Taipei  - Taiwan's mobile phone sales were forecast to drop 9.3 per cent in 2009 because of weakened replacement demand and an extended replacement cycle, an industry report said Wednesday.

Sales were estimated at 6.39 million units by Taiwan's Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute, which called 2009 a crucial year for Taiwan mobile phone operators in terms of strengthening their share in the mobile internet market.

Taipei  - After fighting communism for half a century, Taiwan has allowed the formation of two communist parties on the island, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

According to the Taipei Times, two communist parties - the Taiwan Communist Party and the Republic of China Communist Party - registered with the Interior Ministry and won approval for their existence Monday, thus becoming legal civic organizations.

Taipei - Taiwan's exports dropped 35.7 per cent in March year-on-year as demand declined amid the global downturn, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

Exports slipped to 15.59 billion US dollars in March, down 8.65 billion US dollars, or 35.7 per cent, from a year earlier, registering a decline for the seventh straight month, the ministry said in a statement.

Taipei - Taiwan's year-on-year inflation rate contracted for the second consecutive month to 0.15 per cent in March, due mainly to the fall in oil prices, the government's statistics agency said Monday.

"Compared with the same month last year, oil product prices in March dropped considerably, resulting in the general fall of consumer prices," said Wu Chao-ming, a spokesman of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

Taipei  - A Taiwan scientist has made breakthrough in earthquake early warnings, allowing the public be warned 10 to 30 seconds before a major quake causes destruction, a newspaper said Monday.

The breakthrough was achieved by Wu Yi-min, associate professor in the Geophysics Department of the National Taiwan University. It can give the public more time to seek safety, as currently the quickest alert Taiwan's Seismological Observation Centre can give is
30 second after a quake has struck, the China Times said.