U.N. Climate Change Conference Turns to Implementing Paris Agreement

U.N. Climate Change Conference Turns to Implementing Paris Agreement

U.N. Climate Change Conference Turns to Implementing Paris Agreement

By 

BILL SPINDLE and AMY HARDER

Nov. 7, 2016 5:30 a.m. ET

A year after nearly 200 nations agreed to a global pact in Paris to combat climate change, a United Nations conference this week ushers in the hard work of turning the plan into action.

The conference, known as COP22, which kicks off Monday in Marrakesh, Morocco, benefits from the unexpectedly quick adoption of the Paris agreement. It entered into force Friday after at least 55 signatories representing more than 55% of global emissions previously ratified it, including the U.S., China, the European Union and India.

“The politically difficult step was Paris,” said Robert Stavins, an environmental economist at Harvard University. “The technically difficult steps now remain.”

The agreement is a collection of self-imposed national plans for holding emissions to a level scientists believe will prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). But the past year contained many reminders of how difficult implementing the agreement will be compared with the feel-good exercise of approving and ratifying it.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-climate-change-conference-turns-to-implementing-paris-agreement-1478514604

 Structure of the Lead：

     WHO- U.N.

     WHEN- Nov. 7, 2016

     WHAT- Implementing Paris Agreement

     WHY- U.N. Climate Change Conference

     WHERE- Marrakesh, Morocco

     HOW-not given

Keywords:

Usher in (phr.): 開始

Emission (n.): 發行

Ratify (v.): 批准

Taiwan embraces Matt Damon

Taiwan embraces Matt Damon

By Yu Sen-lun  /  STAFF REPORTER

With his "American boy-next-door" persona, always in T-shirts and jeans, Matt Damon has easily captivated the hearts of Taiwanese movie fans in just a four-day visit of Taiwan. Thousands joined the Taiwan premiere of his latest film, The Bourne Identity, on Thursday night, and hundreds of them have followed Damon for the past four days -- from Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to the National Palace Museum -- and then waited for him at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel.

Taiwanese media hasn't missed the chance to embrace this Hollywood golden boy and make him feel at home. The first step was to teach him to say a few Mandarin phrases to greet his fans. Then TV reporters presented him with a cup of pearl milk tea, asking him to drink it right in the middle of the interview. There were also female reporters asking Damon to give them a hug on behalf of their audience.

This kind of media zeal is no less than what it was when Tom Cruise came to visit Taipei. No wonder Damon teasingly told his audience "Da jia hao, I'm Tom Cruise!" on the night of the Taiwan premiere.

In response to the warm welcome, Damon expressed his appreciation several times at the premiere and press conference. "I will definitely come back," he said, adding that he'd tell his buddy Ben Affleck that he's "got to come to Taiwan!" Indeed, in his short visit, the 32 year-old actor and screenwriter has shown a kind of natural stardom with his constant smile, openness and cordiality under the unblinking gaze of the media.

Talking about his first action film, The Bourne Identity, Damon said the script was the main aspect that drew him to the role of a CIA special agent. "The script is always important to me," he said. Damon said he's always been an action film fan and had felt that many action films look all too similar in style and plot.

"I love the stories of novelist Robert Ludlum and Doug Liman is an independent filmmaker that I like a lot. The combination of the two makes a very different action film."

In order to portray Jason Bourne, the CIA agent in this spy thriller, Damon said he took three months to train in martial arts, boxing and weapons use. As a agent who loses his memory, Bourne discovers he posses superior fighting skills, sharp and precise observation and a cold heart for killing, but somehow cannot remember his name or what he has done. While searching for his identity wandering around the European cities of Zurich and Paris, he finds that there are always people trying to kill him wherever he goes.

This cool and tightly-paced film also has the impressive acting of Franka Potente, who played the wild girl in the stylish German film Run Lola Run. Together with Damon, they begin a breathtaking flee from the police and the CIA, which includes a long, fascinating car-chase.

The Bourne Identity has so far grossed more the US$100 million. For his part, Damon has also lifted his salary up to the US$10 million mark.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2002/08/24/0000165462

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Matt Damon

WHEN- not given

WHAT- introduction of Matt Damon

WHY- not given

WHERE- not given

HOW-not given

Keywords:

Premiere: 初次演出

The Revenant’ gets 12 Oscar nods

The Revenant’ gets 12 Oscar nods

NY Times News Service, LOS ANGELES

The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road were showered with honors by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, picking up Oscar nominations for best picture and best director.

There are to be six best picture nominees to join them: Bridge of Spies, Spotlight, The Big Short, The Martian, Brooklyn and Room. Notably not among them: Straight Outta Compton and Carol both of which were pegged to make the cut by awards handicappers.

The Revenant, directed by Alejandro Inarritu, drew 12 nominations in total — the most of any film — with Leonardo DiCaprio honored for his wounded frontiersman and Tom Hardy for his villainous supporting role.

With 10 nominations, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road was the second most-honored film, although most of its support came from technical areas, like film editing, costume design and makeup and hairstyling. Behind Fury Road came The Martian with seven nominations — although its director, Ridley Scott, was prominently snubbed — and Spotlight with six.

The acting fields were filled with familiar faces. As expected, Cate Blanchett came away with her sixth best actress nomination for Carol. Jennifer Lawrence, now a four-time nominee, this time for Joy, joined Blanchett in the category. Also selected were Brie Larson from Room, Charlotte Rampling from 45 Years and Saoirse Ronan from Brooklyn.

DiCaprio, picking up his fifth acting nomination, is competing against the reigning best actor winner, Eddie Redmayne, who picked up a nod for The Danish Girl. Voters also backed Matt Damon (The Martian), Bryan Cranston (Trumbo) and Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs).

Concussion, starring Will Smith, and Beasts of No Nation, featuring Idris Elba, received nothing.

The racially diverse Creed, directed by Ryan Coogler, was shut out, except for a nomination for its war-horse supporting actor, Sylvester Stallone.

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Leonardo DiCaprio

WHEN- not given

WHAT- The Revenant’ gets 12 Oscar nods

WHY- not given

WHERE- not given

HOW- not given

Keywords:

Pegged: 固定

Frontiersman: 邊疆的居民

Snubbed: 厲聲制止

Family of Syrian child tried to reach Canada: report

Reuters, ANKARA

The family of a Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach had been trying toemigrate to Canada after fleeing the war-torn town of Kobani, one of their relatives told a Canadian newspaper yesterday.

A photograph of the tiny body of three-year old Aylan Kurdi washed up in the Aegean resort of Bodrum swept social media on Wednesday, spawning sympathy and outrage at the perceived inaction of developed nations in helping refugees.

His five-year-old brother, Galip, and mother, Rehan, 35, also died after their boat capsizedwhile trying to reach the Greek island of Kos. His father, Abdullah, was found semi-conscious and taken to hospital near Bodrum, Turkey’s Sabah newspaper said.

“I heard the news at 5 o’clock this morning,” Teema Kurdi, Abdullah’s sister and a resident of Vancouver, was quoted as saying by Canada’s National Post newspaper.

Teema had been contacted by the wife of one of Abdullah’s brothers.

“She had got a call from Abdullah, and all he said was, my wife and two boys are dead,” Teema said.

Abdullah, his wife and two children had made a privately sponsored refugee application to the Canadian authorities that was rejected in June because of complications with applications from Turkey, the newspaper quoted Teema as saying.

“I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbors who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat,” she said.

“I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there,” she said.

Turkey has won international praise for taking in 2 million refugees since the Syrian civil war began in March 2011, spending US$6 billion caring for them and receiving just US$400 million in outside aid.

However, it has warned it is reaching capacity, and thousands are now making the perilousjourney by boat from Turkey to Greece in a bid to enter Europe.

Kobani, a town in northern Syria near the Turkish border, was the scene of heavy fighting between Islamic State insurgents and Kurdish regional forces several months ago.

Tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the war in their homeland have descended on Turkey’s Aegean coast this summer to board boats to Greece.

Abdullah’s family were among at least 12 presumed Syrian refugees who died trying to reach Kos after two boats, carrying a total of 23 people, set off separately from the Akyarlar area of the Bodrum Peninsula, a naval official said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2015/09/04/2003626930

*Structure of the Lead：
WHO-The family of a Syrian toddler
WHEN-yesterday
WHAT-a Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach 
WHY-had been trying to emigrate to Canada after fleeing the war-torn town of Kobani 
WHERE-not given 
HOW-not  given

*Keywords：
1. toddler：學步的小孩；蹣跚行走者
2. wash up：(浪頭)把...衝上岸
3. emigrate：移居外國
4. flee：逃離 
5. sweep：掃蕩；肅清，消滅

PARIS ATTACKS: Government condemns ‘terrorism’

PARIS ATTACKS: Government condemns ‘terrorism’

By Alison Hsiao and Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporters, with CNA

The government yesterday condemned the series of attacks in Paris on Friday and expressedcondolences, with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) saying that Taiwan stands side-by-side with the people of France.

Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to locate Taiwanese living, studying or traveling in France, as well as to provide assistance to Taiwanese tour groups if needed.

According to the Tourism Bureau, 145 tourists from five Taiwanese tour groups in France were all safe, adding that no Taiwanese travel agencies had reported being affected by the attacks.

The foreign ministry said it would not raise the travel alert level for France, but called for people to be alert to security problems and refrain from unnecessary travel to Paris.

The foreign ministry and its representative office in France are to continue observing developments after the attacks, which have claimed at least 128 lives.

Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also expressed her sympathy for the French.

“The terrorist attacks in Paris are not only attacks on France, but also on the values of freedom and democracy shared by the international community,” Tsai said in a press release. “At a troubling time like this, we would like to extend our support to France and the French people to overcome the difficulties.”

She condemned the attacks, while extending sympathy to the people affected, adding that she gives her best wishes to the people of France that they might return to a normal, peaceful life as soon aspossible.

“Acts of terror and violence that destroy people’s lives and threatens freedom are to be condemned by all,” Tsai said. “It’s something intolerable in a civilized society.”

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is in the US, expressed his “gravest protest” against the attacks.

The whole world is now on high alert over national security and public safety, which are every nation’s greatest concern, Chu said.

Chu said he hopes policies drawn up would aim for “better harmony” and “not allow terror attacks to happen in Taiwan.”

Security is the most vital aspect of a nation, he said, adding that every crisis would be costly for society.

The Taipei 101 skyscraper joined New York in putting on red, white and blue lighting displays to show solidarity with people affected by the attacks.

The lighting — turned on at 5:30pm — symbolized the French national flag, while elsewhere six games of baseball’s Premier 12 competition across the nation observed minutes of silence to honor those who lost their lives.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/11/15/2003632488


*Structure of the Lead：
WHO-The government
WHEN-yesterday
WHAT-condemned  
WHY-the series of attacks in Paris on Friday and expressed condolences, with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) saying that Taiwan stands side-by-side with the people of France 
WHERE-not given 
HOW-not  given

*Keywords：
1. condemn：責難，責備，譴責
2. condolence：弔辭；弔唁；慰問
3. side by side：肩並肩地; 一起
4. as well as：也, 還, 而且
5. assistance：援助，幫助
6. refrain from：抑制...; 忍住...; 自己戒除...; 避免... 
7. extend：延長，延伸；擴大，擴展
8. as soon as：一……就……
9. grave：重大的
10. draw up：起草; 制訂