Newsweek International 08/24/2018 - 08/31/2018

1998  He had appeared on our cover many times before, but never like this. As President Bill Clinton prepared to testify about an “improper physical relationship” with Monica Lewinsky, Jonathan Alter’s cover story deconstructed his dual sides: “the responsible one with his sleeves rolled up,” and “the heedless one with another piece of clothing apparently zipped down.” Newsweek correctly predicted that Clinton’s presidency would survive the scandal; the man, however, might be “recalled by future generations mainly when the subject is sex.” 1957 Pat Boone—the “wholesome 23-year-old who thinks vocal art means singing, not writhing” was on his way to being the second-most popular singer of the late ’50s, after Elvis Presley. If you asked Frank Sinatra (which we did), “Boone is better…. He’s the one who will last longer.”…

ON A FALL DAY IN 1988, AT THE HEIGHT OF the AIDS epidemic, hundreds of activists descended on the Food and Drug Administration headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. Blocking the doors and walkways, they chanted, “Hey, hey, FDA, how many people have you killed today?” The death toll in America had reached nearly 62,000 people, and the protesters were demanding that drugs be developed and approved faster. “A friend launched me onto the overhang of the front door of the building,” says Peter Staley, who hung a huge banner with the now-iconic slogan, “Silence = death.” As a member of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), Staley was among those leading the protest. He was 27 at the time and had been diagnosed with AIDS three years earlier. Staley was…

“Russians are looking for every opportunity to continue their efforts to undermine our fundamental values.” WHAT’S THE MOST WORRISOME foreign intrusion into the United States: unauthorized immigrants, Chinese imports or interference in our democracy? For President Donald Trump, it’s immigrants and imports. He doesn’t care much about the third. “Border security is national security,” Trump said on July 13 as he threatened a government shutdown if Congress didn’t come up with money to build a wall along the Mexican border (at an estimated cost of between $21 billion and $80 billion). Meanwhile, Trump ordered his administration to consider raising tariff rates already proposed on $200 billion of Chinese goods, from 10 percent to 25 percent, prompting China to threaten higher tariffs on $60 billion more of American goods. Yet Trump…

THE UNITED NATIONS ENTITY for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as U.N. Women, is the youngest division of the U.N., founded in 2011, to set global standards for seeking gender equality. So it was jarring to learn of an ongoing 13-month sexual misconduct investigation into a senior adviser. A U.N. Women spokesperson did not name the subject of the investigation but acknowledged the individual is still on its payroll, though “not currently performing any active function.” But Newsweek has learned, from five sources with knowledge of the investigation, that the subject is Ravi Karkara, senior adviser to an assistant U.N. secretary-general, and that he is accused of using his prestige and position to sexually harass at least eight men. The sexual misconduct allegations include obscene comments…

JASON ISAAC, A FOURTH-generation Texan and conservative state representative, has a clear memory of his first mind-expanding encounter with marijuana. It was January 2015, and the Texas state Capitol building was swarming with lawmakers returning to work. Two women were sitting on the stairwell opposite his office, waiting for him. He sat down with the pair—his constituents—and heard their stories. One had a child with intractable epilepsy, the other a child with severe autism. Both said their young kids suffered uncontrollable seizures, hurting themselves and family members. Prescription medications had consistently failed to treat the symptoms. The moms were asking for the freedom to try something new. Cannabidiol (CBD)—a chemical compound in marijuana that does not make people high—is believed to alleviate seizures. But giving it to their children in…

THC Tetrahydrocannabinol is the psychoactive chemical ingredient in cannabis. Patients in states where medical marijuana is legal report that the drug helps relieve symptoms such as anxiety, depression and chronic pain, and some studies support those claims. CBD Cannabidiol is the second active ingredient in cannabis, but it is not believed to have psychoactive properties: It doesn’t make you high. CBD is often extracted into its own form; it can be purchased in drops, smoked, applied topically or consumed orally. In June, the FDA approved the first marijuana-based prescription drug, which uses CBD as a treatment for rare forms of epilepsy. STRAINS There are different types, or strains, of cannabis—some THC-dominant, others CBD-dominant and some an even blend. INDICA VERSUS SATIVA Indica strains tend to have higher concentrations of CBD,…