Taiwan’s government on Friday urged the public to stop burning incense sticks and ritual money in honour of the dead and opt instead for online worshipping to better protect the environment.The call came ahead of Monday’s Tomb Sweeping Festival, when ethnic Chinese traditionally visit the graves of their ancestors to burn incense and paper offerings.

The practice not only worsens the island’s air pollution but could also cause fires, warned the cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration.

“We can now choose to pay homage to our ancestors in a modern and environmentally friendly way by worshipping online or donating the money meant for the offerings to charities,” it said in a statement.

In Taipei and Hong Kong, horrid crimes are no longer left for tabloid readers to imagine.

Crimes are now re-enacted by animators, who render the latest real-life carjackings and knifings into video game-quality digital cartoons.

The videos, as visually alluring as the Grand Theft Auto game series, are produced within hours. Recently, within one day of a police officer’s murder, the Apple Daily tabloids released a vivid re-enactment of the murder — capturing the perp’s haircut, the length of his blade and the torrent of blood spurting from the officer’s neck.

“People really want to watch stuff instead of reading,” said Simon Lee, CEO of multimedia for Apple Daily. The tabloids, which already attract Taiwan and Hong Kong readers with hardcore crime coverage in print, launched their “Motion News” in mid-November.

Some of the Chinese-language animations are posted online and can be viewed here. But the tabloids are mostly…