Statista

Tesla reported its Q2 results yesterday and the figures, as expected, show massive investments made in the fields of robotics and self-driving cars. Capital expenditures approached $6 billion for the quarter and are expected to exceed $25 billion for the full year as the company continues to test its humanoid robot Optimus and just expanded self-driving taxi service to two more U.S. cities.

However, both projects are behind schedule, resulting in nervous investors and a stock price that is under pressure as the company's cash flow turned negative for the first time in two years. As investments pile up, Tesla's core automotive business is not as lucrative as it used to be. Tesla also missed its earning expectations, reporting higher-than-projected revenues of $28.2 billion for the quarter, but earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at only $3.3 billion when $4 billion had been expected. The operating margin of the company sank to 1.4 percent and to 16.7 percent in the automotive segment.

In Q1 of 2024, Tesla had last seen its investments exceed its profits as more AI spending coincided with delivery disruptions and inventory buildup. Smaller cash flow issues happened in Q1 of 2019 and Q1 of 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Friday will see the expiry of temporary duties of 10 percent on global imports set by the Trump administration after the Supreme Court struck down a slew of country-specific tariffs in February. U.S. leadership has been busy drafting replacement tariff rules, two of which were already announced: 25 percent of a range of goods from Brazil starting on July 22 and 50 percent on a list of Canadian imports from August 19 onward.

While the new Canadian tariff invokes section 338 of the Trade Act of 1974, tariffs on Brazil are based on section 301, which stipulates that the U.S. can take retaliatory action if a foreign country breaks trade agreements or engages in "unjustified, unreasonable or discriminatory" practices that "burdens or restricts US commerce". Under this section, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has been investigating 59 countries and the European Union, all of which could soon be struck with new tariffs. This includes, in addition to the countries named above, many countries in Latin America, North Africa, the Arabian Gulf and the Asia-Pacific region.

Two investigations claim that countries' inability to stop forced labor practices and their excess production in manufacturing are hurting the United States' commercial interests. Previously, U.S. tariffs on imports from foreign countries had used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as justification, but the Supreme Court ruled that they were exceeding its scope to regulate commerce during national emergencies due to foreign threats.

The Office of the Trade Representative has suggested tariffs on 10-12.5 percent for countries found to be violating the United States' ban on the import of products made with forced labor. There has been no such announcement concerning excess manufacturing production.

With the global 10-percent tariff, announced by the White House just hours after the Supreme Court struck down the administration’s blanket tariffs in February, set to expire on Friday, the Trump administration is reportedly working on a way to impose a new set of tariffs that would replace the expiring ones. While the expiring tariffs were justified by "fundamental international payment problems", the new set of levies would be based on the alleged failure by numerous countries, incl. the EU27, to fight imports of goods produced with forced labor. Whatever the reason, it is clear that President Trump is fighting to keep his tariff policy in place.

Despite a sharp rise in tariff revenues since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, customs duties still account for modest share of U.S. government income. In fiscal year 2025, tariff revenues surged to roughly $195 billion, equivalent to just 3.7 percent of total receipts. With more than $2.6 trillion, individual income tax continues to account for the largest share - just over 50 percent - of U.S. government receipts, with social insurance and retirement contributions accounting for one third of total receipts.

Treasury data suggest that the importance of tariffs will increase in the coming years. That is, if the current high-tariff policy continues. Driven by sustained tariffs on imports, customs duties are projected to more than double in the coming years, exceeding $400 billion in fiscal year 2026 and reaching over $550 billion by 2031. Even then, tariffs would account for just 7.3 percent of total governement receipts, underlining their limited role in overall federal financing despite their growing importance in trade policy.

The price of a global oil benchmark surpassed the $90-mark momentarily early on Monday as Iran announced a renewed closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid heavy U.S.-Israeli attacks. A barrel of Brent crude traded for more than $91 intraday after having opened at $89. It stood at about this same value early Tuesday as the world is bracing for another round of rising oil prices because of the Middle East conflict.

When Israel and the U.S. launched a war against Iran at the end of February, international shipping almost came to a halt at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz, through which close to 27 percent of the world's maritime oil trade transits. The impact on oil prices was swift and a barrel of Brent crude eventually reached an average price of $117 in April, comparable to the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when a monthly average high of $122 was reached in June.

In June of 2026, a memorandum was signed by both sides that facilitated ships' passages again, which caused the price of Brent to fall further from an average of $107 in May to $85 in June. As of July 13, the average price of a barrel of Brent had stood even lower, at just $81, as the world expected a dissolving of the conflict. Now, the price of oil is likely to trend higher once more.

However, there have also been some moderating factors that have over the course of the conflict contributed to reining in oil prices. Reuter reports that China, a major oil importer and biggest buyer of Iranian oil by far, has cut back on consumption. While countries using the Persian Gulf to ship oil produced less of it, the U.S. upped their production significantly to make up for shortfalls.

Analysis from Rapidan Energy Group picked up by CNN and CNBC shows that an estimated 20 percent of the world's oil supply has been disrupted by the ongoing conflict. That’s more than double the previous record set during the Suez Crisis of 1956-1957.

New data by the WHO and UNICEF shows that the share of one-year-olds globally who have received common childhood vaccinations like polio, tetanus, tuberculosis and Hepatitis B in 2025 only grew very slightly compared to 2024. This means that currently between 84 percent and 88 percent of 1-year-olds have received these vaccines worldwide. Coverage for less common vaccines, for example against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus, continued to increase their coverage rapidly.

Global vaccine coverage made strides in the past 40 years before stagnating, as very common vaccines struggled to go the last mile of reaching all children, including those in unstable countries and war zones. Here, children continue to receive the oral polio vaccine not displayed in the chart in an attempt to eradicated the disease. However, this global goal has become ever more elusive in recent years among the stagnation of vaccine coverage progress. Growing vaccine skepticism – including in industrialized countries – is posing another challenge.

The Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 onwards put a dent in vaccine coverage. It might have been the cause for billions of new vaccinations given out, but due to lockdowns and other restrictions that it brought about, common childhood vaccines were missed. In recent years, rates mostly recovered.

In 1980, only around 20 percent of children in the world had received the vaccines for tuberculosis, DTP (diphtheria/tetanus/whooping cough) and polio. While the former two were developed in the 1920s, the polio vaccine became commercially available in 1961. Coverage rates for the three diseases rose to approximately 80 percent in the ten years up until 1990.

The immunization against Hepatitis B, the world’s first genetically modified vaccine, was made available in the early 1980s and also reached a global coverage of 80 percent in 2012. Measles vaccinations, on the other hand, have been available since the 1960s but have only reached around 77 percent of children globally (two doses), about the same as the HIB vaccine against a virus causing meningitis.

🏆 World Cup Recap: in case you missed it 💡

⚽ Messi and Mbappé Make World Cup History
🥇 Spain Joins Short List of Multiple World Cup Winners
📊 2026 World Cup Shatters Attendance Record

The 2026 World Cup delivered records on and off the pitch. Kylian Mbappé scored 10 goals to reach a career total of 22 and overtook Lionel Messi who finished with 21. Spain became one of the few nations with multiple World Cup titles while Brazil remains the leader with five. The tournament drew about 6.5 million spectators with an average of 65,490 fans per match.

Every year on July 20, the world celebrates International Moon Day, marking the anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon Landing and humanity’s continuing journey to explore the Moon.

Only six nations (or political unions) have been to the moon, its orbit or its vicinity as part of a successful or semi-successful missions – and the runner-up doesn’t even exist anymore. This is the tally of moon missions long after the first race for space that saw the U.S. and the USSR square off in the 1950s, 60s and 70s and at the recent beginning of the new era of moon missions that includes the participation of new national and private sector actors.

Additionally, national institutions and private firms from seven more countries have sent orbiters and experiments to the moon, piggybacking on the rockets of other countries.

The U.S. tops the current list, with 45 completed successful or semi-successful missions to the moon between 1959 and 2026, according to OMG Space and Statista research. The 45th launched on April 1 – Artemis II is carrying out a manned orbit of the moon.

The USSR flew 22 such missions between 1959 and 1976. China stepped up its space program in the 2000s and flew its first mission of the Chang’e program in 2007. All seven attempted missions related to the program have been successful or semi-successful (Rover Yutu that landed on the moon in the Chang’e 3 mission in December 2018 stopped moving after around six weeks but maintained radio contact). China counts ten missions in total including two recent ones relating to moon satellites as well as the serendipitous journey of a Hong Kong satellite in 1997, which missed its Earth orbit and was subsequently adjusted with the help of two lunar flybys, marking the first (accidental) commercial mission to the moon.

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📱 Reelified: Americans Prefer Short-Form Video
🌐 Few People Abroad Approve of Trump's Foreign Policy

If affordability drives entertainment spending, it’s only logical that rising costs are the biggest purchase barrier. According to Statista Consumer Insights, 38 percent of U.S. respondents cite increasing prices and hidden fees as a reason for not spending money on media and entertainment, far ahead of other concerns. Platform fragmentation is another pain point, with 21 percent saying there are simply too many services to choose from, followed closely by ads on paid plans, which are a no-go to 20 percent of respondents.

Beyond pricing, the data points to a growing sense of friction in the user experience. Too many add-ons, hidden auto-renewals and choice overload highlight how complexity can deter consumers just as much as cost. As platforms compete for attention and subscription revenue, reducing this friction may become just as important as expanding content libraries. The simplicity of Netflix’s $9,99 all-you-can stream model was one of the reasons for its meteoric rise – that simplicity has long fallen victim to the streaming wars, though.