■ UTILITIES
Water supply stable: official
Water supply for household and industrial use is expected to remain stable at least until the end of October, Water Resources Agency Director-General Wu Yueh-hsi (吳約西) said on Sunday. After October, if rainfall reaches at least 40 percent of the average for the same period over the past few years, water supply through the end of December is assured thanks to the recent plum rains, Wu said. Water levels in the three major reservoirs have risen significantly as a result of the plum rains, which usually fall between late May and mid-June, he said. Precipitation levels at Zengwun (曾文) and Wushantou (烏山頭) reservoirs in the south were about 80 percent of the average for the same period over past few years, Wu said. At Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫), it was 64 percent of the average over the past few years, he said. The monsoon rains have also brought enough water for irrigation of the second rice crop this year in the southern region, Wu said.
■ HEALTH
Official warns of outbreaks
People traveling abroad, particularly to China and Southeast Asia, should take precautions against disease outbreaks in their target destinations, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Lin Ting (林頂) said on Sunday. Lin made the appeal as the peak overseas travel season is about to start with schools closing for the summer break. Popular destinations for families, such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, tend to have more serious outbreaks of dengue fever in summer, Lin said. This year, measles outbreaks have also been reported in China and several Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore, he said. Lin urged parents to make sure their children have been immunized before taking them on overseas trips. He also suggested that people seek travel medical services or take preventive medication before embarking on their trip.
■ RELIGION
Temple to be built in France
Fo Kuang Shan Monastery, the nation's largest Buddhist monastery, said on Sunday it would build a temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges City in north-central France, which will opened to the public by 2012. The complex, designed by a French architect couple, Frederic and Polly Rolland, and Taiwan's Kris Yao (姚仁喜), will be built on environmentally friendly concepts, said Master Man Chien (滿謙), chief abbess of Fo Kuang Shan in Europe, at a dedication ceremony. It will be a modern building comprising three halls housing statues of Buddha and bodhisattvas, an art museum, classrooms and dormitories. Construction will start next month and the complex is scheduled to be completed before the end of next year, she said.
■ AIRPORT
Airport corridor collapses
A telescopic corridor at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport connecting passengers between the terminal and planes collapsed yesterday, but nobody was hurt, an airport official said. The accident at the airport's 10-year-old second terminal stunned hundreds of passengers waiting to board their planes. “It's a shame to Taiwan,” one passenger told TVBS news network. The airport, inaugurated 30 years ago, has become the target of passenger complaints ranging from leaking roofs to the lack of trolleys and the poor quality and management of airport staff. Transport authorities have launched a project to renovate the aging terminal at a cost of NT$3.2
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
China is attempting to subsume Taiwanese culture under Chinese culture by promulgating legislation on preserving documents on ties between the Minnan region and Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday. China on Tuesday enforced the Fujian Province Minnan and Taiwan Document Protection Act to counter Taiwanese cultural independence with historical evidence that would root out misleading claims, Chinese-language media outlet Straits Today reported yesterday. The act is “China’s first ad hoc local regulations in the cultural field that involve Taiwan and is a concrete step toward implementing the integrated development demonstration zone,” Fujian Provincial Archives deputy director Ma Jun-fan (馬俊凡) said. The documents
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