TAIPEI - TWO giant pandas made their long-anticipated, groundbreaking trip from China to Taiwan on Tuesday, in the latest sign of fast thawing ties between the two former bitter rivals.

Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, both four, landed at 5.03pm after a flight of more than two-and-a-half hours from Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province.

LONDON - THE US economy shrank by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter, official data showed on Tuesday as Britain edged ever closer to a recession and the IMF's top economist warned of a second Great Depression.

The abrupt contraction of gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's largest economy, confirming a first estimate, was seen by analysts as marking the start of a steep downturn for the United States after GPD growth of 2.8 per cent in the second quarter.

NEW DELHI - INDIA'S prime minister sought to lower tensions with neighboring Pakistan on Tuesday in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, saying 'nobody wants war.'

The investigation into the attacks that killed 164 people has strained relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, longtime rivals that have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

THE short answer is, yes, a Madoff mega-scandal could happen in the fund management industry here, but the strict oversight minimises the risk, say industry watchers.

Yet while safeguards can be tight and regulators vigilant, the unthinkable can still happen when it comes to fraud.

Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff's business came under the purview of the US Securities and Exchange Commission - and yet the country's top watchdog appeared to have no clue that one of history's greatest Ponzi schemes was underway.