Security tensions collide with borderless health threats worldwide

This cluster tracks how rising geopolitical frictions—U.S.–Iran tensions, Middle East power plays around Modi’s Israel visit, and ongoing U.S.-mediated talks on conflicts like Ukraine–Russia—intersect with questions of global governance and trust, including the World Economic Forum chief’s resignation over Epstein links and high‑profile political stands in Washington. In parallel, it follows a wave of global health developments: modeling tools to forecast policy outcomes, pushes for culturally aware health interventions, genomic surveillance of COVID-19, and new vaccines such as Moderna’s combined flu‑COVID shot. Public health alerts on surging flu deaths, a chikungunya outbreak, and evidence that pandemic-era masking reduced pollution‑triggered heart attacks underscore that health threats ignore borders, making security strategy and health policy increasingly inseparable.