India’s government is urging citizens to halt gold jewellery purchases for 12 months to protect foreign-exchange reserves as Middle East conflict-driven oil prices widen the trade deficit and pressure the rupee. Jewellery demand reached about 440 tonnes in 2025, with a further 280 tonnes in bars and coins, and gold already makes up roughly 17% of India’s FX reserves, so even partial compliance could soften physical premiums, lift London vault inventories and marginally cap global prices. Enforcement is unclear, with past curbs pushing buying into recycling and smuggling rather than cutting total consumption.

HSE has banned dry cutting of engineered stone in the UK and ordered a shift towards lower-silica materials after two worker deaths from silicosis in the sector. The guidance requires wet cutting or on-tool extraction with high-efficiency local exhaust ventilation for any remaining high-silica products, bringing practice closer to controls already used on tunnelling and concrete cutting. Fabricators and contractors now face mandatory process changes, material substitution reviews, and likely revisions to COSHH risk assessments and respiratory protection programmes.

Cenovus Energy CEO Jon McKenzie warns Canada is becoming uncompetitive for oil sands investment, citing lengthy approvals, higher operating costs and a proposed C$130/t industrial carbon tax that he says is unique globally and pushes capital to the US and Middle East. He notes only one new greenfield oil sands project has been approved and built since 2013 despite persistent global oil demand, arguing policy must support “filling a pipeline” with new developments. The warning comes as Cenovus posts Q1 net earnings of C$1.57 billion and record upstream output of 972,000 boe/d after acquiring MEG Energy.