Legislature in chaos over legislative reform bills//See chaotic brawl in Taiwan parliament over chamber reforms

https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202405170022 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/17/world/video/taiwan-parliament-fight-ldn-digvid Politics Legislature in chaos over legislative reform bills 05/17/2024 10:56 PMListen CNA photo May 17, 2024 Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Ruling and opposition lawmakers engaged in physical scuffles and verbal attacks over several controversial bills on Friday, including amendments that would give the Legislature additional powers. The legislators spent more than 10 hours wrangling over the bills during Friday's legislative floor session, which was still proceeding as of 10:30 p.m. as the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan's People Party (TPP) tried to extend Friday's meeting to pass amendments to four bills promoting legislative reforms. Friday's chaos came after a cross-caucus negotiation that lasted for more than five hours on Thursday ended without a clear consensus. It was also because the KMT and the TPP had voted last month in committee, where bills are usually reviewed and discussed, to take their versions of the bills directly to a floor vote without clause-by-clause deliberation, and left the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) proposed bills in the committee. KMT and TPP lawmakers had been stationed outside the main gate of the building where the floor vote was to take place since Wednesday to prevent their DPP counterparts from signing in first to Friday's session and secure the right to have some procedural measures they wanted put at the top of the agenda. CNA photo May 16, 2024 In the morning of Friday, TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) got into a shouting match with DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and DPP lawmaker Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) when Huang accused Ker, who was standing next to him, of "cutting in line." Kuo then "pushed Huang's face away for yelling and spitting." Kuo later said in response to Huang's charge that Kuo had "slapped" him. The legislative session started at 9 a.m. but had failed to enter any of the bills up for consideration onto the agenda for a vote until in the evening as DPP lawmakers tried on and off to take over the speaker's podium, which was guarded by KMT lawmakers. Kuo and DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) tried at one point to jump or climb onto the speaker's podium. Kuo failed, but Chung got over the podium table and grabbed and then dragged down female KMT Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), to whom Chung later apologized and said he accidentally stepped on paper and slipped. CNA photo May 17, 2024 Other sporadic scuffles included what DPP lawmakers claimed was KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin's (徐巧芯) attempt of using a piece of cloth to attack another female DPP lawmaker after Hsu herself was shoved by that lawmaker after being shoved by Hsu. Also, KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) from Kinmen donned a military helmet and wore gloves as she blocked and prevented DPP lawmakers from approaching the podium. Kuo was again in the limelight in the afternoon when he snatched the bill documents from Chou Wan-lai (周萬來), secretary-general of the Legislative Yuan, and ran away to obstruct the proceedings. Cross-caucus negotiations took place intermittently amid the session, but the round of negotiations in the afternoon again failed to reach agreement. The Legislature then broke out in another round of scuffles when Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) returned to the floor to announce the resumption of the meeting at around 6 p.m. The DPP lawmakers then used a series of procedural tactics to delay the proceedings. When Han announced that the discussion of the bills was to begin, he again faced DPP lawmakers' attempt to force their way onto the speaker's podium. Five legislators were sent to the hospital to treat injuries as of 8 p.m. They were DPP lawmakers Chung Chia-pin, Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉), Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄), and Puma Shen (沈伯洋), as well as Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) of the KMT. The session was still proceeding as of 10:30 p.m. (By Alison Hsiao) Enditem/ls

喬治亞通過箝制異議的〈境外影響力法〉將危及加入歐盟

https://global.udn.com/global_vision/story/8662/7965785?direct?from=udn_ch2_menu_v2_main_index 【Daily Podcast】香港YouTube禁止播放〈願榮光歸香港〉／喬治亞通過箝制異議的〈境外影響力法〉將危及加入歐盟 2024/05/15 轉角國際 Daily Podcast 5月14日，喬治亞國會以84票對30票三讀通過備受爭議的《境外影響力》法案，引發... 5月14日，喬治亞國會以84票對30票三讀通過備受爭議的《境外影響力》法案，引發了國內大規模抗議示威。 圖／路透社 ▌請收聽下方連結： 2024年05月15日，新聞追蹤： （1）香港反送中抗爭期間的代表歌曲——〈願榮光歸香港〉——被港府指控為港獨洗腦歌，今年5月初法院裁定港府勝訴後，5月14日全球最大網路影音平台 YouTube 聲明，配合香港法院的裁定，〈願榮光歸香港〉相關的32支影片已無法在香港被搜尋和播放。換言之，香港 YT 已將將這首歌列為禁歌。 儘管YouTube官方聲明中有表達憂慮，但此番操作不僅是進一步打壓言論自由，也有可能強化寒蟬效應，讓其他網路服務的公司也不得不跟進配合港府的禁制令。（延伸閱讀：《中國害怕的音樂造反之歌？香港 YouTube 禁止播放〈願榮光歸香港〉》） （2）5月14日，喬治亞國會以84票對30票三讀通過備受爭議的《境外影響力》法案，引發國內大規模抗議示威。根據法案，未來所有資金來源超過20%來自境外的組織必須註冊為「外國代理人」，違者將承擔25,000喬治亞拉里（約台幣30萬元）以上罰款。喬治亞民眾擔憂國家將以該法箝制異議、對民主自由帶來重大威脅。該法由親俄的執政黨喬治亞之夢（Georgian Dream）起草，法案版本與俄羅斯立法版本相似，也直接觸及喬治亞究竟親俄，或親歐洲與西方的價值對抗。 喬治亞入歐盟資格可能因該法案產生重大影響，歐盟官員先前即警告法案將限制民間組織自由運作的空間，有鑒於喬治亞超過8成公民希望入歐盟，呼籲喬治亞政府謹慎評估。法案通過後，美國、英國、德國、義大利與法國等，皆敦促喬治亞撤回該法案。美國也表示將重新評估與喬治亞的關係；反觀克里姆林宮則回應，該法案被特定人利用「煽動反俄的情緒」，也不會以任何形式干涉喬治亞內政。 《境外影響力》法案版本與俄羅斯立法版本相似，也直接觸及喬治亞究竟親俄，或親歐洲與... 《境外影響力》法案版本與俄羅斯立法版本相似，也直接觸及喬治亞究竟親俄，或親歐洲與西方的價值對抗。 圖／路透社