All The Monitor's View
- How the world adjusts to new family forms
A U.N. report cites a growing diversity in types of families, requiring shifts in laws and policies. Whatever their kind, families still are the bedrock of love and identity.
- Iran’s voices that may drive peace with the U.S.
In the U.S.-Iran showdown, those in the U.S. advocating restraint are obvious. In Iran, less so. But it may be women, chafing at social bans, who give the regime pause.
- A candle of civility lit in Turkey’s election
The victor in Istanbul’s mayoral race, Ekrem İmamoğlu, showed the world how to win against a ruler bent on destroying opponents.
- What can restrain a US-Iran conflict
Moral pressure to protect civilians is rising in many forums, helping to set a limit on wider war.
- Court’s burden in keeping religious harmony
A Supreme Court ruling that allows an old war-memorial cross to stay in public hands shows the justices again trying to keep the peace on matters of faith in the public square.
- A global moment for the #MeToo movement
World leaders have a chance to enact a pact against sexual harassment in the workplace. Even debating the issue reveals a revolution in thought about respect and equality for all.
- Facebook banks on a globe-uniting currency
The launch of the ‘Libra’ cryptocurrency next year will help reimagine the purpose of money in a distrustful world.
- Hong Kong’s quiet message to Beijing
If the sheer size of Sunday’s pro-democracy protest was not enough, then other signals from the crowds might persuade China to rethink its growing grip on the semi-autonomous city.
- Robots: Job killers or co-workers?
Intelligent machines are moving rapidly into the workplace, sometimes in unexpected ways. The low US unemployment rate may be masking a big challenge in the near future.
- To clear the air, go underground
The big challenge of global warming needs big ideas to mitigate it. Two well-known ways to bury carbon dioxide in the ground keep looking like an important part of the solution.
- What's at stake in Hong Kong
Protesters are trying to prevent an extradition law that would send Hong Kong citizens into Chinese courts with a questionable reputation for fairness.
- Back to the moon
The Artemis space program is scheduled to return Americans, including the first woman, to the lunar surface in 2024. But can the US muster the political will to really make it happen?
- Centering a nation’s budget on 'well-being’
New Zealand just enacted an innovative plan that requires government spending to contribute to the well-being of its citizens in specific ways.
- When rules are not enough to curb corruption
Even in the world’s least-corrupt countries, recent scandals have led to a search for new ways to appeal to individual integrity as a solution.
- Sudan’s great strength after a massacre
Despite the military’s mass killing, the Sudanese have already created a new society over six months of peaceful and inclusive protests.
- Redefining the future for capitalism
Federal regulators plan a forum on ways to prevent short-term focus on profits in order to deal with long-term problems such as climate change and an aging society.
- The Spanish king who set, then saved, democracy
Juan Carlos I, the former Franco protégé who retired from public life this week, had his controversies. But he should be remembered for anchoring democracy in a key corner of 20th-century Europe.
- The cries for freedom that still rattle China
Beneath the veneer of stability 30 years after the Tiananmen massacre, Chinese society continues to be restless in ways the party cannot always control. Truth cannot be arrested or exterminated.
- Africa’s big start toward freedom from poverty
A free-trade pact for the continent has come into force with nearly half of countries onboard. By one forecast, this is the best path to prosperity and security.
- Why the world’s children are better off
A global survey shows progress for children since 2000 has been broad and steady, with lessons on how the view of children can keep improving.