Topic Reading-Vol.544-10/7/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

China's Guangzhou moves to end 'Re-education Through Labor' camps.

The country has long been criticized for not abandoning the abusive practice to detain “minor offenders” to the labor camps where detainees are forced to work and live in a harsh condition to be mentally rehabilitated up to four years, or even longer.

Those offenders are said to include drag abusers, petty thieves and prostitutes, as well as those who threatened the social order by gathering petitions or posting unfavorable claims on the Internet.

Some critics say that the announcement to reform the 'Re-education Through Labor', or just simply labor camp, by the progressive local government could be just a rebranding of their practice and facility to a ‘detoxification center’ of the public security organs.

Enjoy reading and learning about one of the behind the scenes in a one-party-ruling country.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/09/world/asia/china-reform-labor-camps/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7

Topic Reading-Vol.543-10/6/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

A fatal flaw when choosing the right leader.

When it comes to choosing a leader of an organization, team or school, people tend to think from the past and present rather than the future that the candidate is going to face.

But things seem happen not the way they are predicted in advance. For example, accidents, incidents, crises, errors and mistakes, competition, and weathers and such can easily and greatly change the environment and situations in which the organization is engaged.

So what is the success formula to select a great leader?

Enjoy reading and learning about how challenging for people to select a right leader and also for a leader to do his or her job right.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20130919-a-fatal-flaw-in-choosing-leaders

Topic Reading-Vol.542-10/5/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

US plane in 1961 'nuclear bomb near-miss’

Nothing is perfect, no matter how intelligent people are and how advanced technologies are.

The US nearly could have bombed another nuclear bomb only six years after it did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the midst of Cold War. But that time wasn’t to its enemy but to its own soil.

It was an accident but all the six fail-safe mechanisms save one, which saved hundreds of thousands of lives in Carolina from a disaster.

Enjoy reading and learning about a scary near-miss incident that was revealed from the recently declassified US government document.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24183879

Topic Reading-Vol.541-10/4/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Harvard asks donors for $6.5 billion.

Good teachers seem to be good at collecting money and the highest tuition doesn't seem to be enough to be competitive in higher education market.Why does the richest university in the U.S. keep asking another large amount of donations to its graduates, their families and other supporters?

It’s mainly to further strengthen its educational initiatives and partly for its thick-pocket investment portfolio, nearly the size of GDP of a Baltic state of Latvia.

Enjoy reading and learning why so many people wish to keep paying so much money to the already rich university.

http://news.yahoo.com/harvard-asks-donors-6-5-billion-190203371--sector.html

Topic Reading-Vol.540-10/3/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Japanese government to go ahead with sales tax rise.

Not so often a tax rise is welcomed so positively.

Japanese government finally announced a “Go” for the already agreed, registered and scheduled sales tax increase six months later to eight percent from current five per cent. The finally-made announcement, which has been waited for the past few months, has made politicians, bureaucrats, businesses and even retailers and consumers relieved from the concerns and uncertainty for the near and long-term future. The tax is also scheduled to be raised to 10% 18 months after this increase.

Why such a steep tax increase? Japan has a rapidly aging population which is pushing its social welfare costs up to an unsustainable level. also, there are mounting government debts that have already surpassed 200% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

Enjoy reading and learning about this widely awaited sales tax increase announcement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24343540

Topic Reading-Vol.539-10/2/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Bumblebee flight inspires 'bad weather robot' design.

An insect is going to teach humans how to fly? But if you think of the size of a worker bumblebee, which weighs only about a half of one tenth of a gram and whose wingspan ranges mere 22-34 mm, it seems worth studying how such a tiny creature flies even in extreme weather conditions.

Actually, other researchers are trying to learn how other creatures react, move or use their bodies to advance sensor and motion technologies for vehicles and robots.

Enjoy reading and learning what the researchers are trying to learn from the bumblebee.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24149440

Topic Reading-Vol.538-10/1/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Taiwan’s struggle to become an innovation leader.

It’s surprising to learn that nine out of 10 laptops are produced in this tiny island, just a strait across the mainland China with a landmass only about one fiftieth the size of Mexico.

Though Taiwan is known for its high tech industry that manufactures laptops, smartphones, tablets, and microchips, their corporate cultures and government handling seem to be neither advanced nor innovative to compete against their rapidly and hungrily growing neighbors like Korea or China.

Why not? Considering the size of their domestic market, aren’t they supposed to be aggressive and innovative to compete in the global market?

Enjoy reading and learning why and how the island country is struggling to be innovative.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130918-taiwans-rocky-road-to-innovation/1