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New Delhi, July 18: Bharat Tex 2026 has emerged as a major global platform for India’s textile and apparel industry, attracting investment commitments worth ₹14,300 crore and strengthening the country’s position as a preferred destination for textile manufacturing and sourcing.

The international textile exhibition brought together leading industry stakeholders, global buyers, manufacturers, exporters, policymakers, and innovators, showcasing India’s capabilities across the entire textile value chain — from fibres and yarns to fabrics, garments, technical textiles, and traditional crafts.

The event witnessed strong global participation, with exhibitors and buyers from several countries engaging in business discussions, partnerships, and investment opportunities. The commitments announced during the event reflect growing confidence in India’s textile ecosystem and its potential for sustainable growth.

A key focus of Bharat Tex 2026 was promoting innovation, sustainability, circular textiles, advanced manufacturing, and technology-driven solutions. The exhibition highlighted India’s efforts to expand its global textile footprint while supporting MSMEs, artisans, startups, and large-scale manufacturers.

Industry leaders said the investment announcements mark a significant step towards strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity, creating employment opportunities, and enhancing India’s competitiveness in global textile markets.

With substantial investment interest and international engagement, Bharat Tex 2026 has reinforced India’s vision of becoming a global hub for textile production, innovation, and sustainable sourcing.

The hospitality industry is advancing faster than most people realize.

Artificial intelligence, AI, and biometric scanners can analyze guest emotions. Virtual simulations can recreate high-pressure service scenarios. Behavioral analytics can reveal how people respond to experiences in real time.

At the Arch H. Aplin III ’80 Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism, students and researchers are using those technologies in the Digital Transformation Lab, a pioneering facility and one of the first of its kind in hospitality and tourism research at Texas A&M University.  

The lab gives students hands-on experience with tools reshaping the hospitality, hotel and tourism industries while creating new opportunities for industry collaboration and research.

Lab director and professor Babak Taheri, Ph.D., who is also associate head of the department, designed the space around a question the hospitality industry increasingly must answer: How do guests and employees actually experience a service interaction, beyond what they report afterward?
“Hospitality has always been about people,” Taheri said. “Our lab helps us better understand how people experience services and how innovation can make those experiences more meaningful.”

Understanding the guest experience

The lab combines biometric technology, artificial intelligence and immersive environments to capture insights that traditional surveys often miss. Researchers can use galvanic skin response sensors and AI-powered voice analysis software to measure physiological and emotional data in real time, helping uncover how people react during service experiences.
For doctoral student Faezeh Cheraghi, those digital tools have fundamentally changed the questions she chooses to ask in her research.

 “What I value most about the Digital Transformation Lab is the way it expands the scope of what we can study as researchers,” Cheraghi said. “Working in this environment has reshaped how I approach research design, data collection and the questions I choose to pursue.”

Simulating the real world

At the center of the lab is the PRISM Virtual Simulation Room, an immersive environment that allows students to navigate realistic hospitality scenarios before they experience them professionally.
Students can respond to a crowded hotel check-in desk, manage a restaurant during a service failure or work an emergency at a convention venue. Instructors can then repeat, adjust and debrief each scenario, creating learning opportunities that are difficult to replicate in traditional classroom settings or via research and rarely achievable through conventional workplace training.

Just a few years ago, this type of experiential, scenario-based training required expensive travel, extensive industry coordination or simply waiting for a real-world situation to happen.

Taheri said the technology allows students in the Aplin Department of Hospitality to encounter those situations before they ever set foot in a professional environment.

“Technology should support, not replace, the human side of hospitality,” Taheri said. “This lab gives us new ways to explore that balance.”

A living laboratory for industry collaboration

Beyond student training and faculty research, the lab also functions as a research and development space for industry partners. Hotels, restaurants and tourism organizations can use the lab to test new service concepts, pilot emerging technologies and study how guests respond before committing to large-scale changes.
Doctoral student Saba Ebrahimzadeh Maboud sees that capability as one of the lab’s most consequential contributions and one that reaches well beyond the hospitality field. The lab has opened the door to a wide range of interdisciplinary studies, she said.

“The Digital Transformation Lab has added a powerful new dimension to hospitality research,” Ebrahimzadeh Maboud said. “Its potential, however, reaches far beyond our field.”

That collaborative model reflects a broader reality as the hospitality sector continues to evolve faster than traditional curricula can follow. The lab is designed to close that gap.

Taheri said the Aplin Department of Hospitality sits at the intersection of two priorities that define the industry’s current moment: the demand for highly trained human talent and the rapid adoption of AI-driven tools.
The Digital Transformation Lab reflects the department’s belief that understanding people more precisely, through data, immersion and behavioral research, does not diminish the human element of hospitality. Rather, it empowers organizations to create more personalized, meaningful and effective experiences.

“What excites me most is the opportunity to create a space where students can experiment, industry can collaborate and new ideas can come to life,” Taheri said.

Discover the lab

Explore the technologies, research and immersive learning experiences shaping the future of hospitality at Texas A&M.

Mumbai, July 18: Gold prices on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) may see further movement toward the ₹1.39 lakh support level as global uncertainty continues to influence precious metal markets, according to analysts.

Market experts said changing global economic conditions, currency trends, and investor sentiment are playing a key role in shaping gold and silver prices. While gold continues to remain a preferred investment option during uncertain times, short-term fluctuations are expected.

Silver prices have also come under pressure, with analysts maintaining a cautious outlook due to weak global cues and market volatility.

Investors are closely monitoring key price levels and international developments to assess the future direction of precious metals. Despite near-term challenges, gold and silver continue to remain important assets for investors seeking stability during uncertain market conditions.

When the Marshall Fire tore through suburban Colorado in late 2021, residents had only hours to decide where to go. Some fled to nearby towns. Others stayed farther away for weeks or months. Now a recent study published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications suggests those decisions were shaped not only by distance or danger, but also by something more human: the pull of familiar communities and social ties.

Researchers at NYU Tandon analyzed anonymized mobile phone location data from more than 200,000 devices in Colorado before and after the fast-moving wildfire, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes and displaced thousands of people. They combined those movement patterns with demographic data and measures of social connectedness between neighborhoods. Their conclusion: evacuees were more likely to choose destinations that resembled their home communities or where they had stronger social links.

“Even during a chaotic emergency, people do not move randomly,” says lead author Takahiro Yabe, Assistant Professor of Technology Management and Innovation and the Center for Urban Science + Progress. “They tend to seek places where they feel socially connected or where the community feels familiar.”

The study adds nuance to how scientists understand evacuation behavior. Traditional models often assume people head to the nearest available safe place or to larger population centers. But this research found that social factors strongly influenced where people actually went.

Most evacuees relocated between 20 and 60 kilometers from the fire zone, suggesting many wanted to remain relatively close to home. Yet when researchers compared real evacuation destinations with simulated destinations based only on population size and distance, the real destinations scored significantly higher for demographic similarity and friendship connections. In other words, people often chose places where they knew someone, or places that looked socially like where they came from.

The findings also revealed inequality in who could access those familiar refuges. Residents from whiter, wealthier, and more highly educated neighborhoods were more likely to evacuate to destinations with stronger social similarity and connectedness. Black, Asian, and lower-income populations were less likely to do so. That gap may matter because social networks can provide practical help during crises: a spare bedroom, child care, transportation, local knowledge, or emotional support.

“Access to social capital can shape recovery just as much as physical damage does,” says Vaidehi Raipat, a PhD candidate and lead author on the paper. “If some groups have fewer options to relocate into supportive communities, that can deepen existing inequalities after disasters.”

The team also examined what happened after the initial evacuation. People who relocated to areas with stronger social connectedness were more likely to return home over the following months. But those who moved to places that were demographically similar to their original communities were somewhat less likely to return, suggesting that a comfortable temporary destination may sometimes become a longer-term alternative.

That distinction could help officials plan for future climate disasters, which are becoming more frequent and more destructive. Wildfires, floods, and storms increasingly force sudden movement, yet emergency planning still tends to focus on roads, shelters, and hazard maps rather than the social geography of where people want to go.

The researchers argue that disaster response could improve by accounting for community ties. Knowing where evacuees are likely to head could help agencies position aid, anticipate population surges, and better support displaced residents. It could also identify people who lack strong networks and may need more assistance.

The study focused on one wildfire, so its authors caution that patterns may differ in hurricanes, floods, or other disasters. Still, the broader message is clear: in moments of upheaval, people often search not just for safety, but for belonging.