84: A harmful mass “bleaching” event has struck 84% of the world’s coral reefs, in the largest incident of its kind on record, the International Coral Reef Initiative announced Wednesday. Bleaching occurs when warmer seas cause the colorful algae that live inside corals to emit toxic compounds. The corals, which feed on those algae, then expel them, leaving behind a colorless “bleached” coral that is at greater risk of starvation. Coral reefs are critical for ocean biodiversity, fisheries, shoreline protection, and tourism. Last year was the hottest on record.
1 trillion: The rich get richer, they say, and the poor get poorer. In the US, the first half of that is true for sure, as a new study shows $1 trillion in additional wealth was created for the country’s 19 richest families in 2024 alone. As a result, the top 0.00001% richest Americans now control 1.8% of US household wealth, the highest share ever for the stratospherically wealthy.
6: Donald Trump’s approval rating on the economy has fallen six points since he was elected, to 37%, according to a new Reuters/IPSOS poll. Most of the drop preceded Trump’s April 2 announcement of global “reciprocal tariffs.” His approval rating on immigration fell five points since early March, to 45%. Trump’s overall approval rating is at 42%. That’s the same level he showed at this point in his first term, and 13 points below where Joe Biden was in his.
1 billion: Brazilian police said Wednesday that they have arrested the head of the country’s social security agency and seized assets worth 1 billion reais ($175 million) as part of a sprawling corruption investigation. Five other officials of the agency were also jailed, and more than 200 search warrants have been executed in multiple states. The probe’s focus is the possibly fraudulent deduction of certain fees from social security benefits.
700 million: The European Commission on Wednesday fined US tech giants Apple and Meta a total of €700 million for breaching the EU’s Digital Markets Act, an antitrust law. Apple must pay €500 million ($572 million) for discriminating against developers and platforms that sell apps outside of the company’s own App Store. Meta, meanwhile, got a €200 million fine for forcing users to pay for enhanced privacy protections. Apple said it would appeal, while Meta blasted EU tech regulations, saying they will “handicap American business” while helping Chinese and European competitors.
