Topic Reading-Vol.1274-10/7/2015

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Bolivia stands up to US with coca-control policy

Force or popularity? The answer to this question is found in one of the poorest countries in South and Central America, Bolivia. Farmers grow coca to enjoy chewing its leaves like chewing gum or candy to relieve stress and feel relaxed. But that’s not cocaine but coca leaves. They’ve been growing coca for not only to enjoy the taste and flavor for themselves but also to sell to their local market where they generate multiple times more cash than any other produces in their farmland.

The biggest user of cocaine, the Unite States of America, tried to reduce or eliminate this crucial drug by sending task force to help enforce the law and fight against coca traffickers. However, they encountered harsh resistance from the local farmers. Then the newly elected president took a different approach allowing the farmers to grow some coca, earning wide support from producers and users of coca, not to mention the traffickers of cocaine.

So, enforcement by superpower didn’t seem to win a battle against poor farmers.

Enjoy reading and learning about this battle in a mountainous country in Andes.  

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/09/bolivia-stands-coca-control-policy-50930085832276.html

Topic Reading-Vol.1273-10/6/2015

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Palestinian flag raised at United Nations headquarters

Neither is a member state, yet. Their status is still an observer. But their flags are raised before the United Nation’s Headquarters in New York. Palestinian Authority and Vatican City.

This is especially a historic moment for people in Palestine which declared its independence in 1988 by the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO. Most of the areas claimed by the State of Palestine have been occupied by Israel since 1967. Jerusalem is their designated capital where they have only partial control. They became a non-member observer state in the UN in 2012 but had to wait to its flag to be raised for three years.

For their flag to be raised, eight countries including their archrival Israel and the U.S. opposed the motion in the UN general assembly, along with 45 abstained states.

Enjoy reading and learning how significant this flag-raising event is to Palestine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34398174

Topic Reading-Vol.1272-10/5/2015

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Airline proposes even longer nonstop: 18 hours

Traveling to Mars takes an unimaginably long flight, a few months. The crew members are going to be all well trained, highly motivated and decently paid for their extraordinary mission. But what about an 18-hour non-stop flight between the world two techiest cities, Bangalore, India and San Francisco, California?

This ambitious route is going to be serviced by Air India. The flight will most likely be filled with IT engineers and businesspersons who opted or are forced to be sitting three-thirds of the day in their assigned seats in the respective classes, which greatly matter the comfortability during the flight. The Internet connection seems to be more important than TV monitor or movies in this flight.

Just in case you are a long-flight enthusiast, there is another nearly-as-long-as this India-America trans-Pacific flight. Dubai-based Emirates airline is going to have a long haul trans-Atlantic flight between Dubai and Panama City. In this flight, you may be sitting with people in trade business more than tourists.

The distance of these two ultra-long haul flights is approximately 14,000 km, nearly 35% of the earth’s circumstance.

Enjoy reading and learning about these upcoming long flights.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/24/aviation/longest-nonstop-flight-considered-san-francisco-india/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.1271-10/4/2015

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Liquid water exists on Mars, boosting hopes for life there, NASA says

Mars, our neighbor planet. Instead of traveling at a speed of light for many years, evidence of another life form could be found within the reach of today’s space travel technologies.

The red planet orbits mere 225,300,000, not light years but kilometers away from ours. And NASA’s reconnaissance spacecraft got photos and images of the trace of water running on the surface. Scientists know neither where the water is from nor how salty it is but think humans from Earth will sooner or later find microbes, early form of life, on the planet.

As a total of six men and women are spending a year being completely isolated in Hawaii to simulate what the life is going to be like to travel and explore Mars, and also The Martian becoming one of the best-selling books this year, curiosity and interest in Mars are never been higher than before.

Enjoy reading and learning the latest discovery by NASA.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/28/us/mars-nasa-announcement/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.1270-10/3/2015

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Five bizarre 'lessons' in Indian textbooks

India is committed to enhance education for children. Of course. With the largest illiterate population of the world especially among women, they’ve got to have all children sit and study in the classroom. As of 2011, it was estimated that less than two-thirds of the women in India were literate while 82% of men were able to read and write.

Why is the gap so wide? Some background cultural or religious was shown in one of the textbooks used in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, which compared the donkey to the housewife. And there are other weird or even ridiculous errors or content in other textbooks.

What kind of education are those children getting?

Enjoy reading a few examples in school textbooks in India.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34336826

Topic Reading-Vol.1269-10/2/2015

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Nine things that shape your identity before birth

Have any idea how you had been formed before you first breathe in life?

For example, whether you are right or left handed was determined and the pattern your finger prints was formed well before birth. The most distinguishing feature, the sex, was determined at the time of conception. However, another critical function, your immune system, seemed to have developed at a much later stage.

Interested?

Enjoy reading and learning how a human is developed inside of his or her mother.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z84tsg8

Topic Reading-Vol.1268-10/1/2015

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

The biggest writing mistakes new graduates make

Do you write or speak well? Communicating with others is still one of the most crucial skills for any type of job. Young people, especially students of any grade, are using social media as their primary communication means and source of information. The problem of relying mostly on such convenient media is that they don’t learn to be a better communicator. They post photos, images, videos and web sites and just add brief comments that are not written in a style acceptable outside of their society.

Employers say communication with colleges, customers, clients and other business partners is the most important skill in business and they expect their employees to possess basic skill and improve it as they work with others.

How well do you write? Do you pay attention to the quality and integrity of your writing?

Enjoy reading and learning what writing means in the real world.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150915-the-biggest-writing-mistakes-new-graduates-make