Índex per January 16, 2017 a TIME Magazine

The U.S. spends a great deal of time focusing on the military capabilities represented by the Middle Eastern nations it rightly considers threats: Iran and Syria. And we correctly spend much political and military capital working with our Arab allies and partners, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. But our best military partner in the region, by far, is Israel--a point that has been lost amid the fury and posturing over President Obama's condemnation of settlements and Donald Trump's announcement of both an ambassador and the decision to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The U.S. would be well served to more fully develop its partnership with the Israel Defense Forces in several crucial areas as we stand together facing the challenges…

Children aren't very good at seeing outside of themselves. If they're doing the work of being children, selfishness comes with the territory--and learning that others feel things keenly too is where adulthood begins. That's the idea captured in A Monster Calls, in which a gnarly treelike beast (voiced by Liam Neeson) pays a series of visits to 12-year-old Conor (played by Lewis MacDougall, a young actor with quizzical, perceptive eyes). Conor is going through a rough patch: He's bullied at school. He dislikes his uptight grandmother (Sigourney Weaver, left), whom he sees as increasingly intrusive. And his mother (Felicity Jones), who is raising him by herself, has been ill for a long time and isn't getting better. Conor's monster, a surly, growling personification of childhood anger, tells the boy three…

'It should be a wake-up call to this nation.' Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, announcing on Jan. 3 a plan to offer free state-college tuition to hundreds of thousands of middle- and low-income New Yorkers; if it passes the state legislature, it will become the first program of its kind in the country $587 Amount of money (€560) that Finland will start giving 2,000 randomly selected unemployed citizens per month through 2019 as part of a social experiment intended to reduce poverty and increase employment rates 'I acted dead so he didn't keep shooting me.' FrançOis Al-Asmar, Lebanese citizen, describing a gunman's rampage in and around the Reina nightclub in Istanbul early on New Year's Day that left at least 39 dead and dozens wounded 'I always knew he…

A new law says French companies with more than 50 workers must guarantee a "right to disconnect" from emails outside office hours, to improve work-life balance. Officials in other countries are also encouraging people to leave work at the office: GERMANY Germany's employment ministry bars its managers from contacting staff during off-hours, and major companies, including Volkswagen and BMW, have followed suit. In 2014, automaker Daimler began automatically deleting emails sent to employees on vacation. SPAIN The government is considering reducing Spain's long workday by two hours and shifting clocks back an hour to the country's original time zone. The 11-hour day currently includes a lengthy break for a siesta, which many don't take because they are unable to return home in the afternoon. JAPAN Tokyo's governor has ordered municipal…

George Michael, who died Dec. 25 at the age of 53, was a pop star who could only have been incubated during the 1980s. The ideas and institutions taking shape in that chaotic decade, from MTV to the gay-rights movement, became intrinsic to Michael's cross-generational, cross-demographic appeal, igniting his songs and solidifying him as an icon. Wham!, Michael's duo with school pal Andrew Ridgeley, released its first album, Fantastic, in 1983. Make It Big followed the next year and carried Wham! across the pond, with the playful "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" blanketing airwaves and causing a run on choose life T-shirts. The pump was primed for Michael to break out: His solo debut in 1987, Faith, presented Michael as an auteur who flaunted his smoldering sexuality and profound…

The year 2016 might be over, but debates rage on about whether it was one of the most important--or worst--years ever. Yet amid talk of surprising election results and shocking celebrity deaths, these conversations often miss a key point: this question is impossible to answer. One problem is that humans have a recency bias. Modern events are easy to remember and--thanks to the Internet--easy to communicate, so it can feel like more important stuff happens now than before. This is why you hear people talking about the 2016 election being the nastiest in history, even though the 1876 election featured rumors that Rutherford B. Hayes had shot his own mother. The second problem is the idea of the year itself. At its core, it's a somewhat arbitrary construct--a 12-month frame…

After writing seven novels and three works of nonfiction, acclaimed British author Rachel Cusk began to find fiction "fake and embarrassing." Two years ago, she explained to a British newspaper, "Once you have suffered sufficiently, the idea of making up John and Jane and having them do things together seems utterly ridiculous." No surprise, then, that her 2014 novel Outline was anything but plot-driven. It was more like a series of observations by a narrator as she traveled to Greece to teach writing. The people she met along the way essentially became the subjects of miniature profiles crafted through dialogue. The novel was widely applauded for its elegance and realism. Cusk plans to make the work a trilogy, the second installment of which, Transit, will be out in the U.S.…

Nobody owns the franchise market quite like Zoe Saldana. The actor, 38, has a prolific track record playing otherworldly women in three of the biggest blockbuster sci-fi series: Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Trek. Yet Saldana does not fear being pigeonholed. "I feel I have a greater chance of setting an example for young women when I do movies [that take place] in the future because I'm less likely to be boxed in," she says. "I'm not playing someone's girlfriend. I can be tougher. The future represents hope." The past is trickier. "I look at the films I love so much, like the beautiful Jane Austen adaptations, but someone like me doesn't exist in those narratives--at least not in a way that I would want to be a…

The Inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20 is set to bring to an end the 70-year era of Pax Americana, when U.S. hegemony in security, trade and the promotion of values provided stability for the global economy. In its absence, the world will fall into a deep geopolitical downturn. With that as a backdrop, here are my top eight political risks for the coming year: 1. UNPREDICTABLE AMERICA The world's sole superpower is now a wild card. President Trump will use U.S. power primarily to advance U.S. interests, forging a more hawkish, and less predictable, foreign policy. Allies in Europe and Asia will hedge. Rivals like China and Russia will probe for weakness. 2. CHINA OVERREACTING The sheer number of places where U.S.-China tensions might play out--North Korea, Taiwan,…

MOVED Megyn Kelly, from Fox News to NBC News. The news anchor, who faced personal attacks from President-elect Donald Trump while covering the 2016 election, worked for Fox for more than 12 years and will launch a daytime show at NBC. DIED Actor William Christopher, a star of the long-running TV comedy M*A*S*H, at age 84. He played Father Francis Mulcahy on the show, which was set in the Korean War and aired from 1972 to 1983. Richard Adams, the British author best known for his 1972 novel Watership Down, at age 96. The dark fable, set in a rabbit colony, was an international best seller and earned Adams the Carnegie Medal. The world's oldest known killer whale, estimated to have been about 100 years old. Scientists had been studying…

Art has played a huge role in shaping modern society, from the Renaissance to the zeitgeisty "cow parade" installations that popped up in cities like Zurich and Chicago in the late '90s. But in Culture as Weapon, Nato Thompson argues that art--or more specifically, the criticism of art--can also be an invaluable way to score political points. Consider how in 1989 the late Senator Jesse Helms galvanized his base by taking a stand against the Andres Serrano photograph Immersion (Piss Christ), which depicted a crucified Jesus submerged in urine; meanwhile, liberals played to their base by defending the importance of free speech in art. Or more recently, how Nigel Farage made headlines for suggesting that Donald Trump improve British-American relations by replacing a bust of Winston Churchill rumored to have…

A roundup of new and noteworthy insights from the week's most talked-about studies: 1 U.S. TODDLERS ARE MORE SOCIAL THAN OTHER KIDS Babies raised in the U.S. are more social, more impulsive and less likely to be unhappy than children in Chile, Poland and South Korea, according to a study that surveyed mothers, published in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology. 2 THINKING POSITIVELY MAY HELP YOU LIVE LONGER A report in the BMJ based on surveying about 10,000 middle-aged people three times over five years found that those who reported high life enjoyment each time were 24% less likely to have died in the next seven years than those who had no enjoyment. 3 THE HUMAN BODY HAS A 'NEW' ORGAN Scientists recently discovered that the mesentery, which had…

Statue season starts in earnest on Jan. 8. Fully catching up is probably impossible. Fortunately, a fraction of nominees account for the lion's share of potential winners. Here's a guide: [The following text appears within 10 charts. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual charts.] Movies 8 MOVIES ACCOUNT FOR 50% OF NOMINATIONS 33 TOTAL MOVIES NOMINATED JOY ANGUISH LA LA LAND 7 NOMINATIONS [MOVIE/SERIES] [ACTOR] [ACTRESS] [DIRECTOR] [SCREENPLAY] [ORIGINAL SCORE] [ORIGINAL SONG] Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's musical is a sometimes melancholic Technicolor romance HACKSAW RIDGE 4 NOMINATIONS [MOVIE/SERIES] [ACTOR] [DIRECTOR] Mel Gibson returns after a decade-long directing hiatus with the true story of a World War II hero MOONLIGHT 6 NOMINATIONS [MOVIE/SERIES] [SUPPORTING ACTOR] [SUPPORTING ACTRESS] [DIRECTOR] [SCREENPLAY] [ORIGINAL SCORE] Barry Jenkins' stunning film follows a young Miami…

How did your own family inform the way you approached this role? I had an English grandmother and mother, so I was interested in going to that more reserved place. I don't think she's cruel. She's saying, If the world ran the way it's supposed to, my daughter wouldn't be dying, so I'm going to run my world the way it's supposed to be run. The movie is about a 12-year-old boy, but it deals with very adult themes. Who is it for? I think children are often overprotected. Things are presented to them in a sanitized way. I love Disney, but the little birdies won't be there to help you get dressed. I read a lot of Maurice Sendak to my daughter. He felt that children were clued in…

This was not supposed to happen. For years, fans had pleaded, cajoled and bullyragged Nintendo to put Mario on smartphones. And for years, the masterminds behind some of gaming's most enduring franchises simply refused. Until Dec. 15, when Nintendo released Super Mario Run (free to try, $9.99 for full access), a vamp on the iconic series about a turtle-clobbering plumber, for Apple iPhones and iPads. The bigger surprise? Super Mario Run is excellent. This is the Mario those who grew up with Nintendo know best, the one who dashes from left to right across fields of grassy blocks, rivers of coins and grooving flora. The difference is that Mario (or other characters players can eventually unlock, like Luigi and Princess Peach) moves automatically as soon as a level loads, animated…

First question: Who are you and what have you done with Glenn Beck? I'm still the same Glenn Beck. I'm interested in talking to people after the election to say to the left, The way you're feeling right now, I understand. And to the right, Please don't mock or dismiss the real fears of people on the left. They're just as valid as the fears that you had with the last President. We made it through. And we'll make it again if we don't demonize each other. If the left doesn't make the mistakes I made and the right doesn't make the mistakes that the left did. Doesn't it seem a bit disingenuous for you to say, "Let's not demonize the other side" when for several years, you made a…