The first undersea fibre-optic cable between China and Taiwan is set to begin operating this week, official media reported Wednesday, the latest sign of closer links between the Cold War rivals.

Yang Yi, spokesman for Beijing's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said the cable would enhance communications and was "good news" for the two sides, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Animal disease officials in Taiwan Wednesday said they had confiscated more than 400 dried dog penises, testicles and various internal organs in a raid on an illegal slaughterhouse.

The Animal Disease Control Center said a total of 435 penises were discovered in a fridge along with the other body parts, while 12 fresh dog corpses were also found in the raid at the slaughterhouse in western Yunlin county on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of slogan-chanting Taiwanese took to Taipei's streets Sunday to protest at the government's economic record in one of the biggest rallies organized by the main opposition in recent years.

The march, which stretched for miles, began after Su Tseng-chang, chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, led the crowd in shouting: "People are furious at Ma."

The Taipei city government said Friday it will appeal a court ruling which revoked a fine it imposed on the U.S. Internet giant Google in a dispute over its mobile phone apps.

The city government in 2011 fined Google Tw$1 million ($34,000) for refusing to grant customers a seven-day trial period on its mobile phone apps, in accordance with Taiwan's consumer protection law.

Taiwan plans to start exploring for oil and gas in the South China Sea from next year, an official and local media said Friday, in a development that could increase tensions in the contested waters.

The Bureau of Mines and state-run oil supplier CPC Corp are expected to kick off exploration in 2013 in the sea around Taiping, the biggest islet in the Spratly archipelago, the United Daily News website and other media reported.

Taiwan's pop king Jay Chou has played roles as varied as superhero, vampire and cowboy. So his latest album about an influential but corrupt court eunuch may not sound all that odd to his fans.

In "Gong Gong with A Headache" released Thursday, Chou raps about the eunuch who has a secret passion for women but "must not touch them." ''Gong Gong" is a name for court eunuchs in China.

Taiwan will discuss whether to deny entry to holders of new Chinese passports with maps showing two of the island's most famous spots as part of Chinese territory, a top official said Thursday.

Wang Yu-chi, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council which is the top China policy-making body, told parliament that relevant government units will review the matter within a week.

A Taiwanese lawmaker's call to scrap a top film festival because it made Taiwan too reliant on China's movie industry sparked heated criticism on Wednesday from film veterans and fans.

The suggestion by opposition lawmaker Kuan Bi-ling came days after the Golden Horse Awards, dubbed the Chinese-language "Oscars", were handed out for the 49th time at a weekend gala in eastern Taiwan.

Taiwanese authorities have rejected an application to set up a new political party named after Asian-American basketball hero Jeremy Lin, officials said Monday.

The "Jeremy Lin Party", jointly endorsed by 30 people as required by Taiwan law, was turned down by the interior ministry's Department of Civil Affairs.

Taiwan tested its longest range ship-to-ship missile within a month of China putting its first aircraft carrier into service, a report said Monday.

Dubbed an "aircraft carrier killer,” the missile has a range of 400 kilometers (250 miles) and is capable of achieving Mach 3.0, or triple the speed of sound, the Taipei-based United Daily News said.