英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

On Dec. 7, Hsinchu City Mayor, Hsu Ming-tsai made an appointment of President of Tsing Hua University Chen Li-chun, the professors and students of Department of Computer Science who attended the competition of “SCC, Student Cluster Challenge” in the U.S.A and won the championship. The Mayor commended the students of Tsing Hua for their achievement once again and expected the professors and students of Department of Computer Science to win the honor for Taiwan again next year and continue to hold the title of “Proud of Taiwan”.

The competition of SCC organized by Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and Association of Computing Machinery is one of the top competitions in the realm of global high-performance computing. Only undergraduate students are qualified to attend, and the competition is divided into two sections, namely testing the speed of hardware computing for the first stage and testing the ability of handling the computer software for the second stage. Professor Chung Yeh-ching and Assistant Professor Lee Che-rung of Tsing Hua University led six students to attend the competition together. After a forty six-and half hour competition marathon, National Tsing Hua University won the first place and their outstanding performance has made Taiwan shine in the world.

The Mayor noted that at the moment it is an era of high-speed computing, in order to create more high quality English learning environment for the students, Hsinchu City Government has established the “cloud English ebook bookstore”, which contains nine hundred picture books for the kids. The Mayor expected to use the professional skills of the professors and students of Tsing Hua University to make the Hsinchu citizens enjoying the technology of living.

President of Tsing Hua University, Chen Li-chun appreciated Mayor Hsu for taking education seriously, and praise for his idea toward serving the public. “The difference between whether Tsing Hua is in Hisnchu City or not is whether Tsing Hua contributes to the local”, the President said. He also encouraged the teachers and students of Tsing Hua University to pass down the tradition of benefiting to the society and the nation generation to generation.

Professor Chung Yeh-ching emphasized that it was the 5th competition this year in US. The first time Tsing Hua University used the fastest speed computer, while they did not get any position. This year and last year, they used the lower speed computer, they won the championship. He indicated that all the students during the long-term competition marathon they were high-spirited. Hsu Ke-ron the student especially had not gone to bed for over 40 hours. His classmate Lai Yi-cheng made a joke for that because they were used to stay up all night.

According to AP, The Philippines relaunched an old U.S. Coast Guard cutter Wednesday as its biggest and most modern warship to guard potentially oil-rich waters that are at the center of a dispute with China.

President Benigno Aquino III witnessed the commissioning of the 3,390-ton Philippine navy frigate BRP Gregorio del Pilar in an austere Manila pier ceremony that he said symbolized his country's struggle to modernize its underfunded military despite many obstacles.

"As an archipelago with 36,000 nautical miles of coastline, it's important for us to have an adequate and formidable defense to guard our islands," Aquino said. He added that such a security shield could no longer be mounted "with dilapidated vessels and old and faulty equipment."

As a navy brass band played, Roman Catholic priests sprinkled holy water on the deck of the newly repainted warship, equipped with anti-aircraft guns and a newly refurbished surveillance helicopter on the flight deck. Three navy planes flew over and officials broke a bottle of sugarcane wine on the bow as the ship went into commission.

Officials also unveiled a smaller troop- and tank-carrying ship named BRP Tagbanua, the first of its kind to be assembled in the Philippines.

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) The Legislature amended a law Wednesday to ban the sale of public land plots larger than 1,650 square meters, a move that analysts said will help stop speculating in that market. The amendment to the National Property Act was proposed by Kuomintang Legislator Lai Shyh-bao, who said the current management of public land leaves much to be desired. He noted that the Control Yuan, the nation's highest watchdog body, had repeatedly asked the government improve its poor management of the valuable public resource. Selling state land through open bids brings "more harm than benefit," he said. Under the revised National Property Act, the sale of all vacant and unused public land will be prohibited except in special cases approved by the Executive Yuan, he said. The Executive Yuan in October 2009 introduced regulations that prohibited the sale of public land plots of over 500 pings (1,650 square meters), Finance Minister Lee Sush-der noted. The Ministry of Finance then put forth a strategy for managing national property, which calls for establishing the proper ownership of each plot of public land and encouraging its use in urban rejuvenation projects. The MOF policy also encourages joint development of publicly owned real estate with government agencies or private developers, Lee said. Lee noted that the National Property Bureau under the MOF had stopped putting up public land in Taipei City for tender since March 2, 2010 and had even launched a program to buy back public land that had been sold to private entities. All these policy initiatives were aimed at increasing the efficacy of public land use and preventing private developers from hoarding land and profiting from such actions, the minister said. With the government already taking several initiatives to improve its management of public land, Lai's proposal sailed through the Legislature. The opposition party caucus supported a change in the wording of the bill, from "in principle cannot be sold" to "must not be sold." Lai said the more stringent terms of the amendment were "very good." It means that public land plots over 1,650 square meters cannot be sold now, which will give future generations more room to manage their living spaces, he said. (By Justin Su and S.C. Chang)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The well-known Ming Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera Troupe denied media allegations Wednesday that it was making propaganda for the ruling Kuomintang in return for subsidies from the government.

The popular group had received NT$280 million (US$9.2 million) from the government and was now appearing at KMT campaign events for the January 14 presidential and legislative elections, Next Magazine reported Wednesday.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Tsai Huang-liang said the Ma administration had problems with its distribution of funds. Another Taiwanese opera troupe only received NT$1.19 million (US$39,000) from the government over three years, yet Ming Hwa Yuan managed to obtain NT$280 million, he said.

Ming Hwa Yuan chief Chen Sheng-fu said that if Next did not apologize within two days, he would consider further legal action.

He said that his troupe was one of many cultural groups receiving government subsidies, and that it was usually not allowing election candidates to mount the stage to address the public.

Chen also criticized the picture Next chose to put in the report. The photo, showing the troupe with President Ma Ying-jeou and his campaign number 2, was taken in 2007 when Ming Hwa Yuan gave a free performance, Chen said. At the time, Ma was also running for president as No.2, he said, which could lead readers to believe the picture was recent.

A series of KMT lawmakers named in the Next article as having invited the Taiwanese opera group to perform all denied the allegations. Tsai Cheng-yuan said he had invited Ming Hwa Yuan twice but had never applied for government subsidies for the event. Hsu Shu-po said he sponsored cultural events every year, not just at election time, while Lin Yu-fang said he only helped organize the event. There were no campaign banners, nobody handed out campaign flyers and he had never mentioned the elections in his address, Lin said.

Next Magazine said it would not comment on the reactions from the Ming Hwa Yuan officials and from lawmakers.

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) The visiting U.S. deputy secretary of energy said Wednesday after a visit to a nuclear plant the previous day that he is impressed by Taiwan's efforts to maintain nuclear safety and promote carbon-free energy solutions. Daniel Poneman said after a meeting with Foreign Minister Timothy Yang that Taiwan's preventive measures to minimize the nuclear threat both before and after the Fukushima incident in Japan earlier this year are especially impressive. In addition to the country's nuclear plant safety, he applauded the strong cooperation between the United States and Taiwan in the field of nuclear security. The establishment of nuclear detectors at large ports, for example, can successfully intercept radioactive materials and ensure a safer society, he said. Poneman is the highest-ranking U.S. government official to visit Taiwan in over a decade. He has been in Taipei since Dec. 12, meeting senior government officials and business leaders as well as giving an address at National Taiwan University on energy cooperation. Poneman described the meetings he attended during his three-day trip as "robust, productive and fruitful" and he emphasized the importance of Taiwan's participation in more multilateral organizations and institutions. He was scheduled to leave for Japan later Wednesday to discuss nuclear energy and safety issues with officials there. Meanwhile, Yang told the media that Poneman's trip not only highlights the solidity of Taiwan-U.S. relations, but also demonstrates the great steps taken by both sides in bilateral collaboration over the years. His visit exhibits Taiwan's significant role in the Asia-Pacific region, said Yang, as he referred to a statement made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Hawaii last month, which stressed Taiwan was the U.S.'s important partner in economic issues and regional security. Although he did not reveal the details of the discussion, the minister said that both parties exchanged views on "important issues," citing subjects such as green energy and radioactive detection measures at sea ports. (By Nancy Liu)