Table of contents for April 11, 2025 in Newsweek

SZUCHA AVENUE, WARSAW, 8 a.m. In front of the entrance to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, Radosław Sikorski greets his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha, who had been in negotiations with the U.S. in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a few hours earlier. Sybiha wants to convey the results of these talks to the Polish government. “We keep in constant touch, but there is nothing like a direct conversation,” says Sikorski after the meeting. He adds that Poland is satisfied with the new proposals to resolve the conflict with Russia, which President Vladimir Putin started over three years ago. This is their second conversation in a few dozen hours. Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, also contacted Sikorski before leaving for Jeddah. “The only thing we are afraid of,” Newsweek…

THE INDIE ROCK SINGER-SONGWRITER LUCY Dacus had already forged a successful career before the release of 2023’s The Record, the album she made as a member of the supergroup boygenius along with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers. When it came out, The Record kickstarted a whirlwind period for boygenius that saw them play to large crowds at major venues and later win three Grammy Awards. The overwhelmingly positive reaction to the album at the time—including praise from Taylor Swift—truly surprised the group members, including Dacus herself. “We liked The Record when we made it,” Dacus tells Newsweek. “We were like, ‘Oh, hell yeah. People are going to love this.’ But we had no idea of the scope. And maybe [it’s] proof that we’re not power hungry. You would not believe…

Rescue workers assess a collapsed 33-story building under construction near the Chatuchak market following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand on March 28. The quake’s epicenter hit near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, and was accompanied by a 6.4 magnitude aftershock. At least 1,700 people were killed and 3,400 injured in Myanmar, with a total of up to 10,000 deaths possible according to U.S. Geological Service predictive modeling. At least 10 people had died as a result of the building collapse in the Thai capital at the time of going to press, and up to 78 more were still missing.…

THE RESOLUTENESS OF NASA’S AMBITIOUS vision to send astronauts to Mars—a round-trip voyage of more than a billion miles once limited to science fiction—appears stronger than ever, albeit not without significant technological and physiological hurdles. As billionaire Elon Musk continues SpaceX’s relentless commercial efforts, President Donald Trump recently reinvigorated the United States’ race to put boots on the rocky red planet during his joint session to Congress, vowing to lead humanity into space and “plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond.” Trump previously pledged to send astronauts to Mars during his inaugural address without elaborating on a time frame, but regularly referenced the fourth planet from the sun while campaigning last fall. At a rally in October in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump promised the United States…

CONCORDE’S RETIREMENT IN 2003 BROUGHT THE curtain down on an age of supersonic passenger flights. Now, two decades later, Boom Supersonic is trying to revive that era. It’s not just about the speed, the technology or the glamour, says its CEO—something even more important is at stake. “Imagine a future in which our children have friends from other continents that they actually spend time with and what that does for the world,” Blake Scholl told Newsweek. “It’s very hard to go to war with somebody you’ve met.” That prospect is edging closer. Tests have taken place for the Boom Overture, a spiritual successor to Concorde that could fly between London and New York City in just three-and-a-half hours, with plans to revive the Atlantic journey and open other routes across…