Taiwan News Quick Take

■ SOCIETY

Last group wedding held

The Taipei City Government held the last legally binding group wedding yesterday on Yangmingshan to coincide with the mountain’s calla lily season. With an amendment to the Civil Law coming into force on May 23, marriages will only be legal after being registered at a Household Registration Office. The old regulations stipulated that a marriage was considered binding if there was public ceremony and at least two notaries present. “Ceremonial marriages” such as group weddings, notarized weddings, religious ceremonies and wedding banquets will no longer be deemed legal. To promote the new law and help newlyweds, the city’s Household Registration Office provided registration services for couples who took part in the wedding yesterday. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was the notary. The city has held 193 group weddings for 14,607 couples since May 20, 1973.

■ SOCIETY

Chen house infested

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will rent a place in Taipei as a temporary home after he steps down and moves out of his official residence on May 20, the Presidential Office said in a statement on Saturday. Chen’s apartment on Taipei’s Ming Sheng East Road is infested with termites and exterminators have yet to complete their work, the statement said. Although Chen has purchased an apartment in Kaohsiung, it will be better for him to remain in Taipei for the time being, the statement said, considering the physical condition of first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), who has been wheelchair-bound since being run over in an attack in 1985. The president said while campaigning for Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) in 2006 that he loves Kaohsiung and would like to relocate there following his retirement on May 20. After the termite problem and other safety issues are resolved, Chen will determine whether he will move back into the apartment or sell it.

■ SOCIETY

Chen to climb Yushan

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will climb Yushan early next month before his second term expires on May 20, Presidential Office officials confirmed yesterday. The event will be held to showcase the president’s “compassion” for Taiwan and respect for the country’s highest mountain, the officials said, adding that the precise date of the climb had not been finalized. The officials declined to comment on an Apple Daily report that said that Chen had been preparing to scale the mountain between May 7 and May 9 in the hope of becoming the first president to set foot on the country’s highest point. At 3,952m, Yushan is the highest mountain in East Asia.

■ POLICE

Slim-down campaign ends

Some 30,000 police officers have succeeded in shedding 45 tonnes of weight in a three-month weight-loss campaign, the National Police Agency said yesterday. It said 33,329 cops had joined the nationwide campaign launched on Jan, 21. By the end of the campaign on April 20, the participants had lost a combined 45,280kg, or 0.7kg per person. Wang Hsu-chung (王旭崇) from Tainan went from a weight of 107.7kg to 80kg, making him the most successful participant. The agency attributed the success of the campaign to exercise, dieting and advice from nutritionists. The agency will present every officer who participated in the campaign with a NT$1,000 gift voucher. A second campaign is already being planned.