In the early morning hours, before the sun came up on Saturday Aug. 8, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. But long before the vote, Blanche’s comments inside and outside of the confirmation process signaled an escalation of President Donald Trump’s anti-abortion agenda. 

In a now-deleted audio recording with the White House Faith Office, Blanche outlined a plan to utilize multiple agencies, including his Department of Justice and the Food and Drug Administration, to end abortion access in all 50 states. Blanche illustrated how these departments—which should work independently of the White House in service to our collective health and safety—are blurring lines in service to an agenda targeting abortion providers and patients.

The National Abortion Federation, which sets clinical standards for abortion care and provides security and safety support for clinics nationwide, knows firsthand the grave dangers when checks and balances disappear within the federal government. Law enforcement is the only mechanism of accountability our current system provides for people who engage in violence and disruption at abortion clinics. While these activities are illegal under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinical Entrances (FACE) Act, the law is only as protective as the person in charge of enforcing it. 

Not only did Trump pardon violators of the FACE Act, the DOJ has also paid them with tax dollars as a backwards form of restitution. Just last month, Paul Vaughn received a Trump pardon and $1 million from the DOJ after staging a blockade at a NAF member clinic in Tennessee. NAF is actively suing the DOJ to stop more payouts of this kind. But the Trump-Blanche duo has already sent a message with serious consequences.

Since Trump took office, NAF’s most recent Violence and Disruption report showed a 113% increase in threats of death and harm. Clinic blockades increased from one to six. While we know laws like the FACE Act are a limited means to protect people, not only is the federal government failing to meet these low bars, it's abusing the law to incentivize violence. Blanche’s confirmation is part of a larger pattern of involving law enforcement in pregnancy, including abortion care. That should scare everyone no matter what you believe. 

Blanche’s commitment to work “hand in hand with the FDA” to end abortion access adds to the alarm bells. As clinical experts, we rely on peer-reviewed studies, unbiased research, and patient experience to inform NAF’s clinical guidelines for abortion care. For decades, we’ve held the FDA to these same rigorous standards when evaluating medications. Politics and police have no place in this scientific approach. When we have the freedom to follow evidence, we can innovate and improve lives. Evidence and innovation affirmed the safety and efficacy of telehealth prescriptions for abortion pills. It expanded access under a hostile landscape. Our opponents responded by moving the goalpost and expanding their attacks.

Can the FDA and the DOJ—two departments typically unrelated in scope or matter— be united in a war to ban abortion?

NAF members know that abortion bans come in many forms. In some places, the threat of investigations and prosecutions is enough to stop access. In other places, requiring people to travel for an abortion blocks care altogether. In the process, anti-abortion politicians are finding ways to ban abortion without ever having to pass a formal, national abortion ban.

That’s why this year, on the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs decision, NAF released its policy position affirming abortion access throughout pregnancy, and committed to opposing viability and gestational limits in abortion laws. This is not only a commitment to expanding abortion access, but it’s a fight back against anti-science and policing trends in reproductive health care. Because we know in order to protect patients and providers from the whims of a Trump-Blanche DOJ, we have to eliminate legal lines that beg for enforcement.

Blanche’s confirmation is a stark reminder that expanding abortion requires proactive defense against attacks that disproportionately impact marginalized communities who already face over-policing and surveillance. Project 2025 laid bare plans to declare fetuses and embryos as people with legal rights. The NAF’s prediction: Blanche will seek to advance this concept of fetal personhood in our modern legal landscape, re-entrenching a legal tug of war between a pregnant person and their fetus. Our most important tool to fight back is to ensure abortion laws protect people at all points in pregnancy, in every state.  

Hayden Panettiere, who is best known for her starring roles in TV shows like Heroes and Nashville, died on Sunday at age 36. She leaves behind a daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, who is 11.

In a statement to TIME, Greenville Police say that officers “responded to a report of an unresponsive female” at an address in Greenville, South Carolina, just before 2 p.m.

“Upon arrival, medical assistance was administered; however, the individual, later identified as Hayden Panettiere, was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the statement reads. 

Read More: Hayden Panettiere’s Life Since Becoming a Mom Has ‘Evolved in a Beautiful Way’

Greenville Police also confirm that “the preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances” and that “an acquaintance of Ms. Panettiere placed the 911 call.”

Audio obtained by the New York Post reveals that first responders tried to resuscitate someone—allegedly Panettiere—with “advanced cardiac life support.” A medic can be heard saying “overdose” and then “CPR is in progress.” However, Greenville Police tell TIME that they are unable to verify the audio and say that it is “not ours.”

Her father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed the actress’s death in a statement shared with ABC News, which broke the news early Monday. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he said, describing his daughter’s passing as an “unimaginable loss.”

“She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her—and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” the statement continued. 

The actress’s publicist, Kasey Kitchen, said there is “an investigation ongoing” into Panettiere’s death, according to NBC News. TIME has reached out to Kitchen for additional comment. 

Tributes for Hayden Panettiere

Tributes have been pouring in for the actress, who also voiced Dot in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life in 1998. 

Academy Award winner Viola Davis, who starred alongside Panettiere in the 2016 drama Custody, described her as “an amazing talent,” in a post on social media. 

“I wish the world had more time with you because I had a burning curiosity about who you were becoming,” said Davis. “Your tests became your testimony, and your testimony became your legacy. You will be remembered. Rest well, Hayden.”

Actress Bethany Joy Lenz, a longtime friend, said that she was “crushed” in a post on social media. “I’m here with my head in my hands and I don’t know what else to do in aside from praying for her soul,” she said. 

“Her intelligence was astonishing. She understood scenes and nuance and human struggle like no child I’d ever seen on camera,” Lenz continued. “These are moments of how I knew you, in glimpses over 26 years. I don’t know how to process this,” she said alongside images of the two together. 

Rosie O’Donnell simply posted: “Oh my god - heartbroken.”

Actress Taryn Manning described Panettiere as “such a sweetheart- so rad - down to earth, kind, and consistently the same every time I saw her,” in a tribute on Instagram. 

“I don’t really have words for what has happened and she is suddenly gone,” said Manning. “I’m just grateful I got to know her and have memories like this.”

Media host and NFL insider Jordan Schultz also reflected on Panettiere’s career and her impact. “You were such a magnetic talent,” said Schultz. “I’ll never forget the amazing role you played in Remember the Titans, my all-time favorite movie.”

SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union that Panettiere had been a member of since 1994, said in a statement: “We join in mourning the sudden passing of Hayden Panettiere.” 

“Our hearts are with her daughter, family, friends and fans,” it continued. “May she [rest in peace].”

An acting career spanning decades

Panettiere began her onscreen career at just 11 months old, when she starred in a Playskool commercial, she told Entertainment Tonight in 2013. She went on to star in 27 episodes of the TV series One Life to Live between 1994 and 1997. 

She was regularly cast in shows and movies throughout the 2000s, including Raising Helen, Remember the Titans, and Scream 4. 

One of her most prominent roles began in 2006, playing Claire Bennet in the sci-fi action series Heroes. She also played Juliette Barnes, one of the leading roles in the drama series Nashville, which followed the lives of country music artists in Tennessee. 

Panettiere returned to the Scream horror franchise in 2023, for its sixth installment. 

Panettiere revealed personal struggles in her memoir 

In May 2026, Panettiere published her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. Speaking with CBS about the book, Panettiere said that “once people figured out that I could cry on cue the way that I did, it was in everything.”

At first, she said, she would imagine her pet passing away. “But then as I got older, the imagery became darker,” she said.

Panettiere continued that she “didn't know where my character started and where I ended” and described feeling a “deep sadness” during those scenes. 

The actress also reflected on landing the lead in Heroes at 16. “Back in the 2000s, there were no boundaries at all. It was rough and tough,” said Panettiere about the pressure of the paparazzi. “The way they spoke to you, the way they drove, hunted literally like prey.”

Panettiere also spoke out about her experience with postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter, Kaya, in December 2014. “Here I am with this beautiful, healthy, beautiful baby girl in this very fortunate life, and I could not, for the whole life of me, be happy. I was so depressed, and I just couldn't find my way out,” she said while promoting her memoir in May.

Her daughter currently lives outside of the United States with her father, the retired heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko.  

Panettiere’s brother, Jansen, died in February 2023 due to cardiomegaly with aortic valve complications. The Cleveland Clinic describes it as a condition where the heart is enlarged and has trouble pumping blood.

“His charisma, warmth, compassion for others, and his creative spirit will live forever in our hearts and in the hearts of all whom he encountered,” the Panettiere family said in a statement after his death. 

Reflecting on some of her struggles, including her brother’s death, Panettiere told Momé in July: “I'm a warrior. I'm a woman who has been through more trauma than I ever thought I'd face, but I'm resilient.”

On the eve of the 10-day Ulchi Freedom Shield military drills —involving 18,000 South Korean troops alongside thousands of U.S. and U.N. forces—President Donald Trump dropped one of his trademark bombshells. Announcing he would “substantially reduce” American participation, Trump cited his “very good relationship with Kim Jong Un” and need to rebuke Seoul for refusing to join his war against Iran.

“These exercises are not only costly … but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile to a country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been president, has been unthreatening and respectful,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

In response, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said it remained in “close coordination" with Washington regarding the drills, which had begun as “previously notified and scheduled,” according to its defence ministry.

Still, the decision deals a severe blow to American alliance credibility. Reducing participation in exercises underpinning a 72-year mutual defense treaty with democratic South Korea, while Trump emphasizes his personal relationship with Kim, raises questions about the durability of U.S. security commitments in the Asia-Pacific. At the same time, it whitewashes a police state ranked 3/100 by rights group Freedom House—a regime whose sole formal treaty allies are primary U.S. adversaries China and Russia.

Furthermore, Trump’s assertion that Pyongyang has been “unthreatening and respectful” stands in contrast with North Korea’s continued military activity. Since Trump re-entered office, North Korea has conducted 24 ballistic missile tests—alongside numerous cruise missile and air-defense firings—including a launch just last Wednesday.

Pyongyang has also aggressively expanded its global military footprint following its June 2024 comprehensive strategic partnership with Moscow, dispatching more than 14,000 North Korean troops, artillery ammunition, and ballistic missiles to support Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Kim is preparing to deploy 30,000 more.)

Trump’s criticism of South Korea for declining to help “denuclearize” Iran also sits uneasily alongside North Korea’s longstanding role in the development of Tehran’s strategic weapons programs. From a counter-proliferation perspective, North Korea presents a distinct challenge: unlike Iran, it already possesses an operational nuclear arsenal and has an extensive history of transferring missile and military technology abroad.

“The North Koreans provided Iran with technical assistance, building turnkey factories, technology design, production capabilities, tactics—those kinds of things,” says Daniel Pinkston, an international relations expert at Troy University in Seoul. “Technological agreements and high-level scientific visits go back years.”

During the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War, North Korea emerged as one of Tehran’s primary arms suppliers. That relationship deepened following the collapse of Soviet subsidies in the early 1990s, when Pyongyang bartered missile technology for Iranian crude oil to keep its depleted economy afloat.

Tehran purchased North Korean Scud-B and Scud-C missiles, using them as the blueprints for its own Shahab-1 and Shahab-2 ballistic missile programs. Later, North Korea’s Nodong-1 missile was adapted into the Shahab-3—the backbone of Iran’s modern long-range strike capabilities, including variants like the Emad and Ghadr. Declassified intelligence indicates Iran specifically modified the nose cones of its Shahab-3 missiles to accommodate miniaturized nuclear warheads.

North Korean military engineers—renowned for building massive subterranean installations—also helped Iran design and construct hardened missile silos, underground networks, and nuclear facility bunkers. Beyond missile architecture, Pyongyang supplied Iran with midget submarines, anti-ship missiles, rocket launchers, and specialized commando training.

While Western intelligence agencies have debated periodic reports of Iranian scientists attending North Korean nuclear tests, Pyongyang’s willingness to proliferate nuclear infrastructure elsewhere is beyond doubt. In 2007, an Israeli airstrike destroyed Syria’s covert Al-Kibar facility—a plutonium-producing reactor built by North Korea that was a carbon copy of its 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon.

Beyond diplomacy, scaling back joint drills carries immediate tactical consequences. South Korean and U.S. military commanders had planned to use the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises to adapt to evolving battlefield tactics showcased by North Korean forces in Ukraine, including drone swarm integration, electronic GPS jamming, and coordinated cyber warfare.

“They’ve taken those lessons learned there and brought them back to North Korea—that changes their capability,” Col. Ryan Donald, public affairs director for U.S.-led commands in South Korea, told reporters. “That is why the exercise looks different and over the last five years has continually evolved.”

So why Trump’s sudden policy shift? On Saturday, the U.S. commander-in-chief shared a throwback photograph posing with Kim in 2019, reiterating that the two “get along great.” The post reignited speculation that Trump is eager to stage another high-profile summit with Kim to claim a foreign policy win. Observers note a similar transactional caution in Trump stalling on a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan—the largest ever—to avoid derailing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming state visit.

But Trump’s broadside against Seoul highlights a broader global trend: partners taking steps to insulate themselves from U.S. volatility. At the same time, the Iran war has in fact turned South Korea into a major defense supplier to Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are purchasing the Cheongung-II medium-range air defense system rather than relying exclusively on American military hardware.

From Europe to the Middle East, traditional U.S. allies are replacing strategic reliance with independent insurance policies. Denmark recently opted for a Franco-Italian air defense network over the U.S. Patriot system, while Canada is re-evaluating its commitments to the F-35 program. The Dutch Central Bank migrated critical cloud infrastructure away from American tech firms to European providers to minimize systemic vulnerability.

Perhaps most remarkable was the Aug. 7 signing of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement—a NATO-style collective security pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan. After a decade of regional rivalry defined by clashes over the Muslim Brotherhood and the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Riyadh and Ankara have found common ground amid growing questions about the extent to which they can rely on longstanding U.S. security commitments.

“It is incoherent nonsense,” says Pinkston of Trump’s flipflopping. “The credibility of the United States is under attack, and that is a direct threat to U.S. national security and international stability.”

Older age does not look the same for everyone. Two people may both be 75, for example, but have a much different risk of dying in the near future. Decades ago, when scientists went looking for an answer to why, they uncovered a pattern. The people more likely to die sooner moved more slowly, had weaker hand-grip strength, and showed a cluster of other red flags for a condition now called frailty. 

Frailty is “a long-term condition in the same sense that diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease is,” the British Geriatrics Society says on its website. 

And it’s projected to become more prevalent in the near future, says Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, a professor of medicine at Dalhousie University in Canada who developed one of the scales for diagnosing frailty. “It's the demographic imperative,” he says. “In 2021 the leading edge of the baby boom generation turned 75 years old, and 75 is the age at which most of the diseases of aging take off. So now frailty is not some mystical, mythical far-off thing.”

However, frailty is not inevitable—and to some extent, it's possible to undo some of the damage. Here’s what to know.

How can you tell if you’re frail?

One of the best ways to identify frailty is a comprehensive geriatric assessment, in which a team of health care professionals look at many different aspects of an aging person’s health to get a sense of the bigger picture. But some potential tell-tale signs doctors might check for, and that you might notice on your own, include walking slowly—less than approximately 2.6 ft. (or 0.8 meters) a second, one study suggests—and taking more than 10 seconds in what’s called a “timed up and go test,” in which a person is timed getting up from a chair, walking for almost 10 ft. (3 meters), turning around, walking back, and sitting down. With frailty, “you can't tell at a glance, but it doesn't take that long [to detect] if you know what questions to ask…if you can see the person move,” says Rockwood.

Why is it important to know if you’re frail?

Frailty can be mild, moderate, or severe, and once clinicians have flagged it, it can help them make treatment decisions. An older person who is not frail might quickly recover from something like a little tumble, a cold, or an elective surgery, but that same event can cause sudden decline in a frail person—a pattern Dr. Sara Espinoza, a geriatrician at Cedars-Mount Sinai in Los Angeles who researches the condition, noticed early on in her career.

“Some patients would do really well. They would come into the hospital for whatever their issue was, and we would treat them, and they would be fine. They would go back out as if almost nothing happened,” she says. “But others were just very vulnerable. It was like the hospitalization was a tipping point for a bunch of other things to happen,” including complications and mobility issues.

Research has shown that frail people are at a higher risk for complications after planned surgeries. Knowing whether a patient is frail or not can change a clinician’s sense of whether to act swiftly on what seems like a small problem or to reexamine whether an elective surgery is a good idea, for instance.

Is frailty reversible?

“It looks like large elements of frailty are reversible, up to a certain period,” says Rockwood. Research suggests that starting a program of high-intensity resistance exercise can help people grow less frail, if continued over at least a few months. “Exercise is important,” concurs Espinoza. 

A 2023 clinical trial found that a twenty-minute daily exercise routine designed to strengthen arms and legs and improve balance and coordination, paired with eating a bit more than a gram of protein per kilogram (around half a gram per pound) of body weight daily, was linked to significant improvements in frailty. People who followed the advice over three months improved their grip strength, increased their bone mass, and were more active than controls, suggesting that frailty can be improved with lifestyle interventions.