海角大神

2025
December
10
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

December 10, 2025
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Ira Porter
Education Writer

Call it opportunity through astronomy.

When traditional income-generating opportunities dried up in a remote village in India, the stars kept pouring down bright light. So, under a stelliferous sky, residents of Hanle 鈥 site of the Indian Astronomical Observatory 鈥 created an economy from the nightly natural wonder above their heads.聽Some work as tour guides. Other provide homestays. All promote outside interest in the region鈥檚 cultural heritage. Aakash Hassan reports on this exercise in community-building.

Also, Hillary Chura takes us to eastern Pennsylvania, where we hear from a couple who started a nonprofit for foster children, building a network of services and goods that helps thousands of families. That鈥檚 community, too.


A note: In yesterday鈥檚 Daily intro, we omitted the byline. The writer was Kurt Shillinger, our managing editor.


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News briefs

Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged elections in the coming months in exchange for American security guarantees. Ukraine鈥檚 president had previously rejected the idea while the country is at war with Russia. President Donald Trump has suggested that Mr. Zelenskyy, who began a 5-year term in 2019, is using the war to hold on to power. Ukraine is expected to send Washington a revised version of Mr. Trump鈥檚 peace plan today.

An African trade pact may get a second life after it was allowed to expire on Oct. 1. Since 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act had given 32 sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the United States. A House committee is hosting a session today on a bill that would renew it until the end of 2028, a possibility African leaders celebrate. But some analysts cast doubt on the administration鈥檚 willingness to extend the provision given its preference for bilateral 鈥淎merica First鈥 agreements.

Miami elected its first Democratic mayor in almost three decades. Eileen Higgins will also be the first woman to run the city and the first non-Hispanic mayor since the 1990s. The runoff drew national attention, with President Trump endorsing her Republican opponent. Both candidates focused on immigration in a county that is roughly 70% Hispanic, with Ms. Higgins denouncing harsh rhetoric against immigrants.

Lithuania declared a state of emergency in response to smuggler balloons from Belarus in its airspace. Hundreds of cases of weather balloons carrying contraband into the country have been reported this year. Lithuanian leaders see the violations as a form of hybrid attack by Russia-allied Belarus, which denies responsibility. Europe is on high alert following a series of airspace violations in September.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels advanced in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo despite a U.S.-brokered peace accord signed last Thursday. Around 200,000 people have fled their homes as President Felix Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of violating the peace deal. U.S. and European leaders called for an end to the 鈥渄estabilizing鈥 offensive.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis designated a Muslim civil rights group a 鈥渇oreign terrorist group,鈥 following Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is one of the largest Muslim advocacy groups in the United States. In a news release, CAIR called the move a 鈥渄irect attack鈥 on First Amendment rights and the Muslim community in Florida. The federal government does not apply the label.

This year鈥檚 Nobel Peace Prize winner will not attend today鈥檚 Oslo ceremony to receive her award, organizers said. Venezuelan opposition leader Mar铆a Corina Machado has been in hiding since elections last year. Her daughter is expected to accept the prize on her behalf. In addition to galvanizing her country鈥檚 pro-democracy movement, Ms. Machado has more controversially embraced President Trump鈥檚 military buildup in the Caribbean. Venezuelan authorities say she would be deemed a fugitive if she left the country.

鈥 Our staff writers around the world


Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Members of Congress have access to information they could use to make money in the stock market. There鈥檚 a new push to ban members from buying and selling stocks, with the goal of countering possible insider trading.

Mahmoud Illean/AP
Palestinian and Israeli activists protest against settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, in the town of Beit Jala, Nov. 14, 2025.

In Israeli descriptions of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, use of the term 鈥淛ewish terrorism鈥 has been rising. A plurality of Israelis say the attackers have been handled too leniently. But the settlers have strong allies in the government.

The Explainer

Feisal Omar/Reuters
Somalis participate in a demonstration against U.S. President Donald Trump, who offended Somali Americans, and in support of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 5, 2025.

President Donald Trump鈥檚 recent dehumanizing remarks about Somali Americans play to stereotypes and obscure a complex history.

Aakash Hassan
The night sky glows above the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle, India, Sept. 22, 2025. Hanle is a remote Himalayan village that has some of the darkest skies on Earth and attracts thousands of tourists every year.

In one of the darkest corners of the world, a group of 鈥渁stro-ambassadors鈥 are making a living off the night sky 鈥 and creating a bridge between science and tradition.

Difference-maker

Riley Robinson/Staff
Jenae Holtzhafer, shown with her husband, Brian, started a boutique in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, as part of The Kindness Project, a support hub for foster families.

For foster families seeking essentials for their children, funding cuts that affect services can cause a strain. Amid high rates of turnover among foster families, a support hub fills a critical gap in eastern Pennsylvania.


The Monitor's View

Sipa/AP/File
A phone screen shows a still from an AI-generated video created by Dream Machine, an artificial intelligence video generator built by Luma Labs.

Civilians around the world daily and easily engage with artificial intelligence, communicating with chatbot 鈥渢herapists鈥 and 鈥渇riends鈥 or creating realistic videos with entirely machine-generated content.

Governments, meanwhile, are racing to keep up with the implications of AI 鈥 positive and otherwise 鈥 for national security and economic competitiveness as well as for citizen freedoms, privacy, and safety. The challenge centers on whether and how much to regulate this rapidly advancing and lucrative sector. And how to do so without eroding the democratic, free-market values of individual and entrepreneurial autonomy.

Australia is now the first country to ban social media use for children under age 16. In July, the United Kingdom enacted age verification for accessing pornographic sites. And last year, the European Union passed an AI Act to 鈥渇oster responsible鈥 development, while addressing 鈥減otential risks to citizens鈥 health, safety, and fundamental rights.鈥

鈥淕ood rules ... help prevent disasters,鈥 policy analyst James Lardner noted in a study of 10 landmark regulations in the United States. They arise 鈥渙ut of crisis and struggle, but also ... out of the momentum of accomplishment,鈥 and can channel market forces 鈥渋n more positive directions,鈥 he observed.

U.S. governors and state legislatures have been busy trying to design such AI rules: In 2025, all 50 states introduced AI bills and 38 passed roughly 100 laws. These moves far outpaced action in Washington, where the House of Representatives and President Donald Trump pushed for a 10-year moratorium on state AI laws. The Senate voted this down 99-1 in July, and a November effort to include the provision in the defense bill also failed.

Mr. Trump has announced he will issue an executive order to preempt or override state rules. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something,鈥 he posted on Truth Social. There is some validity to this, as business associations and tech industry leaders point out.

Others, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, see this as 鈥渇ederal government overreach,鈥 though. 鈥淪tripping states of jurisdiction to regulate AI is a subsidy to Big Tech鈥 and hampers efforts to protect children and intellectual property, he wrote on the social platform X.

History shows that state regulations often serve as initial guardrails and provide a template for comprehensive federal legislation.

鈥淪tate-level action has played a significant role in addressing early risks associated with emerging technologies,鈥 according to George Washington University researcher Tambudzai Gundani. 鈥淏ecause these tools are deployed in specific communities, local officials are often the first to hear complaints, see patterns of harm, and respond.鈥

For officials to effectively regulate and devise 鈥済ood rules鈥 for AI, it seems that a willingness to learn from local experience and listen to industry and federal concerns will both be necessary.


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 become aware of God鈥檚 all-power, we find greater evidence that His creation is obedient to Him.


Viewfinder

Jean Feguens Regala/Reuters
Kenyan police officers arrive at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Haiti, Dec. 8, 2025. They join a multinational force with a mandate to fight gangs, which control much of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Some 230 Kenyan officers landed, a Haitian government source told Agence France-Presse, while 100 others cycled out. The U.N. Security Council in September approved the development of a stronger force in Haiti to support police. The Caribbean country, operating under a transitional government, has not held elections in nine years. It aims to hold them next summer.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

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2025
December
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Wednesday

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