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Five-day deluge unleashed flash floods and landslides that killed 18 and left nine others missing, authorities say.

Torrential rains that lashed South Korea have killed at least 18 people and left nine others missing, authorities said, as the government lifted advisories for heavy rain and the meteorological agency warned of a return of heatwaves to southern parts of the country.

The toll on Monday came as South Korea’s military also announced dispatching thousands of troops to rain-ravaged areas to assist in recovery efforts.

The downpours began on July 16 and brought some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record to some of South Korea’s central and southern provinces. The five-day deluge collapsed homes, triggered landslides and unleashed flash floods that swept away cars and campers.

At least 10 people were killed in the southern county of Sancheong, and four others remain missing there, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Another person was killed when their house collapsed in the town of Gapyeong, northeast of the capital, Seoul, while a man who had been camping near a stream there was found dead after being swept away by rapid currents.

The man’s wife and teenage son remain missing, the South Korean JoongAng Daily reported. Two others, including a man in his 70s who had been buried in a landslide, were listed as missing in the same town.

The rains also forced some 14,166 people to evacuate their homes in 15 cities and provinces, and caused “extensive property damage”, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The agency said 1,999 cases of damage had been recorded at public facilities, and 2,238 cases were recorded at private homes and buildings.

South Korea’s military said it has dispatched some 2,500 personnel to the southwestern city of Gwangju as well as the South Chungcheong and South Gyeongsang provinces to assist in the recovery efforts.

The troops will be overhauling homes and stores affected by the rains, it said.

Hannah June Kim, an associate professor in the Graduate School of International Studies at Sogang University in Seoul, told Al Jazeera that “a lot of people were taken off guard” because monsoonal rains came later than expected this year.

“The expectation was that monsoons would not be appearing during this summer,” she said. “So, when this heavy rain started to fall this past week, a lot of local areas were unprepared.”

“We are seeing the heavy effects of climate change and how it’s affecting different areas,” she added.

South Korea’s Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast more rainfall in the southern regions on Monday but said that a heatwave would follow. According to the JoongAng Daily, heatwave advisories and warnings have already been issued for parts of South Jeolla, the east coast of Gangwon and Jeju Island.

“From July 24 onward, morning lows will remain between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius [73.4F to 78.8F], and daytime highs will range from 30 to 35 degrees Celsius [86F to 95F], higher than the seasonal averages of 22 to 25 degrees Celsius [71.6F to 77F] in the morning and 29 to 33 degrees Celsius [84.2F to 91.4F] during the day,” it reported, citing the KMA.

Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.

In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.

They included three people who died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment of the kind that became internationally known because of the Oscar-winning Korean film Parasite.

The government said at the time that the rainfall was the heaviest since records began, blaming climate change for the extreme weather.

July 17 (UPI) — Foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean rose 7.1% in 2024, reaching nearly $189 billion, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean reported Thursday.

The increase came despite global economic uncertainty and an overall decline in investment flows worldwide.

Brazil and Mexico accounted for 61% of the total, helping offset declines in Colombia, Chile and Argentina. Investment also rose in Central America and the Caribbean, particularly in the manufacturing and communications sectors.

“Much of the increase is due to reinvested earnings from companies already operating in the region rather than new capital inflows,” said José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, a Costa Rican economist and public policy expert.

Equity contributions — the component that reflects new investments — are at their second-lowest level since 2010.

Globally, foreign direct investment dropped 11% in 2024 when excluding transactions in European financial centers, a decline attributed to rising geopolitical tensions, trade disputes and the restructuring of global value chains.

“Higher levels of conflict and heightened uncertainty are holding back investment decisions worldwide or at least are a deterrent,” said Salazar-Xirinachs, who is executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Despite the global slowdown, announced foreign direct investment projects in the region surged 40% to a record $168 billion, driven by major hydrocarbon developments in Argentina, Mexico and Guyana. These included liquefied natural gas and oil megaprojects.

Unlike global trends, which prioritize renewable energy and semiconductors, Latin America’s investment announcements were dominated by fossil fuels. Renewable energy projects ranked second, but their value declined 13% from the previous year.

Marco Llinás Vargas of the economic commission noted concern over the region’s heavy reliance on extractive industries. He said the drop in technology-intensive investment is troubling and emphasized the need for more diverse and advanced forms of investment that can contribute to long-term productive development.

The report identified critical minerals — such as lithium, copper and rare earth elements — as a strategic opportunity for the region. Chile alone holds more than 30% of the world’s lithium reserves, but production and value-added exports remain limited.

“Reserves don’t automatically translate into production or economic benefit,” said Martín Abeles, head of the commission’s Natural Resources Division. There is a lack of technical, regulatory and institutional capacity to turn potential into performance.

From 2005 to 2024, just 21% of global mining foreign direct investment targeted Latin America. While lithium investments have increased — particularly in Argentina — other minerals have not seen similar momentum.

The United States strengthened its position as the leading investor in the region, accounting for 38% of the investment in 2024. The EU’s share — excluding Luxembourg and the Netherlands — fell to 15% of the regional total, its lowest level since 2012.

Investment from Latin America and the Caribbean made up 12% of foreign direct investment inflows, making it the third-largest source. Chinese investment accounted for just 2% of total inflows in 2024.

Abeles called for stronger policy alignment, citing countries like Australia and Canada that tie investment to local supplier development, technology transfer and environmental governance.

Digital transformation was also highlighted as a crucial development path. While foreign investment in telecommunications and data centers has grown, the region attracts only 7% of global digital investment.

Foreign direct investment can be a catalyst for digital transformation, Salazar-Xirinachs said, but only if matched by absorptive capacity and infrastructure.

Brazil and Mexico led the region in digital investment, followed by Argentina, Chile and Colombia. The commission recommended improving institutional coordination and investing in digital workforce development.

Despite progress, the report noted that Latin America and the Caribbean continue to face persistent challenges in attracting new investors.

The commission urged governments to treat foreign direct investment as part of broader productive development strategies. The report outlines 10 policy guidelines aimed at strengthening technical, operational, political and strategic capacities to attract and retain high-impact investment.

Attracting foreign investment must go hand-in-hand with broader development policies, Salazar-Xirinachs said. It’s not just about the amount of investment, but its quality and impact.

A record high of 79 percent of US respondents in a Gallup survey say immigration is a ‘good thing’ for the country.

A new poll shows support for immigration in the United States has increased since last year, while backing for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants has gone down.

The survey, released on Friday from the research firm Gallup, suggests a shift in public opinion as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown concludes its sixth month.

Gallup found that 79 percent of respondents say immigration is a “good thing” for the country — a record high that represents a 15-point increase from last year.

Among supporters of Trump’s Republican Party, the number rose sharply to 64 percent, up from 39 percent in 2024.

Only 38 percent of respondents said they back “deporting all immigrants who are living in the United States illegally back to their home country”, down from 47 percent last year.

Support for expanding the US-Mexico border wall also went down to 45 percent, a drop of eight percentage points. The survey, conducted in June, featured interviews with 1,402 US adults.

“Americans have grown markedly more positive toward immigration over the past year, with the share wanting immigration reduced dropping from 55 percent in 2024 to 30 percent today,” Gallup said.

Trump made mass deportations a key promise of his 2024 re-election campaign, often using language to demonise migrants, including by using a poem to compare them to poisonous snakes.

He seized on the public concern over the uptick in the number of undocumented immigrants who crossed into the US from Mexico in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, under Democratic President Joe Biden.

Since returning to the White House in January, he has launched an all-out campaign on immigration, including by gutting the refugee resettlement programme, unleashing agents to round up undocumented migrants and sending suspected gang members to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador without due process.

The Trump administration also ended protected status for nationals of several countries, including Venezuela and Haiti, who had been shielded from deportation due to dangerous conditions in their homelands.

Meanwhile, it has been pushing to remove foreign students critical of Israel from the US.

But while the crossings have sharply decreased this year, it appears that the US public may have soured on the anti-immigration campaign.

“With illegal border crossings down sharply this year, fewer Americans than in June 2024 back hard-line border enforcement measures, while more favor offering pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the US,” Gallup said.

Trump’s immigration policies have sparked outrage and lawsuits, as well as accusations of executive overreach and violations of the US Constitution.

A majority of respondents in the Gallup survey — 62 percent — said they disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, while 36 percent said they approve.

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, described the findings of the survey as an “absolute bloodbath” for Trump.

“Support for cuts to immigration has plummeted 25 points since last year,” he wrote in a social media post. “Deporting ‘all illegal immigrants’ has gone back to a right-wing only view.”

More than 160 people remain unaccounted for after devastating floods in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott announced, marking a dramatic increase in the number of missing from a disaster that has already killed 109 people.

Four days after flash floods ravaged several Texas counties, some striking while residents slept, hopes of finding survivors by Tuesday have dwindled – and Abbott warned that the number of missing people could still rise further.

“Just in the Kerr County area alone, there are 161 people who are known to be missing,” he told reporters on Tuesday as the grim search continued.

“There very likely could be more added to that list,” he added, explaining that the figure comes from individuals reported missing by friends, relatives and neighbours.

Kerr County, located in central Texas’s “Flash Flood Alley,” suffered the most catastrophic impact, with at least 94 confirmed deaths.

This toll includes at least 27 girls and counsellors who were staying at a youth summer camp along the Guadalupe River when it overflowed early on Friday morning as the Fourth of July holiday began.

Powerful floodwaters surged through the camp, demolishing cabins while hundreds slept.

As of Tuesday evening, five campers and one counsellor remained missing, according to Abbott, along with another child not associated with the camp.

“There’s nothing more important in our hearts and minds than the people of this community, especially those who are still lost,” Abbott said.

Throughout the rest of the state, at least 15 additional deaths have been recorded, the governor added.

Ben Baker with the Texas game wardens explained that search and rescue operations using helicopters, drones and dogs face tremendous obstacles due to water and mud.

“When we’re trying to make these recoveries, these large piles can be very obstructive, and to get in deep into these piles, it’s very hazardous,” Baker said.

“It’s extremely treacherous, time-consuming. It’s dirty work, the water is still there.”

The death toll from the catastrophic floods that hit the state of Texas in the United States has risen to 82, as the search for the missing continues and officials face questions over a failure to evacuate people in hard-hit Kerr County.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that at least 41 people remain unaccounted for across the southern state, three days after the deluge, and that more could be missing.

He promised authorities will continue to work around the clock to find the missing, and warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more life-threatening flooding.

In Kerr County, Sheriff Larry Leitha said on Sunday that searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, many of whom went missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls.

Leitha said 10 more girls and a counsellor remain missing and pledged to keep searching until “everybody is found”.

President Donald Trump sent his condolences to the victims and said he would probably visit the area on Friday. His administration had been in touch with Abbott, he added.

“It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible. So we say, ‘God bless all of the people that have gone through so much, and God bless… God bless the state of Texas’,” he told reporters as he left New Jersey.

The flooding occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday.

Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said the destruction killed three people in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County.

Kidd said rescuers were evacuating people from more places along the river, “because we are worried about another wall of river coming down in those areas”, with rain continuing to fall on soil in the region already saturated from Friday’s rains.

Questions over preparedness

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was activated on Sunday and is deploying resources to first responders in Texas after Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said.

US coastguard helicopters and planes were aiding search and rescue efforts.

Freeman Martin, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said on Sunday that he expected to “see the death toll rise today and tomorrow”.

Authorities, meanwhile, have faced growing questions about whether enough warnings were issued in an area long vulnerable to flooding, and whether enough preparations were made.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from central Texas, said several communities along the Guadalupe River were evacuated after the National Weather Service sent out repeated warnings about the rising water levels, but not those in Kerr County.

“There are still no answers as to why those here weren’t alerted,” he said.

Rattansi said while Trump has activated FEMA assistance for Texas, the president had “made it clear in the past that he wants to phase out such aid, even once saying that if a state governor needs to ask for federal emergency help, perhaps they’re not up to the job”.

Trump, when asked by reporters whether he was still planning to phase out FEMA, said that it was something “we can talk about later, but right now, we are busy working”.

Rattansi also said that the Trump administration is phasing out “research and analysis of the changing climate because it feels it’s politicised and divisive”, even though “it’s exactly that sort of analysis that led to the warnings from the National Weather Service to municipal authorities to evacuate residents up and down the Guadalupe River”.

“Climate scientists have long warned that warmer air will hold more moisture and result in ever more intense storms,” he said. “Yet just as their predictions are being realised, federal resources to predict, mitigate and manage extreme weather events are at risk as never before.”

Rick Spinrad, a former director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Al Jazeera that less research will lead to less accurate predictions, making it harder for people to prepare.

“Without research, without staff to do the work, we can assume that the predictions, [for] hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, wildfires, tsunamis, for that matter, are undoubtedly going to degrade, and that means that people’s ability to prepare for these storms will be compromised,” Spinrad said.

In February, the Trump administration announced cuts affecting the jobs of hundreds of staff at NOAA, including meteorologists at the National Weather Service.

Abbott, the Texas governor, declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.

“I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday – for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,” he said in a statement.

In Rome, Pope Leo XIV also offered special prayers for those affected by the disaster.

“I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.”

Authorities in US state face questions about whether they issued proper warnings in advance of rain-fuelled flooding.

Rescuers in the US state of Texas are scrambling to locate more than two dozen children still missing from a Christian summer camp after a powerful storm caused flash floods that authorities say have killed at least 27 people.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters on Saturday that the death toll included nine children.

Leitha said around 800 people had been evacuated from the region, about 137km (85 miles) northwest of San Antonio, as flood waters receded on Saturday morning.

Torrential downpour on Friday caused the fast-flowing Guadalupe River to rise nearly nine metres (29 feet) near the Camp Mystic summer camp, where around 750 children were staying.

Twenty-seven attendees were still unaccounted for, according to Dalton Rice, city manager of the nearby town of Kerrville in Kerr County.

The Heart O’ The Hills summer camp, located about 1.6km (1 mile) from Camp Mystic, confirmed on Saturday that its director, Jane Ragsdale, was among the dead.

While the National Weather Service (NWS) said the flash-flood emergency had largely ended for Kerr County – the epicentre of the flooding – it warned of more heavy rain to come, maintaining its flood watch until 7pm local time (00:00 GMT on Sunday).

Rice said that more than 1,000 rescuers were on the ground to help with search-and-rescue efforts. Helicopters and drones were being used, with some people being plucked from trees. US Coast Guard helicopters had flown in to assist.

“They are looking in every possible location,” said Rice, adding that search crews were facing harsh conditions while scouring waterlogged rivers, culverts and rocks.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said that rescue workers had promised to “not give up until the very last person is found – either alive or their body is recovered”.

“That might be a tall order given just how catastrophic these floods were. We’re talking about a region that is dotted with hills and with canyons,” she said.

She added that children in the camps had been particularly vulnerable to the floodwaters, “which rose by eight metres [26 feet] in less than an hour, overnight as they slept”.

Authorities under scutiny

The flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday weekend caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise.

Authorities have come under increasing scrutiny over whether they issued proper warnings and whether enough preparations were made.

State emergency management officials had warned as late as Thursday that west and central Texas faced heavy rains and flash flood threats “over the next couple days”, citing NWS forecasts ahead of the holiday weekend.

The weather forecasts, however, “did not predict the amount of rain that we saw”, W Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said during a news conference on Friday night.

“A lot of questions are being asked about why there weren’t earlier evacuations,” said Al Jazeera’s Zhou-Castro. “They knew there might be rain, they just didn’t know where it would hit, and when it did, it indeed was catastrophic.”

On Saturday morning, US President Donald Trump said the federal government was working with state and local officials to respond to the flooding.

“Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem would soon be on the ground.

The weekend disaster echoes a catastrophic flood almost 40 years ago along the Guadalupe River, where a bus and a van leaving a church camp encountered floodwaters and 10 teenagers drowned trying to escape, according to a NWS summary of the 1987 storm.

Another 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries after the blast and fire at the Sigachi factory.

At least 36 people have been confirmed dead after a powerful explosion triggered a fire at a pharmaceutical factory in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

“The condition of the bodies is such that we’ve had to deploy a specialised medical team to carry out DNA tests,” said Health and Medical Cabinet Minister of Telangana Damodar Raja Narasimha on Tuesday.

A government panel has been formed to investigate the cause of the disaster.

The blast, which erupted on Monday afternoon at a facility run by Sigachi Industries, took place in the plant’s spray dryer unit – a section used to convert raw materials into powder for drug manufacturing. The factory is located roughly 50km (31 miles) from Hyderabad, the state capital.

Authorities recovered 34 bodies from the debris, while two more workers succumbed to injuries in hospital, according to Telangana’s fire services director, GV Narayana Rao.

“The entire structure has collapsed. The fire is under control and we’re continuing to clear the rubble in case more people are trapped,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

Twenty-five of the deceased are yet to be identified, a district administrative official, P Pravinya, said.

About 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries. Police officials said that more than 140 people were working in the plant when the incident occurred.

Local residents reported hearing the blast from several kilometres away.

The incident has raised new concerns about industrial safety in India’s booming pharmaceutical sector. Despite the country’s reputation as a global supplier of low-cost medicines and vaccines, fatal accidents at drug manufacturing units are not rare, particularly in facilities handling chemicals or solvents.

Sigachi Industries, which has its headquarters in India, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and nutrient blends, and operates manufacturing plants across the country. It also runs subsidiaries in the United Arab Emirates and the United States, according to its website.

Officials say rescue and recovery efforts will continue until the entire site has been cleared. The factory’s operations have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

Flash floods and roof collapses over past 36 hours have claimed 19 lives, increasing total toll to 32, authorities say.

Heavy rain and flash flooding across Pakistan have killed 32 people since the start of the monsoon season earlier this week, according to the disaster management officials.

Flash floods and roof collapses over the past 36 hours have claimed the lives of 19 people, eight of them children, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial disaster management authority said in a statement on Saturday.

Of the total deaths, 13 were reported in the Swat Valley.

At least 13 people have been killed in the eastern province of Punjab since Wednesday, the area’s disaster management authority said.

Eight of the deaths were children, who died when walls and roofs collapsed during heavy rain.

Flash flood risk remains

Flooding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also damaged 56 houses, six of which were destroyed, the disaster authority said.

The national meteorological service warned that the risk of heavy rain and possible flash floods will remain high until at least Tuesday.

Last month, at least 32 people were killed in severe storms in the South Asian nation, which experienced several extreme weather events in the spring, including strong hailstorms.

Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its 240 million inhabitants are facing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.

June 27 (UPI) — The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Friday that core inflation jumped higher than expected last month.

The BEA said in a press release that the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index for May rose 0.1%, and if food and energy are excluded from the data, the index rose 0.2%.

This bumps the annual inflation rate up to 2.3%, or 2.7% when food and energy are left out of the math.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting the 0.1% and 2.3% but only estimated the numbers would hit 0.1% and 2.6% minus energy and food.

“This morning’s news was consistent with other reports showing the economy gradually losing momentum in the second quarter,” said Wells Fargo Investment Institute market strategist Gary Schlossberg to CNBC Friday.

Schlossberg added that this was “ahead of the brunt of tariff increases expected to wash ashore during the summer and early fall.”

The inflationary uptick got its biggest boost from service prices, which are 3.4% higher than a year ago, while goods only moved upwards by 0.1%.

Inflation pressures in May showed a 0.2% price increase in food, but that was balanced by a 1% decline in energy-related goods and services costs. Shelter prices, on the other hand, went up 0.3%.

The BEA also reported Friday that personal income decreased $109.6 billion in May, or 0.4% at a monthly rate. When personal current taxes are subtracted from personal income, the current disposable personal income, or DPI, went down around $125 billion, or 0.6%.

Authorities say that rescue workers continue to search for the missing and assist residents in town outside of Medellin.

At least 11 people have been killed and 15 remain missing after a landslide in the city of Bello in Colombia’s northwest, according to authorities.

Evacuation orders and rescue efforts continue a day after the landslide, with government officials warning that heavy rains pose an ongoing threat to the area around Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city.

“We continue to support emergency and rescue work in Bello, where 11 people have sadly been reported killed, at least 15 are missing, and more than 1,500 people are in shelters,” Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez said in a social media post on Wednesday.

Floodwaters overwhelmed local waterways on Tuesday during the early morning hours while residents were asleep.

A wave of mud surged through Bello, a crowded community in the hills above Medellin, burying about a dozen homes, sweeping away cars and leaving behind piles of debris.

Rescue workers have used dogs, drones and other means to search for the missing. Shelters have been set up in local schools and community centres.

Heavy rains pose especially high risks for makeshift homes built into the hillsides, which can become unstable during periods of sustained rainfall. It is often the country’s poorer residents who live in these danger zones, many of them having fled conflict in Colombia’s rural areas for the relative safety of a city.

The Medellin town hall also issued evacuation orders for Villatina, also on the outskirts of Medellin, on Tuesday, stating that 23 buildings would be demolished due to the risk of possible collapse. The town hall says that the order was based on previous landslides during late May, and that the risk posed by the insecure structures has been aggravated by recent heavy rain.

Around 60 homes were also ordered evacuated in Medellin, which suffered damage during recent storms.

Crypto prices are surging after Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran in the Middle East. Solana is a top gainer with an 8% pump.

It now trades at $145 and appears well on track to take local highs in the days ahead.

However, as the Solana price surges on renewed investor confidence, the newly launched Solana layer 2 blockchain, Solaxy ($SOLX), has gained 60% in the past 24 hours following its DEX launch on Uniswap and Raydium.

According to CoinMarketCap data, presale profit-taking ensued once $SOLX hit the open market on Monday, causing an initial crash to lows of $0.00059. However, the selling has stopped, and bulls have taken charge, with the $SOLX price rallying to a current valuation of $0.0011.

Solaxy is strategically positioned to extend Solana’s ecosystem with layer 2 scaling, removing the network’s long-standing congestion issue and replacing it with blistering speeds, lower fees, and reliability.

Investors looking to capitalize on Solana’s growth appear to be buying Solaxy in order to generate bigger gains. While Solana is worth $76 billion, Solaxy’s market cap is just $124 million, offering huge upside potential, especially since it solves a crucial ecosystem issue.

Solana’s rapid surge as geopolitical tensions soften

Solaxy leads crypto gainers – but there’s room for more big gains

After raising $58 million to become the largest Solana presale in history, Solaxy is living up to expectations on its decentralized exchange (DEX) debut.

With a 60% pump over the past 24 hours, it’s one of the biggest gainers across all altcoins as seen on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.

Furthermore, its trading volume is also surging, having increased from $2 million 16 hours ago to over $6 million at press time.

As word spreads about Solaxy’s exchange listing, new investors are scrambling to buy. It’s important to note that Solaxy currently remains at a substantial discount compared to the price at which several top analysts anticipate it trading this cycle.

Something else worth noting is that Solaxy has locked $1.6 million in liquidity until June 2026. This doesn’t just ensure seamless buying and selling; it reflects Solaxy’s long-term approach and signals that the team isn’t going anywhere.

And the chart is starting to reflect that – $SOLX has broken all key resistance and now has room for an 59% uptick to the next important price point.

Solaxy mainnet launch and “massive exchanges” coming soon

Strap in because Solaxy’s gains may just be getting started.

The project aims to address Solana’s congestion issue by utilizing off-chain computation and transaction bundling technology, validating transactions on its layer 2 in batches and then reporting back to Solana for finality.

Its goal is to achieve 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), which will make it significantly faster than Solana, capable of 6,500 TPS.

The test network is now live, allowing developers to begin building Solaxy apps. The team has confirmed that the main network will go live on July 7. Other key launches include Solaxy’s meme coin launchpad Igniter Protocol and its native DEX Neptoon.

The team has also promised that Solaxy will list on “massive exchanges.” And although they have yet to confirm which ones, its ambitious use case, ties to Solana, and strong DEX debut all indicate that top tier 1 platforms will be interested.

There is no doubt that listings on such exchanges, coupled with the launch of major ecosystem features, will contribute to a strong uptrend continuation for Solaxy in the months ahead.

$SOLX is currently available on the Ethereum and Solana networks, so investors can purchase it from Uniswap or Raydium.

Holders can also transfer their tokens between networks using the Solaxy bridge.

You can also follow the project on X or join its Telegram for the latest news and updates. Alternatively, visit its website to learn more or stake $SOLX.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.

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Investors reacted to US strikes on Iran over the weekend as Iran and Israel continued to trade missile fire on Monday morning.

The price of Brent crude oil rose around 1.53% to $78.19 a barrel as of around 7.15 CEST, while WTI rose 1.48% to $74.93 a barrel.

On Sunday, US forces attacked three Iranian nuclear and military sites, stating that Tehran must not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.

President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian said that the country “will never surrender to bullying and oppression”, while Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.13% to 6,010.25 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 0.2% to 42,431.00. Nasdaq futures fell 0.18% to 21,804.50 on Monday morning.

In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.19% to 38,331.12, the Kospi in Seoul dropped 0.3% to 3.012,88, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.37% to 8,474.40.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite Index were in positive territory, with respective gains of 0.35% to 23,611.68 and 0.13% to 3,364.29.

The conflict, which flared up after an Israeli attack against Iran on 13 June, has sent oil prices higher linked to Iran’s status as a major oil producer.

The nation is also located on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s crude oil passes.

Investors are concerned that Tehran might decide to bomb oil infrastructure in neighbouring countries or block tankers from travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

Shipping company Maersk said on Sunday that it was continuing to operate through the strait, adding: “We will continuously monitor the security risk to our specific vessels in the region and are ready to take operational actions as needed.”

According to vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, two supertankers Coswisdom Lake and South Loyalty U-turned in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.

The situation now hinges on whether Tehran decides to opt for aggression or a more diplomatic response to US and Israeli strikes.

Iran could attempt to close the waterway by setting mines across the Strait or striking and seizing vessels. Even so, this would likely be met by a forceful response from the US navy, meaning the oil price spike may not be sustained.

Some analysts also think Iran is unlikely to close down the waterway because the country uses it to transport its own crude, mostly to China, and oil is a major revenue source for the regime.

If Tehran did successfully close the Strait, this would cause a wider price spike for transported goods and complicate the deflationary process in the US, potentially keeping interest rates higher for longer.

On Monday morning, Trump also floated the possibility of regime change in Iran.

“If the current Iranian regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn’t there be regime change?” said the US president on Truth Social.

Vice-president J.D. Vance had commented earlier that the administration did not seek regime change in Iran.

June 11 (UPI) — The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that U.S. inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index increased by a lower than expected 0.1% in May.

That’s an annual CPI rate of 2.4% before seasonal adjustment. Higher shelter costs of 0.3% in May drove the overall increase, according to the BLS.

“The index for shelter rose 0.3% in May and was the primary factor in the all items monthly increase,” the BLS said in a statement. “The food index increased 0.3% as both of its major components, the index for food at home and the index for food away from home also rose 0.3% in May. In contrast, the energy index declined 1.0% in May as the gasoline index fell over the month.”

With food and energy excluded, core annual CPI inflation was 2.8%.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a 0.3% May CPI increase and a 2.9% annual CPI increase.

“The all items index rose 2.4% for the 12 months ending May, after rising 2.3% over the 12 months ending April,” the BLS statement said. “The all items less food and energy index rose 2.8% over the last 12 months. The energy index decreased 3.5% for the 12 months ending May. The food index increased 2.9% over the last year.”

Three of the six major grocery store food groups’ prices went up in May, while the other three declined. Prices for cereals and bakery products were up 1.1% in May, while fruits and vegetables rose 0.3%.

Meat, poultry, fish and egg prices fell 0.4% in May, according to the BLS. Egg prices dropped by 2.7%.

Energy prices measured by CPI dropped 1% in May after climbing 0,7% in April.

Gasoline prices fell by 2.6% in May, according to the BLS. CPI energy prices dropped by 3.5% compared with May 2024. Gasoline prices were down by 12% compared with May 2024.

Electricity prices rose by 4.5% year-to-year.

A TOP doctor campaigning for pay rises and strike action has a sideline running two start-up companies, we can reveal.

Cardiologist Dr U Bhalraam is deputy co-chairman of the British Medical Association’s resident doctors committee — which is backing six more months of walkouts.

It is urging members to strike, claiming they are paid 23 per cent less in real terms than in 2008.

This is despite resident doctors — formerly known as junior doctors — getting an almost 30 per cent pay rise over the past three years.

On his website, Dr Bhalraam says he’s “focused on full pay restoration”.

But The Sun on Sunday has found that Dr Bhalraam has also set up two firms of which he is sole director and owner.

He launched Datamed Solutions Ltd, a data processing company, last June and just a few days later UBR Property Holdings Limited, which is described as a letting company.

They are both registered to his smart £330,000 house in Norwich, where he works at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Resident docs have taken industrial action 11 times since 2022, causing about 1.5million appointments to be cancelled.

A YouGov poll of 4,100 adults found almost half oppose the strikes.

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