Author: admin

Japanese Yen sticks to negative bias against the recovering USD; lacks bearish conviction
- The Japanese Yen attracts some sellers as Trump raised doubts over a US-Japan deal.
- A positive risk tone also undermines the safe-haven JPY and lends support to USD/JPY.
- The divergent BoJ-Fed expectations favor the JPY bulls and might cap the currency pair.
The Japanese Yen (JPY) remains depressed through the Asian session on Wednesday, which, along with a modest US Dollar (USD) uptick, assists the USD/JPY pair to move away from a nearly one-month low touched the previous day. US President Donald Trump expressed skepticism about reaching a trade deal with Japan and suggested that potential tariffs on Japanese imports would be higher than the 24% rate announced on April 2. This, along with the bullish risk tone, is seen undermining the safe-haven status of the JPY.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) cautious approach to unwinding its ultra-loose policy forced investors to push back their expectations for early interest rate hikes. Investors, however, seem convinced that the BoJ will stay on the path of monetary policy normalization as inflation has persistently exceeded its target for nearly three years. This, in turn, helps limit losses for the JPY and caps the USD/JPY pair. Traders also seem reluctant to place aggressive directional bets ahead of the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report on Thursday.

Japanese Yen bulls remain on the sidelines amid trade jitters; downside potential seems limited
- US President Donald Trump had expressed frustration over stalled US-Japan trade negotiations and cast doubt about reaching an agreement with Japan. Moreover, Trump suggested that he could impose a tariff of 30% or 35% on imports from Japan, above the tariff rate of 24% announced on April 2.
- Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Tuesday that although headline inflation has been above 2% for nearly three years, underlying inflation remains below target. Ueda added that any future rate hikes will depend on the overall inflation dynamic, including wage growth and expectations.
- Moreover, BoJ’s new board member Kazuyuki Masu said on Tuesday that the central bank should not rush into raising interest rates given various economic risks. However, concerns about mounting inflationary pressure in Japan keep the door open for a BoJ rate hike in 2025, especially if trade risks stabilize.
- In contrast, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell noted that the US central bank would have eased monetary policy by now if not for Trump’s tariff plan. When asked if July would be too soon for markets to expect a rate cut, Powell answered that he can’t say and that it’s going to depend on the data.
- Nevertheless, traders still see a small chance that the next rate reduction by the Fed will come in July and are pricing in over a 75% probability of a rate cut at the September policy meeting. This, in turn, dragged the US Dollar to its lowest level since February 2022 and should cap the USD/JPY pair.
- Meanwhile, the US ISM Manufacturing PMI showed on Tuesday that economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted for the fourth consecutive month, albeit the rate of contraction slowed in June. In fact, the gauge edged up to 49 from 48.5 in May, above market expectations of 48.8.
- Separately, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the number of job openings on the last business day of May stood at 7.769 million. This followed 7.395 million openings in April and was above estimates for 7.3 million.
- Traders now look forward to the release of the US ADP report on private-sector employment for some impetus later this Wednesday. The focus, however, remains on the closely-watched US monthly employment details – popularly known as the Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report on Thursday.
USD/JPY remains vulnerable while below the 144.40 region, or the 200-SMA on H4

From a technical perspective, negative oscillators on 4-hour/daily charts suggest that any subsequent move up towards the 144.00 mark could be seen as a selling opportunity. This, in turn, should cap the USD/JPY pair near the 200-period Simple Moving Average (SMA) on the 4-hour chart, currently pegged near the 144.35 region. Some follow-through buying, leading to a subsequent strength beyond the 144.65 horizontal hurdle, should allow spot prices to reclaim the 145.00 psychological mark.

On the flip side, the 143.40-143.35 area could offer some support ahead of the 143.00 round figure and the overnight swing low, around the 142.70-142.65 region. Failure to defend the said support levels will reaffirm the near-term negative bias and make the USD/JPY pair vulnerable to accelerate the fall toward the May monthly swing low, around the 142.15-142.10 region. The downward trajectory could extend further towards testing sub-141.00 levels in the near term.

Japanese Yen FAQs

The Japanese Yen (JPY) is one of the world’s most traded currencies. Its value is broadly determined by the performance of the Japanese economy, but more specifically by the Bank of Japan’s policy, the differential between Japanese and US bond yields, or risk sentiment among traders, among other factors.

One of the Bank of Japan’s mandates is currency control, so its moves are key for the Yen. The BoJ has directly intervened in currency markets sometimes, generally to lower the value of the Yen, although it refrains from doing it often due to political concerns of its main trading partners. The BoJ ultra-loose monetary policy between 2013 and 2024 caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks. More recently, the gradually unwinding of this ultra-loose policy has given some support to the Yen.

Over the last decade, the BoJ’s stance of sticking to ultra-loose monetary policy has led to a widening policy divergence with other central banks, particularly with the US Federal Reserve. This supported a widening of the differential between the 10-year US and Japanese bonds, which favored the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen. The BoJ decision in 2024 to gradually abandon the ultra-loose policy, coupled with interest-rate cuts in other major central banks, is narrowing this differential.

The Japanese Yen is often seen as a safe-haven investment. This means that in times of market stress, investors are more likely to put their money in the Japanese currency due to its supposed reliability and stability. Turbulent times are likely to strengthen the Yen’s value against other currencies seen as more risky to invest in.
Continue Reading
July 2, 2025
Distrust in AI is on the rise – but along with healthy scepticism comes the risk of harm

Some video game players recently criticised the cover art on a new video game for being generated with artificial intelligence (AI). Yet the cover art for Little Droid, which also featured in the game’s launch trailer on YouTube, was not concocted by AI. It was, the developers claim, carefully designed by a human artist.

Surprised by the attacks on “AI slop”, the studio Stamina Zero posted a video showing earlier versions of the artist’s handiwork. But while some accepted this evidence, others remained sceptical.

In addition, several players felt that even if the Little Droid cover art was human made, it nonetheless resembled AI-generated work.

However, some art is deliberately designed to have the futuristic glossy appearance associated with image generators like Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion.

Stamina Zero published a video showing the steps the artist took to create the cover art.

It’s becoming increasingly easy for images, videos or audio made with AI to be deceptively passed off as authentic or human made. The twist in cases like Little Droid is that what is human or “real” may be incorrectly perceived as machine generated – resulting in misplaced backlash.

Such cases highlight the increasing problem of the balance of trust and distrust in the generative AI era. In this new world, both cynicism and gullibility about what we encounter online are potential problems – and can lead to harm.

Wrongful accusations

This issue extends well beyond gaming. There are growing criticisms of AI being used to generate and publish music on platforms like Spotify.

Yet as a result, some indie music artists have been wrongfully accused of generating AI music, resulting in damage to their burgeoning careers as musicians.

In 2023, an Australian photographer was wrongly disqualified from a photo contest due to the erroneous judgement her entry was produced by artificial intelligence.

Writers, including students submitting essays, can also be falsely accused of sneakily using AI. Currently available AI detection tools are far from foolproof – and some argue they may never be entirely reliable.

Recent discussions have drawn attention to common characteristics of AI writing, including the em dash – which, as authors, we often employ ourselves.

Given that text from systems like ChatGPT has characteristic features, writers face a difficult decision: should they continue writing in their own style and risk being accused of using AI, or should they try to write differently?

Read more:
Google’s SynthID is the latest tool for catching AI-made content. What is AI ‘watermarking’ and does it work?

The delicate balance of trust and distrust

Graphic designers, voice actors and many others are rightly worried about AI replacing them. They are also understandably concerned about tech companies using their labour to train AI models without consent, credit or compensation.

There are further ethical concerns that AI-generated images threaten Indigenous inclusion by erasing cultural nuances and challenging Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights.

At the same time, the cases above illustrate the risks of rejecting authentic human effort and creativity due to a false belief it is AI. This too can be unfair. People wrongly accused of using AI can suffer emotional, financial and reputational harm.

On the one hand, being fooled that AI content is authentic is a problem. Consider deepfakes, bogus videos and false images of politicians or celebrities. AI content purporting to be real can be linked to scams and dangerous misinformation.

On the other hand, mistakenly distrusting authentic content is also a problem. For example, rejecting the authenticity of a video of war crimes or hate speech by politicians – based on the mistaken or deliberate belief that the content was AI generated – can lead to great harm and injustice.

Unfortunately, the growth of dubious content allows unscrupulous individuals to claim that video, audio or images exposing real wrongdoing are fake.

As distrust increases, democracy and social cohesion may begin to fray. Given the potential consequences, we must be wary of excessive scepticism about the origin or provenance of online content.

A path forward

AI is a cultural and social technology. It mediates and shapes our relationships with one another, and has potentially transformational effects on how we learn and share information.

The fact that AI is challenging our trust relationships with companies, content and each other is not surprising. And people are not always to blame when they are fooled by AI-manufactured material. Such outputs are increasingly realistic.

Furthermore, the responsibility to avoid deception should not fall entirely on internet users and the public. Digital platforms, AI developers, tech companies and producers of AI material should be held accountable through regulation and transparency requirements around AI use.

Even so, internet users will still need to adapt. The need to exercise a balanced and fair sense of scepticism toward online material is becoming more urgent.

This means adopting the right level of trust and distrust in digital environments.

The philosopher Aristotle spoke of practical wisdom. Through experience, education and practice, a practically wise person develops skills to judge well in life. Because they tend to avoid poor judgement, including excessive scepticism and naivete, the practically wise person is better able to flourish and do well by others.

We need to hold tech companies and platforms to account for harm and deception caused by AI. We also need to educate ourselves, our communities, and the next generation to judge well and develop some practical wisdom in a world awash with AI content.

Continue Reading

July 2, 2025
Blood Test May Flag Early Heart Transplant Rejection

Photo Credit: iStock.com/KS Kim

Research shows that small extracellular vesicles shed by donor heart cells and circulating T cells provide a precise readout of heart transplant rejection.

Although routine endomyocardial biopsy remains the gold standard for grading acute cellular rejection (ACR) after heart transplantation, new research published in Transplantation has shown that small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) shed by donor heart cells and circulating T cells provide a precise, minimally invasive readout of rejection.

“T cells are constantly surveilling their environment, looking for infections and other things that are ‘non-self,’” explained study principal investigator Prashanth Vallabhajosyula, MD, MPH, of Yale School of Medicine, in a news release. “They see the transplanted heart as non-self, so they mount an attack.”

Distinct Molecular Shifts Signal Danger

In a longitudinal pilot study, the researchers collected 70 paired blood samples and biopsies from 12 recipients during the first 120 postoperative days. They isolated donor-derived sEVs with anti-human leukocyte antigens (HLA) I beads and probed for cardiac troponin T (cTnT) protein and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), while anti-cluster of differentiation 3 beads captured T-cell sEVs enriched for cluster of differentiation 4, cluster of differentiation 8, T-cell receptor proteins, and microRNAs (mRNAs) let-7i, 101b, and 21a.

According to study results, eleven episodes of moderate ACR occurred in six patients (incidence 15.7%). Compared with grade 0/1 biopsies, donor-heart sEV cTnT protein and mRNA fell markedly (P<0.001), whereas T-cell sEV protein and miRNA cargoes rose (all P<0.001). These shifts were detectable as early as day 5 post-transplant; ten of the eleven episodes presented within 38 days, a timeframe in which commercial blood tests typically fail, according to the authors.

Monitoring Treatment Success

By escalating immunosuppression, the researchers reversed both clinical rejection and sEV signatures. Donor-heart cTnT mRNA and miR-21a tracked treatment response with Spearman coefficients of 0.87 and 0.85, respectively.

“Not only can we detect rejection, but our investigation also suggests that we can use our exosome platform to potentially monitor the efficacy of treatment of rejection,” Vallabhajosyula stated. The authors noted that the platform also identified one case of antibody-mediated rejection by analyzing B-cell sEVs, highlighting its versatility.

Toward Safer Transplant Care

“This is the first time that we’ve had a noninvasive method to delineate between the different types of rejection that may occur within the heart,” noted study co-author Sounok Sen, MD, of Yale School of Medicine.

According to the researchers, a larger validation study involving more than 100 patients is underway to refine diagnostic thresholds and assess long-term prognostic value. They noted that, if confirmed, sEV profiling could significantly reduce the need for repeat biopsies, lower procedural complications, and enable clinicians to adjust therapy earlier, ultimately improving outcomes for heart transplant recipients.

Continue Reading

July 2, 2025
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS RE-SIGN 17-YEAR NBA VETERAN ERIC GORDON – NBA
1. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS RE-SIGN 17-YEAR NBA VETERAN ERIC GORDON NBA
2. Gordon, Sixers have mutual interest in return after veteran guard declines option NBC Sports Philadelphia
3. Eric Gordon Declines Player Option: Potential Houston Rockets Reunion? Sports Illustrated
4. Sources: 76ers’ Gordon opts out, hits free agency ESPN
5. Why is it a real possibility that Eric Gordon returns to the Sixers? Yahoo Sports
Continue Reading
July 2, 2025
Association Between Dietary Habits and Depressive Symptoms in University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study Using the Japanese Version of the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-J)

Specialty

Continue Reading

July 2, 2025
ESET Threat Report H1 2025: Key findings

ESET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe reviews some of the report’s standout findings and their implications for organizations in 2025 and beyond

01 Jul 2025

The ESET research team has released the H1 2025 issue of the ESET Threat Report, offering a detailed look at the key trends and developments that defined the cyberthreat landscape from December 2024 through May 2025.

Among other things, the report describes how a novel social engineering technique called ClickFix has taken the threat landscape by storm, with detections of this threat soaring more than five-fold in H1 2025 compared to the second half of 2024. Android adware detections, for their part, jumped by 160%, mainly on the back of new evil twin fraud and the rise of potentially unwanted apps (PUAs). Meanwhile the number of both ransomware attacks and gangs has also been growing, although the total value of payments trended in the opposite direction.

Watch the video with SET Chief Security Evangelist Tony Anscombe to learn more and make sure to check out the report itself, including to learn which categories of threats surged and which trended down – and what it all means for your cybersecurity in 2025 and beyond.

Connect with us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Continue Reading

July 2, 2025
Epidemiological Update – Measles in the Americas Region – 1 July 2025 – PAHO/WHO

In 2025, between epidemiological week (EW) 1 and EW 24, in the Americas Region, 7,132 measles cases have been confirmed, including 13 deaths, in Argentina (n= 34), Belize (n= 34), the Plurinational State of Bolivia (n= 60), Brazil (n= 5), Canada (n= 3,170, including one death),2 Costa Rica (n= 1 case), Mexico (n= 2,597 cases, including nine deaths), Peru (n= 4 cases), and the United States of America (n= 1,227, including three deaths).

According to the information available from confirmed cases, the age group with the highest proportion of cases corresponds to the 10-19 years old group (24%), the 1-4 year old group (22%), and the 20-29 year old group (19%).

Continue Reading

July 2, 2025
Justice Shah questions president’s role

Listen to article

ISLAMABAD:

Despite the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approving, by a slim margin of one vote, the nomination of Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar as the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) chief justice, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah has raised serious constitutional concerns regarding the president’s determination of judges’ seniority at the IHC.

Sources reveal that one day before the JCP meeting, Justice Shah addressed a letter to the commission secretary, expressing his reservations over a presidential notification dated June 27, which fixed the seniority of IHC judges.

In the letter, Justice Shah noted: “With due deference, it appears that this action was taken without the constitutionally mandated consultation with the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan and the two respective Chief Justices of the High Courts under Article 200 of the Constitution.”

He said that in his view, the requirement of consultation was a binding constitutional mandate and was not a matter of executive discretion that could be conveniently sidelined.

The unilateral determination made without such consultation may lack legal validity, he pointed out.

He added that while the Supreme Court had directed the president to decide on the seniority of transferred judges, such compliance must still operate within constitutional boundaries.

“The presidential action in question appears to have been taken in undue haste, which raises concerns about the transparency and propriety of the processconcerns that may merit constitutional scrutiny,” he cautioned.

Justice Shah further pointed out that Article 200 of the Constitution contemplates the temporary transfer of judges, not permanent relocation.

“Treating such a transfer as permanent — and accordingly fixing seniority on that basis — could raise serious constitutional questions, particularly where the foundational procedural safeguards appear to have been bypassed.”

Calling for institutional caution, Justice Shah stressed that the matters raised in his letter warranted careful reflection before any further steps were taken.

“I wish to emphasise that these are preliminary concerns, and I remain fully respectful of the judicial process and the ultimate authority of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to conclusively settle these matters,” he stated.

He urged the JCP to delay its decision regarding the appointment of the IHC Chief Justice until the Supreme Court resolves the underlying constitutional issues.

“Proceeding further at this stage may risk unsettling foundational constitutional principles, including the rule of law, separation of powers, and judicial independence,” he warned.

Justice Shah also requested that his letter be officially presented before the commission and its contents recorded in the meeting’s minutes.

He clarified that the presidential notification dated June 27, 2025, necessitated the letter, adding: “All observations made in the letter are tentative, offered without prejudice, and subject to the final determination by the Supreme Court on the relevant constitutional issues currently under consideration.”

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi made a concerted effort to garner support for the nomination of Justice Mian Gul Hassan as the IHC Chief Justice. However, his attempt was unsuccessful.

Notably, Justice Aminuddin Khan, a fellow judicial member, cast his vote in favour of Justice Dogar.

Former judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui also strongly endorsed Justice Dogar’s nomination as IHC CJ.

Attention is now turning to when a constitutional bench committee led by Justice Aminuddin Khan will schedule a hearing on the intra-court appeal filed by five IHC judges. The appeal challenges the previous endorsement of the transfer of three judges from different high courts to the Islamabad High Court.

With summer vacations underway, the formation of the bench remains pending. Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail abstained from the voting process.

The final composition of the bench will be critical in determining the fate of the intra-court appeal filed by the five IHC judges.

Justice Shah is currently out of the country.

Continue Reading

July 2, 2025
Zapping Volunteers’ Brains With Electricity Boosted Their Maths Skills : ScienceAlert

Struggle with math? A gentle jolt to the brain might help.

A new study published Tuesday in PLOS Biology suggests that mild electrical stimulation can boost arithmetic performance – and offers fresh insight into the brain mechanisms behind mathematical ability, along with a potential way to optimize learning.

The findings could eventually help narrow cognitive gaps and help build a more intellectually equitable society, the authors argue.

“Different people have different brains, and their brains control a lot in their life,” said Roi Cohen Kadosh, a neuroscientist at the University of Surrey who led the research.

“We think about the environment – if you go to the right school, if you have the right teacher – but it’s also our biology.”

Cohen Kadosh and colleagues recruited 72 University of Oxford students, scanning their brains to measure connectivity between three key regions.

Related: Chewing Wood Could Give Your Brain an Unexpected Boost

Participants then tackled math problems that required either calculating answers or recalling memorized solutions.

Participants calculated mathematical problems while having their brains scanned. (pixelshot/Canva)

They found that stronger connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which governs executive function, and the posterior parietal cortex, involved in memory, predicted better calculation performance.

When the researchers applied a painless form of brain stimulation using electrode-fitted caps – a technique known as transcranial random noise stimulation – the low performers saw their scores jump by 25–29 percent.

The team believes the stimulation works by enhancing the excitability of neurons and interacting with GABA, a brain chemical that inhibits excessive activity – effectively compensating for weak neural connectivity in some participants.

In fact, the stimulation helped underperformers reach or even surpass the scores of peers with naturally stronger brain wiring. But those who already performed well saw no benefit.

“Some people struggle with things, and if we can help their brain to fulfill their potential, we open them a lot of opportunities that otherwise would be closed,” said Cohen Kadosh, calling it an “exciting time” for the field of brain stimulation research.

Still, he flagged a key ethical concern: the risk that such technologies could become more available to those with financial means, widening – rather than closing – access gaps.

He also urged the public not to try this at home. “Some people struggle with learning, and if our research proves successful beyond the lab, we could help them fulfil their ambitions and unlock opportunities that might otherwise remain out of reach.”

© Agence France-Presse

Continue Reading

July 2, 2025
MHI Receives Order to Supply Four Circulating Water Pumps for Units 5 and 6 of Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in China Under Collaboration with Dongfang Electric Machinery

Signing ceremony for cooperation agreement

Tokyo, July 2, 2025 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has received an order for the supply of four circulating water pumps (CWP) for Units 5 and 6 of the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in China, in collaboration with Dongfang Electric Machinery Co., Ltd. (Head office: Deyang, Sichuan Province, “DFEM”), a core company of the Dongfang Electric Group, one of China’s three major heavy electrical equipment manufacturers. DFEM and MHI are advancing collaboration to expand the business of nuclear power plants in China, and this order is an example of MHI Group’s partnering efforts. MHI will continue to build strategic partnerships globally to incorporate external expertise through partnering efforts and deliver its technologies, products and services to a wider range of customers.

The Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant is located in Sanmen County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province in southeastern China. Construction of the newly ordered Units 5 and 6 will follow Units 1 and 2 that are in operation and Units 3 and 4 that are under construction. The reactor type for these units will be the Hualong One / HPR1000, a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) with a capacity of 1215 MWe.

This contract marks the first order received under the collaboration between DFEM and MHI, and both parties aim to expand their business in the field of circulating water pumps for nuclear power plants in China.

Circulating water pumps are used in the condensate systems, which cool the steam discharged from the turbine in the secondary system of PWRs and returns the steam to water. To cool the steam, circulating water pumps need to draw a large volume of water from the water source and supply it to the condenser, which requires a very large-sized pump. MHI has a proven track record of supplying over 500 CWPs to the market.

MHI will continue contributing to greater energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact across a wide range of countries and regions through valuable proposals for the energy market.

For more information about DFEM, please visit https://dfem.dongfang.com/

Continue Reading

July 2, 2025