■POLITICS
Prosecutors appeal on Lee
Taipei prosecutors yesterday went to the Taiwan High Court to appeal the Taipei District Court ruling against former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), saying Lee committed forgery in addition to fraud. The district court last month found Lee guilty of fraud for possessing dual citizenship while she was an elected official, sentencing her to two years in prison. Lee was convicted of four counts of fraud in connection with her US citizenship. An original four-year sentence was commuted to two years. But the district court decided Lee had not committed forgery. Prosecutors said Lee only declared her Republic of China (ROC) citizenship on the forms she filled out before becoming a Taipei City councilor in 1994 and during her three terms as a lawmaker starting in 1998. They said she deliberately left blank the field asking whether she held citizenship of any country other than the ROC, which constitutes forgery under the Criminal Code. Public officials are not allowed to hold dual citizenship.
■SOCIETY
Dozens injured at festival
Thirty-three people were injured at the Taiwan Lantern Festival on Sunday night in Chiayi, with seven of them remaining hospitalized yesterday. A six-year-old girl had the worst injury, suffering third-degree burns to her face. The accident took place during the fireworks display when the main lantern was illuminated. Several of the fireworks fell into the crowd, injuring spectators. The contractor in charge of the display said the fireworks may have malfunctioned because of the humidity, which caused them to deviate from their designated paths. Government officials and Chiayi Mayor Huang Ming-hui (黃敏惠) visited the injured in hospital on Sunday night. Huang said the city would take full responsibility for the accident.
■HEALTH
Fungus properties found
A fungus widely used in medicine in Taiwan — Taiwanofungus camphoratus — has been proven to contain an anti-inflammatory compound, a local research team said yesterday. David Wang (王升陽), an associate professor at National Chung Hsing University’s Department of Forestry and the head of the team, unveiled the results of the study at a news conference. The study was also recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Though T. camphoratus contains 100 compounds, the team was able to prove that the fungus, which can only be found in the wild growing on the inner bark of a local camphor tree called Cinnamomum kanehirai, has anti-inflammatory properties through its bioactive compound, antrocamphin A. The study also found that antrocamphin A could be derived from T. camphoratus after being cultivated for nine months, Wang said.
■HEALTH
Morakot money not spent
More than half of the donations collected by the government and private charities to provide relief to Typhoon Morakot victims have yet to be used, the latest government statistics showed. Of the NT$22 billion (US$684 million) collected for victim relief and post-disaster reconstruction, only 49.05 percent has been spent, with NT$11.4 billion still untouched, figures released by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) showed. The donations were collected by 69 fund-raising groups, including the MOI, local governments, the Red Cross Society, social welfare and charity organizations, non-profit foundations and religious groups.
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
NINTH MONTH: There were 11,792 births in Taiwan last month and 15,563 deaths, or a mortality rate of 8.11 per 1,000 people, household registration data showed Taiwan’s population was 23,404,138 as of last month, down 2,470 from August, the ninth consecutive month this year that the nation has reported a drop, the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday. The population last month was 162 fewer than the same month last year, a decline of 0.44 per day, the ministry said, citing household registration data. Taiwan reported 11,792 births last month, or 3.7 births per day, up 149 from August, it said, adding that the monthly birthrate was 6.15 per 1,000 people. The jurisdictions with the highest birthrates were Yunlin County at 14.62 per 1,000 people, Penghu County (8.61
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