Weather: CWB issues typhoon warning
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has asked the public to be on alert against Typhoon Sinlaku, the 16th typhoon of the year. CWB meteorologists said that the typhoon was located 1,490km east of Taipei and moving west at a speed of 24kph as of yesterday morning, adding that Sinlaku's radius of near gale had widened to 300km. The weather bureau is expected to issue a land warning this morning. The meteorologists said that they are keeping a close eye on Sinlaku, adding that the typhoon is very likely to make landing at Ilan, Taitung or Hualien.
Health: Dengue cases at 1,644
The Department of Health reported yesterday that 1,644 cases of dengue fever have been reported nationwide since the outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in Kaohsiung and its neighboring regions in late June. An official of the health department said that while several cases were reported in other parts of the nation, nearly 1,600 patients are residents in Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County. The official said that most of the patients in other counties or cities have visited Kaohsiung in the past months before they contracted the disease. Health officials said that related authorities will redouble their efforts to clean up possible breeding areas and kill mosquitos.
Foreign aid: Czech Republic gets funds
Taiwan has so far donated a total of US$220,000 to the Czech Republic for its post-flood relief work, a spokesman for Taiwan's representative office in Prague said Monday. Yang Kuang-chung (楊光中), director of the representative office's information department, said the office donated US$100,000 to the Czech government for humanitarian relief programs immediately after the Central European country was hit by the worst flooding in decades in August. The Council for Cultural Affairs later donated US$20,000 for rehabilitation projects in the Czech Republic's cultural city of Cesky Krumlov, which is one of UNESCO's world heritage sites and subject to special protection.
Foreign aid: Taiwan gives to S Korea
Taiwan has donated US$100,000 for disaster relief to South Korea in the wake of Typhoon Rusa, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Spokeswoman Katharine Chang (張小月) said that Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) is concerned about the disaster wrought by the typhoon and has sent a message to South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Choi Song-hong, expressing the sympathy and condolences of Taiwan, and donated US$100,000 for humanitarian purposes.
Government: Executive Yuan may open
The Executive Yuan may be open to the public by next January, Cabinet officials said yesterday. "In line with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Law stipulating that historic relics should be open to the pubic for visits, we've been thinking about opening the 62-year-old building to the public for regular visits," said a Cabinet official who requested not be named. The building, which was declared a national historic relic in 1998, was once used as a school and government offices during the Japanese colonial era. During KMT rule, it was once the administrative building of the Taiwan Provincial Government.
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