The legislature's Procedure Committee -- convened yesterday ahead of the new legislative session which is scheduled to start on Friday -- adjourned within 10 seconds because of the absence of People First Party (PFP) lawmakers.
The committee was expected to put a proposal on the schedule for reviewing and voting on President Chen Shui-bian's (
Under the proposal, the legislature will hold confirmation votes on the nominations next Friday, followed by one-day plenary session for a question-and-answer meeting with the candidate for auditor-general and a two-day meeting with nominees for grand justices.
The proposal also states that the new legislative session will start this Friday, while the interpellation session with Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
The schedule was approved by all party caucuses during negotiations on Monday. PFP caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) was not present, but his two deputies and PFP Legislator Daniel Huang (黃義交) attended the meeting.
Although Huang had signed the agreement, PFP lawmakers failed to show up yesterday.
Citing the lack of a signature from Fu during Monday's negotiation, KMT Legislator Hsu Shao-ping (
Caught off guard, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers failed to reverse the decision in time. They later called a press conference condemning the KMT and PFP for boycotting the confirmation hearing.
"Despite the PFP's absence, lawmakers present at the meeting already constituted a quorum. There was no reason for Hsu to dismiss the meeting," DPP Legislator Cheng Tsao-min (鄭朝明) said, accusing the KMT of colluding with the PFP to organize the boycott.
Fu told reporters that the PFP does not oppose the review, but "we wanted to review the candidates one by one, not as a whole."
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said he would convene another cross-party negotiation meeting this morning to discuss the matter.
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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