Topic Reading-Vol.3855-10/31/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Forbidden City eyes stronger ties with Taipei peer
Established in 1925 after the eviction of the last Qin emperor from his palace, The Palace Museum is a national museum housed in the Forbidden City in Beijing. The museum consists of nearly 1,000 buildings and houses 1.8 million pieces of art. It is the world’s most visited museum. Built in 1965, The National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan has a collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks. Most of those were moved from the Palace Museum in Beijing and five other institutions in mainland China when the Kuomintang party retreated from the mainland in 1949 after the long-fought Chinese Civil war. Combined, these two national museums house and exhibit a massive collection of China’s historical artifacts and artworks. On October 21 during the 20^th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party, the director of the Palace Museum in Beijing sent a message to Taiwan that he hopes to have more communication and cultural exchanges with his counterpart in Taiwan. He even suggested that they host a joint show in the newly established Hong Kong’s palace museum. Indeed, communication and cultural exchanges often break the ice when there is conflict and tension.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about a cultural message from Beijing to Taipei.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202210/22/WS63533514a310fd2b29e7de56.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3854-10/30/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
India vaccine maker destroys 100 million doses of expired Covid jab
SII, the world’s largest vaccine maker in India, provided more than 90% of Covid doses that have been administered in India. But they apparently produced much more doses of Covid vaccine than people wanted. Though over 70% of the Indian population received two or more doses, including 300 million booster doses, they had not been encouraged to take any more despite the government promotions. One reason is that people in India, just like those in other countries, seem to have been fed up with the coronavirus. Also, they aren’t used to taking vaccine shots regularly, like a flu shot. As a result, the vaccine manufacturer had no choice but to destroy100 million doses of their expired Covid vaccine. Could those dumped doses have been used in other countries before the expiration?
Read the article and think about what logistics plan and generosity could have prevented 100 million doses from being wasted.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63324548

Topic Reading-Vol.3853-10/29/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Photos: Brazil’s Amazon faces severe drought

Located in the northwestern corner of Brazil, Amazonas is the largest state of the country and would be the 16^th largest country in the land area if it were a country. Most of the state is a tropical jungle and cities, including the state capital Manaus, a modern city with two million residents in the middle of the jungle on the Amazon River, are clustered along navigable waterways and are accessible only by boat or plane. You wouldn’t believe that this subtropical jungle region suffers from droughts. But as climate change causes extreme weather events, this region is now facing a severe drought after floods. In fact, 53 of the state’s 62 municipalities have been affected by both floods and drought this year. Rivers and waterways have dried up, making water transportation extremely difficult for people, food, and other necessities. In some areas, the water level is so low that motorboats have to be paddled in some areas.

See these shocking photos of the drought-stricken Amazonas region where water is supposedly sufficient.

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2022/10/20/photos-brazils-amazon-faces-severe-drought

Topic Reading-Vol.3852-10/28/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels to rise by less than 1% this year as renewables and EVs take off
Thanks to the record-high growth of solar and winder power along with increasing EVs in China and Europe, this year’s CO2 emissions are not going to rise more than 1%, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). In fact, despite the surging use of coal to fill the natural gas shortage in Europe because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EU emissions will decrease this year. That’s good news. But the bad news is that this year’s CO2 emission increase is coming from the aviation sector, which still hasn’t rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic yet. When the industry fully recovers and resumes to grow as had been like before the pandemic, will the world be able to offset the increased CO2 emissions with renewable energies? The good news may not be as good as it sounds.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about this year’s global CO2 emissions.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/19/energy/co2-emissions-climate-fossil-fuels-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3851-10/27/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
XPeng flying car takes to the air in Dubai
XPeng is a Chinese company that offers a range of electric saloons, crossovers, and SUVs. Also, they’ve been developing an Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) and recently completed the first public test flight of its X2 electric flying car in Dubai. The two-seater eVTOL craft features a teardrop-shaped design with an enclosed cockpit. The eight propellers are placed on each corner of the electric craft, suitable for low-altitude city flights and short-distance city journeys for medical transportation. It can be driven manually or autonomously at the top speed of nearly 150km/h. When regulatory infrastructure for flying cars is established, the company expects to fly its flying cars in the next five years.
Which flying mode do you prefer, manual or auto?
Enjoy reading the article and seeing the photos of flying cars being developed now.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/xpeng-flying-car-gitex-dubai-spc-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3850-10/26/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Pizza Hut is finally selling slices — with a twist
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Pizza Hut operates over 17,000 restaurants worldwide, the world's largest pizza chain by the number of locations. There are the original family-style dine-in locations; storefront delivery and carry-out locations; and hybrid locations that have carry-out, delivery, and dine-in options. They’ve been mainly selling whole pizzas in various sizes. Now, in order to accommodate individuals who are reluctant to order a whole round pizza, the restaurant chain is offering a sandwich-like pizza, called Pizza Hut Melts. It is simply two folded-over slices of pizza that can be eaten like a sandwich. There are four variations, pepperoni, buffalo chicken, chicken bacon Parmesan, and meat lover’s, each costing $6.99. It’s a simple menu to develop. Will they get more customers, increase business per customer, or make their customers happier? Some of their customers may have been folding two slices of pizza anyway when they are really hungry or in rush.
Enjoy reading the article and seeing the photo of the folded pizza slices and think if you want to fold two slices of pizza.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/18/business/pizza-hut-melts-slices/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3849-10/25/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
People who sleep 5 hours or less a night face higher risk of multiple health problems as they age, study finds
Sleep impacts both mental and physical health. Sleep refreshes the brain and produces and regulates hormones in the body. Lack of sleep could increase chronic inflammation, which leads to multiple diseases. A new study among 8,000 civil servants in the UK found that those who sleep five hours or less at night have a greater risk of developing multiple chronic diseases as they age than those who sleep longer. Diseases for higher risk are diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, liver disease, depression, dementia, mental disorders, Parkinson’s, and arthritis, nearly all kinds of common diseases common among elderly people. Experts also say it’s not just the duration of sleep but also the quality that matters to your health. We all know that but many still prefer tracking SNS or watching videos on smartphones to closing their eyes.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about how sleep time affects your health in the long run.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/18/health/short-sleep-multiple-chronic-diseases-wellness/index.html