海角大神

Twenty years after the Columbine massacre,聽a Monitor reporter reflects on that day and how it has changed society聽from her perspective as a former Colorado high school teacher, an education reporter, and a parent.

In the West, religious institutions and governments tend not to be closely aligned. But for聽Ukraine鈥檚 Orthodox churches, the relationship is far blurrier. And that is causing heated debates within the country鈥檚 parishes.

Some U.S. officials want the next census to give a reliable count of voting-age citizens, and of noncitizen immigrants in the country. Is a citizenship question constitutional?

Journalists do more than record the world. Sometimes, they help make it turn. In apartheid South Africa, simply writing about black communities in all their vibrance was an act of protest.

Even after violence stops, the physical and mental costs of war can endure. Well documented in people, it is true for animals as well. Our reporter visited with animals recovering from Mideast conflicts.

In a display of truth triumphing over a lie, an airplane from the Red Cross flew 24 tons of emergency aid to Venezuela on Tuesday. Its arrival in Caracas marked an end to years of denial by President Nicol谩s Maduro that his country is in a humanitarian crisis and that it doesn鈥檛 need such foreign aid. Just last February the embattled leader said reports of a health and food crisis were simply a 鈥渟how鈥� sponsored by the United States. 鈥淲e aren鈥檛 beggars,鈥� Mr. Maduro said.

Such lies about Venezuela鈥檚 crisis were obvious to the rest of the world as well as Venezuelans, millions of whom are malnourished or have fled the country. Yet until now, Mr. Maduro has been reluctant to admit his socialist ideology has failed in a country once flush with oil wealth. He also did not want neutral groups like the Red Cross delivering aid directly to the people. He controls the poor by doling out basic necessities to ensure their loyalty.

His about-face could be explained by the expectation that the economy will shrink a further 25% this year, a result of mismanagement that has led to hyperinflation and massive blackouts. And the dire circumstances could mean more members of the military might defect to the opposition led by Juan Guaid贸, who was declared president two months ago by the National Assembly. Mr. Guaid贸, whose legitimacy is recognized by most Western governments, has campaigned to bring aid into Venezuela.

In recent weeks, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross were able to persuade Maduro that aid groups must be allowed to operate independently in delivering supplies. The U.N. estimates a quarter of the population needs urgent aid while other observers say the health system has 鈥渦tterly collapsed.鈥�

This first shipment from the Red Cross will be a test of the regime鈥檚 willingness to let aid be provided based on the humanitarian principle of political neutrality. Yet just as important as the aid is that Venezuelans now have seen their leader exposed in a lie.

The power of truth-telling against dictatorships is well recorded in history. The late Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of books that depicted unpleasant truths about communist rule, asked people to never knowingly support official lies. 鈥淥ne word of truth outweighs the whole world,鈥� he said, while adding that truth is based on 鈥渁n unchanging Higher Power above us.鈥�

The truth about Venezuela鈥檚 needs, combined with the humanitarian impulse of the international community, has finally caught up with the Maduro regime. It arrived Tuesday on an airport tarmac.