Thu, Nov 23, 2006 page3

• Taiwan Quick Take

  • STAFF WRITER WITH CNA
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  ■ Society
  Man keeps mom's body

  Police were stunned to discover that a man has lived with his dead mother for more than seven years in the belief that she would come back to life, it was reported yesterday. The man, surnamed Lin, told police that his mother died at his home in Tainan County in March 1999, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) and the television network TVBS reported. Lin, 55, said he was very sad about his mother's death and did not bury her because he firmly believed she would one day return to life. Lin had managed to preserve the body by draining the blood from it, the newspaper said, carrying a photograph. Lin said he recently stopped thinking his mother would be resurrected, prompting him to contact the police. "Initially I thought he said his mother died seven days ago. It's hard to believe," a police officer was seen as saying in a film clip broadcast by TVBS. The police are investigating the case.

  ■ Politics

  Third recall fails to inspire

  In preparation for tomorrow's vote, the legislature yesterday began a two-day review of the third recall motion against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). The pan-greens largely ignored the review of this recall motion -- as they did the reviews of the two previous recall motions -- and Chen once again refused to submit a written rebuttal. Even pan-blue lawmakers, who initiated the third recall, were late for the review meeting. As a result the meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 9am, didn't get going until 9:50am because there were not enough legislators to constitute a quorum. The meeting was subsequently adjourned from 10am to noon and resumed in the afternoon.

  ■ Politics

  Committee fines Cabinet

  A special legislative committee fined the Executive Yuan yesterday for refusing to cooperate in its investigation into the March 19, 2004, shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), but the Cabinet refused to pay. The committee investigating "the truth" of the March 19, 2004, shooting said it was fining Cabinet departments and officials between NT$30,000 and NT$100,000 for boycotting the committee and for contempt of the legislature. Government Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) quoted a Council of Grand Justices interpretation as saying that the "319 Committee" was only an "internal organization" of the Legislative Yuan and that the Executive Yuan did not have any obligation to provide documents or allow its officials to be questioned.

  ■ Politics

  Lee undergoes checkup

  Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) visited a hospital for a checkup yesterday after suffering from a high fever over the past couple of days. Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus whip Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙) confirmed that Lee went to the Taipei Veterans General Hospital after meeting TSU caucus leaders and the party's candidates for the year-end mayoral and city councilor elections at his residence in Taoyuan County. Yesterday's meeting was seen as a move to debunk speculation that Lee was unhappy with the TSU's about-face on the legislature's third attempt to recall President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Before the two-hour closed-door meeting, Lee made a public speech in which he criticized the Democratic Progressive Party and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for engaging in political strife.
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