Table of contents for March 25, 2024 in TIME Magazine

There are two moments in Charlotte Alter’s cover story on the unjust imprisonment of American journalist Evan Gershkovich that I can’t get out of my head. The first is a phone call between Wall Street Journal editor Emma Tucker and Paul Beckett, then the Journal’s Washington bureau chief, at the time of Gershkovich’s detention. The shock running through that moment, which Charlotte includes in her retelling of the hours that followed Gershkovich’s arrest, speaks volumes about the unreality of his abduction into the Russian judicial system. Even after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Gershkovich had continued to report from Russia regularly. He’d told his parents not to worry; after all, he was a journalist accredited by the Foreign Ministry. Gershkovich thought that status would protect him,…

The war in Gaza is entering its sixth month and its third season. More than 30,000 people have been killed there since the Israeli offensive answering Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, and some 1.9 million displaced people have endured homelessness in punishing winter weather, marked by heavy rain and low temperatures. And while many may greet the arrival of spring as a reprieve from the cold, experts warn that the higher temperatures come with their own set of challenges—ones that stand to make the situation in Gaza even worse. DISEASE THREAT Higher temperatures, besides bringing relief from the cold, can accelerate the spread of communicable diseases, such as diarrhea and hepatitis A. “It’s the perfect environment for a massive epidemic to take hold,” warns Francesco Checchi, an epidemiologist at the…

Not so long ago, Juul was seen as the new Marlboro. Smoking wasn’t that cool anymore—rates had plummeted among U.S. adults and teens—but then came a sleek, addictive product with flashy advertising tactics that took off like wildfire. It soon became clear that e-cigarettes were hooking teens who otherwise wouldn’t have gone near nicotine. Now, Juul is out and Zyn is in. It’s even more discreet than Juul, with no plumes of vapor. All a user has to do is tuck a small pouch of nicotine, additives, and flavorings under their lip for up to an hour. Over that time, the pouch releases a steady hit of nicotine—more than that in a cigarette, but delivered much more slowly. Like Juul, it contains no tobacco. You’re not alone if you’re just…

Firefighters in Valencia, Spain, inspect the charred shell of a 14-story apartment complex on Feb. 23, after a blaze the night prior killed 10 people and injured more than a dozen. While authorities investigated the source of the fire, which quickly engulfed the 138 units across two buildings, experts said a flammable cladding used on the apartment facades could have contributed to its spread—prompting questions about Spain’s fire-safety standards. ▶ For more of our best photography, visit time.com/lightbox Photograph by Alberto Saiz—AP…

Inflation has slowed in recent months, but prices are still edging up, including for food. Take the ingredients of an all-American meal: a burger and fries. At the average U.S. grocery store, they now cost about $4.69, roughly a dollar more than in 2019. That’s up some 30% over five years—though the rise since 2023 has been only pennies. Wells Fargo chief agricultural economist Michael Swanson breaks down the factors bite by bite: 19% RISE ROMAINE LETTUCE An insect-born virus destroyed huge swaths of lettuce crops in California in 2022, causing costs to spike. The price has fallen since then, but labor and transportation costs are still higher than in 2019, which means suppliers aren’t rushing to bring down prices further. 59% RISE BREAD Strong competition drove the price of…

In 2006, Elizabeth Warren, then a Harvard Law School professor, popularized the 50/30/20 rule, in her book All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. Warren, now a U.S. Senator, advised a budget allocating half one’s income for “needs” like rent, mortgage payments, utilities, and car payments. A 30% share goes toward “wants”—discretionary purchases like a vacation or an ad-free streaming package. The remaining 20% is for socking away in an emergency fund or retirement account, or to pay off high-interest debt. Nearly 20 years on, the economy has shifted. Rents have soared by 129% since 1999, while incomes are up just 77%, according to Moody’s Analytics. Experts say the budget framework’s proportions can be adjusted accordingly. If you’re a young adult with years ahead of you to save…

If you didn’t grow up with a well-worn copy of Sounds of Silence, Bookends, or Bridge Over Troubled Water among the LPs stacked near the family hi-fi, your parents or grandparents probably did. From the mid- to late 1960s, the sounds of Simon & Garfunkel were so ubiquitous you couldn’t escape them if you wanted to. Their songs, not overtly political, dealt with everyday things like friendship, impending breakups, the simple pleasures of spending a day at the zoo, and their opaline harmonies had a soothing, shimmering quality. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel—who’d been friends and musical compatriots since their childhood in Queens—broke up, somewhat acrimoniously, in 1970; it took fans ages to recover. While Garfunkel pursued acting, Simon soldiered on as a singer-songwriter, and the numerous highs—and occasional…

On Feb. 22 in New York City, TIME celebrated The Closers, a new list of Black leaders working to end the racial wealth gap, including Senator Cory Booker (top right) and actor Issa Rae (bottom right). The event was created in partnership with the Black Innovation Alliance and sponsored by L’Oréal | Carol’s Daughter and Pronghorn. Above, from left, TIME chief marketing officer Sadé Muhammad, entrepreneur Imani Ellis, actor Gail Bean, writer Luvvie Ajayi Jones, and activist Tarana Burke. More at time.com/closers Women of the Year Ahead of International Women’s Day, TIME celebrated the 2024 Women of the Year on March 5 at a gala in Los Angeles sponsored by P&G, Rolex, Ray-Ban Meta, Donna Karan New York, Fiji Water, Campari, and Mattel. Clockwise from top left: Ten new…

With the sinking of the Sergei Kotov in early March, a whopping one-third of Russia’s Black Sea fleet has been disabled. The maritime theater of the war in Ukraine remains the most significant since the Falklands. But it is also part of a larger story about naval power—which has come back as a central feature of struggles from the Black Sea to the Red Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait. This is not just about the strategic value of capital ships to project a nation’s international standing and ambitions in an anarchical international system. Naval power matters today more than ever before because of how modern societies’ relationship with the sea has evolved. Today we live in a maritime century, one in which the very foundations of the…

My credit card is a mangled thing. Its blue plastic backing is peeling so much that it doesn’t work in swipe machines; it looks like a dog chewed it up and spat it out. It seldom leaves my wallet anymore. But that doesn’t matter. In the two weeks before writing this story, I spent more than $4,000 on my card without laying eyes on it. Each of these transactions was made online, where my card number is stored. That’s probably why I didn’t flinch when I spent $333 on groceries for a weekend with friends, $48.34 on a pizza through Uber Eats, or even $1,533 for an Airbnb when my extended family came to visit. Without having to type in my card number, the purchase seemed less significant. Frictionless…

A popular budgeting trend on TikTok encourages participants to spend a month paying only for essentials while strictly limiting discretionary spending. Here’s how to get started: SET YOUR INTENTIONS: Identify your reasons and goals to help you stay on track. BE MINDFUL ABOUT PURCHASES: Take a hard look at your monthly budget even if it scares you, says Sarah Paulson, a financial planner with Valkyrie Finance. She suggests starting off by cutting back on one category you overspend on—like making coffee at home or refraining from food-delivery orders. DON’T BE TOO RESTRICTIVE: Cutting back too much in a low-spend month might result in overspending once the challenge is over. Be honest with yourself about where you might be overspending, without completely depriving yourself of joy. If you look forward…

There is zero chance, Aides insist, of accessing the second floor. The upper reaches of Bangkok’s Venetian Gothic Government House are strictly for official work. Journalists (and even respectable guests) are only permitted to loiter among the watercolors and marble ornaments that adorn the ground-floor reception rooms. Everything above the grand staircase is strictly off-limits. It doesn’t take long for Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to overrule this staid protocol, beckoning me up to his inner sanctum on the second floor, banishing the chastened courtiers and settling down to chat for an hour without notes. A former property mogul who took office in September, the 62-year-old Srettha is nothing if not outgoing. He has made over 10 foreign trips to court investors including China, Japan, the U.S., and the…

Netflix’s 3 Body Problem might be the biggest TV series to hit Earth this year. The science-fiction epic unites Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss with The Terror: Infamy co-creator Alexander Woo in an adaptation of one of the 21st century’s most celebrated books. Chinese author Cixin Liu’s Hugo-winning The Three-Body Problem—published in his home country in 2006, then expanded into a trilogy that has been translated into dozens of languages—is a fascinating novel of ideas. The cover of the American edition boasts an endorsement from Barack Obama, who calls it “wildly imaginative.” It certainly is. Choppily written, dense with theoretical physics and philosophy, and dependent on the depiction of an alien race whose physical form is never described, the book also poses unique challenges for…

Frida Kahlo’s early 1940s self-portraits, in which monkeys hang from her neck, may seem playful. In reality, she painted them during a suffocating period when she was tangled in a messy divorce and desperate for work. Frida, a new documentary produced by TIME Studios and directed by Carla Gutierrez, explores how the Mexican painter channeled personal tragedies into her art, creating the vibrant surrealist paintings that made her an icon. The film brings those paintings to life through an inventive blend of animation, archival footage, and personal writings, billing itself as the first documentary to be told entirely through her own words and those of her intimates. Letters and diary excerpts read in voice-over put Kahlo’s sharp tongue on full display on topics ranging from men to the economics…

True friendships can take years to develop—which isn’t exactly comforting to the 1 in 3 U.S. adults who say they are lonely right now. But you don’t need to wait for a new BFF to feel better. Small acts can help give you immediate relief from loneliness, experts say. We asked therapists what low-effort steps they take in their own lives when isolation starts to creep in. Join an easy group class When Courtney Morgan, a therapist in Louisville, Ky., wants to be around like-minded people without having to try too hard, she goes to a yoga class. “Sometimes I want to feel connected without actively engaging in a conversation,” she says. She tells her clients to seek out structured programming they’re interested in too, whether it’s fitness-related, educational,…

Remote work allowed Alyson Velasquez to juggle her demanding roles as a Wells Fargo talent recruiter and as a mother of two young children, including a son with special needs. The flexibility made sense both for her job, working with hiring managers across the country, and for her kids, ensuring she would be available for medical appointments and pickups. Remote work “is wonderful for working moms,” she says. Women like Velasquez have flooded into the full-time workplace over the past few years, spurred by flexible options combined with the rollback of pandemic-era school and day-care restrictions. The percentage of “prime age” working women—defined as ages 25 to 54—set a record in 2023, with moms of very young children leading the way. These women have become the economy’s secret weapon—and…

Money is one of the most significant stressors for Americans, according to a 2023 American Psychological Association survey of more than 3,000 people. Before moving to start budgeting or making a financial plan, experts tell TIME that people should rethink their own relationship with money by mulling their parents’ finances, how adults around them modeled spending, and whether they personally overspend or underspend. “The hard part is it’s not something that’s really tied to your personality,” says Jack Heintzelman, a certified financial planner. “It’s really how you grew up and how you were educated on money.” In order to best assess areas to improve, financial therapist Traci Williams advises people to recognize their triggers and note their reaction. “What are the things that money is providing that speak to…

I’m generally not ashamed to talk about personal matters. In fact, I’m known for oversharing. At parties, I’m always good for a few cringey anecdotes plucked from my lackluster dating life. As a writer, I’ve never shied away from sharing the vulnerable, sometimes ugly, side of my evolving relationship with self-worth. Even my earliest report cards mention my garrulous nature: “Jamie Feldman: Talks too much.” But there’s one topic that I’ve kept quiet for as long as I could remember: money—or in recent years, the lack of it. I’ve maintained a fluctuating level of credit-card debt for over a decade. At its highest, it hovered around $18,000. From that first moment in my hopeful early 20s when I felt the shiny piece of plastic in my hands, I was…

When Sunny Choi tells strangers she’s going to the Paris Olympics for breaking—more colloquially known as breakdancing—she gets her fair share of quizzical stares. Sometimes people laugh. And she’s seen the comments when, say, the Team USA account posts on X about her event. “What the?” replied one man. “Please no,” wrote another. Someone used the clown emoji. Often Choi laughs with her haters. I know, it’s crazy, right? She explains that breakers today don’t carry around cardboard and start spinning on street corners, like they did in the 1980s. The sold-out inaugural Olympic competition in August will take place at a dedicated venue in the Place de la Concorde, the largest public square in the French capital. Still, it can be difficult to convince someone, on the spot, of…

Vietnam. Stonewall. Charles Manson. Woodstock. These are the touchstones that define 1969 in our collective memory. But in the Palm Beach of 1969, as conjured by the delightfully deranged Apple TV+ soap Palm Royale, they barely register. The resort community’s wealthy denizens have a different set of cares. Like securing membership in the most exclusive social club in town. An upper-crust cousin of Wiig’s Barb and Star That walled haven is called the Palm Royale. Into its haughty, pastel-hued world vaults plucky outsider Maxine (Kristen Wiig). Queen bee Evelyn (Allison Janney), her ascendant rival Dinah (Leslie Bibb), and their clique of frenemies clock the interloper immediately. So begins Maxine’s tireless campaign to gain acceptance. She must prove herself a useful confidant in a land whose currency is secrets. That…