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  • Sarah Hodgson moves to Pan Fiction as publishing director

    Sarah Hodgson moves to Pan Fiction as publishing director

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  • Colorectal polyp prevalence and adenoma detection rates in an Iranian cohort: a prospective study | BMC Gastroenterology

    Colorectal polyp prevalence and adenoma detection rates in an Iranian cohort: a prospective study | BMC Gastroenterology

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  • Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra suspended over leaked phone call with former strongman

    Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra suspended over leaked phone call with former strongman



    CNN
     — 

    Thailand’s embattled prime minister was suspended from duty Tuesday and could face dismissal pending an ethics probe over a leaked phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader.

    Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 38, has only held the premiership for 10 months after replacing her predecessor, who was removed from office. Her suspension brings fresh uncertainty to the Southeast Asian kingdom, which has been roiled by years of political turbulence and leadership shake-ups.

    Thailand’s Constitutional Court accepted a petition brought by a group of 36 senators who accused Paetongtarn of violating the constitution for breaching ethical standards in the leaked call, which was confirmed as authentic by both sides.

    The court voted to suspend Paetongtarn from her prime ministerial duties until it reaches a verdict in the ethics case. Paetongtarn will remain in the Cabinet as culture minister following a reshuffle.

    Paetongtarn has faced increasing calls to resign, with anti-government protesters taking to the streets of the capital Bangkok on Saturday, after the leaked call with Cambodia’s Hun Sen over an escalating border dispute sparked widespread anger in the country.

    The scandal prompted the Bhumjaithai party, a major partner of the prime minister’s government, to withdraw from the coalition last week, dealing a major blow to her Pheu Thai party’s ability to hold power. Paetongtarn is also contending with plummeting approvals ratings and faces a no-confidence vote in parliament.

    In the leaked call, which took place on June 15, Paetongtarn could be heard calling former Cambodian strongman Hun Sen “uncle” and appeared to criticize her own army’s actions after border clashes led to the death of a Cambodian soldier last month.

    The Thai prime minister could be heard telling Hun Sen that she was under domestic pressure and urged him not to listen to the “opposite side,” in which she referred to an outspoken Thai army commander in Thailand’s northeast.

    She also added that if Hun Sen “wants anything, he can just tell me, and I will take care of it.”

    Her comments in the leaked audio struck a nerve in Thailand, and opponents accused her of compromising the country’s national interests.

    Following the ruling, Paetongtarn said she accepts the court’s decision and that her intention “was truly to act for the good of the country.”

    “I want to make it clear that my intentions were more than 100% sincere — I acted for the country, to protect our sovereignty, to safeguard the lives of our soldiers, and to preserve peace in our nation,” she said in a press conference Tuesday.

    “I also want to apologize to all my fellow Thais who may feel uneasy or upset about this matter,” she added.

    Thailand and Cambodia have had a complicated relationship of both cooperation and rivalry in recent decades. The two countries share a 508-mile (817-kilometer) land border – largely mapped by the French while they occupied Cambodia – that has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.

    In the wake of the scandal, Paetongtarn tried to downplay her remarks to Hun Sen, saying at a press conference she was trying to diffuse tensions between the two neighbors and the “private” call “shouldn’t have been made public.”

    The prime minister said she was using a “negotiation tactic” and her comments were “not a statement of allegiance.”

    Paetongtarn became prime minister last year after the Constitutional Court ruled that her predecessor Srettha Thavisin had breached ethics rules and voted to dismiss him as prime minister.

    The same court also dissolved the country’s popular progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in the 2023 election, and banned its leaders from politics for 10 years.

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  • Preview, full schedule and how to watch live

    Preview, full schedule and how to watch live

    This year’s Japan Athletics Championships takes on a whole new level of significance with spots for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo at stake.

    It’s all up for grabs for the home athletes of the 13-21 September worlds at the National Stadium, where the 109th edition of the Japan Athletics Championships are also being held from 4-6 July.

    Only three athletes have pre-booked a place on the Japanese team for the world championships – Kitaguchi Haruka, the Olympic and world champion in the women’s javelin throw; Takemura Rachid, the 110m hurdler; and Miura Ryuji in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase.

    Everyone else will have to go through the nationals this week if they want the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of competing at athletics’ flagship event in their own country. To qualify, he or she must meet the qualifying standard while finishing in the top three at the three-day meet.

    With Kitaguchi having withdrawn due to right elbow inflammation and Takemura saving himself for worlds coming off fourth place at Diamond League Paris, most eyes will be on the men’s 100m, two-time Olympian Abdul Hakim Sani Brown in particular.

    Sani Brown – who has reached the final at the last two world championships – is the only one in the field with a sub-10 qualifying time but has not run better than 10.31 so far this year.

    His chief threat is expected to come from Yanagita Hiroki, the reigning two-time Asian champion who won the Golden Grand Prix in May in a Japanese lead of 10.06, over Christian Coleman.

    National record-holder of 9.95, Yamagata Ryota, who helped his team to 4x100m silver at Rio 2016, could make things interesting after showing signs of a reprisal having run a 10.12 last month.

    Also look out for half-Peruvian Flores Arie, who has just acquired eligibility to compete after acquiring Japanese citizenship.

    In May, the 21-year-old surpassed the women’s 400m Japan record with a 51.71. Although it did not go down as a new record because she had not been naturalised yet, it was the fastest time in 17 years.

    Below is the complete schedule of the Japan Athletics Championships.

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  • Supporting athletes to keep sport real at the IOC International Athletes’ Forum

    Supporting athletes to keep sport real at the IOC International Athletes’ Forum

    Over 400 athlete representatives came together in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the forum organized by the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Participants included athlete representatives from 200 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), 54 International Federations (IFs), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Paralympic Committee, Organising Committees for upcoming Olympic Games, Continental Associations of NOCs, as well as members of the Athletes’ Declaration Steering Committee. The forum provided a platform to address key topics impacting athletes, such as their rights, the promotion of clean sport, and issues surrounding sport integrity.

    The ITA was present with an interactive booth, offering athlete representatives the opportunity to connect with ITA staff, expand their knowledge about clean sport, better understand their rights and responsibilities, and show their commitment to clean competition by signing the ITA Wall.

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  • Lipid metabolism disturbance and immune dysfunction in HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure: a retrospective cohort study | BMC Gastroenterology

    Lipid metabolism disturbance and immune dysfunction in HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure: a retrospective cohort study | BMC Gastroenterology

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  • Evaluation of real-world vehicle emissions in Kampala, Uganda

    Evaluation of real-world vehicle emissions in Kampala, Uganda

    The TRUE Initiative, in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, conducted a groundbreaking remote sensing campaign, the first of its kind in Africa, to offer real-world insight into the levels of pollution from vehicles operating in Kampala, Uganda.

    Using plume chase technology, where a vehicle equipped with emission analyzers follows a target vehicle while sampling its exhaust plume, this project captured real-world snapshots from Kampala’s fleet in 2024. Researchers analyzed the results and observed that:

    • Over 50% of gasoline passenger cars exhibited average nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions consistent with pre-Euro certifications, suggesting potential malfunctions or removal of catalytic converters. Although newer gasoline passenger cars under 8 years old showed lower NOx emissions than older cars, their levels were still 5.5 times higher on average than Euro 4 limits.
    • Diesel heavy commercial vehicles under 8 years of age showed 14% higher average NOx emissions than older counterparts. Similarly little differences in average real-world NOx emissions were observed among older and newer diesel vehicles across other groups— passenger cars, minibuses, and light commercial vehicles.
    • Diesel minibuses, which had an average age of 25 years, showed NOx emissions more than 9 times higher than Euro 4 limits and elevated black carbon (BC) emissions. At least 16% of diesel minibuses over 15 years old exhibited visible black smoke from their exhaust during measurement and exhibited 6 times higher average BC emissions than vehicles aged between 8 and 15 years.

    Uganda is already working to improve air quality, including by outlining new programs under its National Environment (Air Quality Standards) Regulations and e-mobility strategy. Based on these results, the TRUE Initiative recommends a strengthening of import requirements on all vehicle imports and developing a roadmap to meet Euro 6 standards. For maximum benefits, this should be complemented by routine vehicle inspection programs and mandatory follow-up maintenance that would quickly identify and repair high emitters. Finally, prioritizing public transport and modernizing the aging taxi minibus fleet would significantly reduce vehicle-related air pollution.

    Cover Photo: Attendees participated in a live demonstration of plume chasing technology during a kick-off event for TRUE’s remote-sensing campaign in Kampala, Uganda. The workshop was organized by UNEP and local partners in July 2024.

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  • Chief Rabbi says ‘vile Jew-hatred at Glastonbury’ a ‘national shame’

    Chief Rabbi says ‘vile Jew-hatred at Glastonbury’ a ‘national shame’

    The UK’s Chief Rabbi has strongly criticised “the airing of vile Jew-hate at Glastonbury” after a live broadcast of Bob Vylan’s performance at the festival went out on the BBC, during which the band’s singer led the crowd in chants of “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”.

    Writing on X, Sir Ephraim Mirvis wrote: “This is a time of national shame. The airing of vile Jew-hatred at Glastonbury and the BBC’s belated and mishandled response, brings confidence in our national broadcaster’s ability to treat antisemitism seriously to a new low.

    “It should trouble all decent people that now, one need only couch their outright incitement to violence and hatred as edgy political commentary, for ordinary people to not only fail to see it for what it is, but also to cheer it, chant it and celebrate it. Toxic Jew-hatred is a threat to our entire society.

    In a statement issued on Monday, the BBC said: “The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.”

    A criminal investigation has now been launched over performances by both Bob Vylan and Irish band Kneecap at Glastonbury on Saturday, Avon and Somerset Police has said.

    The force said it had appointed a senior detective to investigate whether comments made by either act amounted to a criminal offence after reviewing footage.

    A statement added: “This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our enquiries are at an early stage.”

    Speaking in Parliament on Monday after the announcement, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called the scenes broadcast “appalling and unacceptable”.

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  • This compact Windows PC outperforms the M4 Mac Mini in key areas – and it’s on sale

    This compact Windows PC outperforms the M4 Mac Mini in key areas – and it’s on sale

    ZDNET’s key takeaways

    • Minisforum’s AI X1 Pro retails for $1,129.
    • It’s a powerful mini armed with top-tier hardware for creators, programmers, and coders looking to interface with AI at lightning-fast speeds.
    • Don’t count on relying on the device’s built-in speakers or mic, and it’s one of the chunkier minis.

    more buying choices

    All three configurations of the Minisforum A1 XI Pro are on sale, with the 2TB SSD model receiving a $280 discount.

    When Apple upgraded its Mac Mini with the M4 processor last year, we saw some renewed interest in the mini PC category overall. All the power of a desktop, but packed into a tiny frame? Yes, please. Apple isn’t the only one making impressively bite-sized computers, however.

    Purveyor of minis, Minisforum released its AI370 EliteMini, a device we reviewed and praised for its 8K monitor support, 4TB of storage, and powerful hardware for under $1,000. Similarly, the G7 Ti Mini had impressive raw power, but I noted its noisy fans.

    Also: 400 million Windows PCs vanished in 3 years. Where did they all go?

    Now, the brand’s latest Mini PC — the Minisforum AI X1 Pro — ups the ante with some serious hardware: AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, an AMD Radeon 890M GPU, up to 96GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage, all in the same size as a Mac Mini and at a competitive starting price of $1,129 (on sale right now starting at $899).

    As a designated Copilot+ PC (yes, that is a Copilot button on the action front of the device), the aptly named AI X1 Pro is specifically designed to compete with the Mac Mini M4, particularly when it comes to AI features, high-resolution external monitors, and gaming.

    Also: I finally found a Windows mini PC with enough power to attract my attention – and it’s $230 off

    The AI X1 Pro does all of these things well, with impressive performance, multitasking across multiple monitors, and solid gaming performance, all while running cool and virtually silent. Let’s take a look at what this powerhouse is capable of.

    The processor here is top-of-the-line for AMD — it boasts 12 cores and 24 threads with a max clock speed of 5.1GHZ and 80 TOPS for AI-powered tasks. In my benchmarking of the device, it performed very well, on par with the Mac Mini M4 regarding raw output, but like any benchmarking numbers, that’s only part of the picture.

    Cinebench 24 MC

    Geekbench 6.2.2 SC

    Geekbench 6.2.2 MC

    Minisforum AI X1 Pro 

    1,243

    2,960

    15,375

    Asus ProArt P16

    1,096

    2,804

    12,787

    Mac Mini M4

    972

    3,798

    14,594 

    The AI X1 Pro supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 and has a built-in power supply, making it ready to go out of the box. However, you’ll want to hook up at least one high-quality monitor to get the most out of it. In my testing, I connected two monitors — one of which was 4K — and their performance was silky-smooth and gorgeous.

    Minisforum AI X1 Pro

    Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

    The device does feature its own audio, but this is one area it doesn’t excel at. The built-in speaker on the device is sufficient for basic content — although I would say my laptop has better audio quality. Similarly, the onboard mic is good enough for quick calls, but I wouldn’t count on it over a dedicated webcam or microphone.

    These things are hardly dealbreakers, however, as AI X1 Pro users will want to connect their own speakers with every other peripheral.

    Also: 4 PC parts I’m buying to upgrade my computer (and the 7 I’m keeping)

    It’s easy, too, with this many ports. It comes with three USB Type-A ports, two USB4s, a 3.5mm combo jack, HDMI, a Kensington Lock, and more — basically, everything you need to fire up and customize your workstation.

    Minisforum AI X1 Pro

    Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

    It also features an Oculink (PCIe 4.0) slot for high-performance storage and docking stations with a bandwidth of up to 64 GB/s. The Oculink can also connect to an external GPU, allowing users to harness a more powerful graphics system for higher frame rates and 4K gaming.  

    This allows the AI X1 Pro to level up as a gaming machine or a dedicated creator’s device, improving the integrated GPU’s performance. It also supports Rebar, or Resizable Base Address Register, which improves communication between the two. 

    Gaming performance on the AI X1 Pro is quite good, but the system does require some optimization to fully take advantage of all the powerful hardware here. I fired up a handful of titles on Steam and had no issues, but I will say some of the more memory-demanding games required some settings tinkering to feel like a true gaming rig. 

    Also: I replaced my monitor with a 34-inch ultrawide OLED for two weeks – here’s my verdict now

    I was much more impressed with Minisforum’s cooling technology here, as AMD’s Ryzen 9 already runs cool, but the device’s slightly larger size allows for a bit more in the way of cooling components. The fan kicked on during heavy gaming, but it was quiet enough to go largely unnoticed. 

    The AI X1 Pro also excels at on-device AI tasks. During testing, I ran offline versions of DeepSeek and OpenAI’s ChatGPT through LM Studio, and both performed exceedingly fast. Even longer, more complex queries, like requests for code, were fast and responsive. 

    ZDNET’s buying advice

    Minisforum AI X1 Pro is essentially a Mac Mini M4 powered by AMD’s powerful Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip. It has some of the fastest AI-powered capabilities I’ve seen on any device, laptop, desktop, or mini.

    Like the Mac Mini, it’s certainly capable of gaming, but I wouldn’t peg this as a gaming-first device. Instead, I’d recommend this device for developers and creatives looking to run powerful AI tasks in applications like Deepseek or OpenAI, or users who like to utilize external GPUs to tinker with performance optimization.

    Looking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends.

    This article was originally published on March 7, 2025, and was updated on June 30, 2025.


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  • Ancient Cells Sealed Toxins to Survive Enviro Shifts

    Ancient Cells Sealed Toxins to Survive Enviro Shifts

    Earth’s earliest life forms developed ways to survive the harmful effects of arsenic to cope with dramatic changes in their environment, a new study suggests.

    The researchers found the complex life forms, called eukaryotes, stored arsenic inside special compartments within their cells, a strategy that helped neutralise the toxic poison.

    Using advanced X-ray technology, the international team was able to detect and map arsenic within 2.1-billion-year-old fossils from the Francevillian Basin in Gabon.

    The arsenic found in the fossils was not due to later contamination but part of a biological response to environmental stress, according to the team.

    This is revealed by distinct patterns formed from the arsenic preservation process in the fossils when compared to structures left by non-living mineral structures; it is further evidence the fossils were once complex living organisms with more advanced cells, they argue.

    Their study, published in Nature Communications, reshapes current understandings of how early life faced environmental challenges, highlighting the critical role adaptation played in the evolution of life.

    “The ability to cope with arsenic was not something eukaryotes developed randomly,” said Dr Ernest Chi Fru, one of the paper’s co-authors and Reader at Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

    “It coincided with a period of significant environmental change, when oxygen levels in the Earth’s atmosphere first rose. This increase in oxygen also led to a rise in arsenate, a particularly toxic form of arsenic which competes with phosphate, a vital nutrient for all life, making Earth’s oceans a dangerous place.”

    So, it was really vital for organisms such as eukaryotes to have strategies to cope with this most toxic of elements, once known in Europe as ‘inheritance powder’ because of its deadly use in poisonings.

    Dr Ernest Chi Fru Reader in Earth Sciences

    The study builds on the team’s previous work on the 2.1-billion-year-old Francevillian biota, which they argue appeared after a local underwater volcanic event brought a sudden surge of nutrients into a small, enclosed sea.

    This nutrient boost helped these early life forms thrive locally, according to the team led by Université de Poitiers and Cardiff University.

    Dr Chi Fru added: “We looked at the evolution of arsenic in the Francevillian basin’s seawater before and after the fossils. It was actually quite low in arsenic concentration at the time when these primitive eukaryotes evolved, leading us to think they should have lived there quite happily.

    “However, the surprisingly high levels of arsenic stored in their bodies, revealed in our analysis, suggest that they were extremely sensitive to even low levels of arsenic in seawater.”

    We think this is evidence of a detoxification strategy, employed by the eukaryotes, which allowed arsenic to accumulate in special compartments in their cells, building an immunity of sorts that prevented them from succumbing to its poisonous effects.

    Dr Ernest Chi Fru

    These organisms later became extinct when volcanic activity returned to the area, and oxygen levels in the seawater dropped, according to the team.

    They say their disappearance suggests the ability of complex life to protect itself from toxic substances like arsenic, by safely storing it inside cells, may have evolved more than once in Earth’s history.

    “All living things have ways to protect themselves from arsenic, which is toxic to life,” Dr Chi Fru said.

    “In the ocean, tiny plankton near the surface – the same ones that make about half the oxygen in the air we breathe – are always working to get rid of arsenic from their bodies. They can’t avoid it because arsenic is naturally in the water, and their cells can’t easily tell the difference between arsenate and phosphate, a nutrient they actually need. This was true even in ancient times, just like it is today.

    “We know these ancient organisms went extinct, so the way modern life handles arsenic didn’t come directly from them.”

    If this method of detox evolved more than once, it shows just how important it was for life to find a way to deal with arsenic in order to become more complex.

    Dr Ernest Chi Fru

    /Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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