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What does it mean to be a Republican, post-Trump? Less than a year after 2020, a poll finds that claiming the election was stolen is now a defining characteristic.

With the economy and public health increasingly linked, will voters see mask and vaccine mandates as helping businesses or hindering them? The Virginia governor鈥檚 race may provide a test case.

Call it inequitable urban planning: In a bid to ease traffic flow, some cities built roads and highways that hemmed in low-income neighborhoods. Here鈥檚 how one major Tennessee city is trying to redress that de facto segregation.

Our latest roundup of progress ranges from the invention of a new self-healing material to fresh techniques to study the world鈥檚 most impenetrable jungles.聽

Did you know that there are scout troops in Afghanistan? Meet the duo who trained Afghan boys and girls for community service and now face fresh challenges following the takeover by the Taliban.

Two years ago, just before the pandemic, a wave of youth-led protests hit several Muslim countries, from Sudan to Lebanon to Iraq. While the main goal was democratic reform, protesters also shared a second demand: End political favoritism along ethnic or religious lines that aids corruption. Now partly because of the pandemic, young people in another Muslim country, Malaysia, are on a similar march.

In late July, young Malaysians took to the streets to protest the government鈥檚 poor handling of the pandemic in the Southeast Asian nation. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was forced to resign. Then in September, his replacement, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, made a key concession to activists. He ended government efforts to block a 2019 law that was supposed to lower the voting age. Now 18- to 20-year-olds will soon be able to cast ballots, giving greater influence to young people in reshaping Malaysia鈥檚 democracy.

That influence could end up challenging the country鈥檚 race-based politics. For decades, the government has granted economic favors to the country鈥檚 majority Malay ethnic group, which is largely Muslim. That resulted in official discrimination against ethnic minorities, notably Chinese and Tamil. Last year, a youth-led political movement sprang up to end such discrimination and create inclusive politics.

鈥淵oung people are not susceptible to racial politics,鈥� said the movement鈥檚 founder, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul, a former lawmaker and government sports minister who is 28 years old. 鈥淭hey are more concerned about influencing their actual policies.鈥� He hopes to register the movement as an official political party, the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance, or MUDA, which means young in the Malay language.

A new spirit of civic equality has emerged in Malaysia, much like that in other Muslim countries divided by ethnicity or religion. With access to social media, young people are able to bypass government-controlled news and read about their shared interests.

In July last year, 222 young Malaysians held a two-day 鈥渄igital parliament鈥� reflecting the real Parliament to discuss and 鈥減ass鈥� new laws affecting youth. The virtual meeting drew more than 200,000 viewers. They saw a potential for a new Malaysia, one that treats all citizens as individuals, endowed with the same dignity and freedom of conscience, and with equal moral standing.