Table of contents for April 4, 2025 in Newsweek

JIM ACOSTA, THE FORMER CNN anchor known for antagonizing President Donald Trump during his first term, did not know what Substack was two months ago, when he was suddenly on the outs with the network he had called home for nearly two decades. Today, he has more than 280,000 subscribers on the platform. “I called him after his last sign off from CNN, and it turned out he did not own his own computer for 18 years. CNN owned his computer,” Catherine Valentine, Substack’s head of politics, told Newsweek. “But when he left CNN, he had to turn in his computer. He did not know what Substack was, he just knew that there was this opportunity for independence.” Acosta’s decision to launch a newsletter on Substack rather than seek another…

INNOVATION AND AMBITION DRIVE THE STARTUP WORLD, where companies are built on bold ideas, agile thinking and close-knit teams. Yet, growing a successful business from the ground up comes with unique challenges, from maintaining proper work-life balance in a fast-paced environment to providing competitive benefits and opportunities for career advancement. According to research, about 90 percent of startups fail. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also shows that approximately one in four U.S. businesses fail within the first year of operation. Despite the stressful nature of these challenges, many startups are proving that success and employee well-being go hand in hand. To recognize these standout organizations, Newsweek and data research firm Plant-A Insights Group are proud to present America’s Greatest Startup Workplaces 2025. This list spotlights 250 exceptional…

Firefighters are engulfed in smoke as they tackle a fire at the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, west london, on March 21. The blaze, which began overnight, shut down power at nearby Heathrow Airport and stranded travelers. The airport, Europe’s busiest, closed completely for 18 hours, with over 1,300 scheduled flights canceled and more than 200,000 passengers affected by the disruption. police said there was no indication of foul play and handed the investigation back to the london Fire Brigade.…

IN A POTENTIAL SETBACK FOR CHI-na’s growing influence in Latin America and its ambitions in space, the Chilean government is reviewing an agreement for a joint astronomical observatory in Chile following a Newsweek investigation of the deal. “We are aware of it, so we are revising and analyzing it,” a spokesperson for Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Newsweek via email after Chilean media reports said the project between the Chinese government and a Chilean private university had been canceled. It comes amid a deepening geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China that has become clearly evident in Latin America, with President Donald Trump’s administration putting Panama under pressure for a deal to allow an American company to regain control of the Panama Canal from Hong Kong’s Hutchison Ports.…

WHEN WILL & GRACE PREMIERED ON NBC IN 1998, it was groundbreaking because of the sheer lack of queer representation on network TV. Since then, numerous sitcoms have increased LGBTQ+ visibility on TV, but rarely gay characters of an older generation. To fill that void, those same Will & Grace creators, Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, developed Hulu’s Mid-Century Modern to show that while a multi-camera sitcom with three gay male leads is rare, the stories they are telling are universal. “I don’t know that you’re going to find a comedy that the third line is, ‘You look like a reluctant bottom,’” Mutchnick tells Newsweek. “It tells you what you’re watching. At the same time, you get the essence of what that friendship is.” It’s that candid language among friends…

WITH THE MIDDLE EAST STILL IN THE throes of major upheaval over the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, a dangerous rivalry is escalating between U.S. allies Israel and Turkey in Syria, where geopolitically fueled conflict persists four months after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. Israel, emboldened by victories in its war with Hamas and Iranian allies in the region, has taken advantage of Syria’s post-Assad chaos to seize more swathes of southern land beyond the long-occupied Golan Heights and establish a new buffer zone against potential foes. The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, have also intensified airstrikes against Syrian military positions and have sought to foster contacts with local Druze and Kurdish minority communities in the majority-Arab nation. Turkey, an increasingly influential regional power and member of the…

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE will take music production to new emotional and personal levels, Black Eyed Peas frontman and technology investor will.i.am (William Adams Jr.) has told Newsweek, calling AI “the ultimate way to create.” Will’s musical creativity doesn’t have roots at the piano or guitar, where many people start. “I make music because of the computer and AI is just a computer but a billion-fold,” he said. “[We are] moving away from short keys and mouses to just mouthing and speaking to the computer.” Today, music stirs emotions for individuals who are able to relate to its themes. Will said: “Think about ‘Ordinary People’ [that I] wrote and that John Legend sang.... That was my heartbreak, and people listen to it and it’s proximity heartbreak. It’s not really your heartbreak. ‘I…