Time Magazine International Edition December 14, 2020

THE RESULTS ARE IN PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE Biden and Vice President–elect Kamala Harris have an enormous challenge ahead of them if they are, as Harris has committed, to “heal the soul of our nation” as half the nation still vehemently believes that your Nov. 23 cover should more appropriately read “A Time to Steal” rather than “A Time to Heal.” Neil Hawthorne,GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA YOUR ELECTION-RESULTS issue appears to me full of make-believe and wishful thinking about the U.S. I miss reality, and even more, I miss real plans. Let’s stash the issue away and dust it off in four years’ time and we’ll find it was romantic lore. Gerold W. Schmidt,BONN, GERMANY I AM SURE THAT AN OVER-whelming majority of people here in Europe are happy with a new President…

‘Are we O.K.? We will be.’MEGHAN MARKLE, Duchess of Sussex, revealing in a Nov. 25 New York Times op-ed that she suffered a miscarriage in July ‘The more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am … the more my heart grows and the more I thrive.’ELLIOT PAGE, the Juno and Umbrella Academy actor, coming out as trans in a Dec. 1 statement ‘OTHERWISE, I’LL SEE YOU IN FOUR YEARS.’PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, seemingly teasing a 2024 presidential run after his loss to President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election—which he continues to contest—at a White House Christmas party on Dec. 1 ‘I have piles of cash at home. The government is paying me cash for my salary, because I don’t have a bank account.’CARRIE LAM, Hong Kong’s Chief…

IT’S A RARE GLIMMER OF HOPE IN A BRUTAL AND battering pandemic year: in November, both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech reported that their much anticipated COVID-19 vaccines are around 95% effective in protecting people against getting sick with the disease. Both companies have requested authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start distributing their vaccines, and the agency is expected to review those requests in mid-December. Scientists are encouraged, and even surprised, by the magnitude of the protection; public-health officials finally see what could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic; and families everywhere are fantasizing about a return to normality where gathering to celebrate holidays is not a matter of public-health concern. But those same public-health experts also warn that vaccines aren’t the panacea that many…

BY THE TIME THE CANISTER FLEW through a window, filling the room with tear gas, a security camera had already captured footage that would convulse France. It showed three Paris police officers violently assaulting Michel Zecler, a Black musician. Zecler says the three officers, whom his colleagues pushed outside moments before a fourth fired the canister, used racial slurs. The Nov. 21 incident is the most recent example of police brutality against minorities in France, and an outcry has ensued just as the country’s government is pushing for stricter law-enforcement powers. LAW AND ORDER France has faced waves of sometimes violent protests in recent years, from 2018’s Yellow Vest movement to racial injustice demonstrations this summer. In response, lawmakers on Nov. 24 gave early approval to a new bill, backed…

Pope installs first African-American Cardinal Pope Francis appointed 13 new Cardinals in a Vatican City ceremony on Nov. 28, including the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Wilton Gregory, 72, who became the first African-American Cardinal in the Catholic Church’s history. Australia’s army acts after report on abuses Thirteen special-forces soldiers face dismissal after an independent commission’s report on unlawful killings in Afghanistan, the Australian army’s head said on Nov. 27. The Brereton Report alleges troops were involved in the murders of 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners from 2005 to 2013. Thai protesters face lèse majesté charges On Nov. 30, five leaders of Thailand’s pro-democracy protest movement reported to police to face charges under a law that ostensibly protects the country’s monarchy from insult, but that has become a political weapon. Protesters…

EVEN BEFORE TAKING OFFICE, PRESIDENT-elect Joe Biden is already facing a political storm among his ideologically diverse base of supporters over the volatile issue of student-debt forgiveness. Roughly 45 million Americans currently hold $1.6 trillion in student debt, with the average student-loan recipient owing between $20,000 and $25,000, according to the Federal Reserve. Among those actively making payments on their debt, the average monthly installment is between $200 and $300. And with 5.3 million more people unemployed than in February, right before the U.S. fell into a pandemic-induced recession, progressives say that student-debt forgiveness could be a boon for the economy. “Student-debt cancellation feels like one of the most accessible Executive actions to stimulate the economy at the moment,” says Suzanne Kahn, director of the Education, Jobs and Worker Power…