The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has decided to suspend the importation of all medicines manufactured by Excelvision, a pharmaceutical company responsible for producing eye drops and ophthalmic gels sold under various international brands.
This preventive action was formalized in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU) this Friday, the 17th, with the aim of blocking the entry of these items into the Brazilian market.
Anvisa's determination occurred after an inspection conducted in June by the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Products (ANSM) at Excelvision's facilities. According to the French agency, failures were found in complying with good manufacturing practices guidelines for medicines. As a consequence of this inspection, the ANSM issued an international health alert, which was accepted by the Brazilian regulatory authority.
In addition to the general suspension of Excelvision's products, Anvisa also prohibited the importation of the medicine Zonidra – 20 MG/ML X 5 ML. Although this item is produced by the same company and is registered in Brazil, it has never been put on sale in the country.
Furthermore, Anvisa announced the suspension of all batches of the products Hyabak and Thealoz Duo, manufactured at the Excelvision factory starting from June 5, 2026.
The health agency advises consumers to avoid using the products affected by this measure. Users are recommended to check the labeling to verify the place of manufacture and contact the respective companies if they discover that the medicines came from the Excelvision unit subject to suspension.
Grupo União Química released an official statement regarding the medicines Hyabak and Thealoz Duo. The company clarified that the publication in the DOU (07/17/26) about the suspension of sales of batches manufactured from 06/05/26 by Excelvision (France) does not affect any batch currently sold in Brazil, as the batches imported in the last two years come from another manufacturing unit, Farmila-Thea Farmaceutica (Italy).
União Química emphasized that the ANVISA decision is preventive, mirroring the alert from the French health authority, and is in line with best regulatory practices. The company assured that Hyabak and Thealoz Duo meet all criteria for safety, efficacy, and quality, and there is no reason to interrupt the use of batches available in the national market. Future imports will only occur from the Italian plant, which fully complies with good manufacturing practices criteria.
Finally, União Química made customer service channels available to answer questions.
Laboratório Cristália also commented on Zonidra. The company explained that the ANVISA determination, published in the DOU on July 17, 2026, refers exclusively to the imported product and stems from non-compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) by the international manufacturer.
Cristália stated that there is no impact on the company, since Zonidra has not been launched or marketed in Brazil yet, meaning there are no batches subject to the measure. If Zonidra is launched in Brazil, even under the same brand, its production will be done locally, at the Cristália unit, following rigorous standards. Cristália reinforced that Excelvision is not their licensor for Zonidra and that they do not commercialize its products.
Accessibility continues to be a key factor determining the use of ride-sharing services by residents of South Africa, although new data indicates that some users are willing to pay slightly more for an improved experience.
According to new data from Bolt, over 90% of trips in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban are still booked through the Standard and Wait & Save categories. This highlights that for most passengers, cost remains the primary consideration.
This situation is not surprising, as households face budget pressure due to the rising cost of living. Transport remains one of the expenses that many South Africans try to control, preferring services that offer the best balance between price and convenience, whether for commuting, running errands, or social outings.
However, Bolt's data indicates that consumers are willing to pay a small premium if the benefits of the service are clear. Following the expansion of driver offerings in the Comfort category in April 2026, demand for it increased threefold to fivefold. Currently, Comfort accounts for about 6%–7% of all trips in the three metropolises, with this figure reaching 6.9% in Durban.
In Johannesburg, the average fare for a Comfort trip is approximately 63 Rand, compared to 54 Rand for Standard, representing a 16% difference. These figures suggest that passengers are beginning to consider options beyond the cheapest choice, provided the extra cost is acceptable. For some customers, features such as newer vehicles, extra space, and a more comfortable ride are enough to justify a slightly higher rate. The Premium category, in turn, serves a relatively small market segment, indicating that luxury is currently inaccessible or unnecessary for most passengers.
Simo Kaladjizich, Senior Operations Manager at Bolt South Africa, noted that these results reflect changing consumer expectations. He stated that South Africans remain highly price-sensitive, evidenced by the fact that over 90% of trips are taken in the most budget-friendly categories. However, he added that this does not mean people are unwilling to pay for a better experience. If the price difference is small, passengers are increasingly opting for Comfort because it offers newer vehicles, more space, and an improved overall ride experience without exceeding their budgets.
Bolt links the growth of the Comfort category to the increase in available drivers, which enhances the broad availability of the service and reduces waiting times. This data demonstrates that accessibility plays a vital role in consumer behavior. Kaladjizich emphasized that improving access was a central element of this category's growth. He added: 'It's not about consumers moving towards luxury; it's about affordable quality. The rapid growth we observed in Comfort proves that when you improve accessibility while keeping prices within reach, people respond. This strengthens our belief that mobility should offer both accessibility and choice.'
The findings also reflect a broader trend in purchasing decisions among South Africans. Across all sectors, consumers are increasingly seeking products and services that provide measurable value, rather than simply choosing the cheapest or the most expensive option. Small price differences are often acceptable if they lead to better quality, greater convenience, or a more reliable experience.
For ride-sharing platforms, this opens up opportunities to expand their offerings without neglecting accessibility. While budget options continue to dominate demand, there is evidence that a portion of the market is willing to spend a little more if the additional cost is justified. Nevertheless, at present, accessibility remains the defining characteristic of the South African ride-sharing market, as more than nine out of every ten Bolt trips fall into the company's lowest-budget categories, confirming that for most passengers, price remains the decisive factor. As long as economic pressure persists, the price-to-quality ratio is likely to remain the strongest driver of consumer choice.
Most people throw away mango seeds without thinking about it, but Jasmit Singh Arora collects them. This man, known as the 'Guthi Man of India,' is contributing to the development of fruit orchards and the restoration of green cover across India.
During his travels through the villages of West Bengal, he met farmers who were facing issues with poor soil, declining incomes, and unpredictable harvests. He was looking for a long-term solution that could benefit future generations.
He considered what would happen if every discarded mango seed turned into a fruit tree. Farmers could earn income from the orchards for many years, and new trees would begin to grow across the country.
When Jasmit started collecting mango seeds in 2019, people laughed at him. As he recalls, even his friends did not understand why he was collecting mango seeds, but he had his own vision.
The situation changed after a video featuring his daughter. Soon, schools, families, soldiers, and juice vendors from all over India began sending mango seeds. In one season, more than 1.1 million seeds were collected.
These seeds germinate, grow into healthy saplings, and are grafted with local mango varieties. This approach allows each tree to adapt to where it will be grown. The saplings are given to farmers free of charge along with consultations on organic farming.
This improves soil condition, reduces the use of chemicals, and provides farmers with an additional source of income. From a small number of collected guthis to over eight hundred thousand fruit tree saplings, Jasmit's idea has turned into a nationwide movement supported by thousands of ordinary people.
The mango tree provides fruit, shade, and shelter for birds. It also sequesters carbon and supports farming families for decades. One seed has the potential to have an impact far beyond a single season.
Next time you eat a mango, do not throw away the seed. By donating it to the Guthi Man, you help turn it into a fruit tree for a farmer. To participate, you can contact 9831459390. Every guthi has the potential to become a forest.
The question arises as to what the economic policy of a nation should be in the 21st century: whether it should be based on methods of coercion, blackmail, and rent-seeking in a post-imperial style, or whether it should be built on innovation, scientific and technological progress, comprehensive development, and the common good.
Although the answer to this question seems obvious, in practice it is not always the most acceptable. The administration of the world's largest economy appears to lean towards a model based on coercion. Since the beginning of 2025, numerous political imperatives have emerged from the White House promoting a model where the government directly participates in revenue generation and GDP stimulation by any means necessary.
During a speech following the announcement of mutual tariffs in April 2025, US President Donald Trump stated that the revenues of major American enterprises were 'negligible.' Instead, he focused on the tariffs supposedly collected by his administration, the flow of which is now observed in reverse after the US Supreme Court declared them invalid. Despite attempts to restore customs collection through alternative legal schemes, many other ideas were proposed and rejected. One of Trump's unsuccessful proposals was the idea of imposing a 20% levy on cargo ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Fortunately, not all state policy is reduced to medieval methods. Most countries still believe that true growth is achieved not through quick schemes of enrichment or brute force. The path to development through expanding the boundaries of human ingenuity remains very promising, especially against the backdrop of the convergence of factors such as artificial intelligence and the transition to green energy, which opens up profitable opportunities for advancement.
China demonstrates this most vividly, having achieved numerous breakthroughs in futuristic sectors in a short period. One of the most notable events was the impressive successful recovery of the lower stage of the 'Long March-10B' launch vehicle. This was accomplished using a massive fishing mechanism that captured the returning booster with a new system. The reusable rocket industry was known to have been dominated by one American company—SpaceX—for a decade, which recently held the largest IPO in history, demonstrating the market potential of commercial space. New players with reusable rockets will help further reduce costs, especially considering that AI-based data centers will be launched into orbit in the coming years.
Significant events are also happening on the ground: in addition to the SpaceX IPO, new horizons are being opened by the AI laboratories Anthropic and OpenAI. Three Chinese companies from high-tech industries are preparing for their own listings. Unitree Robotics from Hangzhou, a manufacturer of quadruped and humanoid robots, is preparing an IPO in Shanghai. China's progress in robotics is evident, as demonstrated at the 2026 robot half-marathon, where bipedal robots showed results orders of magnitude better than the previous year and beat the human half-marathon record. Furthermore, the memory chip producer CXMT is preparing to debut on the Shanghai STAR market, which will be the largest IPO in Asia this year amid the global shortage of DRAM chips. Among the AI labs, Moonshot AI is reportedly considering an IPO in Hong Kong. This Chinese AI startup has also attracted attention due to the launch of the largest open-weight model, containing 2.8 trillion parameters. Moonshot's Kimi K3 model is designed to solve complex tasks such as long-context coding, knowledge work, and complex reasoning, and according to some metrics, it surpassed Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol.
In the field of supercomputers, China's LineShine became the world's most powerful, achieving a rate of 2.198 Exaflops/second, marking the first time since 2017 that the US has been displaced from this position. A record was also set in solar energy: a new type of Chinese solar cell reached an efficiency of 28% in steady-state operation. Another area—the first commercial operation using an invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) was conducted in China in July on a patient with impaired arm mobility following a spinal cord injury sustained ten years ago in a car accident.
These achievements suggest that China has entered a period of rapid development; however, in reality, this is becoming the norm thanks to a favorable political environment and the readiness to tackle large-scale challenges with proper energy and spirit. This is evident from the list by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) of 30 major scientific and technological tasks for 2026, which includes 10 questions each from advanced science, engineering, and industrial technology, including AI, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and nuclear fusion. These coordinated efforts aim to achieve results. It is projected that China's AI industries will exceed 10 trillion yuan ($1.47 trillion at the current exchange rate) by the end of the fifteenth five-year plan in 2030, and the country's humanoid robot market will grow to $15 billion by 2030. The National Bureau of Statistics of China highlighted this trend toward innovative and high-quality development when assessing GDP growth rates at 4.7% in the first half of 2026.
All of this sharply contrasts with the development associated with the US and its current model of geoeconomic influence. According to the latest IMF economic forecast published in July, global growth in 2026 is projected at 3%, which is 0.1% lower than the April forecast. The growth forecast for the Middle East was particularly reduced by 1.4% to 1.7%. In a report titled 'The World Economy in Times of War and Technology,' the slowdown is linked to the consequences of the war in the Middle East, partially offset by the acceleration of the global technological cycle. The report clearly indicates that instability is detrimental economically, while innovation is beneficial.
Despite this, the US remains an important player on both the axis of instability and the axis of innovation. Prevailing analysis suggests that the US economy would be close to recession if not for multi-trillion investments in AI infrastructure. However, this is merely a coincidence that is little related to current political imperatives, most of which are skewed towards a distorted version of neo-imperialism, while other countries try to stay away.
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