week5 - 全球購物狂歡節(光棍節)

More than $1 billion worth of goods were sold over Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platforms within the first 20 minutes of this year’s 11.11 Shopping Festival, with nearly half of all transactions taking place via mobile devices.

The milestone—$1 billion in total GMV (gross merchandise volume)—was reached on Nov. 11 at 12:17 a.m. During the 24-hour sale last year, it took about an hour to reach the $1 billion mark for all transactions on Alibaba Group’s retail platforms.

Nearly 48 percent of the sale's first $1 billion in GMV were transactions placed by smartphones and other mobile devices. Mobile GMV surpassed RMB 1 billion ($163 million) less than five minutes after the sale began.

The start of the annual e-shopathon was witnessed by more than 500 journalists who were on hand at an auditorium at Alibaba Group’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China. There, they watched  the sales totals climb on a large monitor, which displayed other near-real-time statistics and geographical data such as regions in China where online purchasing was hottest.

Alibaba Group is rolling out the sale worldwide this year. The strongest overseas traffic was coming from Hong Kong, the U.S. and Taiwan.

“Behind the scenes and behind the numbers are millions of merchants and millions of partners who worked together with us to create this festival for consumers,” Alibaba Group COO Daniel Zhang told reporters prior to the start of the sale. The largest 24-hour online sale in the world, the 11.11 Shopping Festival this year involves some 27,000 merchants and brands selling over Alibaba shopping websites Tmall.com, Taobao Marketplace, AliExpress and Tmall Global.

Last year’s 24-hour sale saw $5.8 billion worth of goods transacted over Alibaba Group’s Tmall.com and Taobao Marketplace platforms, making it the biggest shopping day in the world, topping the sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

The sale this year will be another test of Alibaba’s expanding e-commerce ecosystem, which includes not only its online shopping platforms but also affiliate companies such as e-payments provider Alipay and China Smart Logistics, a consortium of shipping and delivery companies. “This is a very unique phenomenon for the ecosystem,” Zhang said of the 11.11 Shopping Festival. “This cannot be done by just one company but it can be done by an ecosystem.”

With more and more Chinese consumers shopping on mobile phones this year, Zhang said prior to the sale, Tmall.com and Taobao Marketplace used so-called “big data” technology to optimize the 11.11 shopping experience, using software algorithms to predict and display items they may like on their mobile phones. “What we are doing this year is to give people a more data-driven and personalized (mobile) pages so people can access the content they are interested in,” Zhang said.

Previous 11.11 Shopping Festivals have been limited largely to the mainland. But for the first time this year, AliExpress, Alibaba Group’s English-language consumer shopping platform will be participating, offering 50 percent off on one million products to customers overseas. The AliExpress sale will start at midnight PST. Chinese consumers will also be able to buy discounted imports through Tmall Global.

http://www2.alizila.com/online-shopping-binge-gets-strong-start

Structure of Lead:
WHO- Alibaba Group
WHAT- over 1 billian worth of good were sold by Alibaba group
WHEN- November 11st
WHERE- not mentioned
WHY-  not mentioned
HOW- through mobile devices

Keywords:
1. transaction  交易
2. gross merchandise volume 商品交易總額
3. surpass 超過
4. roll out 推出
5. affiliate 子公司
6. optimize 優化
7. algorithm 算法
8. retail platform 零售平台
9. headquarter 總部
10. geographical 地域

week4 - 長江船難

Chinese salvagers have fully righted the ship which capsized on the Yangtze River, on which more than 400 people are thought to have died.

The Eastern Star overturned late on Monday after being caught in a storm.

Just 14 of the 456 passengers and crew are known to have survived what looks set to be China's worst shipping disaster in more than 60 years of Communist rule.

Authorities say the chances of finding anyone still alive were "slim".

"In a situation in which the overall judgment is that there is no chance of people being alive, we could start the work of righting the boat," Transport Ministry Spokesperson Xu Chengguang had told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.

Why did cruise ship capsize?

Rescue workers on the upturned hull, which was just barely visible over the brown waters of the Yangtze, were towered over by two cranes.

Hooks were welded onto the ship and a net stretched around the entire structure in preparation for lifting it.

By first light on Friday, the ship could be seen lying on its side with its name visible just above the water. Xinhua state news agency later tweeted a picture of the righted vessel, its roof apparently crushed.

As the ship is righted, the focus of emergency workers at the site in Jianli, Hubei province will switch from attempting to find survivors to searching the ship's 150 cabins for bodies.

Mr Xu said on Friday that the next step was to raise the ship entirely above the water to conduct the search.

So far 97 bodies have been recovered, some after three holes were cut into the vessel's upturned hull. The holes were later welded closed in order to preserve the ship's buoyancy.

Mr Xu said there had been no further signs of life inside the ship, Xinhua news agency reports.

He said officials would "absolutely not cover up anything" in the investigation, state media reports.

Chinese President Xi Jinping promised a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster, after angry relatives protested at the scene.

Authorities tightly controlled access to the site, leading family members and journalists to complain about a lack of information.

Most of the 14 people known to have survived jumped from the ship as it began to sink. Three were rescued by divers from air pockets in the upturned hull.

The cause of the sinking is not yet known, but survivors have spoken of an intense storm which flipped the boat over in minutes.

The captain and chief engineer, who were among those who escaped, have since been detained.

Maritime agency records showed the ship was investigated for safety violations two years ago. It was held alongside five other vessels in 2013 over safety concerns.

China's deadliest maritime disaster in recent decades was in November 1999, when the Dashun ferry caught fire and capsized in the sea off Shandong province, killing about 280.

The Eastern Star could become China's deadliest boat accident since the SS Kiangya sank off Shanghai in 1948, killing somewhere between 2,750 and 4,000 people.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33011557

Lead of Structure:

WHO- Chinese government

WHAT-  It seemed that more than 400 had died

WHEN- not mentioned

WHERE- Yangtze River

WHY- Due to the capsized

HOW- not mentioned

Keywords:

1. salvager  打撈

2. capsized  翻船

3. righted  糾正

4. buoyancy  浮力

5. hull  船殼

6. cruise  巡航

7. maritime 海上

8. upturned  翻過來的

9. crane  起重機

10. weld  焊接

week-3 美國同志婚姻合法

Same sex marriage is now legal in the entire US after a Supreme Court ruling striking down state marriage bans.

The ruling means all US states must grant marriage licences to gay and lesbian couples and recognize marriages that have taken place in other states.

So how did we get to this point?

One of the first couples to wed in Massachusetts

In 1996, the US Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

In 2003, Massachusetts judges ruled the state constitution allowed gay marriage, and marriage licences followed shortly after that. In the following years, a handful of states passed gay marriage bans while others began working towards allowing same-sex unions - either by court order or legislation.

One high-profile ban occurred by referendum in California in 2008 after courts had previously allowed same-sex marriage.

This continued across the US until the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013.

What did justices have to decide in this case?

Jim Obergefell brought a lawsuit against the state of Ohio after the state refused to recognize his marriage to his late husband

The justices, who had previously stopped short of resolving the question of same-sex marriage nationally, had to consider whether or not states were constitutionally required to issue marriage licences and if states were required to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

How many states previously allowed same-sex unions?

Before the ruling, 36 states were issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples, as well as Washington DC, which sets its own marriage laws but is not legally a state.

A referendum on gay marriage in California in 2008 put the legal status of previously performed marriages in question

A critical turning point came in October 2014, when the Supreme Court chose not to hear appeals against lower court rulings that had overturned same-sex marriage bans - expanding the legality of gay unions to many more states.

In other states, same-sex marriage has been approved either through legislation or voter referenda.

Michigan couples were briefly able to marry before a court stayed a ruling overturning its ban.

What have been the key Supreme Court rulings?

On 6 October 2014, the court turned away appeals from five states with gay marriage bans on the books that had challenged court rulings overturning those bans.

In challenging the gay marriage bans, proponents relied on a 2013 Supreme Court ruling in the case of United States v Windsor.

Edith Windsor was the plaintiff in the last gay marriage case at the Supreme Court

In that case, the court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), which barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

Under Doma, for example, individuals in same-sex marriages were ineligible for benefits from federal programs such as the Social Security pension system and some tax allowances if their partners died.

Another key case, Hollingsworth v Perry of 2013, was filed by two lawyers, Theodore Olson and David Boies, working together on behalf of their California clients, Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier and another couple, Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami.

They argued that the Supreme Court should strike down a state law, called Proposition 8, which stated that marriage is between a man and a woman. The law, approved by California voters in 2008, overrode a state Supreme Court decision that allowed for same-sex marriage.

What is next?

Marriages will continue as before in the 36 states. The remaining states will have to issue licences, although it is unclear how long they have to comply with the court's ruling. However, there were reports of court clerk offering licences only an hour after the Supreme Court decision.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-21943292

Structure of The Lead:

WHO- supreme court

WHERE- the entire US

WHEN-  not given

WHY-  grant the gay and lesbian marriage licences

WHAT- to legalize the gay marriage

HOW- not given

Keywords:

1. referenda  複決(referendum 的複數)

2. high-profile  備受矚目的

3. strike down  打倒

4. in question  談到的;爭論中的

5. proponent  支持者

6. barred 禁止 

7. on behalf of  代表

8. federal program  聯邦程序

9. appeal against  針對上訴

10. act  法案

week-2 尼泊爾地震

A group of 13 Taiwanese tourists traveling in Nepal when the country was pummeled by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Saturday returned to Taiwan yesterday, characterizing the experience as feeling like “it was the end of the world.”

“We just did not know what to do,” a woman in the group was quoted by Taiwan’s CNA as saying. “The place first shook up and down and from side to side, and we saw things falling from the sky. We did not know where to hide, because we were new there. We just saw the locals screaming and running. We briefly took shelter at a shop and quickly ran outdoors afterward to find somewhere safe.”

Her travel companion said that the earth appeared to be vibrating when the major earthquake struck.

“We were in the old town area and the buildings were old. Different items fell to the ground, as if they were thrown out by people. I just remembered seeing the local people run for their lives. I also fell to the ground. Fortunately, [my friend] lifted me up and we went to hide in a store,” she said.

The two women said that their flight, which was scheduled to take off on Saturday night, left Nepal on time without any delay. They then boarded a connecting flight in Guangzhou before returning to Taiwan yesterday afternoon.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that of the 177 Taiwanese in Nepal, as of press time last night, 149 had contacted the ministry and reported they are safe. It said that it did not yet know the whereabouts of the other 28.

According to the Tourism Bureau, 69 Taiwanese tourists are waiting to return from Nepal as part of five different Taiwanese tour agencies and organizations’ groups.

Ten tourists in a group arranged by Dongling Tours were scheduled to return to Taiwan early yesterday morning, but the bureau said that they were still at an airport in Nepal, awaiting confirmation of their flight.

The ministry has raised the travel alert for Nepal to red, meaning that it is inappropriate to visit the country now, whether for business or pleasure.

The ministry said that the earthquake was the severest to hit the South Asian country since 1934. Many buildings around the epicenter or near the capital collapsed or were severely damaged, the ministry said.

As the earthquake disrupted transport systems and telecommunication services in Nepal, the Tourism Bureau has asked Taiwanese travel agencies to suspend arranging tours to the country.

If any tourist wants to cancel a trip, travel agencies must handle the tour cancelation based on the standardized tourism contract, the bureau said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/04/27/2003616908

Structure of the Lead:
WHO- a group of Taiwanese tourists traveling in Nepal

WHAT- a countey in Nepal was pummeledby the magniyude 7.8earthquake

WHERE- Nepal

WHEN- yesterday

WHY- characterize the experience in the earthquake in Nepal

HOW- not given

Key Words:

1.magnitude  (地震)級數

2.be pummeled by  被...重擊

3.confirmation  證實

4.disrupt  使瓦解

5.lift up  舉起

6.epicenter  震央

7.characterize  描述...

8.travel alert 旅遊警戒

9.briefly  簡短地

10.vibrate  使震動

week1- 阿帕契醜聞

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Military officials announced the expansion of the wave of disciplinary actions coming from the recent Apache helicopter scandal yesterday after revealing that another officer had arranged an unauthorized tour of the sensitive military craft. Later, Army Commander (陸軍司令) Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) stated he has taken disciplinary action upon himself following the scandal, without providing further details.

Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesperson Luo Shou-he (羅紹和) revealed in a morning press conference that Army Special Forces (航特部) 601 Brigade Commander Maj. Gen. Chien Tsung-yuan (簡聰淵) had also led a group of family and friends numbering four individuals in an unauthorized tour of the Apache helicopter on Feb. 20, including the helicopter's cockpit. This brings the number of unauthorized tours to three and involves 40 individuals, including the two tours organized by Lt. Col. Lao Nai-cheng (勞乃成) on Feb. 22 and March 29. Including Chien and Lao, prosecutors are now seeking charges against 14 individuals involved in the scandal.

Lt. Col. Lao to be Discharged after New Charges Leveled

Detailing their ongoing investigation, military officials divided the recent Apache scandal into two cases, one involving violations to internal administration, and the second pertaining to the personal use of a special aviator helmet connected to the helicopter, which involved six officers.

In the MND's second wave targeting violations to internal administration within the 601 Brigade, it handed out 12 additional disciplinary actions toward individuals including Army Special Forces Director of Political Warfare Maj. Gen. Wen Tien-you (文天佑), the highest ranking officer to be disciplined. Maj. Gen. Chien, after accruing three demerits, will be removed from his post as brigade commander of the unit.

Lt. Col. Lao, already disciplined with one serious demerit and removed from his post due to the two unauthorized tours, was issued another serious demerit for his role involving the private use of the special aviator helmet. Officials confirmed that Lao will eventually be discharged within the year.

Army Lists Major Shortcomings

In materials provided to the press, the R.O.C. Army detailed eight major institutional shortcomings highlighted by Lao's unauthorized tours. They included non-compliance with the provisions of military grounds, room for further implementation of internal management, oversight deficiencies in restricted areas, lack of security and safety verification during entry of military grounds, lack of security awareness, the need for information security management and control, false reporting of military inventory, and concealing the truth to mislead investigations.

MND officials addressed these shortcomings by listing several actions including the review of current management and inspection procedures across all branches of the military to reform regulations and safeguards.

Defense Minister Apologizes, Vows Thorough Investigation

Minister of National Defense Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) who made an unannounced visit near the end of the press conference apologized to the nation and promised to spare no one involved in the scandal in ongoing investigations. Kao further detailed the formation of a committee to foresee the investigations, to be lead by Deputy Defense Minister Liu Chen-wu (劉震武).

MND Cold on Janet Lee's Volunteer Offer

Responding to Janet Lee's (李蒨蓉) offer to become a volunteer following her recent remarks regretting her actions in the scandal in order to repair the damage done to the military's reputation, spokesman Luo stated that he hoped Lee's feelings of regret were genuine, and that there are many avenues of volunteering that do not involve national defense.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2015/04/08/433114/Punishments-expand.htm&strip=0&vwsrc=0

Structure of the lead:

WHO- Chiu Kuo-cheng

WHEN- yesterday

WHAT- Chiu has taken disciplinary action upon himself following the scandal.

WHY- not given

WHERE- Taipei

HOW- The pilots brought some unauthorized tours to visit a sensitive military craft.

Key words:

1.unauthorized  未經授權的
2.disciplinary actions  紀律處分
3.accrue demerit   累積計過
4.provision  規定
5.safety verification 安全驗證
6.inspection procedure  檢查程序
7.call on  呼籲
8.discharge  解雇
9.address  向...提出
10.cockpit  駕駛艙