Taipei - A Taiwan court decided Tuesday to begin the formal trial of former first lady Wu Shu-chen on March 17 on corruption charges.

"The formal proceedings will be held on March 17, during which Chen Cheng-hui will be summoned to testify against the defendant," said Tsai Shou-hsun, judge of the Taipei District Court, who made the decision during a pretrial hearing for Wu.

Taipei  - Taiwan and China, in a further sign of improved ties, will jointly hold the second World Buddhism Forum later this month to promote world peace, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The China Times said that China has allowed Taiwan's Fokuangshan Monastery to join China in hosting the second World Buddhist Forum.

San Francisco/Taipei - Intel Corporation and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp announced Monday a deal that will allow the Asian firm to produce Intel's smallest chips for use in mobile phones, netbook computers and other devices.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on technology, intellectual property and other issues related to Intel's Atom chip, the US company said at its Santa Clara, California headquarters.

Intel said the move would broaden the market for the chip and speed its use in various products.

Taipei  - Taiwan and China's top museums inked a cooperation pact on Monday, but stopped short of reaching a deal on Taiwan sending its relics - taken from China in 1949 - on exhibition in China.

Under the pact, Beijing's Palace Museum will loan 37 pieces of artifacts to the exhibition on Emperor Yongzheng to be held in Taipei in October.

However, the agreement did not touch on the sensitive subject of holding joint exhibitions, or Taiwan's National Palace Museum loaning relics for exhibition in China.

Taiwan fears China would seize any relics loaned to them from its museums.

Taipei - Three Malaysian female backpackers and four Taiwanese were killed in a fire Monday at a Taipei hotel, police said.

The fire raged through the 36-year-old White Snow Hotel early in the morning.

A police officer identified the three Malaysian victims as 26-year-old Chin Seok Liang from Cheras, 37-year-old Lee Loo Yee from Puchong in Selangor, and Low Mee Sim from Penang. He said the three entered Taiwan on February 23 and booked for their return flight on Thursday.

Three Taiwanese senior citizens also were among the dead.

Taipei  - Taiwan stocks lost 2.88 per cent Monday, dragged down by Wall Street's sharp decline over US banking woes in previous trading, dealers said.

The main TAIEX index opened sharply lower and extended its heavy losses to close at 4,425.83, down 131.32 points, or 2.88 per cent.

Dealers said US banking fears put local finance shares under heavy pressure, and reports about lender HSBC's plan to scale back its US consumer finance operations further dampened the market sentiment.