Table of contents for July 4, 2025 in Newsweek

A DECADE AFTER SAME-SEX MAR-riage was legalized nationwide via a Supreme Court ruling, many LGBTQ+ individuals fear the right may no longer be secure, with some signs that long-growing Republican acceptance of it could be waning. Obergefell v. Hodges was decided on June 26, 2015, in a 5-4 ruling. Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who still sit on the nation’s top court, wrote dissenting opinions along with their former colleague, the late Justice Antonin Scalia. While Gallup polling in 2015 showed that just 37 percent of Republicans thought same-sex marriages should be valid, that number hit a record high of 55 percent in 2022 but has fallen to 41 percent as of May. Over the past few months, conservative lawmakers in at least nine states have introduced…

IN THE WINTER OF 2023, STAFF AT Children’s Mercy Kansas City were waiting for the “surge”: a dreaded period when viral illnesses like influenza and respiratory syncytial virus lead to a rise in hospital admissions. As the winter bled into 2024, it became clear that something had changed. Children were still getting sick and requiring advanced medical care, but staff weren’t “feeling the angst” like they had in years past, according to Dr. Jennifer Watts, the hospital’s associate chief medical officer of acute care and inpatient services. The difference, Watts said, came from technology. That was the hospital’s first year using GE HealthCare’s Command Center software, a product that allows it to digitally monitor care delivery and track patients’ progress throughout their stay. It’s like the “NASA” control hub for…

WITH OVER 4.83 BILLION PEOPLE, THE Asia-Pacific region comprises nearly 60 percent of the world’s total population. Thanks to longer life expectancies resulting from advancements in health care, the region’s older population has grown considerably in recent years. It’s estimated that by 2050, one in four people in the APAC region will be over 60 years old—with the population of older persons approaching 1.3 billion, according to the Asian Development Bank Institute. With that comes a greater need for the best medical treatment, including cutting-edge technology and top-quality care plans. To help people find the health care facilities that best fit their specific medical needs, Newsweek is partnering with global data analytics firm Statista for its third-annual Best Specialized Asia-Pacific Hospitals ranking. The list awards the leading hospitals in Australia,…

Israeli rescue teams comb through debris in a residential area of Tel Aviv on June 16 after Iran launched a missile offensive that killed 24 people and injured more than 500. Tehran fired the wave of attacks in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites on June 13, which killed 78 people and wounded more than 320. Israel described its June 13 operation as a “preemptive” military campaign intended to neutralize what it called an existential nuclear threat posed by Iran.…

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL TOP THE list of desired destinations for digital nomads and aspiring expats for more than a few good reasons. They have delicious food, temperate climates, fascinating art and architecture, and relatively low costs of living compared to much of Europe. Their worker-friendly employment policies include over a month of paid time off for vacation and public holidays, as well as four months of paid parental leave for both mothers and fathers. Particularly enticing may be the bonus paychecks for employees in both June and December to help families enjoy the summer and winter holidays. But that’s not the only payroll quirk that makes these countries unique, and the other one might make some wannabe Madrileños or Lisboetas think twice. If you work for an employer based in…

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun, was a Communist Party official for more than seven decades—from the Communist Revolution through the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square protests and beyond. In the first English biography of Xi Zhongxun, THE PARTY’S INTERESTS COME FIRST, Professor Joseph Torigian uncovers the story of his life and of the modern Communist Party—and sheds light on the formative influences on Xi Jinping. This excerpt from Torigian’s deeply researched book talks about the family’s home life. AT WORK, XI ZHONGXUN FACED a dizzying array of policy challenges and the vicissitudes of his own shifting fortunes. But in party culture, home life was no escape from the political. Everything from schooling and leisure to clothes and food in the Xi household were shaped…

TAYLOR TOWNSEND WAS RALLYING WITH THE rhythm of tennis before she was even born—as her mother played on court while pregnant with her. Twenty-four years later, Townsend had that same experience, playing professionally while pregnant with her baby boy. The symmetry serves as a reflection of how deeply tennis and motherhood are entwined in the arc of her life, shaping her identity and fueling her game. The sport is essentially “in my DNA,” Townsend told Newsweek between her French Open matches in May, which marked her first time back on Roland-Garros’ famous red clay since 2023. The 29-year-old, Chicago-born tennis champion has climbed through professional rankings over the past decade-and-a-half, but not without a few hurdles, including injuries, motherhood and losses. In doubles, she has played in a final in…

A NEW TOOL ALLOWS PARENTS UNDERGOING in vitro fertilization to screen their embryos for health issues, but is it ethical? Genetic disease is believed to be linked to 41 percent of U.S. infants’ deaths, and more than 2 million children in the country have a genetic condition. U.S.-based Nucleus is offering people having IVF the chance to select their embryos by using software that highlights various genetic markers linked to health, with the aim of reducing preventable genetic diseases. Its CEO, Kian Sadeghi, who was 7 when his 15 year-old cousin died suddenly from one, told Newsweek: “Seeing this genetic lottery, when someone wins and someone doesn’t, really stuck with me.” Technology that tries to prevent genetic diseases like sickle cell disease, where patients have unusually shaped red blood cells,…

INDIA DOES NOT WANT WAR with Pakistan, but its neighbor is a legitimate target if it does not close “terrorist camps” and should avoid “nuclear blackmail”, said Shashi Tharoor, chairman of the Indian Parliament’s Committee on External Affairs. The nations clashed over four days in May as India struck targets it alleged were terrorist infrastructure after the killing of the 26 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan denied any role in the Islamist attack on tourists and retaliated for the Indian strikes before the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed a ceasefire. “We’re not interested in war. We’re focused on our own growth and development, on the well-being and prosperity of our people,” Tharoor told Newsweek in Washington, D.C. A member of parliament from the opposition Indian National Congress, Tharoor showed a unified front…

“I’D BE HAPPY IF BY THE TIME I RETIRE, WE have [artificial intelligence] systems that are as smart as a cat,” Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, Turing Award winner and one of the founding fathers of deep learning, tells Newsweek as part of an ongoing series of conversations about the future of AI, “and that retirement is coming fast, by the way, so I don’t have much time.” LeCun sees the extraordinary promise of AI on the horizon. But so far we haven’t seen this degree of success. While venture capital and corporate investment pours billions of dollars into AI dream factories promising revolutionary transformations—whether it’s curing cancer or finally taming the email inbox—a stark reality persists: Most artificial intelligence initiatives collapse under their own ambitions. The gulf between…

FIRE IS AT THE CENTER OF SMOKE, APPLE TV+’S searing new crime drama, but the blaze that matters most is internal. Created by bestselling author and screenwriter Dennis Lehane (Black Bird, Mystic River), the show sets an arson investigator, a troubled detective and two elusive firebugs on a collision course with their pasts—and themselves. Premiering June 27 with a two-episode drop, it follows Dave Gudsen (Taron Egerton) reluctantly working alongside recently demoted detective Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett) to track two serial arsonists in the Pacific Northwest town of Umberland. The deeper they dig, the more combustible everything becomes—in the case and their psyches. Strong performances from John Leguizamo, Greg Kinnear and Anna Chlumsky add layers of tension, charm or unease. “I told the writers from the jump, ‘Let’s blow the…