Table of contents for November 19, 2018 in TIME Magazine

IT IS FASHIONABLE TO ARGUE THAT U.S. GLOBAL power is fading, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from Iran. Over the past six months, President Donald Trump has turned the global financial system into a weapon against Tehran, despite resistance from virtually every major world power, and he is getting results. The policy has triggered an exodus of corporations and financial institutions that would rather abandon their investments in Iran than risk U.S. Treasury Department sanctions. On Nov. 5, Trump’s Administration made its boldest move yet, restoring crippling penalties on Iran’s oil, banking and shipping sectors. But if American money is talking, and many of the world’s big business players are walking, it’s less clear whether Trump will achieve the ultimate goal of his “maximum-pressure campaign” against Tehran: diminishing…

THE MESSAGE CARRIED BY THE MILITARY planes wasn’t exactly subtle. Scattering flower petals, they traced the colors of India’s flag across the sky in saffron, green and white plumes. Below them stood the Statue of Unity, a 597-ft. sculpture immortalizing Indian independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Oct. 31, which would have been Patel’s 143rd birthday. Gazing out over the horizon at Kevadiya Colony, in India’s western state of Gujarat, it stands almost four times as high as the Statue of Liberty and dwarfs China’s Spring Temple Buddha—previously the world’s tallest statue—by 177 ft. “This statue is an answer to all those who question India’s power and might,” Modi said, in case anyone hadn’t gotten the idea. The gargantuan sculpture, which was partly…

WHEN BRENT TAYLOR, THE MAYOR OF NORTH OGDEN, UTAH, found out that he would be going to Afghanistan—his fourth military deployment since 2006—he told constituents he was honored. “Service is what leadership is all about,” the father of seven said in a Facebook video in January. Taylor, a major in the Army National Guard, worked to train Afghan commando units as part of a plan to nearly double commando ranks in the country by 2020. He often shared photos from his time abroad on social media and planned to return to work as mayor after a year of service. But Taylor, 39, was killed in Kabul on Nov. 3, apparently by one of the people he had been sent to train. The attacker also wounded another U.S. service member.…

Marie Colvin was marked to die. She was targeted by Syria’s dictator Bashar Assad as surely as the shadowy powers in the royal court of Saudi Arabia plotted the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. He was dead the moment he walked into the Saudi consulate. She was dead the moment Assad’s artillery picked up her satellite broadcast. A new film, A Private War, tells how Colvin, in a blazing portrait by Rosamund Pike, thrust herself into six killing zones. She lost sight in one eye from a grenade exploding in her face in Sri Lanka, but she remained glamorous and graceful. All her life she was driven by a fierce conviction that only firsthand, detailed reporting could make a difference to lives ransacked by war. “Why is the world not…

Would another referendum amount to a rerun of the first? It’s definitely not a rerun. There was a lot of dishonesty during the referendum in June 2016. Brexit is not remotely like what we were told at the time. It seems absolutely right that the public are given a choice whether they want to accept what’s been negotiated on their behalf, or to remain within the E.U. Do you think the result would be any different? Yes. It’s very clear there has been a change in the mood. There is a general sense that the government has made a mess of the negotiation. People are not blaming the E.U. What effect do you think Brexit will have on Britain’s role in the world? It’s very difficult to see how…

I SPENT OVER THREE YEARS AS A FOUR-star admiral and commander of U.S. Southern Command from 2006 to 2009, in charge of all U.S. military forces throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Part of my duties entailed traveling extensively from my Miami headquarters through the countries of Central America that have been cleaved by violence. I have traveled many times through much of what is now the route taken by, at minimum, 5,000 migrants traveling in caravans or other groups—mostly fleeing Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua—and led the U.S. military forces in those nations. As I look at the plan to deploy at least as many U.S. troops to our southern border to stop what President Trump incorrectly calls “an invasion,” I believe we are making a significant…

Marijuana Michigan became the first Midwestern state to legalize recreational cannabis, while Missouri and Utah approved medicinal use of the drug. Medicaid expansion Utah, Nebraska and Idaho—all conservative states—approved measures expanding access to Medicaid to tens of thousands of low-income residents. Abortion Alabama and West Virginia altered their constitutions to say women have no right to an abortion. (Alabama also granted protections to fetuses.) An Oregon measure to restrict abortion funding failed.…

Wisconsin Two-term Republican Scott Walker, who moved Wisconsin to the right by cutting taxes and curtailing unions, lost to Democrat Tony Evers, the state superintendent of public schools. Ohio Republican Mike DeWine defeated Democrat Richard Cordray, maintaining the GOP’s hold on the governor’s mansion in a crucial swing state. Nevada For the first time in 20 years, voters elected a Democratic governor, picking Steve Sisolak over the GOP’s Adam Laxalt in a race that drew millions in outside spending.…

THERE ARE TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT about pink. One is that it is the color of bubble gum and Barbie. Cindy Eckert’s view is that it is the color of business. It is a dominant presence at the offices of her Raleigh, N.C., venture-capital firm, the Pink Ceiling, a fund that advertises its main goal as “to make women really f-cking rich.” It’s an even more dominant presence on Eckert, who defies people to observe the taboo on assessing anyone—especially a woman—by their clothes. She wears some hue of pink every working day, accessorized with hot pink nails, lipstick and shoes. Even her hair seems to have a fuchsia sheen. In the pharmaceutical circles in which Eckert operates, among the white coats and the navy suits, that shade of…

SOME DAYS A CHEERFUL outlook just won’t do. For those days, there’s Joel and Ethan Coen’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, an omnibus of cowboy stories arriving Nov. 16 on Netflix. Though you’ll catch dashes of the Coens’ trademark arch humor, most of Buster Scruggs isn’t what you’d call a laugh riot. It starts out at a brisk canter and ends with a stagecoach headed, literally, for death’s door. In the movie’s ridiculously enjoyable opener, Tim Blake Nelson appears as the balladeer of the title, a murderous outlaw with a spring in his step. The darkest tale, “The Gal Who Got Rattled,” features Zoe Kazan as a reserved young woman heading across the prairie with a wagon train. The story ends happily for no one, not least the white…

Why is now the right time to tell the story of how Mexico’s drug war started? There’s an urgency to stop this violence in my country. It’s impossible to understand how things got this bad if we don’t look back. This particular time [in the mid-1980s] defines a lot of the relationship between Mexico and the U.S. and is important to understanding what has been done on both sides of the border to get to this mess. The story centers on the 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, which took place when you were 5 years old. Do you have any memory of seeing it in the news? It’s been interesting to do this project because I’ve had to go back and remember this time from the…

  BEYOND HATE After fatal shootings at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue and a Kentucky supermarket, readers praised Edel Rodriguez’s Nov. 12 cover illustration of America’s own tree of life. “Accurate, poetic and hopeful,” tweeted @debbiehupp. Jon Meacham’s piece on the link between hate in America and President Trump sparked talk too. Stephen Miller of San Francisco called it “excellent,” though he took issue with the idea that Trump is “novel” in his divisiveness. But Allen R. Fuller of Fairport, N.Y., disagreed with the contention that Trump represents anything but a “brighter future.” Jeff Schoenwald of Thousand Oaks, Calif., remarked on the timing of the past two covers: “How ironic! One week the cover story is about ‘Guns in America,’ and the next it is about death of Americans by…

MILO MAYHEM Nestlé rattled New Zealanders by removing vanilla flavoring from Milo, a popular cocoa beverage, in 2015. The company said the tweak to the 83-year-old drink made it healthier and more sustainable. TOBLERONE TURMOIL In 2016, Mondelez widened the gaps between the chocolate peaks on Toblerone bars in the U.K., citing rising costs. But it reversed course in July, saying the move hadn’t proved a “long-term answer” for customers. NUTELLA NO-NO A German consumer group set off 2017’s #NutellaGate when it noticed Ferrero had added more milk powder to the hazelnut spread, turning it a brighter color. Ferrero dismissed fears over the “fine-tuning.”…

USA GYMNASTICS OVERSEES much of the sport in America, from enrolling member gyms to supporting Olympic athletes. But it’s now at risk of losing that authority. On Nov. 5, the head of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) filed a complaint to its board against USA Gymnastics. The USOC recognizes the national governing bodies of various sports; the complaint is a first step toward revoking that recognition. The action was prompted by USA Gymnastics’ failure to adequately address an ongoing crisis that emerged in 2015; hundreds of gymnasts eventually revealed that they’d been sexually abused by team doctor Larry Nassar, who is now in prison for his crimes. As the scandal unfolded, USA Gymnastics named as interim CEO an attorney from a firm that worked to protect Nassar, and appointed…

Accountability is not enough While former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson endorses holding Myanmar to account for the genocide of the Rohingya, he warns against its overshadowing “the need to bring about tangible improvements in Rohingyas’ lives.” Why reporters are impartial In the wake of Senator Joe McCarthy’s demagoguery, the press was widely criticized for its objectivity, explains Matthew Pressman, author of On Press. But, he writes, “being criticized simultaneously by people with opposing ideological viewpoints convinced the people in charge of the country’s leading news organizations to stay the course.” When players have power “College athletes are taught to conform to the rules,” writes TIME’s Sean Gregory. “Respect your coach, or suffer the consequences.” Which is why, he explains, the University of Maryland’s firing of its…

THE PROVISION THAT GIVES THE NAME OF AMERICA’S MOST popular retirement-savings plan, Section 401(k), turned 40 on Nov. 6, 2018. And in its first four decades, the 401(k) has lived an unexpectedly glamorous life. At the time of its enactment, lawmakers anticipated that it would exist in obscurity, affecting only a small number of corporate executives. Forty years later, 401(k) has become possibly the most famous section of the Internal Revenue Code, with well over 90 million Americans personally participating in 401(k)s or similar defined-contribution plans. Section 401(k)’s rise from obscurity to ubiquity might suggest that its 40th birthday should be an occasion for celebration. But this is no time for popping corks. The provision has proven to be enormously expensive while also ineffective at helping most American workers…

Georgia In a contest marked by concerns over voter access, Democrat Stacey Abrams refused to concede to Republican Brian Kemp, saying the thin margin might require a runoff. Kansas Democrat Laura Kelly defeated Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, a close ally of President Trump’s who has taken hard-line positions on voting restrictions and immigration. Florida Former Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis, a Trump acolyte, edged Democrat Andrew Gillum in one of the night’s most anticipated races, dealing a blow to the rising Democratic star in the nation’s largest swing state.…

Accepting the bad behavior of our enemies is easy, but it can be harder to hold our allies accountable. That’s the tension at the heart of author and poet Idra Novey’s new book, Those Who Knew, following her 2016 debut novel, Ways to Disappear. The story takes place in an unnamed city after the fall of an oppressive regime. Lena, a university instructor, is forced to revisit a violent memory with a former revolutionary leader—an ex-boyfriend who has since become a powerful progressive politician. When the man, a champion of causes Lena deeply supports, is implicated in the murder of a young woman, Lena must decide whether to come forward to accuse him—or keep quiet to protect their shared values. Novey, who wrote the novel before the #MeToo movement…

THE CENTERPIECE OF MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, the first of pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante’s four beloved Neapolitan novels, is a New Year’s Eve fireworks display. Narrator Elena “Lenù” Greco and her best friend, Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo, are teens ringing in 1959 at a gathering that has reunited feuding clans in a show of neighborhood solidarity. But a rare moment of wonder in this slum at the edge of Naples devolves into a battle with the local mob family. Lila describes the panic attack that overtakes her that night as an experience of “dissolving margins,” an implosion of her moral universe. Elation gives way to angst as pyrotechnics overload the characters’ senses, culminating in a symbolic end to Lila’s childhood. Translating a scene this layered into a visual medium couldn’t…

Amazon to double up on HQ2 In its search of a home for its second headquarters—the so-called HQ2—Amazon looks set to spread 50,000 jobs across two locations rather than choosing one city, according to reports. The most likely destinations: Long Island City in Queens, N.Y.; and Crystal City, in Arlington, Va. More than 200 mass graves found in Iraq In Iraq, 202 mass graves containing thousands of bodies in total have been found in regions formerly controlled by ISIS, according to the U.N. The militants’ campaign of violence “may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possible genocide,” the U.N. declared in its Nov. 6 report on the finding. Florida shooter was known to cops A man identified by police as the shooter who killed two women and…

DIED Former U.K. Cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood, on Nov. 4, of cancer, at 56. Heywood served the past four Prime Ministers, from Tony Blair to Theresa May. DISAPPEARED An islet off Japan’s northern coast, which was 4.5 ft. above sea level when it was last surveyed, in 1987. The Japanese coast guard is looking for the tiny, uninhabited island, which is used to mark the country’s territorial waters. REJECTED Independence from France, by voters in the South Pacific archipelago territory of New Caledonia, in a Nov. 4 referendum. RESIGNED James Brady, chairman of the University System of Maryland’s board of regents, on Nov. 1; the board has clashed with the school’s president over an investigation into the death of a football player during practice. ARRESTED Six people suspected of…

AFTER MONTHS OF delays—and one very public withdrawal—the trans-Pacific trade deal officially has a start date. The rechristened Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership will come into force on Dec. 30, thanks to a herculean effort by Japan and its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. On Oct. 31, Australia became the sixth country after Japan, Mexico, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada to ratify the terms of the 11-nation agreement; Chile, Malaysia, Brunei, Peru and Vietnam are now on deck. While TPP-11 will lower barriers and improve cooperation, it will do little to check the collateral damage of the U.S.-China trade war The deal sometimes called TPP-11 is on track to become one of the world’s largest-ever trade deals, covering 14% of world GDP and roughly 500 million people.…

RELAXATION Studies have shown that spending time outdoors can decrease levels of the hormone cortisol, lower blood pressure and reduce other markers of stress. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY Exercise is an important pillar of health, and going outside encourages you to get moving, whether by hiking, biking, gardening or strolling. SOCIAL SUPPORT Parks are inherently social places. Seeing and interacting with others guards against loneliness—a major public-health threat—and fosters community. MENTAL HEALTH Research has shown that spending time in green space can lift mood and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, including rumination and feelings of worthlessness. AWE Soaking in the arresting beauty of nature has been found to lower levels of inflammation in the body and spark feelings of generosity, perspective and selflessness. FRESH AIR Pollution is linked to a…

FIGHTERS AREN’T USUALLY THE BLUSHING TYPE. But Xu Xiaodong can’t hide his embarrassment when asked about his latest battle scar, a three-inch crimson railroad track that snakes over his right eyebrow. It was caused, he says, by an overzealous opponent’s knee at a recent training session, during which Xu grappled with four younger mixed-martial-arts (MMA) fighters in quick succession. “I was tired by the end and bam!” Xu tells TIME in his Beijing gym. “Twenty-six stitches!” It’s by far the most obvious of the 40-year-old’s war wounds, eclipsing even cauliflower ears and a catalog of creaking bones. But it’s nowhere near the deepest. Xu has spent a lifetime fighting, first at school and later channeling a red-hot adolescent temper into competitive MMA. But the fiercest blows he suffered were…

The Big Bang Theory co-creator Chuck Lorre has a very successful brand: old-school multicam sitcoms built around broad characters, laugh tracks and comfy couches. So it’s surprising to see him aim for a more highbrow style with his new Netflix series, The Kominsky Method. The show takes pains to appear sophisticated: it’s a serialized single-camera dramedy led by A-listers Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin. Douglas plays Sandy Kominsky, an esteemed acting teacher with an earnest reverence for his craft, three ex-wives and no roles on the horizon. His responsibilities change when his friend Eileen (Susan Sullivan), who is dying of cancer, begs Sandy to take care of her cantankerous husband, agent Norman Newlander (Arkin). This setup is rich with potential for dark comedy, but Lorre squanders it on stock…