September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
BRICS adopts New Delhi declaration on trade and Middle East restraint
BRICS leaders meeting in New Delhi have unanimously adopted a joint declaration addressing global trade, energy flows, and rising geopolitical tensions. Despite differing foreign policy priorities and the ongoing Gulf war dividing the group, the expanded bloc called for maximum restraint in the Middle East and discussed non-Western payment systems.
CFTC finalizes 30 per cent presumption for whistleblower awards of 5 million dollars or less
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved a final rule establishing a 30 per cent presumption for whistleblower awards of 5 million dollars or less. While the commission retains discretion to lower the rate based on specific factors, the measure aims to make claim reviews more predictable and align CFTC practices with those of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Childhood protein signatures track adult cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic outcomes
Researchers derived blood-protein patterns associated with 25 cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic traits in 273 children and adolescents. The signatures tracked disease-related outcomes in 685 adults from the same community and 28,256 UK Biobank adults. The Nature Metabolism study reports observational associations; it does not provide a ready screening test for an individual child's future disease or establish which proteins are causal.
Chronic loneliness is linked to worse results across 17 health outcomes in older adults
A longitudinal study of 4,090 older adults in England links persistent loneliness and social isolation to worse trajectories across physical, mental, and cognitive health. The research tracked 17 outcomes over time, revealing that chronic loneliness strongly associates with poorer general health and unhealthy behaviors, while social isolation primarily impacts quality of life, mapping the distinct health patterns of social deficits without establishing direct causation.
CIA releases presidential briefs from before September 11
The US Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, released dozens of presidential briefs on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. They contain assessments about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida delivered to Washington before the attacks. The archive runs from February 1998 to the following day after the attacks. Some identifying information remains redacted, limiting what readers can establish from the documents.
Co-designing muscle and scaffold increased biorobot motion elevenfold
ETH Zurich researchers modeled and optimized skeletal muscle tissue and a microgrooved hydrogel scaffold as one system. The centimeter-scale bioactuators increased range of motion by as much as elevenfold compared with earlier designs using similar muscle volume. In the Nature Communications study, the actuators powered robots that jumped, swam, walked and gripped; these are laboratory prototypes, not ready medical or commercial products.
Court penalises Invesco Alpha and bars another exempt-adviser filing
A Colorado federal court set a 1,182,254 dollar civil penalty for unsupported statements in Invesco Alpha’s June 2024 Form ADV. It also permanently barred another filing under the exempt-reporting category and imposed an injunction covering the relevant recordkeeping and filing provisions.
France investigates possible sabotage after train derailment injures 44
A regional train traveling between Rouen and Caen derailed near Cleon on Friday evening with 186 passengers aboard, leaving 44 people injured. One passenger, an 18-year-old woman, is in critical condition. Authorities discovered a piece of rail on the track, prompting investigators to treat sabotage as a primary line of inquiry, though no suspects or organized groups have yet been named.
Global study of 80,000 catchments reveals complex rainfall-to-runoff behaviour is the norm
A new globally scalable framework applied to over 80,000 catchments shows that the conversion of rainfall into runoff is highly complex for the vast majority of the world's streams. By classifying these systems into functional types, researchers found that agricultural and urban land cover is associated with increased complexity.
Gold and US stocks rebound as markets price a 90% chance of a Fed rate hike
Spot gold climbed 1.6 per cent to 4,385.14 dollars an ounce and the S&P 500 snapped a four-day slide to gain 0.86 per cent, as investors absorbed higher-than-expected August inflation data. Futures markets lifted the priced probability of a Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate increase at the upcoming policy meeting to approximately 90 per cent, stabilizing equities and driving broad recoveries across precious metals.