Taipei- Taiwan, in another sign of improved cross-straits ties, said Thursday that it will allow more Chinese media outlets to post reporters in Taiwan.

Liu Teh-shun, spokesman for the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), said while there are already five Chinese news organizations allowed to post reporters in Taiwan, Taipei will allow five more Chinese news organizations to do so.

Taipei - Taiwan, taking advantage of the Beijing Olympic Games, will launch a month-long campaign in Beijing in August to promote Taiwan fruit, an official said Wednesday.

Taiwan's Council of Agriculture (COA) will hold a news conference at Beijing's Chateau de Luze hotel to introduce pineapple, star fruit, guava and mango, COA Director Chen Wu-hsiung told reporters.

The four fruits were chosen as "designated fruits for the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics". Taiwan will supply 10 tons of them to the Olympic athletes' village.

Taipei (dpa) - The United States has assured Taiwan it has not frozen an arms package worth 12 billion dollars after reports last month of an alleged freeze, the Central News Agency (CNA) said Wednesday.

  CNA, in a dispatch from Washington DC, quoted visiting Taiwan Parliament Speaker Wang Jin-pyng as saying the US government is still going through the interagency review process.

Reports last month said the US had frozen sales of weapons because newly-elected President Ma Ying-jeou is shopping elsewhere in order to not jeopardize recently-warmed Taipei-Beijing ties.

Taipei - Taiwan's two major carriers, China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Air, have decided to cut a combined 35 flights per week from September 1 to cut costs amid skyrocketing fuel prices, airline officials said Wednesday.

Under the plan, CAL would cut at least 10 flights per week - four flights to Los Angeles, one or two flights to San Francisco and one flight to New York in the United States as well as four flights to Vancouver in Canada - a CAL spokesman said.

He said the airline would also suspend all four flights per week to Seattle.

EVA plans to cut 25 flights per week, including six flights to Los Angeles, two flights to San Francisco and one flight to Seattle, EVA officials said.

Taipei - Taiwan has donated 300,000 US dollars to Nicaragua to buy police uniforms to preserve its diplomatic ties with one of its few allies, the Central News Agency said Wednesday.

The donation to police chief Aminta Granera was made Tuesday by Taiwan Ambassador Wu Mu-chin in Managua. The money is to allow Nicaragua to provide uniforms for 6,000 police officers from now until 2011.

Taiwan's total donations to the Nicaraguan police force was now 3 million US dollars, the news agency quoted Granera as saying.

Taipei - Taiwan plans to lure foreign and mainland Chinese professionals with permanent residence permits and three-year work visas, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Cabinet councilor Chu Yun-peng said Tuesday that the measure will be introduced on August 1, according to the United Daily News.

Chu did not say what type of foreign professionals can apply for the residency and visas.

The paper quoted an unnamed Cabinet official as saying that Taiwan is mulling granting permanent residence to mainland Chinese professionals, especially those in research and development, finance and creative fields.

Taiwan has been considering offering incentives to attract foreign professionals for several years.