A new study has found that a combination of two drugs could enhance the immune system to treat one of the most common types of cancer in the world, bowel cancer. Also known as colorectal cancer, despite its widespread presence, the treatment options for this condition are limited. What the study specifically found was that this procedure could shrink the tumours caused by this condition by around 60%.

What Are The Drugs Involved

The trial involved the use of two immunotherapy drugs, botancilimab and balstilumab. It is a monoclonal antibody that works to stimulate the body's immune system to attack cancer. The study is a rather significant find, as it’s the first time that a consistent and durable response to immunotherapy has been reported in patients with solid MSS mCRC tumours.

The study was divided into several phases for more than 6 months. In the US trial, around around 101 patients with microsatile stable metastatic colorectal (MSS-mCRC) tumours showed a decrease . Around 61% of the patients experienced tumour shrinkage or stabilization after combined treatment with votancilumab and balstilumab. When it comes to downsides, diarrhea and fatigue were found to be the most common side effects or side effects of this drug.

These results are interesting and open to exploration. To date, immunotherapy has not been effective in patients with CNS-mCRC tumors. This study demonstrates the potential of the combination of botenlimab and balstilimab in the treatment of CNS mCRC, providing new hope for people diagnosed with colon cancer.

What Could This Mean For Bowel Cancer Treatment In The Future

The study is currently in the final stages of clinical trials, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hopes to quickly gain approval for its use because of the importance of this area that affects many people. The efficiency shown demonstrates the potential of botansilimab to contribute to broad antitumor immunity.

All in all, the combination of botensilimab and balstilimab represents a promising new direction in the treatment of colorectal cancer. This breakthrough could improve conditions for many patients worldwide and lights a new hope in the fight against this common disease. The results of this study show the effectiveness of immunotherapy in this field and how its potential to transform cancer treatment can only grow in the years to come.

Amid an ongoing food safety overhaul by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), around 18,000 boxes of Diageo whisky and vodka bottles have been seized from the company's unit in Bengaluru.

Diageo is the world's largest spirits maker and owns brands including Johnnie Walker, Baileys and Captain Morgan.

News agency Reuters, citing government sources, reported that the action was linked to the alleged lack of markings showing that the bottles were made using safe, food-grade recycled plastic.

Confirming the regulatory action, Diageo India said some of its bottles "have been quarantined by authorities until further direction."

What Did FSSAI Find?

According to a government memo, the FSSAI inspectors found that United Spirits' Bengaluru factory had recycled liquor bottles that carried only markings showing they were made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET). A second government memo stated that the bottles should have carried a government-mandated recycled PET symbol indicating that the material was food-grade.

"This raised serious food safety, misleading and misbranding compliance concerns regarding the safety of finished alcoholic beverages for consumers," the memo said. The seizure was made in the interests of public health, it added.

Which Bottles Were Seized?

Also read: From Liquor to Dabur to VKC Nuts, FSSAI Crackdown Puts Food Safety in Focus: Why It Matters

While most large bottles of Diageo drinks are made of glass, the action focused on plastic bottles used to sell the products in smaller quantities, typically 180 milliliters.

The seizure included:

• Products worth around $1.6 million

• Plastic material

• More than half a dozen brands, including DSP Black Deluxe Whisky

• Smirnoff Zesty Lime Triple Distilled Flavored Vodka

• VAT 69 blended Scotch whisky

What Did Diageo Say?

Diageo India stated that the liquor bottles were sourced from a recycler approved by FSSAI, and that mandatory tests had been conducted by the suppliers.

"Our products are completely safe for consumption ... We are engaging with FSSAI for further direction on this matter," Diageo India unit United Spirits told Reuters. The FSSAI did not respond to Reuters' questions about the seizure.

Diageo Faces Wider Scrutiny

Read More: Why Has FSSAI Banned The Sale Of Dabur India's Ghee, Honey & Other Products?

The latest seizure comes after FSSAI banned the sale of select whisky and rum products from major liquor companies, including Diageo India's United Spirits, after finding artificial or "nature-identical" flavoring that allegedly violates Indian food standards.

The affected products include:

• United Spirits' Antiquity Blue

• Royal Challenge Whisky, manufactured in Madhya

• Inbrew's Bagpiper Deluxe

• Old Cask Deluxe XXX

• Three variants of Old Monk, produced by Mohan Rocky Springwater in Maharashtra

FSSAI said laboratory tests found that certain products manufactured by United Spirits, Inbrew Beverages and Mohan Rocky Springwater contained external artificial or nature-identical flavoring substances intended to recreate the taste and aroma of whisky or rum, instead of relying on traditional production methods.

According to the regulator, natural flavoring substances are permitted in alcoholic beverages, but manufacturers cannot add whisky flavor to whisky or rum flavor to rum.

"There is no internationally recognized manufacturing practice whereby rum flavor is added to rum or whisky flavor is added to whisky," FSSAI said in its statement.

The regulator added that these practices could bypass proper maturation and reduce reliance on ingredients traditionally used to develop flavor, including molasses, malt and grapes

FSSAI classified the tested products as "sub-standard due to the presence of external artificial or nature-identical flavors in the product."

FSSAI Steps Up Food Safety Checks

The food standards regulator has stepped up enforcement across packaged foods, edible oils, sweeteners and high-caffeine beverages, energy drink makers, including PepsiCo, with the drive gathering pace since July.

In recent weeks, FSSAI has acted against or scrutinized products and companies over misleading claims, hygiene and food-safety violations, non-compliant ingredients, labelling issues and failure to meet prescribed standards.

July 2026 was the hottest month in the US in more than a century of official temperature records, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The Lower 48 states recorded an average temperature of 76.89°F (24.94°C) — 3.3°F (1.8°C) above the 20th-century average — narrowly surpassing the previous July record set in 1936, when severe drought and extreme heat devastated large parts of the country.

The record followed weeks of intense heatwaves, prolonged extreme temperatures and widespread wildfires.

Overnight Temperatures Soar in US

Daytime maximum temperatures averaged 89.5°F, making July the sixth-warmest month on record for daytime temperatures.

Overnight temperatures averaged 64.2°F, the highest recorded in any month and 3.7°F above the average. They were also 0.7°F hotter than July 2022.

Scientists attributed the record heat to climate change. A Climate Central analysis using data from 1970 to 2024 found that climate change has contributed to hotter summer nights and made extreme heat more frequent, longer-lasting and intense.

Which US States Recorded the Highest Heat?

“Much-above-average” temperatures were recorded across the interior of West, Southwest, Rockies, northern Plains, upper Midwest and parts of the Gulf Coast and Southeast.

Thirteen states had one of their five warmest Julys. Wyoming recorded its hottest month on record, 0.9°F above its previous record.

Alaska was 0.9°F cooler than its 1925–2000 average, while Hawaii was 0.6°F warmer than its 1991–2020 average.

Heat and Drought Hit Large Parts of US

High temperatures coincided with below-average precipitation across several regions, including the northern Rockies, northern Plains, upper Midwest, Northeast, southern Plains, Mississippi Valley, central Gulf Coast and Southeast.

About 48.5% of the mainland US and Washington, DC, were in drought as of Tuesday, according to the US Drought Monitor. More than two-thirds of Puerto Rico were also in drought.

Wildfire smoke blanketed parts of the US as major fires burned across Canada and the Pacific Northwest.

UK, France Brace For Fifth Heat Wave of 2026

The UK and France are bracing for the fifth heat wave of the season, following repeated bouts of extreme heat across Europe since May.

France’s Météo-France is warning of temperatures approaching 40°C (104°F) in southeastern France from Tuesday.

In the UK, an amber heat-health alert for most of England will begin Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to reach 36°C (96.8°F) later this week.

Heat Death Toll In US And Europe

Extreme heat has been linked to more than 25,000 deaths across Europe in 2026, while at least 70 deaths have been directly linked to major July heat domes in the US.

• A Washington Post analysis counted at least 70 US deaths linked to major July heat domes as of late July, but said the figure was likely an undercount.

• A preliminary analysis estimated 20,390 excess deaths across Europe during the June 2026 heatwave.

• By early August, Bloomberg data put Europe’s 2026 heat-related deaths above 25,000.

• France recorded more than 5,700 excess deaths during the June heatwave, according to health authorities.

Drug-resistant superbug Candida auris (C. auris) has now been detected in 27 US states. According to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 3,437 clinical cases have been reported through July 25.

The figure is about 1,000 fewer than the 4,290 cases reported during the same period last year.

Candida auris Remains A Critical Public Health Threat

C. auris is a deadly fungus that primarily poses a concern for people who are hospitalised or in long-term care facilities. The total number of clinical cases has increased since the pathogen was first detected in the US in 2016, the CDC said.

While the rate of increase has slowed in recent years, C. auris remains a “critical public health threat.”

First discovered in Japan in 2009, the pathogen can live silently on the skin but can become deadly when it reaches the bloodstream. It kills about 3,000 patients in US hospitals and long-term care facilities each year.

Now, a new study published in the journal Science has revealed why the deadly superbug can be so difficult to remove from the skin once it takes hold.

How Candida auris Permanently Colonizes Skin

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) found that C. auris actively rewires the skin’s immune system to protect itself, taking refuge in hair follicles where current therapies cannot reach it.

“Candida auris colonizes skin way better than most other fungi, setting it up to invade once the immune system is weakened,” said Dean Merrill, a dermatologist, UCSF professor and first author of the study.

“The big clinical problem is that we have no effective way to remove it from the skin,” he added.

To understand why C. auris persists on the skin unlike other fungi, researchers compared it with Candida albicans, a common fungus that the skin and immune system normally clear quickly.

In mice, C. auris was found to persist by taking refuge in hair follicles.

While C. albicans activated an immune signal called IL-17, which helps renew the skin’s surface and strengthen antifungal defenses, allowing the infection to be cleared, C. auris, triggered interferon gamma, a signal more commonly associated with viral infections.

The fungus achieved this by remodeling its outer cell wall to expose more of a molecule called chitin. This prompted immune cells to release interferon gamma around the hair follicle.

The interferon gamma then blocked the skin’s antifungal defenses, including IL-17. It also slowed the natural replacement of cells in the hair follicle, causing older, damaged cells to accumulate and creating a niche where C. auris could flourish.

How The Finding Will Help?

The findings reveal potential targets for preventing C. auris from persisting on the skin.

One possible approach could involve drugs that shift the immune response away from interferon gamma and toward IL-17, which drives the skin’s normal antifungal clearing process.

Another possibility could be drugs that block chitin, potentially preventing the fungus from amplifying interferon gamma signals, Merrill said.

More broadly, the researchers say the findings offer a new way of understanding how microbes can quietly coexist with humans before becoming dangerous.