WEEK6

Paris terror attack: Timeline

French father explains terror attacks to young son in heartbreaking video

November 17, 2015

    Heavily armed men shouting “Allahu Akbar” have stormed the Paris headquarters of a satirical weekly, killing 12 people in the worst attack in France in decades.

     

    At around 11:20am, two masked Kalashnikov-wielding men dressed in black commando-style gear burst into number 6 rue Nicolas-Appert in a Paris neighbourhood, where the archives of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly are based.“Is this Charlie Hebdo?” they shouted, before realising they had got the wrong address.Moving quickly down the road to number 10, they fired at reception staff and went to the second floor where journalists and cartoonists were holding an editorial conference.

“The two men opened fire and coldly killed the people in the conference room, as well as the police officer in charge of protecting (cartoonist) Charb, who did not have time to react,” said a police source.Only one person survived, by hiding under the table. The witness heard the pair cry “we have avenged the prophet” and “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest).At 11:30am, police received reports of gunshots at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters and immediately dispatched officers to the scene.The gunmen fled, again crying “Allahu akbar”, and came face-to-face with police, with a firefight ensuing.They climbed into a black Citroen C3 car and exchanged fire with another police vehicle, shooting it around a dozen times without injuring the officers inside.

    According to chilling amateur video footage, the killers went about their deadly work with bloodcurdling calm — striding with guns held before them and scanning the streets for targets, before unflinchingly executing an injured police officer sprawled on the pavement as he held his hand aloft in an apparent attempt to shield himself.“You were going to kill me!” the gunman said before pulling the trigger. The two killers then cast another look around and slowly went towards their waiting getaway car, where the figure on the passenger side paused to scoop up what appeared to be a gun that had fallen to the ground before jumping in.Bystanders near the newspaper office with the presence of mind and courage to record videos or take photos of the violence captured a pedestrian crouching between parked cars after apparently spotting the killers advancing up the street.

The assassins drove off with the same calm as they had methodically carried out their strike.

Shortly after, the gunmen had a violent crash with a Volkswagen, injuring the driver.They tried to continue but were forced to abandon their damaged vehicle at Porte de Pantin, hijacking another car and fleeing towards the north of the capital.Police say they have mobilised a huge number of officers to follow the trail of the gunmen but that details of the investigation are currently confidential.

 

WEEK 5
Next Up for Alibaba: The Giant 'Singles Day' Sales
November 05, 2014

    So far, Alibaba (BABA) is doing a good job living up to the hype that surrounded its record-setting initial public offering. The Chinese e-commerce company yesterday, Nov. 4, reported its first earnings numbers since its IPO raised a record $25 billion in September, and Alibaba’s sales for the quarter increased 54 percent, to 16.8 billion yuan. Although higher costs for integration of newly acquired businesses and other marketing expenses helped drive its earnings down 39 percent, to 3 billion yuan, that result was still better than many analysts had expected.“The China retail business is proving to be a powerhouse,” wrote Rob Sanderson, managing director with MKM Partners, in a report published Nov. 4. China’s market, he added, offers “impressive growth even at a very large scale.”
    Now that Alibaba has reported its first results as a public company, the next big event for the Chinese e-commerce giant comes with the fifth annual Nov. 11 “Singles Day” sale. Alibaba came up with the gimmick of using 11-11 to market to unmarried people, and it has quickly become a hit: Last year, the company’s sales on Nov. 11 spiked 83 percent compared with the previous year, to a record 35 billion yuan ($5.7 billion).Just how successful has Alibaba been with Singles Day? That turnover last year was more than twice the gross merchandise volume of all U.S. sales online during the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, according to Jeff Walters, a Beijing-based partner with Boston Consulting Group. As other Chinese retailers have jumped on the Singles Day bandwagon, total online spending on Nov. 11 last year was around 50 billion yuan.
    This year should be even bigger, thanks to the growing acceptance of the Internet among Chinese consumers. The total number of shoppers online has increased about 20 percent, to around 360 million, according to BCG, which expects Alibaba’s TMall and Taobao to account for 70 percent to 80 percent of Singles Day transactions. China’s post office is prepared to deliver more than 90 million packages daily “one or two days after Nov. 11,” the People’s Daily reported yesterday. That’s about 40 percent more than last year.Many newcomers are getting into the Singles Day action this year, with more than 30 automakers, apparel brands, and other companies taking part in Alibaba’s sales event next week. For instance, Tesla Motors (TSLA) will sell begin sales of its Model S on Nov. 11. Zara (ITX:SM) will participate for the first time, too, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Praveen Menon and Ji Shi wrote in a report published Nov. 4.Some retailers may be in for a bit of a disappointment. With only about 25 percent of the Chinese population shopping online, Singles Day creates an opportunity for Alibaba and its rivals to get new customers used to the idea of buying goods over the Internet. “The loud promotion of Singles Day across the internet helps [persuade] many of China’s netizens to try e-commerce for the first time,” BCG’s Walters reports. While the number of shoppers will surely increase, the amount each one spends is likely to drop 15 percent, “because promotions are becoming more common throughout the year, making Singles Day less ‘special.’”
    Still, Alibaba isn’t giving up on its marketing gimmick. With such Chinese rivals as JD.com (JD) offering more Nov. 11 sales of their own, Alibaba is trying keep its edge by turning Singles Day into a worldwide event. The company plans to offer more than 1 million items to consumers outside China, it said in a Nov. 4 statement on its Alizila website.

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-11-05/alibaba-looks-ahead-to-single

Structure of the lead:
WHAT-Single's Day 
WHEN-Nov. 11
WHO-Alibaba
WHERE-China
WHY-not given
HOW-online shopping

Key words:

1. hype  炒作；大肆宣傳
2. integration  綜合；整合
3. retail  零售
4. powerhouse  有勢力的團體
5. gimmick  花招；噱頭
6. spike  制止；阻撓
7. bandwagon  流行；時尚
8. transaction  辦理；業務
9. apparel  服裝
10. netizen  網民

WEEK4  

Walter Palmer: Cecil the lion killer revealed to be American dentist

• Thursday 30 July 2015

The tourist who paid thousands of pounds to kill one of Zimbabwe’s most cherished lions has been identified as an American dentist.

Authorities in Zimbabwe say Walter Palmer, from Minneapolis, paid a $55,000 (£35,000) bribe to wildlife guides to allow him to shoot the lion, named Cecil, with a crossbow.

The 13-year-old animal was found beheaded and skinned near the Hwange National Park, where he was beloved by tourists and local residents alike.

Dr Palmer, who is described as an “experienced general and cosmetic dentist” on his practice’s website, is married with two children.

His professional biography describes his enjoyment of “outdoor activities”, adding: “Anything allowing him to stay active and observe and photograph wildlife is where you will find Dr Palmer when he is not in the office.”

The dentist’s Facebook page was being inundated with angry comments and threats today as he was identified as Cecil’s killer.

“Nothing in this world would give me greater pleasure than to see your head mounted on a wall, your carcass defiled, degraded and paraded as you did to Cecil and near countless other animals,” one person wrote.

Johnny Rodrigues, chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, identified Mr Palmer to The Independent and said anyone convicted of involvement in the illegal hunt could face up to 10 years in prison.

He added: “The head – his trophy – has been impounded and confiscated as evidence for the court in Victoria Falls”.

Mr Rodrigues had previously described Cecil as “one of the most beautiful animals to look at” and said he “never bothered anybody”.

Zimbabwe, like many African countries, is battling to curb illegal hunting and poaching threatening its endangered wildlife and conservationists fear Cecil’s death will have a knock-on effect.

The lion’s cubs could die as other male lions take his place in the pride and kill the lionesses’ offspring in to encourage them to mate.

Mr Palmer and his accomplices are believed to have lured Cecil out of the protection of the national park using bait and shot him with the bow – a silent weapon increasingly used by hunters trying to evade arrest.

But the arrow did not kill the lion immediately. Tracking data from his GPS collar linked to researchers at Oxford University showed he was followed for 40 hours before being shot dead with a rifle.

The Zimbabwe Professional Hunters and Guides Association confirmed in a Facebook post last week that the hunter in charge of the safari was one of its members and had been suspended.

“ZPHGA reiterates it will not tolerate any illegal hunting or any unethical practices by any of its members and their staff,” a statement said.

A guide from local firm Bushman Safaris and the owner of the land where Cecil died have been arrested over the killing on 6 July.

Hunter Theo Bronchorst and landowner Honest Trymore Ndlovu were due to face illegal hunting charges in a court in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWM) said.

On its Facebook page, Bushman Safaris describes itself as a family business offering “top quality hunts with maximum results”, specialising in killing lepoards.

“Hunters do far more for conservation of our wildlife than anti-hunters whom probably almost 100% have never even seen or been around our wildlife,” a post said earlier this year.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/walter-palmer-american-dentist-revealed-as-killer-of-cecil-the-lion-in-zimbabwe-10421746.html

Structure of the Lead:
WHAT-kill Zimbabwe’s most cherished lion
WHEN-July 2015
WHO-Walter Palmer
WHERE-Zimbabwe 
WHY-not given
HOW-not given

KEY WORDS:

1. crossbow  石弓；弩
2. inundate  氾濫；壓倒
3. mount  展出；架置
4. carcass  殘骸；軀體
5. defile  玷汙；污損
6. trophy  戰利品
7. impound  沒收
8. confiscate  充公
9. curb  克制；約束
10. evade  逃避