Tension is common at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, a space for worship that can be jolted by extremists. What’s the climate now, during Ramadan, with nearby Gaza inflamed? So far, so good. Our reporter tells why.

• New auto emissions rules: Federal standards relax initial tailpipe limits proposed last year, but eventually reach nearly the same strict standards set out by the Environmental Protection Agency. 
• Apple faces antitrust suit: The tech firm says the Justice Department’s lawsuit accusing it of engineering an illegal monopoly on smartphones in the United States is “wrong on the facts and the law.”
• Reddit goes public: The initial public offering, with trading beginning March 21, will test the company’s ability to overcome a nearly 20-year history colored by losses, management turmoil, and occasional user backlashes.
• Alabama bill targets DEI: Legislation signed by Gov. Kay Ivey would ban diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at public schools, universities, and state agencies. 
• South Africa confronts water crisis: Thousands of people line up for water as the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, faces an unprecedented collapse of its water system.

Read these news briefs. 

The House speakership has always been a prime post of power. Now, due to Republicans’ slim majority and battles within their ranks, Speaker Mike Johnson’s job is also riding a vortex.

In some U.S. states, changing one’s gender identity is seen as too weighty a decision for those under the age of 18. But Spain has taken a different approach, based on trusting transgender teens’ choices.

Hungary is a member of NATO and of the EU, but Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is closer to Vladimir Putin. Will his predictions that the West will abandon Ukraine prove true?

Trust in the power of a college education is declining for one reason: It’s too expensive. One solution is lowering costs. But Cataldo Maria shows another way.

In our progress roundup, we focus on equality for noncitizen writers in America, speakers of native tongues in Brazil, and Maasai women in Kenya.

When Major League Baseball opened its season this week with a two-game series in South Korea, the event turned out to be about more than promoting the sport. It was a geopolitical icebreaker between two Asian neighbors long at odds over their history.

South Korean fans welcomed Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese star player of the Los Angeles Dodgers, almost like a homegrown hero. Some called him “the perfect person.” Whatever bilateral friction still exists from Japan’s colonization of Korea was greatly melted by Mr. Ohtani’s affection for South Korea, his unmatched baseball skills, and his kindness toward Korean fans.

His reception as an exemplary hero comes soon after a similar lovefest in Japan. The Japanese have fallen hard for a hit television series called “Eye Love You” that stars a charming Korean actor, Chae Jong-hyeop. The way that his character – speaking only Korean – romances the show’s Japanese female hero has led to a rush among the Japanese to learn the Korean language and adopt Korean dating styles.

These two universals – love and baseball – have perhaps now done as much to heal ties between Japan and South Korea as years of careful diplomacy by the United States and courageous leadership by some politicians. Just five years ago, bilateral ties were so low over how to deal with Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula that Koreans were boycotting Japanese products. In both countries, nationalist politicians have exploited the past to the detriment of reconciliation that would allow the two democracies to work closely against threats from North Korea and China.

In recent years, polls show a rising likability between the Japanese and South Koreans, especially among young people who readily embrace the other country’s cultural exports. A majority of young Koreans under age 29 also support the efforts of the current president, Yoon Suk Yeo, to improve ties with Japan.

Earlier this month, President Yoon said that the closer ties have helped deter North Korea. “Now, South Korea and Japan are working together to overcome the painful past and moving toward a ‘new world,’” he said. “The security cooperation between the two countries against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats has been strengthened further.” The two countries, for example, now share information on North Korea’s actions in real time.

The so-called soft power of countries, such as sports or TV shows, really does have the power of attraction. Whatever the past between nations, there’s always a chance for a whole new ballgame that brings people together.