Missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo: 'I wasn't abducted'

Tues, March 1, 2016

By Katie Hunt

Missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo made an unexpected appearance in a Chinese television interview Monday, insisting he hadn't been abducted from the former British territory.

His case, which came after the disappearance of four of his colleagues, sparked outrage in Hong Kong and internationally over fears he was taken against his will by Beijing authorities in December. China has repeatedly said its officials wouldn't do anything illegal.

All five men were involved with publisher Mighty Current and its shop Causeway Bay Books, which sold gossipy titles about China's elite.

In a video interview with Phoenix Television, news website thepaper.cn and other news outlets, Lee said he went to China to assist police with an investigation and said he was free to return once the investigation had finished.

"It was my personal act. I have never 'been kidnapped' or 'disappeared,' nor have I been coerced or bribed. I think the theory of me 'being kidnapped' or 'disappeared' was completely created out of thin air with an ulterior motive."

Asked why he would travel to China in secret without using official travel documents, Lee said he didn't want others to know he was going help police investigate his colleagues.

Lee, a British passport holder, also said he hadn't sought assistance from Britain and had decided to give up his right to residency. He said he thought of himself as a Hong Konger and Chinese.

"I haven't lived in the UK for the past 20 years, neither have I enjoyed any rights or benefits other British citizens hold. My daughter is currently studying in the UK and her tuition is paid in accordance with international standards," he said.

It was not clear whether Lee was speaking under duress, though some commentators believe this was likely.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/29/asia/china-hong-kong-booksellers/index.html

Emoji named word of the year

Mon, November 16, 2015

By Heather Kelly

Oxford Dictionaries' 2015 word of the year is difficult to pronounce. Because it has no letters. It is a cartoon yellow face, shedding two giant tears.

They are not tears of sadness for the English language. It is a happy crying face, most commonly used as an LOL alternative.

Every year, Oxford Dictionaries' lexicographers chose a word that captures the year's biggest trends or changes in the English language. The organization knew it wanted to pick an emoji for 2015. The tiny illustrations that pepper social media and text conversations have seen a surge in popularity in recent years.

"You can see how traditional alphabet scripts have been struggling to meet the rapid-fire, visually focused demands of 21st century communication," said Oxford Dictionaries' president Casper Grathwohl in a statement. "It's not surprising that a pictographic script like emoji has stepped in to fill those gaps."

The official name for the chosen emoji is "face with tears of joy," according to the Unicode Consortium, the organization in charge of emoji standards. It was first introduced in 2010 and variations can be found on Android and iOS devices, on the web, and across social media.

There are more than 1,000 emoji characters, but Oxford could only chose one. A taco or unicorn emoji would have represented the most buzzed-about newcomers. The red heart is one of the oldest emojis.

Oxford Dictionaries teamed up with SwiftKey, a maker of emoji keyboards, to identify the most commonly used emoji. It found the tears of joy face was the most frequently used emoji in 2015, making up 17% of all emojis in the U.S. and 20% in the UK.

The emoji is the latest in a string of light-hearted picks from Oxford Dictionaries. Last year it went with "vape," in 2013 it was "selfie," and in 2012 it was "GIF."

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/technology/emoji-oxford-word-of-the-year/index.html

Structure of the Lead:

WHO-not given

WHAT- emoji, 2015 word of the year

WHEN-in 2015

WHERE-not given

WHY- The organization knew it wanted to pick an emoji for 2015. The tiny illustrations that pepper social media and text conversations have seen a surge in popularity in recent years

HOW-not given

Keywords:

1.      emoji 表情符號

2.      shed 脫落

3.      alphabet 字母

4.      script 腳本

5.      light-hearted 輕鬆的

Russian plane crashes in Sinai, killing all 224 people on board

Sun, November 1, 2015

By Don Melvin and Ray Sanchez

A Russian passenger plane crashed early Saturday in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard, officials said.

Russian state media reported that many of the 217 passengers on Kogalymavia Flight 9268 were Russians returning from vacation. The passenger manifest included 17 children but Russian officials said there were 25 aboard. There were seven crew members.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin tweeted that four victims were Ukrainian nationals.

The cause of the crash still is unknown, but it is most likely due to a technical failure, and there is no evidence of any terrorist action, Egyptian Airports Co. chief Adel Al-Mahjoob told CNN Arabic.

The Airbus A321 had a routine check before flight, showing everything was OK to proceed, Mahjoob said.

The so-called black boxes -- the flight data recorder and voice data recorder -- have been recovered and transported to Cairo for analysis, Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamel said at a news conference.

"There was nothing abnormal before the plane crash," he said. "It suddenly disappeared from the radar."

Air traffic control recordings did not show any distress calls, Kamel said.

The plane departed the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, near the southern tip of the Sinai, on a flight to St. Petersburg, Russia. It vanished from radar 23 minutes into the flight, at 6:20 a.m. local time.

Egypt has been battling insurgents in the Sinai aligned with the terrorist group ISIS.

Islamists militants in the Sinai linked to ISIS claimed responsibility for the crash, according to an online statement.

But Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said the claim that terrorists brought down the plane by using an anti-aircraft missile "cannot be considered reliable," according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

German air carrier Lufthansa and Air France have decided to reroute aircraft due to fly over the region.

"We will keep that measure in place as long as we are not sure of the circumstances and the reasons of the Metrojet crash," Lufthansa spokeswoman Bettina Rittberger said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/31/middleeast/egypt-plane-crash/index.html

Structure of the Lead:

WHO- all 224 people on board

WHEN- November 1, 2015

WHAT- A Russian passenger plane crashed

WHERE- in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula

WHY- The cause of the crash still is unknown, but it is most likely due to a technical failure, and there is no evidence of any terrorist action

HOW-not given

Keywords:

1.      manifest 名單

2.      nationals 國民;公民

3.      insurgents 叛亂分子

4.      missile 導彈

5.      reroute 變更路程

More than 100 jade hunters killed in landslide at Myanmar mine

Tues, November 24, 2015

By Tim Hume, CNN

At least 113 people were killed in northern Myanmar when a huge hill of tailings from a jade mine collapsed onto the huts of sleeping workers, according to state-run media.

Local officials estimate another 30 victims were "buried under the soil."

The collapse of the roughly 60-meter-high (200-foot-high) mound took place at about 3 a.m. Saturday in Hpakant, in Myanmar's northern state of Kachin, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

Seventy huts containing sleeping workers were buried in the slide, with only five huts spared, according to the newspaper. The huts had been situated in a ravine between two huge hills of dump soil, it reported.

The military was working with local residents in rescue and recovery efforts, it reported Monday, warning that many more people remain missing.

The area produces some of the world's highest quality jade, a nearly translucent green stone that is highly valued in neighboring China.

Many workers, typically migrants from other parts of the country, eke out a livelihood in the shadow of the mines by sifting through the tailings for leftover jade, the newspaper said.

Local authorities said they had earlier issued notices telling the workers they could not stay on the site, according to the newspaper.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/22/asia/myanmar-landslide/index.html

Structure of the Lead:

WHO- mine workers

WHEN- November 24, 2015

WHAT- a landslide at Myanmar mine

WHY- a huge hill of tailings from a jade mine collapsed onto the huts of sleeping workers

WHERE- in Hpakant, in Myanmar's northern state of Kachin

HOW-not given

Keywords:

1.          mound 丘

2.          hut 木屋

3.          spare 倖免

4.          ravine 山谷

5.          dump 垃圾

6.          translucent 半透明的

7.          eke out 勉強維持

8.          sift 篩選

Father's Talk With Son About Paris Terror Attack Goes Viral

Tue, Nov 17, 2015

By ALASTAIR JAMIESON

A heart-wrenching video of a French father reassuring his young son about the Paris terror massacre has been shared more than 11 million times on Facebook.

In the clip, which aired on Canal+ television show "Le Petit Journal," a reporter asks the boy if he understands why extremists killed people in Paris on Friday.

The father, later identified as Angel Le, tries to explain the floral tributes outside the Bataclan theatre, where the majority of the victims of Friday's attacks were killed.

"What about the baddies, Dad?" asks his son, Brandon. "They've got guns."

"They've got guns but we have flowers," Le replies.

In a comment posted on the Facebook clip, Le wrote: "I'm the dad with the little boy, thank you all for the great comments that you have posting for us. When when I see all this support it tells me one thing: I'm proud to be French and proud of my fellow countrymen!"

Here is the interview in full:

Journalist: Do you understand what's happened? Do you understand why these people have done this?

Boy: Yes, because they are very, very, very bad. Bad people aren't very nice. And you have to be very careful because you need to move house.

Father: No, don't worry, we don't have to move. France is our home.

Boy: But what about the baddies, Dad?

Father: There are baddies everywhere. There are bad guys everywhere.

Boy: They've got guns. They can shoot us because they're very, very bad, Daddy.

Father: They've got guns but we have flowers.

Boy: But flowers don't do anything. They're for... they're for... they're for...

Father: Look, everyone is laying flowers here.

Boy: Yes.

Father: It's to fight against the guns.

Boy: Is it for protection?

Father: That's right.

Boy: And the candles too?

Father: They're so we don't forget the people who have gone.

Boy: Oh. The flowers and candles are there to protect us?

Father: Yes.

Journalist: Do you feel better now?

Boy: Yes, I feel better.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-terror-attacks/fathers-talk-son-about-paris-terror-attack-goes-viral-n464981

Structure of the Lead:

Who-a French father and his young son

When-Nov 17, 2015

What-Father's talk with son about Paris terror attack

Why-try to explain the floral tributes outside the Bataclan theatre, where the majority of the victims of Friday's attacks were killed

Where-In Paris

How-being shared more than 11 million times on Facebook

Keywords:

1.          heart-wrenching:揪心的

2.          reassure:說

3.          aired on:播出

4.          massacre:屠殺

5.          extremist:極端分子

6.          floral tribute:獻花

7.          countrymen:同胞

Today Is ‘Single’s Day,’ China’s Massive Shopping Holiday

Wed, Nov. 11, 2015

By Victor Luckerson

While U.S. shoppers are gearing up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Chinese consumers are opening up their wallets in a big way on Wednesday.

Nov. 11 will mark the 7th annual Singles Day, a shopping celebration organized by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The e-tailer began celebrating the day, a “folk holiday” on which China’s many single peoplebuy gifts for themselves, in 2009 with just 27 merchants. Since then, the event has grown into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. This year, it will include 40,000 merchants offering discounts on millions of products.

Singles Day sales have grown from around $100 million in 2009 to $9.3 billion in 2014, according to research firm IDC. For comparison, Cyber Monday in the U.S. generated $2 billion in sales last year.

Analysts are predicting that Alibaba will again smash records come Wednesday. IDC projects $13.7 billion worth of sales for Singles’ Day. The company processed a record $9 billion in sales by midday Wednesday local time, Bloomberg reports.

In order to increase the spectacle of the day this year, Alibaba is moving its results ceremony, where it calculates how many sales were generated, from its headquarters in Hangzhou to Beijing, the nation’s capital. Boosting its Beijing presence could help Alibaba compete with JD.com, a rival online retailer based in the city.

This year’s Singles Day comes at a critical juncture for the company. After launching the biggest-ever public offering ever last fall, Alibaba’s stock has struggled this year amidst slowing revenue growth and increased competition from its domestic rivals. Shares dipped below $60 in September, below the company’s $68 IPO price and far off from a peak above $115 last November. The company’s stock was trading around $80 just before Singles Day.

http://time.com/4106634/singles-day-china-alibaba-baba/

Structure of the Lead:

Who-not given

When-Nov. 11, 2015

What-Singles Day, a shopping celebration organized by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba

Why- a “folk holiday” on which China’s many single people buy gifts for themselves, in 2009 with just 27 merchants.

Where-around the world

How- the event has grown into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.

Keywords:

1.      gear up:做好準備

2.      merchant:商人

3.      multibillion:數十億

4.      generate:產生

5.      analyst:分析家

6.      smash:打破

7.      spectacle:奇觀

8.      headquarter:總部

9.      retailer:零售商

10.  critical:關鍵的

11.  juncture:時刻；契機

12.  amidst:在…其中

13.  revenue:收入

14.  domestic:國內的

15.  peak:高峰

16.  trade:交易

NASA finds 'Earth's bigger, older cousin'

Fri, July 24, 2015 

By Michael Pearson, CNN

NASA said Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted "Earth's bigger, older cousin": the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Though NASA can't say for sure whether the planet is rocky like ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet found.

"Today, Earth is a little less lonely," Kepler researcher Jon Jenkins said.

The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It's about 60% bigger than Earth, NASA says, and is located in its star's habitable zone -- the region where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.

A visitor there would experience gravity about twice that of Earth's, and planetary scientists say the odds of it having a rocky surface are "better than even."

While it's a bit farther from its star than Earth is from the sun, its star is brighter, so the planet gets about the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does from the sun. And that sunlight would be very similar to Earth's, Jenkins said.

The planet "almost certainly has an atmosphere," Jenkins said, although scientists can't say what it's made of. But if the assumptions of planetary geologists are correct, he said, Kepler-452b's atmosphere would probably be thicker than Earth's, and it would have active volcanoes.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/23/us/feat-nasa-kepler-planet-discovery/

Structure of the Lead:

Who-not given

When-July 23, 2015

What-The planet, Kepler-452b

Why-the first nearly Earth-size planet was be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Where-about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus

How-not given

Keywords:

1.      spot:發現

2.      habitable:可居住的

3.      zone:地區

4.      constellation:星座

5.      gravity:重力

6.      planetary:行星的

7.      assumption:假設

8.      geologist:地質學家