• Apple eyes U.S. manufacturing: Apple announced that it plans to invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas. 
• Congo conflict’s mounting toll: More than 7,000 people have died this year as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured unprecedented amounts of territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo, the country’s prime minister said.
  • Related Monitor story: People in eastern Congo are finding ways to ensure that each life cut short by war is remembered and mourned with dignity. Our report from September. 
• Conservation talks: An annual United Nations conference on biodiversity that ran out of time last year resumes its work today in Rome. At the top of the agenda: how to raise funds to help preserve plant and animal life on Earth. The talks in Colombia known as COP16 yielded some significant outcomes before they broke up in November.
• Youth advocates target companion AI: As artificial intelligence chatbots gain popularity among users seeking companionship online, youth advocacy groups are ramping up legal efforts to address concerns that children can form unhealthy relationships with humanlike AI creations.
  • Related Monitor story: Generative chat has also been cast as a threat to learning. Jackie Valley joined our podcast last year to discuss her reporting on some educators’ careful, positive uses.
• Archaeologists find a pharaoh’s tomb: A joint Egyptian-British mission has identified an ancient tomb near Luxor as that of King Thutmose II, marking the first discovery of a pharaonic royal tomb in more than 100 years, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said late last week.

James Madison called it “the extent and proper structure” of the United States. Now, a U.S. president is upending the country’s centuries-old balance of power. Instead of three co-equal branches acting as a check on each other, power has become increasingly concentrated in the White House. To justify their actions, President Donald Trump and his supporters argue that the federal bureaucracy had grown so large and Congress so gridlocked that it had become impossible for the government to do what the people wanted. To critics, though, the power concentration is now being supercharged in ways that raise the specter of authoritarianism.

The winner of Sunday’s German elections will likely be able to form a centrist coalition to govern, but its work is cut out for it. Voters boosted parties on the partisan poles, suggesting their patience is wearing thin. Problems abound – from inflation to a lack of qualified workers to differences over how to handle a migrant influx. And the stakes are high. With the United States increasingly seeing Europe as either irrelevant (in Ukraine) or as an adversary (with tariffs), Germany will be central to reestablishing Europe’s unity, relevance, and influence.

It was a radical act that would echo: Four Black college students sat at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in February 1960 and did not move until the store closed. This Black History Month, our commentator interviews a civil rights leader about the sit-in movement. “Today is a direct result of what people tried to do in 1960,” says Courtland Cox of the SNCC Legacy Project. Through curricula and conversations, “We’re gonna try to … influence the next generation, both in terms of the community and the institution,” Mr. Cox says, “so that whatever happens lives on past me.”

In our global progress roundup this week, we see how individual pursuits can bring positive results to wider communities. Studies show that Americans’ safety is increasing, for example, due partly to better driving habits. And Britons, meanwhile, experience greater well-being by enjoying or participating in the arts. We’ll also show you some positive shifts in Brazil, China, and the deep-sea home of southern right whales.

Is it OK to eat popcorn or to talk loudly? asks the puppeteer of the children. “No!” comes the answer, a nod to good theater comportment. Then, a wry smile. “Is it OK to laugh?” When again the children shout “No,” he booms back: “Oh, but yes! ... Especially during these hard times, please laugh as much as you wish!” The war in Ukraine has raged for three years. A theater troupe in Kharkiv is finding that puppets have a special ability to comfort and inspire, even to rehabilitate.

Voters in Germany’s election on Sunday were very excited to cast ballots. Turnout was an astounding 82.5%, the highest in more than three decades. A big reason was that Europe’s largest economy has experienced its longest stagnation since World War II. Germans are eager for the same innovative spirit that revived their country from the ashes of that war.

“There is really a sense of urgency at the moment because we are on the third year of a recession with no end in sight,” David Deißner, managing director of the Foundation for Family Businesses, told the BBC. “Germany really needs ... a fresh signal for growth and unleashing growth and innovation.”

The country’s business model of manufacturing exports is “gone,” Friedrich Merz, leader of the winning party, the Christian Democratic Union, told The Economist in February.  Germany has been a laggard in new patents – caused by what experts call “technophobia” – and misjudged the rise of China’s economy, especially its progress in electric vehicles.

Now seen as Germany’s next chancellor, Mr. Merz plans to form a coalition government by April 20 and then quickly cut red tape for businesses and push Germans to finally embrace the digital age. He plans to create a ministry for digitization, a function currently embedded in the Transport Ministry. His party promises “real breakthroughs” in artificial intelligence.

A revived economy is vital for Germany to help Europe pay for Ukraine’s defenses, achieve climate goals, and fend off rising calls on the right to end immigration. “Only an innovative Europe will bring us forward again,” says Adrian Willig, director of the Association of German Engineers.

During the election, many issues came up. But the desire to revive the economy through innovation was a constant theme. As the de facto leader of the European Union, Germany may be finding its footing again. A high voter turnout showed that Germans are not giving up.