■ 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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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