Taipei - Taiwan announced an interest-rate cut Sunday to slow down the recession and to stimulate the island's economy.

The central bank of Taiwan said that starting Monday it would cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.

The rediscount rate would be cut from 3 to 2.75 per cent, the rate on accommodation with collateral from 3.375 to 3.125 per cent and the rate on accommodation without collateral from 5.25 to 5 per cent.

Central bank governor Peng Fai-nan said that the interest rate cut would ease inflation caused by fallen oil and commodity prices, the 8.3-per-cent drop in Taiwan's October exports and the International Monetary Fund's forecast that all major industrial nations except China would face an economic downturn in 2009.

Taipei  - Taiwan is seeking to sign a trade pact with China which is similar to a free trade agreement (FTA), a newspaper said on Sunday.

The Commercial Times, quoting an unnamed official, said that Taiwan plans to follow the model of Hong Kong and sign a pact to promote trade with China.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT, Taiwan's ruling party) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will discuss it during the KMT-CCP forum to be held in Hong Kong in December.

Hong Kong, after reverting to Chinese rule in 1997 following 150 years of British colonization, signed the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with China in June 2003, helping to open up a huge market for Hong Kong goods and services.

Taipei - A Taiwan man, infertile due to cancer, has become the father of twins after the sperm he had frozen 13 years ago, was used to impregnate his wife, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Doctors at the Taipei Medical University's College of Medicine set the local record for the use of the longest-preserved sperm in helping the couple have children, the China Times reported.

The man, identified only as Chen, was 23 and a university student in 1995 when he contracted testicular cancer. Fearing chemotherapy would make him infertile, he stored nine tubes of sperm in a sperm bank.

Taipei - Hailing recent protests against a Chinese envoy, Taiwan opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday that Taiwan's future must be decided by referendum, not by China.

Referring to talks last week between the leadership of the self- governing island and its massive neighbour, Tsai, chairwoman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), blasted President Ma Ying-jeou for kowtowing to the envoy, Chen Yunlin.

Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, Tsai said that more than 100,000 people besieged the venue where Ma of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, was meeting Chen on Thursday.

Taipei  - More than 10,000 people, including Taiwan's leader, Saturday mourned late petrochemical tycoon Wang Yung-ching during a funeral ceremony in Taoyuan, outside the capital Taipei.

"The death of Wang Yung-ching shocked the entire nation," said Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou. "Dubbed God of Management, Wang had not only contributed greatly to Taiwan's economy, but also the society through his various charity moves, including providing free education and medical services for the needy," Ma added.

Taipei- Taiwan's October exports fell by nearly 2 billion US dollars compared with September due to the global financial crisis, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

Taiwan's October exports totaled 20.8 billion US dollars, down by 1.88 billion US dollars or 8.3 per cent from September.

This is the biggest decline in terms of cash volume since July 2007, and the biggest percentage of decrease in six years and 9 months, the ministry said.