Table of contents for July 3, 2017 in TIME Magazine

on June 13, Just over 17 months after 22-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate Otto Warmbier had been arrested at Pyongyang’s international airport, his parents finally got good news: their son had been released from North Korean custody and was en route to his native Ohio. Six days later, Warmbier died. Upon his landing in the U.S., the grim reality came to light: the student, who was on a tourist trip in North Korea when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda sign, had fallen into a coma. How or why is unclear. (North Korean authorities blamed botulism and a botched sleeping pill; his U.S. doctors dismissed this.) His death is a cautionary tale for those Americans who wish to defy the State Department’s advice and travel to the authoritarian…

in The fuTure adverTisers will ask not what their customers can do for them, but what they can do for their customers. Or so argues Andrew Essex, the former CEO of advertising agency Droga5, in The End of Advertising, which highlights how brands must do more to break through in the age of ad blockers and commercial-free streaming. Consider Lego and American Girl, which sell toys through movies designed to entertain their target audience, or Citibank, whose sponsorship of New York City’s bike-sharing program did wonders for its brand. (During the two years following Citi Bike’s launch in 2013, the number of people who said they would consider giving their business to Citibank rose by 43 percentage points, according to company data.) Eventually, Essex writes, it may even become commonplace…

A roundup of new and noteworthy insights from the week’s most talked-about studies: 1 DOG OWNERS WALK MORE A study of adults over age 65 in BMC Public Health found that those who owned a dog took an average of 2,760 more steps than those who didn’t, which amounted to 22 more minutes of moderate exercise per day. 2 THERE MAY BE A WAY TO TAN WITHOUT SUN Researchers wrote in Cell Reports about discovering that they could activate a gene linked to tanning using an agent that darkened skin cells just like the sun—but without any negative UV exposure. 3 RED ONIONS MAY BE BETTER CANCER FIGHTERS THAN WHITE ONIONS A study in Food Research International found that the amount of cancer cells that died after exposure to Ontario…

‘Some of my people are upset, like, “We want representation, but why this guy?” ... And I agree! It shouldn’t be me!’ KUMAIL NANJIANI, star of The Big Sick Kumail NaNjiaNi is worried abouT Optimus Prime. On the first night of June, in a theater beneath the thrum of Times Square, the 39-year-old comedian is onstage talking about the robotic lead of the Transformers franchise. The fifth installment of the explosion-laden series hits theaters June 21, two days before Nanjiani’s romantic comedy The Big Sick opens. “I thought there couldn’t possibly be anything new they could do,” he says. He was wrong: “Optimus Prime has a sword. We’re so f-cked.” The joke gets big laughs, but the simmering anxiety is genuine. On the phone, when asked how he’s feeling since…

MOVIES The Little Hours (June 30), starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco, presents nuns at their wildest in this comedy about medieval schemers who shake up a peaceful Italian monastery. TELEVISION Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) team up once again for a murder case along sunbaked beaches in the final season of Broadchurch on BBC America (June 28). BOOKS Diksha Basu’s novel The Windfall (June 27) is about a Delhi family that enters a world full of status-upping skinny ties and shoepolishing machines after becoming wealthy overnight. THEATER 1984 (June 22) transforms the dystopian world of George Orwell’s novel into a Broadway adaptation that can still scare viewers at Hudson Theatre in New York City.…

UBER FAIL Rita Casey, an HRconsultant in Greenbrae, Calif., said she thought Katy Steinmetz and Matt Vella’s June 26 cover story on the upheaval at Uber was “well-informed,” but that it was naive to say executives could “hold themselves accountable” for doing the right thing. The solution to problems like Uber’s, she argues, must be corporate reform “with teeth.” Kris Sowolla of LosGatos, Calif., a self-described “white male who made a nice living in the Silicon Valley,” said the reporting on Uber’s homogeneous company culture saddened him: “For all the smarts the tech industry has, I can think of nothing dumber than not embracing the intelligent resources offered by women and minorities.” ‘The pace of tech change has outstripped our ability to observe & ensure the public good.’ @NATEMATIAS,…

Six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS resigned, claiming they could no longer work with a “President who simply does not care.” The members accused the Trump Administration of having “no strategy” to deal with the epidemic. Saudi Arabia crowns new prince Saudi Arabia’s King Salman appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as Crown Prince, transferring power away from his nephew, 57-year-old Mohammed bin Nayef. The move comes amid deeper Saudi involvement in Middle East conflicts. Teen killed on way home from mosque A 17-year-old Muslim girl was assaulted and killed as she made her way home after prayers at a Virginia mosque. Islamic leaders questioned Virginia detectives’ insistence that Nabra Hassanen’s death was a case of road rage, arguing that the attack resembled a hate crime.…

Suspected bomber shot in Brussels Belgian soldiers fatally shot a suspected would-be suicide bomber at Brussels Central Station after he reportedly set off a small explosion. The country has been on high alert since terrorists killed 32 people in March 2016. Woman guilty in text-suicide case A Massachusetts woman who sent text messages urging the 2014 suicide of her boyfriend, 18, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Michelle Carter, now 20, also urged him on by phone when he hesitated during the act. Zika mosquitoes found in California Health officials detected Aedes aegypti, the type of mosquito with the potential to transmit Zika, for the first time in Long Beach, Calif. Mayor Robert Garcia urged residents and visitors to take “necessary precautions to prevent mosquito bites.” Nazi artifacts found in Argentina…

DIED John G. Avildsen, director of Hollywood hits Rocky and The Karate Kid, at 81. Avildsen won an Oscar for Rocky, a project Sylvester Stallone encouraged him to take on. > Style stalwart Carla Fendi, at 79; she was the face of the Italian luxury fashion house that she, along with her four sisters, helped transform into a household name. AGREED That the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether partisanship in electoral-map drawing is acceptable under the Constitution. ELECTED A record number of women to France’s Parliament. Of the 577 new lawmakers, 223 are female. CHARGED Four former executives at U.K. bank Barclays, with conspiracy to commit fraud over cash injections from Qatar during the 2008 financial crisis. CLAIMED Pakistan’s first ever International Cricket Council Champions Trophy, beating defending titlist…

For months, President Trump has criticized the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, at times inexplicably inserting himself into the proceedings. This has resulted in a broader, more aggressive criminal inquiry. Dec. 9 The Trump team attacks the credibility of the CIA after it finds Russian involvement in the election: “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” Dec. 29 Incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaks with the Russian ambassador by phone. He later tells the Vice President that Russian sanctions were not discussed. This was incorrect; sanctions were discussed. Jan. 27 Donald Trump and FBI Director James Comey have dinner alone at the White House. Comey makes notes afterward, quoting Trump as saying, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” Trump…

‘It is a silent tsunami.’ SHAISTA HAKIM, drug-rehabilitation specialist in Kabul, explaining the sharp increase in recent years of opium addiction, now affecting not just Afghan men but also women and children, as poppy production has returned in the war-torn nation; Hakim continued, “In another few years, it will be a disaster” ‘Perhaps worst-case scenarios should be considered the new normal.’ GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA RESEARCHERS, reporting that because of climate change Louisiana’s coastline is shrinking at a higher rate than previously thought; it is now well within what the organization considers to be a “danger zone” Old beef Katy Perry said she hoped to resolve disputes with pop-music rival Taylor Swift GOOD WEEK BAD WEEK Fresh beef The new McDonald’s Quarter Pounder took longer to prepare in test runs,…

Average temperatures in coastal Antarctica have risen over the past three decades. Scientists say those conditions might bring more invasive species to the South Pole. DISAPPEARING ICE Antarctica’s ice may be melting faster than initially thought, a study says, due to meltwater flowing into cracks and refreezing. Glacial retreat has alarmed scientists, since it could destabilize the continental ice shelf and lead to a sea-level rise of 3.5 ft. across the globe by 2100. GREENER LAND The retreat of ice has exposed more land in recent years, and higher temperatures have encouraged the growth of indigenous moss across parts of the western Antarctic Peninsula. The rate of growth suggests that the South Pole may be a greener landscape in years to come. FOREIGN INVADERS The mosses have given nonnative insects…

Dear Pentagon, We’re writing to advise you of a change in our military rules of engagement in Syria. Any aircraft belonging to the international coalition operating west of the Euphrates River will be tracked by Russian anti-aircraft forces in the sky and on the ground and treated as targets. Cross the Euphrates and we reserve the right to shoot down your plane. In addition, we are cutting the cord on further communications on military coordination. Have a nice day. —Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation That, essentially, was the stark message from Moscow after the U.S. shot down a Syrian military plane on June 18. The U.S.- led coalition claims that Syrian forces, and Russia’s military, were warned in advance that Syrian planes were in the crosshairs and that the…

THE BATTLE OVER RIGHT TO REPAIR IS ABOUT A SPIRIT OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY.’ —PAGE 20 If you drIve far enough down Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., past the statues of Confederate leaders General Robert E. Lee and President Jefferson Davis, you’ll find a bronze likeness of native son Arthur Ashe, the tennis legend and activist, holding books and a racket. A few miles to the east is the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial, not far from a statue of Abraham Lincoln. This is how the former Confederate capital has dealt with the weight of history: not by removing troubling monuments, but by adding to them. It’s a different approach than the one taken by many Southern cities and towns, which have been roiled by the push to remove monuments to Confederate leaders…

this wedding season, as in decades of summers before, many of those who tie the knot will do so after celebrating a weekend of freedom among friends. But while bachelor parties have roots in traditions from ancient Sparta, bachelorette parties only somewhat recently became an American wedding ritual. It all began in the 1960s, when women— who had long been accustomed to bridal showers, where friends and family would gather to help a bride acquire gear for keeping house—started adding a more secretive event to the preparatory calendar. There, they could open gifts like lingerie that they wouldn’t want their mothers to see. These parties got wilder over the next decade. When the first mention of a bachelorette party appeared in TIME, in 1979, the brides-to-be in question were checking…

Travis KalanicK, Uber’s brash and embaTTled ceO, is out. After months of pummelingly bad news for Kalanick and his eight-year-old ride-hailing startup, pressure from investors in the near $70 billion company forced Kalanick to relinquish his role. In the wake of a major investigation into systemic discrimination at Uber and a related series of public relations disasters, on June 13, Kalanick announced that he would take a leave of absence. That wasn’t enough for the investors who worried about how quickly the company could pick itself back up and find new leadership with its founder lurking in the background. Now Uber will be able to offer candidates for top executive positions full control of the company, which has a presence in 76 countries and counting. Kalanick will retain his seat…

Special counsel Robert Mueller has assembled an aggressive team of lawyers to work on his investigation. They bring expertise ranging from criminal law to corporate fraud and executive privilege, which suggests that Mueller expects his probe to range wide and far. Here are some of the top players: Andrew Weissmann Weissmann served as the FBI’s top lawyer. Before that, he was the director of the Enron task force, overseeing prosecutions during the energy company’s collapse. A former New York federal prosecutor who fought organized crime, he is an expert in turning witnesses. Aaron Zebley Zebley was Mueller’s chief of staff when he ran the FBI. Before that, he was an FBI special agent in the counterterrorism division, and he also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia. His specialty…

summer is The perfecT time for OWN’s drama Queen Sugar, now in its second season. Not that the show has the emptycalorie vapidity of a summer movie—far from it. The saga of the three Bordelon siblings reuniting at the family-owned sugarcane farm after their father’s death is rich in its examination of how families support one another. The show’s Louisiana setting is suffused with such a strong sense of place that you’ll feel the heat of the low-hanging bayou sun even while sitting in air-conditioning. The Bordelons’ hometown pride varies by sibling. In the first season, Charley (Dawn- Lyen Gardner) flees back to the South after her proathlete husband is caught up in a scandal. Nova (Rutina Wesley) is a journalist and activist trying to improve her community. Their brother…

Rupaul’s dRag Race, the reality show seeking “America’s next drag superstar,” swirls the clichés of its genre into a giddy extravaganza that still tests real talent. Unlike most of the competitions it winkingly borrows from, the VH1 show defies ratings gravity and has broken through in its ninth season. Drag Race, which wraps up the season on June 23, both makes light of reality TV and takes its craft with deadly seriousness. It’s a balance that can be struck only by the most agile of performers—and one that feels refreshing. The show, with its quippy lipsynchers and a host, drag legend RuPaul, with high standards and acid wit, is top-notch escapism. But given that the contestants have gravitated to drag to break free from a world that doesn’t understand them,…

apollo KagWa iS adjuSTing To fatherhood while his wife, Emma Valentine, suffers terribly from what seems like postpartum depression. The creature in the crib, she insists, is not her baby. Turns out it’s not just in her mind. Victor LaValle’s novel The Changeling borrows from the fairy tale and horror genres, turning New York City into a landscape of fanciful and all-too-real dangers: witches, trolls and racist cops suspicious of black men like Apollo. Old-fashioned fables are a handy framing device for this modern tale. Although Apollo and Emma have a charmed love story, their “happily ever after” goes awry when Emma gives birth on a subway car that’s stalled between stations. (Their eagerness for the child, followed by later parenting blunders, recalls the couple whose daughter is snatched in…

On Wednesday, Oct. 26, 1960, Martin Luther King Jr. was roused from his sleep in a county jail after his arrest at a sit-in and was driven through the pre-dawn darkness to a maximum-security state prison. At home in Atlanta, Coretta Scott King was six months pregnant with their third child and knew nothing of her husband’s ominous ride. It was late in the 1960 presidential campaign, and John Kennedy was in Chicago, where two of his aides, Harris Wofford and Sargent Shriver, pressed the Senator to intervene. But Kennedy had not shown himself to be an ardent advocate of social justice; indeed, he had raised suspicions in the black community by his blatant courtship of Southern white support. Shriver, his brother-in-law, was determined to win the candidate over, however,…

Batman star Adam West, who died on June 9 at 88, was honored with a ceremonial lighting of a Bat-Signal from Los Angeles City Hall. Sean “Diddy” Combs topped Forbes’ list of the wealthiest celebrities, vaulting 21 spots to overtake Beyoncé after selling off a majority stake in lifestyle brand Sean John. After winning a Tony, John Legend is just an Emmy away from an EGOT—the ultimate showbiz prize claimed by winners of at least one competitive Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Blue Ivy became a big sister when parents Beyoncé and Jay-Z welcomed twins. The couple did not immediately release their names, but the Internet immediately deemed them #flawless. ‘It’s me. It’s me.’ LORDE, revealing that she had been secretly running an Instagram account dedicated to onion rings, during…

‘The inventors we remember didn’t invent anything. They’re the people who took somebody else’s invention and made it commercially viable.’ So many authors have imitated the form of Cod. Are you flattered or annoyed?Everyone always gets a little irritated by imitators, but mostly I’m flattered. What if you never did anything anyone wanted to copy? Have publishers asked you to endorse your imitators?Yeah. A few of them I thought were really good, a lot of them I thought were really boring, and if they have a cover letter bragging about how they’ve copied me, I don’t even look at it. What have been the good ones? I blurbed a nice book, not at all like my book The Big Oyster, called The Essential Oyster. I blurbed a pretty good book…