Time Magazine International Edition December 6, 2021

100 BEST INVENTIONS With the unveiling of TIME’s Nov. 22/Nov. 29 list of the 100 new inventions changing how we live our lives, fans of many of the products included took to social media to share their own recommendations. David Wells of Jacksonville, Fla., wrote to express his appreciation for the issue, and called for follow-up articles on the products listed, to help celebrate their impact on the world. Leaders in the business community, meanwhile, took the opportunity to step back and reflect on the wealth of creativity and determination the list represented, during a difficult year. “Groundbreaking inventions aren’t just discovered,” Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development at J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos., wrote on LinkedIn. “They’re researched, developed, put through rigorous trials.” “From #AI to vaccines & everything in…

‘A LOT OF SITTING AROUND THINKING AND STARING AT WALLS.’DANNY FENSTER, U.S. journalist, describing the nearly six months he spent in a Myanmar prison, upon his return to the U.S. on Nov. 16 $22,221 Average annual family premiums for employer-sponsored health coverage in the U.S. in 2021 4% The amount they increased from last year, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey released Nov. 10 32 HOURS Time spent in Hong Kong by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Nov. 15–16; he was allowed to skip its rigorous 21-day-long quarantine, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said, because he runs a “very huge bank” ‘The most powerful tears I have ever seen in the history of art.’ANNA DI STASI, Sotheby’s director of Latin American art, on a self-portrait of a weeping Frida Kahlo that sold on Nov. 16 for…

SEVEN SAILORS POINT THEIR RIFLES SKYWARD and fire in unison, breaking the silence at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. For one family, the salute signifies the end of a mystery that traces back to the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II. Navy sailors Harold and William Trapp were presumed killed when their battleship, U.S.S. Oklahoma, was hit by Japanese torpedoes in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Their family waited for weeks, months, then years as the military worked to find their corpses. But there were few intact bodies left in the water that day, and as time went on, the remains within the Oklahoma mixed together. Eventually, the U.S. Navy declared the brothers dead despite never identifying their bodies, a fate shared by most of…

After torrential rain swept across British Columbia, floodwaters submerged houses and a portion of the Trans-Canada Highway in the town of Abbotsford on Nov. 16. The record-breaking deluge forced thousands to leave their homes and farms; landslides trapped hundreds on highways. One person was confirmed dead as of Nov. 18; authorities expected the toll to rise as Canadian armed forces deployed to help with evacuation efforts. The province’s premier has declared a state of emergency, and attributed the catastrophic storm to the climate crisis.…

THE FIRST SUMMIT BETWEEN U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping showed that the recent climate-change talks could sprout green shoots in other parts of their relationship. The Nov. 15 meeting, which took place via video chat, came less than a week after Beijing and Washington made a surprise announcement at COP26 that they would work together on curbing methane emissions and other climate-related initiatives. OLD FRIENDS The tone of the meeting was cordial; Xi greeted the U.S. President as his “old friend.” Biden and Xi have spent considerable time together, including eating at a noodle shop in Beijing in 2011, when both were Vice Presidents. Still, Biden raised concerns about human-rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong—and about China’s “unfair trade and economic policies.” Xi, meanwhile, warned against…

U.S. overdose deaths hit new high in 2020 The number of fatal overdoses recorded in the U.S. has risen steadily for years, but deaths rose 28.5% in the 12-month period after April 2020, compared with the year prior, surpassing 100,000 deaths for the first time. Experts note that the COVID-19 pandemic has harmed many people’s mental health and interrupted drug treatments. Nigerian army committed ‘massacre’ Nigerian soldiers who opened fire on a group of young people peacefully protesting police brutality in Lagos in October 2020 committed a massacre, a government panel concluded Nov. 15. The army killed at least 11 unarmed protesters and wounded dozens more, the panel said, calling the acts “atrocious.” IOC updates policies for trans athletes The International Olympic Committee (IOC) shared its new guidelines for trans athletes on Nov. 16, saying…