海角大神

The two-day U.S.-China summit in Beijing began Thursday. United States President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping said they want 2026 to be a landmark year for improving ties. Mr. Xi stressed Taiwan is the top issue in U.S.-China relations, and how it鈥檚 handled will determine whether relations are stable or lead to dangerous conflict. Mr. Trump called Mr. Xi 鈥渁 great leader鈥� and said he and his entourage of American CEOs seek to boost trade and business between the two superpowers.

Israeli officials say Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the UAE. The Israeli Prime Minister鈥檚 Office hailed the March 26 meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed as an 鈥渉istoric breakthrough.鈥� UAE state media denied the report. When the U.S.-Iran war started, Tehran barraged Abu Dhabi and Dubai with retaliatory strikes. Israel assisted the UAE鈥檚 with an Iron Dome aerial defense system, according to Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
Our coverage: Hardest-hit by Iran, the UAE pivots from cooperation to confrontation

Drug overdoses in the U.S. fell for the third consecutive year. Provisional data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a 13.9% decline in drug overdoses in 2025 compared with the previous year. That鈥檚 a return to roughly the pre-pandemic level of 2019. Despite the decrease, almost 70,000 people died from overdoses in 2025. Reasons for the overall decline might include easier access to Naloxone, used to reverse drug overdoses, which is now available without a prescription. Last year, researchers at the University of Michigan found that young people are increasingly abstaining from using illicit drugs.

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh to serve as chair of the Federal Reserve. The vote was heavily partisan, with only one Democrat 鈥� Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania 鈥� voting to confirm Mr. Warsh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina had blocked Mr. Warsh鈥檚 confirmation until the Justice Department agreed to drop its criminal investigation of former Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Mr. Powell has said he will remain on the central bank鈥檚 board of governors.

The Democratic victor in a Nebraska primary is expected to step aside for strategic reasons. Cindy Burbank defeated William Forbes in the state鈥檚 U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday, but has indicated she might not put her name on the ballot. That would clear the way for Dan Osborn, an independent, to have a better shot at defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. Nebraska鈥檚 Democratic Party endorsed Ms. Burbank in the primary, but is backing Mr. Osborn in the general election.

Women鈥檚 professional ice hockey is expanding to new states. The Professional Women鈥檚 Hockey League is expanding to Las Vegas, Nevada, and Hamilton, Ontario, for the 2026-27 season. They join a new, previously announced Detroit team. That brings the total number of teams to 11. The league has seen unprecedented popularity since its launch in 2024, joining similar rises and expansions in the Women鈥檚 National Basketball Association and the National Women鈥檚 Soccer League. The 2026 PWHL Walter Cup Finals, between the top-seeded Montreal Victoire and the fourth-seeded Ottawa Charge, begins May 14.
Our coverage: New investors change the game for women鈥檚 pro sports

鈥� Compiled by Monitor writers around the world

With an unfinished war in Iran 鈥� which is also unpopular at home 鈥� President Donald Trump is in Beijing this week looking for a big political win. But it鈥檚 China that holds many of the cards in this complex relationship.

GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy voted to convict Donald Trump in the 2021 impeachment trial and has pushed back on public health matters. His fate on Saturday will signal the clout of the Make America Healthy Again movement, as well as the president鈥檚 hold on his party.

France is trying to bolster its fading influence in Africa, with promises of big investment and equal partnership. But its colonial history continues to create road bumps.

Appointing veteran official David Venturella as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement聽could signal a continued pivot by the Trump administration toward quieter, targeted enforcement to reduce public backlash against immigration policy.

Public libraries have long been among America's civic gathering spaces, helping to combat social isolation and bridge digital divides. Even as they struggle under budgetary constraints,聽they are reinventing themselves as foundational spaces for teaching democracy.

Taiwan鈥檚 elected officials were not given a seat at this week鈥檚 summit in Beijing between the American and Chinese leaders. Yet the Taiwanese people 鈥� or, rather, their resolve to run a free country by respecting individual sovereignty 鈥� were very much there.聽

So much so that China鈥檚 overall stated goal for the summit was to gain the United States鈥� help in breaking Taiwan鈥檚 democratic spirit.

The specific requests by Chinese leader Xi Jinping are that U.S. President Donald Trump oppose any attempt by Taiwan to officially declare independence and that he end U.S. military sales to the second-freest nation in Asia. Whether Mr. Trump acts on those requests is almost secondary to the fact that Mr. Xi indirectly admits he is failing to break Taiwan鈥檚 civic identity of individual freedom and inherent rights.聽

Despite years of trying to subtly influence the Taiwanese by incentives or coercion, Mr. Xi has not subsumed the island nation to bring it under the control of the Chinese Communist Party. The party fears that its 1.4 billion subjects on the mainland might be influenced by Taiwan鈥檚 23 million people, especially in their rejection of the CCP鈥檚 ideology that sovereignty resides with the party 鈥� because it believes ordinary Chinese don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 good for themselves or the country.聽

Already, one-third of people in China oppose an armed invasion of Taiwan, according to a 2023 survey. Only 1% support an immediate war.

鈥淭he fact that Beijing spares no effort to pressure governments ... into erasing Taiwan鈥檚 existing sovereignty makes clear that despite all its power, Xi Jinping鈥檚 CCP cannot marginalize Taiwan alone 鈥� it requires our help to do it,鈥� wrote Taipei-based American journalist Chris Horton in Nikkei last month.

After more than three decades of democratic rule, Taiwan鈥檚 confidence in demonstrating that sovereignty is inherent to individuals, not the state, has made it a global example. In a speech last year to a group at the European Parliament in Belgium, Taiwan鈥檚 vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim, said one of the country鈥檚 goals is to help all democracies thrive.聽

鈥淲e are not just defending what we have, but building what we want the future to look like, where free people and societies are more connected, more united, and more capable, and of course stronger together,鈥� she said.

Taiwan now ranks as the world鈥檚 12th-most democratic country, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. And many of its economic statistics per capita surpass those of China. The bedrock for such success lies in an understanding that each individual鈥檚 dignity and intelligence are the basis for building a harmonious and caring society.

The founder of this newspaper acknowledged that 鈥淗uman will-power may infringe the rights of man.鈥� But Mary Baker Eddy also wrote, 鈥淜now, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage.鈥�