Newsweek International April 25 - May 2, 2025

1971 “Ever since President Nixon took office, his administration had been preparing a series of measures to liberalize trade with and travel to China in the hope of achieving better relations,” Newsweek wrote. Over 50 years later, the second Trump administration has chosen a far more adversarial approach to China, exacerbating tensions dating back to Donald Trump’s first term. The recent imposition of tariffs on the eastern superpower has escalated fears of a global trade war, even sparking China to meet with South Korea and Japan for their first economic dialogue in five years. 1963 “Foreign students play a role in the ideological struggle between West and East,” Newsweek said. Amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the U.S. government recently ordered hundreds of international students to self-deport in response to…

A fire in the French capital sends smoke billowing behind the Sacré-Coeur basilica on April 7, evoking memories of the blaze that destroyed the city’s Notre-Dame. Almost six years to the day of the inferno at the iconic cathedral, 60 fire trucks and 200 firefighters were dispatched to Syctom recycling plant, which handles household waste for nearly a million Parisians. While the fire was prevented from spreading toward any of the city’s landmarks, Geoffroy Boulard, mayor for the affected 17th arrondissement, said the plant was “completely gutted and destroyed.”…

THE UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER HAS been calmer than usual under President Donald Trump but still faces challenges from criminal gangs, according to a senior Border Patrol official. The Republican leader vowed to “seal the border” and has taken action including suspending asylum at the border and deploying additional military forces to bolster security. March recorded the lowest southwest border crossings in history—around 7,180, compared with the monthly average of 155,000 from the previous four years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures on April 1 showed. Sean McGoffin, chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, told Newsweek that the agency still has work to do to, however, with cartels developing new tactics to smuggle humans, drugs and other contraband items into the U.S. “We don’t want anything coming…

THE FUTURE IS FURTHER AWAY THAN MANY predicted. While experts previously forecasted that by now the world will be quickly moving toward a battery-electric vehicle and autonomous future—not just for passenger cars, but for helicopters, taxis, shuttles and commercial vehicles—that’s not the case. Instead, predictions of Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Akio Toyoda, Newsweek’s 2023 World’s Greatest Auto Disruptors Executive of the Year, are reality. The world’s drivers, especially Americans, aren’t ready or willing to give up their gasoline-powered vehicles, driving or independence quite yet. They’re embracing hybrid technology, insisting on driving themselves (with advanced driver assistance systems only sometimes turned on) and learning to embrace enhanced, tech-forward interior ecosystems. “Automakers aren’t abandoning BEVs but recalibrating to meet consumer demand. The shift toward hybrids isn’t a step back as much as…

MICHAEL SCHIEBE’S LIST OF current—and past—job titles is extensive. He is the chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-AMG, the performance arm of the company, and head of Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Mercedes-Maybach business units, its super-luxury brand. This list is reflective of the 41-year-old’s ambition to drive significant change for the betterment of each of the company’s properties that he touches. At a young age he, “fell in love with Mercedes,” Schiebe told Newsweek, saying that the W211 E-Class is the model he swooned over the most. Following his mandatory German military service, Schiebe secured a spot in Mercedes’ university program, which allowed him to earn a degree in economics while studying for a future with the automaker, working in different departments and building a network within the company.…

LIFELONG CAR ENTHUSIAST RJ scaringe sees automobiles as the root of many of the biggest challenges the world faces. When he was in college, he decided to do something about it. Decades later, the success of Scaringe’s vision, a new battery-electric vehicle automaker, is improbable at best. Rivian isn’t just producing vehicles people want to buy, the company is turning a profit. “I started the company to drive as much impact as possible, and to be a positive contributor to this really large change we need to see in how our transportation systems function. That’s everything from how the vehicles are designed to how they’re architected, to electrification,” Scaringe told Newsweek. Through partnerships with Amazon and Volkswagen Group, strategic government assistance and shrewd manufacturing practices, Rivian is beating the odds.…