Rush Hour: 9 dead in bridge collapse, Trump says BRICS was set up to ‘degenerate our dollar' & more
Nine persons died and six were injured as several vehicles fell into the Mahisagar river as a bridge collapsed in Gujarat's Vadodara district on Wednesday. The incident took place at about 7.30 am when a slab between two piers of the 900-metre Gambhira bridge collapsed. The structure connected Vadodara and Anand districts.
The bridge was inaugurated in 1985. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said that the road construction department had been ordered to immediately investigate the accident. Read on
Two Indian Air Force pilots have died after a Jaguar fighter jet crashed near Rajasthan's Churu. The two-seater Jaguar trainer aircraft was on a routine training mission, said the Air Force.
It also stated that no damage to civilian property had been reported. A court of inquiry has been constituted to ascertain the cause of the accident.
This is the third SEPECAT Jaguar jet to crash this year.
The Supreme Court has refused to urgently hear a petition seeking to stop the release of the Hindi film Udaipur Files. The film, which is scheduled to release in theatres on Friday, is reportedly based on the 2022 killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal.
The writ petition was filed by Mohammed Javed, one of the eight persons accused in the murder case. Javed argued that the release of the film would violate his right to a fair trial. The petitioner has argued that the film, based on its trailer, appeared to be communally provocative.
In June 2022, Lal, a tailor, was killed in Rajasthan's Udaipur for purportedly sharing a social media post in support of suspended Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma. She had made disparaging remarks about Prophet Muhammad during a television debate in May 2022. Read on
United States President Donald Trump has said that a 10% tariff on imports from countries that are part of the BRICS grouping will be introduced 'pretty soon'. The comment followed Trump's warning to countries on Sunday against aligning with the 'anti-American policies' of the BRICS.
Without offering evidence, Trump also accused BRICS of trying to weaken the US and undermine the dollar's position as the global reserve currency. 'BRICS was set up to degenerate our dollar and take our dollar...take it off as the standard,' he said. 'And that's okay if they want to play that game, but I can play that game too.'
The BRICS grouping comprises India, Brazil, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Washington views the group as attempting to become an economic counterweight to the US. Read on
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Business Standard
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125 immigrant billionaires now hold $1.3 trillion of America's wealth
Immigrants aren't just cheap labour — they help make America wealthier. The 2025 Forbes list of foreign-born billionaires living in the US, along with Meta's newly announced Superintelligence Lab run entirely by immigrant researchers, reflects how central immigrants have become to the country's growth — economically and technologically. A record 125 foreign-born American citizens now appear on Forbes' annual list of billionaires residing in the US, up from 92 in 2022. Together, they account for 14 per cent of America's nearly 900 billionaires and hold $1.3 trillion in combined wealth — around 18 per cent of the country's total billionaire fortune. Among the top 10 richest Americans, three are immigrants. The world's wealthiest person, Elon Musk, was born in South Africa and moved to the US via Canada as a student. He is now worth $393.1 billion. Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who came to the US from Russia as a child, follows with a net worth of $139.7 billion. Nvidia's Jensen Huang, born in Taiwan and sent to the US as a child during political unrest in Thailand, is worth $137.9 billion. These 125 billionaire immigrants hail from 43 countries, but most were born in just a handful of places. • Indian-origin immigrants leads with 12 billionaires, up from 7 in 2022 • Taiwan and Israel follow closely with 11 each • Canada (9), China (8), and Germany and Iran (6 each) also feature prominently Among the new entrants are AMD CEO Lisa Su, cousin of Nvidia's Huang, and Iranian-born biotech leader Maky Zanganeh, now co-CEO of Summit Therapeutics. 'Being an immigrant is about seeking the best opportunities and learning to adapt to new environments,' Forbes quoted Zanganeh, whose firm's lung cancer drug candidate helped push her into the billionaire bracket. Indians added five new immigrant billionaires this year — more than any other country. Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and Nikesh Arora are now part of this cohort, joining other US-based billionaires like Jay Chaudhry, Vinod Khosla, and Romesh Wadhwani. Most are self-made, and many came for education While over a quarter of US billionaires inherited their wealth, 93 per cent of immigrant billionaires built it themselves. Nearly two-thirds made their fortune in tech (53 people) or finance (28 people). Many came to the US for higher education and stayed on. According to Forbes, Musk arrived to study at the University of Pennsylvania. Jay Chaudhry, now worth $17.9 billion, flew from India to the University of Cincinnati in 1980 having never been on a plane. Shahid Khan, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, arrived at 16 to study in Illinois and washed dishes for $1.20 an hour his first day. Immigrants leading Meta's AI lab Beyond billionaires, immigrants are also behind some of the most cutting-edge innovation in the US today. Meta's newly launched Superintelligence Lab, tasked with building next-generation AI systems, is staffed entirely by immigrant researchers. The 11-member team includes talent from India, China, the UK, South Africa, and Australia — all with advanced US university degrees and work histories at top AI firms like OpenAI, Google and DeepMind. 'Meta's Superintelligence Lab, led entirely by immigrant researchers, is the practical reality we needed to see,' Praneet Singh, AVP of University Partnership at upGrad's study abroad division told Business Standard. 'AI innovation is truly going borderless and India continues to serve as a strong hub of ready talent.' He added, 'It's quite paradoxical, though — while our talent is ready, mobility remains constrained. Despite policy shifts like STEM OPT extensions and improved green card processing, visa constraints and bureaucratic uncertainties continue to slow down global movement.' This rise in immigrant wealth and innovation comes against the backdrop of tighter immigration scrutiny under the Trump administration, with longer visa processing times and expanded enforcement.
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First Post
10 minutes ago
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Falling producer prices in China, and slowing inflation in SE Asia has a story to tell: Trump is transnational
Trade war between US and China is far from over. AP The latest data from China and Southeast Asia show that prices are rising more slowly, a trend that is growing and going beyond just local economic conditions. Behind the falling prices from producers and weaker consumer inflation, there is a bigger story—one that is increasingly shaped by US President Donald Trump's trade policies. Usually, inflation is driven by local issues and of course, guided by regional supply factors, but what's happening in Asia now seems to be caused by global forces, especially political ones. Trump's protectionist economic policies, like new tariffs, are having an effect far beyond the United States. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China's factory gate prices plunge China's producer price index (PPI) dropped a startling 3.6 per cent year-on-year in June, marking the sharpest contraction in nearly two years. This surpassed economists' expectations and extended a streak of factory-gate deflation to 33 consecutive months. While weak consumer demand and oversupply have played a role, there is a growing recognition that this is not merely a domestic issue. Consumer prices in China (measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) went up slightly by 0.1 per cent in June compared to the same time last year. This small rise marks a technical end to deflation. However, core inflation, which leaves out food and energy prices, is still low at 0.7 per cent. Experts have warned that deflation may not yet be over. The slow recovery in China's property market and the early stages of an 'anti-involution' campaign, which is meant to stop harmful price-cutting between companies, point to this analysis. These price wars, especially in sectors like autos, batteries and solar panels, reflect manufacturers' attempts to offload excess capacity in the face of weakening domestic and foreign demand. With US tariffs squeezing access to North American markets, Chinese firms have increasingly turned to Southeast Asia as an outlet, flooding regional markets with cheap goods. This shift reflects the transnational dimension of the price collapse. Southeast Asia: Collateral damage in the US-China trade crossfire Thailand, often seen as an inflation bellwether in Asean, saw its CPI drop 0.25 per cent in June, its third consecutive month of decline, a report in Nikkei Asia said. Thai officials attribute this to a bountiful agricultural harvest and lower food and energy costs. However, economists warn that Thailand is particularly vulnerable to deflation, given its political uncertainty and stalled tourism recovery, both of which drag on consumer demand. The region's fragility is being compounded by surging imports of cheap Chinese goods. In her view, Thailand, with its heavy reliance on Chinese tourism and weak domestic spending, is highly exposed to imported deflation. This vulnerability is mirrored across the region. Singapore's headline inflation dropped to 0.8 per cent in June, the lowest since the pandemic, while Malaysia's eased to a four-year low of 1.2 per cent in May. Importantly, these developments are not simply cyclical. China, once a net importer from Asean, has become a major net exporter to the Asean-5, especially in consumer electronics and manufactured goods. This shift is largely a byproduct of US-China trade frictions. Trump's tariffs: Economic contagion in policy form The root of these distortions, increasingly, can be traced back to Washington. Trump's return to aggressive tariff measures, particularly on Chinese and Japanese goods, has upended trade flows. In an effort to bypass US tariffs, Chinese producers have rerouted goods to friendlier Southeast Asian markets, effectively exporting deflation. In this way, Trump's economic interventions, though framed as domestic protectionism, have created ripple effects that stretch across Asia. This isn't the usual effect of US Federal Reserve policies or changes in capital flows. Instead, it's a price disruption caused by government policies in the US spreading through trade to affect both industrial and consumer sectors in Asia. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Japan: A mirror and a warning Even Japan, which has stronger institutions and is trying to move away from more than ten years of very loose monetary policy, is also being affected. Core consumer inflation in Japan is still high at 3.7per cent, but wholesale inflation has dropped for the third month in a row in June, which could mean prices may start falling soon. The Bank of Japan has already raised interest rates earlier this year, but now it faces a tough choice whether to raise rates again, even as trade weakens or change course to support falling demand from other countries. Beyond trade: A struggle for market share Underlying this entire narrative is a transnational price war, one in which China and Southeast Asian nations are locked in a contest for consumer markets that are shrinking due to political walls. Chinese firms, pressured by overcapacity and dulled by domestic demand fatigue, are selling into Southeast Asia at cut-rate prices, pushing regional producers to either lower their prices or surrender market share. Beijing, recognising the damage, has pledged to regulate excessive price-cutting. Yet, without strong stimulus, China may remain trapped in a deflationary spiral and exports, particularly to Asean will remain Beijing's best short-term outlet. Inflation no longer stays local Traditionally, inflation and deflation were seen as primarily domestic phenomena, shaped by local monetary policy, supply constraints or fiscal measures. But what Asia is experiencing now is different. The Trump administration's trade war has turned inflation into a transnational variable, transmitted through trade flows, consumer expectations and price competition. In this situation, policy decisions in Washington, once considered remote, have direct effects on food prices in Thailand, electronics prices in Malaysia and export strategy in Guangdong. Trump, in his bid to revive US industry, has inadvertently reshaped the inflation dynamics of half the globe. Inflation has gone global in a new way. It is no longer driven purely by monetary forces, but by political choices, chief among them the Trump administration's protectionist agenda. The rise of a transnational Trump effect is not just visible in trade data or diplomatic tension, it is embedded in the price tags of goods across Asia. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
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12 minutes ago
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Try Hitting Ambani, SBI Chief, Mahim Muslims: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey Dares MNS Over Marathi Row
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