Taipei  - Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp will open a branch in Turkey to expand its global container shipping business, the company said Wednesday.

Yang Ming Anatolia Shipping Agency is a joint venture between Yang Ming and its Turkish agent Egekont Container Transport. It will begin operation in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 1, 2009.

Taipei  - Taiwan on Wednesday welcomed Chinese President Hu Jintao's pledge to expand Beijing-Taipei ties, calling it a good sign for cross-strait exchanges in 2009.

The Defence Ministry welcomed Hu's call to discuss a military mutual-trust mechanism, saying it would foster regional peace.

"In cross-strait ties, the sequence is to handle economic issues first, followed by political issues and finally military issues," Defence Ministry spokeswoman Chih Yu-lan told reporters.

"If the two sides can set up a military mutual-trust mechanism, it will not only be welcomed by Taiwan people, but will also be good for the region," she said.

Taipei  - A stray cat has saved the life of a man who fell into an open toilet and was stuck there for two days, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Taipei - Three Taiwanese coastal villages voted to reject a proposal by a German firm to build a wind farm Saturday.

More than 300 people from the three villages in Xinwu, Taoyuan County, north Taiwan, took part in the referendum on the wind farm plan by German's InfraVest GmbH

"All the participants are opposed to building the wind farm, unless InfraVest offers better proposals," Yeh Si-kuai, a member of the "Self Help Group," told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone.

"All the local officials support our opposition to the wind farm. InfraVest people handed out leaflets explaining the wind farm, but we gave them our material detailing the harm of the wind farm." he said.

Taipei  - The two giant pandas given by China to Taiwan are turning up their nose at Taiwanese bamboo and have each lost 3 kilogrammes, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Tuan Tuan, the male, weighed 109 kg while Yuan Yuan, the female, weighed 111.2 kg when they were put on the scales at the Taipei Zoo on Friday, the Liberty Times said.

The two four-year-olds are still living on a mixture of Chinese and Taiwanese bamboos, but they prefer the Chinese bamboo and eat very little Taiwan bamboo.

Taipei - After the Taipei Zoo received two giant pandas from China, another Taiwan zoo said Friday it is seeking to receive a pair of pandas from China.

The Leofoo Village Theme Park in Hsinchu, western Taiwan, which applied for two Chinese pandas but lost to the Taipei Zoo, said it hopes that China can give Taiwan another pair of pandas.

"We have built the Panda enclosure and three animals caretakers have received training in China. We have made all the preparations," Yuan Hsiang-chieh, director of the theme park, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa by phone.

Taiwan press reports said China has hinted it could give Taiwan more pandas. Yuan said the Leofoo park will make inquiries after the Chinese New Year.