■ Politics
Pan-blues: Cancel it
Opposition lawmakers want President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to cancel his inauguration ceremony this Thursday, saying yesterday that the recount of the votes cast in the presidential election is showing that the vote was riddled with serious errors. Judges and court officials have spent four days recounting ballots. The tedious process, expected to take 10 days, has uncovered several problems, including missing voter lists, mismarked ballots and votes that were sealed in the wrong bags, according to the pan-blue camp. Backers of the losing candidate, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), said yesterday that more than 30,000 disputed votes had already been found. That should prompt the president to call off the inauguration, the opposition said. ``Friends in the media, people of Taiwan, we must speak out loudly. Under these conditions, the inauguration should be halted,'' KMT legislator Sun Kauo-hwa (孫國華) said in a speech in the legislature. Another opposition lawmaker, Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) of the People First Party, also called for the inauguration to be canceled. ``When a majority of people suspect that Chen Shui-bian won the March 20 election by relying on cheating and fraud, then President Chen Shui-bian should announce now that on May 20 he will not be inaugurated,'' Chou said in a speech in the legislature.
■ Crime
Charges mulled in bus case
Taiwanese prosecutors were considering charging a bus driver and a daycare center aide in the death of a 6-year-old girl who was locked in a school bus for eight hours in the scorching afternoon heat. Police have recommended charges of ``causing death because of dereliction of duty'' against driver Wu Fu-chun (吳福春) and aide Lin Yi-hui (林怡慧), said prosecutor Chang Kui-fang (張桂芳) of the Taichung District Court. The girl, Chang Ya-wen (張雅雯), died in the heat Wednesday after she didn't get off the bus when it arrived at school. The driver and aide said they did not notice she was still on the bus when they locked the vehicle after three other children got off. The driver found the girl on the vehicle's floor when he was preparing to take children home.
■ Diplomacy
Cambodia bars visitor
Cambodia has barred a trip by an "adviser" to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) over concerns it would upset relations with China, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. Officials were ordered Thursday to block a visit by "the honorary president of the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, who is also the adviser to the Taiwanese president," out of respect for China's sovereignty, Hun Sen said. ``We cannot allow ourselves to be under [the influence of] any assistance or investment from Taiwan while trampling upon the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China,'' Hun Sen told reporters. China's influence in Cambodia has grown in recent years with Beijing contributing millions of dollars in grants and loans to the country. It also has pledged to write off all past debts owed by Cambodia.
■ Earthquake
Small quake hits Hualien
A moderate earthquake shook eastern parts of the country yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, the Central Weather Bureau said. The quake measured 4 on the Richter scale and was centered about 5km east of Hualien and 180km southeast of Taipei, the bureau said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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