The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vowed yesterday to push through a draft organic law concerning the formation of the Central Election Commission (CEC) in a proposed legislative extra session.
KMT legislative caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) told reporters that the party is poised to have the draft CEC organic law approved during the planned extra session since the KMT had allowed the passage of this year's central government budget bill on May 15 -- the last day of the previous session.
Hsu's remarks came after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) called earlier in the day for an extra legislative session to be held as soon as possible to handle 13 bills that the DPP has submitted, and urged the KMT not to continue insisting on screening the draft CEC organic law first as a way to block other bills.
Since the annual budget bill has cleared the Legislative Yuan, Hsu argued that the DPP and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) should in turn permit the pan-blue camp drafted CEC organic law to pass.
Commenting on the 13 bills that the DPP hopes to deal with in the extra session, Hsu said the KMT would support the passage of those pertaining to Taiwan's economic development but would not back a bill that aims to get back for the national coffers the KMT's ill-gotten assets.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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