PRESSURE is mounting on Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to speed up operations to rescue hundreds of people buried or stranded on remote mountain villages in the aftermath of typhoon Morakot.

TAIWAN opposition leader Lien Chan and Chinese President Hu Jintao closed the book on decades of hostility yesterday with a simple handshake in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

A NEW Dublin-based insurance broker has entered the Irish travel insurance market and aims to undercut competitors by up to 20%.