Hard Numbers: Swiss endorse COVID certificate law, Japan ups defense budget, Canada's maple syrup emergency, New Zealand MP's no fuss delivery

Demonstrators protest against a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) law that is voted on in a referendum, in front of the Swiss Federal Palace, the Bundeshaus, in Bern, Switzerland, November 28, 2021.

63: Early results of a national referendum found that 63 percent of Swiss voters back legislation mandating residents show proof of vaccination, a negative test result, or recovery from COVID to enter public spaces. Amid a surge in COVID cases, the Swiss government has opted not to impose new restrictions as other European states have done.

6.75 billion: Japan will add a whopping $6.75 billion to its already record-high annual defense budget, a sign of Tokyo's fear of increasing security threats from China and North Korea. Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed to double Japan's defense expenditure to 2 percent of gross domestic product.

50 million: It's not just oil that's in short supply globally. Amid ongoing supply chain disruptions, the Canadian government will tap into its strategic reserve of maple syrup, releasing 50 million pounds of the liquid gold, half its national stockpile. Canada produces three quarters of the world's maple syrup, but output has slowed because of pandemic-related supply chain issues and a warmer than usual sugaring season.

2: Already experiencing contractions, New Zealand Member of Parliament Julie Anne Genter rode her bicycle to the hospital early Sunday morning, giving birth just one hour later. It's the second time the Greens MP, a dual Kiwi-US citizen, has ridden her bike to hospital during labour, doing the same thing with her first born in 2018.

More from GZERO Media

Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks during his visit and after a binational council of ministers, in Jacmel, Haiti, on Jan. 22, 2025.
REUTERS/Marckinson Pierre

President Donald Trump ordered a suite of tariffs and visa revocations against Colombian government officials on Sunday after Bogota refused to accept two US military planes carrying deported migrants – and was met with threats of retaliatory tariffs by Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

Residents of south Lebanon, who were displaced during the war, tried to return to their villages still occupied by Israel despite the expiration of the 60-day ceasefire implementation period. These Lebanese Muslim Shiite women inspect their destroyed house in the southern Lebanese border village of Ayta ash-Shaab after returning to their devastated hamlet.

Marwan Naamani/dpa via Reuters Connect

Hostilities continued on Sunday in southern Lebanon, where more than 22 Lebanese civilians were killed and over 124 wounded by Israeli forces, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Internally displaced civilians from the camps in Munigi and Kibati carry their belongings as they flee following the fight between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Jan. 26, 2025.
REUTERS/Aubin Mukoni

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels are closing in on Goma, the largest city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, after killing a Congolese military governor who was visiting the area on Thursday. Flights are grounded, roads are blocked, and there is “mass panic and flight among the population” of one million people, according to UN special representative for Congo Bintou Keita.

Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, on Jan. 21, 2025.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in their first phone call on Friday over the independence of Taiwan. Will this set a bad early tone for US-China relations under President Donald Trump?

- YouTube

The shifting geopolitical landscape and uncertainty surrounding the future of AI have stirred anxiety among those gathered in Davos. Yet, there are glimmers of hope. “The most important thing for me is really to turn the anxiety into action," said Teresa Hutson, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft.

Migrants line up to leave the United States for Mexico after being deported across the Paso del Norte international border bridge after President Donald Trump promised mass deportation operation, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Jan. 23, 2025.
REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

As Donald Trump begins to roll out his plans for the “largest deportation operation in history,” Mexico, the country with the highest number of unauthorized citizens living in the US — some 4 million people — is preparing to welcome back thousands of deportees. Mexico plans to send anyone from elsewhere back to their home countries.

President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, in 2019.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

During his first week in office, Donald Trump took steps to withdraw the US from two major international commitments: the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization. Will this create opportunities for other global powers, not least China, to fill the void?