On the eve of America’s Independence Day, the country is united in feeling pessimistic about the country’s future. But they disagree about why.

• Taiwan-China tensions: Chinese officials board and seize a Taiwanese fishing boat operating near China’s coast in a further escalation of tensions.
• Trump sentencing: Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case has been postponed until at least Sept. 18.
• Kenya protests: Activists behind Kenya’s anti-government protests are rethinking their strategy after demonstrations on July 2 were marred by violence and looting.
• West Bank land seizure: An antisettlement watchdog says Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades.

Read these news briefs. 

America is often called “a nation of immigrants.” On the national July Fourth holiday, we share stories of those who experienced the yearnings behind the idea of the American dream.

After 14 years in power, the Conservatives are set for an epic fall from power in British elections Thursday. The Reform UK party is making it that much bigger a drop.

Food and transportation are expensive, humanitarian aid and shelter are scarce, and bank branches are shuttered. For Palestinians trying to survive in wartime Gaza, cash is a precious commodity, and worth going to great lengths to find.

What compels people to help others, even in the face of challenges? A new film explores how the families in one town, led by a pair of church leaders, found a way to offer dozens of foster children homes.

With nearly half the world holding elections this year, many countries will see significant shifts in power. In South Africa, a parliamentary election has resulted in a comeuppance for the longtime ruling party. Yet it has also sparked a coming together that’s a lesson for diverse societies.

On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a new government composed of 11 political parties. In May, voters deprived the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of a majority for the first time in 30 years. The new coalition, coming after weeks of negotiations, demonstrates a new phase of constitution-based decision-making.

Mr. Ramaphosa sought accord among groups that have deep historical and ideological differences.

The coalition represents the largest and most diverse Cabinet the country has ever seen. Former rivals and outright enemies are figuring out how to share power in provincial and local offices. Those arrangements are reviving a civic spirit of reconciliation that marked the country’s peaceful transition to nonracial democracy in 1994.

Yet the real strength of what adheres them to each other may reside in qualities not typically associated with strength. “Say what you want to say about Cyril Ramaphosa, [his] grace and humility in the face of a real defeat is admirable,” Mattie Webb, a postdoctorate fellow at Yale University and expert on South African history, posted on the social platform X. “And really holds this country together.”

The demand for change from ordinary South Africans follows decades of corruption and decay under the ANC. But power-sharing suits Mr. Ramaphosa. During the dismantling of apartheid in the early 1990s, he earned a reputation for calm as Nelson Mandela’s chief negotiator. “It’s a matter of realising the responsibility. We didn’t have mediators; it was just us. We built a relationship,” Roelf Meyer, who represented the apartheid government in constitutional talks, told the Daily Maverick last month. “You have to accept that you must put aside egos.”

Mr. Ramaphosa’s contrition following the May election has set the tone for a new era of governing. “The resilience of our democracy has once more been tested and the people have spoken loudly that they choose peace and democracy over violent, undemocratic and unconstitutional methods,” he said in his second inaugural address on June 19. “In their multitude, in voices that are many and diverse, the people of South Africa have voted and made known their wishes, their concerns and their expectations. We accept and respect the results of the elections and we once again say the people have spoken. Their will shall be done without any doubt or question.”

In his own statement on the new coalition, John Steenhuisen, leader of the Democratic Alliance, a historically white party, vowed that “the time for confrontation, is over. The time for collaboration, has arrived.” Politicians and political parties did not create the new government, he said. The people did.

Humility, wrote John Keane, a politics professor at the University of Sydney, “radiates in the presence of others, calmly, and cheerfully. ... It implies equality. It is generous.” As a political virtue, he noted, “humility is a vital resource that strengthens the powerless and tames the powerful.” For South Africans, humility among political leaders may usher a renewal of freedom through honesty and civic affection.