Topic Reading-Vol.4328-2/29/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Mexico’s teachers seek relief from pandemic-era spike in school robberies

The population of Mexico is around 130 million, the 10^th largest in the world, and its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the monetary value of final goods and services produced, is the 12^th highest. However, GDP per capita, or the wealth per person, ranks below 60^th, meaning people aren’t so wealthy on average compared with developed countries, and many people are poor.  In fact, over 40% of the population lived in poverty in 2022. Also, crime rates, especially violent crime, are high in urban areas and certain regions, partly due to drug cartel activities. No wonder there are so many Mexicans trying to move to the US even illegally. During the pandemic, schools were closed and ran classes online. Those who lost their incomes or jobs found there were things that they could steal from those empty schools, such as computers, wires, and even toilets. This made those looted schools inoperable when they tried to resume classes. Even after the pandemic, such school robberies are still common in some places, and teachers are struggling to find ways to run classes. Robbing equipment from schools isn’t a petty crime but a theft of students’ futures as it hampers the chance of learning.

Read the article and learn about how teachers in Mexico are suffering from school robberies.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/23/mexicos-teachers-seek-relief-from-pandemic-era-spike-in-school-robberies

Topic Reading-Vol.4327-2/28/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

‘I don’t want to kill’: Conscription law sparks fear in war-torn Myanmar

Since the military junta seized power in a coup in February 2021 in Myanmar, there have been several domestic conflicts fought against the National Unity Government, ethnic armed organizations, and multiple ethnic insurgencies. Those conflicts have escalated especially in the northern part of the country since last fall, and the junta government has seen an increasing number of depletions, desertions, and defections of its military forces. So, they enacted the conscription law that mandates men aged 18 to 45 and women aged 18 to 35, to serve in the military for at least two years or longer. This caused panic among young people as they do not want to be sent to the front to fight with their own people. Many of the young who don’t have to support their families have been trying to escape from the country to neighboring countries like Thailand. Also, people have become more careful not to be forcibly taken by the military even without conscription or official orders, the practice the military has been using to support their activities. Some say they would rather join the rebel forces than fight for the military. Indeed, no one wants to fight to kill or to be killed by their fellow citizens in a domestic conflict.

Read the article and learn about what Myanmar’s recent mandatory conscription law caused.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/22/asia/myanmar-mandatory-conscription-fears-young-people-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4326-2/27/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Don't dry your iPhone in a bag of rice, says Apple

What would you do if you dropped your smartphone in water? Would you dry the wet phone with a hairdryer or put a cotton swab or a tissue into the phone? The answer is no. Your phone wouldn’t want to be overheated or inserted with foreign objects. How about putting it in a bag of rice to suck out the moisture? This is not recommended either as small particles of rice could damage the phone. The best you can do is to simply place the wet phone in a dry area with airflow before recharging. Until more phones become water-resistant like the iPhone 12, you want to be careful when you use your phone over or around water. As for hot coffee or tea? Keep your fingers crossed.

Read the article and learn about what to do when your phone gets wet.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68357165

Topic Reading-Vol.4325-2/26/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Europe needs a decade to build up arms stocks, says defence firm boss

Ammunition is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from weapons, such as bullets, bombs, missiles, artillery shells, grenades, and landmines. Once they are produced, they are stored in a dedicated safe and dry environment until they are used or disposed of if they reach the end of their usable lifespan. In the last 50 years, there weren’t any major wars in Europe except for the conflicts in the Balkans during the 1990s. So, the production of ammunition in European countries had been in safe mode until Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 where most of the stocked ammunition has been nearly used up by both Russia, Ukraine, and its supporters. Since it takes years to increase the production capacity of ammunition, it is expected to take years to build up arms stock in Europe. This is a serious security matter for European countries especially when the support from the US may not be as firm as it committed in NATO, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Read the article and learn about what Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused to NATO.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68273449

Topic Reading-Vol.4324-2/25/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Ukrainians have seen “unimaginable” horror. Photos share their stories.

It started in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and supported separatists in Eastern Ukraine. Then on February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, attacking from the air, in the sea, and on the ground. Ukrainians stood to the invading forces, and the US and its Western allies immediately started providing Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, and other support necessary to withstand Russian offense. Two years have passed and the war still continues. What are the lives and situation like in Ukraine? Some brave photojournalists have been taking photos of battlefields, ruins, victims, and survivors to show how cruel the war is to Ukraine.

See the photos and read the captions to learn the evidence of atrocities and crimes of war. 

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2024/02/world/ukraine-war-photographers-cnnphotos/

Topic Reading-Vol.4323-2/24/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Tradition of lucky money a financial strain on elderly

Hongbao, or lucky money, is money in red envelopes given to children during special occasions, especially during Chinese New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is believed to ward off evil spirits. Recently, as mobile payment has become the de-fact payment tool in China, sending virtual red envelopes with messages and animations on WeChat or Alipay is taking place for paper envelopes. Whichever the envelopes might be, what’s inside matters for both the recipients and givers. As many people have become wealthier and the average income rises, the amount of money in the red envelopes increases. Also, many Chinese parents in urban areas have only one child, if they have one. This reduces the number of red envelopes to hand out but raises the amount per envelope increases. This is troublesome for those who live by pensions or have many grandchildren in rural areas where there are many relatives. Indeed, as what children want is becoming more expensive, such as online games, trendy clothes, and fancy drinks, one hundred yuan, worth US$14, might not be enough as “lucky money.” Many Chinese grandparents don’t seem as wealthy as their adult children, or even their grandchildren because they don’t have as much savings or investment as today’s generations.

Read the article and learn about what “lucky money” means in China.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202402/17/WS65cfed4ea31041d387d6e009.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4322-2/23/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Greenland has lost ice 36 times the size of New York. That’s a huge problem for the planet

Greenland is the world’s biggest island, around seven times the size of the UK and 50 times that of London. The autonomous region within Denmark had mostly been covered by ice and glaciers until recently. However, it has lost a substantial amount of ice in the last three decades, as much as 36 times the size of New York City due to global warming. As a result, the surface of some parts of Greenland has become green or barren. Since snow and ice reflect the heat from the sun back into space, they help reduce temperature increase and sea level rise. Also, warmer temperatures have accelerated ice loss and raised land temperatures even higher. As a result, some parts of the permafrost have melted and released planet-warming carbon dioxide and methane. All these changes have been affecting not only global warming and sea level rises but also the lives and ecosystems on and around Greenland, including the 57,000 inhabitants, polar bears, reindeer (Caribou), seals, and whales.

Read the article and learn about the changes in once-icy Greenland.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/13/climate/greenland-ice-loss-vegetation-climate-intl/index.html