• Israel stops Gaza power: Israel cut off the electricity supply to Gaza, officials said on Sunday, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the territory. – The Associated Press
• Supreme Court case: The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide whether state and local governments can enforce laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children, in a Colorado case. Colorado prohibits the practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling. – AP
  • Related Monitor story: Who should decide the best way to protect vulnerable children? In December, we explored the biggest transgender rights case in U.S. Supreme Court history.
• Canadian electricity tariff: Ontario’s premier announced that effective Monday it is charging 25% more for electricity to 1.5 million Americans. – AP
• USAID dismantling complete: Secretary of State Marco Rubio signaled on Monday on the social platform X that the Trump administration has finished its six-week dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. – AP
  • Related Monitor story: China eyes opportunities as U.S. scales back humanitarian aid.

Five years on from the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is a changed place. Some of those changes came from great tribulation or have deepened divisions. Some came from ingenuity and moments of human kindness. Today, Monitor staff looks at the pandemic through several different lenses: science, politics, community, education, economics, and the workplace. Each has their own story to tell. And through those stories, we get a fuller sense of a momentous period in history.

How will President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend U.S. military assistance and intelligence sharing affect Ukraine? With allies and Ukraine itself stepping up, the decline in military assistance might not be felt for a while. But the lack of intelligence could start hitting immediately – particularly Ukraine’s ability to defend its civilians. Conversations near the front lines reveal not only Ukrainians’ concerns, but also their unshaken determination. Says one soldier: “It’s about justice and law, and making sure the opposite ideas of the other side do not win.”

So far, despite numerous challenges, the new Syrian government has been able to maintain relative calm. That changed this weekend. A series of coordinated ambushes by gunmen loyal to the ousted government of Bashar al-Assad was followed by a wave of sectarian revenge killings. The events pointed to the urgency of disarming Assad loyalists while providing a pathway to transitional justice. Says one expert: “What we saw happening over the last few days has a lot to do with ... people taking justice into their own hands.”

Under pressure from Congress and the Trump administration, Washington has begun to remove the Black Lives Matter mural just blocks from the White House. But the idea behind Black Lives Matter was never about murals, nor did it start with those words. What mattered about the mural was the message: Why was a mural to declare that Black lives matter ever needed in the first place? Beyond today’s culture war politics is the question of how people move past gestures of representation to something more concrete and powerful.

For many LGBTQ+ seniors, the hope of feeling welcomed and cared for has often led to heartrending choices. Some go back into the closet to secure housing. Others have felt targeted. One man in Pittsburgh talks about being spit on. A facility in Boston was defaced by hateful graffiti, including threats to burn it down. But there are also new efforts to help these older people feel at home. Recognizing that LGBTQ+ elders are a part of the community “is part of a culture shift,” says one advocate.

In almost every corner of the world since late January, the “America First” agenda of President Donald Trump has nudged nations to rethink their identity, even core principles. Europe has tightened its unity around higher defense spending. Canadians have reinvigorated their identity. American allies scattered across Asia are looking more to each other for support. For now, an inward-looking United States is forcing introspection elsewhere.

Less noticed has been a marked shift in the Middle East. Last Tuesday, Arab leaders endorsed a $53 billion plan to reconstruct a ravaged Gaza in phases if the current ceasefire holds. It would create multinational governance over the enclave – without offering a role to Hamas and without blaming Israel for the destruction.

The plan, designed by Egypt, indirectly rebuffs Mr. Trump’s impractical offer to relocate the Palestinian residents to Egypt and Jordan and turn Gaza into a Riviera-style beach resort. It has since been endorsed by key European leaders and the 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The U.S. and Israel rejected it, largely because it does not call for Hamas to disarm and disband.

Yet it provides positive proposals that may lead to potential deals. For years during several wars between Israel and Hamas, Arab nations have done little to put a permanent end to the conflict. Now with the U.S. looking to quickly end the drain of global conflicts on American resources, these countries have found the strength to design a peace plan that goes far to meet Israeli interests.

“The mere fact that Arab leaders saw a necessity to convene an emergency summit on the future of Gaza,” wrote former Israeli diplomat Yaara Segal in The Jerusalem Post, “highlights their willingness to finally take an active and constructive role in addressing the crisis.”

Gaza’s future remains in limbo, but there’s now stronger confidence among Arab leaders that peace in the strip is possible. Details for a solution still matter. Yet the tone has changed. One other region of the world, being left more to its own devices, has found the need to heal its divisions.