Fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island cause smoky haze Typhoon Koinu strengthens while moving toward Taiwan Adolf Hitler’s birthplace in Austria to become police station

PALEMBANG, Indonesia – More than 300 forest and peatland fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island caused hazy skies across the region on Monday, prompting government officials to ask people to work from home.

The military, police and local government were working together to extinguish the fires, which were burning in 316 places across South Sumatra province, but their work was complicated by the extreme dry weather, said Iriansyah, the head of the South Sumatra Disaster Management Agency.

The smoky haze drifted from the fires toward Palembang, the capital of South Palembang province, causing unhealthy air conditions for the area’s 1.7 million people.

The government in South Sumatra last week called on schools to delay their opening time, as the haze tends to decrease during the day.

But on Monday, the schools asked students to attend classes online, as the air quality had worsened and was categorized as “dangerous.”

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Typhoon Koinu, traveling westward from the Pacific, was strengthening as it moved toward Taiwan, meteorologists on the island said Monday.

The storm was expanding in size and was expected to make landfall by Thursday morning, they said.

Koinu was moving northwest with sustained winds of 89 mph and gusts of up to 112 mph, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.

Forecasters predict the center of the storm will hit the island’s southern cities, while bringing heavy rains to the east coast including the city of Taitung.

BRAUNAU AM INN, Austria – Work started Monday on turning the house in Austria where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 into a police station, a project meant to make it unattractive as a site of pilgrimage for people who glorify the Nazi dictator.

The decision on the future of the building in Braunau am Inn, a town on Austria’s border with Germany, was made in late 2019.

Plans call for a police station, the district police headquarters and a security academy branch where police officers will get human rights training.

On Monday, workers put up fencing and started taking measurements for the construction work.

The police are expected to occupy the premises in early 2026.