Innehållsförteckning för December 30, 2022 från Newsweek

THIS YEAR IS THE 30TH ANNIVER-sary of the pilot of The Ricki Lake Show. Looking back, it was unbelievably presumptuous for me to think I could host a show at the age of 24. I didn’t have a sense of who I was or what I believed in at that time. I had a very sheltered upbringing and grew up in a small town outside of New York City, where I went to public school until 11th grade. My dad was a pharmacist, my mom was a homemaker and I had one sister. Very generic. I wasn’t around openly gay people and my town wasn’t that diverse. I was very young and innocent in a lot of ways. But meeting [director] John Waters, and working on the movie Hairspray (1988)…

In FocusTHE NEWS IN PICTURESLUSAIL CITY, QATAR The Argentine national team, led by Lionel Messi, celebrates their championship victory at the FIFA World Cup on December 18, after a nail-biter of a match against France. While Messi scored the first two goals, France’s Kylian Mbappé came back with a hat trick, the first man to do so in a World Cup final in more than half a century. Argentina defeated France on penalty kicks, marking the country’s first championship win since 1986, in one of the most exciting matches in tournament history.…

FOR NEARLY THREE YEARS NOW, MUCH OF THE WORLD HAS SHARED A SINGLE hope as a New Year grew near: a return to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy. Looks like we’re making progress as we usher in 2023. COVID cases and deaths are down sharply from their peak; many people have taken off their masks; groups are gathering again in restaurants, stadiums, concert halls and airports, not to mention at home with family for the holidays. Sure, there will still likely be some tough times ahead: Forecasts of a looming recession linger; Ukraine and Russia remain at war; the U.S. continues to be deeply polarized; and, despite the improvement, COVID isn’t yet over. All the more reason, then, to grab joy where you can find it. Toward that end, here…

PeriscopeNEWS, OPINION + ANALYSISPOLITICS SOARING INFLATION DIDN’T STOP U.S. SENATORS Mike Rounds, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer from shelling out taxpayer money on private air travel last fiscal year. The trio accounted for most of the $1 million that lawmakers spent on charter flights from October 2021 through September 2022, according to a Newsweek analysis of recently released congressional spending records. Fewer than a dozen senators fueled the spending. The vast majority of Congress’ upper chamber did not fly charter with public funds; expenses were also significantly lower in the House. Rounds, a Republican, racked up $380,000 in airfare, primarily by commuting multiple times a month to Washington, D.C., from his home state of South Dakota. Gillibrand and Schumer, both from New York, paid $390,000 combined flying across the state…

AFTER MANY DECADES of little or no progress in treating the dementia associated with Alzheimer’s, a new drug now offers hope to patients and caregivers. Lecanemab, announced late last month, was found in clinical trials to slow cognitive decline in early-stage Alzheimer’s patients. “It’s an extremely encouraging result,” says Dr. David Wolk, co-director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Memory Center. The arrival of lecanemab comes with some big caveats, however. The drug has significant health risks, including bleeding and brain swelling. It’s expensive—drug manufacturer Esai estimates the annual price of treatment would be somewhere between $9,249 and $35,605, and it’s unclear what insurance will cover. And the drug has only a modest effect on the debilitating progress of Alzheimer’s. Some scientists are also having second thoughts about the strategy…