Yilan County authorities yesterday destroyed imported abalones contaminated with cancer-causing antibiotics.

Exhibitors at the Yilan Pavilion during the 2009 Taipei International Travel Fair (ITF) will offer a wide variety of incentives to visitors who plan on taking sightseeing or recreational trips to the northeastern county.

A fireman was missing after trying to save a drowning woman at a beach in Yilan County on Wednesday.

For NT$2.8 million, a group of wood bandits cut down 31 Taiwan Red Cypresses, said to be over 500 years old. They were captured in a police raid in Taiping Mountain, Yilan and are facing possible jail terms.

A harbor patrol yesterday rescued three men who had been missing for 13 hours after their fishing vessel caught on fire, local media reported.

Agricultural losses from Typhoon Parma had reached NT$41.12 million (US$1.277 million) as of Monday, according to statistics released by the Council of Agriculture (COA).

Lu Kuo-hua, magistrate of Yilan seeking reelection, was so busy yesterday that he got his wife to register his candidacy for a second term.

Two men died in the seas off Kungliao near Yilan yesterday. Police said one of them drowned while snorkeling.

A 2-day invitational surfing contest, which has attracted more than 150 competitors from around the world, will be held Aug. 1 at Wushi Harbor in Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan, the county announced yesterday.

The Yilan County government's education department received NT$6 million from two lottery winners, and will be using the money to implement its program to help children and youths from disadvantaged segments of society.