen Shu-hung will witness the signing of the pact on strategic alliance, CNA said.

CNA did not reveal details of the cooperation, but said that in 2007, IBM launched Project Big Green which is aimed at protecting the environment.