■ LEGISLATION
KMT will not revisit bills
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) yesterday said the party would not support a reconsideration of the two amendments to the Farmers Association Law (農會法) and the Fishermen Association Law (漁會法) that critics said would pave the way for the "return of black gold politics." She said the decision was made by a group of seven party members in charge of studying the feasibility of overturning the two passed amendments, adding that the party's final position on the issue would need to be approved during today's caucus meeting.
■ LEGISLATION
Amendment passes reading
A legislative committee yesterday passed the first reading of an amendment to the Physically and Mentally Disabled Citizens Protection Act (身心障礙者保護法) to increase employment opportunities for the disabled. The Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare Committee estimates the proposed amendment would provide 4,800 additional jobs for the disabled. The Physically and Mentally Disabled Citizens Protection Act has been amended seven times since it was first enacted in 1980. Article 31 of the act stipulates that any government agency, public school, or state-run institution with 50 or more employees must reserve 2 percent of its jobs for disabled workers and that any private school, organization, or private business firm with 100 or more employees must reserve at least 1 percent of its jobs for disabled workers.
■ DIPLOMACY
Huang vows to protect ties
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will pull out all the stops to consolidate the country's diplomatic relations with its allies in Central America, Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said on Sunday. Huang made the remarks amid reports of concern about a possible "wave of diplomatic defection to China" or "switch of diplomatic allegiance to China" of Taiwan's allies in the region. Huang headed for Belize yesterday to meet his counterparts from Central American countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The meeting is a regular annual event which takes place alternately in Taiwan and one of its allies in the region.
■ POLITICS
Ministry to appeal CKS fine
The Ministry of Education will file an appeal if it is slapped with a fine by the Taipei City Government over the removal of dictator Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) name from a memorial hall, an official said yesterday. Chu Nan-hsien (朱楠賢), director of the ministry's Social Education Department, made the remarks after Lee Yung-ping (李永萍), director of Taipei City's Cultural Affairs Department, said the day before that her department had fined the "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" Administration NT$100,000 for failure to remove the canvas blocking the name plate of the hall and the two giant banners on the walls of the hall. Lee said that the notice for the cloth's removal was issued on Saturday evening and that the fine was handed out on Sunday. Successive fines will be levied for violating provisions of the Cultural Assets Preservation Law if the administration of the hall, which is under the the ministry's jurisdiction, fails to take action, she added. In response, Chu said he saw nothing illegal in "putting clothes" on the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. If the city government insisted on its stance, Chu said, the ministry would appeal the case after receiving the fine.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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