Nearly 1,000 civil servants in Taiwan must take classes in cyber security after falling for a trap set up by their employer to test Internet safety, an official said on Wednesday.

The government of New Taipei City, near capital Taipei, sent out an email last month which claimed to contain a steamy sex video in order to check how carefully its 6,000 staff were protecting their computers against hacking and virus attacks, she said.

More than 100 Taiwanese activists burnt a Japanese flag in a protest in downtown Taipei Tuesday, as anger over disputed islands in the East China Sea spilled over from China.

The demonstration outside Taiwan's parliament took place as a row over the islands -- known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese -- prompted thousands to hit the streets in major cities on the Chinese mainland.

Two Taiwanese coastguard ships on Thursday set sail for waters near a disputed archipelago in the East China Sea, officials said, amid an ongoing territorial row among Taiwan, China and Japan.

The vessels are expected to get around 37 to 56 kilometers west of the disputed Diaoyu islands to offer round-the-clock protection for Taiwanese fishermen, said a coastguard official.

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou on Wednesday pledged to dispatch more coastguard vessels to the disputed waters in the East China Sea, a move that could fuel simmering tensions in the area.

Ma told the coastguards to protect domestic fishermen operating in waters of the Diaoyutai, an island chain known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.

Japan's government has agreed to buy a group of islands at the center of a territorial dispute with China, reports said Wednesday, a move likely to prove a further irritant in a tense relationship.

Tokyo will pay private Japanese landowners 2.05 billion yen ($26 million) for three of the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, the Yomiuri Shimbun and Kyodo News reported, citing unnamed government sources.

Taiwan plans to beef up its cyber war capabilities to counter a perceived threat from Chinese hackers targeting government and security websites, local media reported Sunday.

Taiwan will expand its cyber war units next year while scaling back military spending due to budget constraints, the Taipei-based Liberty Times reported, citing a 2013 budget plan submitted by the National Security Bureau to parliament for approval.

Taiwan's environmental minister is calling on the island's men to sit down when they urinate in order to keep toilets clean, drawing a mixed reaction from the public.

Stephen Shen, head of the Environmental Protection Administration, said Monday he himself had adopted the habit, and suggested other men follow suit so toilet seats will be ready for the next user.

Taiwanese researchers said Thursday they have developed a strain of rice that cooks particularly soft for elderly people to meet the needs of a rapidly greying society.

The new strain was developed by the Miaoli District Agricultural Research And Extension Station in central Taiwan after a decade-long process and was expected to hit the market next year, they said.

Taiwanese coastguards said Sunday they will next month stage a live-fire exercise in disputed South China Sea islands with new, longer-range artillery and mortars, in a move that risks fresh tensions.

The potentially resource-rich sea, home to important trade routes, is an increasingly dangerous flashpoint and there have been a string of recent diplomatic rows between countries with overlapping territorial claims.

Typhoon Saola pounded Taiwan with fierce winds and torrential rain that left six people dead and forced nearly the entire island to shut down on Thursday, rescuers and media said.

Nearly 200 international and domestic flights were cancelled and authorities suspended trading on financial markets due to the extreme weather.