World

• As US targets drug boats, Venezuelans wonder whether Maduro might be next

  Many Venezuelans support U.S. military strikes against drug trafficking, hoping they could topple President Nicolás Maduro.
• China’s five-year plans date back to Mao. A new one has the world’s attention.

  The world's second-largest economy is deciding its economic strategy for the next five years, a decision with high global stakes.
• Pakistan helped create the Taliban. Now, their clash threatens regional security.

  Pakistan says the Taliban should stop a militant group that is attacking from Afghanistan. The tension erupted into conflict, now eased by a ceasefire.
• For Israelis, a legacy of the war in Gaza is international ostracism

  Individual Israelis and professional organizations are feeling increasingly isolated globally as the world focuses on Palestinian suffering in Gaza. But do boycotts of academic and artistic institutions further the cause of peace?
• Why India may be the winner from Trump’s H-1B price hike

  When Donald Trump hiked the cost of H-1B visas, Indian professionals looked to be the hardest hit. But India may also be the beneficiary of the new pool of job seekers.

USA

• She overhauled the NYPD. But can Jessica Tisch work with Zohran Mamdani?

  New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has won plaudits for modernizing the agency and rooting out corruption. But she and mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani hold different views about how best to fight crime.
• Ballroom build begins: It’s not just norms Trump’s bulldozing in Washington

  The East Wing is being replaced by a $250 million gilt ballroom. On display is how President Trump’s public and private personas have merged.
• Public schools have an absenteeism problem. Esports and architecture are helping.

  As schools combat chronic absenteeism, one solution gaining traction is offering elective courses that are too interesting to skip. The result is a better attitude toward school – and toward the rest of the subjects in it.
• How one Michigan town is putting partisanship aside in pursuit of clean water

  People in Three Rivers, Michigan, set aside political partisanship to work together, urging city leaders to move more quickly on a water quality issue.
• Government shutdown drags on as Republicans, Democrats dig in

  Republicans and Democrats aren’t talking. They’re pressuring each other to give in as effects of the weekslong government shutdown are taking hold.

Commentary

• Commentary The Voting Rights Act hangs in the balance. Remember those who lost their lives for it.

  The context of why civil rights activists like Medgar Evers and Maceo Snipes were murdered has been lost in the current conversation about the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court.
• The Monitor's View Depolarizing America, the local way

  With the nation's capital in a stalemate, experiments in cooperating on local concerns are building social trust that can help bridge political rifts.
• The Monitor's View Drumroll for Japan’s first female leader

  The new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, takes power as more Japanese women seek help in their work-life balance.
• The Monitor's View Why baseball’s Ohtani earns awe

  The dexterous talent, humility, and hard work of Shohei Ohtani bring a unifying joy to Los Angeles — and also serve as a reminder of “how free from mortal constraints we can be.”
• Commentary Seeing both sides with honesty and clarity

  Today, strong currents of thought encourage us not to have empathy for people we disagree with. But empathy leads to clarity.

Economy

• Pittsburgh aims to capitalize on AI boom. Here’s how Steel City is remaking itself.

  Pittsburgh is attracting money, and talent, as the former steel industry center remakes itself as an AI hub focused on innovation for everyday tasks.
• Why India may be the winner from Trump’s H-1B price hike

  When Donald Trump hiked the cost of H-1B visas, Indian professionals looked to be the hardest hit. But India may also be the beneficiary of the new pool of job seekers.
• Gold prices keep rising. Why? And how far could the surge go?

  Gold prices rise in uncertain times. The current spike may signal both hedges against inflated stock market risk and doubts about the dollar as a stable reserve currency.
• Soybean bailout? Hard-hit farmers want China trade more than Trump aid.

  If Beijing and Washington can reach a soybean deal soon, it may pave the way for a larger trade agreement. Otherwise, America’s farmers will remain boxed out.
• Amid immigration enforcement, migrant farmworkers’ numbers are falling

  The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement has hit some farms and agricultural businesses, and some operators say it’s harder to find workers.

Environment

• Focus They want to be ‘Altadena strong.’ Finances are making it tough.

  Nine months after the Eaton Fire, an Altadena family navigates the red tape that is hampering recovery for those who lost it all in the blaze. How much of their daughter’s childhood will be spent in limbo? The third in our series from Olive Avenue. Read Parts 1 and 2.
• Cover Story Fighting wildfire with fire: California residents, once wary, embrace ‘controlled burns’

  California once suppressed “controlled burns,” an Indigenous practice. Residents are now embracing it to reduce the growing threat of wildfire.
• How Jane Goodall inspired my daughter: It started with chickens.

  With the world remembering Jane Goodall, here’s how one child sees her legacy: “She realized something true that nobody else recognized.”
• The Explainer The EV tax credit is ending. How could that affect the US car market?

  Electric vehicle sales jumped after the U.S. announced it would end a tax credit. Without the incentive, sales may dip, although automakers may offer discounts to lure buyers.
• Points of Progress How to create affordable housing for more people, and make a whole city a sponge

  Progress roundup: Copenhagen’s sponge-city strategy protects from floods, and more places in the U.S. adopt social housing to lock in affordability.

Technology

• China’s humanoid robots are gaining ground – but they’re not there yet

  The U.S. and China are racing to build humanoid robots capable of performing many daily tasks – but the complexity of home and business environments makes that challenging.
• First Look Georgia leads toward a nuclear future with its first operating reactor

  Georgia Power Co. announced one of its two new reactors reached self-sustaining nuclear fission on Monday. The announcement is a key step toward reaching commercial operation of nuclear energy in the United States.
• First Look Cellphone at 50: Its inventor reflects on mobile advances and risks

  Cellphone inventor Martin Cooper, who placed the first mobile call on April 3, 1973, remains hopeful the technology can transform lives, but he’s also concerned about its impact. “We don’t have any privacy anymore,” Mr. Cooper said at a trade show in Spain.
• First Look What links toothbrushes and weapons systems? A $52 billion investment.

  The U.S. government has reached a rare bipartisan agreement to invest $52 billion to develop advanced computer chips. Factories, autos, appliances, electronics, toys, toothbrushes, and weapons systems all depend on semiconductors.
• First Look Internet speech: Supreme Court to weigh who is protected online

  Two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court this week challenge Section 230, a 1996 law that protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their networks. The cases are part of a global trend toward holding social media platforms accountable.

Science

• In Mexico’s mangroves, protecting bees and trees is part of this family’s identity

  The matriarch of the Cab family knows that its work alone cannot “change the world.” But she remains a passionate beekeeper and advocate for bees.
• How Jane Goodall inspired my daughter: It started with chickens.

  With the world remembering Jane Goodall, here’s how one child sees her legacy: “She realized something true that nobody else recognized.”
• A year after Hurricane Helene, a region still awaits help, but marks recovery

  Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, which caused widespread destruction in North Carolina. How getting federal aid has become more quixotic.
• ‘A spectrum of hope’: A science writer puts life under a microscope

  In “Super Natural,” Alex Riley explores how species evolved to thrive in the most extreme climates on Earth.
• A writer schools himself on the plight and might of birds

  Adam Nicolson, a self-described “beginner in the wood,” unfolds singular facts and compelling anecdotes about birds that fire the imagination.

Culture

• Amid a devastating war, art restorers race to preserve Ukraine’s heritage

  Conservators are on the front lines of a battle to refurbish art from museums and historic sites.
• In ‘Mr. Scorsese,’ the legendary director asks, What are we?

  “Mr. Scorsese” probes the innermost thoughts of the Oscar-winning filmmaker and his efforts to use art to grapple with life’s toughest challenges and questions.
• In an extraordinary film, an Iranian director explores forgiveness and mercy

  Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has sacrificed for his art, having been sentenced to prison and house arrest. His latest movie, “It Was Just an Accident,” examines significant questions, including if there are limits to forgiveness – or mercy.
• I was eager to cut the cord on my landline. Why I’ve come to regret it.

  After 40 years of spontaneous conversations, I cut the cord on my landline – and bade goodbye to an era of close connections.
• Marionettes are the stars, but you gotta hand it to these LA puppeteers

  At the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, the show wouldn’t go on without the people guiding the puppets’ movements.

Books

• What does the worst stock market crash in history have to tell us today?

  The immersive new “1929” benefits from journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin’s meticulous archival research and his access to documents never before available, including the board notes from the New York Federal Reserve.
• ‘The law didn’t respect them’: How the US deported thousands of citizens 100 years ago

  In her new book, Marla A. Ramírez examines the reverberating consequences of a push to deport ethnic Mexicans, many of whom were U.S. citizens, during the Great Depression.
• In the memoir ‘Joyride,’ Susan Orlean turns her investigative eye inward

  To this master of narrative nonfiction, something extraordinary is waiting under every rock, beckoning her to look closer.
• Cover Story ‘This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine.’ How two murderers found grace performing Shakespeare.

  Performing Shakespeare in prison helped two murderers rediscover their humanity and find redemption. They vow to “be wise hereafter and seek for grace.”
• ‘There is an inner poet in all of us.’ Laureate Arthur Sze on poetry as discovery.

  Arthur Sze, the new U.S. poet laureate, hopes you’ll take time to read a poem today – slowly. Within it, he says in an interview, are words and phrases that can be “seeds that nurture you.”