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A school of fish swim above a staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) coral colony as it grows on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia October 25, 2019.
Hard Numbers: Great Barrier Reef suffers worst coral damage, US cuts mRNA vaccine funding, South Korea opens visa-free tourism for Chinese visitors, & More
39: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – the biggest living ecosystem in the world – has suffered its largest annual coral decline since monitoring began 39 years ago. Tropical cyclones and coral-eating starfish are partly responsible, but experts say rising sea temperatures due to climate change are the main culprit.
5: Law and Justice-backed Karol Nawrocki began his five-year term as Polish president after his inauguration earlier today. Nawrocki will be a consistent thorn in the side of centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk: unlike Tusk, the new president supports tax cuts and doesn’t see a place for Ukraine in NATO nor the European Union.
$500 million: US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled nearly $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine research. mRNA technology, which gives genetic instructions to the body on how to fight diseases, enabled the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine. Several large studies say mRNA is safe, but the technology has faced scrutiny from Kennedy Jr., vaccine skeptic groups, and other members of the Trump administration.
2: Just how big is the AI spending boom? Over the past two quarters, investment in artificial intelligence has contributed more to American GDP growth than consumer spending, according to Renaissance Macro, an economic research company.
30: South Korea announced it will temporarily allow Chinese nationals to visit with a tour group for 30 days without needing a visa. It’s the first time that Seoul has allowed Chinese tourists to enter without a visa like this. The pilot program, which runs from Sept. 29 to June 30 next year, is part of a cautious thaw in bilateral relations.
Plumes of smoke rise from what is said to be a Greek-operated bulk carrier, in a handout video released on July 8, 2025
HARD NUMBERS: Houthis attack ships again, US Measles cases reach new high, message in a bottle finally arrives, & More
3: The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group is once again attacking cargo ships passing through the Red Sea, killing three people while snatching a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned cargo vessel on Monday night. This was the Houthis’ second such attack over the last few days. Until this past weekend, the group hadn’t targeted cargo ships since late 2024.
33: Measles cases in the US have already reached a 33-year high in 2025, with the disease spreading most rapidly in parts of New Mexico and Texas. At least 1,288 cases have been reported in the first half of this year, surpassing the 2019 full-year total of 1,274, when there was an outbreak within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of New York. The spread has come amid falling nationwide vaccination rates, driven in part by skepticism about vaccines from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
52: A South Korean court on Thursday issued another arrest warrant for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who faces trial on a range of charges related to his decision to place the country under martial law back in December. Yoon has already spent 52 days in jail, but was previously released on technical grounds. Prosecutors are now expected to expedite their probe into Yoon, who was impeached and officially removed from office back in April.
5.2: A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck Guatemala on Tuesday afternoon, with authorities urging residents of the Central American country to evacuate. Some of the aftershocks have registered even higher on the Richter scale than the original quake, reaching magnitudes of 5.6.
13: While most of the world now has instant communication, some people have sought out alternative ways of getting their message across the globe – even if it takes a little longer. Thirteen years ago, a young couple in Newfoundland, Canada, placed a message into a bottle and dropped it into the Atlantic Ocean. This week, it was found on a beach on the west coast of Ireland. The note included a request to contact the original writers. After an appeal on social media, they were found: Anita and Brad Squires are now married with three children.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, on the day he is sworn in as secretary of Health and Human Service in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025.
Hard Numbers: RFK Jr. cleans house at the CDC, K-Pop’s Chinese comeback, and more
17: In an unprecedented move, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the vaccine advisory committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday. While Kennedy defended the “clean sweep” as necessary to restore public trust, experts warn that changes to the panel could threaten public confidence in government health agencies.
$180 million: Chinese tech giant Tencent recently struck a deal with SM Entertainment, one of the leading K-pop production houses, to purchase almost a 10% stake for $180 million. The latest move signals a potential musical thaw in China-South Korea relations: Beijing has imposed an unofficial ban on K-pop ever since Seoul agreed to host US missile defenses in 2016.
2%: Citing the need to reduce reliance on the United States, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to raise defense expenditures to 2% of the nation’s GDP by the end of the year. The accelerated spending will bring the country in line with NATO benchmarks five years ahead of Carney’s previous target of 2030.
499: Russia launched 499 drone and missile attacks on Kyiv last night, in one of the largest aerial assaults of the three-year-war. The latest attack coincides with a fresh Russian push into eastern Ukraine, and it follows Kyiv’s own large-scale drone attacks on Russian strategic bombers last week.
3%: Less than 3% of the world’s oceans are effectively protected from destructive activities like industrial fishing and deep-sea mining. But with the UN Oceans conference now underway in France, delegates are on track to ratify the High Seas Treaty, a landmark agreement that will allow countries to establish protected areas in biodiverse international waters.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives at Argentina’s Ministry of Health to meet with Health Minister Mario Lugones in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 26, 2025.
Hard Numbers: RFK cancels bird-flu vaccine, US GDP shrinks, Sky-high paraglide, and more
600 million: The Trump administration canceled a $600 million Moderna contract to develop a bird-flu vaccine, and simultaneously ended a Biden-era deal with the pharmaceutical giant aimed at pandemic preparedness. The move also forfeited priority access to doses, and follows ongoing scrutiny of mRNA technology by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-0.2: US GDP contracted by an annualized rate of 0.2% in Q1 of 2025, marking the first decline since 2022. The drop followed 2.4% annualized growth in Q4 2024. Q1 stats were skewed, though, by a spike in imports from incoming tariff fears, without matching increases in inventories or consumer spending.
3: The US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation opened a third aid site Thursday, with more planned as crowds of Palestinians seeking assistance strain the system.
26,000: Chinese paraglider Peng Yujiang was testing his equipment on the ground when a gust of wind swept him over 26,000 feet in the air — nearly the height of Mount Everest and in line with airplane flight paths. There, he endured -31°F temperatures and briefly lost consciousness. Since his accidental flight was unregistered, China will not record any breaking of world records and has banned him from flying for six months.
Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria, on March 29, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Syria gets new Cabinet, US steps up Houthi strikes, Top US vaccine official resigns, Hamas offers hostages for ceasefire, Trump eyes third term, Kashmir violence turns deadly, Trump shrugs off high car prices
23: Syria has a new transitional Cabinet. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa swore in his new 23-member team on Saturday, replacing caretakers who had been in those roles since former President Bashar Assad was ousted in December. While the new Cabinet is largely filled with al-Sharaa allies, it is religiously and ethnically diverse, a sign that Syria is moving forward to rebuild in the post-Assad and post-civil war era.
1: At least one person was killed amid suspected US strikes against Yemen’s Houthis on Saturday. According to the Associated Press, the Trump administration has embarked on an expanded anti-Houthi campaign in recent days, targeting ranking rebel personnel. Satellite photos also reportedly show an airstrip off Yemen that looks prepared to accept flights and B-2 bombers.
100,000: The FDA’s top vaccine official resigned on Friday after being told he could quit or be fired. Dr. Peter Marks stressed that he was worried that Robert F. Kennedy’s aggressive stance on vaccination would dangerously undermine public confidence in vaccines against common diseases such as measles, which is spreading in the US and has “killed more than 100,000 unvaccinated children last year in Africa and Asia.” An HHS spokesperson, meanwhile, said Friday that Dr. Marks didn’t belong at the FDA if he was not committed to supporting the “restoration of science to its golden standard and advocate for radical transparency.”
5-50: On Saturday, Hamas offered to release 5 hostages during the three-day Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, which began Sunday, to secure a 50-day ceasefire. The offer came in response to a proposal the militants received from Egypt and Qatar. Israel offered a counterproposal in coordination with Washington, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding the release of 10 of the remaining 24 hostages believed to still be alive.
3: US President Donald Trump mused on Sunday that he’s not joking about finding “methods” to serve a third term, including being elected VP and then having the president resign to become president by succession. While some Trump loyalists like Steve Bannon believe a third term might be possible, constitutional experts warn there’s no “one weird trick” to bypass the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two elected terms.
6: Four police officers and two suspected rebels — dubbed terrorists for their opposition to Indian rule — were reportedly killed Saturday morning in Jammu and Kashmir. Thousands of people have died in battles between rebels and Indian security forces over the past few decades, but violence has lessened in recent years.
15,000: How much will US President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico drive up car prices? Goldman Sachs estimates a bump of between $5,000 and $15,000 per vehicle, depending on the brand and model. But Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he “couldn’t care less” if car prices soared, maintaining that manufacturers should build their vehicles in the US.
Graphic Truth: Shots across the border
Cases of measles, a highly contagious disease that can linger in the air for up to two hours, are rising in Canada. There have been small outbreaks across Southwestern Ontario since the beginning of the year, prompting public health officials to urge Canadians to ensure they have had both their first and second vaccinations.
Projections from a team at Simon Fraser University show that vaccine coverage below 85% can lead to dozens of cases within small communities — or even hundreds if immunization rates are lower than that. Rates of getting the second vaccine have dropped from 87% in 2017 to 79% in 2023 across Canada. Getting the second dose increases a person’s immunity from 85% to nearly 100%, according to health officials.
Meanwhile, south of the border, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prolific vaccine skeptic, is set to be confirmed this week. He walked back some of his past statements on vaccines during his confirmation process, calling himself cautious rather than skeptical, but has continued to surround himself with influential figures in the anti-vaccine movement.
But neither his rise in influence nor the increase in anti-vaxxer misinformation has affected measles vaccination rates – at least not yet. Vaccination rates are much higher in the US than in Canada, with 95% of the population having received their second vaccine from 2019 onward.Donald Trump speaks on the last day of Turning Point's four-day AmericaFest conference on Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix.
What would it mean for the US to leave the World Health Organization?
President-elect Donald Trump’s advisors are reportedly urging him to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization on his first day in office, according to a report published Sunday in the Financial Times.
The US currently provides approximately 16% of the WHO’s funding, giving it outsized influence on the institution. Experts say a withdrawal would severely hamper the world’s ability to respond to public health crises like pandemics.
"Politically, Trump’s lack of support could open the door to lowered support from other countries, in an environment of increased skepticism towards international engagement and foreign aid in general—especially among many ascendant right-wing parties in Europe—amid fiscal constraints and pressures to increase defense spending," says Eurasia Group's Laura Yasaitis. "Ongoing pandemic preparedness efforts, such as the pandemic treaty, would be majorly set back, as would other efforts like the polio eradication campaign."
It’s not an empty threat. Trump actually initiated the process of leaving the WHO in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing the organization of being controlled by China. He never followed through on the actual withdrawal, however, and Joe Biden re-established ties in 2021.
This time around, Trump has aligned himself with figures whose views on healthcare are well outside the scientific consensus. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vociferous opponent of vaccination, is tapped to lead Health and Human Services, while David Weldon, another anti-vaxxer from the fringe, is set to lead the Centers for Disease Control. Incoming Food and Drug Administration commissioner Martin Makary has also questioned the benefits of certain vaccines, like hepatitis B and COVID boosters. With advisers like these, the WHO would be smart to start planning for a pullout, even if it doesn’t happen on Jan. 20.
Beijing won’t butt in on this one, of course, since they stand to gain the most from US healthcare isolationism. If Trump was worried about Chinese control of the WHO back in 2020, pulling out in 2025 would all but guarantee that Beijing steps into the void.
Can surveillance prevent the next pandemic?
While the Munich Security Conference was dominated by discussions about the ongoing war in Ukraine, there were many other critical issues on the table as the world faces converging crises. One of them was health security, and how nations can apply the lessons of the COVID pandemic to future public health threats.
On the sidelines of the 2023 MSC, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke to Francis deSouza, CEO of the biotech company Illumina, about how countries and regions can better communicate to stop the spread of new pathogens and the road ahead for the rapidly growing genomics industry.
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