The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) will petition the Council of Grand Justices to interpret the constitutionality of the organic law of the National Communications Commission (NCC, 國家通訊傳播委員會組織法), a TSU lawmaker said yesterday.
Ho Min-hao (
As the petition requires the endorsement of more than 73 legislators, the TSU -- which has only 12 lawmakers -- will lobby for support from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Ho said.
Pushed through by the pan-blue camp on Oct. 25 and promulgated by the president on Nov. 9, the NCC law stipulates that 15 representatives will be recommended by the legislature according to the share of seats held by each political party, and the Executive Yuan will recommend three, within 10 days after the law's promulgation.
The commission's 13 members will then be selected from among the 18 nominees by an 11-member review committee, all of them professional experts and academics recommended by political parties based on proportional representation, through open votes within 15 days.
Successful candidates will be named by the premier, who will send the name list to the legislature for approval before officially appointing them, according to the law.
Both the TSU and DPP disapprove of the law, claiming that the legislation will allow political influence in the NCC that is supposed to maintain independence.
However, the DPP has said it will not request a constitutional interpretation on the law unless the pan-blue camp tries to sway the NCC's operations.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced on Friday that the party is accepting public recommendations of NCC nominees and promised that the KMT will not interfere in the operations of the NCC after its formation.
People First Party Legislator Lee Yung-ping (
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