World

• Will Europe’s rising defense budgets come at the cost of welfare?

  European welfare states are finding it increasingly hard to maintain high social spending in the face of pressure to boost their defense readiness.
• First LookPeru’s Congress removes president amid crime wave

  Peru’s Congress voted early Oct. 10 to remove deeply unpopular President Dina Boluarte from office. This was their ninth attempt at removing her since 2022.
• Israelis and Palestinians greet Gaza deal with joy, relief, and caution

  As Israel and Hamas finalize the first phase of the Gaza peace plan, many in the region are focused on what can go wrong. Even so, joy is enveloping many Israelis and Palestinians eager for emotional and physical relief.
• From Canterbury to Tokyo, women take charge

  Women have just become head of the Church of England and Japan’s next prime minister. Partisan battles over feminism will not change the direction of travel.
• Gaza breakthrough: Israel and Hamas approve first phase of Trump plan

  Agreement by the two warring parties in Gaza after months of tense negotiations and near-deals brought widespread relief, raising hopes that a war that was sparked by Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack will finally be brought to a close.

USA

• Military families often live by the paycheck. They are about to miss one.

  America’s troops are set to miss their first paycheck on Oct. 15. For military families, paychecks are a vital support in a career of service and risk.
• Military families often live by the paycheck. They are about to miss one.

  America’s troops are set to miss their first paycheck on Oct. 15. For military families, paychecks are a vital support in a career of service and risk.
• With ceasefire and hostage deal, Gaza clears a hurdle. Taller ones remain.

  To get the breakthrough allowing a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, negotiators decoupled a emotional first phase of the Trump plan from a far more complex second. Much hard work remains to get Israelis and Palestinians to peace.
• First LookMass federal layoffs begin amid shutdown, White House says

  The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers. The “RIFs (reduction-in-force plans) have begun,” Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, posted the social media platform X. 
• Shutdown hits government workers already reeling from Trump’s cuts

  While many Americans aren’t feeling the impacts of the government shutdown, federal workers just missed their first paycheck – the latest blow in a tough year.

Commentary

• The Monitor's ViewThree women, three Nobel Peace Prize winners

  This year’s winner, Venezuela’s María Corina Machado, relies on inner resources that are similar to past winners from Myanmar and Iran.
• CommentaryWhere you start out isn’t always where you end up

  For writer Stephen Humphries, reporting on how two men in prison found Shakespeare and changed their lives reminds him how perilous it is to judge others.
• The Monitor's ViewThe plan for Gaza’s liberation

  Some of the jubilation in Gaza may lie in the possibility for self-governance and rebuilding even if Hamas drops out of the peace process.
• The Monitor's ViewThe best check on cocaine trafficking

  A new U.S. approach uses the military to strike small boats presumed to be carrying drugs. Yet one country is busting up cocaine rings by relying on legal enforcement and the integrity of its investigators and prosecutors.
• The Monitor's ViewOutreach that dissolves distrust

  The rise of heated and hateful rhetoric deepens partisan divides. Some lawmakers are pursuing genuine, everyday interactions to find political consensus. 

Economy

• The ExplainerShutdown spotlights a persistent problem: Too few air traffic controllers

  The government shutdown might not yet be having a visible effect on air traffic controller staffing levels, but it could hurt efforts to hire and train more workers.
• Bucking tradition, Trump pushes the US as an investor in for-profit companies

  The Trump administration is using public funds for private investments, saying it bolsters U.S. security and access to key resources. Critics see a risk to the economy’s free-market foundations.
• Why Obamacare and health costs take center stage amid shutdown

  The Affordable Care Act is central to the U.S. government shutdown, as Democrats argue to extend tax credits that lower health care premiums for millions. 
• H-1B visas help fuel US tech innovation. Reforms could bring winners and losers.

  President Trump is making H-1B visas more expensive. Some workers and companies might benefit, while others could lose out. 
• Fed cuts interest rates in response to a slowing job market

  After months of White House pressure, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a point on Wednesday, signaling two more cuts may follow, given job market woes.

Environment

• Cover StoryFighting 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 ExplainerThe 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 ProgressHow 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.
• As cities seek ways to prevent floods, a California town has a success story to share

  Disasters in Texas and North Carolina over the past year underscore how costly interior floods can be. After Roseville, California, was hit by destructive floods in the 1980s and ’90s, the city turned itself into a model of preparedness and hazard mitigation.

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 LookGeorgia 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 LookCellphone 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 LookWhat 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 LookInternet 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

• Falling in love with my clarinet, all over again

  Music lessons, roller skating, adult coloring books. Revisiting childhood hobbies as an adult can evoke wonder and joy.
• 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.”
• 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.”
• When the storms of daily life loom, my family finds refuge in reading

  In an era in which devices and social media can increasingly pull us apart, one family discovers connection and togetherness in books.

Books

• 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.”
• When the storms of daily life loom, my family finds refuge in reading

  In an era in which devices and social media can increasingly pull us apart, one family discovers connection and togetherness in books.
• In the framers’ words, the US Constitution was meant as a living document

  Jill Lepore’s “We the People” examines amendments as engines of change. And “History Matters” offers insights from the late David McCullough.