LIFE Magazine

It’s been a very good year for Stéphane Bancel. On a crisp October day, the CEO of Moderna, of COVID-vaccine fame, is sitting in his glass-walled office in the company’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., weeks before encouraging results from the company’s first mRNA cancer vaccine would become public. He’s recounting the biotech’s rocky road turning an unproven, scientifically dismissed approach—using messenger RNA, or mRNA, the genetic code that instructs cells to make proteins—into a platform for producing new categories of medicines.

Fifteen years ago, Bancel had his doubts. At the time, there were no approved mRNA-based products on the market, and most scientists would have agreed that mRNA was too unstable to form the basis of a new class of medical treatments. In fact, the entire biotech industry had bet—successfully—on manipulating another, more reliable genetic material: DNA.

“It was crazy to think of using mRNA as a drug,” Bancel reflects. But that was before a fateful meeting forced him to look at the genetic material in a different way, and realize that with the right manipulation, mRNA provided a way to make drugs that were never possible with existing strategies. Now, he believes that nearly any protein drug made today with existing, recombinant DNA technology can also be made using mRNA.

The company’s goal isn’t to follow the usual road map and make one type of drug for one disease at a time, but to build a new platform from which a variety of different treatments can be developed in a plug-and-play scenario—similar to how the computer-technology industry is built on the foundational hardware and operating systems around which a whole universe of software has blossomed. “mRNA is the information molecule, so if you find the way to safely and effectively get it into the right cells, you can unlock a lot of medicines to help people’s suffering,” says Bancel.

Moderna’s mRNA COVID vaccine saved an estimated 2 million lives globally—while earning the company $46 billion—from 2021 to 2024. This fall, people are getting its newly approved mRNA flu shot, the first of its kind. And in October, Moderna announced with Merck that their mRNA approach also worked to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer—creating a therapeutic vaccine, rather than a preventative one. Intismeran, combined with one of Merck’s drugs, successfully kept melanoma from recurring in a group of patients with mid- to late-stage disease. By the end of the year, Bancel says, he expects to unveil similarly encouraging results from Moderna’s first mRNA therapy for a rare disease.

In just over a decade, mRNA has gone from molecular misfit to biomedical golden child, in no small part because of Bancel’s efforts at Moderna to prove the naysayers wrong. “At the beginning, it was either zero drugs, or we find a way to climb this mRNA mountain and make a lot of drugs,” says Bancel. 

Consider vaccines, where mRNA is quickly becoming the preferred technology for its speed. Scientists at Moderna can create a vaccine against any pathogen within six to eight weeks—far faster than it takes to then conduct the human studies required by regulatory agencies to establish a therapy’s safety and efficacy. Cancer researchers hope to harness that speed with customized mRNA vaccines like intismeran.

That’s what Bancel saw in mRNA more than a decade ago: an untapped vein of therapeutic ore. With mRNA, once it’s properly instructed to make the right proteins to fight a virus, fix a genetic disease, or tackle a tumor, the human body becomes its own treatment factory.

Over a series of interviews with TIME spanning several years, Bancel unveiled the story of how a startup betting on an untested technology came to sit at the same table as decades-old pharmaceutical giants, and now holds the key to a transformative platform that could redesign treatments in three critical areas: infectious diseases, rare diseases, and cancer.

Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, in the Moderna headquarters office in Cambridge, Mass. on Oct. 19, 2026. —Tony Luong for TIME

Born in Marseilles, Bancel grew up with a strong interest in math and science, fueled in part by his father, an engineer who was always fixing things around the house. “We used to sail in the summer, and one summer my brother and father and I sailed from Marseilles to Mallorca—a two-day trip—and the engine broke in the middle of the water in the middle of the night,” he says. “I remember we were holding the flashlight above him, and he was fixing the engine by himself.”

Bancel was pursuing a degree in chemical engineering at Ecole Centrale Paris when, on a whim, he took a genetics class at the university next door and “fell in love with genetics,” he says. He went on to earn a master’s in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School before working at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis for six years, mostly in manufacturing.

In 2006, he became CEO of the French diagnostics company bioMérieux. He was working in the company’s Boston office in 2011 when he got a call from his friend Noubar Afeyan, founder of Flagship Pioneering, a venture-capital firm and health-startup incubator. Bancel served on the boards of several of Afeyan’s startups and had already turned down multiple offers to lead some of the new companies. But Afeyan thought he finally had one that might entice his friend.

Afeyan had been approached by a trio of scientists with the idea for a company to develop new treatments from mRNA. He showed Bancel data from a handful of mice that had been injected with human mRNA to make a human protein. “I’m like, ‘This is impossible, because everything we learned in biology is that if you inject mRNA, you create an immune response,’” says Bancel. But what if it worked? Afeyan persisted. What would it mean? “I said, if it works, you’re going to be able to make hundreds, maybe thousands of medicines that you cannot using [current] biotech technology,” says Bancel. 

Up to that point, the biotech industry was focused on manipulating DNA and making products to work on molecules that cells secreted—all in cell cultures using bacteria or viruses that were genetically engineered to produce the molecule in question. mRNA, on the other hand, works inside of cells, temporarily adding new genetic instructions for the cells to make new proteins, which could replace missing ones in certain diseases. In the case of infectious diseases or cancer, it could theoretically make proteins to stimulate the immune system.

But mRNA was too unstable to turn into a treatment formulation and too aggravating to the immune system, so the possibility of mRNA generating a new class of drugs hadn’t advanced past “what if.” When Bancel asked his good friends from college and business school whether he should take Afeyan’s offer to helm the new company, everyone told him “Don’t do it,” he says. Two other biotechs—CureVac and BioNTech (which would become Moderna’s competitor during COVID), both from Germany—had a head start on exploiting mRNA. But Afeyan was convinced that Moderna could lead this new field. Bancel had a choice to make, Afeyan said: Flagship would proceed with the company, with Bancel either as its head, a board member, or a regret-filled bystander. 

The chance to build something in biotech from the ground up and figure it out along the way proved too tempting for the engineer in Bancel. In 2011, the company went from being called LS18—short for Life Sciences 18 in Flagship’s ledger of startups—to Moderna, a mash-up of “modified RNA,” with Bancel as its first CEO.

Bancel had experience in the pharmaceutical industry, but he had no playbook for starting a new company based on an unproven technology. He dived straight into every aspect of the company—even getting on the floor to build secondhand desks himself at Moderna’s first headquarters in Cambridge—and pushed himself and his team hard. “The key was, how do you get to that one drug before you run out of money and investors throw in the towel on you, saying we’re done?” he says.

Moderna spent its first few years in stealth mode, with no website, to the point that media and market watchers called the company suspiciously secretive. Analogies were drawn to another startup: the blood-diagnostic company Theranos, which was equally private about its product and ultimately turned out to be fraudulent. At the time, Bancel shrugged off the comparison, saying he didn’t want the world to watch Moderna’s teenage years, as the company developed the technology he was convinced would change medicine.

“My wife Brenda in those first two years thought I was clinically bipolar,” says Bancel. “I would come home some days so energized by the work; I would lie in bed not sleeping because my head was spinning, thinking all night because I was so excited. Literally three weeks later, I would come home borderline depressed, thinking, ‘Sh-t, this is never going to work.’ Brenda would ask, ‘Which is it? Is it going to work or not work?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. Nobody in the world knows, because it’s something that’s never been done before.’”

What inspired Bancel to keep going was the magic trick of viruses, which could essentially do what Moderna was trying to do: introduce new genetic information into a cell and thus co-opt it to make a specific protein. “If you look at nature and learn from nature that it’s possible, then your willingness and your appetite to invest capital is much stronger,” he says. “That’s why I tell my engineers, ‘Yes you can—you just don’t know how yet.’”

Inside the new manufacturing site for intismeran, a personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine, at Moderna in Marlborough, Mass. on Oct. 19, 2026. —Tony Luong for TIME

There were two big hurdles with turning mRNA into drugs. One was finding a way to control the immune response it generated, and the other was finding a way to deliver the mRNA to the right cells. Both tasks fell to Antonin de Fougerolles, Moderna’s first chief scientific officer, and his team. De Fougerolles didn’t have much to go on. “It’s like blank sheets of paper,” he says. “Eight or nine out of the 10 experiments aren’t going to work. Startups always have a lot of pressure, but I would put Moderna on the high end of that scale in terms of pressure.”

“It’s a very hard place to work,” Bancel acknowledges of the intense environment to produce results. “We debate and debate,” he says. “Every voice makes the discussion better. But it’s not for everyone.”

Early on, with input from his team, Bancel decided to focus Moderna’s limited resources on rare diseases involving missing proteins, because seeing if the mRNA could replace them would be a relatively quicker process.

Dr. Stephen Hoge, an emergency-room physician turned health care consultant at McKinsey, arrived at Moderna in 2012 to help the company prioritize specific disease areas. Hoge liked what he saw during his months at the company and accepted the board’s invitation to join, eventually becoming president in 2015. “I think of him as a brother from another mother,” says Bancel. “If he tells me we need to jump out the window -because it’s good for Moderna, I would jump with him, and on the way down I would ask, ‘Why are we jumping?’” The two often hold contrasting points of view, leading to legendary debates that both see as key to Moderna’s success. “Stéphane and I have argued through the entire history of the company,” says Hoge. “And we often joke that if one of us takes one side, then the other has to take the other. But it’s been part of our success that we often disagree to find the truth in between.” Hoge championed using mRNA in cancer, but also approved a side project exploring how mRNA could work in a vaccine for infectious diseases. It made sense that the drawback that had led many to dismiss mRNA as a treatment—its aggressive stimulation of the immune response—could be an advantage in a vaccine. The first impressive results showed that all of the mice inoculated with the mRNA flu shot had high levels of antibodies to fight influenza weeks after being challenged with high doses of the virus, while the unvaccinated mice did not. The results were exciting enough to add a more robust program on infectious-disease vaccines to Moderna’s port-folio, which would later form the foundation of the company’s COVID vaccine.

One day in 2015, Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer at the time, stuck his head into Bancel’s office with his typical greeting: “Hey, boss.” Zaks had been tracking Moderna’s work in developing vaccines against infectious diseases, and knew the progress the company was making represented an advance over previous efforts—including his own failed attempt at developing a breast-cancer vaccine while a postdoc at the National Cancer Institute. But researchers were also understanding the important role of T cells from the immune system in recognizing cells that had been infected by viruses and were producing viral proteins—in a way similar to how cancer cells make foreign molecules. “One thing we learned along the way in cancer immunology is that it’s very hard to cure cancer without the immune system,” says Zaks. Advances in immunotherapy—including with checkpoint inhibitors, which unleash the body’s immune cells on cancer—could complement an mRNA-based cancer therapy. “All the strands were coming together,” he says, for a potentially successful cancer vaccine.

“He said, ‘I think we should do a cancer vaccine that is individualized because we can sequence for cheap now the healthy cell and the cancer cell from a biopsy, and we can make an mRNA coding just for the mutations in the cancer,’” Bancel remembers Zaks telling him. “‘We can inject it and combine it with a checkpoint inhibitor, and I think it has a very high chance of working.’ And that was the first day I thought about the idea of intismeran.”

Zaks was up-front in reminding Bancel that no cancer vaccine to that point had worked, and that the idea would require an expensive randomized controlled trial that would cost Moderna more than any study it had ever conducted. “If we were going to do this, we would need the technical capability to do it at scale, creating a personalized vaccine for each person,” Zaks says he told Bancel and the Moderna board. “If we couldn’t do that, it wasn’t worth the effort.” Zaks proposed focusing on melanoma, which has many mutations for immune cells to target, and also advocated testing patients earlier in their disease, to see if the mRNA therapy would reduce the risk of the cancer returning.

Bancel and the board were in. To fund the program, Bancel reached out to Merck, which makes pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a checkpoint inhibitor. Bancel had already invested in a manufacturing facility in Norwood, Mass., about 45 minutes from the company’s headquarters, that would ultimately take on the work that had started in -Cambridge—sequencing patients’ tumors, generating the right mRNA codes for their vaccines, and then making those vaccines, all under one roof. The Norwood facility would eventually be the hub for making many of Moderna’s products, while manufacturing for intismeran shifted to a new facility in Marlborough, Mass., in 2025

“Given that this experiment was so bloody expensive, it had to have a ‘wow’ effect size,” says Zaks, who is now a partner at global investment firm Orbi-Med. “It couldn’t be on the margins. So we had to do the smallest trial we could do and still show this really whopping effect size so it was not questionable.”

Figuring out how to find the red flags on tumors (the markers distinguishing cancer cells from normal ones), and which ones to target with mRNA to get the best response, was critical. “I figured that we needed to code in a very deterministic fashion because we needed a robust process that was replicable,” Zaks says. He asked his sequencing team the maximum length of mRNA messages they could make, and Zaks added his own knowledge of how long mRNA sequences for tumor markers needed to be; “the rest is simple math,” he says. The ultimate number of those tumor red flags that Zaks and his team settled on was 34—the number included in intismeran. “It was no magic number that we calculated somehow with complicated math,” he says. “It was extremely simple—what length of mRNA did we need to make it reliable, and how long did we need to make each one to cover what tumors expressed? To date, in 2026, this is the only strategy [in cancer vaccines] known to work.”

Just as patients were enrolling in the study and the Norwood facility was starting to make the mRNA cancer vaccines, Moderna and the world were hit with an unprecedented health emergency: COVID.

Bancel saw an opportunity to put the power of mRNA to the test and decided to pivot nearly all of the small company’s resources to developing and manufacturing a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. He had reason to be confident. By 2020, Moderna had already conducted eight clinical trials involving mRNA shots against various viruses, from influenza to cytomegalovirus (a common and chronic herpes virus) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In early human studies, all eight vaccines had generated good antibodies against the viruses in question. But, says Hoge, it wasn’t immediately obvious that the pandemic would become a long-term public-health threat, and he and Bancel debated Bancel’s decision to almost completely divert the small company’s resources to the pandemic effort. “‘Do you want me to stop treating people with cancer? Do I turn away a melanoma patient?’” Hoge remembers saying. “In the end, both of us ended up being right or wrong, depending on your perspective.”

Quality Control personnel prepare glass vials containing samples for in-process testing at the new manufacturing site for intismeran, a personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine, at Moderna in Marlborough, Mass. on Oct. 19, 2026. —Tony Luong for TIME

“I love the fact that the first mRNA COVID vaccine was made in the intismeran manufacturing facility,” says Hoge. “But we didn’t build Norwood for cancer or infectious diseases or rare diseases. We built it for all three. People ask, How could such a small company be ready for the COVID pandemic? We weren’t. We had a platform that allowed it to happen.”

Hoge says that “COVID, without a doubt, catapulted us forward,” referring both to the tremendous real-time knowledge the team gained while developing the first mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, as well as the worldwide validation of the safety and efficacy of the approach that might have otherwise taken a decade or more. It also put Moderna on the map.

Even while being diverted to produce billions of doses of the COVID vaccine, the cancer-vaccine program continued to enroll patients. This October, almost a decade after starting development on an mRNA cancer vaccine, Moderna and Merck reported the “whopping effect” that Zaks had hoped for. Intismeran, combined with pembrolizumab, reduced the recurrence of cancer by 42% in people with mid- to late-stage melanoma. And the benefit, as Zaks had predicted, started to emerge after six months of treatment. “The immune system takes time to be activated,” says Dr. David Berman, chief development officer at Moderna.

Beth Ryzyk heard the promising results while watching the news. In 2024, after being diagnosed with Stage IIIC melanoma, Ryzyk had decided to join the study of intismeran at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). Surgeons removed her tumor as well as the lymph nodes under her arms, and after genetic sequencing, she learned she had 80 tumor markers. In the study, Moderna and Merck focused on the markers they thought would trigger the strongest immune response and designed a personalized vaccine for each of the patients in the treatment group. “It’s pretty amazing that they can individualize it to me and teach my body what to fight,” she says. The treatment is straight-forward enough that she received the intismeran and Keytruda near her home at MSK’s location in Westchester, New York. She still doesn’t know if she received the vaccine or a placebo, since the study has not been published yet, but she gets scans four times a year. Two years later, “so far so good—nothing has popped up, and it’s the best I can ask for,” she says. “The hard thing about melanoma is that it can come back to any part of your body, and it’s always in the back of your mind. So if it prevents 42% [of recurrence], I’ll take that.”

Bancel and Moderna are no longer alone in seeing the promise of mRNA, especially as part of the emerging group of immunotherapies for cancer. They have been joined by a chorus of researchers eager to capitalize on turning patients into their own treatment factories, with an assist from mRNA. They envision a future in which cancers are detected and treated with immune-based approaches like mRNA vaccines that can change the trajectory of cancer—bending the progression curve back down. “If we can increase the proportion of patients who have surgery and treatment [with an mRNA vaccine], then fewer patients with Stage IV melanoma will exist,” says Dr. -Michael Postow, chief of the melanoma service at MSK, who enrolled patients in the intismeran trial. “We could turn this disease into something where we exclusively prevent all recurrent melanoma, and that would be a wonderful place to be—although clearly we are not there yet.”

Bancel anticipates filing for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval soon, with a possible decision on intismeran in 2027, but he isn’t waiting to explore other cancers for which the vaccine might also show benefit. Moderna is currently conducting nine clinical trials involving intismeran in melanoma, kidney, gastric, lung, and pancreatic cancer, as well as an early-phase study testing it alone, without a checkpoint inhibitor, in Stage I lung cancer.

Earlier this year, the National Cancer Institute launched a $200 million fundraising initiative to support mRNA cancer-vaccine trials, and in 2024, MSK created the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines to make personalized mRNA vaccines like intismeran from start to finish—beginning with genetically sequencing patients’ tumors, to generating the mRNA sequences targeting their cancer, to working with manufacturers to make the vaccine, to administering them. (The James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where checkpoint inhibitors were discovered, is planning to launch a similar center.) It’s an opportunity to push development of next-generation vaccines by taking risks on new approaches that biotech and pharma companies are not as comfortable with. “We want to add on to what industry is already doing, and at the same time innovate and test futuristic versions of mRNA cancer vaccines that academic centers are more suited to developing and testing,” says Dr. Vinod Balachandran, head of MSK’s new center. “It’s an exciting time for cancer vaccinology.”

Future refinements will include exploring whether the personalized approach of designing vaccines for each patient is truly scalable and affordable. One of the advantages of mRNA is that it doesn’t require growing cells but relies instead on computing power to analyze and generate the right mRNA sequences to target each patient’s cancer. “No cell cultures need to be grown,” says Berman. Traditionally, bespoke approaches have not been practical as treatments, because of the time and cost required to custom-design therapies. But Berman “absolutely” believes an mRNA platform can uniquely address both the time and potential cost of customized treatments. “We have scaled down the technical footprint and have plans to scale up [the program] to look at different tumors,” he says.

Quality Control personnel prepare glass vials containing samples for in-process testing at the new manufacturing site for intismeran, a personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine, at Moderna in Marlborough, Mass. on Oct. 19, 2026. —Tony Luong for TIME

While Moderna benefited from the unexpected revenues from the COVID vaccine, those profits, and growing concerns among the public about mRNA technology and vaccines more broadly, made Bancel and the company targets. During the pandemic, Bancel was criticized for earning a huge raise and benefiting from exercising stock options granted in 2013, while many countries were unable to secure enough doses of the COVID vaccine to protect their populations. Bancel says he donated nearly all of his increased -earnings to charity, including through one he and his wife launched, Bancel Philanthropies, and created mRNA Access, a program for bringing Moderna’s expertise in making mRNA vaccines to academic and public-health groups in the developing world without the high cost of licensing fees.

Then came the second Trump Administration. During President Trump’s first term, mRNA was given equal footing with more traditional vaccine-making approaches because of the urgency of the pandemic, but in Trump’s second term, mRNA became technology non grata. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is a longtime skeptic of vaccines, including ones involving mRNA. In 2025, scientists reported being confidentially advised by staff at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which reports to HHS, to avoid using “mRNA” in research-grant proposals if they wanted to be successful in securing funding. Conspiracy theories about permanent genetic manipulation resulting from Moderna’s and Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccines—not based on any scientific evidence—flooded the internet, and more people distrusted the technology.

In May 2025, HHS canceled a $766 million contract with Moderna to develop vaccines against pandemic influenza and bird flu. In a conversation the following month at Moderna’s Norwood facility, Bancel said he remained committed to mRNA technology, despite significant headwinds from the Administration. “The vision has not changed,” he said then. “It’s science, and you always have to start with the science. I don’t know how to do anything else. You can say it doesn’t exist, and you can fight it, but gravity is gravity—and I believe the same is true with biology.”

Bancel eventually secured funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the group that funded part of Moderna’s early COVID-vaccine development, after pledging 20% of production of a future approved vaccine to low- and middle-income countries, and began Phase III testing of its bird-flu vaccine in October 2026.

The company’s first mRNA vaccine for seasonal flu was on its way to being reviewed by the FDA when Bancel received a letter in early 2026 stating that the agency refused to review the application, finding fault with the way the trial was designed, despite having previously discussed and accepted the study. The government ultimately reversed its decision and approved the mRNA flu shot in August 2026.

But the drop in revenues from waning interest in the COVID shot and the canceled government contract were a brutal blow to Moderna’s financial health, and Bancel was forced to lay off 10% of his workforce and shut down or delay some projects. “Business-wise it was easy, because you do the math, but emotionally it was really hard to separate with people who helped us build the company,” says Bancel. He also made difficult decisions to terminate some projects, including one for developing a vaccine against cytomegalovirus, which had been the company’s leading candidate before COVID.

Then came the encouraging results on intismeran. Bancel hopes the latest findings lay the groundwork for a rich pipeline of cancer treatments to come. He’s realistic enough, however, to know that the biotech ride is a roller coaster. Weeks before Moderna’s encouraging news, the company’s competitor in the mRNA space, BioNTech, reported that its mRNA vaccine failed to show any benefit compared with placebo in a similar combination with a checkpoint inhibitor among patients with advanced head and neck cancer. Experts say that the two companies use different approaches in developing their vaccines and that BioNTech tested its vaccine in people with later-stage cancer that could not be surgically removed, while Moderna chose to intervene earlier, making it difficult to compare the two.

The conflicting results are not unusual with a new technology, and Bancel is even more convinced than he was in 2011, back in Afeyan’s office, that mRNA is the technology of the future and will generate hundreds of new treatments for a range of diseases. By the end of the year, he expects to announce late-stage results from the first mRNA treatment for a rare disease in which people are missing a key protein that processes other proteins and fats.

“I always think about the long cycle,” says Bancel. “I knew that if you can figure out the engineering puzzle of building a business with mRNA, then the impact of this technology on humanity—way after I’m CEO, way after I’m dead—is going to be gigantic. And we are just beginning. We are just getting started.”

Madhur Jain, Anupriya Acharya, Mio Oka, Rajesh Mittal

Corporate leaders in India spoke about the country’s economic growth and potential in the coming years at TIME’s The Partnership Imperative: Building the Next Chapter of Growth dinner in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. 

Speaking on the panel were Madhur Jain, co- founder and CEO of Varaha ClimateAg, a climate tech start-up; Anupriya Acharya, CEO in South Asia of Publicis Groupe, an international marketing and public relations firm; Rajesh Mittal, president of the automotive company Isuzu Motors India; and Mio Oka, the director of India operations at Asian Development Bank.

Acharya spoke about the importance of flexibility when creating business opportunities across India’s vast network of markets and regions. 

“Flexibility starts from a point where you are not treating everything the same, and it's not like you can do copy-paste on the same solution from one market to the other,” she said. “It doesn't work like that.” In order to tend to the needs of multiple businesses, she said, “you have to solve for each of the sectors, each of the clients, each of the segments … starting from their own context.”

Acharya also discussed the ways in which AI can provide quantitative insights into the economy and how to leverage that data. 

“The amount of data that is available is absolutely mind-blowing and mind-boggling,” she said, while stressing that for a business to thrive, it needs a qualitative understanding of the country as well as data-driven insights. “You need the qualitative aspects, the understanding of culture, understanding of India, the understanding of consumers, markets to decode … how you could plan for the future.”

Oka talked about the ways in which India can continue to improve in some key business areas. 

“So, what's missing in India? Two things. One is manufacturing lead growth. Second is technology,” she said. She added that the agriculture business is another key component to India’s economy that should increasingly be invested in. 

She also said that there must be “real dialogue" between the government and companies to address systemic issues in the country.

“We know there are issues about labor. We know there are issues about land. So why don't we talk about it?” she asked. “It's a good time that we start tackling the fundamental problems that we have, and this is why the transparent, honest dialog based on trust, is very important.”

Jain also discussed the importance of India’s agriculture industry. 

“India has 162 million hectares of crop land area. India always had incredible talent, which is now matched with a lot of ambition and capital as well,” he said. “It's important that there is an eye upon these upcoming areas which can fetch billions of dollars and bring them into the country.”

Mittal said that India’s export economy should become the country’s focus, if it wants to see continued growth in the years to come.

“We have to become export oriented, and that can come only when we start thinking on building trust through quality, through discipline, through systems, through processes,” he said. “We have a lot of manpower, so we have a lot of potential to become a manufacturing hub.”

The Partnership Imperative: Building the Next Chapter of Growth was presented by Andhra Pradesh.

Firefighters respond to the scene of a fatal building collapse in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Nov. 11, 2026. —Stephanie Keith—NurPhoto/Getty Images

At least eight people died after an apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, collapsed on Wednesday.

The building, located at 1321 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, collapsed “into an adjacent construction site,” the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) said in a statement on social media. More than a dozen people were wounded in the incident.

Here’s what we know about the situation.

What happened?

The cause of the building collapse is under investigation, according to the city’s fire department.

FDNY said that crews responded to the site of the incident around 4 p.m. on Wednesday and began a search-and-rescue operation. More than 250 first responders were at the site of the collapse.

City officials reported Wednesday evening that two people had died. That number rose to eight by Thursday morning as rescue operations continued.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement on social media Thursday morning that at least 17 other people were injured, including three firefighters. At a press conference the night before, city officials said that several of those who were wounded were children. 

Mamdani said on Thursday that he was “heartbroken” that eight people had died in the incident.

The city has not released the identities of the eight people who died.

What is the status of rescue operations?

Rescue operations have continued into Thursday.

“Rescue workers have spent the night searching the site of yesterday’s building collapse, working under extremely dangerous conditions to find and save anyone who may still be trapped,” Mamdani said in his statement. “There are no words for a loss of this magnitude. My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we have lost, those who are injured and everyone grieving today.”

Emergency responders rushed to the scene as firefighters and rescue crews carried out operations amid the rubble of a building that collapsed in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 11, 2026. —Lokman Vural Elibol—Anadolu/Getty Images

FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said in a statement that operations for a building collapse such as this one “are extremely dangerous.”

“Multiple people from the building and the construction site were trapped,” Bonsignore said. “This will be a prolonged operation.”

At a press conference on Wednesday evening, Bonsignore said that the department didn’t know at that time how many people were in the building when it collapsed or “how many people are still in the collapse zone.”

What is the city doing to help New Yorkers affected by the building collapse?

Mamdani said on Thursday that anyone who has not been able to get into contact with someone who they think could have been affected by the incident should call 311—or 212-639-9675, if they are located outside of the city.

The city has also opened a center to help people who were affected or displaced by the collapse; the center is located at the Flatbush YMCA at 1401 Flatbush Avenue.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, speaks with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in the Great Hall of the People during a visit to China on May 14, 2026 —Johannes Neudecker—picture alliance via Getty Images

President Trump suggested on Thursday that Tim Cook, former CEO of Apple, should become the leader of chip maker Nvidia following its chief executive Jensen Huang’s resignation over his alleged affairs with two women. 

“NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place - TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend! ” Trump posted on TruthSocial. 

Huang resigned as Nvidia’s CEO on Thursday morning, in the wake of reports that he had allegedly been involved in two affairs, including one with a woman identified by U.S. intelligence as a Chinese spy.

It is unclear if Trump has reached out to Cook regarding this suggestion. TIME has reached out to the White House for comment. 

Huang and the White House have maintained a close relationship since the start of Trump’s second term. During his official visit to China in May, Trump invited Huang to attend the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The New York Times reported that the President insisted on inviting Huang to join the delegation despite concerns over Huang’s relationship with a woman who is believed to be a Chinese spy. 

Speaking with reporters on Monday, Trump repeatedly downplayed Huang’s alleged affair, insisting that he believed the tech billionaire’s assertion that he knew nothing about the alleged espionage operation.

“I really believe him,” Trump told reporters during the White House press conference. “I think that he’ll be in good shape.”

—Max Zolotukhin—Getty Images

Two radical ideas have been introduced into human thought, wrote the novelist and humorist Kurt Vonnegut. One was that “energy and matter are pretty much the same sort of stuff.” That was Einstein. The other was that “revenge is a bad idea.” That was Jesus. We are so wired for vengeance, so trained to retaliate, mused Vonnegut, Jesus must be classed among the revolutionaries. 

Vonnegut was no Christian, preferring to describe himself as a “Christ-worshipping agnostic,” but he dreamed of a world in which the long “chain of death and destruction” is broken. That is why he opposed the death penalty and one of the reasons he despaired of America.

News that the execution of former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 U.S. soldiers in 2009, will not be livestreamed in December has been well received, but reports that a narrow majority of Americans approve of both the sentence and the method of death-by-firing-squad have excited little comment.

Coming days after the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, for a crime committed when she was a teenager, it is reasonable to ask: Why do we still execute people?

Pope Leo has protested the cruelty of a practice that denies “the possibility of redemption,” but this is a political as well as a religious question. A culture of vengeance tears at the fabric of democracy.

About 20 years ago, the legal scholar Terry Aladjem staged a debate on the death penalty for an undergraduate class at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Expecting to have to work hard to convince students of its merits, Aladjem was shocked to discover that nearly all of them were in favor of capital punishment. The “class erupted,” he recalled. “Those who supported the death penalty vastly outnumbered their opponents. America was not what I thought it was.” 

Aladjem went on to write a book about vengeance and how our appetite for violent punishment throws us back into a state of nature, fanning the dangerous passions that are supposed to be cooled and contained by the social contract.

Vengeance was becoming the air we breathe, he observed. Talk shows, television justice, and politics seemed to be concerned with little else. Where liberal thought had banished the criterion of revenge from all considerations of justice, a politics of purity had brought it back. The result was “something absolutist, something profoundly undemocratic,” wrote Aladjem. The president who wants to hunt down terrorists, “dead or alive,” and the angry talk show host “who entertains the views of others only to reinforce his own” were peas in a pod. For Aladjem, the death penalty is at once deeply problematic on its own and a symptom of a wider malaise. He fears that the glee we might feel in the death of a “bad person” will come for us in the end.

J. William Fulbright, the Senator for Arkansas and a longtime critic of the Vietnam War, made the same point in an essay on “The American Character” after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Fulbright was appalled by the widespread expressions of sympathy for Jack Ruby, the man who shot Kennedy’s alleged assassin live on television, thus depriving Lee Harvey Oswald of one of the basic rights of a civilized society: “the right to a fair trial under established procedures of law.” This hunger for vengeance could not be dismissed as a normal feature of a healthy society. It spoke to an intolerance and bloodlust that was one part Salem, hanging witches on the strength of gossip, and one part frontier, hanging horse-thieves from trees. It was the Puritan spirit, immortalized in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, that most troubled Fulbright.

“Although no Western nation has completely dispelled the absolutist spirit of the crusades and the religious wars, some have been more successful than others,” he noted. The core of the democratic idea, going back to the critique of the divine right of kings, was “the element of doubt as to the ability of any man or any movement to perceive ultimate truth.” But “the Puritan way of thinking” injected an absolutist strand into American thought: a ferocious moralism eager to send sinners to hell. Fulbright’s essay recalls much of what the founders wrote about the danger of regression to a psychology of vengeance, and the notion that tyranny exists wherever violence is praised.

Raised on an 18th-century version of the Puritanism that distressed Fulbright, Benjamin Rush had an epiphany one day in 1787, when he chatted with a group of convicts cleaning the streets in Philadelphia. With their shaven heads and degrading uniforms, the men made a sorry spectacle as they begged him for a penny. Offering them a draught of beer instead, Rush was stunned by their humor and humanity as he listened to their stories. The strange thought began to dawn that criminals were humans, after all, and that no heart is “wholly corrupted.” To terminate such a life, or confine it to perpetual misery, was a crime against human nature, Rush wrote. America had won its independence from Britain, but true freedom—freedom from cruelty and arbitrary violence—was still distant, as long as Americans persisted in brutal punishments.

To shed blood with little or no emotion, to treat a criminal like a sheep or a dog, was to demonstrate how little we have understood about liberty as a principle of life and republicanism as its protection. “An execution in a republic,” he argued, “is like a human sacrifice in religion.” It was a return to a world that should have been left behind. 

Rush was not alone. Integral to early American patriotism was the notion of a rational people, liberated from the “bloody code” of medieval law. A critical influence on Rush, Jefferson, and several of their contemporaries was the Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria, whose Essay on Crimes and Punishments codified this notion of the death penalty as sanctified barbarism. It had taken centuries for societies to evolve from blood feuds and trial by combat to a system of tangible laws, in which the state serves as “the cool moderator of the passions of individuals.”

When the state takes up the sword of vengeance, Beccaria suggests, it forgets its very purpose in life. It falls into the absurdity of trying to prevent murder by committing murder itself. No one could deny that malice and cruelty stalk the gallows. The solemnities of the ritual cannot hide the fact that we are trying to erase a terrible evil with more of the same. And no wonder it fails, observed the Italian. The effect is to cheapen human life and to breed contempt for the law—because it’s hard to love a government that acts in the spirit of “the assassin.”

This was the idea that inspired Jefferson, as he set about reforming Virginia’s penal code, confining capital punishment to murder and treason, and drastically reducing the number of physical punishments on the books. “Let mercy be the character of the law-giver,” he wrote. But let the law be as certain as gravity. Jefferson denied that in disputing “the sanguinary hue of our penal laws” he was being soft on crime or naïvely optimistic about human nature. For laws to be effective, they had to be reasonable, proportionate, and mild. One of his models was William Penn, who showed that the “principles of peace, of reason and right” can hold their own in the realm of government. Although it’s unfortunate that he did not practice what he preached, Jefferson’s remarks on the corrosive effects of slavery reflected his notion that violence is a contagion and the law must limit its spread. “[F]or man is an imitative animal,” he wrote, and imitation is the seed of all education. When the child sees the parent lashing out, he “catches the lineaments of wrath.” Thus “nursed” and trained in tyranny, a tyrant is what he becomes.

Advocates of the death penalty speak of justice, closure, and peace for the victims. But by Jefferson’s lights, a public execution is an education in brutality and a reopening of wounds. The legendary defense lawyer Clarence Darrow argued similarly that to punish murder with death is to “make less serious” the original offense. It is to baptize violence as the way of the world, and to say that what goes around comes around. 

Like Vonnegut, Darrow saw the death penalty as institutionalized vengeance, and he pleaded for an attitude of “mercy” to break the spell. “If our state is not kinder, more human, more considerate, more intelligent than the mad act of these two sick boys,” he said, as he attempted to spare two teenage killers a sentence of death in 1924, “then I’m sorry that I’ve lived so long.” But “I know the future is on my side.” 

Yet Darrow, believed to be the most brilliant and hard-headed attorney of his time, would be dismissed as a snowflake in ours. His language of clemency and kindness would likely be laughed at in an age when a Marine Corps veteran can kill a homeless passenger on the New York subway and walk free of all charges—and even be lauded as a model of civic virtue. 

We all share the disease. President Bill Clinton’s decision to interrupt his presidential campaign to deny clemency for a brain-damaged black man on death row, in 1992, captures the true story of the past 30 years: convergence. “The real Bill Clinton is not for capital punishment,” said Illinois congressman Abner Mikva. He just thought it was “a political necessity.” Mikva saw the same dynamic playing out with handguns, lamenting a shift, in his lifetime, from serious talk of prohibition to the modern politician’s terror of uttering a word against the deadly weapons.

What stems the tide? While Secretary of State Marco Rubio scolds Europe for building “downwards” and sacrificing the greatness of the Western tradition “to the average, the ordinary, the mediocre,” it is worth noting that every European nation except Belarus has abolished capital punishment, and that the nations with whom America shares the practice are those we have been taught to despise for their “cult of death.” We sit behind China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen among the countries with the highest number of executions per annum. 

My hope is that more states will follow California’s lead in declaring state-sanctioned killing incompatible with “justice and human decency,” as Governor Gavin Newsom wrote last week, when he commuted the sentences of the state’s 548 death row inmates. Although some of the relatives of the victims expressed their fury at Newsom’s decision, one welcomed it in terms that would have pleased Benjamin Rush.

“We used to think that having a vengeful death penalty sentence is going to be what gave us justice,” Jess Nichol, stepsister of Polly Klass, who was murdered in 1993, told The New York Times. “We’ve discovered that it doesn’t.” 

Having at first thought that the killer deserved death, Ms. Nichol came to believe that healing required a degree of mercy. “I want to live in a world where I am well, and not haunted by the hungry ghost of vengeance,” she said. 

This, I would argue, has to be the future.

Tony Huge in the docuseries Get Huge —Courtesy of Hulu

“A day natty is a day wasted.”

That’s the motto of Tony Huge, a prominent figure in the looksmaxxing community. In Huge’s lingo, “natty” means “natural,” as in refraining from using a heavy regimen of supplements popular in the rapidly growing online subculture of men that promotes extreme measures to maximize the potential of one’s physical appearance. Especially popular among young adults and teenagers, looksmaxxing often includes risky behavior like the use of trenbolone, a steroid designed to promote muscle growth in livestock that’s illegal for human use in the United States, and DNP, a toxic fertilizer that can burn fat but brings the potential for deadly side effects. For looksmaxxers, the goal is to achieve peak physical form to become more powerful and attractive to women—life expectancy be damned. 

Filmmaker Stacey Lee first met Huge in late 2024, when looksmaxxing was still “a very fringe movement.” She was embarking on a project about the phenomenon, which she says has moved “to center stage” between then and the Nov. 10 release of her three-part series Get Huge: Looksmaxxing to Death, streaming on Hulu and Disney+. 

The idea of injecting yourself with dangerous substances to become more muscular, or engaging in bone smashing—repeatedly striking your facial bones with blunt instruments in hopes your bones will heal thicker and stronger—may sound horrifying to most. But Lee understands the appeal. “It begins with a basic human need we all have, no matter our gender, for connection and belonging, and to be seen and respected. I think everyone can relate to the idea that we want to be the best version of ourselves,” she says.

But the goalposts move, and then move again. “You find yourself never being able to feel complete,” she says. You might achieve a buff physique or a bigger jawline, but ”these are superficial solutions to very deep and complex problems.”

Get Huge chronicles the rise of Tony Huge and the growing community of looksmaxxing. Along the way, it appears to brush up against true crime, as Lee delves into a string of unexplained deaths in the community.

The rise of a looksmaxxerTony Huge established a considerable fandom as a looksmaxxer —Courtesy of Hulu

Tony Huge, a former bankruptcy lawyer, founded Enhanced Athlete in 2013 as a brand and YouTube channel. It was there that he first discussed experimenting with anabolic compounds, Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs), and other techniques to build muscle. In 2016, he expanded Enhanced Athlete to include a supplement company that also sold unapproved performance-enhancing drugs.. The company was raided by the FDA following the launch of a criminal investigation alleging the manufacturing and distribution of unapproved SARMs and other chemicals. Its CEO, Scott Cavell, was arrested for selling fertilizer as an enhancement and went to prison for three years. Huge, Enhanced Athlete’s co-founder and brand ambassador, was not indicted. He soon moved to Pattaya, Thailand, where the drug laws are considerably more relaxed. 

“Tony has this aura of radical transparency,” says Lee. “But it’s very controlled. He’s got an incredible way of working within gray areas. He’s managed to create a business and lifestyle that allows him to live on the very edge within the realms of the law—at least in Thailand.”

From Pattaya, Huge established a considerable fandom as a looksmaxxer. Though his once-popular YouTube channel has been banned since 2023, he still has nearly 175,000 followers on Instagram. “Tony offered community. He offered a father figure. He offered a blueprint for his life that had never been offered before,” says Lee. His sex life is also central to his appeal. “He’s got anywhere between eight and 10 girlfriends at any point in time, and the house is run by them,” explains Lee. “They make his food, get his supplements ready, do his laundry, and clean his house.”

That combination was enticing to Elon Muskular, one of the subjects Lee interviews in the docuseries. Before coming across Tony, Muskular had been depressed and disconnected. He started messaging Tony to express his admiration, before Tony invited him to move to Thailand, live with him, and run his marketing. Muskular dropped out of school and made the move. “He finds people at rock bottom, who don’t have anything to lose,” Muskular says of Huge in the docuseries. Muskular fell out with Huge over differing views and concerns over Huge’s treatment of other looksmaxxers, and the two no longer work together.

Trouble in paradiseDr. Tony Huge, a guru pushing homemade biohacks on a devoted following willing to risk everything for the cause —Courtesy of Hulu

Leo Longevity also counted himself as an admirer of Tony. The self-proclaimed biohacker became well known online for his videos about penis enhancement. In 2022, Leo moved to Thailand to live at Tony’s compound so the two could make videos together as part of the content creation aspect of both of their businesses. Once Huge and Leo got into a groove of creating together, they would publish several videos on YouTube everyday, a nearly unmatchable rate for competitors. The two became incredibly close friends, but the pressure to live up to expectations weighed heavily. 

“In the biohacking/looksmaxxing space, the motivation towards extremes is because you always have to create a new precedent,” says Lee. “Back in the day, Tony was the most controversial guy on the internet, and now he’s looking at what other looksmaxxers would do. He’s like, ‘I got to keep up with this.’” 

It was against this backdrop of immense pressure that tragedy struck. Leo and Huge’s relationship began to feel strained. There was a struggle for power, as both men wanted to be the dominant alpha in their videos, and each had his own ideas about how to achieve those goals. There was also a new protegé in place in Connor Murphy, a rising star on the looksmaxxing scene who joined the duo in Pattaya at the beginning of 2023. The series suggests that Tony was infatuated with Connor, which infuriated Leo. According to Get Huge, on Jan. 27, 2023, Leo began to isolate himself. He was found dead three days later in a bathroom in Huge’s house. 

Leo Longevity’s autopsy report, according to sources close to Pattaya police, indicates that his fatal injuries were caused by another person. The investigation into his death remains open, and no suspect has been identified. Huge has denied any involvement. 

A history of suspicious deaths and disappearancesElon Muskular in the docuseries —Courtesy of Hulu

Get Huge rewinds the story to shed light on another tragic death that took place in Huge’s circle years earlier. Super Beast, Tony’s former chemist, says in the docuseries that Nick Weisser, a close friend of Huge’s and his IT guy, had regular falling-outs with his friend and boss. Super Beast recalls that Weisser attempted to blackmail Huge, threatening to leak critical information about Enhanced, and was found dead a couple of weeks later.

Josh Brooks, a fellow looksmaxxer who Huge describes as a “best friend” in the docuseries, was another of his protegés. Brooks, Super Beast explains in the series, also tried to blackmail Tony, and took his mentor’s business branding and tried to slightly alter it and pass it off as his own. In 2021, there was a fire in Brooks' apartment in Colombia, and he fell out of the window to his death. 

In 2022, Coach Trevor, another of Huge’s close friends, disappeared. “I personally don’t know what happened to him. None of us do,” Super Beast remarks in Get Huge. In 2024, Scott Cavell, the CEO of Enhanced Athlete, was found dead in a hotel. An official cause of death hasn’t been released, though Super Beast says he believes that Cavell was killed. “Scott did drugs. He wouldn’t do the amount that killed him,” he says. He does stop short of making accusations for who is responsible for any of these deaths and disappearances. (Huge has not been declared a suspect.) But he has plenty to say about Huge’s empire: “It’s not a brotherhood. It’s a gathering point for weak-minded people. They don’t take care of each other. They don’t uplift each other. They find ways to f-ck each other’s lives up. Basically a cyclone.”

Filming for Get Huge wrapped in June of 2026—until a new development brought the team back into production. On July 7, Connor Murphy died by drowning in the lake in his backyard in Thailand. He had been exhibiting increasingly erratic behavior, including claiming that he was gaining superpowers after injecting gold into his bloodstream. As of the docuseries’ release, Murphy’s death is believed to be an accident. 

How far can looksmaxxing go?Connor Murphy, a rising star on the looksmaxxing scene who died in 2026 —Courtesy of Hulu

While Get Huge investigates the deaths of Leo Longevity and others connected to Tony Huge, it’s also a broader look at the rise of the looksmaxxing movement itself. In one scene, Huge travels to Las Vegas for a bodybuilding show, where he meets a group of teens as young as 13. Concerned with the decrease in brand awareness as younger looksmaxxers like Clavicular and Androgenic increase their share of the fandom, he appears to be looking to increase his reach to younger audiences. “Tony doesn’t have the same gravitas with the next generation, and that leads him to Vegas to try and figure out how to capture a piece of that pie,” says Lee. Just moments into their conversation, one of them asks if Huge can get them steroids. He laughs off the question, but it lingers.

“The challenge of this experimental biohacking culture,” says Lee, “is that our bodies are all very different. One thing that works for Tony Huge might not work for the 16-year-old kid in Iowa who just wants to get jacked.” There’s also no need for any of these looksmaxxers to verify that they’re actually taking what they’re claiming. Clavicular, currently the most popular looksmaxxer, says he does meth to help maintain his physique. “He may not be taking what he’s saying he’s taking, and this kid who’s using it as a blueprint for his life doesn’t have the discernment to know that,” Lee says.

Safeguards implemented by social media platforms, including Huge’s YouTube ban, have played a role in his decreasing reach. But he and other looksmaxxers decry these removals as censorship. And Lee understands that anything that’s perceived as censorship “can get weaponized,” using Andrew Tate as an example. “Every time he gets censored, he uses it as part of his argument, and it galvanizes more followers,” says Lee. “If they get kicked off YouTube, they go to Rumble, they go to 4Chan. Whatever the most underground forum is.”

Lee holds out some hope that the rise of looksmaxxing might be curbed. “I think what we’re witnessing now is a dismantling of these power structures of masculinity and more of a reckoning. The Tate brothers are on trial, and you’re seeing a turning of the tide politically.” 

What does concern Lee is the rising use of AI in looksmaxxing. Her series shows that Tony’s team regularly produces and creates content using AI. “Even if Tony’s not around, he can live forever on the internet using those tools,” she says.

Adds Lee: “If the humans stop, do the machines carry it on?”

Every year, TIME's editors and correspondents work together to compile a collection of the most interesting and groundbreaking new products and innovations for the Best Inventions list. As holiday season approaches, the TIME team has pulled out a selection of the 10 best health and fitness items from the list that would make a perfect gift for the most sporty people in your life.

—SPEEDIANCESpeediance Gym Nano

Portable weight training

Gym Nano is a portable digital resistance engine that can latch onto most racks, with a 16.7 ft. cable and a weight range of 7.7- to 220-lb. It also has sensors to capture athlete data and performance progression. —TIME Staff

Buy Now: Gym Nano on Speediance

—FORMForm Smart Swim 2 Pro

Goggles that coach

Because you can’t hear underwater or check your watch while swimming laps, accessing real-time metrics has been nearly impossible. Now, Form’s augmented reality goggles not only project split times onto their patented glass but also guide athletes through personalized pool workouts and offer technique coaching right in their field of vision. The ergonomic goggles also come with open-water navigation built in, a feature inspired by triathletes who, according to Form founder and CEO Dan Eisenhardt, “complained they had a hard time in races going straight between two points.” And yes, you can also upload your workouts to Strava. —Matthew Huff

Buy Now: Form Smart Swim 2 Pro on Amazon

—Celeste SlomanMyCelsius Cooling Bracelet

Instant relief for hot flashes

While treatments for perimenopause and menopause symptoms have gotten more sophisticated, sometimes you just need immediate relief from hot flashes. The MyCelsius Cooling Bracelet sends a cold sensation to the wearer’s wrist, a thermally sensitive area, with the push of a button. But there’s no cooling agent involved; instead, its patent-pending miniature thermoelectric system actively pulls heat away from the skin. The device, now sold in Europe and headed for the U.S. next year, also has a Night Mode for gentler, periodic cooling. “It's almost like a switch to tell the brain, ‘You do not need to sweat all of this heat out,’” says cofounder and CEO Maxime Kryvian. —Eliza Thompson

Buy Now: MyCelsius Cooling Bracelet on MyCelsius

—Courtesy of GORUCKGoRuck Spy Ruck

A weighted vest for women 

Rucking—or walking while wearing a weighted backpack or vest—is all the rage, with weighted vest sales surging more than 50% to $27 million in the year ending May 2025. But many rucks are bulky and designed with men’s flatter chests in mind. “Our bodies are more complicated,” says GoRuck founder and former CIA case officer Emily McCarthy, who devised a solution with the Spy Ruck. The weights sit on the back and sides, meaning the front part of the chest stays unencumbered while the wearer gets her workout in. The low-profile design is not nearly as unwieldy as a traditional ruck, so women on-the-go can build muscle while running errands. —Eliza Thompson

Buy Now: GoRuck Spy Ruck on Amazon

—NikeNike ACG Radical Airflow Shirt

A cooling running top

Nike’s “All Conditions Gear” label has historically been focused on casual hiking. But when Beaverton began conceptualizing a relaunch of the line in 2024, the designers shifted their focus to the growing sport of trail running, where marquee races are rarely shorter than 50km. At last year’s Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, Nike equipped ACG athlete Caleb Olson with the Radical Airflow Shirt, a loose-fitting long sleeve pocked with hundreds of large holes. Each of these perforations is shaped like a funnel, leveraging the Venturi effect to suck cooling air to the skin as you run. Despite sweltering conditions, Olson not only managed to win the race, but was only two minutes off the course record. The shirt is now available to the public. —Daniel Varghese

Buy now: Nike ACG Radical Airflow NXT at nike

—Laced GolfLaced Golf Gen 1 Alignment System

Sensors that fix your alignment

In an era where golfers can adjust their game with a wide array of tech-forward gadgets, it’s mind-boggling that alignment is still best corrected using simple wooden sticks. Which is why golf buddies Tyler Kenney and Zach Smith founded Laced Golf, a digital device that clips onto your shoelaces and gives you real-time feedback on your stance using lights and haptic vibration. When the light turns green, swing—and hopefully hit your shot with more accuracy than ever. Tourney Mode, meanwhile, records movement silently so competitive golfers can review data after a game. “It uncovers blind spots for almost everyone we test with,” says Kenney. —Eliza Thompson

Buy Now: Gen 1 Alignment System on Laced Golf

—HypershellHypershell X Ultra S

Smooth-moving exoskeleton

The global exoskeleton market is poised to reach $1.79 billion by 2033, so it’s safe to say robotic wearables are in demand. But if there’s a common complaint, it’s that they can feel rigid. Hypershell X Ultra S addresses that with its HyperIntuition algorithm, which analyzes and anticipates a user's movements in real time, allowing for more fluid motion. “It’s similar to end-to-end driving systems in autonomous cars, mapping human motion directly into assistive movement,” says Toby Knisely, Director of Global Communications. Whether you're running, hiking, or cycling, the all-terrain Hypershell can offset up to 86 pounds of weight, adding an almost literal spring to your step. —Matthew Huff

Buy Now: Hypershell X Ultra S on Amazon

—Swift hockeySwift Hockey ZT Pro 2

Making pro-quality sticks more accessible

The high cost of ice hockey gear can be a barrier to entry for players—particularly composite sticks, which can cost around $400 and may break after just a few months of play. Former minor-league player Zechariah Thomas founded Swift Hockey in 2022 at age 19, with the goal of delivering pro-quality sticks for less via a primarily direct-to-consumer business model. This year, the company released the ZT Pro 2, a second-generation of its flagship stick: priced at up to $199.99, its shaft features unique rounded edges for easier handling, and added layers of carbon in both its core and blade for extra durability. Players at the highest level now use Swift sticks, including 2026 NHL draft pick Landon Halfele and multiple players in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and the NCAA. —Avery Stone

Buy Now: Swift Hockey ZT Pro 2 on Swift

—Garmin InternationalGarmin Cirqa

No screen, no subscription, just fitness

Whoop and Oura Ring helped popularize screenless wearables, but they also normalized paywalled health insights. Garmin’s new Cirqa smart band changes that. “We’re giving you your insights without having to lock you into additional prices” says Jill Kaiser, Cirqa product manager. The Cirqa looks nearly identical to a Whoop and addresses one of the category's biggest frustrations: unreliable automatic workout detection. A dedicated side button lets people manually start and stop their most popular activity without their phone, giving them the freedom to run, lift, or play ball without distractions. —Hannah Singleton

Buy Now: Garmin Cirqa on Amazon

—Alberto Oviedo/Courtesy of Innovative Eyewear, Inc.Reebok Smart Eyewear Powered by Lucyd

Audio sunglasses for athletes

There’s so much gear associated with working out—fitness trackers, watches, headphones, sunglasses. Reebok is lightening that load by combining two into one. Made in partnership with smart eyewear company Lucyd, the Reebok Powered by Lucyd sunglasses let you play music, listen to podcasts, take phone calls, or receive voice instructions, all through the sport sunglasses’ arms, without tuning out the world around you. Available in six styles—two of which are prescription-ready—each pair features polarized lenses, lightweight frames, noise-cancelling microphones, and open-ear hi-fi audio. —Matt Alderton

Buy Now: Reebok Smart Eyewear on Amazon

Every year, TIME's editors and correspondents work together to compile a collection of the most interesting and groundbreaking new products and innovations for the Best Inventions list. As holiday season approaches, the TIME team has pulled out a selection of 10 best game and play items from the list that would make a perfect gift for the parents, little ones, and fun-lovers in your life.

—DoonaDoona X

Deluxe car-seat-to-stroller system

The Doona changed the baby-transport game by transforming from an infant car seat into a stroller with the press of a button. The Doona X takes that innovation further, featuring three stroller positions—Sit, Relax, and Lean Back—with a near-flat 159-degree recline. The X also features better shock-absorption, smoother wheel release, an adjustable headrest and no-rethread harness, and a handlebar with two height settings. —Beth Ann Mayer

Buy Now: DoonaX on Doona

Hapiko Stickerbox 

Dream up your own stickers

The global smart AI toy market is projected to grow from $18.52 billion in 2025 to more than $55 billion in 2035. “But when you see the wave of AI toys and every single one is basically a chatbot in a teddy bear, [it’s] like, ‘Who asked for this?’” says Stickerbox CEO and cofounder Arun Gupta. His invention—a small, red handheld box—puts AI to work more purposefully, designing stickers based on verbal user prompts (“Cowboy cat playing guitar”), then printing them in black-and-white for coloring. The box comes with 265 stickers and eight colored pencils, and features built-in filters to block unsafe suggestions. —Patti Greco

Buy Now: Hapiko Stickerbox on Amazon

—Spin MasterSpin Master Rubik’s Tetris Cube

Nostalgic brainteaser

Combine the iconic, confounding Rubik’s Cube puzzler with the classic, compulsive Tetris video game and the result is Spin Master’s Rubik’s Tetris. As with the traditional Rubik’s Cube, players wrestle with arranging the small square pieces into a 3 x 3 x 3 square. But here you’re not solving for solid-color sides, you’re building Tetris shapes—the game’s signature green, purple, yellow, red, and dark-blue S, T, O, Z, and J-shaped Tetriminos. The toy is a Level 4 out of 5 solve, says Spin Master vice president of product development Randy Klimpert, so players should brace for a challenge. —Richard Eisenberg

Buy Now: Rubik’s Tetris on Amazon

—Thames & KosmosThames & Kosmos SolarFlower

Mesmerizing STEM kit

Inspired by kinetic museum sculptures, botanical model kits, and the “kidult” toy market (adults now comprise 28% of global toy sales), the 114-piece, 11” SolarFlower has motorized petals that spin as long as the sun shines. Looking like a rippling carnation and run by a solar-powered gear, the robotic bloom comes in four colors: Golden Sunrise, Ruby Ripple, Sapphire Swirl, and Purple Majestic. “Our whole thing is about teaching kids and families about engineering,” says Ted McGuire, president of science kit and board game maker Thames & Kosmos. “But we definitely know there are adults who build these just for their own enjoyment." —Richard Eisenberg

Buy Now: Thames & Kosmos SolarFlower on Amazon

—Hugo Yu for TIMETin Can

A fun smartphone alternative for kids

Some 106 countries and 39 U.S. states now restrict cell phones in schools, and a societal push to delay giving smartphones to children has gained steam in recent years. Tin Can, a Wi-Fi-enabled landline network for kids, has provided a fun new route to independence, instead of focusing on what they're losing. “It’s pretty incredible to see how much Tin Can has become a part of kids’ lives and fostered real connection,” says CEO Chet Kittleson. The brand's latest release includes a limited-edition Technicaller Clear phone, Twirly Cord Charms, and a Contact Keeper—a slick, modern take on the Rolodex with tradable cards. —Emma Barker Bonomo

Buy Now: Tin Can on Tin Can

—Courtesy of SkylightSkylight Buddy

Digital chore tracker

Buddy, a touchscreen bedside alarm clock designed for kids, turns chores like brushing teeth and picking up toys into—almost—fun. With playful nudges and star rewards, the kid-friendly task advisor, aimed at ages four to 10, empowers independence and healthy routines. Parents manage Buddy, which includes a built-in alarm clock, sound machine, and nightlight, along with a daily to-do list—but notably no games or sounds that suck kids into screens—via mobile app. “We’re taking these nags out of parents’ hands and putting them on Buddy so chore completion feels special and warrants a celebration,” says Anubhav Sarkar, vice president of Skylight. Parents who travel or work late can even send a message to their kid via Buddy. —Richard Eisenberg

Buy Now: Skylight Buddy on Myskylight.com

—The LEGO GroupLego Smart Play 

Build with interactive bricks

Lego bricks are an iconic part of many kid’s formative years, and have likely raised entire generations of future engineers. But they remain analog, and most STEM pursuits now involve technology. Smart Play levels Legos up. It adds sensors, powered by a chip smaller than a Lego stud, to the traditional bricks that detect nearby tagged objects and minifigures, then triggers dramatic sound and light responses, letting kids program their own creations. The system, which features more than 20 patented technologies, launched in March with a series of—what else?—Star Wars sets. —Chris Stokel-Walker

Buy Now: Lego Smart Play on Amazon

—BoardBoard

Digital games for the whole family

The Board leverages the visual engagement potential of a gigantic iPad with the appealing tactility of board games. The idea for the 24-in. device came to creator Brynn Putnam, founder and former CEO of at-home fitness startup Mirror, during the pandemic as a salve for digital fatigue. The subscription-less console comes with seven games designed for groups of players ages 6 and up, which mostly resemble classic arcade games. Here, however, players shoot oncoming asteroids by sliding a physical starship piece around the Board. —Kevin Cortez

Buy now: The Board on Board

—Analogue, Inc.Analogue 3D

Nintendo 64 resurrected 

Nothing can recreate the joy of playing "GoldenEye 007" as a kid, but Analogue 3D, a modern-day Nintendo 64, comes close. The console lets users play N64 games with their original cartridges and controllers, using FPGA hardware instead of emulation software—the standard for retro machines—so there’s no lag during play. Picture-wise, it delivers 4K resolution while offering display modes that mimic the look of classic tube TVs. And unlike the original N64, Analogue supports save states, which means gamers can pick up right where they left off if their character dies near the end of a level—no 1997 meltdowns necessary. —Jessica Sager

Buy Now: Analogue 3D on Analogue.co/3d

—Mars, IncorporatedMars Non-FD&C M&Ms

Naturally-dyed candies 

What if instead of being made with Red No. 40 or Yellow No. 5—which some people can have adverse reactions to—M&Ms were dyed with beet juice and turmeric? Well, guess what: in August, Mars started selling a version of its classic candy without artificial dyes, using those and other natural ingredients to color its red, orange, yellow, and green chocolates. “We’ve been working on it, honestly, for decades,” says Jaime Boyes, head of R&D at Mars Snacking North America. The trick was not only finding the right plant-based pigments, but also figuring out which would work on a massive production line. Mars has yet to crack the code for blue and brown. —Matthew Huff

Buy Now: Dye-Free, Non-FD&C M&Ms on Amazon

—Moor Studio—Getty Images

When Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins each March and the clocks spring forward, people lose an hour of sleep. This sleep deprivation has been linked to a higher rate of fatal car accidents the week after—but that’s not the only lingering effect of lost sleep. 

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where phishing emails were sent to more than 10,000 people, found that the Monday after DST began, people were 13% more likely to click on the links within a suspicious message. 

What the new study showed

The idea for the study was inspired by a routine cybersecurity test, says study author Eitan Schechtman, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at University of California, Irvine. “My university runs this program in which they send phishing emails every few months,” he says, in order to educate employees about how to spot them. Phishing emails resemble legitimate messages and are designed to spoof recipients into giving up personal data. “I was wondering, as a sleep researcher, what sleep would do to that,” he says.

He arranged with the university’s IT team to have spoof emails sent to half of recipients the Monday before the transition to DST in 2026 and half the Monday after, to compare how people responded. The DST shift is a well-established source of mild sleep deprivation, making it a simple way to test the idea.

The time change made no difference in terms of how likely people were to open the fishy emails, nor did it change how likely they were to report them as spam. But it was linked to a greater likelihood of clicking on links in the emails—which, if the emails had been real scams, would have taken recipients to fake websites or otherwise compromised their security.

“Our interpretation of this is that sleep loss rendered people more impulsive and less likely to carefully think about their decisions, so they open the email and they're like, ‘OK, here's this link. I'll just click it.’” Schechtman says. “They didn't have their full mental capacity to critically examine whether this might be an email that's trying to lead them astray.” 

A number of factors can play into whether people fall for phishing scams, including stress levels and high workloads, as well as differences in personality traits like impulsiveness, says Jason R.C. Nurse, a professor at the University of Kent in the U.K. who was not involved in the new study.

"Sleep deprivation can fit this profile in some ways because it has a direct impact on our decision-making and state of mind," he says. "If we’re not thinking properly or rationally about what we’re seeing in our inboxes, there’s every chance that we might get caught out and fall for a phishing attempt."

Does it apply in the fall as well?

When clocks fall back, as they did on Nov. 1 in the U.S., people hypothetically have more time to sleep—not less. Does that mean people would be less likely to click on the links afterward? 

Schechtman suspects not. “When you are given an extra hour, you unfortunately rarely use it to sleep more. A lot of times you use it to stay awake longer or enjoy your weekend a bit more,” he says. “My guess is, and previous studies have shown, that you don't gain as much sleep from the fall transition as you lose in the spring."

That said, “I asked the journal to delay publication until right now, because we collected data for this last transition as well,” he says. “None of my colleagues, none of my students knew that we were running this, because I wanted it to be secret,” he says, to enable this last round of data collection to happen before people learned about the work.

He hasn’t analyzed the new data yet; they will appear in a later study. And because his colleagues now know what he was secretly up to, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to do a similar study again. “But I hope that other institutions will follow suit and replicate this," he says. "It would be really cool to see.”

For the first time, TIME and Statista are recognizing America’s Best Community Colleges—the top community colleges offering associate degree programs in the U.S. Here's how the list was decided.

Methodology

To be eligible for the list, a community college must fulfill the following requirements:

• Offers two-year degree programs

• Associate’s college

• Public institution

• Located in the 50 states or Washington, D.C.

• Enrolls more than 100 students

• Financially solvent

• Officially accredited

The list is based on an extensive Key Performance Indicator (KPI) analysis, focusing on five dimensions:

• Student Success Rate: Graduation plus transfer rate compared to the estimation, and the absolute graduation plus transfer rate.

• Graduates’ Earnings: Median income 6, 8, and 10 years post-enrollment compared to the estimation, and the absolute median income.

• Return on Investment: Value added to the average graduate’s salary when compared to income of the average high school graduate, expressed relative to the cost of attendance.

• Diversity: Simpson diversity index of student body and faculty ethnicity, plus share of students with disability.

• Campus Resources: Student-faculty ratio and core expenditure per student.

Data on the community colleges’ performance was collected through publicly available sources like IPEDS and College Scorecard. The data was reviewed on its validity to project student outcomes. Based on the results, a score for all five dimensions was calculated for each community college.

The final score was calculated as follows: 30% x Student Success Rate + 30% x Graduates’ Earnings + 20% x Return on Investment + 10% x Diversity + 10% x Campus Resources = final score

All community colleges were benchmarked against one another using the final score. The 250 best-performing community colleges were included in the final list and are listed alphabetically within each state.

See the full list here.

Disclaimer: The selection of the community colleges and the definition of the evaluation criteria were based on independent journalistic criteria of TIME and Statista. The evaluation was carried out by the statistics and market research company Statista. TIME and Statista make no claim to the completeness of the community colleges examined. The list only includes community colleges that qualify according to the criteria described in this document. A position in the list is a positive recognition based on research of publicly available data sources at the time. In addition, events after September 17, 2026, were not considered in the analysis. As such, the results of this list should not be used as the sole source of information for future deliberations. The information provided through this list should rather be considered in conjunction with other available information about a community college. The quality of community colleges that are not included in the list is not disputed.

TIME and data firm Statista have released a report card on the best community colleges, an unranked list of the top 250 schools out of the approximately 1,100 community colleges in the U.S. 

The list debuts at a time when community college enrollment is growing. In the 2024-2025 academic year, students aged 18 to 20 made up the largest share of first-time associate degree earners for the first time, according to a 2026 report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. And Pell grants are now available to students doing workforce training at community colleges under President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” 

To be eligible for the TIME-Statista list, schools had to be financially-solvent, public and accredited associate colleges enrolling more than 100 students and offering two year degrees in the 50 U.S. states or Washington, D.C. Drawing on publicly available data from IPEDS and College Scorecard, the list measured schools by student-faculty ratio and core expenditure per student, diversity, graduates’ earnings, graduation rate, transfer rate, and campus resources. 

Methodology: How TIME and Statista Determined America's Best Community Colleges

Community colleges have a long history in the United States. The first one opened 125 years ago in Illinois—Joliet Junior College in 1901. But enrollment at these schools really ramped up when the Pell Grants program established in 1965 made education more affordable. Now the more than 10 million community college students in the U.S. make up about 44% of all undergraduates, according to the think tank Community College Research Center. 

There’s a common misconception that community colleges are seen as the “also-rans of higher ed when they're at the core of higher ed in our country,” says Josh Wyner, author of What Excellent Community Colleges Do: Preparing All Students for Success, and founder and executive director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute. So why do some Americans choose a two-year college over a four-year college?

“Affordability is the most obvious reason that you start in a community college,” says Wyner. “Tuition at a community college is typically about half the rate of a public four-year institution.” Many Americans who go to two-year community colleges transfer into a four-year university. For example, students who complete the requirements at Northern Virginia Community College—which appears on the TIME list—can go straight to George Mason University. Others are enrolled in community colleges to do continuing education—finish a GED, take English as a Second Language classes. 

Increasingly, high school students are enrolling in community college classes so they can start earning credits for—and reduce the cost of—college degrees. These students make up about 22% of all community college students, according to the think tank Community College Research Center. “It's been an astonishing growth,” says Wyner. “It's larger than AP now.”

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the majority of community college degrees were granted in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, and Health Professions and Related Programs. And community colleges are expanding their offerings in the era of AI. Some of the colleges on the TIME list, like Austin Community College in Austin, Tex. and West Valley College in Saratoga, Calif., offer certificates to prepare students to enter the semiconductor industry as the leading chipmakers face a shortage of qualified workers.

See the full list of the 250 top community colleges below:

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin in Moscow on Nov. 12, 2026. —Vyacheslav Prokofyev—AP

Talks between U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are underway in Moscow after two days of U.S.-led discussions between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi yielded no major breakthroughs.

Putin's special representative Kirill Dmitriev welcomed the envoys and shared footage of their arrival Thursday morning. At the start of the meeting, Putin asked the U.S. representatives to “convey gratitude” to President Donald Trump for “organizing contacts between Russia and Ukraine,” Russian media reported.

Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, said the meeting with Putin would focus on the outcome of the Abu Dhabi discussions, which concluded Wednesday with plans for another prisoner exchange, but no concrete steps toward ending the war. 

"We see some openings and some opportunities," Kushner told reporters. "We've relayed to President Putin directly several times and to his team, that the only way to get this done is to have them by our side. And I think they're receptive to it.”

When the Moscow meeting concludes, Witkoff and Kushner are set to travel to Dublin to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on any developments from the talks. Zelensky is among the dozens of world leaders in the Irish capital for the European Political Community summit.

Zelensky expressed optimism about the next round of negotiations, saying there is a "window of opportunity” to reach a peace deal with Russia.

“There really is this window of opportunity, when all the participants involved in this negotiating process could get the result by the beginning of 2027,” he said, speaking alongside Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin during a press conference in Dublin.

Although Russian and Ukrainian negotiators ⁠reported some progress during this week's Abu Dhabi talks, all sides have acknowledged that significant differences remain, particularly over territory.

Kyiv has strongly rejected Putin's demands to surrender the entirety of the eastern Donbas. With negotiations over territory deadlocked, U.S. mediators have instead sought to steer discussions toward post-war security guarantees and reconstruction.

Bringing European representatives into future negotiations could also prove challenging. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, who led Russia's delegation in Abu Dhabi, was critical of any European involvement.

"As for the position of the leadership of a number of European countries, they are essentially collectively deceiving the Ukrainian people,” he said, according to Russian state media outlet TASS. “They are financing and supplying weapons to one of the warring parties, thereby essentially contributing to the mass deaths of civilians."

Despite the major obstacles that remain, Trump has expressed optimism about ending the war—a goal he had previously claimed would be achieved on his first day back in office in 2025. “We're seeing a very strong inclination to end Russia and Ukraine (war),” the President insisted during a press conference Monday.

Ireland's Prime Minister Micheal Martin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a press conference in Dublin on Nov. 11, 2026. —Paul Faith––AFP/Getty ImagesZelensky says Starshield service is once again restricted

As Witkoff and Kushner were meeting Russian officials in Moscow, Zelensky raised concerns about new speed restrictions on Starshield, the military-grade sister version of Elon Musk’s Starlink service.

Zelensky said the Ukrainian military was facing "systematic" restrictions to Starshield and, as a result, struggling to intercept Russian drones. "This is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine," he said. "We are trying to clear up all circumstances with the American side."

TIME has reached out to the White House and Space X for comment.

Starlink offers Internet connectivity from satellites in low-Earth orbit. Its sister service Starshield, a military version developed for the Pentagon, relies on the Starlink network and has become a vital component for Ukrainian forces, strengthening its far-reaching drone strike missions and air defenses.

Last month, Ukraine complained that speed restrictions had been imposed on Starshield, leading to the “failure” of several military missions. There were conflicting reports as to how the service came to be restricted.

Reuters, citing three U.S. officials, had reported that the decision to limit the service came from inside the White House.

When approached for comment, a senior U.S. official told TIME: “No such request was ever made by the President.”

When initially addressing the matter, SpaceX founder and CEO Musk insisted that Starlink and Starshield are different. He cited the U.S. authorities as being in control of the latter’s usage determinations.

“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately POTUS,” he said on X. “Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”

Musk later said his company SpaceX had imposed limits on the use of its Starlink satellite system, accusing Ukraine of violating its terms of service by using it for military activity. He denied being behind the simultaneous issue with Starshield.

Kyiv denied breaching Starlink’s terms of service. “It’s very strange that Elon Musk doesn’t know about the restrictions on Starlink in Ukraine,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov via Telegram. “Starlink does not work over Russian territory. So we physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep strikes and mid-range strikes.”

—Moor Studio—Getty Images

Tom Whitehead knows which medicine works to treat his Crohn’s disease. But when he switched insurers in 2025, he says was denied coverage for the expensive medication, Remicade, which he received in a monthly infusion. He was instead put on what’s called a biosimilar, which is essentially a slightly different version of the drug made from the same materials.

The biosimilar did not work well for him. His symptoms worsened, he had urgent and unpredictable bowel movements, and he got kidney stones twice, ending up in the hospital, he says. His doctor’s office appealed the coverage denial after his bad side effects, he says, but the company upheld it and he could not get the medication he wanted. 

So he turned to AI. 

Whitehead found Warris Bokhari, the founder of Claimable, an AI tool that helps people appeal insurance denials for medication and other treatments. Claimable drafted a letter for him and told him to send it to. With his input, Claimable outlined his experience with the biosimilar drug, detailed how he’d missed work because of his symptoms, and cited federal statutes that, the AI argued, meant that his insurer had to cover this “medically necessary drug.” 

Five days later, he got a call from his doctor’s office that his Remicade had been approved. 

Health insurers are increasingly using AI to evaluate requests for coverage of drugs and medical procedures. But patients, too, are using AI to fight back against denials. Services like Claimable, Fight Health Insurance, Mediloop, and Billyze help people understand their medical bills and push back against what could be improper billing or wrongful denials. 

Many Americans have had an experience where their insurance denies a procedure or medication request from a doctor. But very few of them appeal those denials. One recent survey of more than 4,500 U.S. working-age adults with private health insurance found that 21% reported that they or a family member had experienced a denial of coverage in the past year. Only about half of them appealed it. 

People often don’t appeal insurance denials for several reasons; it can be intimidating to know what paperwork to file, and the bills can start to pile up, says Sara R. Collins, a senior scholar at the Commonwealth Fund and one of the authors of the report. In the survey, some people who appealed their denial said that their provider had threatened to send their overdue bills to collections while they awaited word from their insurer. 

About 43% of people in the study said that a claim denial led them to incur medical debt, and half of those bills were $1,000 or more. “It’s not insignificant sums of money when you end up with a denial of care,” she says.

Often, patients feel helpless when they receive a medical bill or prior authorization denial, says Collins. They don’t know who to contact or what to do. Though their provider can sometimes help with next steps, that isn’t always the case. AI tools have emerged to offer guidance, usually for a fee.

Each of the AI tools available to patients does something slightly different. Claimable helps people appeal insurers’ decisions to deny coverage for drugs or medical care and costs about $40 per appeal. Fight Health Insurance is a free tool that helps patients write letters appealing denials. Billyze helps search hospital bills for possible errors and helps patients question charges that may be erroneous. It costs $79 per report, though for bills over $1,000, it promises to refund the service fee if its analysis finds no billing discrepancies. Mediloop also reviews bills for potential errors and negotiates with providers to reduce what patients owe. It costs $129 to negotiate a bill and also offers an annual household plan. 

“I realized that if you could invert and and actually give patients the ability to argue articulately against the insurer, you might actually change someone’s life,” says Bokhari, the CEO and co-founder of Claimable.

Using AI to help with medical bills only became realistic in the last few years, says Holden Karau, one of the founders of Fight Health Insurance. Open generative models—AI systems with publicly available code that users modify to their own purposes—only became good enough to help build this kind of system in early 2024, Karau says. 

“That’s when the models got good enough that it was like, yeah, we can actually do this, let’s make it available for people to use,” she says. 

It can be difficult to build an AI model that helps people appeal denials because the insurer—not the patient—usually has most of the information about why they’re denying claims and what makes them overturn their appeals, say Karau and her co-founder Melanie Warrick. But the two still found data to build into their model, including published information from state regulators about what language they used to overturn insurers’ denials. 

For instance, if an insurance company said that a patient needs to get an X-ray before they get an MRI, and a regulator in California overturned that decision, the AI model could use the language the state regulator used to overturn that denial in its appeal letter. 

Like Karau, Flavia Bojescu, the founder of Mediloop, became interested in pushing back on health insurance bills after getting into an accident in the U.S. and stressing over how much her medical bills would be, even though she had insurance at the time. Bojescu says a physician in the emergency room asked her if she wanted stitches, which she didn’t understand. In her home country of Romania, the doctor would decide whether or not she needed stitches; cost or coverage wouldn't be factors for the patient to consider. 

Bokhari says he hopes that someday, his AI tool won’t need to exist. If it starts getting more expensive for insurers to deny care than to just pay for it, maybe they’ll approve more claims, he says. 

“We hope that this bends our system back towards reality,” he says, “where denying patients at massive scale starts becoming a problem for the insurers because it's driving a cost line for them.” 

Similarly, Warrick says that she wishes that Fight Health Insurance weren’t needed. “We would prefer that this went down a path where nobody used it anymore,” she says, “because health care was no longer so hard to actually access.” 

As for Tom Whitehead, he says he feels much healthier now that he gets his Remicade injections every five weeks or so. Ironically, getting the right medication may actually save his insurer money in the long run, because he has far fewer complications when he’s on the right drug. 

He’d tried to make that case on his own to his insurer, unsuccessfully. He’d needed AI to persuade them instead.

—artpartner-images—Getty Images

For three decades, I’ve built a career on a “no-nonsense” approach to personal training. My clients—many of whom are celebrities—often come in with outdated or flatly wrong ideas about fitness, and it’s my job to dispel these and help them get the type of body they want. 

The tools people need to get and stay fit aren’t sold in a bottle or at a store. They’re in your willingness to commit to a simple plan: Stay focused. Stay disciplined. Your life might just depend on it, I recently found out. 

One day in October 2025, all of my convictions and confidence were put to the test. I was rushed to the emergency room five days after a routine procedure, sepsis ravaging my system with a level of intensity no HIIT session could ever mimic. I didn’t even know a body could feel this level of pain. 

What followed was a brutal two months spent inpatient at a hospital, confined to a bed. I had five major surgeries in as many weeks. 

While I was lying there recovering, listening to monitors beeping with a feeding tube in my nose and needles in my veins, a doctor told me something that, to my ear, proved I had been right about my dedication to personal fitness. "If you weren't as fit and strong as you are, you’d be dead,” he said plainly. The thing that mattered most was the literal foundation of muscle I’d built beneath my skin.

This is what it had all been for: The 35 years of lifting, the micro-workouts, the metabolic optimization, my nutrition. I knew all along that it wasn't just about aesthetics, and the fact that I had survived was proof that fitness was a life insurance policy I’d been paying into nearly every single day for decades. Being fit had saved my life.

Still, recovery was the hardest thing I’ve ever done—both physically and mentally. As the weeks dragged on, I watched my physical identity wither away, losing 27 pounds of the muscle I had spent a lifetime building. For the first time in my life, I was bedridden. 

An identity crisis set in. (Months in the hospital will do that to you.) If I’m not the guy who can crush a workout, I wondered, who am I? 

That’s when I realized then that the toughness I had cultivated through fitness had strengthened my mentality as well as my muscle. The discipline that kept me consistent in the gym was the same discipline I needed to use in order to learn how to eat, walk, and function again. 

To recover from eight surgeries in one year, I’ve employed the same principles I used to get stronger, lose body fat, and improve heart health: develop a plan, patience, and commitment. I’ve had to teach my body how to eat normal food again. I had an ileostomy for nearly 10 months and my gut microbiome changed significantly. I’ve had to slowly reintroduce food, sometimes a teaspoon at a time, to assess my tolerance. It’s the same as adding a quarter pound of weight to a lift or reducing calories by 100 daily to see a change. My fitness journey has taught me the long game and an understanding that meaningful results take time. Nothing happens in one workout or one meal—it’s the collection of these that matters.

Trust me, eating food one teaspoon at a time and waiting hours to see how you feel is tough. Keeping a log of what I ate, how much, and when isn’t a whole lot of fun. It’s tedious and monotonous, but integral to my long-term success. 

It’s been hard mentally and emotionally.When I woke up after my emergency surgery with an ileostomy, I wanted to die. Lying in bed with a nasogastric tube was awful. The emotional challenge was and still is harder than the physical aspect of my healing. My abdomen, which I worked very hard on for decades, is now covered in scars and deformed. My last surgery will be abdominal reconstruction to fix an incisional hernia and abdominal separation. My abdominal wall has literally split apart from the prior surgeries. But I’m hopeful that after a few months, my normal movement will be restored.

I have a road ahead of me. My body is forever changed. My rectum has been removed, and how I use the bathroom—along with foods I can tolerate—will never be the same. Many things I’d taken for granted—coffee, chocolate—are no longer allowed because they trigger my digestive tract. Still, I’m grateful to be alive. 

I am applying the same "stick to the plan" philosophy to my own healing that I apply to all of my clients’ programs. 

I’ve started very light bodyweight workouts: modified pushups, lunges and a few banded or light dumbbell exercises. I’m slowly starting to work again, and my wife and my clients have been so supportive and understanding. Day by day, I am finding my new normal. 

I’ve learned that being fit is a responsibility to your future self. You don't train just to look good in the mirror; you train for the day life tries to take you out. 

Because true strength isn't just about what you can lift. It’s also about what you can endure and survive. 

A protester holds a "housing is a right, not a business" sign during a demonstration in Barcelona on Nov. 11, 2026. —Davide Bonaldo—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Millions of workers on Wednesday staged Spain’s first general strike in 14 years in protest of the country’s housing crisis.

Around 4 million workers—around 17% of the country’s 23 million-strong workforce—participated in the Nov. 11 walkout, unions said. The strike was organized by Spain’s two largest unions, the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), tenants’ associations, and other unions. In cities across Spain, including Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday to demand measures to bring down rental prices.

The last nationwide general strike was in 2012, when workers staged nationwide walkouts and downed tools to protest austerity spending cuts and sweeping labor market reforms during the Eurozone debt crisis.

The strike comes weeks before Spain’s Nov. 29 national election, in which rising rents and cost-of-living have become defining issues. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government called snap elections last month after the eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old tenant in September prompted days of mass protests.

In an unusual move, Sánchez’s government declared its support for the general strike. The administration appears hopeful that it will be buoyed in the election by resentment over the opposition’s block on new housing measures.

Read More: Spain’s Leader Is Betting His Government on the Housing Crisis

“Your eight-hour workday. Your pension. Your public healthcare. None of this fell from the sky. They were collective achievements. We won't let them be taken away. We will keep moving forward,” Sánchez posted on X on Monday, alongside a video describing Spain’s biggest social advances over the last century as the result of collective pressure.

“Every right that workers in this country enjoy was won through struggle and strikes,” Spain’s Social Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy, an independent politician allied with Sánchez, said on Tuesday, the day before the strike. Second Deputy Prime Minister and Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz, a member of Sumar, the junior partner in Sánchez’s left-wing coalition government, posted on Bluesky on Wednesday: “When our country stops, it is always to move forward.”

Several unions declined to support the strike, citing its proximity to the election. But unions that backed the strike said it was nonpartisan and that their demands were aimed at local and national governments of any party.

“We don’t distinguish between political affiliations,” Valeria Racu, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, told the Spanish public broadcaster TVE on Wednesday. “The time for politicians is over. We have no more patience. The power is in the streets.”

Walkout, protests, and violence

UGT and CCOO called the strike a success, while the tenants’ union estimated 4 million people had joined the stoppage and said it expected the total to grow to 5 million by the end of Wednesday.

CEOE, Spain’s main employers’ confederation, however, estimated that less than 5% of workers participated. In statements, CEOE said the action was a “failure,” and it argued that employers were being unfairly made to bear the cost of demands over housing policy. The association said the government’s support for the strike projects “a regrettable image abroad.”

Support for the strike was most concentrated in coastal areas, at ports, and in the automotive sector, according to UGT and CCOO. The unions reported a halt to production at Seat’s Martorell plant and majority support for the strike at Volkswagen’s factory in Navarre.

In Barcelona, the regional government suspended metro and public bus services outside peak hours. In Madrid, metro traffic through 10 a.m. local time was 42% lower than the same period last Wednesday.

Large demonstrations in cities across Spain accompanied the strike. In Madrid, protesters linked arms and blocked Gran Vía, the city’s main shopping area, and called for people to stop working and shopping. Shops along the thoroughfare, including H&M and Stradivarius, temporarily closed as protesters passed.

While unions said protests were largely peaceful, police reported at least 75 arrests across the country as of Wednesday night. Officials said there were at least 1,044 incidents linked to the general strike. In Barcelona, police said protesters had smashed shop windows, burned rubbish containers, and launched fireworks at officers.

CCOO Madrid said it planned to file a criminal complaint against the “disproportionate” response by police after riot police used batons and pepper spray against protesters in Madrid, allegedly injuring 20.

A fire is seen on the street during the demonstration after the general strike in Barcelona on Nov. 11, 2026. —Davide Bonaldo—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty ImagesRiot police apprehend protesters in Barcelona on Nov. 11, 2026. —Davide Bonaldo—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Frustrations loom over election

The demonstrations are at the center of political debate ahead of the elections.

Several opposition politicians accused Sánchez’s government of stoking the strike for political gain. “This is an electoral strike,” said Miguel Tellado, secretary-general of the conservative Popular Party (PP). “A preventive strike against the next government.”

“Don’t hold it,” PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo warned the unions, “or you will tie your image to Pedro Sánchez forever.”

Feijóo called the strike “a general strike against the opposition.”

Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox, called the general strike a “campaign for Sánchez.”

Sánchez’s government defended the constitutional right to strike. Sánchez said the action “is not against anyone,” and he argued that all public institutions should act to address the country’s housing needs.

Anger over Spain’s housing crisis came to a head in September, after 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her home after its owner sought to raise her rent fivefold. While the landlord eventually agreed to let her return without raising the rent, Abascal died in hospital two weeks after the eviction, before she could move back.

The eviction sparked a protest encampment in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol and demonstrations in other cities. Spain has a housing shortfall of around 750,000 homes, which could exceed more than a million by 2028, according to the Bank of Spain.

More people have turned to renting as home ownership becomes increasingly out of reach. But renting also remains expensive. Rents increased 87% between 2015 and 2025, while wages increased around 30%, El País reported. The average monthly rent of €1,176 ($1,315) is equivalent to nearly 99% of the average monthly salary of a worker aged 16 to 29, according to the Youth Council of Spain. The average age that a person moves out of their parents’ home and lives independently is now 30.2 years, while the youth emancipation rate has fallen to a record low of 14.5%, according to the council.

Sánchez’s administration tried to enact legislation to strengthen tenants’ rights and curb the cost of rent in early October, but opposition lawmakers rejected both housing decrees. Congress’s Permanent Deputation, which operates while Parliament is dissolved, is due to vote on revised versions of the decrees on Thursday. Sánchez’s minority government previously passed a 2023 housing law that allowed for rent controls in high-pressure areas. In 2025, it announced proposals for more public housing, incentives for affordable rentals, and tighter restrictions on property purchases by certain overseas buyers.

Despite those efforts, Sánchez, who is seeking reelection later this month, faces criticism over the migration crisis in Ceuta, where at least 75 people died while attempting to cross from Morocco along with tens of thousands of others earlier this summer. An Oct. 28 train crash in Urda, which killed 69 people, and corruption cases involving people close to Sánchez’s government also loom over the coming election. Polls published Nov. 9 showed Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party trailing PP, and projected that PP and Vox would together secure enough seats to form a majority government.

—VCG—Getty Images

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.” In NVIDIA’s case, the shadow of its CEO and co-founder, Jensen Huang, is a haunting one.  

Many within Silicon Valley see Huang as a visionary genius, whose vision as the “Godfather of AI” has improved billions of lives around the world and contributed greatly to American prosperity and innovation. When attending our Yale CEO forums, he has been revered by CEOs across sectors and around the world for his bold, entrepreneurial vision and his revolutionary technological triumphs. 

But with Huang reportedly ensnared in an affair with a Chinese executive rumored to be a suspected Chinese intelligence asset and allegedly involved in laundering NVIDIA chips into China around bans, a growing chorus of voices across finance, tech, and government circles are whispering the once-unthinkable: that Huang may have lost the legitimacy to lead. And indeed, we believe the NVIDIA board is finally doing the right thing: moving to oust Huang.

That follows a tortured sequence of events. On Nov. 8, NVIDIA’s board of directors announced it had launched an independent investigation into reports that Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.

“While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board's inquiry will examine all available information,” wrote the leaders in a statement. “Jensen fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it. The Board has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team.”

Then, on Nov. 11, The New York Times reported that Huang allegedly had a relationship with an executive who reports to him. The saga culminated in The Wall Street Journal reporting that the NVIDIA board is preparing to oust Huang. 

Critics point out that Huang has shown remarkably poor judgment, putting NVIDIA and U.S. national security at risk. Others argue he has lost the confidence of key customers with his recklessness. Plus, he was reportedly less than honest and candid with NVIDIA’s board. 

Ideally, boards working with visionary founders can help ground the leader in reality while also supporting creative, calculated risk-taking. A lot of visionary founders have grown tremendously in this model. In fact, when managed the right way, these founders have the ability to drive their organizations to become more, not less, nimble. That is why our research reveals that long-tenured CEOs often outperform. 

Corporate boards must be able to speak truth to power, as good governance is neither blind loyalty nor an always-adversarial mentality—and have the courage to support or reprimand a CEO under scrutiny. And most importantly, and overlooked, boards must be on the lookout for grandiose and reckless conduct, and curtail those instincts when appropriate. Now, the question is what comes next for NVIDIA with Huang seemingly out? 

NVIDIA’s three options

NVIDIA's board had three choices when it comes to Huang’s future: remove him, force him to take a leave of absence, or let him off the hook with a reprimand amounting to a slap on the wrist. And it did the right thing by moving to oust Huang. Of note, NVIDIA does not have dual-class shares, and Huang only owns a single-digit percentage of the company’s shares, so the board controlled his fate, not Huang himself.

Boards rarely remove a chief executive solely for being unfaithful to a spouse, but they do sometimes remove executives when the board subsequently loses trust in them. Look no further than the cases of John Browne at BP, Steve Easterbrook at McDonald’s, and Mark Hurd at HP. We would argue Jensen’s is a different kind of case. 

Likewise, there are some examples of CEOs who were forced to take a leave of absence, either by their boards or for personal reasons, and then subsequently returned to the job successfully. Some notable examples include Steve Jobs of Apple, who took a six-month medical leave to focus on his health in 2009, and then returned to run Apple alongside Tim Cook; Tony Fernandes of AirAsia, who gave up his role for two months amid allegations that were later disproven by an independent review which cleared him of all wrongdoing; as well as Kraft Foods CEO Roger Deromedi, who returned as CEO of Kraft after a medical leave. 

Sometimes, boards choose to reprimand founders, allowing them to stay on as CEO with barely any changes. Perhaps the most famous example is Elon Musk of Tesla in 2018, over his false tweets that Tesla would be taken private for $420 a share. The SEC settlement made Musk give up the chairmanship for three years while he stayed on as CEO. Both he and Tesla each paid $20 million, and Tesla added two independent directors. 

The board likely weighed all three but came around to the right decision: Huang would be hard to replace, but the time was right to make a move and to replace Huang amidst escalating scandal and controversy.  

Potential replacements for Huang

As top GOP voices such as Senator Kevin Cramer called for Huang’s resignation as NVIDIA CEO, it is apparent that NVIDIA had no public succession plan. Huang has boasted of having some 60 direct reports, a hub-and-spokes model which is common to many founders but which is unprecedented in its sheer scale. Few founders can balance the global travel and responsibilities Huang has and still maintain even a fraction of that many direct reports. 

Unfortunately for the NVIDIA board, they are unable to draft someone with requisite CEO experience off the board on an interim basis that would buy them time, unlike some other emergency succession parallels. For example, Lew Platt, an honorable former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, stepped in off the board when CEO Phil Condit left Boeing amidst a series of scandals; and similarly, when John Akers imploded at IBM, the company brought in Jim Burke of Johnson & Johnson fame as Chair of the search committee for a new CEO, ultimately landing Lou Gerstner. 

One top internal candidate at NVIDIA would be Colette Kress, the veteran CFO who is widely known and admired across Silicon Valley and Wall Street circles. It seems clear that there is nobody outside of Huang and Ian Buck who knows the company as well as Kress and who already has relationships with key stakeholders inside and outside the company; but Kress is not a technologist by background. 

Nevertheless, there are many CFOs who stepped in as CEOs during crisis situations, despite not having any CEO background, with no need for any outside messiah. For example, when founder Steve Wynn left as CEO of his eponymous Wynn Resorts, CFO Matt Maddox stepped in. Likewise, Greg Hayes, then the CFO of United Technologies, took over amidst succession challenges and then led the company through a soaring transformation and merger with Raytheon and the formation of RTX.  

Leadership bench strength extends far beyond just the CFO role, with many other examples of management team members who stepped in as CEOs amidst crisis despite no personal background as CEO. Frank Blake was a General Counsel when he took over at Home Depot after the sudden CEO departure. Irving Shapiro was pulled in from the deputy general counsel role to take over as CEO of DuPont when there was a scandal with the designated heir apparent. McDonald’s had such bench strength that successive management team members were pulled in as CEOs after two CEOs died on the job in rapid succession in 2004 and 2005. 

NVIDIA has an impressive and deep bench of management talent, including an admired tech superstar Ian Buck, the vice president of Hyperscale with strong relationships with NVIDIA’s largest customers. Buck would be a hugely strong replacement who brings the right technical expertise, customer relationships, experience, and employee relationships for the role. He has garnered influential endorsements as the next CEO from several key commentators, including Jim Cramer. 

We would be delighted if Buck or Kress became the interim CEO, and that would be hugely beneficial for NVIDIA in the long term. A partnership co-CEO model would even work in the interim between Buck and Kress. 

That bench strength will be crucial for NVIDIA in the months ahead. But should the board decide that an outside captain is needed to stabilize the ship in the long term, two candidates who stand out as obvious choices would include Tim Cook, who has an unparalleled track record of succeeding a bigger-than-life founder who is synonymous with their company and proving that the company can thrive without the founder. Cook’s accomplishments need little explaining; after he followed Steve Jobs, Cook took Apple from roughly $350 billion in market value to $4 trillion, mastering the same Asian supply chain every Nvidia chip depends on and moving Apple onto its own silicon.

Similarly, Eric Schmidt has done this job before: he arrived at Google in 2001 as the seasoned executive to provide “adult supervision” beside two brilliant founders and built it into a global colossus, working hand in hand with the brilliant technical talent of the Google founding team with barely any daylight between them.

NVIDIA’s moment of truth

Whichever path NVIDIA’s directors choose, the one option no longer available to them is blind deference to a single leader. 

Even with Huang’s seemingly likely ouster, the board’s work is only beginning. In our view, a deep failure was exposed this week: one of the world’s most valuable companies was allowed to run with some 60 direct reports, no clear succession plan, as though its founder were both immortal and infallible. 

History is unambiguous on this point. Legendary companies like Polaroid, Digital Equipment, and Wang Labs arguably withered because their boards could not separate the institution from the founder. Apple soared after Steve Jobs because he and his board had prepared Tim Cook to lead. 

As one of us wrote in The Hero’s Farewell, the greatest leaders depart as ambassadors, leaving behind institutions stronger than themselves, while monarchs cling to the throne until they are overthrown or die in office. They believe there is only one person who is truly indispensable, but the boards don’t have to buy into such self-delusion. 

Whether NVIDIA is an institution that can not only survive but continue to thrive for the long term beyond any single individual is entirely up to its board.

Democratic Mississippi Senate candidate Scott Colom speaks during a midterm campaign rally in Tupelo, Mississippi, on October 30, 2026. —Brad Vest—Getty Images

Democratic challenger Scott Colom has defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in what was one of the tightest races of the 2026 midterms, marking another stunning victory for his party.  

The Associated Press called the race on Wednesday. 

Colom, a district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th Judicial District, becomes the first Black Senator elected in the state since 1874 and the first Democratic Senator elected there since 1982. Trump won Mississippi in the 2024 presidential election by nearly 23 points.

Read More: How the Mississippi Senate Race Became a Nail-Biter

There are certain paths that a losing candidate can pursue, however, according to a blog post from Derek Muller, a professor and expert on election law at the University of Notre Dame. For one, Muller wrote, they could mount a legal challenge over decisions to include or leave out certain ballots in the count, for instance. Or they could appeal to the U.S. Senate to determine who should be seated in the chamber.

The Mississippi race remained too close to call for days after the election, with the two candidates split by only a razor-thin margin of as low as 0.1% with more than 95% of votes counted. 

Both candidates expressed confidence that they would win leading up to the final vote count. Colom in a statement said he was “confident we will ultimately flip this seat,” while Hyde-Smith told her constituents, “I assure you, I will continue to be your U.S. Senator.”

Ahead of Election Day, the Senate race was filled with name-calling and tit-for-tat jabs over the candidates’ differing ideologies. 

Colom called Hyde-Smith a “chicken” for refusing to debate, something she hasn’t done since 2018. 

In response, Hyde-Smith’s campaign defended her by saying that there was “no point in debating someone so out of touch with Mississippi that he advocates for the sex change surgeries for children,” referencing Colom’s stance on gender-affirming care. 

Colom, who Hyde-Smith also called “the most radical liberal” to run for office in Mississippi, in 2021 signed a letter opposing the criminalization of transgender people and gender-affirming care, but has said that he opposes gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Hyde-Smith has similarly sought to paint Colom in a negative light by labeling him a “Transgender Defender” throughout her campaign. 

Colom created a nickname of his own for his opponent, referring to Hyde-Smith as “Cindy High Prices.” Colom, whose campaign focused in part on lowering consumer prices, criticized the Republican incumbent for comments that appeared to brush off concerns about rising beef prices in particular, zoning in on a February television interview in which the Mississippi Senator said in response to a question about rising costs for beef and other food that there were “so many proteins to choose from.” Colom’s campaign put out a viral ad that suggested that voters, instead of picking another protein, should “pick another senator.” 

The jab against Hyde-Smith was also made in reference to her support for Trump, whose approval ratings have sunk to new lows in large part due to mounting dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy. Hyde-Smith last month called Trump “the best President of our lifetime” during a rally where both Republicans shared the stage

In an unorthodox strategy, Colom attended Trump’s rally in Mississippi in an attempt to talk to voters about key issues and later said he had converted some of those he spoke to.  

“I'm gonna show up and I'm gonna listen, and when on Nov. 3 we pick a new United States Senator, I’m gonna represent them a lot better,” he said on Oct. 26.

The two candidates were at odds on other key policy issues as well. Hyde-Smith, who chairs the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, also levied accusations against Colom for his position on abortion. Colom has described himself as pro-life, while saying that he trusts that women will “make the choices that are best for them.” 

When it comes to the war in Iran, meanwhile, Colom has opposed the conflict and its effect in driving up costs. Hyde-Smith has for her part acknowledged the war’s impact on the economy, but said it was necessary for national security. 

She also supported Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and cuts to Medicaid, which Colom has said he hopes to help reverse if elected.

The candidates have a history predating their tight Senate race as well. In 2023, Hyde-Smith blocked Colom from a federal judgeship after he was tapped for the position by President Joe Biden, citing Colom's support for transgender rights, among other issues.

French judoka Teddy Riner receives a National Order of Merit from President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, France, on Sept. 14, 2024. —Sarah Meyssonnier—Getty Images

The French presidential election took an unexpected turn this week when Teddy Riner, a celebrated Olympian and judo star, announced his intention to run in the high-stakes race.

“I know what people will say about me: ‘He’s mad. He isn’t part of the establishment. He doesn’t know the rules. He has never been involved in politics,’” Riner said Monday in a video confirming his bid for the April 2027 election. “If refusing to bow my head and refusing chaos makes me mad, then yes, I am completely mad.” Referencing the widespread unrest and turmoil that has enveloped France since September, Riner emphasized that “the time has come to step up and take responsibility.”

The wave of protests started when students blockaded high schools, demanding a reform of what they argue is an underfunded education system. The unrest soon turned into national demonstrations, spurred by multi-generational concerns over cost-of-living pressures. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to streets across the country, with some protests turning violent. Buildings and vehicles were set alight, while tear gas and water cannons were used to dispel crowds after clashes between protesters and riot police. At least 5,000 people have been arrested over the unrest, according to the Interior Ministry, as authorities grapple to regain control of the situation.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the "unbridled violence" in a televised national address last month and has repeatedly pledged to restore calm. While the embattled leader told young people their concerns over learning conditions will be addressed, student groups have vowed to keep up the protest pressure.

The political instability has only served to raise the stakes of next year’s presidential elections, which will see a successor appointed as Macron completes his stint limited to two consecutive terms.

“I know what it means to fight, to fall and to get back up,” said Riner, positioning himself as the person to bring the country out of its turmoil. “France does not need a professional politician who recites lessons and quarrels all day long. It needs common sense, firmness, justice and a state that puts things right.”

In line with France’s procedure, Riner will require the signatures of “500 elected representatives, in at least 30 different Departments or Overseas Territories, without more than a tenth of them being elected from the same Department or Overseas Territory,” before he is considered an eligible presidential candidate. It’s a tall task for anyone, but especially someone with no discernible political experience.

Acquiring such signatures “can be a real barrier for a political outsider,” says Rainbow Murray, a professor of politics at the Queen Mary University of London. “[Riner] would have to find independent local politicians and/or people willing to defect from their party nominee to him.”

Macron has welcomed the celebrity addition to the presidential race, telling French broadcaster France 5 that Riner is “a tremendous athlete” who has made the country proud. “I supported him in competitions and as an athlete, and he is a committed man,” Macron added.

Despite the support, Riner, 37, faces stiff competition from figures who have spent years building names for themselves in the political sphere. The far-right National Rally party, and its candidate Marine Le Pen, is favored among likely voters. Le Pen was convicted of misusing E.U. funds last year. An appeals court upheld the conviction in July, but shortened her sentence, clearing the path for her to run in the presidential election. Le Pen has been hailed as a “conservative voice” by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the hard-left candidate of the France ​Unbowed (LFI) party, is also in the running for the French presidency, along with centrist candidates Gabriel Attal and Édouard Philippe, and other hopefuls. Le Pen and Mélenchon are currently leading in the polls.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien, Riner distanced himself from aligning with solely the left or right, saying he instead hopes to become a “President who unites.” This centrist positioning is common in French politics, experts tell TIME.

“That's a very French thing, to say that you're neither left nor right,” says Thibault Muzergues, political director at the Dutch-based think tank Shared Ground, pointing to previous instances of Macron and Le Pen using similar rhetoric.

As Riner prepares for an uphill battle, here’s what to know about the Olympic champion who is hoping to be the next resident of the Élysée Palace.

Riner is a celebrated athlete, with five Olympic gold medals to his name 

Riner made history as the youngest world champion in judo at 18 years old, winning gold at the 2007 World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. He has since secured his athletic star status by winning five Olympic gold medals, on top of enjoying a 10-year winning streak in his judo matches between 2010 and 2020.

Interestingly, Riner would not be the first French judoka champion to shift into politics. Olympian David Douillet became a member of the French National Assembly in 2009 and later served as the Minister of Sport.

However, Riner’s political ambitions shouldn’t be taken as a sign he’s set to retire. If he were to become President, he’d still want to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, he told Le Parisien, but only “if the position allows it, and if the French people allow it.”

While Riner’s sports-heavy resume may not include any political experience, it doesn’t mean he’s not a viable potential candidate. Macron had never held elected office before his victory in 2017. “By breaking the party system, Macron made it much easier for candidates like [Riner] from civil society to emerge,” says Muzergues. 

Riner presents a popular reality TV show alongside his partner

Riner, alongside his real-life partner Luthna Plocus, hosts the French adaptation of Netflix’s Love is Blind.

The first season of the show aired in 2025 and garnered an estimated 1.3 million viewers in its first week, opening up Riner to a whole new audience.

Riner has previously credited his partner, with whom he has two children, for being a driving force behind his athletic successes. “Without her, nothing is possible,” he told Paris Match ahead of the 2024 Olympics in France. “She helps me get enough sleep, watches over my nutrition, and organizes family life.”

Plocus, in return, praised her partnership with Riner. “We're a balanced and interchangeable duo. Except that I'm incapable of taking his place on the tatami. He won his competitions all by himself,” she said.

Riner has expressed concern over the rise of the far-right in France 

During an interview in September, Riner said he was “anxious” over far-right extremism in France.

“Seeing all this makes me anxious. The rise of extremism, it freaks me out,” he said. When asked if he was referring to extremes on both the left and right, Riner said: “The far right. Let’s call a spade a spade.”

Riner later reported receiving “numerous tweets, posts, comments, and messages of a hateful or racist nature” following his comments. He vowed to continue to express himself “freely, with respect, and without hatred.”

Paris’ public prosecutor opened an investigation into the racist abuse and harassment. 

Riner outlined his hopes for France’s youth, but hasn’t unveiled a campaign platform

Amid the unrest across France, Macron’s popularity rating dipped to just 15%, with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s rating only slightly higher at 22%, according to a poll published in October. 

“The French are very unhappy with the political status quo, so are perhaps more open to an outsider who promises to shake things up,” says Murray, suggesting the unstable political climate could work in Riner’s favor.

Riner condemned instances of violence in the protests, insisting that “those responsible must be identified and sanctioned,” but he has also said he refuses to “put an entire generation on trial.”

He added: “I want a young person who pushes open the door of their high school to be able to think about their future, not their safety.”

Aside from his commentary on the turmoil, Riner has yet to establish his exact vision for the future of France.

“He's riffing on the recent protests, showing solidarity with students, and has also talked about pension reform and anti-racism,” says Murray. “However, he has not yet taken a stance on most policy areas.”

This ambiguity could work in the judoka’s favor, but only for a short while, experts suggest.

"I think there are people right now desperately looking for the centrist candidate that is going to avoid the second round [a run-off vote] between Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen," says Muzergues. "Riner seems like a possibility... but the problem is, at some point, he will need to come up with a political program and he's going to have to make choices."

Former President Joe Biden speaks to a crowd during a fundraising event with the South Carolina Democratic Party at the Columbia Museum of Art on Feb. 27, 2026 in Columbia, South Carolina. —Sean Rayford—Getty Images

Former President Joe Biden said in a recent interview that he wasn’t aware that he had cancer when he was in the White House—but that if he had known, he would have stepped down.

Read more: Joe and Jill Biden: We’re Changing How We Fight Cancer

In an interview with PEOPLE, the former President was asked if he would have done anything differently during the 2024 election.

“What I can’t say, because there’s no evidence of it—if I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned,” Biden, 83, replied. “I would’ve not gone forward, because I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for [President].”

“But that wasn’t the case,” he continued. “I believe that on an objective basis, I was the best-equipped person to do the job.”

Biden’s office announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed a few days earlier with an aggressive form of prostate cancer and that tests indicated that the cancer had spread to his bones. He later had surgery and went through radiation therapy as part of his treatment.

When asked by PEOPLE about accusations that he kept his cancer diagnosis a secret while he was in office, Biden maintained, “I didn’t do that.”

“We let the public know when I found out, when I knew what was going on,” he said. “I wasn’t hiding it at all.”

Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, told BBC’s Newsnight in August that his father’s cancer had spread “further” and the condition was “very painful.” On Sunday, Biden shared that he wouldn’t be able to do as many public appearances as he had planned in conjunction with the release of his new memoir—”Promise Me, America,” which is coming out on Nov. 17—because of his health.

“My doctors continue to be encouraged by how I’ve responded to treatment,” he said in a post on X. “Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down. What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped. However, I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves.”

Biden—who, until President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term, was the oldest person to take the presidential oath of office in American history—grappled with controversy and scrutiny related to his age and the state of his health during his time in the White House. He faced criticism for seeking re-election, and calls for him to drop out intensified after his performance in the June 2024 presidential debate against Trump.

Weeks after the debate, Biden announced that he would suspend his re-election campaign and expressed his support for then-Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.

A YouGov survey conducted about a week after the 2024 election found that 59% of respondents felt that Biden’s “age and mental state” was “very important” to the outcome of the presidential race. About 47% said they thought that the debate between Biden and Trump was “very important” to the election result.

The former President told PEOPLE that “so far, the two tests that have been done show that the cancer is not metastasized beyond what it already was” and that he is taking “eight different pills” each day. 

He remained optimistic in his interview with the magazine.

“I’m not saying I’ll live forever,” he said. “But the point is that I have all my faculties, I have access to all the things I had before and I feel good.”

Rose Byrne, left, and Meghann Fahy in The Good Daughter —Peacock

The Good Daughter opens with the kind of formative act of violence that thrillers typically save for climactic flashbacks. Two masked gunmen looking to exact revenge on a small-town Georgia defense lawyer invade his home to find only his wife and two daughters. This nightmare continues that day and reverberates through the girls’ adult lives. Front-loading this key trauma allows the Peacock series, premiering Nov. 12, to make it the basis of maybe a dozen more trauma dumps over the course of its six gloomy episodes. Search for meaning amid the misery, and you’ll find it’s trauma all the way down.

A couple of decades after the above tragedy, the younger sister, Charlie Quinn (Meghann Fahy), is a lawyer working with her dad Rusty (Brendan Gleeson). Brash and crude yet fond of quoting highbrow literature—and pariahs in a town that blames Rusty for multiple real or perceived miscarriages of justice—father and daughter are in rough shape. He’s a sickly, aging drinker. Separated from her husband (Michael Dorman), Charlie awakens one morning with a phone belonging to last night’s hookup (Jake McDorman). She brings it to the high school where he teaches (and she spent some of the worst years of her life as a student) and happens to be present for a fatal shooting. But something doesn’t add up about the apparent culprit, Kelly (Shayna Benardo), a poor, placid girl with learning difficulties. She’s the perfect client for Rusty.

Meghann Fahy and Brendan Gleeson in The Good Daughter —Mark Hill—Peacock

A few twists later, Charlie’s estranged sister Sam (Rose Byrne) is summoned home after a long absence—and drawn into Kelly’s case. Sam is a lawyer too, though her safer and more lucrative specialty is patents. But in all other respects, she’s managed her trauma by becoming the opposite of her surviving family members: a rich, uptight, black-clad urbanite.

Byrne, Gleeson, and Fahy (the standout here) are great actors, but there’s only so much they can do for a script built on coincidence and contrivance. One death happens at such a convenient moment, it's comical. Worse is how The Good Daughter, adapted by veteran suspense author and rookie showrunner Karin Slaughter from her 2017 best seller, collects horrors, as though cataloging everything awful that could happen to a woman. Sure, it exposes one gender’s brutality to another, but that isn't exactly unexplored territory, especially in this genre. Real mysteries, like what keeps Rusty in a town and a job that destroyed his family, are shrugged off with portentous metaphors about stories—who has the power to tell them, who gets to rewrite their own. In bringing this book to TV, Slaughter might have entrusted the latter task to someone else.