Time Magazine International Edition

The journeys of these eight women are varied. All are stories of resilience OVER THE COURSE OF “THE LONGEST WAR”—A NAME WE WERE already using back in 2009—TIME published more than a dozen covers about Afghanistan and the Taliban. Perhaps the best known was in 2010 and featured a shocking and disturbing portrait of Bibi Aisha, a then 18-year-old whose husband—a Taliban fighter—had cut off her nose and ears after she tried to escape their forced marriage. The story that ran with that cover, written by senior correspondent Aryn Baker, explored what might happen to Afghan women if the U.S. were to pull out of Afghanistan. Today of course that is no longer a hypothetical. To mark one year since Kabul fell to the Taliban—a year in which women have lost many…

FANS OF WNBA STAR Brittney Griner—who has been detained in Russia since February for carrying cannabis oil—hailed Sean Gregory’s Aug. 8/Aug. 15 cover story on the league champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist for spotlighting the efforts to bring her home. A judge in Moscow sentenced her on Aug. 4 to nine years in jail. “The best part of this profile is that it is a much-needed reminder for many that #BrittneyGriner is a human being,” tweeted Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a history Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania. Ukrainian designer Irina Kostyshina replied that Russia’s detention of Griner “is an example of a person held hostage by a state clearly signalling ‘we are doing this just because we can.’” Tammie Cooper of Winter Springs, Fla., said it’s worth looking at…

1874 The last time a swimmer was attacked by a shark in U.K. waters—until July 28, when a snorkeler reported being bitten off the coast of southwest England ‘It’s time for a new international convention that accepts that the war on drugs has failed.’ GUSTAVO PETRO, Colombian President, at his swearing-in on Aug. 7 ‘I LOVE SNAKES. I HATE THAT WE HAVE TO DO THIS.’ AMY SIEWE, one of 850 professional snake hunters who traveled to the Everglades to kill invasive Burmese pythons as part of the Florida Python Challenge, on Aug. 5 to CNN ‘I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair.’ SERENA WILLIAMS, announcing that she plans to retire from tennis in part so that she can have another child, in Vogue on Aug. 9 ‘You know…

IN JULY, A PAIR OF SENATORS GATHERED reporters in the U.S. Capitol to deliver a message to President Joe Biden: it’s time to declare a climate emergency. It was, to be sure, something of a Hail Mary. The prospects of major climate legislation had dimmed, and the two Democrats were desperate, worried it could be years before Congress tackled climate change in a meaningful way. “Am I concerned that it will be a decade before we have a climate majority?” said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, alongside Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “I am damn concerned.” Less than three weeks later, Democratic Senators walked off the Senate floor in celebration after passing the Inflation Reduction Act, the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history. Once the House of Representatives passes…

JOE BIDEN SEEMED CAUGHT OFF GUARD. AN AIDE HAD interrupted the President’s meeting with his economic team and a handful of CEOs on a stage in the basement of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on July 28 to hand him a note. “You’re trying to tell me something, huh?” Biden said. The message informed Biden that the bill to boost semiconductor-chip manufacturing in the U.S. had passed the House, news that brought a wide grin as his staff in the room applauded. “Been trying a long time,” Biden said. The President may indeed be starting to catch a few breaks. Just the week before, Biden had contracted COVID-19, and key planks of his campaign agenda appeared dead in the water. But Biden recovered quickly from the virus, thanks to protection from…

AT PRESS TIME DEMOCRATS WERE POISED TO ENACT A SWEEPing health care achievement that will address one of the country’s most intractable problems: high prescription-drug costs. The Inflation Reduction Act would allow Medicare for the first time to negotiate with drugmakers for lower prescription-drug prices. This could be life-changing for older Americans, saving some thousands of dollars a year. The package would also cap out-of-pocket costs that seniors pay for medications at $2,000 annually and guarantee they have access to vaccines for free. It would require pharmaceutical companies to pay rebates if their drug prices rise faster than inflation. And it would extend the expanded subsidies that 13 million Americans got during the pandemic to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). All told it would be the biggest change…