Table of contents for March 12, 2018 in TIME Magazine

THE OPIOID DIARIES “It is 3 a.m. and I cannot sleep after reading this issue cover to cover,” wrote Dan Bower of Burton, Mich., referring to the March 5 issue, a special report devoted to James Nachtwey’s photo essay on the U.S. opioid epidemic. Ramona Davis of Sebastopol, Calif., said “at least a thousand copies” should be sent to elected officials. (In fact, the team behind the issue is sharing what it learned with elected officials and others at a March 6 event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.) Particularly moved were those whose own lives have been affected. Patricia Alverson of Chattanooga, Tenn., who lost her grandson to “the intersection of two epidemics: opioids and gun violence,” appreciated the focus on “human pathos, not just numbers and…

USA Swimming chiefs in hot water Top USA Swimming officials came under fire for allegedly allowing a culture of sexual abuse and misconduct to exist for decades without challenge. Two officials resigned following the publication of a scathing investigative report by the Southern California News Group. Kim plotted to visit the West in secret Kim Jong Un and his father Kim Jong Il fraudulently obtained Brazilian passports with fake names in order to apply for visas to visit at least two Western countries in the 1990s, according to European security officials and Reuters. Cops seek missing CDC employee Atlanta police have been searching for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee who vanished on Feb. 12, the day he found out why he was not receiving a promotion.…

IN ANY COUNTRY WHERE VOTING MATTERS, politicians must find an issue emotive enough to drive their voters to the polls. Italy votes on March 4, and immigration has become the dominant election-year controversy. We shouldn’t be surprised. Unlike those of Spain and Ireland, Italy’s economy hasn’t enjoyed a notable turnaround. It has grown for more than three years, but it needs another six years at the current pace to return to GDP levels last seen before the 2008 financial crisis. The official unemployment rate stands at around 11%. Many Italians say their taxes are too high, their cities are dirty and dangerous, and their politicians are hopelessly corrupt. Now add the 600,000 migrants who have landed in Italy over the past four years. The flow slowed sharply in the…

SRIDEVI KAPOOR CHANGED THE COURSE OF INDIAN cinema. At the age of 4, she swapped playgrounds for movie sets and friends for directors and made 70-mm film her canvas. Sridevi was India’s first female superstar, and at the time of her passing, on Feb. 24 at 54, had starred in close to 300 movies over five decades. She owned every frame of every film she was in—without the need for a male co-star. Normally shy and quiet, Sridevi blossomed under the camera’s gaze, delivering such depth in her performance that it would leave audiences breathless. She was one of the reasons I became an actor, and when the news first broke of her passing, I was immobilized. I knew I was not alone; millions were feeling that exact combination…

HERE IS A CHALLENGE FOR OUR POLARIZED AGE: IF YOU value the right to speak freely, then what about the right not to? The right to express any opinion or none at all, to inflame an audience by what you say, or what you refuse to say. Surely these rights are knit together: tug at either one, and the fabric of freedom unravels. All this is on my mind as the Academy Awards approach, a celebration of artistic expression that typically invites other kinds as well. Oscar-night politics mirror the moral battles of the age; Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and now the Parkland tragedy promise that people will be speaking their minds, and I’ll defend to the end their right to do so, for comics to be serious and…

I’ve never understood why there are so few female directors of photography. The job speaks to everything women do well: multitasking, empathy, emotion. Cinematography is about instinct and intuition—you want the same range of experience behind the camera as what you see in front of it. Your life experience will come through the lens. Men are given the benefit of the doubt; women have to prove themselves time and time again. We have to shoot five $1 million movies before we get one $2 million movie, and five $2 million movies before we get a $10 million movie. There’s this need to reassert: Yes, I have the technical skills. Yes, I’m confident enough. Yes, I can run a crew. Guys can stumble into the room and be handed the…

‘I thought that if I shared my story, I might not be accepted. But I gained so much confidence from it.’ Figure skating can be a grueling sport, and you missed the Olympic team twice before making it this year. Did you ever think of giving up? After I didn’t make the last Olympics, I did think about retiring. I didn’t know if I could go through another four years. But I gave myself another chance and stopped putting so much pressure on getting to the Olympics or being national champion. I just focused on being a better athlete, and it took so much pressure off. My goals became personal. Were you surprised by the outpouring of support when you finally made your Olympic debut? Wherever I go, I…

‘YOU’RE GIVING UP A THREE-COURSE MEAL ... FOR THE PROMISE OF A PACKET OF CRISPS IN THE FUTURE.’ MARTIN DONNELLY, a former chief civil servant in Britain’s trade department, on the U.K.’s decision to leave the E.U.’s single market as part of Brexit ‘There’s the fake shot, which is the “Oops”; the fake shot to the backhand, which is the “Oops, I did it”; and then there’s the fake shot to the backhand back to the forehand, which is the “Oops, I did it again.’’’ JOCELYNE LAMOUREUX-DAVIDSON, Team USA Hockey’s forward, on the strategy behind the shoot-out goal that brought the U.S. its first Olympic women’s hockey gold medal since 1998 Blair Witch Project A TV show based on the horror film is reported to be in the works…

Iceland is set to become the first European country to ban male circumcision for nonmedical reasons, prompting fears among Jewish and Muslim leaders that the new law will contravene religious freedom. WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN The bill being debated by Iceland’s Parliament proposes prison terms of up to six years for anyone who circumcises a child for nonmedical reasons. The bill’s advocates cite the need to protect minors’ rights. And hundreds of doctors in Iceland back it, saying circumcision’s risks outweigh its benefits. WHO IS OPPOSED Religious leaders have strongly criticized the proposed ban, arguing that the new law may incite anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Jewish and Muslim newborns are typically circumcised for religious and cultural reasons. Imam Salmann Tamimi called the ban an “attack on all religion... especially Judaism.” WHERE…

Johnnie Walker is rolling out a female version of its Striding Man logo to coincide with Women’s History Month and “celebrate women’s progress.” Here, other brands reacting to changing times. CASTLE ROCK In January, the Castle Rock Brewery in Nottingham, England, rebranded its logo, which had featured a woman wearing high heels and suspenders, with one featuring a female World War II pilot. DAIRY AIR In 2017, complaints of sexism led an ice cream shop in Essex County, New Jersey, to tone down its controversial logo, a cartoon of a seductive-looking cow with its rear exposed. FACEBOOK Facebook’s friends icon, which depicted a male silhouette in front of a smaller female one, was updated in 2015 to show the woman in front of the man. The silhouettes were more…

DELTA AIR LINES’ DECISION to end discounts for NRA members has gotten it into hot water with its home-state legislature. Georgia’s lieutenant governor said he would block any tax legislation benefiting the company unless it resumed the discounts. Delta, which is one of the largest employers in Georgia, had hoped the legislature would reinstate a sales-tax exemption for jet fuel that ended in 2015. The tiff underscores the potential downside for businesses that wade into the political fray. Recently, I was with a group of CEOs at a meeting of the CECP—a CEO-led coalition of companies that focuses on strategies for societal engagement. Attendees were clearly torn by the gun issue. They were eager to encourage sensible action—such as restricting assault-weapon sales and enhancing background checks—and frustrated by the…

IT LOOKED LIKE A WATERSHED MOMENT. in The wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, President Trump faced the nation’s governors in the grand State Dining Room of the White House on Feb. 26. Trump, the beneficiary of record-breaking campaign funding from the National Rifle Association in 2016, told the governors it was time for them to pick a fight with the gun-rights lobby. “Half of you are so afraid of the NRA,” Trump chided. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” The President is hardly the only Republican to change his tune on guns in the wake of the Feb. 14 killing of 17 people in Parkland, Fla. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the chamber’s second-ranking Republican, is continuing his work with Democrats to strengthen background-check…

I am female, Native American and transgender. On top of all that, I’m a film and TV director in Hollywood. That’s challenging even if you don’t come into this industry as a minority. It’s imperative that diverse voices tell their own stories. The difference between a story told by someone who is removed from the place, the people and the community, and one that is told by someone who has seen it firsthand, is evident in the smallest details. Viewers recognizing themselves in the characters is crucial, and it’s made possible when minorities aren’t just in front of the camera but behind the scenes too. Yet we can also tell stories besides our own. I’m obsessed with sci-fi and comic books— yes, I am a transgender Navajo woman who…

KELLY CLARKSON The show’s first winner, in 2002, Clarkson has won three Grammys; she now appears on Idol rival The Voice CARRIE UNDERWOOD Before her seven Grammys and induction into the Grand Ole Opry, Underwood was the first country singer to win Idol, in 2005 JENNIFER HUDSON The Dreamgirls Oscar winner placed seventh in 2004—a shock elimination that catalyzed even more fan support ADAM LAMBERT The Queen collaborator placed second in 2009, then confirmed rumors he was gay; his laissez-faire edge was new for Idol…

Kushner loses top security access President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner saw his security clearance downgraded as part of a policy affecting White House aides whose background checks remain pending. Dreamers given more time The U.S. Supreme Court declined President Trump’s bid for the Justices to hear arguments on the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program. Its beneficiaries, known as Dreamers, can continue to renew their applications while the case works its way through the system. Turkey’s Erdogan in child-martyr row After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan brought a crying 6-year-old girl dressed as a soldier onstage with him during a televised party congress and told the crowd, “If she’s martyred, they’ll lay a flag on her,” some critics called the stunt child abuse.…

DIED Emmy Award–winning actor Nanette Fabray, who became an advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing after she overcame an aural impairment, at 97. > Ensa Cosby, daughter of Bill Cosby, who supported her father through his long-running sexual-assault scandal, at 44. ENDED Sales of all assault-style rifles in its stores, by major retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods, a fortnight after the Florida school shooting that killed 17. ANNOUNCED Becoming, as the title of Michelle Obama’s forthcoming memoir, which is set to be published in November by Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House. > A plan by the Weinstein Co. to declare bankruptcy, after talks about selling assets to an investor group collapsed. > Her upcoming resignation, by White House communications director Hope Hicks. One of President Trump’s…

WHEN AIRBNB’S FOUNDERS TELL THEIR ORIGIN STORY, they often go back to the moment in 2009 when Paul Graham, head of startup incubator Y Combinator, gave them four crucial words of advice. At the time, Airbnb had fewer than a thousand registered hosts. Founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nate Blecharczyk were hunkered in Silicon Valley, scrambling to scale the business by poring over data. After a promising start, revenue had flatlined. To figure out what wasn’t working, Graham pressed them for information about their users. In The Airbnb Story, Fortune’s Leigh Gallagher recounts Graham’s reaction upon learning that the largest concentration resided in New York City: “[He] paused and repeated back what they had just told him: ‘So, you’re in Mountain View, and your users are in New…

As a little girl growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, I was inspired by a young Mexican- American singer named Selena Quintanilla. Her skin looked like mine, her hair texture resembled mine, and she sounded like me. She wouldn’t live long enough to see the impact her talent made in the world, but she paved the way for me to star on Desperate Housewives. I realized I wanted to create more opportunities for my community, so I got behind the camera as a producer and director. I was proud to produce great shows like Telenovela and Devious Maids, which were groundbreaking in having all-Latino lead casts, and documentaries like Food Chains and The Harvest that humanized American farmworkers’ issues. And as an actor, I seek out projects that tell…

Every year, when I speak at the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women, I start the same way: “They don’t want you here.” Sometimes this is met with confusion or blank stares, but often it’s nods of recognition. What I’m articulating is something that these women, many of them women of color, know to be true. This simple truth has probably rarely—if ever—been spoken out loud on their long journey to Hollywood. I give the requisite caveats: I’m not talking all white men, I’m talking about They with a capital T. Although Hollywood is a sexist and racist place, that is not why they don’t want you here. There are two reasons. The first reason is economic. If you, a woman, get a job directing a movie, it…