Boy lived with dead mom for more than a week

Boy lived with dead mom for more than a week

ROMULUS, Mich. — An 8-year-old boy lived for more than a week with the body of his dead mother before telling a concerned shopkeeper his mom was “in a better place,” police said.

Gaynell Tipado, 41, apparently died Jan. 9 in their apartment in the Detroit suburb of Romulus, and the boy survived in part by eating dried rice, butter and flour, authorities said.

The family moved to Michigan from Louisiana after surviving Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Foul play was not suspected in Tipado’s death, and an autopsy was pending.

Lee Saco, who co-owns the store with his brother Sam, said his concern heightened on Monday when the boy tried to buy $34.80 worth of grocery items with his mother’s credit card.

Deadly clash probed

SEOUL, South Korea — Authorities stepped up their investigation today into a deadly clash that left six people dead and 23 injured at a vacant office building occupied by displaced tenants in central Seoul.

Forensic experts searched inside the five-story building in Seoul’s Yongsan neighborhood as human rights officials investigated whether police used excessive force Tuesday morning to break up the protest.

A team of 100 commandos landed on the roof in a shipping container to break up the protest by some 40 people who had camped for days in the building. The protesters were tenants and small business owners pushing for better compensation from construction companies redeveloping buildings in the area, a tenants’ rights group said.

Madoff’s investors unlikely to get much satisfaction

NEW YORK — Investing a dollar and getting 10 cents back in return is a bad deal even in today’s market. But recovering 10 cents on the dollar might be optimistic for investors who gave their cash to Bernard Madoff.

Moreover, they face a years-long process to get any money back as investigators search to find Madoff’s assets. Dozens of lawsuits and the possibility the fraud was committed over decades makes the chance of recovery even more difficult.

Madoff has become one of the most vilified people in America since news broke Dec. 11 that he had confessed to running a giant Ponzi scheme, paying returns to certain investors out of the principal received from others. He’s estimated to have duped investors out of as much as $50 billion.

Experts agree that the first of any recovery payments might be years in the future.

World kissing capital

MEXICO CITY — When you come to Guanajuato, pucker up.

Mayor Eduardo Romero is declaring the colonial city in central Mexico “the kissing capital” of the world to disprove, once and for all, claims that he has banned smooching in public.

The flap arose over an anti-obscenity law that many people believed would fine anyone caught kissing in public. The government denied it intended to ban kissing, but agreed to suspend the legislation so its wording could be reviewed.

Romero unveiled advertisements Tuesday featuring a couple locking lips on one of Guanajuato’s many winding, cobble-stoned streets. They read: “Guanajuato, the kissing capital.”

Associated Press