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  • Gold Market Commentary: Positioning revisited

    Gold Market Commentary: Positioning revisited

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    Information regarding QaurumSM and the Gold Valuation Framework

    Note that the resulting performance of various investment outcomes that can generated through use of Qaurum, the Gold Valuation Framework and other information are hypothetical in nature, may not reflect actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results. Neither World Gold Council (including its affiliates) nor Oxford Economics provides any warranty or guarantee regarding the functionality of the tool, including without limitation any projections, estimates or calculations.

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  • PMD issues heavy rain warning for Azad Kashmir and KP – Pakistan

    PMD issues heavy rain warning for Azad Kashmir and KP – Pakistan

    The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Thursday issued a warning for heavy rain across Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and advised citizens to stay alert.

    Monsoon rains fall across the region from June to September, offering respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies. However, heavy downpours also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas.

    In a post on X, the PMD said at 3:30pm that a “rain-bearing weather system” was forming in the Poonch, Bagh, Haveli and Sudhnoti areas of Kashmir.

    According to the post, the system was likely to cause “heavy rain with strong winds and thunderstorms” during the next 2-5 hours in the above-mentioned areas as well as Azad Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Rawalakot, Bhimber, Mirpur and Neelum Valley.

    Other areas that could come under the rain spell were KP’s Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur and Kohistan, along with Murree, Galyat, and surrounding areas.

    The PMD has advised the public to take precautions and stay updated.

    At least 71 people have died — over half of them children — and another 86 have been injured in rain-related incidents across KP since the start of the monsoon season in late June, according to the latest figures by KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

    On Sunday, the nationwide death toll from monsoon rains rose to 299, up from 234, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

    On Saturday, the PMD forecast more rain, with wind-thundershowers in the upper and central regions of the country over this week. The department asked provincial disaster management authorities and district administrations to take preventative measures against possible urban flooding.

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  • New pH-responsive nanomaterials enhance precision drug delivery to tumors

    New pH-responsive nanomaterials enhance precision drug delivery to tumors

    Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and despite advancements in diagnosis and treatment, it continues to impose a significant health burden globally. Researchers have now started exploring various innovative methods, such as engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) that can enable targeted drug delivery to cancer cells. While promising, the in vivo behavior of pH-responsive ENMs, which continuously interact with body fluids once administered, remains poorly understood.

    To address this research gap, a team of researchers led by Professor Yuta Nishina from the Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Okayama University, Japan, in collaboration with Assistant Professor Yajuan Zou from the same institution and Professor Alberto Bianco from CNRS, University of Strasbourg, France, aimed to investigate how pH-responsive ENMs convert their properties into dynamic interactions with proteins and cells in vivo. Their findings were published online in the journal Small on June 01, 2025.

    Graphene oxide-a carbon-based nanomaterial obtained from graphite-has recently gained popularity in nanotechnology due to its structural properties and its ability to accumulate in tumors through the enhanced permeability and retention effect. However, it faces limited applications because the immune system rapidly removes it from the circulation, resulting in inefficient uptake by cancer cells.

    To overcome this barrier, the researchers designed a “charge-reversible” graphene material by attaching a hyperbranched polymer called amino-rich polyglycerol (hPGNH₂) to graphene oxide sheets and then adding an adimethylmaleic anhydride (DMMA) moiety to make the surface pH-responsive.

    “When the material is in the neutral pH of the bloodstream, its surface remains negatively charged, avoiding detection by the immune system,” explains Prof. Nishina. “But when it enters the slightly acidic environment of a tumor, its surface becomes positively charged, helping it bind to and enter cancer cells.“

    The team analyzed three versions of this graphene oxide-polyglycerol-DMMA (GOPG-DMMA) material by varying the densities of amino groups in hPGNH₂. These groups included GOPGNH115, GOPGNH60, and GOPGNH30. The difference in amine groups altered the resultant positive charge and thereby affected the attachment of the GOPG-DMMA material.

    According to the results, the GOPGNH60-DMMA variant worked best, achieving the right balance of safety in the bloodstream and optimal positive charge in the acidic tumor environment. This balance allowed the material to reach and enter the tumor cells more efficiently while avoiding binding to healthy cells and blood proteins. Moreover, it led to higher accumulation of nanomaterials in tumor sites with fewer side effects, which was confirmed through mouse models.

    “We observed that by adjusting the surface chemistry, we could control how nanomaterials behave inside the body,” says Dr. Zou. “The success of this precise control could open new avenues for ‘theranostics’ that integrates both cancer diagnosis and treatment.”

    The study marks a milestone in targeted drug delivery and can help fine-tune such pH-responsive nanomaterials for more precision. Insights from the study may also help target drugs inside cells-especially in acidic compartments like lysosomes or endosomes-making treatments more precise and reducing harm to healthy tissue.

    The study is part of a growing international collaboration. In 2025, Okayama University and CNRS launched the IRP C3M international research program, which aims to create more smart nanomaterials for healthcare. In the future, the researchers will continue pushing the limits of nanomaterials for better therapies.

     “We now have a concrete guideline for improving the performance of pH-responsive nanomedicines,” said Prof. Nishina. “With this discovery, we are one step closer to the future of personalized medicine.”

    Source:

    Journal reference:

    Zou, Y., et al. (2025). Polyglycerol‐Grafted Graphene Oxide with pH‐Responsive Charge‐Convertible Surface to Dynamically Control the Nanobiointeractions for Enhanced in Vivo Tumor Internalization. Small. doi.org/10.1002/smll.202503029.

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  • Common Painkiller Tied to Heart Failure Risk in Older Adults

    Common Painkiller Tied to Heart Failure Risk in Older Adults

    The antiseizure medication pregabalin, which is commonly prescribed for chronic pain, has been linked to an increased risk for heart failure (HF), particularly in those with a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD), new data suggested.

    In a cohort of more than 240,000 Medicare beneficiaries with noncancer chronic pain, initiation of pregabalin was associated with a 48% higher risk for new-onset HF overall and an 85% higher risk in those with a history of CVD than initiation of gabapentin.

    The study was published online on August 1 in JAMA Network Open.

    Widely Prescribed Medications

    Chronic pain affects up to 30% of adults aged 65 years or older. Nonopioid medications, such as the gabapentinoids pregabalin and gabapentin, are widely prescribed for chronic pain, the investigators, led by Elizabeth Park, MD, Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, noted.

    Pregabalin has greater potency than gabapentin in binding to the α2δ subunit of the L-type calcium channel and therefore may be associated with an increased risk for HF through actions to cause sodium/water retention.

    To investigate further, investigators evaluated 246,237 Medicare beneficiaries between 2014 and 2018, including 18,622 (8%) new pregabalin users and 227,615 (92%) new gabapentin users. All patients were aged 65-89 years, had chronic noncancer pain, and had no history of HF.

    The researchers used inverse probability of treatment weighting to adjust for an extensive list of 231 covariates to reduce confounding and attempted to closely emulate a hypothetical target trial in which Medicare patients filled new prescriptions for pregabalin or gabapentin for noncancer pain.

    During 114,113 person-years of follow-up, 1470 patients had a hospital admission or emergency department visit for HF. The rate of HF per 1000 person-years was 18.2 for pregabalin and 12.5 — translating to roughly six additional HF events annually for every 1000 patients treated with pregabalin — with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.48.

    The difference was even more pronounced in patients with a history of CVD, with an adjusted HR of 1.85. An increased risk for outpatient HF diagnoses was also seen (adjusted HR, 1.27), but there was no difference in all-cause mortality between groups.

    The authors said the findings further support current recommendations from the European Medicines Agency to exercise caution when prescribing pregabalin to older adults with CVD.

    The American Heart Association currently lists pregabalin, but not gabapentin, as a medication that may cause or exacerbate HF.

    Immediate Clinical Implications

    The co-authors of an invited commentary noted that the study provides “timely and clinically relevant insights” into the cardiovascular safety of these two widely used gabapentinoids.

    From a clinical standpoint, the findings have “immediate clinical implications,” wrote Robert Zhang, MD, with Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City, and Edo Birati, MD, Tzafon (Poriya) Medical Center, Poriya, Israel.

    For older adults with chronic pain, particularly those with CVD, “clinicians should weigh the potential cardiovascular risks associated with pregabalin against its analgesic benefits. This is particularly relevant given the growing use of gabapentinoids in older populations and ongoing polypharmacy issues in this age group,” Zhang and Birati advised.

    “Furthermore, if pregabalin use is associated with new-onset HF, it raises the possibility that the drug may unmask underlying subclinical cardiovascular disease, which suggests a need for careful cardiac evaluation prior to prescribing this medication,” they added.

    “The study serves as an important reminder that not all gabapentinoids are created equal and that in the pursuit of safer pain control, vigilance for unintended harms remains paramount,” the investigators concluded.

    The study had no commercial funding. The authors and editorial writers reported having no relevant disclosures.

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  • Thousands of hotels in Europe to sue Booking.com over ‘abusive’ practices | Travel & leisure

    Thousands of hotels in Europe to sue Booking.com over ‘abusive’ practices | Travel & leisure

    Booking.com is facing a class-action lawsuit from more than 10,000 European hotels arguing that the accommodation mega-site used its muscle to distort the market to their detriment over a 20-year period.

    The Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes in Europe (Hotrec), which represents the industry within the EU and is bringing the legal action, recently extended to 29 August a deadline for hotel owners to join the suit because of high demand.

    The lawsuit, expected to be one of the largest ever filed in the European hospitality sector, is also backed by 30 national hotel associations, including Britain’s.

    “Over 10,000 hotels have already joined the pan-European initiative to claim compensation for financial losses caused by Booking.com’s use of illegal ‘best price’ (parity) clauses,” Hotrec said in a statement.

    It alleges that the “best price” pledge on Booking.com was extracted from hotels under huge pressure not to offer rooms at lower prices on other platforms, including their own websites.

    The hotel industry says that the Netherlands-based platform also used the clauses to prevent customers making what it called “free-rider” bookings, which it defined as using its services to find a hotel but then booking directly with the management, cutting out Booking.com.

    “Registration [to the legal action] continues to grow steadily, and the response so far demonstrates the hospitality industry’s strong desire to stand up against unfair practices in the digital marketplace,” Hotrec said.

    The litigation, which experts say will be an uphill battle, seeks damages for the period from 2004 to 2024, when Booking.com did away with the best price clause to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act.

    Hotrec said the class action, to be heard in Amsterdam, follows a European court of justice (ECJ) ruling from 2024, “which found that Booking.com’s parity clauses violated EU competition law”.

    “European hoteliers have long suffered from unfair conditions and excessive costs. Now is the time to stand together and demand redress,” said Hotrec’s president, Alexandros Vassilikos, calling out “abusive practices in the digital market” in Europe.

    Booking.com called Hotrec and other hotel associations’ statements “incorrect and misleading” in an emailed statement, adding that it had not received “formal notification of a class action”.

    It said that the ECJ ruling did not find that Booking.com’s “best price” clauses were anti-competitive but “simply stated that such clauses fall within the scope of EU competition law and that their effects must be assessed on a case-by-case basis”.

    The company referred to a statement about its “commitment to fair competition”, in which it argued that “past parity clauses served to foster competitive pricing rather than restrict it”.

    It cited a poll in which 74% of hoteliers said Booking.com made their business more profitable, with many reporting higher occupancy rates and lower customer acquisition costs. However, other industry representatives criticised the company’s practices as extractive.

    “As they gained control of the market, Booking was able to increase its commission rates and exert much greater pressure on hoteliers’ margins,” Véronique Siegel, president of the hotels division of French hospitality sector association Umih, told public broadcaster France Inter.

    “For a room that the customer pays €100 (£87) for, if you take away Booking’s commission, the hotelier receives €75 at best, with which they have to pay their employees and invest.”

    Despite the friction, Booking.com appears unavoidable for many hotels, offering an online reach and visibility hard to achieve for smaller, independent establishments.

    A study by Hotrec and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland found that Booking Holding, the website’s parent company, controlled 71% of the European market in 2024, compared with 68.4% in 2019.

    The corporation is valued at $170bn (£127bn), three times that of Volkswagen.

    Rupprecht Podszun, director of the institute for competition law at Düsseldorf’s Heinrich Heine University, said Booking.com was a classic example of how a digital platform could conquer an entire sector, creating a “winner takes all” dynamic.

    He said the legal action would probably be protracted and turn on the thorny question of how damages could be measured.

    “Judges will have to form an opinion and then it will go through all the appeals – everything at great expense and with all the tricks available under the law,” he told Germany’s daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

    “The case is a revolt of the hotels, saying: ‘You can’t just do what you want with us.’”

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  • China completes its first manned lunar lander landing, takeoff test -Xinhua

    China completes its first manned lunar lander landing, takeoff test -Xinhua

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province. The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Zhang Bin/Xinhua)

    HUAILAI, Hebei, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) — China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive landing and takeoff test for its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province.

    The test, completed on Wednesday, represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and also marks the first time that China has carried out a test of extraterrestrial landing and takeoff capabilities of a manned spacecraft, the China Manned Space Agency said.

    The lunar lander, named Lanyue, which means embracing the moon, consists of both a landing module and a propulsion module. It is a newly developed spacecraft designed to support crewed missions to and from the moon.

    It will be used to transport two taikonauts between the lunar orbit and the lunar surface — and will carry a lunar rover and other scientific payloads. After landing, the lander will serve as a life-support center, an energy center and a data center, offering assistance and serving as a base for the taikonauts’ stay and activities on the moon’s surface.

    Noting that the test was complex with a long cycle and technical challenges, the space agency said the success represents a breakthrough in research and development in terms of China’s manned lunar exploration program.

    China aims to land its astronauts on the moon before 2030, with the purpose of conducting scientific exploration. ■

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Han Qingce/Xinhua)

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Zhang Bin/Xinhua)

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Liu Yongjing/Xinhua)

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Zhang Bin/Xinhua)

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Liu Yongjing/Xinhua)

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Zhang Bin/Xinhua)

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Zhang Bin/Xinhua)

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Zhang Bin/Xinhua)

    This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

    The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency. (Photo by Liu Yongjing/Xinhua)

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  • Six-strong Athlete Refugee Team named for WCH Tokyo 25 | News | Tokyo 25

    Six-strong Athlete Refugee Team named for WCH Tokyo 25 | News | Tokyo 25

    Olympians Farida Abaroge, Perina Lokure Nakang and Musa Suliman are among the six athletes named on the Athlete Refugee Team (ART) that will represent millions of refugees at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

    This comes at a time when significant cuts in international aid to this marginalised population have drastically affected areas such as food distribution, education, child protection and health programmes. The Refugee Athlete Scholarship programme, under the Olympic Refugee Foundation in close collaboration with World Athletics and its member federations, is a pathway for refugee athletes to find a purpose in life as well as hope for them and their families through athletics.

    Abaroge, Nakang and Suliman all represented the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2024 Games in Paris, while Nakang also competed at the last edition of the World Athletics Championships, in Budapest in 2023.

    Abaroge, who joined the ART in 2023, has been selected for the 5000m. The 31-year-old fled her native Ethiopia in 2016, travelling through Sudan, Egypt and Libya before she was found by a French human rights group. She started running after being granted refugee status in France and in 2024 she competed at the World Cross Country Championships and the European Cross Country Championships as well as the Olympic Games, where she contested the 1500m.

    Nakang’s running talent was discovered when she formed part of the World Athletics U20 refugee team pilot in 2022. The 22-year-old, who is based in Kenya, was selected for the World Cross Country Championships and the World Championships the following year. She clocked an 800m PB of 2:08.20 at the Paris Olympics but missed six months of elite training during which she went through some personal challenges, witnessed water shortages, experienced riots and tough weather conditions, and suffered from malaria and typhoid. Like Abaroge, she was awarded an Olympic Refugee Foundation Refugee Athlete Scholarship for the second time in 2025 and has returned to training.

    Her fellow 800m runner Suliman is based in Switzerland and, at 21, is the youngest member of the ART in Tokyo. Suliman fled Sudan with his family in 2015 and lived in Egypt for several years before being resettled in Switzerland in 2021 through a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) programme. He took up running in 2022 and overcame a knee injury to compete at the Olympics. He has received a Refugee Athlete Scholarship this year and will make his World Championships debut in Tokyo.

    This trio will be joined by marathon runners Omar Hassan and Emmanuel Kiruhura Ntagunga plus 5000m specialist Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed in Japan, where they will compete in the home country of their team sponsor, Asics.

    Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed at the 2022 World Championships (© Getty Images)

    Like Nakang, Hassan raced at the World Championships in Budapest in 2023 and finished 40th in the marathon. The following year was difficult, both physically and mentally, as his mother – his mentor and the most special person in his life – died and Hassan became responsible for his six younger siblings. The 34-year-old, who is based in Denmark, has since returned to running and is now studying automation technology.

    Ntagunga fled the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2013 and settled in Kenya, where he began running with local athletes. The father of four began a new life with his family in Norway in 2023 through an initiative facilitated by the government of Norway and the UNHCR and he continued running as a means of integration and wellbeing. He has gone on to participate in several races in Europe, including the Copenhagen Marathon, in which he placed 11th earlier this year. He is also a member of the Refugee Athlete Scholarship programme.

    Long-standing team member Eisa Mohammed, who fled Sudan at the age of 16 and is now based in Israel, joined the ART in 2019 and competed at that year’s World Championships as well as the following edition in Oregon in 2022. He focused on training after missing out on the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and came close to his PB when finishing second at the Track Night Vienna in 13:21.39 in June. 

    Alice Annibali for World Athletics

    Athlete Refugee Team in Tokyo

    Women
    800m: Perina Lokure Nakang
    5000m: Farida Abaroge

    Men
    800m: Musa Suliman
    5000m: Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed
    Marathon: Omar Hassan, Emmanuel Kiruhura Ntagunga

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  • PM calls for devising plan to harness population’s potential – RADIO PAKISTAN

    1. PM calls for devising plan to harness population’s potential  RADIO PAKISTAN
    2. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif orders strategy with provinces to tackle population issues  ptv.com.pk
    3. Hybrid ruin  Dawn
    4. Call to ensure equitable development across generations vital  nation.com.pk
    5. Unseeing warning signs: choosing fatal outcomes?  The Express Tribune

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  • Trump’s higher tariffs hit major US trading partners, sparking defiance and concern – World

    Trump’s higher tariffs hit major US trading partners, sparking defiance and concern – World

    United States trade partners such as Switzerland, Brazil and India were still scrambling to get a better deal on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s higher tariff rates on imports from dozens of countries kicked in, raising the average US import duty to its highest in a century.

    The US Customs and Border Protection agency began collecting the higher tariffs of 10 per cent to 50pc at 12:01am EDT (09:01am PKT) after weeks of suspense over Trump’s final tariff rates and frantic negotiations with major trading partners that sought to lower them.

    The leaders of Brazil and India vowed not to be cowed by Trump’s hardline bargaining position, even while their negotiators sought a reprieve from the highest tariff levels.

    The new rates will test Trump’s strategy for shrinking US trade deficits without causing massive disruptions to global supply chains or provoking higher inflation and stiff retaliation from trading partners.

    After unveiling his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, Trump has frequently modified his plan, slapping much higher rates on imports from some countries, including 50pc for goods from Brazil, 39pc from Switzerland, 35pc from Canada and 25pc from India.

    He announced on Wednesday a separate, 25pc tariff on Indian goods, to be imposed in 21 days, over India’s purchases of Russian oil.

    “Reciprocal tariffs take effect at midnight tonight!” Trump said on Truth Social just ahead of the deadline.

    “Billions of dollars, largely from countries that have taken advantage of the United States for many years, laughing all the way, will start flowing into the USA. The only thing that can stop America’s greatness would be a radical left court that wants to see our country fail!”

    Tariffs are ultimately paid by companies importing the goods and consumers of the end products.

    Eight major trading partners accounting for about 40pc of US trade flows have reached framework deals for trade and investment concessions to Trump, including the European Union, Japan and South Korea, reducing their base tariff rates to 15pc.

    Britain won a 10pc rate, while Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines secured rate reductions to 19pc or 20pc.

    “For those countries, it’s less-bad news,” said William Reinsch, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

    “There’ll be some supply chain rearrangement. There’ll be a new equilibrium. Prices here will go up, but it’ll take a while for that to show up in a major way,” Reinsch said.

    Countries with punishingly high duties, such as India and Canada, “will continue to scramble around trying to fix this”, he added.

    Switzerland’s government will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to decide its next move after President Karin Keller-Sutter returned home empty-handed from an 11th-hour trip to Washington aimed at averting the crippling US import tariff on Swiss goods.

    A last-minute attempt by South Africa to improve its offer in exchange for a lower tariff rate also failed.

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held a telephone call with Trump on Wednesday and the two countries’ trade negotiating teams will have more talks, Ramaphosa’s office said.

    Meanwhile, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Reuters on Wednesday he wouldn’t humiliate himself by seeking a phone call with Trump even as he said his government would continue cabinet-level talks to lower a 50pc tariff rate on Brazilian exports to the US.

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was similarly defiant, saying he would not compromise the interests of the country’s farmers after Trump introduced a 50pc tariff on Indian goods.

    Trump’s order has specified that any goods determined to have been transshipped from a third country to evade higher US tariffs will be subject to an additional 40pc import duty, but his administration has released few details on how these goods would be identified or the provision enforced.

    This bar chart displays US President Donald Trump’s tariff rates of top US trading partners as of August 6

    Revenues, price hikes

    US import taxes are one part of a multilayered tariff strategy that includes national security-based sectoral tariffs on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, autos, steel, aluminium, copper, lumber and other goods.

    Trump said on Wednesday the microchip duties could reach 100pc.

    China is on a separate tariff track and will face a potential tariff increase on August 12 unless Trump approves an extension of a prior truce after talks last week in Sweden.

    He has said he may impose additional tariffs over China’s purchases of Russian oil as he seeks to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.

    Trump has touted a vast increase in federal revenues from his import tax collections, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying tariff revenues could top $300 billion a year.

    The move will drive average US tariff rates to around 20pc, the highest in a century and up from 2.5pc when Trump took office in January, the Atlantic Institute estimates.

    Commerce Department data released last week showed more evidence that tariffs began driving up US prices in June, including for home furnishings and durable household equipment, recreational goods and motor vehicles.

    Costs from Trump’s tariff war are mounting for a wide swath of companies, including bellwethers Caterpillar, Marriott, Molson Coors and Yum Brands.

    Toyota on Thursday said it expected a hit of nearly $10bn from tariffs on cars imported into the US as it cut its full-year profit forecast by 16pc.

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  • Maglev train researchers may have solved ‘tunnel boom’ shock waves | Environment

    Maglev train researchers may have solved ‘tunnel boom’ shock waves | Environment

    Researchers hope they may have solved the “tunnel boom” problem as they prepare to roll out China’s latest prototype magnetic levitation train.

    The newest version of the maglev train is capable of travelling at 600km/h (about 370mph). However, the train’s engineers have wrestled with the problem of the shock waves that occur as the train exits the mouth of a tunnel.

    When a high-speed train enters an enclosed space such as a tunnel, air in front is compressed, like in a piston. The resulting fluctuations in air pressure coalesce at the tunnel mouth, generating low-frequency shock waves. These are colloquially known as a “tunnel boom” – a related, albeit different phenomenon to the “sonic boom” heard as aircraft pass the speed of sound. Tunnel booms pose serious challenges to operational safety, as the shock waves can disturb humans and animals nearby, as well as causing structural damage.

    Now, however, researchers have discovered that placing innovative soundproofing buffers at tunnel mouths can reduce shock waves by up to 96%. This promises improvements in operational safety, noise pollution and passenger comfort, as well as safeguarding animals in the vicinity of future lines.

    This was already a well documented problem for conventional high-speed trains, which travel at speeds of up to 350km/h (217mph), but it worsens significantly for trains travelling at even higher speeds because the strength of the shock wave increases rapidly and the critical length that gives rise to a tunnel boom drops off quickly. For example, a train travelling at 600km/h will lead to a boom in a tunnel just 2km (1.2 miles) long, while for conventional high-speed trains this happens only in tunnels which are 6km or longer.

    The porous structure of the new 100-metre long buffers, combined with porous coatings on the tunnel body, allow the trapped air to escape before the train reaches the tunnel mouth, suppressing the boom in the same way as a silencer fitted to a firearm.

    Magnetic levitation refers to the use of magnetic force to suspend a train above a guideway or rail, sometimes with a height of only 10mm, by either electromagnetic or electrodynamic suspension. The train is then propelled using other electromagnets. While conventional high-speed trains are ultimately limited in speed due to increased wear and tear of wheels against the track, the separation of track and train means that maglevs are not subject to the same frictional forces.

    Electromagnetic suspension (EMS) has the train hugging a single steel rail with a U-shaped underside. When electromagnets positioned in the U-shape underneath the rail are switched on, the train is levitated by the resultant electromagnetic forces. With electrodynamic suspension (EDS), the train sits in a U-shaped guideway, with superconducting coils embedded in guideway and train. When the power supply is switched on, magnetic poles are induced in the coils, leading to a combination of repulsive and attractive forces which enable the train to levitate.

    High-speed maglev trains made their debut in 2004 in China, running between Pudong airport and the outskirts of Shanghai at 460km/h (286mph), a speed record that still holds for rail vehicles in regular commercial service. Built using German ‘Transrapid’ technology, this service caters primarily to foreign travellers as local people prefer the much cheaper, albeit slower, metro.

    However, this initial hype was soon eclipsed, as subsequent development of China’s rail network focused entirely on conventional high-speed rail. The national network is now the world’s largest in length at 48,000km (30,000 miles), with more lines under construction.

    But maglev trains are now making a comeback under the state-owned manufacturer CRRC, which launched the new model in 2021. There is no mechanical noise, passengers describing the quiet hum of electromagnets and a ride smoother than a conventional train.

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    Although no lines have yet been formally planned, it is widely expected that a future line will connect the capital, Beijing, with cosmopolitan Shanghai, reducing journey times from 4.5 hours to 2.5 hours, about the duration of a domestic flight between the two cities.

    In China, the cost of a high-speed rail ticket is cheaper than air travel (¥600 compared with ¥1,200), unlike in many other countries. Flights emit on average seven times more CO2 than high-speed rail by distance travelled, representing a big potential carbon saving.

    China is not the only place where long-distance high-speed maglevs are on the horizon. Japan also has its hopes pinned on the Chuo Shinkansen, which will link its two biggest cities of Tokyo and Osaka via Nagoya, cutting through the heart of the country. The Tokaido Shinkansen, a conventional high-speed rail line, does this journey in 2.5 hours, but it is hoped that the new maglev line travelling at 505km/h (314mph) will reduce this to just 67 minutes. It was originally scheduled to begin partial service in 2027, but inevitable delays have encumbered the project, with a new opening date uncertain.

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