The Christian Science Monitor Daily Podcast

A sizable number of teens and young adults in the U.S. are not in school, employed, or in job training. Civic leaders want to reconnect them to a path toward productive adulthood.

Also: today’s stories, including how grand juries in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, are pushing back against indictments; how a vote of confidence in French Prime Minister François Bayrou reveal a nation at political loggerheads; and how young Americans are seeking more in-person connection through team sports from softball to kickball.

Join the Monitor's Clay Collins for today's news.

Both parties agree in principle that health policy should be driven by facts and science, not by politics. But translating science into policy involves human judgments. And an uproar this week around vaccines shows rising tension over public health.

Also: today’s stories, including how some Latin Americans are embracing U.S. intervention amid record violence; whether current laws designed to stop potential gun violence by people deemed a threat to themselves or others could have prevented a recent shooting in Minnesota; and how Lebanon’s government is facing a new test in disarming a weakened Hezbollah.

Join the Monitor's Kendra Nordin Beato for today's news.

Vladimir Putin and other world leaders alienated by the West gathered in China this week – first for an economic summit in Tianjin and then a military parade in Beijing. The meetings offer a glimpse of what Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s New World Order might look like.

Also: today’s stories, including how U.S. President Donald Trump’s normalizing armed troops patrolling Washington absent a security crisis could impact how Americans are governed in years to come; concerns over President Trump’s executive order to create a “quick reaction force” using National Guard units; and how one grassroots organization in India is fighting for women’s legal rights against human traffickers.

Join the Monitor's Christa Case Bryant for today's news.

Funding for the federal government runs out at month’s end. To prevent a shutdown, bipartisanship will be required. The good news is that talks might be in the offing.

Also, today’s stories: how the National Guard court ruling affects President Trump’s plans for other cities; whether President Trump’s gains among Latinos will stick; and how a new statue aims to revitalize Massachusetts’ oldest neighborhood.

Join the Monitor's Linda Feldmann for today's news.

The tragic shooting of children at Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota comes after the assassination of a state legislator earlier this summer. The incidents have revealed divides over how to reduce gun violence – as well as a universal desire to emerge from the turbulence stronger.

Also: today’s stories, including how some religious leaders and volunteers are standing with immigrants at court hearings; how the U.S. and China are racing to build humanoid robots capable of performing many daily tasks; and how the end of tax exemptions for small parcels entering the U.S. is affecting the Indian diaspora.

Join the Monitor's Clay Collins for today's news.

The shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis was the third such tragedy involving a Christian school in as many years. Security has long been top of mind at Jewish and Muslim schools; now there are growing efforts within Christian school communities to fortify their institutions.

Also: today’s stories, including how sending a U.S. naval force off the coast of Venezuela has revived regional anxiety over U.S. militarism, how laws protecting asylum-seekers in Europe are under fire from the public, and what changes Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will bring to colleges and students.

Join the Monitor's Harry Bruinius for today's news.

Brazil has the world's second-largest rare earth reserves. The country is trying to rewrite the rules of global extractive industries.

In today’s stories, we also write about in-person summer schools in Ukraine, a job-creating but environmentally risky project in Spain, and we share our favorite books of August.

Join the Monitor's Christa Case Bryant for today's news.

Among all the shortages in war-ravaged Gaza, clean water is one of the most critical. Already facing the perils of famine and a new Israeli military offensive, families must engage in a daily hunt for water that often is barely usable.

Also: today’s stories, including the latest on U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to oust Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board; how a Syrian comedy renaissance is blooming in Damascus; and how some states are attempting to impose campaign spending limits.

Join the Monitor's Kendra Nordin Beato for today's news.

A lawsuit by the Trump Department of Justice is unprecedented in that it sues all the federal District Court judges in Maryland at once. At stake is a case involving deportation, rights of habeas corpus, and the Constitution’s separation of powers.

Also: today’s stories, including how the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) might spur an international aid response in Gaza, how a Boston neighborhood and a college cope with a housing crisis, and a ballet school showing Kenyans that dance is for everyone.

Join the Monitor's Kurt Shillinger for today's news.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina threatened to snuff out the spirit of New Orleans. Two decades later, our reporter and photographer chronicle the city’s healing journey.

Also: today’s stories, including how carmakers like Ford are focusing on EVs; how Syrian seamstresses are bringing an ancient craft to life; and our columnist’s visit with his son to the Equal Justice Initiative’s sculpture park in the wake of President Donald Trump’s order to review America’s museums.

Join the Monitor's Clay Collins for today's news.