Taiwan's currency has strengthened against the South Korean won, the island's central bank said, adding that the two economies compete with one another for exports.

Taiwan's dollar dropped for a third day, its longest losing streak of the month, after the central bank said it will intervene if irregular factors cause excessive currency volatility. Bonds were little changed.

Taiwan's current-account surplus widened in the third quarter as imports declined. The surplus expanded to US$8.24 billion in the three months to Sept. 30 from a revised US$2.06 billion a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement in Taipei.

The Merrill Lynch Group yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan's gross domestic product for this year to a minus 3.4 growth rate from an earlier forecast of a negative 5 percent.

The chairwoman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) expressed optimism Thursday about the party's chances in the upcoming Dec. 5 three-in-one local elections, saying that the DPP is expected to retain its grip on the counties of Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung.

Confronted with an ever-growing pile of old newspapers, Taiwanese fashion designer Colin Lin came up with the idea of using them to make shoes and tote bags for her environmentally friendly footwear company.

Ruling Kuomintang Vice Chairman John Chiang met Thursday in the Chinese city of Xian with a Chinese elementary school girl who sent 20 Chinese yuan (NT$96) to help people in southern Taiwan who were affected by Typhoon Morakot in early August, a news agency in China reported that day.

Taiwan-based fabless chip vendor MediaTek Inc. announced Friday that it had reached a deal with U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc. under which the two companies will allow each other to utilize technology covered by their respective patent portfolios.

In a move to contribute to global wildlife conservation, Taiwan has again donated funds to Bird Life International (BLI) , a London-based organization working to protect the world's birds.

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) announced Friday that the exhibition "Picturing America" will be shown throughout Taiwan to give local residents an understanding of American history and help them appreciate the depth and breadth of America's cultural landscape.