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Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen presided over the unveiling ceremony of the vessel named Ta Chiang, a new prototype developed on the domestically made Tuo Chiang-class guided-missile corvette. At the Lungteh shipyard in Su’ao, a township in Taiwan’s eastern Yilan County, Tsai said the new warship program was a sign of the country’s determination to defend its waters and protect its territory and sovereignty. The upgraded Tuo Chiang-class warships come equipped with subsonic and supersonic anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, as well as an array of anti-surface weaponry, including torpedo tubes and Hsiung Feng III missiles capable of hitting range targets at distances of up to 250 miles....

The Tuo Chiang-class corvette ROCS Ta Chiang entered service at a commissioning ceremony attended by Tsai Ing-wen and other military officials at the Su’ao naval base in Taiwan’s eastern Yilan County. It followed the completion of sea trials that began last December. The agile, catamaran-style warship with a maximum displacement of 685 tons was made by Taiwanese company Lungteh Shipbuilding. The vessel’s armaments were developed and fitted by state defense researcher National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST)....

In a rare statement addressing directly the topic of U.S.-Taiwan relations, Tsai called America an “important ally” and sought to reassure the public that her administration maintained close ties with both the Republican and Democratic parties. She insisted that support for Taiwan was now “bipartisan” and “mainstream” in the United States, and vowed to work with whichever candidate was elected to office. Faced with escalating military pressure from China since her election, Tsai has been bolstered by unusually strong support from the Trump administration, which has followed through on its anti-China policy by approving 10 weapons deals with Taipei since 2017....

Chiu Kuo-cheng, who heads Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, attended a budget review on Wednesday as his department tried to justify 240 billion New Taiwan dollars ($8.56 billion) in special spending for more anti-ship and land-based cruise missiles. Questions by members of the Taiwanese parliament’s Foreign and National Defense Committee and Finance Committee revolved around China’s rapidly expanding military capabilities, as well as the recent surge in People’s Liberation Army aircraft conducting training missions southwest of the island....

A Chinese aircraft carrier task group led by Liaoning is currently conducting what Beijing has called a “routine” combat exercise east of Taiwan, while the U.S. military monitors the drill in the Pacific and deploys the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group to the South China Sea. These are signs that the U.S., China and Taiwan are locked in a “vicious cycle” as tensions continue to rise in the region, according to Ma Chen-kun, a professor with the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies at National Defense University in Taoyuan in northeastern Taiwan....

Baushuan Ger, who used to head up Taipei’s representative office in Chicago, suggested a convergence of “new security interests” might bring the two democracies closer together. Ger was posted to New Delhi in September, at a time when Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen was enjoying unusually vocal support from India’s active Twitter community. Her popularity came against the backdrop of the Indian Army’s violent clashes with Chinese troops in Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control, resulting in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers in this summer....

Taking a look at NBA teams’ status regarding in-arena attendance If the teams are planning to get fans into their respective arenas, they will need to make the necessary arrangements while keeping the COVID-19 protocols in mind. On that note, let’s see what each team’s current status is regarding fan attendance. #1 Atlanta Hawks Arena: State Farm Arena The Atlanta Hawks haven’t made an announcement on whether they will welcome the fans back....

Final Fantasy is an interesting franchise, as no two numbered entries are alike. Ever since the second game on the NES, mainline Final Fantasy has taken an anthology approach to both its worlds and gameplay. Experimentation with mechanics and the job system gave way to active-time battles, jobs emphasized and de-emphasized, individual class customization became more prominent in the PS1 era, even shifting towards MMO gameplay for a time. Final Fantasy 15 marks the jump to outright action gameplay, and Final Fantasy 16 looks to push it as far as it can go....

Baghlan is one of 34 provinces in Afghanistan. A large number of armored government vehicles, weapons and ammunition were seized by the Taliban, a spokesman for the group, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter. He added that most areas in the Baghlan district had been “cleared of mercenaries”. The BBC and local media outlets confirmed that other areas of central Baghlan had been captured by the Taliban. The armed group captured the Burka district in Baghlan, on Wednesday....

Tellme, and a host of other start-ups with names like BeVocal and Quack.com, hope to shake up something else: the telephone. The companies are called “voice portals,” and you can think of them as MovieFone on steroids. Riding a wave of investor interest in extending the Internet past the PC, they aim to take the full range of features of a Web portal like Yahoo and transfer them to an 800 number with the help of the rapidly evolving field of speech recognition....

Mumbai, Jan 8 (PTI) Six-time former junior national champion Ramit Tandon upset eighth seed Tom Richards of England with surprising ease to enter the quarter finals of the USD 70,000 CCI International JSW Indian Squash Circuit here on Wednesday. Tandon, ranked 68 in the world, who upset 9/16 seed Joshua Masters, also of England, in the first round on Tuesday, took just 29 minutes to pack off Richards, globally ranked 20 on the professional circuit, 11-7, 11-1, 11-2 to enter the last eight....

From the prized Coucou de Rennes chickens to the grass-fed Sougeal or Couesnon geese, foodies should have no trouble filling their stomachs for the 231-kilometer (143.5-mile) trek from Fougeres, home to the best-preserved and largest medieval fortress in Europe, to Chartres, site of a vast cathedral known for its stained-glass windows. Riding directly east in northwestern France, the stage concludes in an area known as Cosmetic Valley for its cluster of cosmetics and perfume companies....

For the last of three days in the Alps, the Tour scales arguably its most iconic mountain — Alpe d’Huez and its 21 hairpin bends — on Thursday. Even before starting the 13.8-kilometer (8.5-mile) climb with an 8.1 percent gradient to the ski resort, riders will be pushed to their limits to overcome the increasingly difficult ascents of Col de la Madeleine, Lacets de Montvernier, and Col de la Croix de Fer (at an altitude of 2,067 meters)....

[HTML1] Gamers were hoping for some serious surprise announcements from this year’s VGX 2013, and the first certainly didn’t disappoint. The game in question is Tales From The Borderlands, giving award-winning studio Telltale Games the keys to the world of Borderlands. Promising a chance to put Telltale’s talent for developing compelling narratives and story-based adventures to work on one of the most unique and successful game franchises in recent years, the first trailer for Tales From The Borderlands may just have fans of both franchises wondering why it didn’t happen sooner....

The New York Mets star pitcher is feeling lucky his run-in with a hard line drive Saturday didn’t turn out worse. Syndergaard left the game after he was hit by Cesar Hernandez’s liner in the seventh inning. Still, he managed to slow the Philadelphia Phillies’ playoff run despite allowing a career-worst 12 hits and five walks in the Mets’ 10-5 victory. “That was really the one right there,” Syndergaard said, adding that “most of them have been pretty softly hit or on the ground....

The school honored Jim Boeheim’s first two recruits by retiring their jersey numbers in the rafters of the Carrier Dome. MORE: 30 of the best teams not to win | Carolinas road trip | UNC runs four corners play The ceremony went without a hitch until the men were presented with framed versions of their jerseys. Bouie’s jersey, encased in a glass frame, misspelled his last name “Bowie.” Oops. We’re guessing the embroidery machine doesn’t have spell check....

The Blue Devils forced overtime against all those odds with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Rasheed Sulaimon, but they came up short in the extra session, falling to the Orange 91-89 on Saturday night. Jabari Parker and Amile Jefferson both picked up their fourth fouls before the 10-minute mark of the second half, and the Orange (21-0, 8-0 ACC) began a surge with both players on the bench that saw their lead grow to 66-59 with 6:40 left....

The attack was on Virginia’s Division of Legislative Automated Services, or DLAS. It came as lawmakers and staff were in the middle of preparing for a legislative session slated to begin in January. Gov. Ralph Northam’s spokeswoman, Alena Yarmosky, confirmed the attack on the General Assembly’s IT agency. Yarmosky said Northam has been informed about the incident and told executive branch agencies to offer help in “assessing and responding to this ongoing situation,” according to a statement given to The Associated Press....