New Zealand crossover soprano Hayley Westenra said yesterday that she is thrilled to visit Taiwan again and looks forward to her upcoming performances here.

Touch panel maker TPK Holdings Co. has announced dividends of NT$21 per share for 2012, the highest so far among all Taiwan-listed companies that have announced their dividends for last year.

A Canadian parliamentary delegation will visit Taiwan later this week to learn more about the country's politics, foreign diplomacy, trade and Taiwan-China relations, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday in a statement.

A group of foreign spouses of Taiwanese nationals visited the Taipei Confucius Temple yesterday, Children's Day in Taiwan, to pray for wisdom for their children, hoping that the venerable sage would brighten their futures.

A reception was held yesterday in Taipei to welcome Nicholas B. Dirks, the new University of California, Berkeley chancellor-designate.

Taiwan will hold its second international sailing regatta in Dapeng Bay, Southern Taiwan next month, with 20 foreign teams expected to participate, the organizers said yesterday.

New Zealand and Taiwan should resume direct flights to further revive their tourism sectors after the recent increase in the number of Taiwanese tourists to New Zealand, an envoy from the South Pacific nation said.

Fifty-one years ago, Paul Brinkley-Rogers met a woman named Vicky in Taiwan when he was a reporter for a U.S. military newspaper.

Malaysia's expanded recognition of Taiwanese degrees may send Malaysian exchange student enrolment figures to a record high this year, according to an alumni association in Taipei.

Taiwan and Germany will work together on a five-week research project, starting March 31, to study gas hydrates on the seabed off southern Taiwan, with a view to developing a potentially rich energy resource, the German Institute Taipei said yesterday.