The number of newborns in Japan is decreasing faster than projected, with the number of annual births falling to another record low last year, according to government data released Wednesday.

The health ministry said 686,061 babies were born in Japan in 2024, a drop of 5.7% on the previous year and the first time the number of newborns fell below 700,000 since records began in 1899. It’s the 16th straight year of decline.

It’s about one-quarter of the peak of 2.7 million births in 1949 during the postwar baby boom.

The data in a country of rapidly aging and shrinking population adds to concern about the sustainability of the economy and national security at a time it seeks to increase defense spending.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has described the situation as “a silent emergency” and has promised to promote more flexible working environment and other measures that would help married couples to balance work and parenting, especially in rural areas where family values tend to be more conservative and harder on women.

Japan is one of a number of east Asian countries grappling with falling birth rates and an aging population. South Korea and China have fought for years to encourage families to have more children. Also on Wednesday, Vietnam scrapped decades-old laws limiting families to two children in an effort to stem falling birth rates.

The health ministry’s latest data showed that Japan’s fertility rate – the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – also fell to a new low of 1.15 in 2024, from 1.2 a year earlier. The number of marriages was slightly up, to 485,063 couples, but the downtrend since the 1970s remains unchanged.

Experts say the government’s measures have not addressed a growing number of young people reluctant to marry, largely focusing on already married couples.

The younger generation are increasingly reluctant to marry or have children due to bleak job prospects, a high cost of living and a gender-biased corporate culture that adds extra burdens for women and working mothers, experts say.

A growing number of women also cite pressure to take their husband’s surname as a reason for their reluctance to marry. Under Japanese law, couples must choose a single surname to marry.

Japan’s population of about 124 million people is projected to fall to 87 million by 2070, with 40% of the population over 65.

New Zealand legislators voted Thursday to enact record suspensions from Parliament for three lawmakers who performed a Māori haka to protest a proposed law.

Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Three days had been the longest ban for a lawmaker from New Zealand’s Parliament before.

The lawmakers from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori Party, performed the haka, a chanting dance of challenge, last November to oppose a widely unpopular bill, now defeated, that they said would reverse Indigenous rights.

But the protest drew global headlines and provoked months of fraught debate among lawmakers about what the consequences for the lawmakers’ actions should be and whether New Zealand’s Parliament welcomed or valued Māori culture — or felt threatened by it.

A committee of the lawmakers’ peers in April recommended the lengthy punishments in a report that said the lawmakers were not being punished for the haka itself, but for striding across the floor of the debating chamber towards their opponents while they did it. Maipi-Clarke Thursday rejected that, citing other instances where legislators have left their seats and approached their opponents without sanction.

It was expected that the suspensions would be approved, because government parties have more seats in Parliament than the opposition and had the necessary votes to affirm them. But the punishment was so severe that Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee in April ordered a free-ranging debate among lawmakers and urged them to attempt to reach a consensus on what repercussions were appropriate.

No such accord was reached Thursday. During hours of at times emotional speeches, government lawmakers rejected opposition proposals for lighter sanctions.

There were suggestions that opposition lawmakers might extend the debate for days or even longer through filibuster-style speeches, but with the outcome already certain and no one’s mind changed, all lawmakers agreed that the debate should end.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has shared rare photos of her daughter, Lilibet, to mark the princess’ fourth birthday.

In one black-and-white picture, posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Meghan can be seen cuddling Lilibet, whose face is partially visible behind her mother’s hand and arm.

“Happy birthday to our beautiful girl! Four years ago today she came into our lives – and each day is brighter and better because of it. Thanks to all of those sending love and celebrating her special day,” wrote Meghan in the caption.

A second photo in the post shows Meghan cradling Lilibet, whose face is visible in profile, shortly after her birth.

The princess was born on June 4, 2021, a year after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their roles as senior royals and moved to the United States.

Meghan and husband Prince Harry are known to fiercely guard the privacy of Lilibet and older brother Prince Archie, 6.

The couple did release a Christmas card last year that featured a rare photo of both children, but their backs are to the camera as they run towards their parents. Five other images appeared on the card, all depicting engagements from the year. It marked the first time since 2021 that Harry and Meghan released a Christmas card featuring their children.

In April, Meghan revealed that she had suffered from postpartum preeclampsia, calling the potentially fatal condition “so rare and so scary.”

“The world doesn’t know what’s happening quietly,” Meghan said on the debut episode of her “Confessions of a Female Founder” podcast.

“And in the quiet, you’re still trying to show up for people… mostly for your children, but those things are huge medical scares.”

Most cases of postpartum preeclampsia develop within 48 hours of childbirth, but it can develop four to six weeks postpartum, according to the Mayo Clinic. Postpartum preeclampsia can cause seizures and other serious complications if left untreated.

The German city of Cologne is moving 20,500 people in its largest evacuation since World War II, after officials discovered three massive, unexploded bombs.

The American bombs – two 20-ton weapons and another that weighs 10 tons – were found in a shipyard on Monday, the city said, causing a huge “danger zone” to be sealed off on Wednesday morning.

A hospital, two retirement centers and the city’s second largest train station were among the facilities emptied out. Schools, churches, museums and two of the city’s cultural landmarks – the Musical Dome theater and the Philharmonic Hall – also fell within the evacuation zone.

The discovery of unexploded weapons is a frequent phenomenon in Cologne, which was decimated by Allied bombing during World War II, but no operation of this size has been carried out since the end of the war, the city said.

“Everyone involved hopes that the defusing can be completed by Wednesday,” city authorities said in a statement. “This will only be possible if all those affected leave their homes or workplaces early and stay outside the evacuation area from the outset.”

The city told residents to “stay calm (and) prepare yourselves” for the evacuation, recommending they visit friends or family and avoid workplaces in the sealed-off area.

Officials said they “cannot make any reliable predictions” about how long the operation will take, adding that specialists cannot begin to defuse the bombs until the entire area has been evacuated.

“If you refuse, we will escort you from your home – if necessary by force – along with the police,” the city’s statement said.

Allied nations conducted 262 air raids of Cologne during World War II, killing approximately 20,000 residents and leaving the city in ruins. Nearly all of the buildings in the Old Town were destroyed, as were 91 of the city’s 150 churches.

A massive reconstruction effort took place after the war, with the Old Town rebuilt and major landmarks restored.

But small evacuations still take place on a regular basis when unexploded ordnances are found. Around 10,000 residents had to leave their homes in October when another American bomb was found, and in December, 3,000 people were asked to evacuate.

Palestinians on their way to receive aid from a distribution site in southern Gaza have come under fire for a third consecutive day, with nearly 30 people killed and dozens wounded, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Nasser hospital.

The ministry said Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians as they made their way to the distribution site in Tel al-Sultan in Rafah early Tuesday.

The Israeli military said its forces opened fire multiple times after identifying “several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes.”

“The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement, which also said they are looking into reports of casualties.

At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured, according to the Palestinian health ministry and the director of Nasser hospital in Gaza.

The firing occurred west of Rafah in the area surrounding the Al-Alam roundabout, according to paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, near the same location as shooting incidents the last two days.

Early Tuesday morning, a Facebook page which the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has used to publicize information about the opening of distribution sites said one location would be open in southern Gaza and warned residents to adhere to a designated corridor starting at 5 a.m.

“The IDF will be in the area to secure the safe passage,” the statement said.

The incident marks the third day in a row that people have been killed on their way to the GHF distribution point west of Rafah while attempting to secure food as famine conditions worsen in Gaza following an 11-week blockade by Israel.

Three Palestinians were shot dead and dozens wounded as they were on their way to access aid from the site on Monday morning, Palestinian and hospital authorities said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Israeli forces fired warning shots approximately a kilometer from the aid distribution site and that it was looking into the details of the incident.

On Sunday, dozens of Palestinians were shot dead by the Israeli military in the same area, according to Palestinian officials and eyewitnesses. Israel’s military denied that its troops fired “within or near” the aid distribution site.

Palestinian officials said 31 people had been killed and scores wounded in Sunday’s incident. An Israeli military source acknowledged that Israeli forces fired toward individuals about one kilometer (1093 yards) away before the aid site opened.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) is leaving the Netherlands’ government, toppling the governing coalition, its leader Geert Wilders said on Tuesday.

Wilders, who is not himself part of government, presented the cabinet with an ultimatum last week to strengthen its asylum policy.

“No signature for our asylum plans,” he posted on X on Tuesday. “PVV is leaving the coalition.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Erin Patterson, the Australian woman accused of killing three people and attempting to kill a fourth with a meal laced with death cap mushrooms, has taken the stand in her own defense at a trial that has captured worldwide attention.

On Monday, the start of the sixth week of the trial, Patterson told the court about her relationship with her estranged husband Simon, whose parents, Don and Gail Patterson, were among the guests who died after attending lunch at her house in July 2023.

Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, also died after eating Beef Wellington at lunch, but her husband, Ian Wilkinson, a pastor at their local church, survived after spending several weeks in hospital with acute poisoning from Amanita phalloides, the world’s most toxic mushrooms.

Prosecutors allege that Patterson, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, deliberately laced the beef dish with lethal mushrooms, after seeing their location posted on a public website. Her defense lawyers argue the deaths were a “terrible accident,” and while they acknowledge Patterson, 50, repeatedly lied to police, they say she didn’t intend to kill her guests.

The mother of two told the court that her relationship with her husband was merely “functional” in July 2023, and that she had started becoming concerned that he wasn’t involving her in family gatherings anymore.

Her self-esteem was low, and she was so unhappy with her weight that she was considering gastric bypass surgery, she told the court.

“I’d been fighting a never-ending battle of low self-esteem most of my adult life, and the further inroads I made into being middle aged, the less I felt good about myself,” she said.

How Erin Patterson met her husband

Patterson’s defense attorney Colin Mandy SC asked her about the start of her relationship with Simon Patterson, the father of their two children. Patterson told the court she met Simon in 2004 at work at Monash City Council, in the Australian state of Victoria. They were friends at first, before a romance developed several months later.

They married in 2007, at a service attended by Don and Gail Patterson and Ian and Heather Wilkinson. Erin’s parents were on holiday when she got married, so Ian Wilkinson’s son David walked her down the aisle, she told the court.

Patterson said she was “very atheist” when she met Simon. “I was trying to convert him to being an atheist, but things happened in reverse, and I became Christian,” she told the court.

She said she had a “spiritual experience” during her first church service in 2005 at Korumburra Baptist Church, where Pastor Ian Wilkinson delivered the sermon. “I had what I would call a religious experience there, and it quite overwhelmed me,” she said

A traumatic birth

Patterson recalled the traumatic delivery of her first child, who was born by emergency cesarian, after an attempt with forceps failed. Her son spent some time in the intensive care unit, and Patterson said she discharged herself against medical advice so she could go home to be with her newborn.

Patterson spoke about the support Simon’s mother Gail gave her as she cared for her son. “She gave me good advice … relax and enjoy your baby,” she said.

When they were living in Perth, Western Australia, the couple briefly separated for the first time. In 2009, Patterson rented a cottage for herself and their baby, she told the court, while her husband rented a trailer close by. They reunited in January 2010. A second baby came later.

During the course of their relationship, Patterson told the court there were periods of separation.

“What we struggled with over the entire course or our relationship… we just couldn’t communicate well when we disagreed about something,” she said. “We could never communicate in a way that made each of us feel heard or understood, so we would just feel hurt and not know how to resolve it.”

Patterson will resume giving evidence on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s large-scale drone attack on Russian air bases thousands of miles behind the front lines is the latest in a long line of daring missions by Ukraine’s forces against its giant neighbor.

The operation, more than a year and a half in the making, involved drones being smuggled into Russian territory and hidden in wooden mobile houses atop trucks, according to a source in the SBU, Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency.

The strikes caused an estimated $7 billion in damages and hit 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers at its main air bases, the source said. The assault also showed that Ukraine still has the ability to pressure Russia even as Moscow ramps up its own attacks and offensive operations.

Here’s a look at some of the Ukrainian force’s most significant hits during the war:

Undercover drones

Analysts have called Ukraine’s Sunday drone attack on the bomber bases the most significant by Kyiv since the beginning of the war.

More than 40 aircraft were known to have been hit in the operation, according to an SBU security source, including TU-95 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and one of Russia’s few remaining A-50 surveillance planes.

The Tu-22M3 is Russia’s long-range missile strike platform that can perform stand-off attacks, launching missiles from Russian airspace well behind the front lines to stay out of range of Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire.

Russia had 55 Tu-22M3 jets and 57 Tu-95s in its fleet at the beginning of the year, according to the “Military Balance 2025” from the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.

The Tu-95 joined the Soviet Union air force in the 1950s, and Russia has modified them to launch cruise missiles like the Tu-22.

Military aviation expert Peter Layton said the loss of the bombers, which could carry the heaviest and most powerful cruise missiles, mean Russia will need to rely more on drones for future attacks on Ukraine.

Outside the immediate air war, the attack on the air bases will be a major distraction for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, now a military analyst in Hawaii.

“Putin will direct more resources to internal security after such a domestic security failure,” Schuster said.

“Ukraine was able to deploy dozens of containers with drones to within line of sight of major Russian strategic bases and launch massive air strikes. Can you imagine explaining that one to Putin?”

The sinking of the pride of Russia’s Black Sea fleet

One of Ukraine’s first major wins was the sinking of the cruiser Moskva, the pride of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, in the early months of war.

The Moskva was one of the Russian Navy’s most important warships and its sinking represented a massive blow to Moscow’s military, which at the time was struggling against Ukrainian resistance 50 days into Putin’s invasion.

In April, 2022, Ukraine’s Operational Command South claimed the Moskva had begun to sink after it was hit by Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles.

Russia, meanwhile said a fire broke out on the guided-missile cruiser, causing munitions aboard to explode, inflicting serious damage to the vessel, and forcing the crew of the warship to be evacuated.

Analysts said its loss struck hard at the heart of the Russian navy as well as national pride, comparable to the US Navy losing a battleship during World War II or an aircraft carrier today.

What followed was a string of naval defeats for Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet.

In early 2024, six sea drones, powered by jet skis, felled a Russian guided missile ship, the Ivanovets. Night-time footage released by the Ukrainians showed Russians firing at the drones as they raced toward the Ivanovets, before at least two drones struck the side of the ship, disabling it and causing massive explosions.

Damage to the Kerch bridge

Built following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the 12-mile Kerch bridge was a vital supply line for Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine and a personal project for Putin, embodying his objective to bind the peninsula to Russia.

Russia built the bridge at a cost of around $3.7 billion

In July, 2023, Ukrainian security services claimed to have blown up the bridge using an experimental sea drone. The attack caused damage to the road lanes of the bridge, and, according to Russian officials, killed two civilians.

The bridge is a critical artery for supplying Crimea with both its daily needs and supplies for the military.

Mysterious assassinations

A number of high profile Russian military figures have been killed inside the country over the past year. Crucially, Ukraine has never claimed the killings but it is notable that many of those killed played prominent roles in Moscow’s .

Last month, Russian deputy mayor and prominent veteran of the war, Zaur Aleksandrovich Gurtsiev, was killed in an explosion in southern Russia. Russian authorities said they were investigating all options into the killing, “including the organization of a terrorist attack” involving Ukraine.

Gurtsiev had been involved in the Russian attacks on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which destroyed about 90% of residential buildings, according to United Nations estimates.

Gurtsiev had “introduced his developments in the technology of targeting missiles, which allowed them to increase their accuracy and effectiveness many times over,” according to the “Time of Heroes” program.

In April, Russian authorities charged a “Ukrainian special services agent” with terrorism, after he was detained in connection with a car explosion that killed Russian General Yaroslav Moskalik, the deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

And in February Armen Sarkisyan, the founder of a pro-Russian militia group in eastern Ukraine – described by authorities in Kyiv as a “criminal mastermind” – died following a bombing in central Moscow. The bombing took place in an upmarket residential complex in the capital city, Russian state media outlet TASS reported at the time.

Ukraine has never claimed the killings but it is notable that high-profile figures have been assassinated in Russian territory.

At least 26 Palestinians have been killed after Israeli forces opened fire on Sunday near a southern Gaza aid distribution center run by a controversial US-backed foundation, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

“Crowds of citizens headed to receive food aid” from a site in the Rafah area, when Israeli forces opened fire, said a paramedic from the PRCS, the only medical professionals present in the area.

The GHF is a private organization backed by Israel and the United States. It was set up amid Israeli accusations that Hamas is stealing aid in Gaza and selling it for profit. Humanitarian organizations say there is no evidence of this, and Israel hasn’t presented any evidence publicly.

United Nations aid agencies have criticized the GHF’s aid mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles and raises the risks for Palestinians.

UN aid groups, such as UNRWA, typically check identification and rely on a database of registered families when distributing aid.

But the GHF is not screening Palestinians at aid distribution sites, despite Israeli officials saying that additional security measures were a core reason for the creation of the new program.

Criticism has been mounting against both Israel and the GHF after chaos broke out last week when tens of thousands of starving Palestinians arrived at two new food distribution sites.

According to Palestinian Ministry of Health figures from before Sunday’s incident, 11 people have been killed and dozens injured since the aid distribution sites have opened. The GHF said on Thursday that no one has been killed or injured since the distribution of aid began last week.

The statement added that it has provided more than 4.7 million meals in six days, including delivering 16 truckloads of food on Sunday morning, providing over 887,000 meals.

In a statement issued Sunday, the GHF said it will “continue scaling, with plans to build additional sites across Gaza, including in the northern region, in the weeks ahead.”

Aid was distributed “without incident,” read the statement, with the group adding it was “aware of rumors being actively fomented by Hamas suggesting deaths and injuries today.”

However, a mixed picture appears on the ground with claims of the aid distributed believed to be inaccurate.

The GHF also claims the reports of “deaths, mass injuries and chaos” at its sites are “false.”

“They are untrue and fabricated,” the statement continued.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Growing up in Brazil, neuroscientist Danielle Beckman always dreamed of moving to the US for work. So, in 2017, when Beckman got the opportunity to work at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis, she jumped on it.

“I was so excited,” she recalled. “Coming to the US was always the dream. It was always the place to be, where there’s the biggest investment in science.”

But months into President Donald Trump’s second term, as his administration wages an unprecedented war on the country’s top universities and research institutions, Beckman no longer sees the US as a welcome home for her or her research, which focuses on how viral infections like Covid-19 affect the brain.

Beckman is part of a growing wave of academics, scientists and researchers leaving the US in what many are warning could be the biggest brain drain the country has seen in decades.

But America’s loss could be the rest of the world’s gain.

As the Trump administration freezes and slashes billions of dollars in research funding, meddles with curricula, and threatens international students’ ability to study in the US, governments, universities and research institutions in Canada, Europe and Asia are racing to attract fleeing talent.

The European Union pledged €500 million ($562 million) over the next three years “to make Europe a magnet for researchers.”

A university in Marseille, France, is wooing persecuted academics under a new program called a “Safe Place for Science.” Canada’s largest health research organization is investing 30 million Canadian dollars ($21.8 million) to attract 100 scientists early in their careers from the US and elsewhere. The Research Council of Norway launched a 100 million kroner ($9.8 million) fund to lure new researchers. The president of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University recently told a crowd at a higher education summit the school is identifying “superstar” US researchers and making them offers as soon as the next day.

The Australian Academy of Science also launched a new talent program to recruit disillusioned US-based scientists and lure Australians back home.

“We know these individuals are highly trained, talented, and have much to offer,” said Anna-Maria Arabia, chief executive of the academy, noting the program has received “encouraging interest” so far.

“It’s vitally important that science can continue without ideological interference,” Arabia said.

The US could lose its scientific edge

The US has long been a powerhouse when it comes to research and development, attracting talent from far afield with its big budgets, high salaries and swanky labs.

Since the 1960s, US government expenditure in research and development (R&D) has more than doubled from $58 billion in 1961 to almost $160 billion in 2024 (in inflation-adjusted dollars), according to federal data. When incorporating R&D funding from the private sector, that number balloons to more than an estimated $900 billion in 2023.

The US’s enormous investment in R&D has led to an outsized influence on the world stage. The US has racked up more than 400 Nobel Prizes, more than double the amount of the next country, the United Kingdom. More than a third of the US’s prizes were won by immigrants.

“We have been respected worldwide for decades because we have trained succeeding generations of researchers who are pushing into new territories,” said Kenneth Wong, a professor of education policy at Brown University.

But Trump’s second term has upended the relationship between higher education and the federal government.

Trump’s gutting of federal health and science agencies has led to sweeping job losses and funding cuts, including at the National Institutes of Health, which funds nearly $50 billion in medical research each year at universities, hospitals and scientific institutions.

Between the end of February and the beginning of April, the administration cancelled almost 700 NIH grants totaling $1.8 billion, according to an analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Trump administration has proposed reducing the NIH’s budget in 2026 by 40%.

The National Science Foundation has also slashed nearly $1.4 billion worth of grants. On Wednesday, 16 US states sued the Trump administration over the NSF cuts, which they argue will impede “groundbreaking scientific research” and “(jeopardize) national security, the economy and public health.”

Trump has also targeted elite universities and is in the middle of a legal battle with Harvard University over its refusal to bow to his administration’s directives to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, resulting in billions in frozen federal funding. That battle significantly escalated this month when Trump banned Harvard’s ability to enroll international students – a decision swiftly halted by a federal judge hours after Harvard filed suit.

This week, the White House directed federal agencies to cancel all remaining contracts with Harvard.

“The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society: apprenticeships, electricians, plumbers,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News this week.

“We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.”

‘I don’t feel so welcome’

Foreign institutions have already jumped on the chance to welcome Harvard students now caught in legal limbo. On Monday, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said it will accept any Harvard students that wish to transfer, as well as prospective students with a current offer from Harvard.

“I see this as the most significant crisis that universities are facing since World War Two,” Wong said. “We are seeing a complete reset of this collaborative relationship between the federal government and leading research institutions.”

Once the beacon of scientific research, the US has now become an increasingly hostile place to study, teach, and do research. Three quarters of US scientists surveyed by the journal Nature in March said they were considering leaving because of the Trump administration’s policies.

Some have already jumped ship. Yale professors Jason Stanley, Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder, preeminent fascism scholars, announced in March they were leaving for the University of Toronto across the border in Canada because of Trump’s affronts to academic freedom.

Beckman, the Brazilian neuroscientist, said her lab has seen $2.5 million in grant funding cancelled in recent months. On top of these funding woes, Beckman said the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, and shifting attitudes towards foreigners in the US, has also pushed her to look for work elsewhere.

“It’s the first time since I moved here that I don’t feel so welcome anymore,” she said.

As the US research ecosystem responds to shrinking budgets and intrusions on academic freedom, early-career scientists are going to be hardest hit, Wong said. But younger researchers are also more mobile, and institutions around the world are welcoming them with open arms.

“What we are losing is this whole cadre of highly productive, young, energetic, well-trained, knowledgeable, advanced researchers who are primed to take off,” Wong said.

Other countries have long deprioritized investment in scientific research as the US absorbed the R&D needs of the world, Wong said. But that trend is shifting.

R&D spending in China has surged in recent decades, and the country is close to narrowing the gap with the US. China spent more than $780 billion on R&D in 2023, according to OECD data. The European Union is also spending more on R&D. R&D investment in the bloc has increased from about $336 billion in 2007 to $504 billion in 2023, according to the OECD.

For a couple of months, Beckman said she considered stepping away from her Covid-19 research, which has become increasingly politicized under the Trump administration.

But then she started getting interviews at institutions in other countries.

“There is interest in virology everywhere in the world except the US right now.”