President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday suggested that a proposal to set up an age criteria for members of the Council of Grand Justices should not be included in the Organic Law of Judicial Yuan (司法院組織法).
Proposed amendments to the law, now under legislative review, seek to push for judicial reform. Chen therefore considered it improper for a KMT proposal to stipulate that grand justices must not be older than 65.
The proposal sponsored by KMT Legislator Chen Chien-min (
The bill has the backing of KMT and PFP lawmakers. But the DPP and many legal specialists argued it would be unfair to set up an age limit because no other countries have such practice.
The proposed amendment has fueled speculation that Judicial Yuan Vice President Cheng Chung-mo (
Chen yesterday called upon all parties to cooperate to push for judicial reforms and said he hoped the KMT will not obstruct the reform drive simply to be at odds with the DPP. He made the appeal during the party's Central Standing Committee meeting.
DPP officials said the party is pushing for the judicial reforms following the conclusions made in 1999 at the National Judicial Reform Conference called by the then KMT administration.
The officials urged the KMT not to change its views because of the change in the party's political fortunes.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai