海角大神

2025
October
25
Saturday

Monitor Daily Podcast

October 25, 2025
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Clayton Collins
Director of Editorial Innovation

A ladder, a furniture hoist, an angle grinder. Seven minutes, in and out.

Nothing about grand theft is meant to be amusing. But the cinematic term 鈥渂razen heist鈥 got thrown around a lot this past week in connection with the broad-daylight lifting of more than $100 million in jewels from the Louvre in Paris. All that was missing was Inspector Clouseau.

鈥淥n top of it all, they managed to drop a bejeweled crown on their way out,鈥 says Colette Davidson, whose story today looks at French reactions to the crime. An American wag pointed to the robbery鈥檚 9:30 a.m. start time as a nod to European work-life balance. For their part, without a clear reason for fear, many Parisians exhibited a sharp, dismissive strain of French humor, Colette says. 鈥淚t was almost like these robbers were a bunch of jokesters instead of a skilled gang,鈥 she adds. 鈥淓veryone found it so humorous.鈥 In generally trying times, a little culturally calibrated relief.


A note: Since we switched to morning publication, with its new logistics, Mondays have not included Daily audio. Next week will be different. We鈥檙e prepping a short studio interview with Middle East correspondent Taylor Luck by our editor, Christa Case Bryant.

As always, find our latest news briefs and stories on our homepage.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Argentina votes Sunday in midterm legislative elections that serve as a report card for President Javier Milei鈥檚 economic policies. He tamed inflation, but now the economy is stalled, many are worse off, and corruption has emerged as an issue.

Thibault Camus/AP
Visitors walk in the lobby of the Louvre museum, three days after historic jewels were stolen in a daring daylight heist, in Paris, Oct. 22, 2025.

The daylight robbery of jewelry from the Louvre has shocked residents and tourists in Paris. But it has stirred up their imaginations as well, as the daring and drama of the theft inspires comparisons to pop culture.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Connie Bell sits in the condo she is now living in after losing her Malibu home in the Palisades fire, in Santa Monica, California, on May 20, 2025.

The LA wildfires forced thousands into sometimes overwhelming decisions on how to rebuild their lives. For 10 months, Connie Bell has shared her journey with us. Widowed a month before fire destroyed her home, she is embracing possibilities both exhilarating and daunting.

Book review

Blake Ezra
Eli Sharabi chronicled his ordeal in Hamas captivity in his new memoir, "Hostage."

Countless people have endured horrific suffering after more than two years of war in Gaza. It is gratifying that one good and hopeful man has had his life returned to him, our critic writes, as completely changed as it must be.

On Film

Macall Polay/20th Century Studios/AP
Jeremy Allen White portrays the Boss in 鈥淪pringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.鈥

The new movie 鈥淪pringsteen,鈥 drawn from a book, portrays a more subdued Bruce than the one whose rousing concert images pepper the internet. The film mines the origins of the 鈥淣ebraska鈥 album looking for what drives a living legend.

Essay

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File

For some long-established immigrants, like our essayist's mother, the storm of current events means travel can bring trepidation and belonging feels fragile.


Viewfinder

Katie Harbath/AP
An aerial view shows the demolition of the East Wing at the White House, Oct. 23, 2025. President Donald Trump had said earlier that his intended construction of a new ballroom wouldn鈥檛 鈥渋nterfere with the current building.鈥 The edition would be the biggest structural change to the White House since 1942. Critics have decried what they see as its excess. Others have validated the need for more indoor space for large state events. 鈥淭he only bathroom facilities for a tent are porta-potties,鈥 Gahl Hodges Burt, social secretary under President Ronald Reagan, told The New York Times. 鈥淪etting up a kitchen out there is hugely expensive. When the tent is up, the helicopter can鈥檛 land. And the grass dies.鈥
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

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