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title: TIME
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>TIMEhttps://time.com/<!\[CDATA\[Breaking news and analysis from TIME.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science and entertainment news.\]\]>Wed, 29 Jul 2026 21:23:24 +0000en-UShourly1<!\[CDATA\[What Is a Fire Cloud and How Are They Making Europe's Wildfires More Dangerous?\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/what-is-a-fire-cloud-wildfires-europe-more-dangerous/<!\[CDATA\[Climate\]\]><!\[CDATA\[As firefighters in France and Spain battle to get the blazes under control, an expert breaks down the ​phenomenon of fire clouds for TIME.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Maximilien Lamy––AFP/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The beach of Moutchic in Lacanau, southwestern France, as clouds of smoke rise into the sky from the Gironde wildfire on July 24, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8790a5ac41d5c08b/6a6a3939b9b3272a37861756/Wildfire.jpg?branch=production)

The beach of Moutchic in Lacanau, southwestern France, as clouds of smoke rise into the sky from the Gironde wildfire on July 24, 2026\. —Maximilien Lamy––AFP/Getty Images

Ferocious [wildfires in France and Spain](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-europe-wildfires-destruction-photos/) have prompted the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people, as firefighters battle against changing winds to keep the blazes under control.

An added difficulty has developed in France thanks to the emergence of a rare meteorological phenomenon—a pyrocumulonimbus, more commonly known as a "fire cloud." 

Officials in the badly-impacted Gironde region, near Bordeaux, [confirmed](https://youtu.be/-txs%5FZH905g?t=202) the formation of what is understood to be France’s first-ever reported fire cloud over the weekend.

As of Wednesday afternoon, firefighters in the south-western Gironde region continued battling the blazes as temperatures reached around 39°C (near 102°F) amid another [western Europe heat wave](https://time.com/article/2026/06/25/europe-heat-wave-infrastructure-air-conditioning/).

[Satellite imagery](https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/a-satellite-image-shows-a-type-of-fire-cloud-called-towering-pyrocumulus-rising-from-wildfires-in-castellon-province/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX1JDMk9OTUFRMjJNRw) of [Castellón](https://www.irishtimes.com/video/video/2026/07/28/firefighters-battle-wildfire-in-spains-eastern-castellon-province/), a province near Valencia, Spain, also shows what is thought to be a "towering pyrocumulus" fire cloud rising above part of the impacted area.

Amid concern the high temperatures may result in the fires worsening or contained blazes restarting, there are also fears that fire clouds, often thought of as fire-generated thunderstorms, could make the wildfires more dangerous.

Sophie Brocas, the prefect of Gironde, [told](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2026/07/27/what-are-pyrocumulonimbus-the-clouds-making-france-s-wildfires-so-unpredictable%5F6755869%5F114.html) reporters the firestorms created by the phenomenon were a sign the crisis had entered a “new dimension.”

Here’s what you need to know about the rare ​phenomenon—and the hazards associated with it.

### What is a fire cloud?

Described by NASA as a ["fire-breathing dragon of clouds,"](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/explosive-fire-activity-in-australia-146125/) fire clouds are created by the intense heat of wildfires, generating an updraft of superheated, fast-rising air that can trigger powerful storms.

Jean-Baptiste Filippi, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), tells TIME that the clouds fall into two categories: [pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus](https://www.paucostafoundation.org/en/pyrocumulus-and-pyrocumulonimbus-the-clouds-of-wildfires/) (also known as pyroCb).

He explains that pyrocumulus is the first stage of a fire cloud. As the wildfire releases large amounts of heat, the air near the ground heats up and rises rapidly, generating a strong upward current.

"That's level one, because you're adding this to the energy of the fire to create the convective column," he says, referring to a vertical stream of hot, rising gas.

As the warm air reaches higher layers of the atmosphere, it cools and expands. When the temperature falls low enough, the water vapor in the air begins to condense, forming a cloud above the smoke column.

"Level two is pyrocumulonimbus," he says. "Imagine now that this energy is enough to overshoot the lower atmosphere and go up to almost the stratosphere."

For this process to occur, there needs to be a combination of intense heat from the wildfire and extreme weather conditions that allow the cloud to develop.

"The energy is there anyway. It's ready to be released," Filippi says. "It's going to be triggered on top of the fire, and then it will start to interact and make it blow up. If the fire was not there, it would probably be a storm, but somewhere else."

It is the combination of weather conditions that would ordinarily produce a dry thunderstorm and an active wildfire that creates this phenomenon.

"It's because both are occurring at the same time, and it's this combo that is causing the problem," Filippi tells TIME.

### How do fire clouds make wildfires more dangerous?

Fire clouds can make areas already engulfed by wildfire [significantly more ](https://www.nrl.navy.mil/Media/News/Article/4505096/nrl-leads-nasa-wildfire-research-mission-to-better-predict-pyrocumulonimbus-sto/)hazardous—not only for firefighters trying to contain the blaze, but also for people living nearby.

The clouds create conditions that can make fires stronger and allow them to spread more rapidly.

Filippi explains that the storms created by the pyrocumulonimbus, which loom over the fire, create gusts of wind, which in turn lead the water vapor further into the clouds.

"Then the fire is raging more and propagating at \[a\] higher speed with more energy, so it injects even more water vapor. The cloud is getting bigger, and then it is sucking air \[in a stronger way\]. Then you have this feedback loop, making an acceleration," Filippi says.

Those conditions make fires more difficult to contain because the feedback loop continually strengthens both the fire and the cloud above it.

Additionally, studies [have found](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/wildfire-smoke-is-transforming-clouds-making-rainfall-less-likely) wildfire smoke can make some clouds denser, making it harder for them to drop rain that could help dampen the fires.

Even when water droplets do fall, if the rain is falling into hot air, "it's gonna evaporate before it reaches the ground," Filippi says.

Instead, "you're gonna have a big downdraft. You're gonna have thunder. Then you can have some other effects, like lifting ashes up into the stratosphere," he notes, adding that the ash could later fall onto neighboring areas, raising the need for precautionary evacuation measures.

"It's also lifting burning material, like spotting fire, so it does propagate some burning pieces of wood that could fall down afterwards," he says.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12b392cf2baae5e4/6a6a3981160b3c0620a6d26b/Wildfire_2.jpg?branch=production)

This aerial photograph shows smoke emanating from the wildfire north of the Arcachon basin, with a view of a beach and the Atlantic Ocean near Lege-Cap-Ferret, southwestern France, on July 24, 2026\. —Romain Perrocheau––AFP/Getty Images

### Fire clouds are expected to become more common

Pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus remain relatively rare in Europe. Further afield, fire clouds were observed during Australia's [2019](https://pyrocb.ssec.wisc.edu/archives/2355)\-[20](https://pyrocb.ssec.wisc.edu/archives/2375) bushfires and in California's [2020 wildfire season](https://www.nasa.gov/missions/suomi-npp/californias-creek-fire-creates-its-own-pyrocumulonimbus-cloud/).

Filippi warns, however, that climate change could make these events more common in Europe.

"You need stormy conditions, and then you need fire. We are going to have more stormy conditions, and we are going to have more fire. So the probability of having both together, at the same place and at the same time, is higher," he says.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has [referred](https://youtu.be/qPpGKH7hpgU?t=540) to the current wildfire crisis as "the most painful expression" of the climate emergency.

"You have more energy in the atmosphere with climate change, you have more water vapor in the atmosphere because the sun is evaporating more water from the oceans," Filippi says. "So more water and vapor means more latent energy. That is just one thing to be released. That's why you have more rain too, and more floods, so the potential of storms is higher."

As such, governments have already started preparing for more extreme weather conditions.

In France, the government earlier this year launched an [initiative](https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/presse/prevention-feux-foret-vegetation-gouvernement-lance-campagne-2026-encourager) to expand mandatory vegetation-clearance rules in an effort to reduce the intensity and spread of fires around buildings.

Spain introduced a new national [Forest Fire Danger Index at the start of the summer,](https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/transicion-ecologica/Paginas/2026/280526-aagesen-indice-incendios-forestales.aspx) which combined weather data with satellite observations of vegetation, soil moisture, and land use, allowing authorities to identify areas of extreme danger of forest fires.

Signifying the growing concern across western Europe, the U.K. government also [strengthened](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-strengthens-wildfire-resilience-heading-into-summer) its wildfire resilience heading into the warmer months. 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltac56171d748b1a5dWed, 29 Jul 2026 20:14:21 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Tiago Ventura\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Breaking Down the Surprisingly Emotional Ending of Shark Thriller The Devil’s Mouth\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/devils-mouth-ending/<!\[CDATA\[Entertainment\]\]><!\[CDATA\[A group of friends take a tour through a remote cave system, only to get trapped with a deadly shark\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios 2026\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor in The Devil's Mouth\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d97e570dee309a2/6a6a4fa3077c4330202ba12d/TDM_3.jpg?branch=production)

Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor in The Devil's Mouth —Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios 2026

**_Warning: This post contains spoilers for_** **The Devil’s Mouth** **_._**

Prime Video’s _The Devil's Mouth_ begins with a carefree vacation between a group of lifelong friends in Thailand. Sara ([Kathryn Newton](https://time.com/5581433/society-netflix-kathryn-newton-chris-keyser/)), Max ([Lana Condor](https://time.com/5368864/to-all-the-boys-ive-loved-before/)), James (Nico Hiraga), Greg (Gavin Casalegno), and Adrienne (Tommi Rose) set out on one last adventure before their lives take different paths, joining a guided tour through a remote cave system known as the Devil's Mouth.

However, their trip takes a terrifying turn after water from a recent storm floods the caves with sea life, leaving the group trapped with a deadly bull shark. As panic spreads and their chances of escape grow slimmer, long-buried tensions begin to fracture their friendships.

As the group fights to survive, Sara is forced to confront her fears, step into a leadership role, and discover a strength she never believed she had—changing the dynamic of her friendship with Max, who has always been the more confident and assertive one.

Despite the [killer shark](https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/thrash-netflix/), director Jeff Wadlow says the emotional core of the film is the relationship between Sara and Max.

"I was told it's a shark movie in a cave... and I was like, well, I'm in," Wadlow says. "But then I read the script, and there was this really nuanced, complex female friendship at its core. That made me want to make the movie even more."

Here's what happens at the end of _The Devil's Mouth_.

## **What is the Devil's Mouth?**

In _The Devil's Mouth_, the Devil's Mouth is a remote freshwater cave system in Thailand. While on vacation, Sara, Max, and their friends join a guided tour through its interconnected caverns, flooded chambers, and narrow rocky passages. After arriving at the cave entrance by kayak, they continue the excursion by swimming through the cave system.  
  
Before entering the caves, the group's guide, Wat (Tayme Thapthimthong), explains that there are two possible routes. The green path is the standard tour and considered the safer option, while the red path is longer, more challenging, and riskier. He also warns that a recent storm triggered an early monsoon surge, making parts of the cave system more dangerous than usual.  
  
Despite the warning, Max persuades both the guide and the rest of the group to choose the red path instead. The guide reluctantly agrees, a decision that ultimately leaves the friends trapped deep inside the cave system and sets the film's events in motion.

  
![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt087fa9d79f4b05ea/6a6a522895a2f071886a6658/TDM_2.jpg?branch=production)

Tayme Thapthimthong and Kathryn Newton —Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios 2026

## **Why is there a shark in the cave?**

The shark enters the Devil's Mouth cave system through an opening in the cave wall that connects to the ocean. Under normal conditions, the caves are a freshwater environment, but the storm surge and high tide push seawater further into the system than usual.  
  
These unusual conditions explain why Sara discovers an ominous dead saltwater fish inside the caves before the group encounters a much larger ocean creature.  
  
They discover it’s a bull shark, a species capable of living in both saltwater and freshwater. This adaptation allows the shark to remain inside the cave system and hunt the group as they struggle to find a way out.

## **Who dies in** **_The Devil's Mouth_** **?**

  
The danger inside the Devil's Mouth cave system becomes clear when Ryan (Harrison Luna), the diver who spoke with Sara before the group entered the caves, is attacked by the shark. After Sara discovers blood in the water and his damaged diving mask, the group realizes that they are trapped with a predator inside the cave. As the group tries to find a way out, Wat attempts to escape after the shark is discovered. However, the friends later hear his scream and realize that he did not survive.

  
The shark continues to threaten the group as they attempt to escape through the flooded passages. Greg becomes the first of Sara's friends to die when the shark attacks him in the water. Shortly after, Adrianne falls back into the water from the ledge where the group had stopped. Sara, Max, and James try to pull her back up, but the shark reaches her first.

  
James later becomes trapped while the group is moving through the narrow underwater tunnels. A rock collapse blocks his way, and although Sara and Max try to free him, they cannot get him out. James eventually drowns, leaving Sara and Max to continue alone.

  
Max is the film's final victim. After Sara finds a possible way out of the cave, the two friends attempt to climb toward the opening. Sara helps Max, who is struggling because of her injured hand, but the shark leaps out of the water and pulls Max back.  
  
According to Wadlow, Max's emotional exchange with Sara before the shark attacks was added just days before filming began. He felt the scene was essential to showing that Max finally acknowledged Sara's growth. "We wanted to understand that not only had Sara grown and changed, but that Max recognized it," he says.

Condor explains that Max begins the film as someone who believes she always knows best. "She feels that she is the leader," Condor says. "She's incredibly headstrong, disrespectful, annoying." However, the cave forces Max to confront the consequences of her confidence and the limits of her own judgment. "She realizes that she doesn't know everything. And she's not right about everything," Condor adds.
  
  
![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17b6c12bd887e023/6a6a5236a3531f29d6bd7f97/TDM_4.jpg?branch=production)

Gavin Casalegno, Tommi Rose, Lana Condor, Kathryn Newton, and Nico Hiraga —Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios 2026

## **How does Sara survive?**

Before Max's death, Sara and Max discover an opening that could lead outside the cave. However, they realize the drop is too high to escape safely. Their plan is to wait for the tide to rise, allowing them to jump safely into the ocean from the opening without risking a dangerous fall.

After Max dies, Sara is alone inside the cave. She uses the flare she was carrying to distract the shark and force it away. With it still following her, Sara creates a trap using the unstable rocks inside the cave. She draws the shark toward her and causes it to repeatedly crash into the rocks, until they eventually collapse and crush the shark.  
  
After defeating the shark, Sara searches for another way out of the cave. She finds a second opening in the cave system and climbs through it, emerging near the beach, with trees and sand surrounding the area. Unlike the previous opening that led out toward the ocean, this exit allows Sara to reach land and finally escape the Devil's Mouth alive.  
  
Reflecting on Sara's transformation, Newton says portraying her growth required embracing the character's initial insecurity and her reliance on Max as a source of confidence. "I didn't like that Sara was such a baby and had to lean into it to discover her strength," she says. She also highlights the importance of Sara and Max's complicated friendship, explaining that Wadlow was drawn to "how they have to really turn against each other to find each other."  
  
By the end of the film, Sara becomes the one making the decisions and taking control of her own survival. "Once I became the apex predator that a teenage girl is, I couldn't be stopped," Newton adds.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69d19971799cd5e3/6a6a5249fac3491f5a4329ab/TDM_5.jpg?branch=production)

Kathryn Newton, Tommi Rose, Lana Condor, and Nico Hirag —Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios 2026

## **What does the ending mean?**

Although Sara survives the Devil's Mouth, the ending leaves her carrying the weight of everything she lost inside the cave. For Newton, the final scene is less about victory and more about the reality of growing up and facing life on your own.  
  
"I love the end of the movie. I think it's like a really extreme allegory for youth and coming of age," Newton says. "You have to be alone and be okay with it. You have to love yourself and then love everyone else and appreciate people while you have them."   
  
For Condor, the ending also represents the moment when Max is forced to confront how she has always viewed Sara. She explains that their friendship is built on years of history, but Max has always seen Sara as someone who would follow her lead rather than as an equal.  
  
"Max fully believes that she's always gonna have Sara in her back pocket as like her sidekick," Condor says. "But I don't think she considers Sara an individual at all."  
  
Condor says Max's final moments are meaningful because they give her a chance to acknowledge her own mistakes and realize that she never truly saw Sara as her own person. "Being able to admit that you're wrong, or admit that you haven't always been the best friend or the best support to the people around you... I think that's really beautiful," she says. "It's never too late to tell someone, 'Hey, listen, I was wrong. And I see you.'"

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blte0947c3c4e164a2fWed, 29 Jul 2026 19:30:56 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Isadora Wandermurem\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The True Story Behind Netflix's The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/netflix-documentary-idaho-college-murders/<!\[CDATA\[Entertainment\]\]><!\[CDATA\[As Bryan Kohberger challenges his conviction for murdering four Idaho college students, a new Netflix documentary examines what we know about the case\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[From left, University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed in a November 2022 attack at an off-campus house in Moscow.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d9823daf1d0890e/6a6928fb077c431ce82b7dfb/idaho-college-murder-victims.jpg?branch=production)

From left, University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed in a November 2022 attack at an off-campus house in Moscow. —Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service—Getty Images

In July 2025, a judge sentenced criminology graduate student [Bryan Kohberger](https://time.com/7304923/bryan-kohberger-sentenced-idaho-student-murders/) to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to stabbing four college students to death on Nov. 13, 2022, at a house near the University of Idaho’s Moscow, Id., campus. The students were Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21\. 

A year later, Kohberger told the New York _Times_ in a phone [call](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/us/bryan-kohberger-idaho-college-deaths.html) from prison that he’s filed a petition challenging his conviction, arguing that he is innocent and did not mean to confess to the killings. “A lot went wrong in those plea discussions,” he told the _Times_ from a maximum security prison south of Boise. “I really do want that to be heard.”

The comments from Kohberger came days before a new documentary about the case premiered on Netflix. _The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare_, out July 29, traces how police found Kohberger’s DNA on a knife sheath left behind at the crime scene, identified his getaway car, and figured out that his cell phone went off-grid around the time he committed the crime. The three-part series features interviews with families and friends of the victims, people who knew Kohberger, and law enforcement officials to examine what we know about the case. 

## The mystery of the motive

Because Kohberger pleaded guilty a month before he was scheduled to stand trial, it remains unclear why he targeted these four college students.

“Ultimately we never have been able to answer that question that everybody wants answered: ‘Why?’” says Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger. “We don’t know, ‘Why these four?’ We don’t know, ‘Why this house?’ I don’t think we’ll ever know.”

The documentary's participants suggest that Kohberger may have been studying criminology so he could carry out the perfect crime. The series features Lilly Karaban, who sat next to Kohberger in an undergraduate criminology class on serial killers at DeSales University and said he dominated class discussions and wouldn’t let her get a word in on a group project. She says she didn’t see him socializing outside of class, describing him as being “in his own world.”

Kohberger was doing a PhD in criminology at Washington State University, a 10-minute drive from the University of Idaho, andseveral female students told authorities that he was unpleasant to be around.In one instance, a female student said he followed her to her car and spoke to her in an aggressive manner, making her feel uncomfortable. The series also highlights a questionnaire that Kohberger posted on Reddit as part of a supposed research project, asking people who had been incarcerated how they chose and approached victims.

In the aftermath of the murders, Karaban says she believes Kohberger “has a thing against women, based on the description of what he did to those three poor girls. People who brutalize women the way Kohberger did dislike them, find them threatening. So they take all that anger out on them.”

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23ca4926d5873bf3/6a692810fac349f41643052c/bryan-kohberger-sentencing.jpg?branch=production)

Bryan Kohberger at his sentencing hearing on July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. —Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images

## Trying to find closure

Families interviewed in the documentary have mixed feelings about the plea deal and had been anticipating a trial. 

As director Skye Borgman says, “If there had been some ask of the perpetrator to—in exchange for this plea deal—give some information as to the why, I think it would have helped the families a lot. They’re angry.” 

Some of the victims’ families are disappointed that he didn’t receive the death penalty, feeling like he got off easy. Kaylee Goncalves’ dad Steve dismissed prison as “daycare.” His daughter Alivea says she felt “hurt” by the plea deal and didn’t think it should have been an option for Kohberger, arguing, “Monsters like that should never-ever ever have options ever again.” 

Moscow Police’s Dahlinger maintains that, in a way, Kohberger received a form of the death penalty: “He is sentenced to die in prison.” 

Xana’s dad Jeff Kernodle says the victims’ families were hoping to hear more from Kohberger, arguing, “He should have to tell them why he did it, tell all of us parents why he did it.” 

On the other hand, Xana’s sister Jazzmin Kernodle says in the series she was dreading a trial that could last months. “I think the plea deal did save us a lot of emotional trauma that we would have dealt with going through a trial,” she says. “I am grateful to get it over with and slowly start to heal.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blta353764e9f85a193Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:56:41 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Olivia B. Waxman\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Could Wildfires Overshadow Spain’s Solar Eclipse?\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/could-wildfires-overshadow-spain-s-solar-eclipse-/<!\[CDATA\[Climate\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Spain is in the path of totality for a solar eclipse next week—the mainland’s first since 1905\. But will wildfire smoke and mass evacuations disrupt the highly anticipated experience?\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Manu Fernandez—AP\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Fire engines stop on a road as smoke rises from a wildfire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, on July 26, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb44aeef3baa337e9/6a68be35a3531fe408bd4e17/AP26207336787821.jpg?branch=production)

Fire engines stop on a road as smoke rises from a wildfire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, on July 26, 2026\. —Manu Fernandez—AP

Spain will be in the path of totality for a solar [eclipse](https://time.com/6963671/eclipses-through-history/) on Aug. 12\. Not only is it the first time this type of celestial event has been visible to the mainland since 1905—it is also taking place during Europe’s peak tourism season, which runs from June to August. Millions of people live within the 190-mile-wide eclipse path, which reaches 36 of the nation’s 50 provinces, while hundreds of thousands of international travelers are also expected to visit for the occasion. 

Tourists are expected to flock to cities and towns along the path of totality—including parts of Aragón, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, and Valencia—as well as nearby hubs, where a deep partial eclipse will be visible, like the capital city of Madrid. 

But with multiple [wildfires](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/us-wildfire-preparedness-level-5-what-that-means/) raging amid a [particularly hot and dry summer](https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/history-of-wildfires-in-europe/), the rare experience of observing a total solar eclipse may be disrupted by evacuations and widespread smoke.

**Read More:** [_What to Know About the Deadly Wildfires in Western Europe_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-wildfire-heat-wave-europe-climate-change/)

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbccab44fb95b5173/6a67e1e7b9b3270cf885ce33/Spain-eclipse-and-wildfires-July27.jpg?branch=production)

## What are the fire conditions leading up to the eclipse?

While Spain is used to wildfires, [record-breaking heat](https://wmo.int/media/news/western-europe-has-hottest-june-record) in June created a tinderbox in Western Europe, prompting two catastrophic fires: one that broke out on July 24, in the Guadalajara province just northeast of Madrid, devastating over 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres), and another in Ávila, which is in central Spain, that has burned more than 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) since July 22\. The Ávila fire is now the “[largest forest fire in our country’s recent history](https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/fire-in-avila-is-now-the-largest-in-spanish-history-having-burnt-55000-hectares/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX01UMUFCQ1BSMTAxMTcxMTAxMQ)” according to a [statement](https://x.com/mitecogob/status/2081460019409604934) on Sunday from the minister of ecological transition, Sara Aageson.

Together with numerous other fires across the country, they put Spain on track for its worst wildfire season in over three decades. Over 150,000 hectares (370,600 acres) have burned since January, according to Prime Minister Pedro [Sánchez](https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/wildfires-threaten-bordeaux-france-spain-battle-blazes-2026-07-26/)—which is six times the area destroyed during the same period last year. Prior to 2025, the worst wildfire year for the country was 1994.

Sánchez [said](https://x.com/desdelamoncloa/status/2081304874512482756?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2081304874512482756%7Ctwgr%5E72d70159fd061bb31efdaf1f3bb88f997899bea3%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.euronews.com%2Fmy-europe%2F2026%2F07%2F26%2Fpedro-sanchez-the-scale-of-the-disaster-we-are-living-through-is-very-hard-to-accept) over the weekend that the “scale of the disaster we are living through is very hard to accept.” More than 90,000 tourists and residents have been evacuated or placed under shelter at home orders across central Spain, in parts of Madrid, Toledo, and Ávila. Spanish authorities said at least two people were killed in the eastern provinces of Castellón and Valencia

Sánchez also expressed concern about the weather conditions this week, which brings peak temperatures of nearly 40°C (104°F). Extreme heat makes it difficult to fight existing fires and adds the threat of new ones, which would challenge Spain’s already-stretched resources. 

With additional factors such as gusting winds and a lack of recent rainfall, the fire danger conditions in the country have been classified as “very extreme,” [according to](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/projects-and-activities/natural-and-man-made-hazards/forest-fires/current-wildfire-situation-europe%5Fen) the European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS). 

And those conditions are not likely to improve ahead of the solar eclipse, according to Jason Nicholls, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.

“There's a heat wave going on right now, which carries into the weekend,” he tells TIME. “It may ease back a little bit, but then tries to come back again as we get into the week of August 10.”

“I don't see a lot of significant rain coming into Spain over the next two weeks, so drought conditions will continue to not improve, or even worsen,” he continues, explaining that “wildfire risk will remain extreme across a whole lot of Spain” in the days leading up to the solar eclipse.

## How the wildfires could impact eclipse viewers

The wildfires will likely affect both visibility and air quality for eclipse viewers in the country, Becky Wagner, air quality and climate researcher at the University of Sheffield, tells TIME. 

The smoke from the fires contains “particulate matter” consisting of burnt material, she explains.

“Firstly, that can affect visibility because these particles can reflect the sunlight and just create a haze and a sort of a cloud that is really hard to see through,” Wagner says.

But there is also the question of air quality, which could hinder viewers’ ability to safely stand outside and observe the eclipse. 

“There's high levels of this smoke, and high levels of the particulate matter within the smoke, which is really harmful to human health, as these particles are really small,” Wagner says, referring to a type of fine air pollutant known as PM2.5, which has been [linked to](https://time.com/6260752/harmful-global-air-pollution-problem/) lung cancer and heart disease. “They can be breathed in, and it can affect people's health, particularly vulnerable populations with respiratory and cardiovascular problems.”

Totality occurs when the moon passes exactly between the sun and the Earth, blocking out the daylight and casting impacted areas into complete darkness for about three minutes. While the experience of totality is brief, breathing in wildfire smoke can make people sick “right away,” leading to coughing and headaches, among other symptoms, according to the United States [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/wildfires/risk-factors/index.html). 

And many eclipse-chasers will seek to observe the phenomenon beyond the moments of totality. Observation often begins as soon as the moon is visible in front of the sun, and lasts until it has completely passed by, meaning that the complete experience of a solar eclipse can span some two to three hours. 

But it’s hard to predict how current conditions might impact the air quality in mid-August, Wagner says, especially as wildfires can often create their own mini weather [conditions](https://weather.com/2026/07/09/science/weather-explainers/how-wildfires-create-their-own-weather-firenadoes-pyrocumulonimbus). 

Particles “can last in the atmosphere for days to weeks, and they can be transported a really long distance, depending on sort of wind direction and wind speed,” Wagner says. 

Aside from Spain’s progress in quelling the fires this week, there are still active fires in France to consider, since the particulate matter could continue drifting across large portions of its neighboring nation. Wagner points to the [wildfires in Canada](https://time.com/article/2026/07/17/wildfire-smoke-air-quality-canada-fires-forecast/) earlier this month that drifted thousands of miles into the United States, [worsening air quality](https://time.com/7313163/climate-wildfires-worsening-air-quality/) in cities from Detroit to Manhattan.

“So fires in one region of Spain, or one region of Europe, could end up affecting different parts of the country or different countries,” she explains.

Still, Nicholls says that residents in Spain should be able to experience and enjoy the eclipse—with the proper precautions. He recommends wearing a mask when outdoors to avoid inhaling dangerous smoke, as well as limiting exposure to it.

“Maybe hang around inside, and as you get closer to the eclipse, maybe come outside and maybe have a mask on,” he recommends. Then “get back inside to get away from the harmful smoke and poor air quality.”

**Read More:** [_Photos Show the Destruction in France and Spain From Ferocious European Wildfires_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-europe-wildfires-destruction-photos/)

## What are the potential economic repercussions for Spain?

Access to viewing locations could also be impacted by the fires. One of the larger outbreaks is near Valencia—Spain’s third-largest city, which is situated along the Mediterranean. Last month, [Space.com](http://space.com) said that its beaches will be one of the easiest places to catch a glimpse of the eclipse. But local wildfires could potentially inhibit access to the beaches and other prime viewing spots. Such restrictions could be especially detrimental in light of the surge of tourists Spain is expecting next week—and might even have economic repercussions.

According to [Spain’s Ministry of Tourism](https://www.mintur.gob.es/en-us/GabinetePrensa/NotasPrensa/2026/Paginas/espana-recibio-11,1-millones-pasajeros-aereos-internacionales-en-junio.aspx), the country continues to see an increase in international travelers year over year. And, despite the fires, the ministry is expecting a larger-than-usual boost in tourism next month, with dedicated umbraphiles—or eclipse chasers—traveling just for the occasion. 

“Between August 10 and 16, Spain will welcome 446,000 additional visitors due to the total solar eclipse,” the government said in a statement to TIME, citing an economic impact report from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Business. “A 7.9% increase in scheduled airline seats is projected, compared to the same period in 2025, as well as a 17.8% rise in hotel reservations for August, compared to the same month last year.”

“It is clear that this event will have a very positive impact on our economy,” the Ministry of Tourism wrote, saying that it is expected to bring in 347.5 million euros ($395 million). The government has not revised its projections due to the wildfires; however, it says that the consequences to tourism are not its primary focus.

“The priority is to address the emergency posed by these fires, protect human lives, preserve the natural surroundings, and minimize the impact on the environment,” the statement said.

But the government’s statement also acknowledged that it has “a Special Security Plan and a Specific Civil Protection Plan” in place for the eclipse, which addresses wildfire prevention in particular, as well as increasing the response capacity of public services in preparations for the large gatherings that are anticipated for the special event.

Spain has yet to issue any travel advisories in response to the fires, but the United Kingdom last week began [warning](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain) its residents—who make up nearly 20% of annual travelers to Spain—to take precautions if traveling through affected areas of Madrid and Ávila.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt876601645cc06868Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:53:49 +0000<!\[CDATA\[T. Michelle Murphy and Rebecca Schneid\]\]><!\[CDATA\[How to Help the Victims of Europe’s Deadly Wildfires\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/europe-wildfires-france-spain-victims-how-to-help/<!\[CDATA\[World\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The devastating blazes have impelled what are believed to be France and Spain's largest peacetime evacuation operations in modern history, displacing roughly 330,000 people.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

Huge [wildfires](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-europe-wildfires-destruction-photos/) have torn through [France and Spain](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-wildfire-heat-wave-europe-climate-change/), leaving several people dead and displacing hundreds of thousands of others.

The [devastating blazes](https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/history-of-wildfires-in-europe/) have shattered records for the largest wildfires on record in both countries and impelled what are believed to be the largest peacetime evacuation operations France and Spain have conducted in modern history, driving roughly 330,000 people from their homes and vacation sites.

Officials have estimated that more than 400,000 acres have burned in Spain this year and another 300,000 in France amid a series of blistering [European](https://time.com/article/2026/06/25/europe-heat-wave-infrastructure-air-conditioning/) [heat waves](https://time.com/article/2026/07/21/europe-extreme-heat-tour-de-france/). 

**Read More:** [_What to Know About the Deadly Wildfires in Western Europe_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-wildfire-heat-wave-europe-climate-change/)

Firefighters succeeded in containing some of the major blazes in the two countries by Wednesday morning, but with temperatures once again expected to spike this week, authorities cautioned that the battle was not yet over and continued to evacuate thousands of people in threatened regions.

The European Union’s emergency response center meanwhile warned that still more countries will confront a heightened wildfire risk in the coming weeks.

"The next risk, it's already moving to Greece and also Central Europe," Maria Zuber, head of the European Union Emergency Response Coordination Center, [told reporters](https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/wildfire-threat-moving-east-threatening-italy-greece-eu-says-2026-07-29/) on Wednesday.

"Greece for the moment was spared, and now we see that it will go to Greece. Italy will face risk at the beginning of August, and we will need to see what will happen with the Iberian Peninsula, because if \[it is\] there as well, we will have all Europe on fire," she said.

Here are ways you can help the victims impacted by the wildfires.

## Red Cross

The [International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies](https://www.ifrc.org/press-release/ifrc-new-heatwave-could-worsen-wildfires-across-spain-and-france-red-cross-teams) has mobilized relief efforts in both Spain and France, where teams from the national Red Cross organizations are providing emergency shelter, food, water, medical care, and other essential supplies and support to thousands of displaced people.

Cruz Roja, the Spanish Red Cross, is collecting donations [here](https://cercadeti.cruzroja.es/incendiosespana2026) to support its ongoing wildfire response. 

You can also donate to local branches of the Croix-Rouge Francaise, the French Red Cross, that are working on the front lines of the fires in the southwestern part of the country [here](https://macagnotte.croix-rouge.fr/donner-dt33) and [here](https://macagnotte.croix-rouge.fr/donner-dt40).

## World Central Kitchen

[World Central Kitchen](https://wck.org/wildfire-hub/), the hunger-fighting nonprofit organization founded by celebrity chef and [TIME100 Philanthropy honoree](https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/7286038/jose-andres/) José Andrés, is working to provide meals to people in need in both Spain and France in response to the wildfires.

You can donate to its efforts in Ávila‎, Spain, [here](https://donate.wck.org/campaign/825790/donate) and those in Bordeaux, France, [here](https://donate.wck.org/campaign/826386/donate?c%5Fsrc=site-slider-rlf189&%5Fgl=1%2Adodhzo%2A%5Fgcl%5Fau%2AMTA3NTMyMjY1Mi4xNzg1MzM3MDQw%2A%5Fga%2AOTc3NTEwMTY5LjE3ODUzMzcwNDA.%2A%5Fga%5F5WKVY8503C%2AczE3ODUzMzcwMzkkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODUzMzcwNDYkajUzJGwwJGgw). 

## Secours Populaire Français

Secours Populaire Français, a French nonprofit dedicated to combating poverty, is soliciting volunteers and donations to support the people severely affected by the wildfires in Gironde, Landes, and everywhere else in the country where the blazes are raging.

“The immediate crisis is real, but it will also be a long-term challenge,” the organization [wrote](https://www.secourspopulaire.fr/incendies-en-gironde-et-dans-les-landes-appel-a-la-solidarite/). “Once the fires are extinguished, families will still need help rebuilding their lives and navigating the necessary procedures, isolated individuals will need support, and local businesses will need to resume their activities.”

You can make a donation [here](https://don.secourspopulaire.fr/incendies/~mon-don?%5Fcv=1).

## Sud Ouest Solidarité

Sud Ouest Solidarité, the charitable arm of one of France’s largest regional newspapers, has launched a fundraising campaign to collect donations for people affected by the fires and the firefighters working to combat them.

The organization said in a Tuesday [post](https://www.facebook.com/SudOuestSolidarite33/posts/pfbid07kZfdiugnU86QUzft3CerpEogU1oeQDMaepcedizxnyYQYEJJYx4vJmLqrcJ5cgRl) on its social media accounts that nearly 500,000 euros had so far been raised through the campaign.

You can donate [here](https://www.sudouest.fr/sudouest-solidarite/incendies/). 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltec718d79a777af46Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:17:37 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Annika Neklason\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The Lone Republican Who Voted Against Advancing Bill to Put Tougher Sanctions on Russia\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/why-republican-rand-paul-voted-against-advancing-russia-sanctions-bill/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The lawmaker referred to the legislation as the "latest counterproductive attempt to hold Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine."\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Al Drago––Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Republican Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky are seated during a hearing in Washington, D.C. on July 29, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt200ca3a8c0fc3b61/6a6a2ca7a3531f46c3bd7ae4/GettyImages-2287497859.jpg?branch=production)

Republican Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky are seated during a hearing in Washington, D.C. on July 29, 2026\. —Al Drago––Getty Images

The Senate opted to advance a sweeping [Russia](https://time.com/article/2026/07/06/ukraine-russia-attack-zelensky-nato-summit-request-trump-putin/) sanctions bill backed by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, but amid the bipartisan support there was one notable “nay” from a GOP lawmaker.

Named in honor of Graham, who [died unexpectedly](https://time.com/article/2026/07/12/the-world-pays-tribute-to-sen-lindsey-graham/) earlier this month, [the bill advanced](https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2026-07-27%5Fbill%5Ftext.pdf) by a [86-12 vote](https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll%5Fcall%5Fvotes/vote1192/vote%5F119%5F2%5F00212.htm) late Tuesday, with Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky the only Republican to vote against it. 

Paul, who has previously raised issues with [former versions of the bill,](https://responsiblestatecraft.org/congress-sanctions-russia/) argued the legislation is the “latest counterproductive attempt to hold Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine, now well into its fifth year.”

“This legislation is a tariff bill that seems to have been written with such blind rage that, rather than compel a change in Vladimir Putin’s behavior, its punitive measures would make American families poorer and undermine our national interests,” he [said](https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sen-rand-paul-dc-russia-sanctions-bill-wont-stop-putin-hurt-you) last week, in an opinion piece for Fox News.

Some of Paul’s concerns regarding the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026” were shared by others, with Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with Democrats, and 10 Democratic lawmakers also voting “nay.”

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire [said](https://x.com/SenatorHassan/status/2082259750155075838) she couldn’t pledge her support for the bill as it “gives the President new authority to impose tariffs, even on our allies. I do not think tariffs, which are paid for by American businesses and consumers, will help Ukraine win this war.”

Similarly, a spokesperson for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia told TIME the lawmaker could simply not support the tariff powers included in the current version of the bill.

“Sen. Ossoff continues to support Ukraine’s valiant self-defense against intolerable Russian brutality and aggression,” the statement read. “He does not support the provisions of this bill that delegate massive new tariff authorities to a President who has demonstrated he will wield tariffs recklessly and destructively.”

President Donald Trump’s global tariff efforts, the majority of which were struck down by a[ Supreme Court ruling ](https://time.com/7380033/supreme-court-tarriffs-ruling-trump/)earlier this year, remain a contentious issue. Just last week, Trump announced[ a new round of tariffs](https://time.com/article/2026/07/24/trump-tariffs-forced-labor-explainer/) on more than 80 countries.

Graham—a longtime supporter of Ukraine and one of the Senate's most outspoken foreign policy hawks—spent more than a year negotiating the legislation, which stands to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow and penalize countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, and other exports. Essentially, it's intended to cut revenues from the sale of ​Russia's energy for its war on Ukraine.

A key section of the bill states that “not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law, increase the rate of duty for all goods, including oil, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, petroleum, petroleum products, petrochemical products, coal, and coal products, imported into the United States from the Russian Federation to a rate of up to 500 percent ad valorem.”

Regarding the President’s tariff authority, if the bill were to become law, it would allow Trump to place tariffs of up to 100% on the [top five purchasers](https://energyandcleanair.org/june-2026-monthly-analysis-of-russian-fossil-fuel-exports-and-sanctions/) of Russian oil and natural gas, among other penalties.

Graham [announced](https://x.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/2075629731999793645) during a visit to Kyiv, just shortly before his death, that he had secured the White House’s approval on his revised text.

The latest iteration also includes a last-minute addition of extended sanctions against Iran, at the request of Trump. Following Graham’s passing, and amid the resumption of the Iran war, Trump [said](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116946506480346191) on July 19: “Republicans should add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill. That’s what Lindsey wanted to do, and it was going to happen.”

The gathering of Senators and international leaders for [Graham’s funeral service](https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/trump-lindsey-graham-funeral/) in Washington on Tuesday set the ideal stage for the bill to be discussed.

Ukrainian President [Volodymyr Zelensky](https://time.com/article/2026/07/08/trump-zelensky-ukraine-patriot-missile-interceptors-russia-nato/), who had earlier sat down with Trump in the Oval Office, was hosted by the bill’s bipartisan leaders in the evening.

Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire joined Republican Senators Jim Risch of Idaho, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and Katie Britt of Alabama in facilitating Zelensky meeting other supporters of the legislation and allowed him to address the Senate.

Before watching the bill advance inside the Senate chamber, Zelensky [told](https://news.sky.com/video/zelenskyy-praises-us-senate-vote-on-russian-sanctions-bill-13567983) reporters: “Sanctions pressure on Russia is very important and it's not only about money. It's also a big signal to Europe and a big signal to Ukraine, a big support of our people.”

An [earlier version](https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/s1241/BILLS-119s1241is.pdf) of the legislation drafted by Graham would have authorized the President to impose 500% tariffs on Russian products, as well as tariffs of up to 500% on countries that purchased Russian oil and gas.

Paul [argued](https://www.paul.senate.gov/op%5Feds/imposing-500-tariffs-on-nations-that-trade-with-russia-will-backfire/) those provisions would "cause an economic calamity on a scale never before seen in" America.

But concerns remain regarding the tariff authority still afforded to Trump, should the legislation go all the way—meaning the bill’s chances of passing the Senate and the House of Representatives once it resumes at the end of the summer are not guaranteed.

Democratic Rep. Gregory W. Meeks of New York, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has already raised "serious” concerns.

“This is not so much a sanctions bill as it is a massive backdoor authority for President Trump to impose more tariffs, including on our European allies, that hurt American families,” he [said](https://democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov/2026/7/meeks-issues-statement-opposing-tariff-powers-in-senate-russia-bill) upon reviewing the text earlier this month. “The sanctions the bill does contain are entirely at Donald Trump’s discretion, and he has made clear repeatedly that he would rather waive sanctions on Russia than impose new ones.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt5e8bccc7e6979a67Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:53:38 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Tiago Ventura\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Is Farmers’ Market Produce Safer During the Cyclospora Outbreak?\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/is-farmers-market-produce-safer-during-cyclospora-outbreak/<!\[CDATA\[Health\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Food-safety experts weigh in on where and how to shop for safer produce right now.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Tatiana Maksimova—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fdc2805dcc79393/6a6a20dd0782374f594de5db/GettyImages-2269628890.jpg?branch=production)

 —Tatiana Maksimova—Getty Images

As [_Cyclospora_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/21/is-lettuce-safe-to-eat-cyclosporiasis-diarrhea-outbreak/)cases continue to mount across the U.S., shoppers from [Kentucky](https://www.wave3.com/2026/07/25/local-farmers-see-interest-rise-amid-cyclospora-outbreak/) to [Michigan](https://www.wilx.com/2026/07/26/we-were-sold-out-10-minutes-before-market-started-cyclospora-drives-lettuce-demand-michigan-farmers-markets/) are flocking to local farmers’ markets in search of safer produce. But are farmers’ markets actually less risky than grocery stores when it comes to avoiding cyclosporiasis and other foodborne illnesses?

Some [food-safety experts](https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/cyclospora-outbreak-food-safety-experts-lettuce/) say farmers’ markets could be a safer bet, though that depends on where the produce actually comes from and the practices of the individual farmer. “If you are getting produce directly from the farmer who grew it, I would consider that lower risk,” says Kalmia Kniel, a professor of microbial food safety at the University of Delaware.

Other experts say produce from supermarkets isn't inherently more dangerous, and that consumers can take steps—both at the grocery store and the farmers’ market—to protect themselves from foodborne bugs.

Darin Detwiler, an associate teaching professor of food policy at Northeastern University and author of [_Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions_](https://www.amazon.com/Food-Safety-Past-Present-Predictions/dp/0128182199), says he personally favors farmers’ markets because locally grown produce typically travels a shorter distance, passes through fewer processing and distribution steps, and can offer more transparency about where and how it was grown. 

But he says consumers shouldn’t assume that all produce sold at a farmers’ market is local. He says he always asks vendors which farm the produce comes from, how far away it was grown, and when it was harvested. Detwiler says he prefers if the produce is grown within about 30 miles and sold within two days of harvest.

Rodney E. Rohde, chair of the Medical Laboratory Science Program at Texas State University, says it makes sense that people perceive produce sold at farmers’ markets as being safer—but he says there is little scientific evidence to back that up. “The risk of contamination really depends on how it was grown, harvested, transported and stored, rather than where it is sold,” he says. 

In the case of _Cyclospora_, contamination can occur when human sewage gets into water used to irrigate fresh produce, says Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University. That’s one reason locally grown produce isn’t automatically safer: A farm’s water and growing practices still matter most.

A smaller farm is also not necessarily better, says Don Schaffner, a food-science expert at Rutgers University. “Small farmers often do not have the resources that large operations” do, he says. 

Food-safety experts stress that people should continue to buy and consume produce—whether at the grocery store or the farmers’ market—despite _Cyclospora_ fears. “Don’t quit eating fruits and vegetables,” Rohde says. But people can take precautions to limit their risk of _Cyclospora_ and other foodborne pathogens.

Bill Marler, a food-safety lawyer, recommends buying intact heads of lettuce and whole fruits and vegetables over bagged, boxed, or pre-cut produce. Centralized chopping, washing, mixing, and packaging can spread contamination from a relatively small amount of produce across a much larger batch, he says. 

Experts also advise washing produce thoroughly under running water, scrubbing hard fruits and vegetables such as melons and cucumbers, and following other food-safety practices, such as keeping raw meat and vegetables separate when cooking. 

Cooking food to an internal temperature of at least 158°F can [kill _Cyclospora_.](https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/prevention/index.html) Rohde says he has been cooking most of his veggies lately and has been washing produce “more vigorously than usual.” 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt9d6c6f97b8cac8f5Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:10:54 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Angela Haupt and Dominique Mosbergen\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Fauci Pleads the Fifth at Senate Hearing on COVID, Escalating Long-Running Clash With Republicans\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/fauci-fifth-amendment-senate-hearing-covid-rand-paul-republicans/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The hearing escalates Fauci's long-running clash with Republicans as they seek to revisit the disputed origins of the coronavirus and the U.S. pandemic response.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime infectious disease expert who helped lead the federal government's response to the COVID pandemic, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on Wednesday, refusing to answer questions at a Senate hearing that Republicans had hoped would expose him to potential perjury charges and discredit his handling of the nation's pandemic response.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime infectious disease expert who helped lead the federal government's response to the COVID pandemic, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on Wednesday, refusing to answer questions at a Senate hearing that Republicans had hoped would expose him to potential perjury charges and discredit his handling of the nation's pandemic response.

Dr. [Anthony Fauci](https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888309/anthony-fauci/), the longtime infectious disease expert who helped [lead the federal government's response](https://time.com/6242342/dr-anthony-fauci-stepping-down/) to the COVID pandemic, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on Wednesday, refusing to answer questions at a Senate hearing that Republicans had hoped would expose him to potential perjury charges and discredit his handling of the nation's pandemic response.

Appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, the panel's Republican chairman and one of Fauci's most persistent critics, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases declined to answer questions just minutes into the hearing, saying Paul had made clear his goal was to seek his prosecution.

"The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, 'behind bars,'" Fauci said in his opening statement. He accused Paul of having an "obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution" and said the Senator's release of his personal pandemic diary was intended to intimidate and embarrass him.

"Although it pains me to do so because of the respect that I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress," Fauci said, "under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions."

The hearing marked a dramatic moment in the yearslong political battle over the pandemic. Fauci, who advised seven presidents and became the nation's most recognizable public health official during COVID, has appeared before Congress hundreds of times over four decades; Wednesday was the first time he invoked the Fifth Amendment.

The infectious disease expert has been a primary target of Republicans' continuing effort to revisit the government's response to the pandemic and the disputed origins of the coronavirus, issues that have remained central to conservative criticism of Fauci years after he left government service in 2022\. Paul and other Republicans have long alleged that the National Institutes of Health funded so-called gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that contributed to the pandemic, an accusation Fauci has consistently denied. Fauci has maintained that, under the government's definition of gain-of-function research, NIH did not fund such work related to the virus that caused COVID. Federal reviews have not reached a definitive conclusion about the virus's origin, and there is no evidence it was engineered and leaked from a laboratory.

Former President Joe Biden gave Fauci a preemptive pardon in the final hours of his Administration in an effort to protect him from politically motivated charges. But Paul, who has repeatedly accused Fauci of misleading Congress about federally funded virus research in China and the origins of COVID, argued the hearing was necessary regardless. "A pardon that protects a person from criminal prosecution doesn't rewrite history," the Kentucky Senator said in his opening statement. "It does not erase documents. It does not convert a misleading statement to a truthful one, and it does not prevent Congress from establishing what happened."

Ahead of Wednesday's hearing, Paul released roughly 1,100 pages from Fauci's pandemic-era diary, arguing the documents showed discrepancies between Fauci's private thinking and his public testimony. 

As Paul pressed ahead with questions despite Fauci's refusal to testify, the former health official responded each time with the same statement: "On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution."

At one point, Paul remarked, "Let the record record that the witness has refused to answer whether there's a folder in front of him based on his Fifth Amendment right."

The hearing also unfolded amid mounting pressure from Trump Administration officials to revisit Fauci's testimony under oath. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said earlier this week that Fauci could face perjury charges if he lied during the hearing despite Biden's preemptive pardon, arguing, "There are many things that (Fauci) said that we know are lies," and adding that "if he lies again, then he could be subject to perjury prosecution."

President Donald Trump likewise weighed in before the hearing, saying on Truth Social that Fauci "made too many bad calls" during the pandemic and asserting that he "didn't let (Fauci) shut the Country down." Trump has repeatedly criticized Fauci's recommendations on masks, shutdowns, and other public health measures.

Biden's pardon shielded Fauci from federal prosecution over actions and testimony connected to his government service during the pandemic. But Republicans have argued that any false statements made in new testimony could expose him to fresh legal jeopardy, a possibility Paul openly discussed before the hearing.

Asked this week about concerns that the hearing was designed to lure Fauci into committing perjury, Paul dismissed the criticism. "There's no risk to perjury if you tell the truth," he told reporters. "The only thing he can't do is lie again."

Democrats criticized the hearing as a partisan exercise. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the committee's top Democrat, argued the panel should be focusing on current national security threats rather than revisiting disputes over the pandemic. "Instead of focusing on the national security challenges that we are facing in our country right now, today's hearing looks backwards," Peters said at the hearing. "Rather than building on that work to strengthen our preparedness against future disasters, we are instead relitigating the past."

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt0e39e2f436f680caWed, 29 Jul 2026 14:10:55 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Nik Popli\]\]><!\[CDATA\[How to Stop Being So Defensive During Arguments\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/how-to-stop-being-defensive-in-arguments/<!\[CDATA\[Health\]\]><!\[CDATA\[You don’t need a better rebuttal. You need a reset.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source Image: years/Getty Images)\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6420cc12cdabbc0b/6a69271ee6110c4091478a87/How_to_Stop_Being_Defensive.png?branch=production)

 —Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source Image: years/Getty Images)

Here's a reliable way to tell that an [argument](https://time.com/article/2026/05/13/empathy-exercises-therapists-recommend-conflict/) has gone sideways: You started out discussing who was supposed to load the dishwasher, and you're now somewhere in the vicinity of a canceled dinner in 2019, your mother-in-law, or whether anyone in this household appreciates anyone else.

"It's like, ‘Wait, how did we get here?’" says Jessica Harrison, a [couples counselor](https://time.com/article/2026/06/11/rules-for-fighting-fair-relationship-couples-therapist-advice/) in Rhode Island. "That's a sign that somebody somewhere is being defensive."

It can be difficult to recognize when you’re being defensive, because it rarely feels that way. It feels like accuracy—like you’re finally setting the record straight. Meanwhile, the actual problem—the one somebody worked up the nerve to raise—never gets solved. It’s now buried underneath four brand-new ones. As Harrison puts it: “Who can manage and conclude five arguments in one conversation?”

The instinct to defend yourself isn’t a character flaw. It’s a protective reflex that can kick in when something threatens your sense of who you are. “We have the fight-or-flight response to protect ourselves from physical danger,” says Eli Kraiem, a clinical psychologist in New York who specializes in couples therapy. “But there’s also that same component to protecting our ego or our sense of self, which not everyone is as aware of.” In other words, a relatively ordinary complaint can feel like a verdict on who you are—especially when it comes from someone you care about. The alarm sounds, and suddenly you’re presenting Exhibit A for why you are, in fact, an excellent partner who does plenty around here, thank you very much.

That protective instinct isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes you need to set a boundary or protect yourself, says Dr. Jeff Katzman, a psychiatrist at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Conn. But when defensiveness becomes your default response during ordinary disagreements, it can take a toll over months and years. Partners drift apart while ostensibly discussing chores. Friends stop bringing things up. “Whenever we become defensive, we start to become more certain about our perspective, and we go to battle in some way,” Katzman says. “The more defensive we become, the lonelier we become.” 

The goal isn’t to eliminate defensiveness entirely. It’s to recognize it sooner, respond more thoughtfully, and know how to repair the conversation when you slip up. Here’s what experts recommend.

## **Learn your body's tell**

Defensiveness often starts in your body before you even utter a word. Reuven Rosen, a couples therapist in Columbia, Md., asks clients: “What happened in your body the moment your partner said that?”

The answers tend to be specific and physical. “There's going to be a knot in my throat, there's going to be maybe a tightness in my stomach, a tightness in my chest, maybe my heart's beating,” he says.

These sensations are easy to overlook, but they can serve as early warning signs that you’re about to interrupt, deny, or fire back. When you notice your heart racing or your chest tightening, pause and ask yourself why you’re having such a strong reaction. That brief check-in can give you a chance to choose what to say next—instead of automatically going on the defensive. 

## **Ask what you're trying to protect**

Once you notice yourself becoming defensive, reflect on this: “What am I actually trying to protect?” It’s probably not the specific point you’re arguing about. More often, it’s something personal—your belief that you’re a good partner, a dependable friend, or a competent employee. 

“When we're being defensive, we're ultimately trying to protect something, whether it's a value, a moral, our character, or our confidence in being able to do something,” Harrison says.

Figuring out what feels threatened can quickly change the conversation. A request for more help around the house might come across like this: “You think I’m a bad partner.” But that’s not necessarily what the other person said—or meant. They might simply be asking you to take on more around the house.

Harrison suggests asking yourself: “Am I protecting my character or my values right now, or am I actually listening to what this person is telling me?”

Sometimes, you become defensive precisely because being a good partner—or friend or employee—matters so much to you. “It's a sign that they care so much that they're terrified of getting it wrong,” Harrison says.

## **Trade certainty for curiosity**

Defensiveness has a way of making you feel absolutely certain: You’re right, they’re wrong, and if you could just explain yourself clearly enough, they would finally see it. But the harder you work to prove your point, the less attention you’re paying to theirs.

Katzman, who has spent decades in improvisational theater alongside his clinical work, suggests doing the opposite. “The way out is not to think faster,” he says. “It's really to become curious sooner.”

Improv offers a surprisingly useful model. Onstage, “blocking” means rejecting the premise your scene partner has introduced. If they announce that it’s raining and you insist that it isn’t, the scene has nowhere to go. “When we block each other, that's what defensiveness really does,” Katzman says. “I'm negating your reality, you're negating mine.”

The alternative is the improv principle of “yes, and.” In an argument, that might mean acknowledging the other person’s experience before adding your own perspective. Another improv rule applies, too: “Make your partner look good,” Katzman says.

That doesn’t mean agreeing with everything the other person says. It means remembering that you’re on the same team. “We're after understanding, not winning,” Katzman says. “The goal is to move from being certain to being curious.”

## **Look for the 2% truth**

Even criticism that feels unfair, exaggerated, or badly timed often contains a sliver of truth. Kraiem calls it the “2% truth.” Finding that 2% can be difficult—especially when you’re busy cataloging the other 98% the person got wrong—but acknowledging it can quickly lower the temperature.

Before you point out everything the other person has misunderstood, acknowledge the small part they got right. Say, for example, your partner accuses you of never listening. Your instinct might be to list all the times you did listen. Instead, try saying: “You’re right that I was distracted when you told me about your meeting tonight.” You’re not agreeing that you never listen; you’re acknowledging the part of the complaint that’s true. That can make the other person more receptive to what you say next.

The challenge is resisting the urge to debate whether the criticism is technically accurate and focusing instead on the feelings behind it. “We focus more on the intellectual perspective,” Kraiem says, “as opposed to: How can I connect to this person and understand where they're coming from, even if it doesn't make 100% sense to me?”

## **Retire "never" and "always"**

Certain words carry tiny invitations to fight. Two are especially potent: “never” and “always.”

"When you default to these absolute words like ‘never’ and ‘always,’ you invite defensiveness in the other person," Katzman says. "They're just going to come up and try to prove you wrong." Tell someone they never do the dishes, and you’ve handed them a debate they can win on a technicality: They did the dishes last Thursday. Now you’re arguing about Thursday. The real message—”I need more help,” or “I need you to see everything I'm doing”—never gets delivered.

The same goes for grievance-stacking. Adding a second grievance, then a third, then the thing from last month, doesn't strengthen the case; it simply creates more things for the other person to dispute. "Somebody winds up having to defend themselves on seven fronts," Katzman says, "instead of just staying with the one thing that you're trying to figure out."

## **Reflect back before you explain yourself**

When someone tells you that you hurt them, your first instinct might be to explain what you meant—or why they misunderstood you. But to someone who has just made themselves vulnerable, that explanation can sound like an excuse. It can also leave them feeling even less heard.

Kraiem recommends starting by summarizing exactly what you heard the other person say, then checking that you understood correctly. Don’t repeat a few words and immediately pivot to your side. Instead, he suggests saying something like: “What I’m hearing is that after the ice cream spilled, I raised my voice and used words that hurt you, and that left you feeling alone. Am I getting that right?”

This approach can also keep you from getting sidetracked into an argument about who said exactly what. Kraiem recently watched a couple spend several minutes going back and forth—”You said this.” “No, I didn’t”—before he stopped them. “Let's focus on the feelings that were felt in the room when this conversation happened,” he told them.

## **Acknowledge the impact—even if you remember it differently** 

When Rosen’s 10-year-old son told him that he had shushed him after he tripped on the stairs and cried out, Rosen immediately wanted to dispute that version of events: _“That didn’t happen. That’s not how it went.”_

Then he noticed a dropping sensation in his stomach. When he paid attention to it, Rosen realized what the complaint had stirred up: a fear of how his son viewed him. Rather than argue about exactly what had happened, Rosen focused on how the experience had affected his son. “I’m sorry that that happened,” he told the boy, even though he didn’t remember it that way.

You don’t have to agree that every detail happened exactly as the other person remembers it to acknowledge that the experience hurt them. And doing so doesn’t mean your intentions—or your version of events—don’t matter. It simply means they don’t have to come first. Once the other person feels heard, you can explain what you remember and what you meant.

## **Keep a repair line in your back pocket**

Sometimes the best thing you can do in the middle of an argument is stop trying to defend yourself and ask to start over. Be especially careful with the word “but”: “I see why you feel that way, but…” Everything that follows will probably sound like a rebuttal—and erase the acknowledgment that came before it.

Kraiem suggests memorizing a few simple repair lines: “I can see why what I did landed that way.” “You're right—I see how I hurt you.” “Help me understand what I'm missing here.” His favorite, and the one he uses at home, is: “I'm sorry, can we try that again?”

These phrases won’t prevent every argument or mistake. “We're not going to eradicate fighting or mistakes that we make,” Kraiem says. What they can do is help you recover—to acknowledge that something came out wrong and give both of you a chance to handle the conversation differently.

## **Revisit the conversation afterward**

You won’t always realize you’re being defensive while the argument is happening. Once you’ve calmed down, return to the conversation and explain what was behind your reaction. 

Harrison suggests wording it like this: “I'm sorry I responded that way. I realize you were just saying you wanted more help. What I was feeling was that you were telling me I was a bad partner—and I know that's not what you were saying. But I want so badly to be a good partner that I felt like I had to defend myself.”

Don’t rush back with an apology before you’ve figured out why you reacted so strongly. Otherwise, it can feel forced. “You're just kind of white-knuckling it,” Rosen says. Take some time to figure out what fear or insecurity was driving your reaction. Once you understand what you were defending, a sincere apology will probably come more naturally.

## **Ask what you want from the conversation**

Katzman once found himself on the verge of arguing with a stranger at a restaurant. On a cold, windy night, he held the door open while his family walked inside. A woman seated near the entrance complained loudly about the draft. A waitress offered to move her, but she declined, saying she would be fine if “that man” would stop letting in the cold air. Then Katzman’s family was seated directly beside her—and she continued complaining.

Katzman could feel himself preparing to respond. Then the woman’s husband caught his eye and winked.

“He winked at me in a way that I felt like, oh, you see me,” Katzman says. “And I should see myself and wake up to the fact that I don't need to get into this argument.”

Before you continue an argument, ask yourself: “What am I hoping to accomplish here?” If you’re trying to understand the other person or resolve a problem, the conversation is probably worth having. If you simply want to prove that you’re right, stepping away might be the better choice.

Katzman still thinks about that wink when he feels himself getting pulled into an unnecessary argument. You can borrow it—or come up with your own cue that reminds you to pause and consider whether the conversation is worth having, he says. Sometimes the least defensive response is deciding not to argue at all.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt6e285d0933e88b66Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:01:09 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Angela Haupt\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Kentucky Governor to McConnell: Prove Fitness to Serve or ‘Resign’\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/andy-beshear-mitch-mcconnell-resign-fitness-letter-kentucky/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Democrat Andy Beshear sent a letter to the Republican Senator who has been absent from his public duties and faces questions about his health status.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., makes his way to a vote in the U.S. Capitol on April 30, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a68806c9f71bcff/6a69dbd0087601867c647920/mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production)

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., makes his way to a vote in the U.S. Capitol on April 30, 2026\. —Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

Two [photographs](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/mitch-mcconnell-health-update-hospitalization-senate/) supplemented by personal [statements](https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/mitch-mcconnell-breaks-silence-with-statement-and-photo-amid-questions-about-health-status/) from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R, Ky.), who has been absent from Congress since mid-June, have not quelled doubts about his health status. Now, Kentucky’s Democratic governor has demanded that the veteran GOP lawmaker prove his fitness for office or resign.

Gov. Andy Beshear [sent a letter](https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2082170805090504707) to McConnell on Monday, “under the assumption that he is capable of reading and responding verbally, and not incapacitated by means of consciousness or cognition,” following McConnell’s hospitalization on June 14\. 

In the letter, Beshear called on the 84-year-old to “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign.” Beshear also sent a similarly worded letter to [Senate Majority Leader John Thune](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/trump-thune-senate-republicans-save-america-act/) and urged him to “fully investigate” McConnell’s condition, report to the public if the ailing Senator did not voluntarily show his ability to serve, and assess if Senate proceedings were warranted.

In most states, governors appoint new senators to fill vacant U.S. Senate seats, but Kentucky’s state law requires a special election to be held instead.

The letter went public as McConnell’s office released a statement in which the Senator said he could not attend an upcoming event in the state. Beshear doubled down in his own letter on what McConnell has missed since disappearing from public view—including casting crucial Senate votes. “Important events are happening in our country right now during your absence,” Beshear said.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt860a4bb94ac30210/6a69dbb90782375a814ddd7c/andy-beshear.jpg?branch=production)

Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, speaks during a campaign event at The River Center in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 7, 2026\. —KC McGinnis—Bloomberg/Getty Images

It was only weeks after June 14 that McConnell first disclosed that he was hospitalized due to a fall. The lack of details has fueled rumors of his potential disability and even death, among critics, and has also become a [subject of mockery](https://babylonbee.com/news/mitch-mcconnell-honors-late-friend-lindsey-graham-with-47-day-moment-of-silence).

McConnell has previously attributed his prolonged silence about his fall and subsequent hospitalization to vulnerabilities surrounding aging and privacy. But the Kentucky Governor said that while he understands the Senator’s concerns, he noted that as a public official, McConnell was expected to “willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy.”

“It’s not like we are asking a lot,” Beshear told [CNN Tuesday](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/28/politics/video/beshear-calls-senate-gop-leaders-handling-of-mitch-mcconnells-absence-shameful). “We’re asking the bare minimum.”

Asked about the letter, Thune [told NBC News on Tuesday](https://x.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/2082145007503323462) that the issue was between McConnell and Kentuckians: “I’m not sure what \[Beshear’s\] prerogatives are in that case. But that’s where the issue should be resolved.”

The Democratic Governor has been widely viewed as a potential contender for the 2028 presidential election.

## Concerns about gerontocracy

McConnell’s prolonged absence, as well as the [sudden death](https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/trump-lindsey-graham-funeral/) of his colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R, S.C.), at 71, have brought renewed attention to what many say is a growing problem in U.S. politics: the main players are getting too old to play the game.

Data from the [Pew Research Center](http://pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/01/16/age-and-generation-in-the-119th-congress-somewhat-younger-with-fewer-boomers-and-more-gen-xers/) show that the median age of Senators at the start of the current U.S. Congress was 64.7 years. The House leans slightly younger, with a median age of 57.5 years. Americans’ median age, meanwhile, is 39.4 years.

But aging in public office has been particularly spotlighted in the executive.

Donald Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, who was the oldest President to leave office at 82 years and 2 months old, had his [cognitive health questioned](https://time.com/6993335/first-presidential-debate-analysis-2024) during the 2024 election cycle. Biden later [dropped out of the race](https://time.com/6997832/biden-drop-out-presidential-race/) following a [disastrous debate performance](https://time.com/6993760/joe-biden-debate-disaster-democratic-panic/).

Trump returned to the White House in 2025 and became the oldest U.S. President to take the oath of office. At 80, he has faced increasing scrutiny over his [physical condition](https://time.com/7303280/what-is-chronic-venous-insufficiency-trump/) and mental acuity, and his Administration has conducted [several health assessments](https://time.com/article/2026/05/30/trump-medical-report-health-overweight-/) in an attempt to dismiss concerns. And despite his age, Trump has even [teased running for an unconstitutional third presidential term](https://time.com/7222820/trump-third-term-president-explainer-pathways-constitution-courts-legal-experts/).

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt0d9a0195c5e996aeWed, 29 Jul 2026 11:15:03 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Chad de Guzman\]\]><!\[CDATA\[FIFA Draws Fury Over Plan to Sell Stakes in World Cup\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/fifa-forward-enterprise-world-cup-commercial-invest-infantino-trump-kushner/<!\[CDATA\[Sports\]\]><!\[CDATA\[A plan to open the biggest sporting tournament, in part, to private investors has drawn widespread backlash from soccer associations and politicians around the world.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Alex Pantling—FIFA/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[FIFA President Gianni Infantino and U.S. President Donald Trump in conversation after the award ceremony during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on July 19, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt878aafa5d705c16b/6a69d4c4077c4365822b9331/Infantino_Trump.jpg?branch=production)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and U.S. President Donald Trump in conversation after the award ceremony during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on July 19, 2026\. —Alex Pantling—FIFA/Getty Images

FIFA is considering selling a minority stake in the World Cup’s commercial rights, a plan that critics say would turn soccer’s biggest tournament into an investment asset and threaten to upend the sport.

FIFA said Tuesday that it will create a $20 billion subsidiary to house its commercial and event operations and offer external investors the opportunity to buy shares of up to 20% of the subsidiary. FIFA claims that offering minority interests to private investors would allow it to raise up to $4.2 billion that can be used to fund soccer development programs worldwide. FIFA says it would retain sole control of the enterprise and “exclusive authority” over its competitions, governance, and all regulatory and sporting decisions.

“Football is the world’s most popular sport and an extraordinary engine of human and social development,” FIFA President [Gianni Infantino](https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/gianni-infantino/) said in a [statement](https://inside.fifa.com/organisation/media-releases/intends-expand-football-development-funding-usd-10-billion-subject-approval-member-associations). “Parts of the game have turned that popularity into remarkable commercial value—and we celebrate that success and want it to continue, because it lifts the whole game.”

But the move has faced backlash from soccer officials, fans, and political leaders, who say it would overly commercialize the sport. Critics also fear that it could deepen FIFA’s already-controversial ties with U.S. President Donald Trump through potential investors linked to his family. The proposal comes on the heels of the 2026 men’s World Cup, which was co-hosted by the U.S. and brought in a record $12 billion in revenue for the organization.

“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade—especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially,” European soccer body UEFA said in a [statement](https://x.com/UEFA/status/2082125178440401072?s=20). The organization is [reportedly](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/49470028/uefa-blasts-fifa-proposal-10-billion-world-cup-private-investment) planning to hold an emergency meeting this week to discuss plans to oppose the proposal, including a potential World Cup boycott.

“The close relationship between the FIFA President and the US President has reached a financial dimension that is deeply damaging football,” [posted](https://x.com/SeppBlatter/status/2082163332463661084) Infantino’s predecessor, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was dogged by accusations of corruption and financial mismanagement during his tenure but has since become a vocal critic of his successor. “No one has the right to sell our game.”

## Plan to bring in external, Trump-linked investors

The commercial subsidiary, “FIFA Forward Enterprise” (FFE), would consolidate FIFA’s commercial rights, including broadcast, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing, with the operational delivery of FIFA tournaments. The enterprise would raise capital and significantly increase funding for its 211 member associations through a new “FIFA Fast Forward Program,” according to FIFA’s announcement.

The existing FIFA Forward program is budgeted to provide $8 million in development funds to each member association during the 2027-30 World Cup cycle. Under the proposal, the new FIFA Fast Forward Program would increase funding to $20 million each during the upcoming cycle, and to $22 million and $24 million each for the following four-year cycles through 2038.

Each member association would also be able to access an optional $20 million in one-off, immediate funding for infrastructure, coaching, national teams, competitions, grassroots football, and the women’s game.

But the underlying plan has drawn scrutiny for its ties to Thrive Eternal, a company launched by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Thrive Eternal is a permanent capital investment firm created earlier this year to buy and hold minority stakes in sports teams and other iconic brands.

“Outside investors will have only a minority stake in FFE and will not play any operational role,” FIFA said in its announcement. “Equally, they ​are investing in a subsidiary of FIFA, and not in FIFA itself. For FIFA, nothing changes.”

TIME has reached out to FIFA for comment. Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm founded by Kushner, said it did not have a comment to provide at this time.

## Soccer confederations, lawmakers criticize proposal

UEFA, which represents 55 FIFA member associations, was not the only soccer body to express concern about the proposal.

CONCACAF, the confederation that governs soccer in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean and that represents 35 of FIFA’s member associations, [said](https://x.com/JacobsBen/status/2082387863438508276) it was “deeply concerned by the lack of due process,” including the fact that plans had been announced “before any discussion with the relevant governance bodies and stakeholders has taken place.”

The Football Association, England’s national football governing body, also [said](https://www.thefa.com/news/2026/jul/29/statement-fifa-world-cup-proposal-20262907) it was “deeply concerned about the lack of process and governance to get to this point, and the apparent substance and principles involved.” FA Chair Debbie Hewitt is one of FIFA’s eight vice-presidents.

The Asian Football Confederation also [expressed concern](https://www.the-afc.com/en/more/afc%5Fnews.html/news/afc-statement-on-the-fifa-forward-enterprise-proposal) about the proposal and said it was not consulted on it. The body, which represents 46 FIFA member associations, said it “is disappointed that a matter of such significance entered the public domain” before it was discussed “through the appropriate and established governance channels.”

The outline of the proposed project was shared with FIFA’s member associations in Manhattan on July 18, FIFA told the [Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-fifa-investors-kushner-infantino-uefa-8345e0864e3a217632733810c232b423). The final decision on the proposal will require majority support from FIFA’s member associations and approval by the FIFA council.

The proposal comes as relations between UEFA and FIFA have strained. UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin skipped the World Cup final after disputes with FIFA over disciplinary procedures and match operations. UEFA said FIFA had “crossed a red line” when FIFA [suspended the implementation of an automatic one-match ban](https://time.com/article/2026/07/10/world-cup-fifa-infantino-trump-us-balogun-red-card-european-lawmakers/) for U.S. forward Folarin Balogun, who had [received a red card](https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/red-card-reversal-turns-usa-belgium-into-world-cup-grudge-match/), after [Trump’s reported intervention](https://time.com/article/2026/07/06/trump-inserts-himself-in-world-cup-call-with-global-blowback/).

Infantino, who is up for reelection as head of FIFA next year, has faced criticism from UEFA over his close ties to Trump and what critics say is a lack of transparency in FIFA’s decision-making. Infantino was scrutinized after accompanying Trump on a Gulf tour instead of attending the start of the FIFA Congress in 2025, prompting a UEFA-led walkout.

Ahead of this year’s World Cup, some European soccer officials and politicians called for fans to [boycott the U.S. games](https://time.com/7358117/fifa-world-cup-boycott-soccer-football-trump-infantino/), citing both Infantino’s [friendship with Trump](https://time.com/7302062/trump-boos-fifa-club-world-cup-chelsea-palmer-infantino-controversy/) and the Trump Administration’s immigration and foreign policies. Infantino was also criticized for presenting Trump with a newly-created FIFA Peace Prize, and for opening a FIFA office in New York’s Trump Tower, a property owned by the Trump Organization.

“FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!” the House Judiciary Democrats [posted](https://x.com/HouseJudiciary/status/2082158656146100275?s=20) on X. “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”

The Democratic committee members said the proposal was an example of “more oligarch corruption” after FIFA’s use of dynamic pricing helped push World Cup ticket prices to unprecedented levels. Earlier this week, the group of lawmakers [called on Infantino](https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/ranking-member-raskin-calls-foul-on-fifa-president-infantino-for-trump-bribery-and-corruption-scheme) to sit for an interview about “deceptive” ticket practices and alleged corruption between him and Trump. 

[Andy Burnham](https://time.com/article/2026/07/20/andy-burnham-uk-prime-minister-day-one-trump-invitation/), who [became British Prime Minister](https://time.com/article/2026/06/29/andy-burnham-uk-prime-minister-plans-economics-devolution-backlash/) earlier this month after [Keir Starmer resigned](https://time.com/article/2026/06/22/uk-prime-minister-keir-starmer-resignation-reports-burnham-leadership-potential/), also criticized the proposal.

“Let me say this very directly. Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine,” Burnham [posted](https://x.com/andyburnham/status/2082181244830339117) on X. “The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone’s to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.

“Football belongs to the fans. It always has, and it always will.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt1270e100310c126bWed, 29 Jul 2026 10:30:00 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Miranda Jeyaretnam\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The Hidden Cost of Stress at Work\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/the-hidden-cost-of-stress-at-work/<!\[CDATA\[Ideas\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Policymakers, employers, and professional organizations have opportunities to design work environments that make us healthier, write Lilly Springer, David Slusky, and Anupam B. Jena.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[cyano66—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46c0b92b5fff67a7/6a57af10671e1d0da67a0b52/stress-at-work.jpg?branch=production)

 —cyano66—Getty Images

According to [data](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/hours-worked.html) from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Americans work more hours per year than those in similar countries. Working is, in a sense, an American pastime. 

Work brings benefits, but it also brings costs. Many jobs are stressful or physically demanding, imposing a toll on both mental and physical health. 

The question of how work affects our health is incredibly important but hard to answer. Of course, there are some easily understood cases. For example, coal miners face an increased risk in [mortality due to respiratory diseases](https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/27365122.pdf?casa%5Ftoken=ZDOzRKi3ac4AAAAA:V9MVgX8mRK09TpMlCJzc4zvv75HOF7pxltiESai7DmlhWwE%5FmDRK4f03dYMyooVd4MGe-JdyxGt6r0ztsnX9go1vjbdcurwqJn-WhIhKi2QNcWPdyKVQ), and firefighters are at [increased risk of cancer](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045%2822%2900390-4/fulltext) from exposure to asbestos. Most of us aren’t mining coal or putting out fires. Our jobs are more mundane, but they may still impact our health.

In a recent [study](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272726001167) published in the _Journal of Public Economics_, we sought to understand the effect of working in a stressful and physically demanding occupation on our health. We focused on the birth outcomes of mothers who work in two occupations that require extensive education and training: physicians and lawyers. 

We compared mothers who were physicians to those who were lawyers, since physicians and lawyers have similar years of education, similar income, and similar access to health care. You might expect their birth outcomes to be similar as well. 

However, while both groups work long hours (physicians more than lawyers in our data), physicians, especially those in hospitals, spend a lot more time working on their feet and are more likely to experience periods of intense stress. This is particularly true in the early years of physician training, where 80-hour work weeks and overnight shifts are common. So, despite the health benefits that tend to come with greater education and wealth, the stress and difficulty of a physician’s work may actually worsen health. 

We used birth certificate data from Texas, which is one of only a few states that includes the parents’ occupation on the birth certificate. Using these responses, we identified mothers who listed their occupation as a physician or lawyer. For physician mothers, we were also able to determine whether the mother was a surgeon. 

We found that physician mothers had worse birth outcomes than lawyer mothers. For example, physician mothers were 16% more likely to have a low birth weight infant and were 10% more likely to deliver pre-term. 

When we looked at surgeons specifically—an analysis motivated by the additional physical exertion and stress that comes with being a surgeon—we found that surgeon mothers had the worst birth outcomes compared to both lawyers and other doctors Importantly, our analysis accounted for the fact that physician mothers tend to have children at later ages, which increases the risk for negative birth outcomes.

These findings, while interesting, couldn’t tell us if being a physician itself caused worse birth outcomes. To help answer that part of the question, we used a “natural experiment” that was designed to improve the working environment for some physicians. [Natural experiments](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2781099) are instances in which people are exposed, by chance, to one path or another that allows researchers to study cause and effect (in this case, studying the impact of improved working conditions on health, a question that would be difficult to study in a controlled, randomized study). 

In 2011, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education enacted a [reform](https://www.acgme.org/globalassets/pdfs/jgme-monograph1.pdf) that limited the number of hours that first-year residents (physicians in training) could consecutively work to be less than 16 consecutive hours. The reform was intended to improve the working conditions for first-year residents. 

Since the work reform only affected physicians, we could compare the birth outcomes of physician mothers to those of lawyer mothers before and after the reform to understand how an improvement in working conditions affected physician mothers’ birth outcomes. (Lawyer mothers should be unaffected.) In addition, because the reform was targeted at first-year residents, we focused on physicians who were 26 to 30 years old at the time the reform was enacted. 

We found that the work reform improved birth outcomes for these young physician mothers. Compared to babies born to physician mothers _before_ the work reform, babies born to physician mothers _after_ the reform had higher birth weights and a lower chance of being born small for their gestational age. The improvement was concentrated among young surgeon mothers. The reform, as we expected, did not have an effect on lawyer mothers or older physician mothers, whose work hours weren’t subject to the reform.

The implications of our study extend beyond physicians. While medicine provides a particularly clear example of a demanding profession, many workers face [long hours](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295797), [physical strain](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00420-012-0763-7), [irregular schedules](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-022-08336-0), and [chronic stress](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0176658). 

Our findings suggest that workplace conditions can impact the health of not only workers themselves, but also their children. In other words, the effects of work may reach beyond an individual employee and into the next generation.

The improvements in birth outcomes that we observed following the physician work-hour reform demonstrate that negative health outcomes aren’t inevitable. Changes to workplace environments—such as limiting excessively long shifts, which are common among physicians in training—could improve health. 

This suggests that policymakers, employers, and professional organizations have opportunities to design work environments that make us healthier, whether by limiting excessively long shifts, improving options for greater [physical activity](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12154417/) and healthier [food choices](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6589116/) in the workplace, or reducing [stress](https://www.bmj.com/content/332/7540/521).

The connection between work and well-being is often discussed in terms of productivity, burnout, or job satisfaction. Our findings highlight another dimension: the health of future generations. The way we organize work today may have consequences that extend far beyond the workplace itself.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blta09fdb1601b4b471Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:00:04 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Lilly Springer, David Slusky and Anupam B. Jena\]\]><!\[CDATA\[How India’s Young Faced Down Modi\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/29/india-cockroach-youth-protests-unemployment-modi/<!\[CDATA\[Ideas\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The young are searching for a new political grammar rooted in democracy and accountability.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Arun Sankar-AFP via Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Neha Bora, an Indian student leader, who was on a hunger strike for 23 days during the recent youth protests in India addresses the press in New Delhi on July 25, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb15cc10beec8a0ef/6a6900dd07823741464dc3eb/GettyImages-2286898193.jpg?branch=production)

Neha Bora, an Indian student leader, who was on a hunger strike for 23 days during the recent youth protests in India addresses the press in New Delhi on July 25, 2026\. —Arun Sankar-AFP via Getty Images

A botched medical entrance exam, a judge’s slur, and a young Indian student in Boston turning to satire converged to produce something India has not witnessed in over a decade: a youth movement that [punctured the hegemony ](https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/cockroach-movement-india-mukul-kesavan-interview/)of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and forced his education minister to resign. 

The sparks that ignited [the protests ](https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/india-cockroach-janta-party-protest-movement/)came in May. More than two million students took a punishing examination for admission in medical colleges. Not for the first time, papers were leaked, the examination was scrapped, and the government ordered the students to take the test again. Frustrations mounted.

On May 15, India’s chief justice, Surya Kant, [disparaged](https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/cockroaches-jantar-mantar-courageous-citizens-not-subjects-pradhan-10804159/) the unemployed youth of India as "cockroaches" who complain about the system on social media. [Abhijeet Dipke](https://www.reuters.com/world/india/abhijeet-dipke-face-indias-first-gen-z-protest-movement-2026-07-23/), an Indian student in Boston, embraced the slur and created the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), on Instagram, deploying it to forge a new political vocabulary that spoke to India’s youth in a grammar they understood. The CJP page briskly gathered 20 million followers.

What began as an Instagram phenomenon, soon found its voice on the streets. In late June, a prominent educator and activist [Sonam Wangchuk](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/23/indian-activist-wangchuk-ends-26-day-hunger-strike-over-exam-paper-leaks), along with student leaders led by [Neha Bora,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVEVdVxwHQs) a graduate student, began a hunger strike in support of the CJP and its primary demand: the resignation of the education minister. As the days wore on, the crowds swelled, reaching a crescendo on July 20, after the Modi government forcibly removed Wanghuck from the protest site on the 21st day of his hunger strike.

The government deployed its [all-too-familiar playbook ](https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/raf-fired-pellet-gun-at-protesters-on-the-directions-of-a-delhi-police-officer-document-shows/article71275391.ece)to quell dissent: batons, tear gas, pellet guns, internet shutdowns. But the students kept coming. Five days later, the education minister resigned, forcing an imperious government, that had never dismissed a minister under public pressure to be accountable to the people’s demands and reducing the prime minister, a man accustomed to controlling the narrative, to posting uncurated midnight Instagram videos to reach out and connect with the protesting youth.

### **A rising power without jobs**

The examination scandals at the heart of the protests are symptomatic of a deeper structural malaise. India’s economic growth has failed to generate jobs and prosperity for the bulk of the country's young: 40% of India’s[ university graduates](https://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/6848/1/SWI%202026%20-%20Web.pdf) under the age of 25 are unemployed. India’s education system is broken and the quality of education it offers is poor. Half of the country’s grade five students can[ barely read](https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/only-50-class-5-students-can-read-class-2-text-learning-gap-by-class-3-report-2672907-2025-01-31) a grade two textbook.

The narrow path of opportunity that the Indian education system offers toward a place in the formal economy and a potentially hopeful future runs through a set of competitive examinations for admission to medical, engineering, and law schools. Students prepare desperately for years to compete in these grueling exams.But even they face bleak prospects.

Between 2004 and 2023, five million Indians graduated from colleges annually, but a mere[ 1.7 million found](https://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/6848/1/SWI%202026%20-%20Web.pdf) salaried work. That awareness increases the stakes in admission examinations for vocational schools such as medicine. These examinations also lend a veneer of meritocracy to a broken education system and an unequal economy.

Rather than question the broken system, Indian families buy into the myth of meritocracy, investing everything into private coaching—which for many begins at the kindergarten level—to give their children a chance. It is when the state fails to do its part and ensure fair examinations that the myth breaks down. This is what fueled the anger of millions of young Indians and their families.

### **Modi’s elusive good days**

In 2014, Modi rode to power promising a New India of “_acche din_” (good days). His slogans of “maximum governance, minimum government” and “Make in India” captured the aspirations of the moment. For nearly a decade many Indians willingly accepted a Faustian bargain: tolerating an increasingly authoritarian politics in exchange for the promise of that new India. 

Hindu majoritarianism provided the ideological glue. It enabled Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to dismiss student protests in the past, casting demonstrators as “Soros-funded,” “anti-nationals” hostile to the Hindu nationalist zeitgeist in the eyes of the majority.

This time was different. Modi has run India for thirteen years. The failures of “maximum governance” were visible to all, and the students—many of them part of the BJP’s core vote base—were now questioning the terms of the bargain. They did so with a creativity and irreverence that left this middle-aged protestor feeling a little less worried about her children’s screen addictions.

The posters, memes, and Instagram videos told the story. India’s youth are done with the “_dickatatorship_,” as one poster put it. Their demand: a government that is responsive and accountable. “So silent,” read another. “Even I wasn’t as silent during my viva as this government is.” The most powerful slogans at the protest site in New Delhi challenged the dominant discourse of Hindu nationalism: “Whenever Modi gets scared, he turns to Hindu-Muslim” and “When Hindus and Muslims stand together, what can the fascist do?”

Such slogans appeared in earlier protests, particularly those against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019, which sought to make religion a[ basis for offering citizenship](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/opinion/india-citizenship-bill-muslims.html) granting preferential access to citizenship to non-Muslim migrants India’s neighboring countries. Those protests insisting on secular citizenship were led by Muslim community organizations and students and supported by secular Indians. 

The difference now was that these slogans came from a broader base of largely Hindu students, many of whom had until then been comfortable with the bargain Indians made with Modi. Against this, the government’s usual playbook failed.

In those heady moments, at the protest site, scrolling through social media, it felt as if India was breathing again, as if the fear had lifted and young India was ready to reclaim its constitutional promise. But the dark shadows never quite disappeared. The mood was spirited and free, yet anxious. Every few hours, the threat of more police action and greater repression surfaced. In the aftermath, despite promises to the contrary, a crackdown on protesters across the country has begun. It is these shadows that make any assessment of what comes next a grim exercise.

### **The battles ahead for India**

Still, some democratic space has opened. Never in these 13 years has Modi’s governance been so actively delegitimized. The young are searching for a new political grammar rooted in democracy and accountability. Education reform is the rallying cry. The failures of education are not entirely this government’s making, but it drove in the final nail by placing the education system in service of the Hindu nationalist project: rewriting school curricula, making political appointments, overcentralizing and defunding higher education.

The government’s response to the protests—setting up fast track courts and a committee led by a tech czar—holds little promise. It neither addresses the core issues nor breaks the ideological yoke that burdens India’s education system today. 

India’s political opposition has an opportunity to rise to the occasion. But its task is complicated by another phenomenon the protests made visible. The formal sites of democratic legitimacy—political parties, elections, the Parliament—are no longer seen as credible venues for demanding accountability. This is due in part to the BJPs ability to achieve total electoral dominance through means both legitimate and illegitimate: institutional capture, financial control and the manipulation of electoral rolls.

It is instructive, however, that the Indian National Congress, the country’s main opposition party, which started protesting the paper leaks weeks before the CJP was formed, could not rouse popular sentiment the way an avowedly non-partisan formation did. The other two great protests of the decade in India—against the citizenship law and the farm reforms—likewise steered clear of formal partisan affiliation.

What happens to a democracy when its formal sites of accountability are delegitimized? The future of Indian democracy rests on its ability to navigate this complex terrain. In the interim, India’s democratic backsliding will continue to be punctuated by moments when its people can breathe, followed by brutal state repression.

Cockroaches, after all, are hard to exterminate.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt390f0c086d0e40f5Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Yamini Aiyar\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Trump Pays Tribute to Lindsey Graham: ‘He Died Doing the Work He Was Born to Do’\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/trump-lindsey-graham-funeral/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[“For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it,” the President said.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Alex Brandon—AP Photo/Bloomberg/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[President Donald Trump speaks during the funeral service of late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on July 28, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc7269699bedf218/6a69196eaad9557b8c844330/trump-lindsey-graham-funeral.jpg?branch=production)

President Donald Trump speaks during the funeral service of late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on July 28, 2026\. —Alex Brandon—AP Photo/Bloomberg/Getty Images

A somber President Donald Trump paid tribute on Tuesday to his rival-turned-honest broker Lindsey Graham, a longtime fixture of Washington whose three decades in political office steadied the United States’ hawkish posture and reflected the increasingly combative nature of the modern conservative movement.

“Our nation needs more men and women like that great person sitting, laying wherever he may be,” Trump said during a funeral service for Graham at the Washington National Cathedral packed with domestic dignitaries, foreign leaders, and military leaders who jostled with the late Senator over his long career in politics. Among their number were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who both stepped away from their countries’ respective wars to attend the ceremony in honor of one of their best advocates in Washington.

“He died doing the work he was born to do. He was truly a great politician,” Trump said in a 14-minute eulogy.

Graham, who died unexpectedly on July 11 at age 71, was equally irascible and incorrigible. Always ready with a quick rejoinder for foes and a kind word for colleagues, he at times could be the walking manifestation of the contradictions of Washington. His transition from Washington maverick to the Senate’s unofficial envoy to the Trump White House was at once stunning and complete. But whenever American resolve threatened to wobble—be it on supporting Israel or combating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—Graham was ready to preach U.S. might. An unwilling audience often got a fiery correction.

Trump began one section of his remarks by saying that “virtually everyone, Republican or Democrat, liked Lindsey.” He then stopped, correcting himself. “Not everybody. But it sounds good,” Trump said. “Not everybody. He was a tough cookie.”

As Fox News host Sean Hannity reflected on that tension during his own tribute at the cathedral: “Lindsey and I did not always agree. Not on everything. But we could disagree and we could remain friends, and we remained friends for decades.”

And as Graham’s South Carolina pastor, the Rev. Tim Tate, said of the late Senator’s temperament in his eulogy: “You may not have liked him and he may not have liked you, but he would work with you for the common good of this country.”

Three of the best-known players in the conservative movement—Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and the Rev. Franklin Graham—also spoke at the service, a reflection of the deep respect Graham garnered from across the modern GOP.

“Sen. Graham was very Washington, if you know what I mean,” Tate said. “But he was also very small-town.”

Graham was elected to the U.S. House during the 1994 Republican Revolution that elevated Newt Gingrich to the Speaker role, as the country’s politics were growing increasingly toxic. Graham quickly emerged as an unmovable conservative advocate for American military strength. He moved to the Senate after the 2002 elections, at the height of the post-9/11 trauma and shortly before the United States expanded its war on terror from Afghanistan to Iraq.

“He never saw a war that he didn’t like… He felt in his bones that our destiny is to win and that his job was to do everything he could to ensure that our enemies would lose,” Trump said.

That hawkishness would at times leave Graham a bit adrift from the movement Trump was forming. In fact, in the early days of Trumpism’s rise the South Carolina Senator attempted to block it from taking hold of a party that, just eight years earlier, had once been helmed by Graham’s best friend and fellow Senate troublemaker John McCain. 

“Running against each other, back in 2016, Lindsey said something rather nasty,” Trump recalled of that time. “So naturally I did something that I shouldn’t have done. I shared his personal cell phone number with the millions of people that happened to be watching that particular day.”

In Trump’s recollection, “that was the beginning of a friendship in a way.”

From then on, he said, “Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years.”

Graham’s defenders say his evolution could be explained by his sincere hope that he could curb some of Trump’s isolationist impulses and fill in some blind spots with U.S. foes like Russia. Part of it was also likely just his actual friendship with Trump, another outspoken antagonist with an irreverent sense of humor. And part of it appeared to be aimed at keeping the traditional conservative agenda moving forward, such as Supreme Court nominations that have now given the court its 6-3 tilt. 

“Justice Kavanaugh, in an unfortunate way, you brought out the very best in Lindsey for the entire country to see. Now, he saw what was happening to you and your family as a grave injustice and the world got to witness my friend, the person that I knew, in action. And they got to see him at his absolute best,” Hannity said, speaking to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose Supreme Court nomination was arguably salvaged by Graham amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Even as he became a close ally to the President in Congress, Graham’s temper at times could turn on Trump. As Graham said in the hours after a mob descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021: “Count me out. Enough is enough.”

Trump, for his part, seemed to understand the scope of Graham’s influence, both at home and abroad, and his personality tics. 

“For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it,” Trump said. “Nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having a view on it. And no bill became law in the most exceptional republic in human history without Lindsey having a say in it.”

It was a power Trump came to respect, not least of all because it helped the President move his agenda through the Senate with Graham as his _de facto_ guide. 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blta56baa19a4dac678Tue, 28 Jul 2026 21:07:10 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Philip Elliott\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Spider-Man: Brand New Day Proves That You Can at Least Try to Build a Better Marvel Movie\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/spider-man-brand-new-day-review/<!\[CDATA\[Entertainment\]\]><!\[CDATA\[This Marvel movie is superior to most, with pleasing performances despite the excessively busy plot mechanics the MCU has come to be known for.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Courtesy of Sony\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Tom Holland as Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd536e66953ca6cf9/6a68f5dad15efc423088bfa5/spidey_close-up.jpg?branch=production)

Tom Holland as Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man —Courtesy of Sony

At the end of 2021’s [_Spider-Man: No Way Home_](https://time.com/6128825/spider-man-no-way-home-cameos-andrew-garfield-tobey-maguire/)_,_ [Tom Holland’s](https://time.com/4837442/spider-man-tom-holland-peter-parker/) [Peter Parker](https://time.com/6186597/spider-man-brother-jason-reynolds/)/[Spider-Man](https://time.com/5472316/new-spider-man-movies/) is a young man adrift. His best friend, Jacob Batalan’s Ned, and his girlfriend, [Zendaya’s](https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177806/zendaya/) MJ, have been right by his side through most of the movie; at the end, a mystical spell erases their memory of him, ostensibly forever. His Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) has died as the result of a fireball assault by Green Goblin ([Willem Dafoe](https://time.com/5714746/willem-dafoe-the-lighthouse-interview/)), who, in his human guise, is a man she’d tried to help. Peter is too sunny to let his isolation harden into bitterness, and he’s still dedicated to fighting crime in his hometown of New York City, but he’s miserable, and this is where _Spider-Man: Brand New Day_ begins. “Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing even if it breaks Peter Parker’s heart,” he explains in the movie’s opening scene, a statement potent enough for three semesters’ worth term papers on the nature of duality.

There are plenty more term-paper themes where that one came from. No man is an island, not even a [Spider-Man](https://time.com/4865988/spider-man-ranked/): You could milk 2,000 words from that one. With great power comes great responsibility: If you can’t squeeze five pages out of that, you’re just not trying. _Spider-Man: Brand New Day,_ directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (drawn, of course, from characters created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko), is so filled with truisms, plot machinations, and ricocheting feelings that it’s sometimes hard to focus on the core story, and even on our poor protagonist’s anguish. There’s a perfectly enjoyable summer entertainment locked inside this _Spider-Man,_ if only the excessively busy mechanics didn’t get in the way.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdad737ed819b57fd/6a68f5f611de33fd3d8fe34d/spidey-tom-zendaya.jpg?branch=production)

Zendaya and Tom Holland in Brand New Day —Courtesy of Sony

But then, those mechanics—along with loads of elaborately fake-looking special effects, which now, rather than being dazzling, are just business as usual—are the hallmarks of all Marvel movies. It seems you can’t build one without them. You also can’t really explain the plot of _Brand New Day_ without giving away the arrival of a surprise character, but here, roughly, is how it goes: Sad Peter Parker goes through the motions of being Spider-Man for four long years, as MJ and Ned study hard at MIT, the college the three of them were supposed to attend together. After graduation, MJ and Ned return to New York; Peter spies on them wistfully, and when he finally does get up the guts to talk to them, his face draws blank stares. He regularly leaves fresh flowers at Aunt May’s grave. The rest of his days are spent foiling workaday crimes, until some weird events shake the city: an unseen force capable of taking control of people’s bodies and brains has begun to wreak mayhem. Meanwhile, Spider-Man’s web-shooting capabilities have gone awry. His know-it-all AI assistant E.V.I.E. informs him that this is due to a massive increase in “arachnid hormones,” which is also causing him to be more aggressive. In other words, he’s angry and stressed out, and he has no idea how to handle his rage.

Here and there, Bruce Banner/the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Frank Castle/Punisher (Jon Bernthal), and Mac Gargan/Scorpion (Michael Mando) show up to cause mayhem. The heavy-duty CGI battles that ensue feel perfunctory and underwhelming. At least Florence Pugh’s Yelena/Black Widow briefly shows up, holding court in the waters of a Russian bath, and that’s hardly a bad thing. 

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb1b6b6af4838457/6a68f602e6110c647b4784af/spidey-action.jpg?branch=production)

Holland's Spider-Man in action in the franchise's latest installment —Courtesy of Sony

Meanwhile, both Peter Parker and Spider-Man are sad, angry, frustrated, and guilt-ridden: These aren’t just teenage emotions, but adult ones, and it’s clear that _Brand New Day_ is hoping to push Marvel product into more emotionally sophisticated territory. That’s not a bad impulse: It seems that even Marvel’s key audience of the early 2000s has outgrown the old formula of massive special-effects scenes interlaced with numbing proclamations about evil forces threatening to destroy the world. But while Cretton—also the director of 2021’s [_Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings_](https://time.com/6095108/shang-chi-asian-representation/)—is clearly on the right track, the film’s pace never gives us time to let any single emotion or event settle. Loss, mourning, yearning, rage, befuddlement: in _Brand New Day,_ feelings may be taken seriously, but they’re also treated as problems to be cycled through. 

But if nothing else, _Spider-Man: Brand New Day_ is proof that you can at least _try_ to build a better Marvel movie—even with its flaws, this one is superior to most. That’s partly thanks to Holland, a smart, sensitive actor who, inside a stretchy suit or not, takes his character’s emotional travails just seriously enough. It doesn’t hurt that as MJ, Zendaya is allowed to do more than scowl disapprovingly. In both [_The Odyssey_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/24/christopher-nolan-explains-the-end-of-the-odyssey/) and the [_Dune_](https://time.com/6835194/dune-part-two-what-to-remember/) movies, her spark has been sacrificed to the gods of serious acting, and not for the better. She’s best when there are beats of uncertainty in her dialogue. She shouldn’t be playing roles demanding grandeur and nobility; they only crush her spirit. _Brand New Day,_ at the very least, shows some awareness that actors, and not excessive, soul-killing special effects, are what will keep drawing us to the movies. Everything else is just a distraction from faces, and maybe one that we can’t afford. 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt8145f723b198e826Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:34:34 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Stephanie Zacharek\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Here’s Who Is Attending Lindsey Graham’s Funeral Services\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/lindsey-graham-funeral-services-who-attending/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Funeral services for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham started on Tuesday in the nation’s capital, with several notable political and media figures in town to attend the ceremonies.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Win McNamee—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Vice President J.D. Vance pays his respects over the casket during a memorial tribute for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 28, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3494c87c3d2002fe/6a68e50b95a2f046116a3a78/Graham-Funeral-Attendance.jpg?branch=production)

Vice President J.D. Vance pays his respects over the casket during a memorial tribute for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 28, 2026\. —Win McNamee—Getty Images

Funeral [services](https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/lindsey-graham-funeral-services-when-where/) for the late [Sen. Lindsey Graham](https://time.com/article/2026/07/12/the-world-pays-tribute-to-sen-lindsey-graham/) started on Tuesday in the nation’s capital, with [several](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/benjamin-netanyahu/) [notable](https://time.com/6551657/6551657/) [political](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/donald-trump/) and [media](https://time.com/collections/most-influential-people-2018/5238116/sean-hannity/) figures in town to attend the ceremonies.

The Tuesday services are all taking place in Washington, D.C.; further ceremonies will take place in the South Carolina lawmaker’s home state on Wednesday.

**Read More:** [_What to Know About Lindsey Graham’s Funeral Services_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/lindsey-graham-funeral-services-when-where/)

Politicians gathered in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday morning to honor Graham in a ceremony that was closed to the public but livestreamed. Vice President J.D. Vance gave a eulogy for the South Carolina lawmaker, recounting their time together in the Senate.

“I remember Lindsey Graham as a man who loved people, and because he loved people, he was willing to reason with them, to respect them, and ultimately to persuade them,” Vance said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune also spoke about his friendship with Graham, calling him “entertaining always and pretentious never.”

“It didn’t matter to Lindsey whether an issue was popular or unpopular, whether he had the full support of his colleagues or was standing alone,” Thune said. “He told things the way he saw them and he didn’t mince words.”

Graham’s remains were then carried over to the Washington National Cathedral for a funeral service Tuesday afternoon. The service is by invitation only, but, like the Capitol Rotunda ceremony, is being livestreamed to the public.

Many prominent figures are in attendance. President Donald Trump gave a speech during the service in remembrance of Graham, who went from a vocal critic of Trump and one of his opponents in the 2016 Republican presidential primary to one of the President’s closest allies in Congress. 

In his remarks, Trump called Graham "the first person to make you laugh and one of the last people you wanted to fight."

"From that pool hall where his parents raised him to the halls of the United States Senate where he was respected and loved, this son of South Carolina became one of the most important men in the most important country on earth," the President said. "In a country where politicians often become jaded and cynical, Lindsey Graham never lost the old-fashioned American idealism that brought him to the highest levels of government and life."

Other world leaders—including [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu](https://x.com/netanyahu/status/2081702825948553603) and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky—also attended the service.

“On behalf of all of Ukraine, we will honor the memory of Senator Lindsey Graham,” Zelensky said in a [social media post](https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2081975587149602856) announcing that he had landed in the U.S. on Tuesday. “Together with everyone attending the ceremony in Washington, we will remember his commitment to security and freedom across the transatlantic community and around the world.”

Graham, who [died](https://time.com/article/2026/07/12/the-world-pays-tribute-to-sen-lindsey-graham/) earlier this month of an [aortic dissection](https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/lindsey-graham-death-aortic-dissection/), spent some of his final days in Ukraine on his 10th visit to the country since it was invaded by Russia in 2022\. Prior to his death, the South Carolina Senator was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and pushed for [strong sanctions](https://time.com/article/2026/07/14/russia-sanctions-bill-championed-by-graham-would-give-trump-new-tariff-powers/) against Moscow.

He was also a vocal advocate for Israel and defender of U.S. support for the country amid its war in Gaza. Netanyahu [praised](https://time.com/article/2026/07/12/the-world-pays-tribute-to-sen-lindsey-graham/) Graham following the lawmaker’s death as “a great friend of Israel” and “a cherished friend of mine.”

Fox News’ Sean Hannity also spoke during the Tuesday service at Washington National Cathedral, and several other notable names gave readings, including evangelical minister Rev. Franklin Graham and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

A number of members of Trump's Cabinet also gathered at the National Cathedral for the ceremony. Among them are Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin—both of whom previously served in the Senate with Graham—as well as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and other top Administration officials.

Graham represented South Carolina in the upper chamber for more than 20 years. The 71-year-old lawmaker had been seeking a fifth term before his death. 

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster [appointed](https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/darline-nordone-lindsey-graham-sister-south-carolina-senate-trump-mcmaster/) Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to complete the rest of his term, which ends in January. Last week, she [announced](https://time.com/article/2026/07/20/darline-graham-nordone-lindsey-graham-senate-south-carolina-republican-primary/) that she plans to run for a full term in the seat, joining a [crowded field](https://time.com/article/2026/07/24/lindsey-graham-senate-south-carolina-special-republican-primary-election-candidates/) of candidates vying for the Republican nomination that also includes former South Carolina congressman and governor Mark Sanford and current Rep. Russell Fry.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltd7e3fa37cad2f603Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:35:14 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Chantelle Lee\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Europe Is Heading for a Historic Wildfire Season\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/history-of-wildfires-in-europe/<!\[CDATA\[Climate\]\]><!\[CDATA\[For many, this summer is a warning that Europe is unprepared for the new climate reality.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[FBM Media—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Bystanders watch the smoke and flames from a wildfire on July 21, 2026 in Cotignac, France.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe3c271cb6bd8efc/6a68ce54077c438f462b7275/europe-france-spain-wildfires-climate-change.jpg?branch=production)

Bystanders watch the smoke and flames from a wildfire on July 21, 2026 in Cotignac, France. —FBM Media—Getty Images

Firefighters in France and Spain are racing to contain [wildfires](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-wildfire-heat-wave-europe-climate-change/) inching closer to Bordeaux and Madrid. 

More than 250,000 people across the two countries have been forced to evacuate, and the European Commission has said that Europe’s firefighting capacity is struggling to keep pace with what is proving to be an [intense wildfire year](https://time.com/article/2026/07/26/wildfire-disruptions-to-the-tour-de-france-show-how-climate-change-is-shaping-sports/). 

It’s shaping up to be a [record-breaking](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/projects-and-activities/natural-and-man-made-hazards/forest-fires/current-wildfire-situation-europe%5Fen) year for fires in Europe, where the amount of land burned is already creeping up to the [2025 record](https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/projects-and-activities/natural-and-man-made-hazards/forest-fires/current-wildfire-situation-europe%5Fen). For many, it's a warning that Europe is unprepared for its new climate reality—in which fire season brings larger, more intense blazes. 

**Read more:** [_Photos Show the Destruction in France and Spain From Ferocious European Wildfires_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-europe-wildfires-destruction-photos/)

## Is this the worst wildfire year Europe has ever experienced? 

This is already the[ worst year](https://x.com/SebLecornu/status/2081754208315875512) on record for France, with 116,085 hectares (286,852 acres) burned, and 13,566 fires recorded since January, surpassing the 2022 record of 72,000 hectares (177,915 acres) burned, according to the country’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

While some fires are burning in Mediterranean regions prone to wildfires, others, like the one near Bordeaux, have been fueled by exceptional drought conditions. “The fires near Bordeaux are quite unusual because they are affecting an Atlantic region, and this is linked to the fact that we had this long drought,” says Stefan Doerr, the director of the Centre for Wildfire Research at Swansea University. 

In Spain, more than 150,000 hectares (370,658 acres) have burned since January, according to Spanish Prime Minister [Pedro Sanchez](https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/wildfires-threaten-bordeaux-france-spain-battle-blazes-2026-07-26/)—six times the area destroyed during the same period last year.

## Why is western Europe seeing so many wildfires now?

Many parts of Europe are no stranger to wildfires. “There's always been fires in the Mediterranean, going back thousands of years,” says Thomas Elmqvist, professor at the Stockholm Resilience Center, at Stockholm University. “The difference now is that we have fires, but they are much, much larger and much, much more intense.”

A changing landscape has put regions that didn’t typically see wildfires at risk. “Across southern Europe, you have, over the last \[few\] decades, seen more and more abandonment of rural land…and \[it’s led to\] the encroachment of shrubs and bushes—a different type of landscape which is much more vulnerable to having these mega fires,” says Elmqvist. 

**Read more:** [_The U.S. Is Now At Its Worst Level of Wildfire Preparedness. What Does That Mean?_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/us-wildfire-preparedness-level-5-what-that-means/)

Most of Europe is also currently experiencing a critical drought, which worsened in central-western Europe in late June. Much of the continent has seen above-average temperatures and multiple, prolonged heat waves this year. That has helped supercharge wildfires. “You get incredibly dry biomass, and it doesn't need much to start a fire,” says Elmqvist. 

In the last four years, the amount of land burned by wildfires across Europe increased by 57%, [according to data](https://news.cision.com/who-regional-office-for-europe/r/wildfires-up-57--across-europe-in-four-years,c4377470) from the World Health Organization.

Global warming is also making wildfire seasons last longer, causing more intense fires. 

“In all probability, this is likely due to climate change,” says Doerr. “As soon as you have prolonged heat waves, which of course then means a drought as well, that means the risk for fire is increasing quite dramatically. So there is a direct link between climate change and the probability of a fire season becoming extreme.”

It’s not just Europe that’s contending with this new reality. “We know now that in nearly all parts of the world, apart from some small exceptions, the fire season has become longer, and the fire severity has increased,” says Doerr. “This has actually increased more than climate models have predicted, so this is a very, very clear indicator of how climate change is actually changing fire around the world.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt05cd634b86f8b4c0Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:07:44 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Simmone Shah\]\]><!\[CDATA\[U.S. Walks Out In Protest During France's United Nations Remarks. Here's Why\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/us-walks-out-protest-france-united-nations-address-europe-rift/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\["We will not be affording them the benefit of listening to their politicized drivel until they renounce their condescending and disrespectful rhetoric," said a U.S. official.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

The U.S. delegation briefly walked out of a United Nations Security Council meeting during France's address in protest on Monday after the [European ally](https://time.com/article/2026/05/01/trump-threatens-to-withdraw-us-troops-italy-spain-europe-iran-war/) criticized America’s human rights record.

Dan Negrea, an alternate U.S. representative to the U.N., accused France of feigning “moral outrage” while pretending to lecture the world about the Ukraine conflict and human rights in general.

“That is why we walked out during France's intervention,” he [said](https://youtu.be/ror0VmAp9O8?t=47) during a meeting on Russia's war in Ukraine. “This disingenuous grandstanding is tiresome, but we have tolerated it out of a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect as P5 members.” Negrea was referring to the [five permanent members](https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/current-members) of the Security Council.

“We have stood by this member state through every conflict in which their freedoms have been imperiled, and today I remind them that it is the United States that remains the beacon of liberty for the world,” Negrea [continued.](https://youtu.be/ror0VmAp9O8?t=64) "We will not be affording them the benefit of listening to their politicized drivel until they renounce their condescending and disrespectful rhetoric and behave in a manner commensurate with their seat on this council.”

The diplomatic dispute stems from France's U.N. Mission in Geneva criticizing the United States for opposing a second term for Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights who has held the role since 2022.

Türk secured overwhelming backing from member states on Friday, receiving [144 votes](https://transcripts.un.org/en/ga/80/106?t=2859) in favor of him staying on, with just 10 countries—including the United States—voting against, and 13 abstaining.

“The U.S. used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali, and Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it,” the French Mission [said](https://x.com/FranceONUGeneve/status/2081064968586232263) on Saturday via social media, alongside the hashtag "America Alone."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz called the criticism "disappointing, though not surprising."

“France voted for someone who has been lecturing free, sovereign democracies like the United States, the U.K., and Israel, while cozying up to the world’s worst oppressors,” he [claimed](https://x.com/USAmbUN/status/2081424879660765212).

A [frequent critic](https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ohchr-remarks-08sep25/) of Israel’s military operations, Türk on Monday [expressed concern](https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/07/1168034) about ongoing displacement caused by Israeli strikes against [Lebanon](https://time.com/article/2026/04/10/israels-hezbollah-lebanon-war-explained/). Türk also urged a [“massive rethink” of U.S. immigration policies](https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167692#:~:text=The%20UN's%20top%20human%20rights,affecting%20teams%2C%20officials%20and%20supporters.) ahead of the World Cup in June.

U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform Jeff Bartos also criticized Türk's renewed appointment, insisting “there will be consequences" in the future. “The United States will reassess our engagement, participation, and funding,” regarding the organization, he [warned](https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-un-general-assembly-meeting-on-the-appointment-of-the-united-nations-high-commissioner-for-human-rights/).

Towards the close of the tense council meeting on Monday, French U.N. Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont noted that France had taken part in the July 4 celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary and reaffirmed a commitment to working together for a greater cause.

“The United Nations was created with the goal of working towards international peace and security, human rights, and development,” he [said](https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1i/k1i3en0u3z). “All of that forms the spirit in which France works within the United Nations (...) to preserve this institution, its independence, its ability to act in service of the charter and act to serve human rights and peace.”

The brief U.S. walkout reflects not only the strained relations between U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, but also the widening[ rift between the U.S. and several of its European allies](https://time.com/article/2026/05/01/trump-threatens-to-withdraw-us-troops-italy-spain-europe-iran-war/).

Those broader tensions have centered on [NATO defense spending](https://time.com/article/2026/07/03/trump-nato-defense-spending-row-alliance-summit/), the withdrawal of [U.S. troops in Europe](https://time.com/article/2026/05/20/us-troops-leaving-europe-rift-nato-mark-rutte-trump/), and Trump's[ calls](https://time.com/article/2026/07/07/trump-greenland-should-be-controlled-by-united-states-alliance-nato-summit/) for the United States to take control of Greenland.

Trump has also [repeatedly criticized](https://time.com/article/2026/04/01/trump-considering-pulling-us-out-of-nato-iran-war-legal-options/) European allies for failing to get actively involved in the Iran war, even going so far as[ threatening to cut all trade](https://time.com/article/2026/07/09/can-trump-cut-off-all-trade-with-spain-here-s-what-experts-say/) with Spain during a contentious moment at the NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month. 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt4d4ad10e45d0acb1Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:27:00 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Tiago Ventura\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The OpenAI Hack Is Fueling a New Fight Over Open-Source AI\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/open-source-ai-hugging-face-openai/<!\[CDATA\[Business\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The industry's response to the OpenAI incident reveals a growing divide over the future of AI safety.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Photo by Omer Taha Cetin/Anadolu via Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The AI startup Hugging Face was the victim of an unprecedented AI hacking campaign by rogue OpenAI models, an event that kicked off a firestorm of industry debate this week.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d1d453d8efa0c06/6a68af65077c4327c72b6e8b/GettyImages-2219339362.jpg?branch=production)

The AI startup Hugging Face was the victim of an unprecedented AI hacking campaign by rogue OpenAI models, an event that kicked off a firestorm of industry debate this week. —Photo by Omer Taha Cetin/Anadolu via Getty Images

The AI industry mounted a full-court press in favor of open-source AI this week, as the fallout intensified from the [OpenAI hacking incident.](https://time.com/article/2026/07/24/openai-hugging-face-attack/)

Dozens of AI companies, led by Nvidia, said on Monday they had formed a coalition called the Open Secure AI Alliance, to develop open-source AI tools for defensive cybersecurity. Days earlier, on Friday, many of those same companies signed an open letter urging the U.S. government not to ban open-weights AI models.

Alongside Nvidia, many of the biggest companies signed their names, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta. OpenAI and Google signed after the letter’s initial publication. (A notable absence was Anthropic.)

The background to all of this maneuvering was the unprecedented news from last week: that OpenAI models, undergoing internal testing, broke out of an offline “sandbox” inside OpenAI, accessed the internet, and used a never-before-seen cyber exploit to break into the AI repository Hugging Face—all without OpenAI employees’ direction, oversight, or, for several days, even awareness.

**Read More:** [_How OpenAI Lost Control of an AI Model—and What Needs to Change_](https://time.com/article/2026/07/24/openai-hugging-face-attack/)

It was the kind of “warning shot” that AI safety advocates have long worried about: a rogue AI escaping its testing environment and causing real-world damage. Many saw it as a harbinger of worse hacks to come—especially when open-source AI models, which are widely seen as three to six months behind the frontier “closed” OpenAI models that carried out the attack, catch up to today’s level of capabilities. Open-source models are seen as especially worrisome by AI safety advocates because their guardrails can sometimes be stripped away. And because after they are released for free download on the internet, it is almost impossible to trace or destroy every copy of models that are found to be dangerous.

The industry’s movements this week are best understood as an effort to ensure that the U.S. government does not—mistakenly, these companies believe—crack down on open-source AI in an effort to prevent global cybersecurity chaos.

And it reveals the biggest disagreement animating the AI industry right now: about whether open-source AI is a terrible threat, or the only means of salvation.

Hugging Face, a longtime advocate for open-source AI, said it was only able to detect the intrusion by using a Chinese open-weights model, after a closed model refused to help with the effort. Top closed-source frontier models, made by OpenAI and Anthropic, generally refuse to help with cybersecurity-related queries, in part due to White House anxiety that doing so would hand U.S. adversaries powerful attacking capabilities. Axios [reported](https://www.axios.com/2026/07/20/ai-us-china-open-source-kimi) on July 20 that the Trump administration was even considering banning top Chinese AI models.

“That \[Hugging Face\] incident showed a practical truth,” Nvidia wrote in its announcement of the industry alliance on Monday. “When defenders cannot inspect, adapt and run advanced AI on their own infrastructure, their ability to respond is constrained at exactly the moment speed matters most.”

Anthropic—both a maker of closed models and a loud voice on AI safety—was absent from the industry coalition that formed on Monday, but put out its own statement. In it, CEO Dario Amodei said he had never advocated for open-weights AI to be banned, and that he would not support such a measure. But he said he was terrified that powerful AI models might soon be used for cyber and biological attacks where attackers benefit from a structural advantage against defenders—and called for all models above a certain capability level, open or closed, to undergo government testing before release.

“Whether open models do or don’t pose an increased risk, and whether that risk can be mitigated, is something that should emerge from testing, rather than be decided in advance,” he wrote.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blta1e7f1d9d93429b0Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:57:31 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Billy Perrigo\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Can't Sleep? Try Getting Out of Bed\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/what-to-do-when-you-cant-sleep/<!\[CDATA\[Health\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The best way to fall asleep might be to stop fixating on it.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[mrs—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd45ba94c11ce9faf/6a68172c95a2f054fb6a21cf/SleepBed.png?branch=production)

 —mrs—Getty Images

It’s 2 a.m., and you’ve been [awake for an hour](https://time.com/article/2026/05/05/cognitive-shuffling-how-to-sleep/)—staring at the same patch of ceiling, counting the same sheep, and doing increasingly alarming math about how wrecked you’re going to feel tomorrow. Your instinct is to stay right where you are and try harder. Surely sleep will come eventually. And even if it doesn’t, at least you’re [resting](https://time.com/6969761/how-to-rest-more-effectively/)—right?

Not exactly. The better move, sleep specialists say, is the one that feels most counterintuitive: Get up, leave the room, and do something else. The technique is called stimulus control, and it isn't new—psychologist Richard Bootzin [introduced it in 1972](https://www.med.upenn.edu/cbti/assets/user-content/documents/Bootzin%201972.pdf), and it remains a cornerstone of [cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia](https://time.com/7011068/insomnia-best-treatment-sleep-schedule/).

Here’s how to do it when you can’t get to sleep, and why it works. 

## **Why lying in bed when you can't sleep makes it worse**

The problem begins when you treat sleep like a task you need to accomplish. "Effort is the enemy of sleep," says Shelby Harris, a behavioral sleep medicine specialist in New York. The harder you work at it, the more frustrated and alert you become. People who sleep well, Harris points out, aren’t using some secret trick. “They don't really do anything,” Harris says. “They just fall asleep.”

Sleep, in other words, isn’t something you can will into happening, says Michael Perlis, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. It’s a physiological state, not a behavior you can perform on command.

Watching for sleep to arrive doesn’t work, either. People often report that they were close to drifting off, Perlis says, but if you’re conscious of being close, you’re still awake. After all, how can you consciously monitor yourself becoming unconscious? 

There’s one more argument for staying put: Even if you aren’t sleeping, you figure, at least you’re resting. Perlis rejects that one, too. "If rest was any good,” he says, “we wouldn't sleep.”

## **How long should you stay in bed before getting up?**

People are often told to get out of bed after about 20 minutes awake. But many clinicians have moved away from enforcing that rigid cutoff, partly because there’s an obvious problem with it, Harris says: You can't time 20 minutes without looking at a clock—and clock-watching in the middle of the night is a reliable way to become even more stressed about not sleeping. 

Instead of watching the clock, notice your mood. The signal is frustration: Your mind is racing, you’re getting annoyed, or you catch yourself actively trying to force sleep to happen. "That's the sign that's usually around 20-ish minutes," Harris says. "Get out of bed, go do something else just to pass the time, and only go back to bed when you think you might be sleepy again."

That doesn’t mean you need to leap out of bed the moment you open your eyes. If you're awake but calm—not spiraling, not straining—you can stay put for a little while. Give yourself a few minutes to see what happens. The time to get up is when your mind starts racing or you notice yourself trying to force sleep.

## **Why getting out of bed helps you fall asleep faster**

Perlis sums up his advice in a simple slogan: “Give up. Get up. Get out.” Giving up means abandoning the effort to fall asleep. Getting up and leaving the room make that decision real: Sitting up, standing, and walking send powerful signals to the body to be awake.

That might sound backward. If your goal is sleep, why would you make yourself more awake? But that’s exactly the point. When you stay in bed trying, Perlis says, you can end up “surfing,” or flickering between wakefulness and sleep without ever feeling as though you slept at all. “You get nothing from surfing,” he says.

Becoming fully awake interrupts that pattern and allows sleep pressure—the biological drive that makes you sleepy—to build. Perlis compares it to putting money in the bank for tomorrow night: Even if getting up doesn’t rescue this particular night, it can improve your odds of sleeping better the next one.

Leaving the bedroom also helps preserve the connection between your bed and sleep. The more time you spend there tossing, turning, worrying, and watching the clock, the more your brain begins to associate bed with wakefulness and frustration. Getting up breaks that association—and, as Perlis puts it, helps “give sleep a chance” a little later on.

## **What to do in the middle of the night when you can't sleep**

Whatever you choose to do once you’re out of bed, your goal shouldn’t be to do something tiring, Harris says. The activity is simply something to do until sleepiness returns—while keeping you from lying in bed and teaching your brain to associate your mattress with frustration. So pick something you actually enjoy.

“I collect cookbooks—old cookbooks—and I look through my old cookbook collection,” Harris says. “I go to my kitchen and then I earmark old family recipes. I love beautiful photos in cookbooks, and I’ll just look at things that I might want to make at some point.” The screen-free ritual passes the time without turning sleep into another task. “I’m not sitting there saying, ‘I gotta get sleepy,’” she says.

Throughout her 20-plus years of practice, Harris has also seen patients take up art projects and knit what she affectionately calls “insomnia scarves.”

The key is that you shouldn’t make your middle-of-the-night activity feel like punishment. Harris recalls a colleague who used to tell patients to go sit in their "insomnia chair"—and now those patients "dread that chair because they associate it with wakefulness." It’s better to do something you'd genuinely choose, and to see it as a pleasant way to pass the time, not proof that the entire night has gone off the rails.

A few ground rules can help the technique work better:

### **Don't give insomnia a job**

If you turn 3 a.m. into bonus productivity time, your brain might decide it’s worth continuing to wake you up around that time. “Don’t do your work. Don’t do taxes. Don’t do bills,” Harris says. “The more you wake up and do work, the more you’re teaching your body to have those awakenings.”

### **Skip screens when you can**

Phones and laptops can pull you into texts, work emails, and other messages—and make it difficult to put the device back down. Some research also suggests that blue-enriched screen light may interfere with sleep. If a screen is your only realistic alternative to lying in bed with a racing mind, watch an episode of something you enjoy. Just treat it as a backup plan rather than your first choice.

### **Switch on a lamp** 

You don’t need to keep the room dark in an effort to coax yourself back to sleep, Harris says. Turn on a lamp and use enough light to comfortably do whatever activity you’ve chosen.

### **Don't fall asleep on the couch**

Do it often enough, and you'll train yourself to sleep there and dread your own bed. When sleepiness hits, get up and walk back to your bedroom. 

### **Plan for your excuses now**

Don’t wait until the middle of the night to figure out where you’ll go or what you’ll do. “You have to think about all the excuses you’re going to come up with at night,” Harris says. “Think about it during the day, and problem-solve for those.”

If the rest of your home is cold, for instance, “keep a robe and slippers right next to your bed,” she says, and consider leaving an electric blanket in the room where you plan to go. Choose your activity in advance, too, and have your book, magazine, cookbook, or art supplies ready.

You can also adapt the technique to your circumstances. If you live in a studio or don’t want to disturb your partner, sit up in bed or move to a nearby chair. Harris also recommends remaining seated in bed if you take medication that makes you groggy or you have an increased risk of falling.

Once you feel sleepy again—and perhaps notice yourself yawning—return to bed. “See what happens,” Harris says. If your mind starts racing or you become frustrated again, “get back out, rinse, and repeat.” You might need to do that multiple times in one night.

If you’ve been practicing stimulus control for two or three weeks, while maintaining a consistent bedtime and wake time, and your sleep hasn’t improved, Harris recommends seeing a sleep specialist. They can screen for conditions like sleep apnea and determine whether you might benefit from a fuller course of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. 

And the next time you’re lying awake at 2 a.m., furious that sleep hasn’t arrived, remember: The wakefulness isn’t necessarily the biggest problem. Your reaction to it might be. "Change the narrative," Harris says. "Trying to force it is only going to make it worse."

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt963327ab66c12536Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:56:44 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Angela Haupt\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Where Does India’s Cockroach Movement Go From Here?\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/cockroach-movement-india-mukul-kesavan-interview/<!\[CDATA\[World\]\]><!\[CDATA\[India’s Cockroach Movement came out of nowhere to become a formidable political force in just a few weeks. TIME speaks with Indian writer and historian Mukul Kesavan about what comes next.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Indranil Aditya—NurPhoto via Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Cockroach Janta Party Protest In Mumbai A demonstrator wearing a cockroach mask during a protest organized by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in Mumbai, India, on July 16, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3355d92725fc0eb3/6a6794a607823733264d975e/GettyImages-2285718423.jpg?branch=production)

Cockroach Janta Party Protest In Mumbai A demonstrator wearing a cockroach mask during a protest organized by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in Mumbai, India, on July 16, 2026\. —Indranil Aditya—NurPhoto via Getty Images

India’s burgeoning youth-led protest movement won a key victory over the weekend with the resignation of the country’s Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan.

The Cockroach Movement, which took its name from a derogatory remark made by India’s Chief Justice [comparing](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jobless-cockroaches-attack-the-system-cji-surya-kant/articleshow/131127870.cms) young unemployed people to "cockroaches” and “parasites,” has quickly established itself as a formidable political force. You can read our primer on it [here](https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/india-cockroach-janta-party-protest-movement/). 

To discuss the movement and its future, TIME spoke with Mukul Kesavan, a historian, novelist, and one of India’s best-known writers. 

_This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity._

**Q: What is your view of the Cockroach Movement, and what do you think is unique about it?**

**MK**: I’ve spent my life in Delhi. I’ve been to hundreds of demos because Jantar Mantar is the place where you go off and shout your slogans from the time I was an undergraduate, and I have to say, I’d never seen anything like this—not necessarily in terms of its size, though it was very large—but because it was so young. 

Normally, demos in Jantar Mantar are fairly organized. Invariably, you will have unions, college or university associations, or left-wing groups organizing people into chanting and slogans. But if it’s possible to imagine 30,000 or 40,000 people in a state of perfect political innocence... I don’t mean to sound condescending, but it just seemed that these people had turned up because they felt there was a kind of existential crisis in their young lives. Because the one last thing that India has to even suggest that hard work might get you a reasonable job is, in fact, its examination system.

**Q: How much of a threat do these protests pose to Narendra Modi?** 

**MK**: This movement is interesting. It’s a movement of the urban salariat. You know, these are very middle-class people. They are largely Hindus, very young, and so they pose a peculiar kind of challenge… What do you do with a group of young people who theoretically are the very basis of your political constituency? You know, middle class, broadly middle upper caste, salaried urban Hindus. And so I think that is one of the reasons you see this weird fluctuation between brutality and detentions on the one hand, and, on the other, these clumsy, appeasing noises the government makes. 

I think it’s evident, in some ways, that this is bigger than just the education thing. Take, for example, the inspired insolence of the attacks on Modi. So, for example, there’s one slogan that translates as: “The real truth is bitter. Modi is a pimp.” To see a 17-year-old saying this in a culture like India, where the very young are sort of deferential, is remarkable. 

The Modi juggernaut is generally seen as sinister but efficient at what it does, and the entire tenor of the taunting, the calling out, is that you’re an old, dysfunctional guy, that’s unusual because it seems to open the possibilities of this movement. Not because there’s a constructive program that’s been put forward, but simply because it seems to be open season on a man who, up to now, has seemed sort of inevitable.

**Q: Where does the movement go from here?** 

**MK**: I’m so bewildered by the scale, intensity, and coming-from-nowhere part of this movement that it’s not clear to me how it sustains itself or where it goes. I’m not saying it won’t, but it surprised everybody, including its organizers. 

Youth unemployment amongst the middle classes in India is massive. So entrance examinations that put you into courses that might get you jobs are, if you will, a kind of metaphor for that general sense of _anomie_ about, where do we go? What will happen to us? And to the extent that this narrowly focused thing about examination represents a larger angst, I don’t know.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltba8bd30c2047dc3aTue, 28 Jul 2026 12:55:00 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Richard Hall\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Photos Show the Destruction in France and Spain From Ferocious European Wildfires\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/france-spain-europe-wildfires-destruction-photos/<!\[CDATA\[World\]\]><!\[CDATA\[French President Emmanuel Macron has said the wildfire situation is the "toughest since the Second World War."\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

Firefighters in France and Spain are battling [ferocious wildfires](https://time.com/article/2026/07/26/wildfire-disruptions-to-the-tour-de-france-show-how-climate-change-is-shaping-sports/) in an effort to control the blazes before the next heat wave arrives later this week.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday [described](https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idRW125527072026RP1/) the "completely unprecedented" crisis as the "toughest since the Second World War." He urged firefighters to "stay strong" as they prepared to face the wildfire in the Gironde region, near Bordeaux.

An estimated 220,000 people have been evacuated in the Gironde region, since the most pervasive fire broke out last week. The Landes region further south has seen at least 30,000 people evacuated.

The fire in Landes is now under control, Macron said, but he warned it "remains virulent" and urged extreme caution over the coming days.

"Our country is going through an unprecedented fire season: 116,085 hectares have already burned and 13,566 fire starts have been recorded since January," France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu [said](https://x.com/SebLecornu/status/2081754208315875512) on Monday. (116,000 hectares is roughly 287,000 acres.)

In Spain, officials fighting the blazes near Madrid say they are the worst the region has ever experienced. Firefighters are also battling a wildfire in [Castellón](https://www.irishtimes.com/video/video/2026/07/28/firefighters-battle-wildfire-in-spains-eastern-castellon-province/), a province near Valencia.

More than 100,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes or take shelter as emergency services attempt to get the flames under control in the face of changing winds.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters Tuesday that the authorities "can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel" in the fight against the wildfires, but he expressed concern about the approaching heat wave.

The authorities "will continue to mobilize all resources until the last flame is extinguished," he vowed.

Sánchez has referred to the wildfire crisis as "[the most painful expression"](https://youtu.be/qPpGKH7hpgU?t=540) of the climate emergency.

As the European countries reckon with the remaining blazes and brace for the potential impact of the incoming heat wave, here are photos showing the devastation caused by the wildfires so far.  

Deadly Wildfires in Western Europe Force Hundreds of Thousands to Evacuate

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteec502135a9b323a/6a67bff28495601375e47a86/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-11.jpg?branch=production)

Beach-goers rest on the shore of Lake Lacanau as clouds of smoke rise into the sky from the Gironde wildfire in southwestern France on July 24, 2026\. —Maximilien Lamy—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8d4c2e205580e21/6a67bff1eceabd9108d20c5e/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-01.jpg?branch=production)

A house in the aftermath of deadly wildfires in Bedar, Almeria, Spain on July 13, 2026\. —Ana Beltran—Reuters

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf076c6512a43c30c/6a67bff195a2f06f1d6a17f6/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-03.jpg?branch=production)

A local volunteer collects water from a swimming pool to combat an approaching fire in El Tiemblo, Spain on July 25, 2026\. —Pablo Blazquez Dominguez—Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5136af46f5cf90a5/6a67bff1aad9555ce4841a0e/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-04.jpg?branch=production)

Students of David Gonzalez, who owns a Martial Arts gym, try to extinguish a fire outside of David's house as wildfires surround the village on July 24, 2026 in El Tiemblo, in Avila province, Spain. —Pablo Blazquez Dominguez—Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3ca427f265803bd/6a67bff0e6110c18e5475e6e/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-02.jpg?branch=production)

A firefighter comforts a local resident in the Tietar Valley area of Avila Province, Spain, on July 26, 2026\. —Bruno Thevenin—eyevine/Xinhua/Redux

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb692e870f155a26f/6a67bff2ad05189f8661491a/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-15.jpg?branch=production)

Residents spend the night at a bullring serving as a temporary shelter after being evacuated from their homes because of the threat of a wildfire in Valdemorillo, Madrid province, Spain, July 25, 2026\. —Manu Fernandez—AP

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc69c73cbc4986647/6a67bff2a3f6e66203188207/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-09.jpg?branch=production)

Residents watch the flames on a hill as firefighters battle a wildfire at night in the Cebreros area of Spain on July 24, 2026\. —Cesar Manso—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1995f9ec5a700efc/6a67bff2d15efcf4da889966/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-10.jpg?branch=production)

A burning olive tree is pictured near Avila, west of Madrid on July 24, 2026\. —Cesar Manso—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea443ff08e9ca59a/6a67bff1e6110cb0df475e72/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-05.jpg?branch=production)

People gather at an exhibition center being used for residents displaced by the wildfires, in Bordeaux, southwestern France on July 26, 2026\. —Ed Jones—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8929ec1953810d78/6a67bff2eceabd5648d20c62/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-07.jpg?branch=production)

Firefighters collect water from a swimming pool while battling a fire surrounding the La Atalaya residential area in El Tiemblo, Spain on July 25, 2026\. —Cesar Manso—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe70b59b492fefa2/6a67bff2a3531f23e7bd2f66/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-06.jpg?branch=production)

Residents help to water the soil as a fire burns in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, about 70km west of Madrid, on July 26, 2026\. —Oscar Del Pozo—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf34b1d8a9eef6d4c/6a67bff2a3531f3dcbbd2f62/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-12.jpg?branch=production)

Beach goers sit on the beach in Biscarosse, southwestern France as a cloud of smoke rises into the sky from a wildfire on July 23, 2026\. —Maximilien Lamy—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbacc5c98b45cb76/6a67bff0a3531f211ebd2f5e/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-08.jpg?branch=production)

Evacuees rest in a sports hall in Villaviciosa de Odon, approximately 20 kms west of Madrid, amid historic wildfires on July 25, 2026\. —Javier Soriano—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fc99a9656395e23/6a67bff3087601eeb564362c/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-13.jpg?branch=production)

 —A group of people attempt to control a fire near Lacanau, as wildfires rage outside Bordeaux, France, on July 27, 2026.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaedcf96378bd03b1/6a67bff2eceabd15add20c66/france-spain-europe-wildfires-2026-14.jpg?branch=production)

Aftermath of a wildfire in Biscarrosse, southwestern France, which caused significant damage to buildings, businesses, and surrounding woodland, July 25, 2026\. —Antonin Louis—Sipa/AP

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt1287bf5556449952Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:16:45 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Olivia-Anne Cleary\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Trump Asks Supreme Court to Allow Restrictions on Mail-In Ballots Before Midterms\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/trump-scotus-mail-in-ballots-order-elections/<!\[CDATA\[U.S.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The President has pushed to remake U.S. elections ahead of the November midterms, where Republican control of Congress is at stake.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Mail-in ballots following a primary election at San Francisco County's election operations facility at City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on June 9, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9bd464fd3685884/6a6878cd0876017c72644ca8/mail-in-ballots.jpg?branch=production)

Mail-in ballots following a primary election at San Francisco County's election operations facility at City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., on June 9, 2026\. —David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s Administration is seeking the Supreme Court’s intervention to push his election reform agenda ahead of the November midterms—by allowing nationwide implementation ​of an [Executive Order](https://time.com/article/2026/04/01/trump-executive-order-mail-in-voting-states-rebuke-legal-challenge/) restricting mail-in voting.

In [a Monday filing](https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26A124/417370/20260727144320600%5FTrump%20v.%20California%20Application%20and%20Appendix.pdf), the Justice Department requested the high court put on hold a district court ruling that prevented the enforcement of Trump’s order. The order, issued in March, directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to compile lists of eligible voters per state and forbade the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to anybody who isn’t on a state’s mail-in or absentee participation list. 

Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged Trump’s order, alleging unconstitutionality and presidential overreach, and last month, an Obama-appointed federal judge in Massachusetts [blocked parts](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.298518/gov.uscourts.mad.298518.191.0%5F2.pdf) of the order for those states for the November election. A Massachusetts-based appeals court [rejected the Administration’s request](https://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/files/opnfiles/26-1774O-01A.pdf) to pause that injunction pending appeal, though the appellate court’s panel was divided: two Biden-appointed judges formed the majority, while a Trump appointee concurred in part and dissented in part.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer sought an immediate administrative stay on the district court’s injunction pending the resolution of its appeal. 

In the filing, Sauer argued that the district court “lacked jurisdiction to resolve this premature dispute,” as the agencies concerned have yet to finalize their implementing policies based on the Executive Order. In early June, the [Postal Service proposed](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/02/2026-10968/ballot-mail-for-federal-elections) amending its rules to comply with Trump’s order. At a Senate hearing later that month, Postmaster General David Steiner [confirmed](https://time.com/article/2026/06/25/postal-service-not-to-deliver-mail-ballots-to-states-unless-they-hand-over-voter-data/) that if enacted, mail-in ballots would not be delivered in states that refuse to share sensitive voter information with the government.

Sauer also claimed in the filing that the injunction “imposes irreparable harm on the government” as it “impedes the President’s ability to oversee the Executive Branch,” and an administrative stay is warranted to give agencies enough time to implement those policies.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson requested the Democratic-led states that are suing to respond in writing by next Monday.

Trump's Executive Order on mail-in ballots is part of his broader efforts to remake U.S. elections, as he spreads false claims of widespread voter fraud. He has described mail-in voting as “[rigged](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116244486426312346)” and “corrupt as hell,” and he has [incorrectly claimed](https://time.com/7310391/trump-mail-in-ballots-midterms-votes/) that the U.S. is “the only country in the world that does it that way.” Despite the President’s repeated attacks, however, there is [widespread evidence](https://time.com/article/2026/03/20/mail-voting-absentee-voter-fraud-trump-claims-research/) that mail-in voting fraud is extremely rare and that states have adequate safeguards to curb it.

Nonetheless, Trump is [keen](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-vows-end-use-mail-in-ballots-ahead-2026-midterm-election-2025-08-18/) to end the use of broad, no-excuse mail-in ballots nationwide before November, which could disproportionately benefit the GOP, as some [studies](https://electionlab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2023-10/vote-by-mail.pdf) show Democratic ⁠voters have been [more likely](http://electionlab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2025-07/HowWeVotedIn2024.pdf) to use mail-in ballots compared to Republicans.

The President has also pushed Congress to pass the [SAVE America Act](https://time.com/article/2026/03/10/trump-save-america-act-republicans-congress-voter-ID-senate-john-thune/), which includes controversial voter-identification requirements, even threatening not to sign other bills into law until it passes. And earlier this month, in a [primetime speech to the nation](https://time.com/article/2026/07/17/trump-speech-elections-china-save-act-takeaways/), Trump outlined claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 election to make the case for his preferred election reforms.

Some Republican Senators have [called for canceling](https://x.com/BasedMikeLee/status/2081242748401963136) an August recess to try to ensure the voter ID bill passes. But the bill has stalled in the upper chamber of Congress, putting Trump at odds with [Senate Majority Leader John Thune](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/trump-thune-senate-republicans-save-america-act/), who argues that Republicans lack the numbers to pass it without [eliminating the filibuster](https://time.com/7330524/what-is-a-filibuster-trump-fights-to-terminate-it/), which Thune has said would be a “bad idea.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt43a263822b984d10Tue, 28 Jul 2026 10:00:35 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Chad de Guzman\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The Iran War Exposed Africa’s Biggest Energy Weakness\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/28/the-iran-war-exposed-africa-s-biggest-energy-weakness/<!\[CDATA\[Ideas\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The conflict will eventually subside. But without action, the vulnerabilities it has exposed will not, write Michael Adu Okyere, Brian Mukhaya, and David W. Yellen.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Abdel Majid Bziouat—AFP via Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[A worker looks at a floating photovoltaic solar installation in Morocco on Aug. 7, 2025.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78c9cf7105eaecc0/6a58e8f970a05b6f0af542b6/solar-power-morocco.jpg?branch=production)

A worker looks at a floating photovoltaic solar installation in Morocco on Aug. 7, 2025\. —Abdel Majid Bziouat—AFP via Getty Images

When protests over fuel prices erupted in [Kenya](https://apnews.com/article/kenya-fuel-prices-protests-0195168fd0507d2b4800acbe43feb5a6) this May, the cause lay thousands of miles away. The war between Iran, Israel, and the United States has exposed a reality that African countries know well: energy security is increasingly shaped by events beyond their borders.

The Iran War revealed how deeply many African energy systems remain dependent on geopolitical stability elsewhere. Governments should use this crisis to accelerate structural reforms and diversify their energy systems.

## Fuel shocks travel faster than electricity

Across much of West Africa, power systems remain heavily dependent on gas-fired generation and imported fuels. When global fuel prices rise, electricity costs rise with them.

Nigeria generates roughly [three-quarters of its electricity](https://lowcarbonpower.org/region/Nigeria) from gas-fired plants, while gas supplies about [two-thirds of Ghana’s electricity](https://www.energycom.gov.gh/index.php/planning/sub-codes?download=723:energy-outlook-for-ghana-2025). Higher fuel prices place immediate pressure on utilities that are already struggling with regulated tariffs that fail to recover the full cost of supplying power. [Ghana’s own energy planning documents](https://www.energycom.gov.gh/index.php/planning/sub-codes?download=718:2024-energy-outlook-mid-year-report) identify fuel supply sustainability as the country’s single greatest threat to reliable electricity.

The effects of the conflict don’t stop at national borders. Nigeria and Ghana are both major suppliers of electricity through the West African Power Pool, exporting power to neighboring countries like Togo and Benin. As gas becomes more expensive, the effects ripple across regional electricity markets, raising costs for utilities, governments, businesses, and households. What begins as a geopolitical crisis thousands of miles away quickly becomes an affordability crisis at home.

## Oil producers aren’t as protected as they seem

At first glance, the surge in prices might appear to benefit Africa’s oil exporters. 

Nigeria, the continent’s largest crude producer, and Mozambique, whose liquefied natural gas exports have expanded rapidly in recent years, both stand to earn more revenue when global prices surge. But the reality is more complicated.

Across much of Africa, upstream oil and gas production is dominated by international oil companies rather than national producers. While governments receive royalties, taxes, and returns on equity stakes, much of the extraordinary profit generated during price spikes flows to private operators and their shareholders. Meanwhile, many ordinary consumers experience exactly the opposite.

In Nigeria, the removal of gasoline subsidies means that when global oil prices rise, so do domestic fuel prices. For millions of households and businesses that rely on diesel and petrol generators because the electricity grid remains unreliable, rising oil prices increase the cost of keeping the lights on. 

Mozambique presents a similar paradox. The country has become a significant LNG exporter, yet the revenues generated by projects such as [Coral South](https://www.eni.com/en-IT/media/news/2024/08/eni-coral-sul-flng-achieves-5-milion-tons-lng-mozambque.html) primarily benefit operating companies and upstream partners, while electricity access at home remains uneven.

The broader lesson is clear: resource wealth alone does not guarantee energy security.

Without stronger fiscal policies, better utility governance, or mechanisms to capture more of the gains from commodity booms, global price spikes strengthen company balance sheets far more than they strengthen national electricity systems. Higher export revenues may improve government accounts on paper, but they do little to address the structural problems that continue to make electricity unreliable and unaffordable for millions.

## Even clean power leaders remain exposed

Conventional wisdom suggests that countries generating more electricity from renewable sources should be largely insulated from fossil fuel price shocks. Africa’s experience suggests otherwise.

Morocco and Kenya are among the continent's clean energy success stories. Morocco has spent years expanding [wind and solar power](https://energypartnership.ma/energy-transition-in-morocco/electricity-market/), while Kenya now generates the majority of its electricity from [renewable sources](https://theworld.org/stories/2026/06/08/kenya-is-a-leader-in-geothermal-power-now-its-helping-its-neighbors-do-the-same). Yet both remain exposed when global oil and gas prices spike.

The reason is simple. Electricity systems do not exist in isolation from the rest of the economy. Morocco still imports roughly [90%](https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/morocco-energy) of its primary energy, forcing the government to spend over [$300 million](https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/morocco-spends-over-dollar300-million-monthly-shielding-consumers-from-energy-shock/e74x5yb?op=1) each month cushioning consumers from rising fuel costs. Kenya has likewise experienced significant price shocks despite its impressive [renewable electricity portfolio](https://www.energy.go.ke/sites/default/files/Kenya%20National%20Energy%20Compact%2022AUG2025%20%281%29.pdf).

These countries demonstrate that diversifying electricity generation makes power systems more resilient, but it does not eliminate vulnerability when transportation, industry, backup generation, and public finances remain closely tied to imported fossil fuels. It is necessary but insufficient.

The goal, then, cannot simply be to build more renewable projects. It must be to reduce dependence on energy systems whose costs are ultimately determined somewhere else.

## Geopolitical instability also drives away investment

The conflict threatens Africa's energy future in another, less visible way. Energy systems depend not only on affordable fuel, but on affordable capital. 

Between 2010 and 2024, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia announced around [$175 billion](https://www.catf.us/resource/role-middle-east-leadership-clean-energy-infrastructure-funding/) in African energy investments. Those commitments helped finance renewable power, transmission infrastructure, and electricity expansion across the continent. But geopolitical instability changes investment decisions.

As governments redirect resources toward defense spending and domestic priorities, overseas infrastructure investments once viewed as secure can suddenly face postponements, renegotiations, or cancellation. At the same time, investors become more cautious about emerging markets generally.

African utilities already face [financing costs far above](https://www.catf.us/2024/10/high-capital-costs-stalling-clean-energy-investment-across-africa/) those in Europe, China, or the United States because of sovereign risk, regulatory uncertainty, and currency volatility. When geopolitical tensions increase, investors demand even higher returns, making new power projects more expensive precisely when countries need them most.

In other words, the Iran War affects African electricity systems twice: first by raising the cost of energy today, and then by raising the cost of building better systems tomorrow.

## Africa cannot build its energy future around global stability

The Iran War presents African governments with a choice. One path is a familiar cycle of fiscal strain, unreliable power, and vulnerability to external shocks. The other begins with accepting that energy security means building systems that are resilient enough to withstand events unfolding thousands of miles away. 

Utilities must reduce technical and commercial losses. Governments must resolve legacy debt that weakens electricity providers. Tariff structures must better reflect the true cost of delivering reliable power. 

Regional coordination is also essential. Institutions such as the West African Power Pool can help countries balance electricity supply more efficiently, share generation resources, and respond collectively to market disruptions. 

Perhaps most importantly, governments should treat clean, domestically available sources of energy as strategic infrastructure. Just as Europe looks to geothermal and nuclear to reduce dependence on imported fuels, African countries should pursue an electricity system that is less exposed to distant conflicts. 

The conflict will eventually subside. But without action, the vulnerabilities it has exposed will not. 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt3d31feb079043090Tue, 28 Jul 2026 10:00:03 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Michael Adu Okyere, Brian Mukhaya and David W. Yellen\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Breaking Down the Ending of Agent Kim Reactivated\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/agent-kim-reactivated-ending/<!\[CDATA\[Entertainment\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The thrilling action series follows an unassuming single dad who reveals his past as a secret agent when his daughter disappears\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Courtesy of SBS TV\]\]><!\[CDATA\[So Ji-sub\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt213a50cb9871dc57/6a67c2778495603a56e47af4/6a66a0ef7799e004c63d6e39-p.jpg?branch=production)

So Ji-sub —Courtesy of SBS TV

_Agent Kim Reactivated_, a [Korean drama](https://time.com/article/2026/06/18/my-royal-nemesis-ending-explained/) broadcast on SBS TV domestically and streamed on Netflix globally, has become one of the summer’s [biggest hits](https://time.com/7340988/best-k-dramas-2025/). The thrilling action series follows an unassuming bank manager and single dad named Kim (So Ji-sub). When his teen daughter, Min-ji (Seo Su-min), disappears after a fight at school, Kim’s background and skillset as a secret agent is revealed as he stops at nothing to find her. 

Agent Kim is aided by his two friends: taekwondo instructor Sung Han-soo (Choi Dae-hoon) and boisterous military man Park Jin-cheol (Yoon Kyung-ho). Like Agent Kim, Han-soo and Jin-cheol are former spies and current parents. In an effort to rescue Min-ji, the three middle-aged, bespectacled dads face off against criminal organizations and state intelligence entities as what starts as a clash between two teenagers disturbs a decade-long lull in intergovernmental espionage. The 10-episode drama about paternal anxiety and devotion wrapped up over the weekend. Here’s everything that happened in the final episodes of _Agent Kim Reactivated_.

## 

## **Does Min-ji die?**

The first few episodes of _Agent Kim Reactivated_ imply that Kim’s beloved daughter Min-ji has died. At the end of Episode 1, Hye-ri (Yoo Ji-an), Min-ji’s classmate and the daughter of Juhak Construction group chairman Ju Gang-chan (Joo Sang-wook), hits Min-ji over the head with a brick. Min-ji loses consciousness, leading Hye-ri and Min-ji’s other bullies to assume she is dead. A panicked Hye-ri convinces local thug Golden Teeth (Jo Bok-rae) to take care of the body. 

However, unbeknownst to both Hye-ri and Golden Teeth, Min-ji has survived the attack. She later wakes up in the cold storage warehouse where Golden Teeth has temporarily stashed her “body”, and escapes. This is just the beginning of Min-ji’s many efforts to get back to her father. Next, she is picked up by Ju Gang-chan while trying to hitchhike. Then, she is “rescued” by South Korea’s Special Missions Directorate (SMD), where director Kang Guk-cheol (Won Hyun-joon) ties her up and questions her for information about her father. It’s a foolish strategy. Agent Kim has kept his daughter in the dark about his dark past.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba72001476ea8435/6a67c365fac349baae42db28/6a56c928cb804a7bd7390df9-p.jpg?branch=production)

Choi Dae-hoon —Courtesy of SBS TV

## **Agent Kim’s secret past**

Agent Kim was born in North Korea, and was trained from a young age to be a special operative for his native government. However, when Kim is captured during a failed mission in South Korea, he has a choice to make: be disappeared by the SMD, or agree to work for them. He chooses the latter, and becomes friends with operatives Han-soo and Jin-cheol through their missions together.

Kim also meets and falls in love with a South Korean woman. When she dies in childbirth, he forces his retirement from the SMD in order to raise his baby. The SMD allows his freedom on one condition: he must lay low. If the North Korean government realizes their former operative is alive in South Korea, it will cause an international incident. 

Kim gladly devotes himself to a quiet life as a father and office worker, and the SMD leaves him alone. But when Min-ji goes missing and Kim starts wreaking havoc across the city looking for her, North Korean Intelligence learns of his continued existence. The SMD and North Korean Intelligence both set out to capture Agent Kim. 

## **Who is Agent 66?**

The pseudonym “Agent 66” is first used by Park Yeong-gwang (TaecYeon), a North Korean spy who trained alongside Agent Kim. When Yeong-gwang dies during his and Agent Kim’s first mission to South Korea, betrayed by the North Korean agency that sent them, Agent Kim takes on the moniker.

When Agent Kim reappears on the North Korean government’s radar after years of being presumed dead, Park Yeong-gwang’s little brother, Gang Seong (Kim Sung-kyu), is sent to kill him. He too uses the name “Agent 66” as his codename. Though killing Kim may be Gang Seong’s orders, the mission is also personal for the new Agent 66, who has been told that Kim is responsible for the death of his big brother. When Kim dispels this lie, revealing that it was North Korean intelligence director Ri Eung-ryeong who betrayed them all, Gang Seong abandons his mission to kill Kim. 

Later, after Ri Eung-ryeong spills his secrets to the South Korean government in exchange for asylum, Agent Kim kidnaps and hands Ri Eung-ryeong over to Gang Seong. Gang Seong brings Ri Eung-ryeong back to North Korea, where he is presumably punished for his defection.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19ccd366404b5fef/6a67c308eceabd35e1d20cee/6a62a5097799e004c63d6aa5-p.jpg?branch=production)

So Ji-sub —Courtesy of SBS TV

## **The ending of** **_Agent Kim Reactivated_**

Heading into the [season finale](https://time.com/article/2026/07/06/reborn-rookie-ending-explained/), Agent Kim has managed to evade SMD capture by protecting defector Ri Eung-ryeong during the intergovernmental talks between North Korea and South Korea. With the completion of one final mission for the SMD, Kim has earned his freedom (again) and the promise of a normal life with Min-ji. He just has to stay alive to claim it. And, unfortunately, Ju Gang-chan—the former thug turned Juhak Construction chairman—is still gunning for him. He wants to see Agent Kim, Han-soo, and Jin-cheol suffer for besting him. To do so, Ju Gang-chan kidnaps Han-soo and Jin-cheol’s children. He holds the teens at gunpoint and forces Han-soo and Jin-cheol to fight Agent Kim.

The three friends initially go along with Ju Gang-chan’s orders to kill Agent Kim, but use their years of experience working together to come up with an out. They lure a boasting Ju Gang-chan closer to the fence of the cage in which they are fighting, and manage to knock it down onto the villain. They rescue their children, and hand Ju Gang-chan over to the authorities. Later, he is stabbed multiple times by Golden Teeth while being transported out of the hospital. Hye-ri, the spoiled daughter whose bullying acted as a catalyst for this entire sequence of events, has been sent abroad following the public humiliation of her family.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc4524f9ff0085dd/6a67c3218495605a79e47b0d/6a5d6833cb804a7bd739148c-p.jpg?branch=production)

Seo Su-min and So Ji-sub —Courtesy of SBS TV

## **Agent Kim and Min-ji are reunited**

The father-daughter relationship between Agent Kim and Min-ji is at the [heart](https://time.com/7377559/singles-inferno-season-5-ending-explained/) of _Agent Kim Reactivated_, and it’s at the heart of the finale, too. Following the action of the series, the two have grown closer after being forced apart. Min-ji now understands more about her father’s past and motivations, and no longer sees him as a timid man who would rather bow than fight. 

In the final episode, they are reunited after Agent Kim fakes his death to escape international accountability for his past acts of espionage. The father and daughter start a new life together under new identities, with the help of the SMD. While they leave the identities of Bank Manager Kim and Kim Min-ji behind, they are somehow still in contact with Han-soo and Jin-cheol, who help the Kims move into their new home.

## **Will there be a Season 2?**

It’s likely—the [series](https://time.com/7338764/dear-x-ending-explained/) has been one of the most successful Korean dramas of the year so far on Netflix and on broadcast television in Korea. [According to The Chosun Daily](https://www.chosun.com/english/kpop-culture-en/2026/07/26/M35FQ45W4BAP3AUKRORWT7K3OI/), the production team is currently discussing the possibility of a second season.

If _Agent Kim Reactivated_ does get more episodes, the story will most likely revolve around Agent Kim’s new job at Baekho Employment Agency. In the first season finale, Kim makes a deal with Lee Dong-kyu, a new and enigmatic character who agrees to take down Juhak Construction for our protagonist. The cost is implied to be Agent Kim’s employment at Lee’s mysterious company. 

While we don’t learn much about Lee Dong-kyu in the Netflix series, the character is an important element of the webtoon on which _Agent Kim Reactivated_ is based. In the webtoon, the Baekho Employment Agency, aka the White Tiger Job Center, is a mercenary organization founded and led by Tom Lee. The private company takes on high-risk, high-reward jobs--for the right price. If _Agent Kim Reactivated_ continues for a second season, Agent Kim may find himself in even more dangerous scenarios due to his deal with Lee Dong-kyu.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltb0ba5758fe4c711aMon, 27 Jul 2026 20:58:17 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Kayti Burt\]\]>