Topic Reading-Vol.2156-3/7/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Alibaba hungry for top spot in food delivery market

Founded in 1999 by an iconic ex-English teacher Jack Ma, Alibaba Group is a China’s e-commerce, retail, Internet, AI giant. Its businesses range from C2C, B2C, to B2B, using its Taobao Marketplace (web platform), Alipay (electric payment services), search engines and cloud computing. The famous online shopping bonanza, China’s Singles’ Day, which posted over US$25.4 billion sales on November 11 last year. Alibaba is one of the 10 most valuable public companies in the world.

This e-commerce platformer has been aggressively trying to secure the last-mile access in food delivery business. The market has already grown to over $10.7 billion in China and is still growing rapidly. Over 90% of this market is shared by two giants, Ele.Me and Meituan Dianping. The former has just been announced to be purchased by Alibaba and the latter is backed by Tencent, Alibaba’s archrival. Ele.me was founded in 2008 by two young students in a campus of a prominent university in Shanghai.

Does it sound like business practices in China? Indeed, China’s e-commerce businesses have created world-leading platforms in money transaction and payment like Alipay and WeChat Pay, bike-sharing, and food delivery service. And as those players grow, they compete more hungrily in the capital market.

Enjoy reading and learning this recent capital acquisition in a communist party-ruled country.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201802/28/WS5a95e92ca3106e7dcc13e77b.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2155-3/6/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Germany's top court has paved the way for major cities to ban diesel vehicles.

Gasoline or diesel. Neither is a good choice to run the engine of a vehicle. Gasoline cars emit more CO2, which is harmful to the environment, while diesel cars produce more nitrogen oxide emissions, which is the main cause of air pollution. But for cities where air pollution is a more immediate issue than global warming, restricting the use of diesel cars could be an option. This may happen in two of the most air-polluted cities in Europe, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf, Germany, where the automotive industry is the driving force of the local economy, after the recent ruling by the Federal Administrative Court. Now, these two heavily industrialized cities have the authority to limit a certain type of vehicles, namely diesel cars, to drive into the city center to curb air pollution.

It’s a big blow to German auto manufacturers not only because a third of cars in Germany run on diesel, but also similar restrictions may be implemented in other German cities and even across Europe. Now they need to make a decision whether to try to sell more gasoline cars or accelerate the development of more environmentally friendly electric or fuel-cell vehicles.

Also, the drivers of diesel cars in those cities face even more serious problems. One is that they may not be able to drive their cars into city centers. Another is that their cars are officially labeled as air-polluters by the court. They will find themselves constantly in the public eye when they drive their environmentally friendlier vehicle on the road and park in front of their house.

Enjoy reading and think what type of vehicle you would drive if you lived in such air-polluted cities.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/27/news/germany-diesel-cars-ban-court-ruling-cities/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2154-3/5/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

How France cut its per capita gun ownership in half

Why can guns and ammunition be purchased and owned so easily? One justification is for leisure, like hunting animals and birds and shooting cans and clays. There is no harm, at least to humans. Another is for self-defense. And there are guns suitable for these purposes, like small pistols. However, no one is allowed to kill innocent people by assault weapons, which are designed to kill people by firing bullets like rain from distance. Then why are such weapons of mass shooting sold, purchased and owned in some countries? Do they need to defend themselves and their families from military or insurgents?

This question is never answered in the U.S., where more guns are owned than the number of residents. On the contrary, France was awakened by the 2015 terrorist’s attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. They categorized guns by the purposes and capabilities and imposed strict controls on ownership of firearms. People seem to have awakened, too. The number of guns owned per 100 people in 2016 dropped to 15, about half of 2006.

Force awakens, or the Empire strikes back? May the decision be up to them.

Enjoy reading and think if this France’s initiative would ever help eradicate massacres in other countries, especially the U.S.A.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/26/opinions/france-america-gun-laws-opinion-andelman/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2153-3/4/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Badeshi: Only three people speak this 'extinct' language

Pakistan is regarded as a young country. About half of the total population of 200 million are under the age of 30, and 35% of the population is under 15.

There are over 60 languages spoken in this ethnically diverse country. Urdo is the national language, along with English, and understood by over 75% of Pakistanis. However, the Punjabi language is the most commonly spoken language used by 44% of the population.

As those young children start to have their own families, this already-populous country is going to add more people at a faster rate than the world average.

Then, what language do those young people and will their new children speak? Usually, children speak in either mother tongue or a language spoken among their friends and in school. This means not all the languages currently used may be spoken or preserved in the future. In fact, there is one language that is thought to have been extinct but recently found to be spoken only by three people in a remote valley deep in the mountains of northern Pakistan. It is called Badeshi. Sadly, the language isn’t learned by their children or any other neighbors as other language had become dominant in the region. Even those only speakers have forgotten some words of the language because they rarely speak it. Since no one else speaks or learn the language, when those three people die, so will the language.

Enjoy reading and listening to the endangered language that will soon become extinct.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43194056

Topic Reading-Vol.2152-3/3/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The low-cost mini satellites bringing mobile to the world

More satellites in space for broader coverage for mobile communications. It might have sounded like a bold plan a few years ago but it’s going to happen by the next Olympic Games.

Indeed, there still are a lot of people in the world who don’t have affordable mobile communication services. Most of them live in remote places where there are no mobile phone masts. They neither have internet connection nor simple phone calling or text messaging services while quite a few companies and innovators are trying to launch numbers of satellites to provide full and fast broadband services in already-connected affluent customers on the planet. Economically, it has been too costly to set up a land-based mobile network or launch satellites to cover under-developed marketplaces.

Now, an Israeli venture is preparing to launch as many as 200 mini-satellites to provide basic mobile communication services to three billion people in equatorial regions in Africa and Latin America. The key to this ambitious and unprecedented project is the launch and operational costs. They came up with a shoebox-sized satellite that weighs only 10kg, just enough to provide basic voice and text services. The total cost to put 200 satellites is no higher a conventional communication satellite.

While there already are over two billion smartphone users in the world, there are billions of people who just need basic mobile phones and who still don’t have either device.

Enjoy reading and learning about this new initiative to connect more people around the world.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43090226

Topic Reading-Vol.2151-3/2/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Florida governor calls for gun sale age to be raised to 21 after Parkland shooting

New initiatives have been announced by the governor of the state where 17 students and staff members were slain on Valentin’s Day in a high school. As you probably know, people are legally allowed to purchase, own and use guns in the U.S. Federal law prohibits the possession of a handgun or ammunition by any person under the age of 18 but provides no minimum age for long guns, such as rifles and shotguns, which are thought to be used for hunting animals and birds, not humans.

After the tragic massacre, the governor of Florida, who claims himself a father and grandfather, announced that he urges the state lawmakers to discuss and take the two proposed actions swiftly. One of them is to raise the age for gun purchase from 18 to 21, like some other states did some time ago. It sounds like a minimum age for driving to that for drinking. Another action is to strengthen the restrictions for mentally ill persons to buy guns. So, as of now, a mentally unstable high school student or dropout can buy guns and ammunition now, without being asked how the guns are going to be used.

Read the article and watch the video and think what it would take to have an armed kid drop the weapon in America.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/stoneman-douglas-high-school-teachers-return-campus-days/story?id=53302430

Topic Reading-Vol.2150-3/1/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Fly from Tokyo to Paris without leaving the ground

Welcome abroad. An affordable first-class travel Paris, New York and/or Hawaii is now available from Tokyo. First Airlines now offers a no waiting-line, hassle-free, and zero-turbulence travel to those popular destinations only at $56! Furthermore, it takes only two hours. Passengers will enjoy a two-hour flight in a mimic first-class cabin with a real four-course meal, and then a virtual tour to their choice of destination. For those who are looking for an even more affordable travel, there is a business class cabin and service available at a $10 less price. Either way, it sounds like a dream trip, doesn’t it?

Enjoy reading and learning what kind of new travel experience is being announced.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/virtual-reality-flight-tokyo/index.html