海角大神

2025
June
06
Friday

Monitor Daily Podcast

June 06, 2025
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Linda Feldmann
Washington Bureau Chief

Among the many fascinations of President Donald Trump is 鈥 a device that can sign a document on the president鈥檚 behalf. President Trump himself has acknowledged using one. But he relishes the ceremony around signing executive orders with an actual pen, typically a Sharpie. Now the autopen is back in the news, as President Trump orders an investigation into the legality of orders and pardons signed by President Joe Biden with an autopen. The device has also come to symbolize the profound 鈥 and growing 鈥 power of the American presidency, as I write in today鈥檚 Daily.


Editor鈥檚 note: We spoke with writer Erika Page about her recent reporting on Nairobi鈥檚 鈥渟atellite鈥 cities. Listen here to the聽latest episode of our 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥 podcast.


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News briefs

Russia struck Kyiv with a missile and drone attack.聽Mayor Vitali Klitschko said search and rescue operations were underway at several locations after a Russian attack on the capital early Friday killed at least three people and injured 20 others. It was part of a wider overnight assault. 鈥 The Associated Press

Aid distribution resumed in Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said Thursday it was reopening two sites one day after shutting them following a series of deadly shootings near its operations. The group, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, said it was pressing Israeli forces to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its operations. 鈥 Reuters

The Supreme Court made it easier to sue for 鈥渞everse discrimination.鈥 A unanimous decision Thursday sided with an Ohio woman who said she was passed over for promotions because she is straight. The decision affects lawsuits in 20 states and the District of Columbia where courts had set a higher bar when members of a majority group sue for discrimination under federal law. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that federal civil rights law draws no distinction between members of majority and minority groups. 鈥 AP

Mexico鈥檚 landmark gun case reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Some 70% of weapons used in crimes inside Mexico are traced to the United States. Mexico argued that U.S. firearms manufacturers know their products are trafficked across the border, and profit from it. The high court ruled that an industry shield law protects gunmakers from the suit, but rejected arguments that the industry could never be blamed for damage caused by its guns in Mexico, opening the possibility that it could be held accountable in future cases. 鈥 Staff

New Zealand suspended lawmakers who performed a haka protest. The lawmakers from Te P膩ti M膩ori, the M膩ori Party, performed the chanting dance of challenge in November to oppose an unpopular bill, now defeated, that they said would reverse Indigenous rights. One lawmaker received a seven-day ban and the leaders of the M膩ori Party were barred for 21 days. The longest previous ban for a lawmaker from New Zealand鈥檚 Parliament was three days. The protest provoked months of debate among lawmakers about the place of M膩ori culture in Parliament. 鈥 AP

Scientists reported record levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Researchers at Hawaii鈥檚 Mauna Loa Observatory calculated a monthly average of more than 430 parts per million for May. Before the world began burning fossil fuels for energy, scientists say the average atmospheric concentration was a fraction of that, at 280 parts per million. Carbon dioxide traps heat in the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere. Despite widespread awareness about global warming, global emissions continue to rise. The U.S. has slowly reduced its emissions for the past 20 years. Still, Americans are responsible for the most carbon emissions per person. 鈥 Staff

Cockatoos have learned to drink from water fountains.聽In the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, researchers caught the sulfur-crested cockatoos taking turns to twist and hold the handle at public fountains, just as humans do. While less than half the attempts ended with a successful sip of water, the birds seem to be learning street skills not just for survival, but also for fun. More studies, including on baboons that walk in lines formed by friendship, are showing聽that animals are more playful than we might think. 鈥 Staff


Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Brian Snyder/Reuters
A graduating student wears a hat decorated with a statement of support for international students, during the 374th commencement exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 29, 2025.

Decadeslong suspicion of elite universities has evolved under President Donald Trump into a full-scale war against institutions deemed to have grown overtly political. At Harvard University, where President Trump has canceled major federal research grants and ordered the suspension of visas for foreign students, it鈥檚 a high-stakes contest that echoes far beyond higher education. But at Harvard, the challenges are mounting. 鈥淚f you want to make an example and to demonstrate your power, how better to do it than to go after the university that鈥檚 at the top of the heap?鈥 asks Brian Rosenberg, a former college president who now teaches at Harvard.

Evan Vucci/AP
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Washington.

The president of the United States can seem like a 鈥渃hairman of the board,鈥 atop a massive government bureaucracy that largely runs itself. But that belies a stark reality: The person sitting behind the Resolute Desk truly does matter 鈥 perhaps now more than ever. And it鈥檚 not just about President Donald Trump鈥檚 dominant personality. Over time, Congress has ceded power to the executive branch, and the courts can be slow and deliberative. The presidencies of both Mr. Trump and Joe Biden have demonstrated that trend.

Patterns

Tracing global connections

President Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥減ivot to Asia鈥 is not a new concept, but it differs in key ways from President Barack Obama鈥檚 strategy. As he wages a tariff war in Asia, will Mr. Trump find the regional allies he needs? President Trump鈥檚 calculation is that a show of power will ultimately allow for creative dealmaking with China, designed to ensure that China will not invade Taiwan on Mr. Trump鈥檚 watch, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told a major Asian security conference last weekend.

The Explainer

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
An Afghan passes in front of an air travel agency in Kabul, Afghanistan, June 5, 2025. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation June 4 banning travel to the U.S. from 12 countries, including Afghanistan.

President Donald Trump has signed a ban on travel to the United States by nationals from 12 countries, and restrictions on people from seven more. It鈥檚 similar to the travel ban he signed in 2017, which was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court. The proclamation issued this week offers clear, country-by-country justifications pertaining to national security concerns and immigration law violations. Not all the countries included are majority-Muslim, and it goes into effect Monday.

SOURCE:

The White House

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

In the span of three weeks, El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele has seen an escalation of crackdowns on protests and civil society. A prominent lawyer was arrested, the military has been sent out to disperse protests, and President Bukele has enacted a 鈥渇oreign agents鈥 law that fines civil society funding. Why now? In part, he is emboldened by his support from President Donald Trump. And his high job approval in polls is showing signs of receding.

In Pictures

Ramon Espinosa/AP/File
SKIP, SKIP, HOORAY: A girl jump-ropes at a school housing residents displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Too often, play is pushed aside 鈥 squeezed out by screen time and schoolwork. As National Children鈥檚 Day approaches in the United States, we examine through photographs how children test boundaries, swap roles, invent rules, and learn empathy through play.


The Monitor's View

Reuters
A man fills a bucket from a collection tank near Damascus, Syria, May 12,

One of the busiest people in a newly liberated Syria these days is its minister for agriculture, Amjad Badr. The stability of the Middle East may depend on the success of this man, whose doctorate research focused on irrigation.

Dr. Badr has been meeting with Syrian farmers and flying to foreign capitals to find ways to deal with the worst drought since the 1950s in a country that is already one of the most severely affected by the global climate crisis.

One reason for his busy schedule: Syria鈥檚 new leaders do not want history to repeat itself. A drought from 2006 to 2011 forced many young people in rural areas to migrate to cities where they ended up joining peaceful, pro-democracy protests. A government crackdown then led to a civil war, which ended with the overthrow of the Assad regime last December.

With one eye on its restless youth, Syria鈥檚 interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former rebel, is now aiming to create a democracy. Yet he must cope with the fact that about a quarter of agricultural land is in a thermal drought, affecting more than 2.5 million people. Many farmers must also deal with groundwater depletion, wildfires, and the low flow of the Euphrates River. Nearly half of Syrians depend on agriculture for their livelihood.

In his travels, Dr. Badr stressed the need to modernize irrigation networks, regulate water sources, and 鈥渁chieve positive outcomes in cultivating crops in areas experiencing water scarcity,鈥 according to the Syrian Arab News Agency. Early this year, the United Nations stated that Syria remains one of the world鈥檚 鈥渕ost complex humanitarian crises, significantly affecting the production and supply of its staple food, bread.鈥 Nearly 9 in 10 people are 鈥渇ood insecure.鈥

Just how seriously is Syrian leader Mr. al-Sharaa taking this crisis? One measure is the appointment of Dr. Badr himself, and not just for his agricultural expertise. He is the only member of the 23-member Cabinet who is Druze, a small minority faith sometimes suppressed by Syria鈥檚 majority Sunni Muslims.

Syrians have long honed a national identity through shared crises 鈥 like droughts and dictatorships 鈥 that unify them in finding solutions. In his efforts, Dr. Badr spares no Syrian farmer from his concern. The country鈥檚 future depends on it.


A 海角大神 Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication 鈥 in its various forms 鈥 is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church 鈥 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston 鈥 whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

As we lift our sights to the activity of the Divine, we find evidence that God鈥檚 goodness has never left us.


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( What is this? )

Palestinian children play during the Eid al-Adha holiday, in Gaza City, June 6, 2025.

Manish Swarup/AP
People fish while standing on a seawall as the sun sets in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Perth, Australia, June 5, 2025.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

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