Topic Reading-Vol.2911-3/31/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

What are organizers up against now the 2020 Olympics have been moved to next year?

The 2020 Summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place from July 24 July till August 9 this year. However, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Organizing Committee decided just four months before the scheduled opening that the games are now postponed to the next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 125th IOC Session in September 2013. Enormous planning and preparation work has been carried out ever since by the event organizers, municipal governments, sponsors, contractors, and volunteers, not to mention the athletes and their trainers. Now, their goals are put off by 20 some months. Though postponement is no doubt preferred to cancelation, for those who have been working for this year’s event, it must be quite challenging to keep their spirit and energy for an additional 300+ days. And there still is a big question that hasn’t been answered yet. Will there be vaccine or effective medicine for the novel virus before the games?

By the way, the games will still be marked as Tokyo 2020, even with the change in schedule. They will surely be remembered for some time.

Enjoy reading the article and learn what it would take to reschedule the Olympic Games.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/27/sport/tokyo-olympics-postponement-implications-spt-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2910-3/30/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Antarctic seal photo wins top prize

Nature TTL is a popular online nature photography resource. From about 7.000 entries from 117 countries, the winners of the inaugural Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2020 competition were announced. There are amazing photos from different parts of the world.

No more words needed. Just enjoy seeing the award-winning photos of nature.

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-52007548

Topic Reading-Vol.2909-3/29/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Parking in a pandemic: Grounded planes scramble for storage space

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, as many as 20,000 airplanes were flying in the air to carry passengers and cargo. However, many of them are grounded because of the increasing travel restrictions across the world. Where are those grounded airplanes parked? Since commercial airports are primarily designed for embarking and disembarking passengers and takeoffs and landings for airplanes, certainly not for parking airplanes for a long period of time. There are designated parking spaces in the US that offer not only space but also maintenances. In addition to the parking fees, airlines can choose to pay service fees to have their fleet maintained for immediate departure if they expect travel restrictions to be lifted soon. Also, because of the reduced flights, airports have some unused space where aircraft can be parked. Runways. In fact, the Copenhagen airport decommissioned two of its three runways and is offering space for airlines.

How long are those flying machines grounded? Who will be paying the expenses to ground airplanes and the crew? One thing is for sure.

Enjoy reading the article and think about how long it will take to bring the aviation traffic level back to the pre-Covid 19 era.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/grounded-plane-storage-coronavirus/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2908-3/28/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Coronavirus: India to enter 'total lockdown' after spike in cases

No one had ever imagined a total lockdown of a country with a population of over 1.3 billion for a staggering three-week period until it was announced and enforced March 25. India is a country where community means a lot to the people. It is an essential part of their daily life to go to worship at a temple, mosque or church, as well as to shop at marketplaces and street shops. Schools and universities have already been closed, airplanes have been grounded, and public transportation services have been stopped. Now people are told not to go out except when they have an emergency or essential business. A total lockdown will surely disrupt their lives economically and socially.

It is believed that social distancing is the best measure to combat coronavirus. While one might feel ok for a few days or a week even after he or she was infected by the novel virus. They could then infect a few people only in a week, and then those who are newly infected will infect a few more people, and then they will infect more and more. That is why practicing social distancing is essential to stop spreading the virus. The prime minister Mr. Modi emphasized the importance and seriousness of the measure by stating it as a curfew.

The question is how strictly the lockdown is going to be observed and enforced.

Read the article and learn about this historic move by the second most populous country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52024239

Topic Reading-Vol.2907-3/27/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Japan asked the international media to change how we write their names. No one listened

It was about a century and a half ago when Japan transformed itself from a samurai-ruled closed country to a modern imperial state and opened the doors to the world. In order not to be treated like other colonized Asian neighbors, Japanese leaders decided to introduce their individual names in an opposite way from their traditions, the given name first instead of the family name. Since then, the Japanese government and people and international media communities have been using the given-name-first order. Now, the new emperor was enthroned last year and the Olympic Games are going to be held, though the when to be held is TBD, Japan wants to reverse the name order to the way people are using in the country and asked the international media to comply with. Well, the name of the country or city is changed from time to time, like Peking to Beijing, Bombay to Mumbai, and Burma to Myanmar only to name a few. But such changes are easier to adopt than the names of the entire citizens of over 120 million even though not all of them need to be called or mentioned by foreign media or contacts. Also, the amount of data that is stored in cyberspace and archives need to be either modified or adjusted to be referred. For example, prime minister Shinzo Abe needs to be referred to also as Abe Shinzo. And if you think of business contacts, associates, and friends, how and when the naming order would be changed if ever?

Enjoy reading the article and count how many Japanese names you may need to rename.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/23/media/japan-abe-shinzo-name-intl-hnk/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2906-3/26/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Why does Russia, population 146 million, have fewer coronavirus cases than Luxembourg?

Russia borders with both China and Europe where the COVID-19 outbreak has badly spread. However, less than 500 confirmed cases and a few deaths have been reported publicly from Russia as of Mar. 23. Is their border control so tight to prevent the novel virus from entering the country, have all the cases been reported properly, or are there enough and reliable test equipment or medical staff in place? Indeed, they have tight grips when it comes to controlling both geographic and cyber borders. But even one virus carrier could spread the disease to many, and they could spread it to many more. Also, are all the cases reported properly? You may remember that the doping scandal that banned Russian from all major sporting events for four years.

Read the article and think when Russia’s infection figures surge, if ever.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/21/europe/putin-coronavirus-russia-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2905-3/25/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Discounts, freebies, coupons spice up consumption market

While the death toll is mounting in Europe, especially in Italy where hundreds of people are dying each day, China is trying to recover from the economic slowdown during the outbreak of the novel virus. The nation suffered a substantial loss in all business activities over the course of the last two months, including the supposedly robust spring festival period. Even though many still hesitate to open their wallets to spend on things they would have bought a few weeks ago, local governments, retailers, and service providers are offering coupons, vouchers, and discounts to stimulate consumer spending.

Which will be more effective to reboot the once-frozen economy, giving relief money to those in need or stimulating those who have money to spend? That decision might be more influenced by the next election rather than the economy in a democratic country.

Enjoy reading the article and think about what will take and how long to recover from the pandemic.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202003/20/WS5e7417b9a3101282172809fe.html