Wizdan Ridho Abimanyu, a ninth-grader in Sragen, told Reuters he was awakened in the middle of the night by a sharp pain in his stomach.
He suffered from diarrhoea and a headache, which he suspected was caused by food poisoning. He later saw schoolmates complaining of similar symptoms in their social media posts.
The alleged culprit was a meal comprising turmeric rice, scrambled eggs, fried tempeh, a cucumber salad and a box of milk – all prepared in a central kitchen and distributed to several schools in town.
The government has said it would cover any medical expenses incurred as a result.
“We cannot draw any specific conclusions right away,” Sigit Pamungkas, leader of the town’s government, had told Indonesia’s Tempo newspaper.
“But the main point is that it’s not just [happening here],” he said, adding that the free meals programme as a whole “needs to be more stringent and more hygienic”.
A boy with a rare, painful skin condition has been given hope after taking part in a trial for the first potential treatment for the disorder.
Gabrielius Misurenkovas’ mother says he has managed to do a few things that he was not able to before the treatment, including taking part in some sports at school, riding his bike in the park on the grass, and being able to play football with his friends, with a soft ball.
The 12-year-old was diagnosed with an inflammatory disease called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) when he was a baby.
People with the painful genetic disease, which is severely debilitating and causes itchiness, have extremely fragile skin which can be damaged with even the smallest amount of friction, leading to blistering, deep wounds and scarring.
With no disease-modifying treatment available, patients and their families manage symptoms by dressing wounds and applying eye ointments.
Over time, the condition can lead to severe complications and many patients with the condition develop a type of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma when they are young adults – this is the most common cause of death for RDEB patients.
About 150 children in the UK are affected by RDEB.
The condition is caused by a fault in the gene that makes a protein which holds layers of skin together – collagen VII.
Gabrielius, who has been under the care of medics at the world-renowned children’s hospital Great Ormond Street (GOSH) since he was a baby, said he jumped at the chance to join the clinical trial when it was suggested by his doctors.
He continued: “I wanted to take part in the trial as I was excited to see if it could help improve my condition and so I could do more of the things I enjoy, like playing football and spending time with my friends.”
The youngster, who can speak three languages and is a big fan of footballer Lionel Messi, needed his bandages changing three times a day, or more if he was injured.
Image: Gabrielius Misurenkovas. Pic: PA
His mother, Jolita Cekaviciene, said: “Gabrielius did really well on the trial.
“His wounds healed quicker, and his skin was less red and inflamed.
“His skin was also less itchy which also reduced him scratching.
“His sleep was also less disturbed as he didn’t need to have his special wound dressings changed as often, so this was a great benefit.”
She added that the trial has given her son more freedom than before, but he still needs to be careful in any activity to avoid falling over or bumps.
Gabrielius was referred to GOSH as a baby after medics spotted a wound when he was born, and he was diagnosed with RDEB when he was two weeks old.
Ms Cekaviciene said: “The first two years were really hard as you had to watch him constantly – even rubbing his eyes could cause painful blistering.
“He couldn’t even tell us how much pain he was in or where he was hurting.”
How did the trial work?
Medics wanted to assess whether regular infusions with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) improved symptoms for children with the condition, after studies suggested that MSC treatments could promote wound healing, reduce inflammation and stimulate tissue regeneration.
In the trial, funded by NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the charity Cure EB, children were given a treatment called CORDStrom, manufactured by INmuneBio.
Gabrielius is one of 30 children who took part in the new clinical trial at GOSH and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Patients would go into hospital and have a drip which delivers the cells over 10 to 15 minutes.
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In the study, patients were split into two groups, about half were given the treatment, which is made from umbilical cord tissue, as an infusion, twice over two weeks.
The other half were given a placebo, also known as a dummy drug.
They then had a nine-month gap, known as a wash-out period, where the group that were initially given the dummy drug were given the treatment, while the group that received therapy first were given a dummy drug.
The study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, reported a positive outcome of the treatment.
The largest effects were in children under the age of 10, and in the children with intermediate type of RDEB.
INmuneBio have agreed to provide CORDStrom free of charge for a year for all children who took part in the trial, so researchers can continue to study them, and patients are expected to get two infusions of the treatment every four months.
The company is seeking regulatory approval for the treatment so it can be approved for use in the UK and other countries.
BEIRUT (Reuters) â Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem warned the Lebanese government on Friday against confronting the Iran-backed group, saying there would be “no life” in Lebanon in that event.
Qassem said Hezbollah and the Amal movement, its Shi’ite Muslim ally, had decided to delay any street protests against a US-backed disarmament plan as they still see room for dialogue with the Lebanese government. But he said any future protests could reach the US Embassy in Lebanon.
In a televised speech, he condemned an August 5 government decision that, he said, would âstrip the resistance of its weaponsâ and pave the way for fighters to be expelled from their homes.
Qassem accused the cabinet of executing âAmerican and Israeli ordersâ to end the resistance, even if it meant civil war, and serving âthe Israeli projectâ â a stance he said explained the âjoyâ expressed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
French sprinter aims to build on strong season with two more years in the Team
Lidl-Trek is pleased to announce that French sprinter Clara Copponi has signed a two-year contract extension, keeping her with the Team through the end of 2027.
Since joining Lidl-Trek, Copponi has balanced her role between leading out Elisa Balsamo and seizing her own opportunities in the sprints. The 2025 season began in perfect fashion, with Copponi winning the Schwalbe Womenâs One-Day Classic in style, celebrating with her iconic victory pose. Her second win of the year came at the GP Mazda Schelkens in Belgium, where she outsprinted a small group after a demanding, attritional race.
I love to give everything to help my teammates and to take the leadership when I have the opportunity.
âIâm really happy to extend my contract for two more years with the Team,â said Clara Copponi. âThe last few years were really special, with the Olympics at home, and this year I was totally focused on the road. I was able to make progress throughout the season, win two races, and the season isnât finished yet. Iâm grateful for the support I have from all the Team and my teammates.
âThe atmosphere with everyone is so goodâI love to give everything to help my teammates and to take the leadership when I have the opportunity. For the next two years, I really want to show that I have my place in the big races like the Tour de France, to help the team, and in Paris-Roubaix and other Classics, where I want to be racing with the best riders.â
âClaraâs victory at the start of the year was a big boost for her confidence and for the whole team,â said Luca Guercilena, Lidl-Trek General Manager. âGetting that first win early in the season is always important to build momentum. Clara has shown good progression over the winter and through this season. Sheâs been a valuable part of the lead-out for Balsamo, but has also proven that when she gets the chance to sprint for herself, she can deliver. With the Teamâs continued support, I believe she can keep progressing and achieve even more over the next two years.â
The Marangoni Ringtread Drive Regional (RDR) range has grown with the addition of the RDR RD3, a product âengineered to meet the evolving needs of fleets operating in regional sectors.â Marangoni introduces the 3PMSF-certified RDR RD3 as a Ringtread that delivers superior mileage and traction, featuring a robust, monodirectional tread design with asymmetric block angles that enhance grip and promote even wear.
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OpenAI has quietly rolled out a new subscription tier titled ChatGPT Go, priced at around PKR 1,300 ($4.55 USD).
The plan offers compelling upgrades over the free tier, including access to GPT 5, and enhanced image generating capabilities. You also get advanced data analysis features. However, it is not for everyone.
Whatâs in the Go Plan?
While similar in name to Plus and Pro offerings, ChatGPT Go provides a mid level alternative for users seeking more than free access without committing to higher priced plans. It delivers:
Access to GPT 5, albeit with some usage limits
Expanded messaging throughput and upload capacity
Integration of AI based image creation
Limited deep research tools, longer memory retention, and advanced data analysis tools
ChatGPT Go: A Strategic Regional Rollout
OpenAI appears to be testing this tier strategically, targeting markets where affordability strongly influences adoption rates. A limited region rollout allows them to monitor performance and user reception before broader deployment.
This move addresses a gap in OpenAIâs lineup, positioned below the $20 ChatGPT Plus (PKR 5,600) and $200 Pro (PKR 56,000)tiers, and suggests efforts to democratize AI access and broaden user reach.
Broader Subscription Trends
OpenAIâs broader strategy continues to focus on subscriptions, with plans like Plus, Pro, Team, and Enterprise already in place. The Go tier takes a notable step toward making advanced AI features financially accessible by offering the tier for developing markets, such as India. However, it is still not available for Pakistan.
As the AI ecosystem becomes more competitive, such pricing innovations could preempt rising rivals. OpenAI may expand ChatGPT Go to other regions if early results are positive.
Performance and user feedback will determine if Go becomes permanent or evolves further.
The rapper 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson) was inescapable back in 2005. There wasnât a British classroom without a teenager wearing Jacksonâs G-Unit clothing, while his catchy hits Candy Shop and In Da Club dominated the radio. The backstory of this Queens-born New Yorker â how he survived being shot nine times only to become one of the worldâs biggest rappers â also made for compelling lore.
That year, 50 Cent sold more than a million copies in one week with his sophomore studio album, The Massacre. In a bid to cash in on this superstardom, his label Interscope Records planned a twin strategy: a Hollywood biopic (Get Rich or Die Tryinâ) and a licensed video game, 50 Cent: Bulletproof â both to be released by November 2005. âI think the general public are going to be blown away by my game,â 50 Cent told the website IGN. âIt feels more like an action film.â
British developer Genuine Games, previously responsible for a poorly received Fight Club tie-in, was tasked with creating Fiddyâs 128-bit era adventure. The problem was it only had 11 months to do it. âI remember weâd get to the office at 7am and wouldnât leave until about 11pm,â recalls the gameâs artist Han Randhawa. âWe all lived on a diet of KFC. 50 Cent became my whole life. I even read up the doctorâs report from when he got shot, just so I could put bandages on his 3D character in the right places.â
The gameâs designer, Haydn Dalton, says: âItâs funny, because this was a game about these dudes from the hood, and yet here was this white guy from the north-west of England writing all their in-game dialogue. It was kind of awkward, but I didnât have much time, so it was about making stuff up on the fly.â
Shoot first, questions later ⊠Photograph: THQ
Time has been surprisingly kind to 50 Cent: Bulletproof, which is 20 this November. In this shooter, 50 Cent gets caught up in a shadowy underground network full of dodgy terrorists, racist biker gangs and mouthy mafia members. Looking to track down whoever riddled him with those nine bullet wounds, 50 and his G-Unit gang (including Tony Yayo, Young Buck and Lloyd Banks) race through inner city environments, shooting first and asking questions later.
Itâs as if G-Unit has been modelled on the A-Team, with each member bringing something unique (Yayo is an explosives expert; Banks picks locks), while the game also has surprisingly intuitive cover mechanics, whereby your squad ducks behind walls during shootouts. With its screenplay written by the Sopranosâ writer Terence Winter, the cinematic cut-scenes involving 50 Cent conversing with corrupt Det McVicar are a particular thrill.
He is a dirty cop voiced by a madcap Eminem, who constantly demands more extortion money so he can send his kid to expensive karate classes. The White rapperâs McVicar is joined by Dr Dre, who voices a stoned arms dealer who says things like âThatâs some serious shit right thereâ, whenever 50 Cent purchases a rocket launcher. The game is stacked full of licensed 50 Cent songs, too, meaning you can kick a heavy in the face while Wanksta plays in the background.
âWe were really blessed, because 50 Cent felt more like a superhero than just a rapper,â explains the gameâs director David Broadhurst. âThe idea was to make him a Black James Bond.â Yet Broadhurst admits the British development team missed out on a lot of this productionâs glitz and glamour. âVivendi [the gameâs publisher] kept us away from 50 Cent and G-Unit; weâd get sent all their audio. I remember 50 Cent had invested in Vitamin Water, so we had to put the drink into the game as a purchasable item.â
Concept art for 50 Cent: Bulletproof. Photograph: Vivendi Universal Games
Specific requests are something Randhawa also remembers. He says that G-Unit member Tony Yayo wanted constant revisions made to his characterâs face. âI knew Iâd done a good job on Yayo,â laughs Randhawa. âWhen we wrapped one of the executive producers came over to me and was like: âThe other members of G-Unit say you absolutely nailed Yayoâs ugliness!ââ
According to Dalton, the original idea was for 50 Cent: Bulletproof to be more of an open world game akin to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. An early build allowed 50 to jump on the subway to navigate the Big Apple, but strict deadlines meant the development team settled for a more straightforward experience. Dalton reveals: âOne idea was that 50 managed all these hookers in the street and theyâd go out and collect drug money for him. 50 could control these women through a mobile phone and a special Pimp Management System (PMS). I know people might cringe at this feature today, but Bulletproof was a product of its time.â
Whereas other rap video games, such as those in the Def Jam fighting series, had violently pinned emcees against one another, Bulletproof refreshingly depicted rappers as the heroes. âIt was a nice to have a piece of art where the rapper was the outright hero rather than the antihero,â explains former G-Unit Recordsâ executive producer Sha Money XL.
âIf you shot at G-Unit in 2005 then we were gonna shoot backâ ⊠Photograph: Vivendi Universal Games
Money XL helmed the 50 Cent: Bulletproof soundtrack and he admits the gameâs title could easily have been seen by the rapperâs many enemies as a call to violence. âMaybe some people wanted to test if 50 really was bulletproof, but if anyone was going to shoot at G-Unit in 2005 then we were gonna shoot back. Back then, 50 was the kind of person you either loved or you hated.â
This divisiveness might explain why 50 Cent: Bulletproof was savaged by critics. The game only has a 52% score on Metacritic, with reviewers criticising the gameâs clunky aiming. The gameâs director believes there was a clear agenda against the production from the off.
âIt was obvious a lot of the reviewers hadnât even played Bulletproof,â Broadhurst says. âMaybe they didnât like licensed games or a Black lead character who sold drugs. I donât know, but a lot of people were picking it up expecting something bad and coming away feeling surprised when it turned out to be pretty good.â
There were scrapped plans for a direct Bulletproof sequel, where the focus was on urban warfare and G-Unit surviving amid an America caught up in a civil war. However, 50 Cent: Bulletproof did inspire an underrated 2009 sequel via the Swordfish Studios-developed 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand, where Fiddy bizarrely fights the war on terror throughout the Middle East, pissed off after having a crystal skull stolen by terrorists.
These two 50 Cent titles werenât a trigger for more hip-hop video games. Dalton has a theory as to why: â50 Cent was the last truly global mainstream rap superstar. Thereâs been a vacuum since. Even though our game made a lot of money, a new rapper game just isnât obvious.â
Owing to the complex licensing agreements in place, itâs unlikely there will be a remaster of 50 Cent: Bulletproof any time soon. But for those who want a time machine back to 2005, tracking down a copy of the original on eBay is essential.
As Dalton puts it: âYes our game was rushed, but I donât have any regrets. When you go on Reddit you see a lot of people nostalgic for what we created. Iâm not so sure a Drake game would hit the same way as heâs too soft by comparison. There arenât many rappers right for a video game, but 50 Cent was 100% one of them.â
SRINAGAR, India â Flash floods caused by torrential rains in a remote village in India-controlled Kashmir have left at least 56 people dead and scores missing, authorities said Thursday, as rescue teams scouring the devastated Himalayan village brought at least 300 people to safety.
Following a cloudburst in the regionâs Chositi village, which triggered floods and landslides, disaster management official Mohammed Irshad estimated that at least 80 people were still missing as of late Thursday, with many believed to have been washed away.
Irshad said that the count of missing people could increase as authorities continue to tally the figures.
Stranded pilgrims being helped across a water channel using a makeshift bridge in Chositi village on Friday.Channi Anand / AP
Officials halted rescue operations for the night, he said. Weather officials forecast more heavy rains and floods in the area.
Indiaâs deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, warned that the disaster âcould result in substantialâ loss of life.
Susheel Kumar Sharma, a local official, said that at least 50 seriously injured people were being treated in local hospitals. Many were rescued from a stream filled with mud and debris.
Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmirâs Kishtwar district and is the last village accessible to motor vehicles on the route of an ongoing annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine at an altitude of 9,500 feet and about a 5-mile trek from the village.
Multiple pilgrims were also feared to be affected by the disaster. Officials said the pilgrimage had been suspended and that more rescue teams were on the way to the area to strengthen rescue and relief operations. The pilgrimage began on July 25 and was scheduled to end on Sept. 5.
A rescue operation being carried out in Chositi village on Friday.Channi Anand / AP
The first responders to the disaster were villagers and local officials who were later joined by police and disaster management officials, as well as personnel from Indiaâs military and paramilitary forces, Sharma said.
Abdul Majeed Bichoo, a local resident and social activist from a neighboring village, said that he witnessed the bodies of eight people being pulled out from under the mud. Three horses that were completely buried alongside them under debris were âmiraculously recovered alive,â he said.
The 75-year-old Bichoo said Chositi village had become a âsight of complete devastation from all sidesâ following the disaster.
âIt was heartbreaking and an unbearable sight. I have not seen this kind of destruction of life and property in my life,â he said.
The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen set up for the pilgrims as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes, officials said. They added that more than 200 pilgrims were in the kitchen when the tragedy struck. The flash floods also damaged and washed away many homes, clustered together in the foothills.
Photos and videos circulating on social media showed extensive damage caused in the village with multiple vehicles and homes affected.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that âthe situation is being monitored closelyâ and offered his prayers to âall those affected by the cloudburst and flooding.â
âRescue and relief operations are underway. Every possible assistance will be provided to those in need,â he said in a social media post.
Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in Indiaâs Himalayan regions, which are prone to flash floods and landslides. Cloudbursts have the potential to wreak havoc by causing intense flooding and landslides, impacting thousands of people in the mountainous regions.
Experts say cloudbursts have increased in recent years partly because of climate change, while damage from the storms also has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions.
Kishtwar is home to multiple hydroelectric power projects, which experts have long warned pose a threat to the regionâs fragile ecosystem.
Researchers have shown that AI can detect early laryngeal cancer and related lesions from voice recordings, offering a simple, non-invasive screening option
A new AI tool may be able to detect early laryngeal cancer based solely on a personâs voice. By analysing subtle changes in speech, the technology could provide a non-invasive, convenient way to identify the disease earlier, potentially improving outcomes and making screening more accessible.
Recognising the early warning signs of laryngeal cancer
Laryngeal cancer is a global health burden, and in 2021, there were an estimated 1.1 million cases of this cancer, and approximately 100,000 people died from it. Risk factors include smoking, alcohol abuse, and infection with human papillomavirus. The prognosis for laryngeal cancer ranges from 35% to 78% survival over five years when treated, depending on the tumourâs stage.
It is vital to catch cancer as early as possible. Laryngeal cancer is currently diagnosed through video nasal endoscopy and biopsies, two invasive procedures. New findings published in Frontiers in Digital Health have revealed that abnormalities of the vocal folds can be detected from the sound of the voice. Using AI, the researchers applied it to recognise early warning stages of laryngeal cancer from voice recordings.
âHere we show that with this dataset we could use vocal biomarkers to distinguish voices from patients with vocal fold lesions from those without such lesions,â said Dr Phillip Jenkins, a postdoctoral fellow in clinical informatics at Oregon Health & Science University, and the studyâs corresponding author. Jenkins and his colleagues are members of the âBridge2AI-Voiceâ project within the US National Institute of Healthâs âBridge to Artificial Intelligenceâ (Bridge2AI) consortium, a nationwide endeavour to apply AI to complex biomedical challenges.Â
AI voice analysis may soon help detect vocal fold lesions in clinical care
The team analysed variations in tone, pitch, volume, and clarity within the first version of the public Bridge2AI-Voice dataset, with 12,523 voice recordings of 306 participants from across North America.
A minority were from patients with known laryngeal cancer, benign vocal fold lesions, or two other conditions of the voice box: spasmodic dysphonia and unilateral vocal fold paralysis.
The researchers analysed differences in several acoustic features of the voice: for example, the mean fundamental frequency (pitch); jitter, variation in pitch within speech; shimmer, variation of the amplitude; and the harmonic-to-noise ratio, a measure of the relation between harmonic and noise components of speech.
The team found marked differences in the harmonic-to-noise ratio and fundamental frequency between men without any voice disorder, men with benign vocal fold lesions, and men with laryngeal cancer. They found no informative acoustic features among women, but it is possible that a larger dataset would reveal such differences.
The authors concluded that especially variation in the harmonic-to-noise ratio can be helpful to monitor the clinical evolution of vocal fold lesions, and to detect laryngeal cancer at an early stage, at least in men.
âOur results suggest that ethically sourced, large, multiâinstitutional datasets like Bridge2AIâVoice could soon help make our voice a practical biomarker for cancer risk in clinical care,â said Jenkins.
âTo move from this study to an AI tool that recognises vocal fold lesions, we would train models using an even larger dataset of voice recordings, labelled by professionals. We then need to test the system to make sure it works equally well for women and men,â said Jenkins.
âVoice-based health tools are already being piloted. Building on our findings, I estimate that with larger datasets and clinical validation, similar tools to detect vocal fold lesions might enter pilot testing in the next couple of years,â predicted Jenkins.
