2017
June
23
Friday

Monitor Daily Podcast

June 23, 2017
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

The terror attacks that have struck Europe have come with a notable exception. Italy has not had a major terrorist attack since the 1980s. 

In some ways, the distinction reflects Italy’s different realities. A smaller share of its population is Muslim than in Germany, Britain, or France. But how Italy approaches terrorism also matters: It is using the lessons it learned in tackling the Mafia. That means an attentive, no-nonsense approach. Yet it also involves an important shift in mind-set.

Terrorism aims to present a terrifying picture. During my time as a reporter in Pakistan, however, it became clear that it is also just an industry. It tempts young men with no job prospects. It brings wealth and influence to local bosses. The Osama bin Ladens of today are in some respects the Al Capones of the past. That doesn’t diminish the challenge, but it can change how we see terror, and it can also help in correctly diagnosing the deeper problems and solutions.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

As Senate Republicans roll out their new health-care plan, there's a lot of chatter about the secrecy that has surrounded it. But those concerns might be missing the more important point.  

The president and the press

The relationship between the press and the White House might seem unprecedented, but it reflects a change long under way in how Americans perceive their institutions.

Unprecedented attacks and distrust of the media? History says no.

Ville Mannikko/Bloomberg/Getty/File
An EasyMile EZ-10 self-driving shuttle bus travels along a public road during testing as part of the Sohjoa pilot project in Helsinki, Finland. While driverless trains for many years have served major international airports and some city routes, such as London's Docklands line, automated buses are still being tested.

How do you change car drivers' behavior? It's a question that's been debated from Los Angeles to London for decades. But here's a Nordic twist: What if a city could reengineer itself to make cars a bad investment? Helsinki, Finland, is trying to do just that.   

SOURCE:

National Land Survey of Finland (www.maanmittauslaitos.fi/en)

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff

When can France veto the First Amendment? When the internet brings the free-speech values of American tech companies into Europe's backyard, perhaps. In that way, the internet is fueling a larger clash over countries' different visions of fundamental rights. 

Courtesy of Tkiyet Um Ali
Volunteers distribute free iftar meals, one of several initiatives funded online as part of Ramadan's spirit of giving. Tkiyet Um Ali's Ramadan food delivery is sponsored by online donations and through its zakat app.

In the Muslim world, this year's Ramadan is showing how technology can significantly change a core religious observance. 

A message of love

Yves Herman/Reuters
Sand carver Franco Daga from Italy works on a sculpture during the Sand Sculpture Festival 'Disney Sand Magic' in Ostend, Belgium, on June 22.

The Monitor's View

AP Photo
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, right, walks through a slum community in Monrovia, Liberia, on May 14. The densely-populated community was quarantined in 2014 when Ebola struck there killing dozens.

Three years after the Ebola epidemic, and two years since the Zika outbreak, experts are more active than ever in pulling together lessons in hopes of not repeating past mistakes during another health crisis. A Senate panel in Washington plans a hearing soon on “pandemic protection.” In May, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a new strategy for pandemic influenza. And the World Health Organization has a new leader promising better preparation and response.

One big lesson learned is the need to prevent panic during a public health emergency. The new phrase is to “fear-guard” a country. During many disease outbreaks, say experts, a “pandemic of fear” can be more devastating to a society and an economy than the disease itself. Business and travel stop. Trust in a government’s ability to handle a crisis evaporates. People stigmatize each other. Most of all, panic can disrupt care and comfort to the sick.

A “contagion of fear” often causes enormous economic disruption. The three countries worst hit by Ebola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea, lost 10 percent of their gross domestic product. Gambia, which had no reported cases of Ebola, saw a 50 percent drop in flights in early 2015.

Two new studies help point to solutions.

One, sponsored by the World Bank and the Wellcome Trust, calls for an end to the cycle of “panic and neglect” to disease outbreaks. The report states; “Pandemics attract a lot of attention when they are at their height; but once the worst is over, the sense of urgency disappears, both at the global and country level, and we start all over again.”

One global problem is that only one-third of countries have the ability to detect and respond to public health emergencies. But for all countries, which are more connected and interdependent than ever, fear can spread “extraordinarily rapidly,” the report adds.

The other report, titled “Pandemonium” and published by Global Governance Futures, says improved institutions and better financing are not enough to deal with the effects of fear in an outbreak. It suggests non-health sectors, such as religious institutions and other community influencers, should help. News media, for example, can agree beforehand on how to deal with rumors and avoid sensationalism and gross generalizations. Social media giants such as Facebook could have guidelines on how to deal with misinformation during a crisis.

“Responding to fear and misinformation will be one of the most critical challenges in handling future pandemics,” the report states.

Or as Florence Nightingale, a pioneer in health care, advised nurses in the 19th century: “How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.”


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

When efforts to become more attractive involve surgical enhancements, one mother wants to help her daughters find beauty beyond the physical. One definition of beauty includes this: “joy and gladness; order; prosperity; peace; holiness.” These attributes suggest that what’s beautiful is actually of a spiritual nature. Aren’t we all able to express the love, joy, and grace that make up true beauty?

( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by . )

A look ahead

Have a great weekend. If you're looking for a movie, Monitor film critic Peter Rainer says that to call "The Big Sick" "the best comedy of the year is to skimp on its appeal." Based on the life of Kumail Nanjiani, a Pakistani comic, and his wife, Emily Gordon, a television comedy writer, "it's about the fraught courtship of two cultures."

We'll see you Monday, when we'll be looking at the US Supreme Court's term and the potentially landmark cases still left to be decided.

More issues

2017
June
23
Friday
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