Members of the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office are slated to leave today for the Philippines to further investigate the recent shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine coast guards.

Conflicting assessments of the Yoho Beach Resort's legally operable areas have emerged with the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) saying yesterday that none of Yoho Beach Resort's areas can function legally as they have never undergone an environmental impact assessment (EIA), while Interior Minister Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) said two sections can legally operate.

The Pingtung County Government yesterday fined the Yoho Beach Resort NT$120,000 for illegally expanding its hotel's operating area.

Interior Minister Lee Hong-yuan yesterday said his ministry will discuss with the Pingtung County Government and the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to see what they should do about the Yoho Beach Resort, but maintained that legally licensed sections of the Kenting hotel will remain open.

Environmental authorities have ordered a beach resort in Kenting to suspend operations and expansion after learning that it has never undergone a mandatory government assessment of its impact to the environment, officials said yesterday.

Seven people were hospitalized and one person reportedly died yesterday due to exhaustion after swimming against strong ocean currents in an attempt to return to shore at the 2013 Olympic Hengchun Open Water Swimming event in Kenting.

The atmosphere continued heating up in Kenting yesterday, as more tourists and music-lovers arrived at the southernmost tip of Taiwan for the Spring Scream Festival.

Most of the hostels in Kenting (墾丁) are fully booked, while many of the major hotels are 80 to 90 percent reserved, as the annual music festival season prepares to kick off in April.

A 50-year-old man named Chen Wen-chang (陳文昌) surrendered to police late Saturday, claiming to be the driver of a hit-and-run 20 hours ago that resulted in three dead and three injured in Pingtung County's Donggang Township.

More than 12,000 Chinese goshawks flew past Kenting in the southern county of Pingtung Saturday, the highest number in a single day this year, as they migrate south for the winter.