• Chinese challenge to American AI: U.S. technology shares dropped sharply Monday as surging interest in Chinese startup DeepSeek’s low-cost artificial intelligence model raised doubts about the sector’s lofty valuations.
  • Related Monitor story: Will China challenge the United States for AI dominance? History offers some lessons, but this is a new ballgame – with markets unsettled by the pace of DeepSeek’s advances. Laurent Belsie reports.
• Palestinians return to northern Gaza: Tens of thousands of Palestinians streamed along the main roads leading north in Gaza on Monday, jubilant to be returning home after months of living in temporary shelters.
  • Related Monitor story: When the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement was announced, Palestinian residents of Gaza celebrated. But the destruction they are finding is difficult to comprehend. Ghada Abdulfattah reports.
• Rebels occupy major city in Congo: Rwandan-backed rebels marched into eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, on Monday. The events mark the worst escalation of a long-running conflict in more than a decade.
  • Related Monitor story: Violent conflicts have roiled eastern Congo for three decades. But in a maternity ward for displaced women, life continues to begin anew. Sophie Nieman reports.
• Ceremony at Auschwitz: The 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops was marked Monday at the site of the former death camp.

Public opinion on immigration has shifted right, but nuances remain. Americans strongly support deporting criminals, and many favor targeting other categories of unauthorized immigrants, while also wanting paths to legal status for law-abiding people. Chicago offers an interesting portrait of the mixed emotions.

Many of the unauthorized migrants whom President Donald Trump plans to deport have been keeping millions of their relatives in Latin America financially afloat with their earnings. But the story of what remittances do and don’t accomplish back home is not easy to pin down. We look at how one town in Mexico might be affected. 

Amid presidential visits and benefit concerts, one might overlook the fact that cleanup on one of America’s costliest fires ever has begun. In this Explainer, we answer some of the most pressing questions, such as how long it will take and how these fires were different.

President Donald Trump caused a stir last week by ending the security detail for several former advisers, including John Bolton, his former national security adviser. The Monitor’s Cameron Joseph reached out to Mr. Bolton to talk about the decision and what might be behind it. In this Q&A, Mr. Bolton speaks with typical candor about what he sees from his vantage point.

Madagascar’s unique forests are a natural treasure, and people need them to thrive. But here, as elsewhere in the world, people also often have no choice but to cut them down. “Here, we don’t have an Eiffel Tower or a Statue of Liberty,” says one scientist. “Our lemurs, baobabs, and biodiversity are our world heritage, but they’re going up in flames.” Hopes to save them may reside in the nation’s youth.

Memoirs allow a writer to gain distance on the hurts and joys of the past. The best memoirs offer readers a glimpse of grace achieved amid hardship. In his book, Lee Hawkins details the effects of slavery on his family – not only on enslaved ancestors but also on his parents. By showing the heartbreak, Mr. Hawkins redeems his childhood and wins a degree of freedom.

The Americas are home to about 1 in 5 of the world’s migrants, most of them forcibly displaced or stateless. In recent days, the region has also been home to an enlightening debate over responsibilities involving this cross-border flow of humanity.

On Jan. 22, Colombia’s president visited the troubled island of Haiti and gave a public apology for the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, an act attributed to Colombians in Haiti. He also asked for forgiveness. An ex-army officer from Colombia has already been convicted of the killing.

“We do not believe in the death that those Colombians spread, we believe in life,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated. His visit included discussions about preventing Haiti from being used by Colombians transporting drugs to the United States.

Then on Jan. 24, Brazil complained to the U.S. about “degrading treatment” of dozens of its citizens being deported by the Trump administration aboard a U.S. military plane. During the transport, Brazil ordered the removal of handcuffs on the deportees, citing a “lack of respect” for their rights.

On Sunday, meanwhile, Colombia took a similar and even stronger action in light of Brazil’s concerns. President Petro barred two U.S. military planes carrying Colombian deportees from landing, saying that the U.S. should be using civilian aircraft. He told more than 15,000 Americans living illegally in Colombia to take steps to legalize their status.

President Donald Trump responded by ordering tariffs on and visa restrictions against one of its closest allies in the region. Mr. Petro finally backed down on the use of military planes. Yet his officials say all such flights would now have “dignified conditions.”

These incidents illustrate how much values such as mercy and justice will play out as the U.S. tries to deport most of the estimated 11 million unauthorized migrants in the country. More than half of U.S. voters support Mr. Trump’s deportation plans, according to a New York Times/Ipsos poll.

On Thursday, Honduras plans an urgent meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to discuss the region’s response to the U.S. deportations. Colombia may also raise its recent concerns over violent groups in Venezuela crossing their shared border.

The mix of responses is already quite varied – a request for forgiveness, calls for humane treatment of deportees, help in catching criminal migrants. Amid the threats and the diplomacy, a public debate may lead to better protection of those deemed the most vulnerable in a region awash in migrants.