作者： root

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opening in North Dakota Badlands

June 21, 2026 / 9:28 AM EDT / CBS News

Theodore Roosevelt consistently ranks among the nation’s top five most popular presidents. On this upcoming July 4 holiday, 107 years after his death, T.R. is finally getting his own presidential library – but it’s not where you might think. That library is rising out of the prairie grass in the North Dakota Badlands – a 96,000-square-foot tribute to our 26th president.

It’s as grand as his likeness on Mt. Rushmore, except a lot more subtle, and that’s by design, says architect Craig Dykers. “Nature is transformative here,” he said. “It transformed Theodore Roosevelt, and it will transform new visitors to this library.”

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library under construction in the Badlands of North Dakota. CBS News

Its gently sloping roof mimics the surrounding buttes, covered in native grasses and walking paths – yes, walking paths on the roof. The hope is they’ll get visitors up and out for a commanding view of Theodore Roosevelt National Park right next door.

“We wanted something that just felt primitive,” said Dykers. “And so, this form emerging from the Earth, it felt like it just arrived from the Earth.”‘ Dykers said.

Inside, a string of skylights will provide almost all the natural illumination the library would ever need, held up by walls made solely of compressed earth.

The interior design of the skylights and earthen walls of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. CBS News

Everywhere we looked during our privileged sneak-peek back in March, it was hard to tell where nature ended and the library began. Its $450 million price tag is the biggest thing the small town of Medora, North Dakota, has ever experienced.

If you’re wondering why T.R.’s library is way out here instead of his native New York, it’s because were it not for his experiences way out here, Roosevelt said, he never would have been president.

Simon & Schuster

Edward O’Keefe, CEO of the library, and author of the recent book “The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President” (Simon & Schuster), said, “Theodore Roosevelt grew up as a sickly, asthmatic child who lived his life through books and imagination. So here he is, 24 years old, on the plains and Badlands of North Dakota, and he’s living the life he only read about in books.”

But the reason he took up residence in the Badlands is hardly a happy one, said O’Keefe: “He was a broken man, in a broken land, and nature was his healer.”

In a tragic twist, Teddy Roosevelt’s mother, Mittie, and his young wife, Alice, both died in the same house, on the same day: Valentine’s Day 1884. “The light has gone out of my life,” Roosevelt wrote in his diary – the date marked by a bold X.

“At the funeral of his wife and mother – it was a double funeral – he was so desolate and so depressed, that they were concerned for his own safety,” said O’Keefe.

After settling his affairs (which included asking his sister to raise his newborn daughter, Alice), he headed West, alone. He’d been to the Dakota Territory just a year prior to hunt a pair of bison – the two that still hang in Roosevelt’s Long Island home to this day.

Theodore Roosevelt during a visit to the Badlands of Dakota in the 1880s, after the death of his first wife. Photo by T.W. Ingersoll/MPI/Getty Images

He dug in, and began living a kind of life many Dakota cowboys thought he wasn’t prepared to live. They were wrong.

O’Keefe said, “I think he had a ‘life wish.’ He realized that no matter how rich you are, no matter how privileged you are, that you don’t know what’s going to happen next. If you want to get something done in this world, if you want to love somebody, if you want to accomplish something, you gotta go.”

And it’s that kind of rugged, raw, and real intellectual journey that the library wants visitors not just to look at and to grasp, but experience. “Library and museum are the two worst descriptions of what the TR Library actually is,” said O’Keefe. “It’s a call to adventure.”

It’s the kind of place that couldn’t have been built even five years ago, because artificial intelligence is such a large part of it. For example, you don’t have to imagine what it’s like to be in T.R.’s boots; you can actually see it.

An exhibit at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library used AI to illustrate how visitors might look in TR’s cowboy garb. CBS News

O’Keefe said, “We have created the world’s first presidential archive in AI. Participants can come here to the TR Library, and have an in-person conversation with an avatar of T.R. You do not come unprepared for a conversation with Theodore Roosevelt; he will have none of it.”

It will be the only presidential library that will have hitching posts for your horse. You can take a nature walk on a mile-long path through the prairie. You can sit by a campfire and hear tall tales of life on the range, and step into his cabin at the Elkhorn Ranch.

But for all the fun, there’s a serious bent, too. He was a man of his times, and his times weren’t always flattering.

“I wasn’t interested in doing a legacy project for Theodore Roosevelt,” said T.R.’s great-great-grandson, Theodore Roosevelt V. “There’s plenty of things named after him, plenty of statues. But the idea of just sort of basking in the glow of somebody and saying ‘This is a great man, let’s all look at him,’ isn’t particularly compelling. Normally, presidential libraries – it’s the principal [reason], the president trying to cement the first chapter of his legacy. In this case, we’ve got a hundred years-plus to be able to look back at his legacy, to really understand what that legacy is, what the lasting impacts were. We get to face those issues head-on.”

Including Roosevelt’s racist views of indigenous peoples, whom he often referred to as savages.

“We had a land blessing out here with the five tribes,” said Roosevelt, “to bless the land and really bring them into the project, so that we were working with them and making sure that their voices were heard, and that we were representing things appropriately.”

The library has taken possession of a statue of Roosevelt that was removed in 2022 from outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Critics argued that the message of a White man elevated above both a Native American and an African symbolized racial superiority.

“We are here to preserve the life and legacy of Theodore Roosevelt,” said O’Keefe. “I think it’s important that we eventually do something that contextualizes it appropriately, but not at the opening.”

If the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library has any message, it’s that courage and strength often come from personal tragedy, mis-steps, mistakes, and misunderstandings. As he famously said, it’s being in the arena that counts. And that, more than anything, may be the hindsight the library has to offer.

“He does not like the critic,” said O’Keefe. “He does not like the person on the sidelines pointing out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. He likes the person who tries and fails. That’s a powerful lesson for today. I want kids in particular to come in and understand that if you want to change something in this world, you have got to be the source of that change.”

Charles M. Blow praises men who step up

June 21, 2026 / 10:25 AM EDT / CBS News

On this Father’s Day, thoughts from contributor Charles Blow about growing up without a dad:

I know what it feels like to miss a father, the hole it leaves in a boy where his dad should be.

My parents split when I was five. The part of my father that the breaking of our family didn’t take, his alcoholism did. I experienced him primarily as an unpredictable apparition who occasionally stopped by in the middle of the night, waking us, reeking of booze, talking loudly and breaking our peace, on his way home from a night out.

But I was lucky. A constellation of other men stepped into the void he left — grandfathers and uncles, neighbors and coaches providing the guidance and correction, the modeling of composure and possibility that boys need, the kind that can only come from a man like the ones they will become.

I have always wanted that for all boys similarly situated: a community of men to bridge their way.

So, when I came across an organization, Son of a Saint, in New Orleans, that does just that — and primarily for boys in even greater need than I was — I was moved.

The organization largely serves boys whose fathers have passed away or been locked away. It was founded in 2011 by Bivian “Sonny” Lee III, whose own father had played for the New Orleans Saints, but died when Sonny was three years old. He has made it his mission to transform the lives of boys like the one he was.

Mentoring boys and young men. Meghan Langley/Son of a Saint

Earlier this month, I visited the group’s headquarters, a beautifully-transformed building in the Bayou St. John neighborhood that serves as something of a community center for the organization and the boys in its care. They have classes (the boys really love the cooking classes), and hold meetings. The group provides not only mentors, but case teams for each boy, ensuring that all his needs are met, from academic to emotional.

When I was there, I observed a wellness class: beaming boys competing in teams, learning concepts about their own mental health, free from any judgement or the strictures of a distorted masculinity that frowns on such things.

I sat down with 16-year-old twin brothers Michael and Robert, who had easy smiles and fidgeted in their chairs the way teenage boys do as they grow into their bodies. They joined the program three years ago, when their dad passed away. They lit up when they told me about the summer camps in the Northeast that the organization paid for them to attend.

I asked each boy I met that day how he celebrated Father’s Day, and almost all of them said they did so with their mentors from the program — the men who stepped into the breach.

For more info:

• Son of a Saint
• Charles M. Blow on Substack

Story produced by Robbyn McFadden. Editor: Emanuele Secci.

伊方消息：以色列若不停火 海峡不会重开

2026年6月21日 20:24 / 联合早报

伊方消息：以色列若不停火 海峡不会重开

美伊新一轮核谈判在瑞士拉开帷幕，作为全球原油运输咽喉的霍尔木兹海峡再次成为地缘政治的关注焦点。图为6月21日从伊朗阿巴斯港附近海滩远眺，多艘大宗货轮与油轮在海峡航道上航行。 （路透社）

伊朗塔斯尼姆通讯社星期天报道，一名接近伊朗谈判团队的消息人士说，如果以色列继续在黎巴嫩采取军事行动，且黎巴嫩领土完整得不到保障，伊朗就不会同美国展开谈判，也不会重新开放霍尔木兹海峡。

以色列国防部长卡茨同日发声明称，以色列国防军不会撤出在黎巴嫩南部控制的“安全区”。他还称，以军在遭到黎巴嫩真主党袭击后进行“强力回击”，打死多名真主党武装人员，并摧毁多个军事基础设施。

此外，伊朗总统办公室负责传播与新闻事务的副主任塔巴塔巴埃星期天（6月21日）称，推动结束以色列在黎巴嫩的军事行动，将成为伊朗谈判代表团下一阶段外交工作的首要议题。

新华社报道，塔巴塔巴埃当天在社交媒体发文称，无条件落实伊朗与美国达成的谅解备忘录第一条款是确保协议顺利推进的关键。如果以色列继续对黎巴嫩采取军事行动，整个谅解安排的可信度将受影响。

根据美伊日前公布的谅解备忘录正式文本，其中第一项条款是声明立即并永久停止包括黎巴嫩战线在内的所有军事行动；承诺今后互不发动战争或军事行动，互不使用武力或以武力相威胁；并确保黎巴嫩的领土完整与主权。最终协议将确认包括黎巴嫩战线在内的所有冲突永久结束，以及本条款中的其他规定。

伊方消息：以色列若不停火 海峡不会重开

2026年6月21日 20:24 / 联合早报

伊方消息：以色列若不停火 海峡不会重开

美伊新一轮核谈判在瑞士拉开帷幕，作为全球原油运输咽喉的霍尔木兹海峡再次成为地缘政治的关注焦点。图为6月21日从伊朗阿巴斯港附近海滩远眺，多艘大宗货轮与油轮在海峡航道上航行。 （路透社）

伊朗塔斯尼姆通讯社星期天报道，一名接近伊朗谈判团队的消息人士说，如果以色列继续在黎巴嫩采取军事行动，且黎巴嫩领土完整得不到保障，伊朗就不会同美国展开谈判，也不会重新开放霍尔木兹海峡。

以色列国防部长卡茨同日发声明称，以色列国防军不会撤出在黎巴嫩南部控制的“安全区”。他还称，以军在遭到黎巴嫩真主党袭击后进行“强力回击”，打死多名真主党武装人员，并摧毁多个军事基础设施。

此外，伊朗总统办公室负责传播与新闻事务的副主任塔巴塔巴埃星期天（6月21日）称，推动结束以色列在黎巴嫩的军事行动，将成为伊朗谈判代表团下一阶段外交工作的首要议题。

新华社报道，塔巴塔巴埃当天在社交媒体发文称，无条件落实伊朗与美国达成的谅解备忘录第一条款是确保协议顺利推进的关键。如果以色列继续对黎巴嫩采取军事行动，整个谅解安排的可信度将受影响。

根据美伊日前公布的谅解备忘录正式文本，其中第一项条款是声明立即并永久停止包括黎巴嫩战线在内的所有军事行动；承诺今后互不发动战争或军事行动，互不使用武力或以武力相威胁；并确保黎巴嫩的领土完整与主权。最终协议将确认包括黎巴嫩战线在内的所有冲突永久结束，以及本条款中的其他规定。

Born in the U.S.A.: Protecting the right of birthright citizenship

June 21, 2026 / 9:17 AM EDT / CBS News

Birthright citizenship is spelled out in the first line of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

It means everyone born in the United States is automatically a U.S. citizen at birth, said University of Virginia law professor Amanda Frost, regardless of any aspect of their parentage or lineage, “with very narrow exceptions, being for the children of diplomats and invading occupying armies. Everyone else is a citizen at birth.”

Frost says there is no ambiguity about the Constitutional issue of this citizenship clause. But a poll by the Pew Research Center shows that the American public is pretty much evenly divided on whether citizenship should be granted at birth to the children of undocumented immigrants – 50 percent say yes, 49 percent say no.

Beacon Press

In January 2025, President Trump issued an executive order stating that “the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.” The order would deny citizenship to the vast majority of children born to parents here illegally or temporarily. Roughly a quarter of a million children a year would be affected.

The executive order was blocked by a lower court, and is now before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court first weighed in on the issue of citizenship nearly 170 years ago, in what’s generally considered its most disgraceful opinion: the infamous decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford. “This is the decision from 1857, in which the Supreme Court said that no Black person, whether enslaved or free, could ever be a citizen of the United States,” said Frost. “Chief Justice Taney, who wrote that opinion, said, ‘If you don’t like it, you can amend the Constitution.’”

And that’s just what happened, after the Civil War in 1868, with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. “The Reconstruction Congress wanted to make it clear that all four million formerly-enslaved people were citizens of the United States,” said Frost. “They also addressed the fact that more and more immigrants were coming to U.S. shores, and they recognized that the children of immigrants would also be citizens.”

Though he was born in America, Wong Kim Ark was denied re-entry to the United States in 1895 due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. National Archives/Interim Archives/Getty Images

But 30 years later, the case of Wong Kim Ark came before the Supreme Court. Born in San Francisco to Chinese parents, Wong was denied reentry to the U.S. after a trip to China. Wong fought back, insisting on his rights as an American citizen.

“For me, Wong Kim Ark represents the common man,” said Norman Wong, a descendant of Wong Kim Ark. “He wasn’t rich. He wasn’t famous. He didn’t have any extraordinary abilities. What he did [have] was the willingness to stand up and assert his right as an American.”

At a time of virulent anti-Chinese bigotry, the court ruled in Wong’s favor, which seemed to settle the issue of birthright citizenship.

But there have been dissenters.

“The reality is that the clause is very terse, and there are a number of issues that it did not address directly,” said political scientist Rogers Smith. “And the issue that is of greatest concern today is the status of children of unauthorized aliens, and that was an issue that no one who supported the clause or opposed the clause addressed at the time of the 14th Amendment’s writing and ratification.”

The Trump administration has relied on the scholarship of Smith to make its case. Smith, who co-wrote a book on birthright citizenship in 1985, when he was a professor at Yale, believes that Congress has the power to limit citizenship for those born to parents here illegally. “I think that it has been a mistake for more than a half-century for Congress – and often advocates for various causes – to try to push these decisions onto the courts,” said Smith. “Congress is not playing anywhere close to the role that it is supposed to be playing in the American constitutional system.”

He believes that, instead of pushing issues onto the courts to resolve, they should be decided by the elected representatives of the people.

But while Smith’s work has been cited by those who want to restrict birthright citizenship, Smith himself is opposed to the Trump administration’s efforts. He says he feels terrible that his scholarship is cited by those who want to restrict birthright citizenship: “It did become an argument that has been used by people who are virulently anti-immigrant and often making the case with derogatory stereotypes of immigrants.”

The majority of countries with universal birthright citizenship are in the Americas. But most of the world has been moving away from it.

In January 2005, Ireland – the last European country to guarantee it – ended birthright citizenship, after 79 percent of the country voted to restrict it.

Mariam Sobayo (featured recently in The New York Times) was born in Dublin to Nigerian immigrants. The youngest of five siblings, she was born just one month after the country rescinded automatic birthright citizenship.

“I wanted to go to Disneyland, and we would always ask my mom, ‘When are we going to Disneyland? When are we going to Disneyland?’ And she’d always tell us, ‘Soon,’” Sobayo told “Sunday Morning.” “But then I was trying to connect the dots and wondering like, what’s holding us back here? And I realized, ‘Oh, my sister’s a citizen. My other sister’s a citizen. My mom’s a citizen now.’ But then I realized I’m the one that’s not a citizen. I’m the reason why we can’t travel.”

Mariam Sobayo, the youngest of three, was born after Ireland changed its law regarding birthright citizenship, so that while her sisters were Irish citizens, she was not. Family Photo

With no passport, Sobayo was stateless, even though Ireland was the only country she’d ever known. She’d even learned to speak Irish. “Every child born in the state of Ireland has to speak Irish,” she said. “You pretty much learn Irish from ages seven to, like, 18, and to really immerse myself in it, and then also think, ‘I’m learning a language in a country I don’t even feel like I have roots to, because I’m having to prove tooth and nail that I belong here.’”

It was a complicated process, but in August 2023, when she was 18, Sobayo, now a social worker, finally became an Irish citizen. “It kind of just felt like my life was finally beginning,” she said. “I went a bit crazy booking holidays. I finally felt like the world was my oyster, we can finally do a family holiday. We can finally just start to live without that excessive worry on the back of my mind.”

Frost said, “Immigration is a complicated global issue with no easy answers. One clear non-answer is to get rid of birthright citizenship in this country.”

Frost believes part of what makes America exceptional is its longstanding embrace of immigrants: “If you look at Fortune 500 companies, about half of them are run by immigrants or the children of immigrants. Children of immigrants do incredibly well in this country, because they’re integrated quickly into this nation. We do that better than Europe.”

She says that, though she disagrees with President Trump’s executive order, she also thinks something good can come out of the conversations being had about birthright citizenship: “If there’s something good that comes out of this, it’s that we get to talk about the goals of birthright citizenship, the fact that it was intended and passed in America to ensure equality, that it’s consistent with these founding American values that rejected inheritable monarchy. If we’re all born equal, let’s not end this constitutional guarantee that fulfills these founding values of our nation.”

细菌含量升高 美国多州海滩发布游泳警告

2026年6月21日 20:59 / 联合早报

细菌含量升高 美国多州海滩发布游泳警告

美国多州海滩和湖泊因细菌含量升高，已发布游泳警告或暂时关闭。 （法新社示意图）

随着夏天到来，美国多个州因为水域细菌含量升高，陆续发布游泳警告或关闭部分海滩，其中包括爱荷华州、马萨诸塞州、新泽西州和华盛顿州。

福克斯新闻报道，美国环境研究与政策中心去年发布的报告显示，2024年美国61%的海滩曾出现可能危及安全的污染水平。机构指出，海滩污染主要来自城市径流、污水溢流以及工厂化农场产生的病原体。

在爱荷华州，当地自然资源部对六处海滩发出“不建议游泳”警告，原因是大肠杆菌含量升高。

美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）指出，大多数大肠杆菌属于人体肠道正常菌群，但部分菌株可能导致腹泻、胃痉挛、呕吐和发烧，严重病例可能引发脱水。

马萨诸塞州本月也因细菌含量偏高、有毒蓝绿藻等问题，暂时关闭多个海滩。

此外，新泽西州部分海滩和湖泊因粪便细菌含量升高而发布游泳警告，其中比斯利角海滩（Beesley’s Point Beach）已关闭。华盛顿州多个海滩则因细菌水平偏高被列入游泳警告名单，其中部分属于长期警告区域；肯特市的梅里迪安湖公园（Lake Meridian Park）也已关闭。

当地卫生部门呼吁民众在前往海滩或湖泊戏水前，先查阅最新水质信息，以降低健康风险。

细菌含量升高 美国多州海滩发布游泳警告

2026年6月21日 20:59 / 联合早报

美国多州海滩和湖泊因细菌含量升高，已发布游泳警告或暂时关闭。 （法新社示意图）

美国多州海滩和湖泊因细菌含量升高，已发布游泳警告或暂时关闭。 （法新社示意图）

随着夏天到来，美国多个州因为水域细菌含量升高，陆续发布游泳警告或关闭部分海滩，其中包括爱荷华州、马萨诸塞州、新泽西州和华盛顿州。

福克斯新闻报道，美国环境研究与政策中心去年发布的报告显示，2024年美国61%的海滩曾出现可能危及安全的污染水平。机构指出，海滩污染主要来自城市径流、污水溢流以及工厂化农场产生的病原体。

在爱荷华州，当地自然资源部对六处海滩发出“不建议游泳”警告，原因是大肠杆菌含量升高。

美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）指出，大多数大肠杆菌属于人体肠道正常菌群，但部分菌株可能导致腹泻、胃痉挛、呕吐和发烧，严重病例可能引发脱水。

马萨诸塞州本月也因细菌含量偏高、有毒蓝绿藻等问题，暂时关闭多个海滩。

此外，新泽西州部分海滩和湖泊因粪便细菌含量升高而发布游泳警告，其中比斯利角海滩（Beesley’s Point Beach）已关闭。华盛顿州多个海滩则因细菌水平偏高被列入游泳警告名单，其中部分属于长期警告区域；肯特市的梅里迪安湖公园（Lake Meridian Park）也已关闭。

当地卫生部门呼吁民众在前往海滩或湖泊戏水前，先查阅最新水质信息，以降低健康风险。

塔利班限制下 阿富汗女性靠创业撑起生计

2026年6月21日 21:48 / 联合早报

身穿罩袍的阿富汗妇女在斋戒月期间，于喀布尔郊区排队领取免费开斋餐。 （法新社）

在塔利班重新掌权即将届满五周年之际，阿富汗女性仍面对全球最严厉的限制之一。不过，为避免经济进一步恶化和国际孤立，塔利班允许女性创业，但必须遵守一系列严格规定。

《纽约时报》报道，阿富汗工商会数据显示，目前超过1万名阿富汗女性持有商业执照，较五年前增加10倍。世界银行估计，另有约12万名女性从事无执照小型生意。小企业已成为阿富汗女性最大的雇主。

但这股创业潮难以掩盖女性发展空间持续收窄的现实。她们不能在政府部门和许多非营利组织工作，也不得经营美容院、修读助产和护理专业，或与男性客户、供应商及银行职员接触。

联合国开发计划署数据显示，截至2024年，阿富汗女性就业率不足7%。

尽管如此，创业仍是许多女性维持生计的重要途径。赫拉特省女性企业主代表萨尔朱吉（Behnaz Saljughi）说：“在现在的阿富汗，女性仅剩的希望就是做生意。”

19岁的阿齐兹（Nasira Azizi）在北部城市马扎里沙里夫经营地毯作坊。她14岁时，因塔利班禁止女性接受六年级以上教育而失学，一度陷入抑郁。后来，她在联合国开发计划署资助下创业，如今经营两间作坊和家庭生产点，共聘用约450名工人，其中不少是从伊朗和巴基斯坦被遣返回国的阿富汗女性。

21岁的雷扎伊（Roqia Rezaei）原本梦想成为采矿工程师，如今在赫拉特经营传统肥皂品牌“Magnolia”，支撑一家七口生活。但由于缺乏设备和行动受限，她至今无法独自前往喀布尔销售产品。

随着限制不断增加，一些女性创业者说，在阿富汗做生意的风险正变得越来越高。卡里米说：“政府说支持女性创业，但我们每天面对的限制却越来越多。”

塔利班限制下 阿富汗女性靠创业撑起生计

2026年6月21日 21:48 / 联合早报

身穿罩袍的阿富汗妇女在斋戒月期间，于喀布尔郊区排队领取免费开斋餐。 （法新社）

在塔利班重新掌权即将届满五周年之际，阿富汗女性仍面对全球最严厉的限制之一。不过，为避免经济进一步恶化和国际孤立，塔利班允许女性创业，但必须遵守一系列严格规定。

《纽约时报》报道，阿富汗工商会数据显示，目前超过1万名阿富汗女性持有商业执照，较五年前增加10倍。世界银行估计，另有约12万名女性从事无执照小型生意。小企业已成为阿富汗女性最大的雇主。

但这股创业潮难以掩盖女性发展空间持续收窄的现实。她们不能在政府部门和许多非营利组织工作，也不得经营美容院、修读助产和护理专业，或与男性客户、供应商及银行职员接触。

联合国开发计划署数据显示，截至2024年，阿富汗女性就业率不足7%。

尽管如此，创业仍是许多女性维持生计的重要途径。赫拉特省女性企业主代表萨尔朱吉（Behnaz Saljughi）说：“在现在的阿富汗，女性仅剩的希望就是做生意。”

19岁的阿齐兹（Nasira Azizi）在北部城市马扎里沙里夫经营地毯作坊。她14岁时，因塔利班禁止女性接受六年级以上教育而失学，一度陷入抑郁。后来，她在联合国开发计划署资助下创业，如今经营两间作坊和家庭生产点，共聘用约450名工人，其中不少是从伊朗和巴基斯坦被遣返回国的阿富汗女性。

21岁的雷扎伊（Roqia Rezaei）原本梦想成为采矿工程师，如今在赫拉特经营传统肥皂品牌“Magnolia”，支撑一家七口生活。但由于缺乏设备和行动受限，她至今无法独自前往喀布尔销售产品。

随着限制不断增加，一些女性创业者说，在阿富汗做生意的风险正变得越来越高。卡里米说：“政府说支持女性创业，但我们每天面对的限制却越来越多。”

Colombians vote in consequential presidential runoff: “Two very extreme sides”

June 21, 2026 8:35 AM EDT / CBS/AP

A deeply divided electorate will choose Colombia’s next president in a runoff on Sunday that pits a progressive against a conservative outsider, with both candidates tapping into fears of a renewed internal conflict in the country as they represent “two very extreme sides,” one Colombian said.

“Right now, what worries me is the polarization that exists between us: there are two very extreme sides, and the violence is concerning,” said John Manrique, a lawyer in Colombia’s capital, Bogota. “What I hope is that people accept who won … Let’s not go out and fight.”

More than 41 million people are eligible to vote on Sunday. Voters will choose between Iván Cepeda, a far-left senator and candidate of the ruling Pacto Histórico party, who is also the heir to President Gustavo Petro’s policies, and Abelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has modeled his rhetoric and optics after President Trump and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele. Their race in what has been a high-stakes presidential election for Colombia headed to a runoff after Cepeda an Espriella defeated nine other contenders on May 31.

Both are pitching strategies that they say will prevent the South American country from experiencing the nonstop merciless violence, such as car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements that Colombians lived with in previous decades.

De la Espriella is proposing a heavy-handed approach that has earned him the endorsement of President Trump.

But Petro told CBS News earlier this month that he saw Trump’s endorsement as an act of interference, accusing Washington of abandoning its anti-drug mission cooperation for ideological reasons. He also warned that Colombia would see a wave of political violence if the right were to assume power.

The Colombian president had previously said in a social media post, in which he endorsed de la Espriella, that the results of his country’s election “are very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the United States.

In this combination of photos shows presidential candidates Abelardo de la Espriella, left, on May 6, 2026, and Ivan Cepeda on May 31, 2026, in Bogota, Colombia. AP Photo

Cepeda is promising to continue Petro’s efforts, including attempts at establishing dialogue with multiple illegal armed groups even though those efforts have largely failed.

The two candidates also are offering differing solutions for the country’s struggling health system, ballooning public debt and entrenched corruption.

In the first round, Cepeda earned 41% of the vote, while de la Espriella garnered 44%, according to official results. Petro, without evidence, sowed doubts in the results after Cepeda, who had consistently lead polls ahead of the May vote, did not win outright and even finished behind de la Espriella.

The election comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that had offered hope to break the nation’s vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government.

But violence has since roared back, particularly as most rebel groups abandoned their ideologically driven fight for the financial benefits of drug trafficking.

Supporters of Historic Pact coalition presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda attend his campaign rally in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 13, 2026. AP Photo/Fernando Vergara

Last year, authorities recorded 14,780 homicides, the most since at least 2015 and driven by clashes among illegal armed groups. Among those killed was conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe. Extortions have also soared, reaching 13,417 cases in 2025, more than double the number tallied in 2015.

De la Espriella, a political newcomer nicknamed “The Tiger,” has promised to fiercely go after criminals and build 10 mega-prisons, emulating the policies of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele that have lowered homicide rates but have fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

Cepeda wants to carry on Petro’s fraught signature plan to achieve “total peace” by negotiating pacts with guerrillas and criminal gangs. The heavily criticized strategy that Petro kicked off in 2022 took until Thursday to see the first armed group — one with about 100 members — give up its weapons and begin a resettlement process that will lead to their reintegration into civilian life. Colombia’s illegal groups have more than 27,000 members.

Yamile Guevara, a retired teacher in Bogota, said Petro’s plans need more time to bear results as he could not reasonably be expected to make lasting changes in a conflict that has gone on for six decades. She also criticized what she described as voters’ perennial distrust of Colombia’s left over its long-held association with rebel groups.

“The left has always been viewed negatively; it has been harsh, and many people have died,” Guevara, a Cepeda supporter, said. “So, one wonders what’s wrong with people who have forgotten history … how can they not think carefully about which candidate they are going to elect?”

The lead-up to the runoff has seen an increase in verbal attacks between the candidates as well as accusations of fraud, vote-buying and intimidation.

Cepeda filed a complaint with the Colombian Attorney General’s Office and the International Criminal Court against de la Espriella, accusing him of having ties to paramilitary groups. De la Espriella has denied the accusation.

contributed to this report.