■ Society
Law trumps feng shui
A Taiwanese man has been sentenced to four months in jail for cutting down more than 40 trees at an apartment complex, claiming they would undermine the feng shui of his nearby house, a newspaper said yesterday. Feng shui is the Chinese practice of geomancy, in which objects and spaces are arranged to supposedly achieve harmony with the environment. The Taipei District Court convicted "feng shui expert" Lo Pu-yi (羅蒲逸) of cutting down the trees in an apartment complex next to his home on a hill in suburban Taipei, the Apple Daily reported. It said Lo's neighbors had accused him of cutting down the banyan and willow trees, as well as bamboo, saying the foliage blocked the flow of air and could undermine his livelihood. A separate court will handle his neighbors' claim for NT$400,000 (US$12,000) in damages, the paper said. Lo could not be reached for comment.
■ Health
CDC announces flight rule
A new regulation is slated to take effect as early as September that will bar people in the infectious phase of tuberculosis from taking flights that are longer than eight hours in duration. "This is a measure to protect the other passengers on the aircraft," Director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said. Infectious tuberculosis patients will be able to fly on flights shorter than eight hours as long as they wear a face mask. Taiwan is taking its cue from WHO standards in determining the eight-hour cut-off point, Kuo said. "If a patient follows the suggestions for treatment of tuberculosis, he or she should only be infectious for two weeks or so," CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ding (林頂) said. "In the meantime, they can still travel provided they adjust their itinerary to take shorter flights," Lin said.
■ Crime
Father dies, riddle remains
Yin Duo (尹鐸), the father of murdered navy captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓), died yesterday with his wish of uncovering the truth behind his son's death still unfulfilled. The infamous Yin murder, associated with the Lafayette frigate procurement scandal, remains unsolved after 14 years. Yin is widely believed to have been about to blow the whistle on colleagues who were taking kickbacks from the deal. Since Yin Ching-feng's death in late 1993, Yin Duo has been traveling around the country and collecting information to try and solve the mystery of his son's death, but to no avail. Yin Duo was admitted to Minsheng hospital in Taoyuan last Thursday with a brain hemorrhage. He passed away yesterday, aged 86. Yin Ching-feng's widow, Li Mei-kuei (李美葵), said that her husband died before his son's murder could be solved would remain a lifelong regret for the family.
■ Weather
Cold front approaching
An approaching cold front is expected to send temperatures in most of Taiwan to below 10?C over the next three days starting tomorrow, according to a forecast by the Central Weather Bureau. Meteorologists said that northeastern Taiwan and areas north of Tainan, as well as the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu, could experience temperatures as low as 7?C between tomorrow and Monday. The mercury is expected to rise slightly from Tuesday but parts of Taiwan could still have early morning temperatures down to 10?C or lower until next Friday. The bureau warned aquaculturists to take preventive measures against cold weather losses.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
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