Hoping to rebuild the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) integrity after a series of scandals, the party's caucus is prohibiting any member involved in a lawsuit from standing for the legislature's Judiciary Committee.
"Caucus members are strictly forbidden from signing up for the Judiciary Committee if they or relatives within `three grades of family' are involved in a lawsuit at the time," DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
"Three grades of family" refer to parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
The ban was approved during the DPP caucus' meeting yesterday. It comes in the wake of DPP Legislator Lin Yun-sheng (
Lin's father, Lin Tsung-nan (林宗男), is facing corruption charges relating to his tenure as the previous Nantou County commissioner.
"I want to sign up for the Judiciary Committee for me, not for my father. I thought other committees might be too popular. But now I will follow the decision that was made at the caucus meeting," Lin Yun-sheng said.
Meanwhile, legislators across party lines will propose an amendment to the Legislators' Conduct Act (
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
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