2019
December
03
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

December 03, 2019
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Today’s five hand-picked stories cover American influence on progress in Afghanistan, a challenge to the legitimacy of the U.S. Electoral College, the symbolism of a new skyscraper in South Africa, scientific insights from the visually impaired, and a modern-day movie homage to Agatha Christie

First, as my colleague noted here yesterday, the challenge of climate change is upon us. We can sleepwalk “past the point of no return” or we can choose “the path of hope,” resolve, and sustainable solutions, said the United Nations secretary general Monday.

Let’s look at one ingenious step on that path: A reef rave. 

Using sound, scientists are breathing life into dying coral reefs. In 2016 and ’17, nearly half of the Great Barrier Reef was ravaged by coral bleaching caused by higher water temperatures. And all marine life tends to abandon dying coral.

But British and Australian researchers put loudspeakers in 22 separate patches of dead coral and played audio recorded from living reefs. “Healthy coral reefs are remarkably noisy places. ... Juvenile fish home in on these sounds when they’re looking for a place to settle,” said Prof. Steve Simpson of the University of Exeter, one of the authors of a study published in Nature Communications on Friday. 

Drawn by a nightly symphony of life, the number of fish doubled over the six-week experiment. The variety of species increased by 50%. Exeter marine biologist Tim Gordon, the study’s lead author, says “acoustic enrichment” isn’t a panacea. But it can help “kick-start natural recovery processes, counteracting the damage we’re seeing on many coral reefs around the world,” Mr. Gordon said via email.

What does a community of hope sound like? 

The grunt of a cod fish. The snap of a shrimp. The whoop of a clown fish. 

Listen


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

A deeper look

Mohammad Ismail/Reuters
Afghan engineers work on a map of the ruined Darul Aman palace in Kabul, Afghanistan Oct. 2, 2016. Female engineers played a key role in the restoration of the palace. Inclusion of women in professional life has been a focus of U.S. efforts in the country.

The U.S. has spent more in Afghanistan than it did rebuilding Europe after World War II. Our reporter examines the missteps – and the progress – over 18 years of nation building. 

Should U.S. Electoral College members be free to vote their conscience? How the courts answer that question could reshape the course of democracy in America.

Legacy Group
At a reported 234 meters tall, the Leonardo, a new luxury mixed-use building in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, claims to be Africa's tallest building.

Skyscrapers often symbolize ambition. That was the case under apartheid, when Johannesburg built Africa’s tallest tower. Today, as a taller building rises, some see it as a new sign of hope.

Difference-maker

Those who learn differently may bring important insights to the table. With innovative methods, Carla Curran ensures that visually impaired students can contribute in scientific fields.

On Film

Claire Folger/Lionsgate Publicity
Lieutenant Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield, left), Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan), and Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) appear in “Knives Out.”

As Agatha Christie fans know, a mystery challenges you to solve a puzzle. Director Rian Johnson brings humor and a love of whodunits to a contemporary mystery that draws on traditional crime books.


The Monitor's View

Netblocks.org/via REUTERS
The graphic shows the shutdown of internet access in Iran during protests in mid-November.

For five days in mid-November, during one of the largest protests in Iran’s history, the regime in Tehran blocked access to almost the entire internet for the first time. In effect, it imposed an information blackout to the rest of the world. Now we know why. Videos and other reports sent out since then show police on a killing spree against peaceful protesters. At least 208 people were killed, estimates Amnesty International.

Yet the crackdown is not a big surprise, especially for a regime with declining popularity at home and a rising tendency for violence abroad. What’s new is the degree to which Iran’s leaders tried to shield their atrocities from the world’s eyes.

It is as if they know global norms favoring the protection of innocent civilians are getting stronger and the stakes for breaking those norms are getting higher. Iran clearly did not want a repeat of the iconic image from a 2009 protest that showed the killing of a young female student by security forces. Its attempt to hide the truth about last month’s violence failed.

Yet Iran is hardly alone in the way it indirectly honors global standards by hiding its actions against protesters. In August, India shut down electronic communications in Kashmir after it changed the territory’s legal status in order to prevent the world from seeing a crackdown on thousands of dissidents. China, too, has tried to block information about its human rights abuses against millions of minority Uyghurs in Xinjiang. In fact, China’s concern about international opinion may be a big reason it has not massacred pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong the way it did during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

Since 2009, as global access to the internet has increased by 27%, the use of disinformation by governments has increased by 10%, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, a nonprofit think tank. Yet the free flow of information is a main reason a majority of countries are more at peace than in the past, finds the institute.

As democracy has spread, and with it prosperity and literacy, so has the sunlight on nondemocratic actors who still see state violence as legitimate. And as more tyrants act in ways to avoid shame, the more they admit they live within humanity’s moral circles. Their attempts at darkness are a sign of light.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

On “Giving Tuesday,” which focuses on the philanthropic side of the holiday season, here’s an article exploring the idea that we all have something to give – freely and cheerfully.


A message of love

Lisi Niesner/Reuters
France's President Emmanuel Macron leaves Downing Street after talks with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ahead of the NATO summit in Watford Dec. 3, 2019. The French and American presidents had a testy exchange during the first day of the summit, with President Donald Trump responding to Mr. Macron’s earlier comments that removal of U.S. leadership had led to the “brain death of NATO.”
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte and Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us. Come back tomorrow: We’re working on a story about the exit of California Sen. Kamala Harris from the 2020 presidential race.

More issues

2019
December
03
Tuesday
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