The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday announced it would hold four televised sessions for presidential nominee contenders to explain their platforms in the run-up to the party primaries next month.
While a minor issue in the party primaries, the decision resolves several of presidential hopeful Annette Lu’s (呂秀蓮) grievances with the DPP’s primaries process, which she said was unfair.
Lu said she was “satisfied” with the verdict even though she had asked the party to hold up to 12 sessions, but later toned down her request to four.
TREADING CAREFULLY
The DPP is treading carefully around Lu, the party’s first declared competitor, after she voiced grievances against a decision to replace party member polls with telephone polls to decide a DPP nominee.
The four television talk spots are an increase from the 2008 primaries, in which only three were held, leading to the ultimate nomination of former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
NOT DEBATES
DPP spokesperson Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the sessions would not be debates and would include little cross-examination, although he said that candidates would be given the chance to make their concerns clear.
The DPP is close to concluding the touchy subject of nominating a presidential contender, with a final candidate expected to be decided on May 4, if not sooner, pending internal negotiations.
During the DPP’s Central Executive Committee meeting yesterday, committee member and Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), concerned that not enough time was given to understand the candidates, proposed holding up to 100 television appearances — an idea that was rapidly shot down.
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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