The Presidential Office yesterday announced the list of 15 candidates who President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will nominate to serve as new members of the Council of Grand Justices.
The list of nominees includes three women which the government says shows the value its places on women's rights.
The president also nominated the incumbent Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"The Presidential Office will present the nominees to the Legislative Yuan in late May in order to get the legislators' consent," Chiou said.
The main mission of the Council of Grand Justices, whose term in office is eight years, is interpreting the Constitution and unifying the interpretation of laws and ordinances.
Fifteen new grand justices are scheduled to take office in October.
Only three incumbent grand justices have been nominated by Chen, including Lin Young-mou (
The three women candidates are Supreme Court judge Hsu Pi-hu (
According to constitutional ammendments passed in 2000, the Judicial Yuan shall have 15 grand justices, of which one is the president and another is the vice president of the Judicial Yuan.
The KMT-PFP alliance in the Legislative Yuan announced yesterday that it would approve only 10 of the nominees on the list, saying that the others are pro-DPP and are therefore not qualified because they cannot be impartial and objective.
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
Japanese Councilor Hei Seki (石平) on Wednesday said that he plans to visit Taiwan, saying that would “prove that Taiwan is an independent country and does not belong to China.” Seki, a member of the Japan Innovation Party, was born in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province and became a naturalized Japanese in 2007. He was elected to the House of Concilors last year. His views on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — espoused in a series of books on politics and history — prompted Beijing to sanction him, including barring Seki from traveling to China. Seki wrote on X that he intends