Topic Reading-Vol.4853-8/7/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

How Trump’s mass deportations could backfire on the American economy by shrinking paychecks

Under a deep, prolonged recession, people are content with any jobs they can get to bring food to the table. However, in peacetime in developed countries, people prefer doing skilled or white-collar jobs to unskilled labor, such as farming, construction, restaurants, and car washing. In fact, around 40% of crop farmers in the US are unauthorized workers, mainly illegal immigrants. For example, if you visit a strawberry farm or a car wash, you’ll find most of the workers are undocumented Latinos. The current administration is trying to deport illegal immigrants on a massive scale, saying they have caused violent crimes, raised housing costs, eroded social trust, and crowded emergency rooms. However, a new analysis suggests such mass deportations reduce paychecks for most workers, erode economic output, and increase the federal government budget deficit. Indeed, the fewer the bodies to produce, the smaller the economic outputs and consumption will be. And the longer the deportation continues, the more substantial the economic impacts will be. What is those illegal immigrants were legalized, at least economically, wouldn’t they pay taxes, contribute to social security, and eventually stimulate economic activity?

Read the article and learn about the illegal labor force in the US.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/25/business/trump-jobs-immigration-economy

Topic Reading-Vol.4852-8/6/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

80 years ago today at 8:15 am (Japan time), the first atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, was dropped by a US B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, on Hiroshima. It exploded at 580 meters above the city, destroyed 12 square kilometers, and killed over 100,000 people, mostly civilians, by the end of the year. Three days later, on August 9, the second atomic bomb, nicknamed Fat Man, was dropped by Bockscar, another US B-29 bomber, at 11:02 am, killing more than 40,000 civilians instantly and an additional 30,000 by the year's end. In both sites, many survivors who were injured or appeared uninjured had to live torturous days until their death or throughout their lives because of the radiation. The nuclear weapons were said to be used to end the long-lasting war with Japan, avoid creating further US casualties, and demonstrate power to the Soviet Union. However, a recent survey of Americans shows mixed views about the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, among justified, not justified, and not sure. Now, eight decades after the bombings, fewer than 100,000 atomic-bomb survivors are alive. The inhumanity of nuclear weapons should never be forgotten.

Read the Wikipedia explanation about the atomic bombings eight decades ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

Topic Reading-Vol.4851-8/5/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

World’s top court says major polluters may need to pay reparations for climate harm

Established in 1945 in The Hague, the Netherlands, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The ICJ is the only international court that settles general disputes between countries, with its rulings and opinions serving as primary sources of international law. On July 23, the top UN court said polluting countries may be in breach of international law if they do not protect the planet from the “existential threat” posed by climate change. In addition, the court said countries that suffer from climate change can ask for compensation from countries that have burned the most fossil fuels. In addition, the court ruled that subsidizing the fossil fuel industry or approving fossil fuel exploration licenses could breach their obligations to the 2015 UN Paris Agreement. Though the ruling is not legally binding, climate-vulnerable states and frontline communities are delighted.

The US is the country that has cumulatively emitted the most greenhouse gases, and China is currently the largest annual emitter. The Trump administration withdrew from the World Health Organization in January. In June, it proposed opening the large national petroleum reserve in Alaska for oil and gas leasing. Last month, it announced that it would pull out of UNESCO for the second time. In China, nearly half of the new cars sold were EVs this year. How will the largest greenhouse gas-emitting countries react to this landmark ICJ ruling?

Read the article and learn about the recent ICJ ruling on global warming.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/23/climate/icj-advisory-opinion-climate-un-court

Topic Reading-Vol.4850-8/4/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Will AI really wipe out white collar jobs? Tech insiders are split

Automation performs repetitive tasks that were done by humans in a more precise manner by robots or machines. It has been used in various fields, such as manufacturing, robotics, automotives, and service. Those robots and machines are costly because they require capital expenditures, hardware repair, upgrade, or replacement. On the other hand, AI is easily adopted to improve human tasks. Also, since AI is installed and upgraded by software, AI tools can be used without upfront capital expenditures, but with subscription fees. Tech companies say a quite significant part of their coding tasks has already been done by AI, and they expect more will be done by AI in the coming years. In addition, agentic AI is emerging, which can operate autonomously, making decisions and taking actions to achieve goals with minimal human intervention. With such an autonomous tool, humans can work on more creative or relational tasks. In the meantime, it may take over jobs that are done by human workers soon, if not tomorrow.

Read the article and learn about what AI does and will do to human jobs.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/21/tech/ai-replace-human-workers-tech-insiders-split

Topic Reading-Vol.4849-8/3/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Solar and batteries could help Egypt beat its blackouts

Summer is hot in many parts of the world, especially in Egypt. Average high temperatures go well over 30 degrees, even though nighttime temperatures drop significantly. Indeed, except for the coastal regions on the Mediterranean Sea, most of the land in Egypt is desert, where there is a lot of sunshine but little or no rain. Recently, demand for electricity has surged in summer to combat the intense heat with air conditioning. For now, nearly 90% of the country’s electricity is generated by fossil fuels, mainly gas. The problem is that production from the nation’s major gas field is declining, and Egypt is struggling to supply enough electricity, especially in summer. In the meantime, there is more than enough sunshine in the desert, which could be turned into a mega solar power plant. However, since solar panels only work when there is sunshine, battery storage is also needed to supply electricity even when the sun isn’t shining. The good news is that costs for batteries, solar panels, and installation have been falling recently, which allows Egypt to develop a large-scale solar power plant. The Obelisk solar energy project is Egypt’s first gigawatt-scale solar and battery plant to make use of the abundant sunshine in the desert.

Read the article and learn about Egypt’s attempt to combat summer with solar power.

https://edition.cnn.com/world/africa/egypt-solar-battery-energy-obelisk-spc

Topic Reading-Vol.4848-8/2/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

English majors face uncertain future as AI replaces basic skills

Some students choose language majors for their interests, while others study foreign languages for their careers. However, AI tools aren’t limited to just one foreign language that students major in. They can now translate many languages almost accurately, quite fluently, and economically, 24/7 for most business and practical purposes. As a result, those who have majored in foreign languages are not as in demand as they were before in China. In the last few years, Chinese students with foreign language majors have had difficulty finding good jobs, if any. For example, international trade and business hires declined from 28 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2023, while translation and localization roles dropped from 15 percent to 8 percent during the period. Accordingly, Chinese students are now choosing more practical and skill-oriented majors, such as IT or engineering. Accordingly, some universities, including top-tier ones, have stopped enrollment for foreign language majors and master’s programs. Even though language learning isn’t limited to translation, more Chinese students now prefer studying more business-oriented academic fields or developing practical skills in college for their careers.

Read the article and learn how AI affects college majors in China.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202507/15/WS68759d64a31000e9a573bfc5.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4847-8/1/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Unique 1.5m year-old ice to be melted to unlock mystery

An ice core is a core sample removed from an ice sheet in Antarctica or a high mountain glacier. Analyzing an ice core is like riding on a time machine. It contains ice formed hundreds of thousands to over a million years ago. From deep inside Antarctica’s ice sheet, 2.8km of ice core was extracted, chopped into one-meter blocks, and transported to research facilities in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK. Researchers are now analyzing them to learn wind patterns, temperature, sea levels, and more, hoping to identify the cause of a mysterious change in climate that occurred 800,000 to 1.2 million years ago when the planet's glacial cycles suddenly changed. Very careful handling is required in order not to have the ice cores affected by today’s environment.

Read the article and learn about what ice cores from Antarctica could reveal about the climate of a million years ago.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ygwd6yj28o