RSS Feeds

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed calls for Ukraine to join NATO on the first day of the alliance’s summit in Ankara, Turkey.

Thanking leaders “who have clearly stated Ukraine belongs in NATO, because NATO with Ukraine is the alliance for the future,” he asked: “Do you really believe it would be right to leave outside NATO, a country and a people with this level of defensive capability?”

Zelensky pointed towards Ukraine’s advanced drone technology and argued it makes sense for these “capabilities to become a part of the alliance's collective defense."

Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership has long been documented and is a point of contention for Russia.

At the annual NATO summit last year, former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said: “NATO has no business in Ukraine. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, neither Russia, my job is to keep it as it is.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has previously told Zelensky to forgo his NATO ambitions “if he wants to” end the Russia conflict.

Zelensky has had more success in his endeavor to join the European Union, as Ukraine moved a step closer to E.U. membership last month after member states opened the crucial first negotiating cluster. 

In his NATO summit address, Zelensky also doubled down on his call for allies to deliver air defense systems, insisting Ukraine needs U.S.-made interceptors to defend itself against Russia’s ballistic missiles.

Currently, the top-end of European air defense capability relies heavily on U.S.-made Patriot missile defense systems, but Zelensky said “Europe urgently needs its own capability to produce anti-ballistic systems and the missiles they require."

“The one thing we still need to do here in Europe is build a strong defense against Russia's ballistic missiles. It's a big challenge… this is Russia's last major advantage,” he added.

Zelensky's public appeal comes after Russia bombarded Kyiv with drones and missiles in another deadly attack in the early hours of Monday morning.

Read More: Hegseth Announces Review of U.S. Troops in Europe and Scolds NATO Allies Over ‘Shameful’ Response to Iran War

NATO announces further spending on counter-drone capabilities and drone training

Ahead of Zelensky’s address, NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte announced new investments and planned spending on air capabilities, focusing heavily on drone advancements. 

Rutte confirmed the purchase of five Triton high-altitude drones, a fleet of Airbus A400M aircraft, and 10 SAAB GlobalEye aircraft for air warning and surveillance. “GlobalEye will provide simultaneous surveillance across air, maritime, and land domains from a single platform,” he said. 

In total, NATO allies announced that over $40 billion will be invested in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years. They also aim to train five times as many drone operators by the end of 2027.

“We are on the cusp of this transatlantic defense industrial revolution,” said Rutte.

But despite the proposed investments, Trump—who has heavily criticized the defense spending of European allies—remained hesitant.

Asked if he was satisfied with the spending plans, he responded: “We're going to see. I was very disappointed with NATO."

Trump repeated his argument that the U.S. was let down by NATO allies who refused to get actively involved in the Iran war. He said if the summit had not been held in Turkey, which is led by his ally President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, then it’s “possible” he would not have attended.

“We weren’t treated well… we did something in Iran, we don’t need anyone else’s help, I didn’t even want their help,” Trump argued.

Rutte, who is often referred to as the "Trump whisperer" on account of his diplomatic approach, reiterated the level of spending already seen from members since countries agreed to assign 5% of annual GDP to “core defense requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending” by 2035 at last year's summit.

Will one AI company behaving more safely spark a race to the top that pulls its rivals up with it? The latest AI Safety Index, published today by the advocacy group Future of Life Institute, suggests not.

The index, produced twice a year, asks an expert panel to grade AI firms on how seriously they manage risk—from pre-deployment testing to plans for keeping ever-more-powerful systems under control. The grades are unforgiving.

Anthropic, which has built its brand on safety, held the top spot with a modest C+. OpenAI slipped from C+ to C, narrowly ahead of Google DeepMind, which ranked third. All three, the panel noted, have weakened or dropped earlier pledges to halt development on their own if certain red lines came into view, and in recent years softened their resistance to military uses. In February, Anthropic dropped its pledge to never train an AI system unless it could guarantee in advance that the company’s safety measures were adequate, TIME first reported—a measure the panelists recommended reversing.

There was one relatively bright spot. Meta climbed from D to D+, rising from sixth place to fourth. "It's encouraging to me that a company can improve so much in just six months," Max Tegmark, the institute's co-founder and president, tells TIME. 

Tegmark has long warned of AI’s risks, including the possibility that future powerful systems threaten humanity’s survival. In 2025, he drafted an open letter calling for a ban on the development of “superintelligence,” or systems that exceed human intelligence, until they can be deemed safe. 

Elon Musk's xAI—which yesterday rebranded as SpaceXAI after merging with his other ventures—fell to an F, joining China's DeepSeek and France's Mistral. That the worst scorers come from three different continents, Tegmark says, "shows this is a global problem."

A real “race to the top,” he says, will take regulation. He says he’s "cautiously optimistic," pointing to the E.U.'s AI Act, Chinese rules taking effect later this month, and a more risk-conscious U.S. administration. "We're rapidly going towards a place where there's a global agreement about at least basic safety standards."

Key Democratic allies are withdrawing their support for Graham Platner, a senator hopeful from Maine, after a woman accused him of sexual assault. Platner has denied the allegations.

Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old resident of Maine, said that she had dated Platner on and off for about two years leading up to the night in 2021 that he entered her home and forced her to have sex with him, according to an exclusive with POLITICO published on Monday. She said that Platner was drunk and that she told him to stop multiple times. 

“I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, 'This is no longer my choice,'” Racicot told POLITICO.

Platner called the allegations “troubling, serious, and false” in a video he shared on social media on Monday. 

“Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” he said.

Platner has faced controversy in the past for his inflammatory social media posts and a tattoo he had—which is now covered up—of a recognized Nazi symbol. The New York Times also published an article last month in which multiple women who had previously dated Platner described his “unsettling” and concerning behavior.

Read More: The Democrats’ Platner Problem

In the wake of the recent allegation, many prominent politicians are pulling their endorsements of Platner—and several are even urging him to suspend his campaign. 

In a joint statement on Monday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, who is the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said that the committee “will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.”

“The allegations reported today are incredibly disturbing—violence, abuse and sexual assault are absolutely unacceptable,” the statement said. “Graham Platner needs to immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate and allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins.”

Platner secured the Democratic nomination last month to face off against the Republican incumbent, Sen. Susan Collins, in the general election. Democrats are hoping to win back control of the Senate in November, and they view Maine's seat as critical to achieving that goal.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California said in a post on X that he was pulling his endorsement of Platner.

“I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” he said. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona also said in a social media post that he would no longer back Platner, calling the allegations against the candidate “troubling and deeply serious.” 

In a statement shared with news outlets, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who previously campaigned with Platner, said that “there can be no tolerance for sexual assault.”

“Now more than ever we need leaders in Washington who reflect our values,” the Massachusetts senator said. “With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race.”

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont also shared a statement with news outlets on Tuesday, saying, "I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside."

When asked about Platner and the Maine Senate race during a press conference on Tuesday, Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters, “I believe that it’s time for him to drop out of the race.”

Platner has not decided if he will end his bid for Collins’s seat. His campaign is evaluating next steps, according to the video he posted Monday.

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins,” he said.

Maine law allows for another Democratic candidate to appear on the ballot in Platner’s place if he drops out by July 13. However, the new nominee would need to be declared by July 27. 

It is not immediately clear how Maine Democrats would choose his replacement.

You probably think you've got summer skin care figured out: just slather on some sunscreen in the morning. But ask a dermatologist what they actually do once the temperature climbs, and you'll find a long list of small, surprising habits most of us haven’t considered.

"We are so regimented and we are so particular—it's so funny," says Dr. Purvisha Patel, a dermatologist and founder of Advanced Dermatology & Skin Cancer Associates in Memphis. The people who examine skin for a living, it turns out, tend to be meticulous about their own.

Here are the habits they employ once summer hits.

They apply antiperspirant at night—not in the morning

If you're swiping on antiperspirant as you run out the door, you're doing it wrong. Antiperspirants work by using aluminum to gradually plug your sweat glands, and that takes hours to happen—which is why dermatologists put it on before bed, not before work. "If people take showers in the evenings, then you dab dry your armpits, put your [antiperspirant] on, and go to sleep," says Dr. Viktoryia Kazlouskaya, a dermatologist and founder of Dermatology Circle in New York. Applied overnight on dry skin, it has time to build up its strength instead of just smearing onto your shirt. "It needs time to work," she says. "Most people don't know that." Worried your antiperspirant will wear off during a hot day? It’s perfectly fine to reapply it during the day, Kazlouskaya says.

They wear tinted sunscreen indoors and in the car

Plain sunscreen is designed to block ultraviolet radiation. But it offers relatively little protection against visible light—the wavelengths your eyes can actually see. Growing evidence suggests visible light, particularly high-energy visible (blue) light from sunlight, can worsen pigmentation in people prone to melasma and in those with darker skin tones.

Dermatologists say a dedicated tinted sunscreen—not just a tinted foundation with SPF—is the better choice, since most people don't apply enough foundation to achieve its labeled sun protection. A tinted formula has iron oxides that give it color and also help protect against visible light. "I'm a dermatologist and I have melasma—I feel like I'm in confessional," says Dr. Melanie Palm of Art of Skin MD in San Diego, who blends a couple of tinted sunscreens together in her palm each morning, "like making a pancake." The light that aggravates her pigmentation isn't only coming from the sky. "Visible light really can cause pigmentation, and blue light can as well, particularly in people who are prone to melasma," she says. "The sun is the most potent source, but if you're under bright lights, that's going to play a role too."

They layer antioxidant serum under sunscreen

In skin care, order matters more than people realize. An antioxidant serum—a skin-care product that often contains vitamin C or other ingredients that help neutralize free radicals generated by UV rays and pollution—goes on before sunscreen. It's not a substitute for sunscreen, but dermatologists often use it as an extra layer of defense against environmental damage. Palm is partial to a fat-soluble form of vitamin C called THD ascorbate, because the skin's surface is itself fat-soluble, so the two pair naturally. A fat-soluble formula "is going to be absorbed more readily, and you could use lower relative concentrations but have higher effective absorption," she says. The payoff is a layer of defense against the environmental stress your skin takes on during long days outside. "During the summer, people tend to be outside more, we get more sun exposure—there's just more stress put on the skin," Palm says.

They reach for dandruff shampoo when summer skin acts up

Here's one that sounds strange until you hear the science. Dandruff, tinea versicolor (a brownish summer rash), and fungal acne are all caused by the same yeast: one that feeds on oil and sweat and multiplies in the heat. "It's all the same fungus," Kazlouskaya says. "It likes oil. So when we sweat, it becomes more active." It’s common for young people to break out in the tinea versicolor rash every summer, she adds: "I already had one patient today." An over-the-counter antifungal shampoo, used as a body wash, can knock it back. She sometimes uses it after swimming to prevent rashes. "I like to use it after going to the public beach," she says.

They postpone pigmentation lasers until fall

If you've been eyeing a laser treatment for sun spots or melasma, dermatologists will often tell you to wait until a less sunny season. Summer sun can worsen pigmentation, which means a pricey laser session now can be undone in a matter of weeks. "It could be a little bit of a waste of money," says Kazlouskaya, who often reschedules those appointments for autumn, particularly for patients prone to melasma. "I try not to schedule those procedures in summertime." 

They don't quit their retinoid—they outsmart it

A common belief—especially on social media—is that you should stop using retinoids during the summer because of increased sun exposure. Dermatologists say that's usually unnecessary. Quitting and restarting, Kazlouskaya notes, only forces your skin through the irritation-and-dryness adjustment all over again. "If you take a break, you'll have to learn how to use it again," she says. "You can go through cycles of breakouts. You can have a cycle of dryness." 

The exception is if you're spending serious time in the water and can't reliably reapply sunscreen; in that case, Palm suggests switching to or adding in bakuchiol, a plant-derived retinol alternative. Used alongside a retinoid, bakuchiol can make it more tolerable. "They augment each other's activity—they've got a synergistic effect," Palm says. "People tend to get less red and less irritated."

They hit the spots everyone else forgets

Sunscreen failures tend to happen in the same overlooked places, and dermatologists are vigilant about all of them: the tops and backs of the ears, the scalp and part line, the tops of the feet, the backs of the legs, and even under the chin, which catches sun on the water. "It's not just the sun from above—you're getting the reflection of the water," Palm says. Don't forget your lips, either; Palm recommends a balm with zinc. And mind your toes. "You don't want to have little sausage beans of red digits at the end of the day," she says.

The legs also deserve special attention. "They’re the most dangerous place, because we wear shorts and short skirts and we forget about them," Kazlouskaya says. "Melanomas can be really, really tiny on the legs." She recently diagnosed melanoma on an 18-year-old’s leg—a spot that's easy to miss because no one thinks to check it. For the scalp, she reaches for a wide-brim hat—including one with a detachable flap that shields the back of her neck on hikes—or a liquid sunscreen spray made for the hairline.

They treat sunglasses as skin care

Sunscreen stops at the eyes, but the sun doesn't—and dermatologists don't think of sunglasses as a fashion accessory. Cumulative UV exposure is linked to cataracts and growths on the sclera, or the white of the eye, which Palm says she sees in longtime surfers. It can also lead to melanoma of the eye, which is why she looks for sunglass lenses with broad coverage against both UVA and UVB, as well as polarization if you're around water.

"Just look at the stickers, and it should have broad coverage against UVA and UVB," she says. She stashes pairs in her car so she's never caught squinting—which, she notes, does you no favors either. Squint in bright light day after day, and you etch in crow's feet, or "wrinkles around the eyes" that are easier to prevent than they are to undo.

They let everything breathe

Summer is prime time for trapped moisture, and dermatologists are picky about what they wear. Patel steers clear of tight synthetic fabrics, especially underwear, which can set you up for rashes, ingrown hairs, and yeast infections. "Everything needs to breathe," she says. Her rule of thumb is to choose cotton, which is breathable and wicks moisture away from the skin, while synthetics like polyester tend to trap heat and sweat against it—creating warm, damp conditions that encourage the growth of yeast and bacteria. The same logic applies below the ankles—she's a fan of letting your feet breathe in sandals rather than sealing them into socks and shoes all day, which is how athlete's foot gets started. "Let it all hang out," she says.

They rinse off the second they stop sweating

Letting sweat dry on your skin isn't harmless. As it evaporates, it leaves behind salt that can irritate sensitive or eczema-prone skin, and the lingering moisture can encourage the growth of bacteria on the skin. As the salt sits there, "it starts creating an environment that's more acidic, and you can be more prone to things like folliculitis and breakouts," Palm says, which is why a quick rinse after a workout or a hot afternoon is a good idea

They ease up on exfoliation

It's tempting to scrub your way to a summer glow, but dermatologists pump the brakes—gritty scrubs and aggressive dry brushing can be too harsh when sun exposure is already stressing your skin barrier. Palm favors a gentle chemical exfoliant over a physical one on the face, and no more than once a week on the body. 

They leave a peeling sunburn alone

When a burn starts to peel, the most dermatologist-approved move is to resist the urge to pick, and never pop a blister—peel it too soon and you risk uneven pigmentation, discoloration, and even scarring. "Just let it alone,” Kazlouskaya says. Allow it to slough off on its own, and in the meantime, soothe the burn with a cool shower, aloe, or a plain moisturizer made for sensitive skin. One caveat: A severe burn—blistering over a large area, accompanied by fever or chills—is a reason to call a doctor, not wait it out at home.

If something looks off, they investigate

Because we're all showing more skin this time of year, your partner or friend might notice a suspicious spot (or you might notice one on them). If you do, say something. And "if something doesn't match the rest of your spots and moles, it might be worth mentioning" to your doctor, Palm says.

Dermatologists check moles by the ABCDEs: asymmetry, border, color, diameter, and—the one Palm singles out—evolving. "E, I think, is the most important," she says. A fresh pair of eyes can flag a spot that looks off, but whether it's new or changing is something only you would know, which is why it's worth checking your own skin, too.