Rockfall at Indonesian limestone quarry kills eight


By AFP
May 30, 2025


Rescuers use heavy equipment to search for people buried by a rockfall at the quarry in Cirebon, Indonesia - Copyright AFP Rizky Josahema Tambunan

At least eight people were killed and a dozen injured Friday in a rockfall at a limestone quarry on Indonesia’s Java island, police said.

The company overseeing the mine was operating legally but safety standards were lacking, according to West Java governor Dedi Mulyadi, who said he has ordered its closure following the accident.

Workers and heavy equipment were buried when rocks suddenly crumbled at the mining site in the city of Cirebon in West Java province at around 09:30 am local time (0230 GMT).

“We are now focusing on evacuating victims. Until now, eight people have been found dead, and 12 others were injured and have been taken to hospitals,” local police chief, Sumarni, who like many Indonesians has one name told AFP.

Rescuers were still scouring the site to find more victims who might be trapped under the debris, deploying excavators for the search effort.

Friday’s incident was the second time the quarry collapsed. Parts of the mine collapsed in February but there were no casualties reported.

“I decided to shut down the pit permanently, not just this pit but also other pits nearby,” Dedi told Metro TV.

Mining accidents are common across the mineral-rich Southeast Asian archipelago, especially in unlicensed sites where safety protocols are often ignored.

In 2023, eight workers died after being trapped in an illegal gold mine in Central Java.

In July last year at least 23 people died and 35 others were missing when a landslide hit a remote village near an illegal gold mine on the central island of Sulawesi.

Brazil sues China’s BYD over ‘slavery’ conditions on build site

By AFP
May 30, 2025


Electric vehicle maker BYD hit a record high after news of a battery it says can charge in just five minutes - Copyright AFP BAY ISMOYO

Brazilian prosecutors are suing Chinese electric car giant BYD and two contracting companies for human trafficking and alleged slave labor conditions at a build site, according to legal documents seen by AFP Thursday.

The case concerns 220 Chinese workers found last December in conditions “analogous to slavery” at a BYD plant under construction in Camacari, in the northeastern state of Bahia.

Bahia’s regional ministry for works (MPT) said in December it had found “degrading working conditions” at the site being built, expected to be BYD’s largest electric car plant outside Asia.

Workers slept without mattresses and, in one case, 31 people had to share a bathroom, it said.

Laborers had “visible signs of skin damage” from working long hours under the sun.

The MPT said it also suspected “forced labor,” with illegal clauses in workers’ contracts, passports confiscated and the employer withholding as much as 70 percent of their salary. Workers were monitored by armed guards.

After the allegations were made public, BYD’s Brazilian subsidiary said it had broken its contract with the Jinjiang contractor responsible for work on the site.

Jinjiang denied the slavery allegation.

The MPT is now seeking 257 million reais ($45.3 million) for “collective moral damages,” as well as individual payments for each worker.

The civil suit against BYD, Jinjiang and Tonghe Intelligent Equipment (now Tecmonta) was filed after the companies refused to sign a “conduct adjustment agreement” proposed by Brazilian authorities, the MPT said.

On Thursday, BYD said in a statement it had collaborated with the MPT from the beginning, and “reaffirms its non-negotiable commitment to human and labor rights, guiding its activities by respecting Brazilian legislation and international labor protection standards.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters Beijing “places great importance on protecting and safeguarding workers’ legitimate rights and interests,” and requires Chinese companies to “operate in compliance with laws and regulations.”

Freed HK democracy activist says needs to figure out ‘red lines’

By AFP
May 30, 2025


Jimmy Sham (L) was one of four people released on Friday after serving their sentences - Copyright AFP/File Philip FONG

A leading face of Hong Kong’s quashed democracy movement told reporters he would have to figure out “where the red lines are” following his release from prison on Friday, after more than four years behind bars.

Jimmy Sham was one of 45 opposition figures jailed for subversion after holding an informal election primary in 2020, in what was the city’s largest national security case.

The 37-year-old was one of four people released on Friday after serving their sentences — the second batch from the 45 to be freed in recent months.

“It’s the first day, so I’m still trying to figure out what I can and should do in the future, and where the red lines are,” Sham told local media reporters.

Civil and political rights in the city have been curtailed since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, after enormous and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the year before.

Sham was the convenor of the now-defunct Civil Human Rights Front, one of the marches’ largest organising groups.



– ‘Out of touch’ –



A well-known LGBTQ activist, Sham wore a locally designed T-shirt featuring a parade of cartoon creatures waving a rainbow flag as he was released.

While he was in jail, judges ruled on a case he had brought asking the city’s top court to strike down Hong Kong’s same-sex marriage ban.

“(The case) was a blessing to me. I was in a mild depression… It made me feel as if something could change, and it made me feel empowered,” he said Friday.

Judges rejected same-sex marriage but ordered the government to set up an “alternative legal framework” to protect same-sex couples’ rights.

“It’s a shame that the case was lost, but having a framework that can be established (in the future) has been a big change,” Sham said.

But after four years and three months in jail, he said he had a lot to catch up on and learn from others.

“I think I am out of touch with society,” he said, adding he wanted to spend time with his family before anything else.

He walked free along with three former district councillors, Roy Tam, Henry Wong, and Kinda Li.

Their release follows that of ex-legislators Claudia Mo, Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki and Gary Fan, also part of the 45, in late April.

Sham said he had “mixed feelings” about his freedom.

“I’ve experienced a lot of unhappiness and powerlessness, so I hope we can all pull ourselves together, and try to get on with our lives anyway,” he said.

“I won’t leave Hong Kong at this moment, as many who are meaningful to me are still staying here,” he added.

COMMODITY FETISH

S.Africa’s ‘king of kitsch’ Tretchikoff sells for new world record


By AFP
May 28, 2025


Copyright AFP -

Vladimir Tretchikoff’s iconic painting “Lady from the Orient” has sold for more than $1.7m in a new world record for the Russia-born South African painter, a Johannesburg auction house said Wednesday.

The 1955 portrait of a glamorous woman in a green and gold silk gown is among Tretchikoff’s most recognisable pieces, reproduced the world over on items such as tablecloths to handbags.

It sold to an anonymous telephone bidder late Tuesday for R31,892,000 (US$1,776,017), the Strauss & Co auction house said.

The final price, inclusive of commission and taxes, “comfortably eclipses” the previous world record for a Tretchikoff work of £982,050 for “Chinese Girl” (1952) sold in London in 2013, it said in a statement.

The painting of the daughter of a Cape Town grocer was a particular sensation in 1960s Britain and is among the most famous images produced by Tretchikoff, who moved to Cape Town in 1946 and died there in 2006.

“It was sold as a reproduction in London from 1962 and it was the second-highest selling print in Britain in 1962 and a massive seller in 1963, ’64, ’65,” senior art specialist at Strauss & Co, Alastair Meredith, told AFP ahead of the auction.

Tretchikoff, whose stylised work — including the famous “The Dying Swan” (1949) — led some to call him “the king of kitsch”, became wealthy through the reproductions and prints of his pieces.

“Tretchikoff essentially authorised huge numbers of prints of his own paintings to be sold at very cheap prices in department stores and stationery shops all around the world,” Meredith said.

“Lady from the Orient” is “part of South Africa’s cultural and visual makeup, part of our country’s aesthetic history. But it’s also a global icon,” he said.

Tretchikoff was born in what is now Kazakhstan, and was then Russia, in 1913. He fled with his family to China at the 1917 Russian revolution and grew up in Shanghai, before moving to Singapore and then South Africa.

Op-Ed: Beginning of the end in Ukraine? Russian rock throwing backfires badly.


By Paul Wallis
DIGITAL JOURNAL
May 28, 2025


Ukraine has been battling Russia's invasion for more than three years - Copyright 65th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces/AFP Andriy Andriyenko

The end is coming. Not due to politics, not due to vapid, superficial headlines and infantile disinformation, not due to tantrums, but because it must.

The headlines squeak for themselves. Russia, true to form, is flailing away at Ukraine with whatever it has to hand. They might as well be throwing rocks. At themselves.

The most recent attacks are indicative of the utter futility of Russia’s position:

Some minor damage to Ukrainian cities from three major attacks.

Some deaths.

No noticeable effect of any kind, even theoretical, on the military situation.

Instant response from Europe allows Ukraine to fire into Russian territory.

Digressions including various political bleatings from moronic third parties and yet more threats of the Third World War based on the response to those attacks.

Trump is distancing himself from Putin at full speed.

So what, you may well ask. The sheer futility of the Russian actions is obvious. These attacks have been totally counterproductive.

Add to this rhapsody of regression a few other points:

The peace process hasn’t moved at all. Russia is insisting on terms that Ukraine unequivocally ruled out three years ago.

Europe is rearming. That means support for Ukraine will increase, not decrease. Another strategic disaster for Russia.

America’s input has been a total of 5 pitiful months of farcical bluster and blundering with absolutely no effect. This may well be the most unimpressive American diplomatic effort in history.

Unrealism isn’t a great way to fight a war. It’s certainly no way to win a war. For all the talk of millions of drones and new weapons, the situation on the ground simply gets worse for the Russians. There are no dramatic advances, just lots of firefights, which they usually lose.

The great Russian tank armies are extinct and their best combat forces frittered away years ago. Russian air defenses seem haphazard at best with even Moscow and beyond getting hit for years. The Russian air force is largely gone over Ukraine. The Russian navy is in hiding.

Russian logistics are still appalling. They’re now using donkeys due to lack of surviving military transport. It’s very much a matter of opinion how far the Russian army is capable of moving in any direction. It’s also a very moot point whether they can hold Crimea.

It’s time to talk about the quality of information available. Do you base your decisions on good information or babble?

Where the ghosts of Western journalism whisper sweet nothings to the current plague of incompetent transient political nobodies, the Ukrainians are producing vast amounts of “collateral” information from ground level. That’s not getting much of a mention.

The Kyiv Independent is far less ambiguous and far more objective. This is where hard information makes more sense than politicized babble.

Did you know, for example, that the Russians are building 250km power lines to the Zaphorizia nuclear reactor?

Why? Do they have no other source of power? Why not? What does it tell you about the Russian situation?

That reactor is also right on the front line. What’s the likely future of those power lines? What use can they be? Russian troops can’t have trucks and have to use donkeys and civilian vehicles. The really important thing is that someone in the rear would like to plug in their toaster? Idiocy is as idiocy does.

This war must end because total failure is where all wars end.

__________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

In world first, Mexican voters to elect all judges


By AFP
May 28, 2025


Judicial workers protest contentious reforms making Mexico the world's only country to elect all judges - Copyright AFP Jim WATSON

Jean Arce

Mexico is set to become the world’s only country to let voters elect all of their judges, sparking sharp disagreement about whether the reforms will diminish or strengthen criminal influence over the courts.

The government says the unprecedented popular vote for judges and magistrates at all levels — including the Supreme Court — is needed to address rampant corruption and impunity.

Critics argue it will undermine the judiciary’s independence and warn the participation of controversial candidates — such as a former lawyer for notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman — means it is doomed to backfire.

On Sunday, voters will choose several thousand federal, district and local judges and magistrates. Another election for the remainder will be held in 2027.

Not just anybody can run for one of these jobs. Candidates must have a law degree, experience in legal affairs, what is termed “a good reputation,” and no criminal record.

Opponents, including judicial workers, have held a series of mass street protests in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the reforms.

“Justice is not something you vote for” and it needs people with experience and specialized knowledge, said Olimpia Rojas Luviano, a 28-year-old lawyer.

But Maria del Rocio Morales, a judge who is standing to be a magistrate in the capital, said she was happy to take part.

“For the good of my city and my country, I will do it,” she said.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has played down signs that many voters are unlikely to take part in the vote .

“People are very intelligent and know who they are going to vote for,” the veteran left-winger said.

According to surveys by the El Universal and El Pais newspapers, only half of voters know the election date, and only four out of 10 are certain they will participate.

– ‘Rotten’ judiciary –

While judicial elections are not new — the United States and Bolivia, for instance, allow voters to pick some judges — Mexico will be the only nation to elect them at all levels.

The reform was championed by Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who criticized the judicial system as “rotten,” corrupt and serving the interests of the political and economic elite.

Mexico has a long history of human rights violations that remain unpunished, including the disappearance of 43 students from a teacher training college in 2014, allegedly at the hands of drug traffickers and corrupt authorities.

Despite dozens of arrests, there have been no convictions.

Mexico’s criminal justice system “is profoundly ineffective at ensuring accountability for criminal violence and abuses by security forces,” according to New York-based Human Right Watch.

Lopez Obrador frequently clashed with the judiciary, in particular the Supreme Court, which impeded some of his policies.

Sheinbaum, who replaced him in October, is a staunch supporter of the sweeping changes. Her opponents say they will eliminate democratic checks and balances.

Sheinbaum’s ruling party already dominates both houses of Congress.

Opponents warn that elected judges could be more vulnerable to pressure from criminals, in a country where powerful drug cartels regularly use bribery and intimidation to influence officials.

Rights group Defensorxs has identified around 20 candidates it considers “high risk” for reasons including allegations of cartel links, corruption and sexual abuse, even though one of the requirements for running is to have no criminal record.

These people include Silvia Delgado, a former lawyer for “El Chapo,” the Sinaloa cartel co-founder imprisoned in the United States.

Defensorxs describes her as a candidate who “defends alleged drug traffickers.”

Delgado, who is standing to be a judge in the northern state of Chihuahua, told AFP: “Every person has the right to counsel.”

Another controversial candidate seeking to be a district judge in the northern state of Durango served prison time in the United States for drug crimes, according to Defensorxs.

A major concern for voters is the complexity of a vote that will require people in Mexico City to mark nine ballots for local and federal judges.

“I think even the people who devised it don’t know how to do it,” said Rojas Luviano.

Jihadist attacks hit Mozambique as Total readies to resume gas project


By AFP
May 29, 2025


Insurgents have terrorised northern Mozambique for years - Copyright AFP Hector RETAMAL

Clément VARANGES

A series of attacks in northern Mozambique this month point to a resurgence of violence by Islamic State-linked militants as energy giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume a major gas project, analysts say.

The group terrorised northern Mozambique for years before brazenly vowing in 2020 to turn the northern gas-rich Cabo Delgado province into a caliphate.

TotalEnergies paused a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project there in 2021 following a wave of bloody raids that forced more than a million people to flee.

The insurgency was pushed to the background by a months-long unrest that followed elections in October.

But there has been a new wave of violence. In May, the Islamists attacked two military installations, claiming to kill 11 soldiers in the first and 10 in the second.

A security expert confirmed the first attack and put the toll at 17. There was no comment from the Mozambican security forces.

– Dramatic strikes –

There were two dramatic strikes earlier — a raid on a wildlife reserve in the neighbouring Niassa province late April killed at least two rangers, while an ambush in Cabo Delgado claimed the lives of three Rwandan soldiers.

Also unusual was a thwarted attack on a Russian oceanographic vessel in early May that the crew said in a distress message was launched by “pirates”, according to local media.

“Clearly there is a cause and effect because some actions correspond exactly to important announcements in the gas area,” said Fernando Lima, a researcher with the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory which monitors violence in Mozambique, referring to the $4.7 billion funding approved in mid-March by the US Export-Import Bank for the long-delayed gas project.

“The insurgents are seeing more vehicles passing by with white project managers,” said Jean-Marc Balencie of the French-based political and security risk group Attika Analysis.

“There’s more visible activity in the region and that’s an incentive for attacks”.

– ‘Propaganda effect’ –

Conflict tracker ACLED recorded at least 80 attacks in the first four months of the year.

The uptick was partly due to the end of the rainy season which meant roads were once again passable, it said.

TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last Friday that the security situation had “greatly improved” although there were “sporadic incidents”.

The attack that stalled the TotalEnergies project in 2021 occurred in the port town of Palma and lasted several days, sending thousands fleeing into the forest.

ACLED estimated that more than 800 civilians and combatants were killed while independent journalist Alex Perry reported after an investigation that more than 1,400 were dead or missing.

Rwandan forces deployed alongside the Mozambique military soon afterwards, their number increasing to around 5,000, based on Rwandan military statements.

The concentration of forces in Cabo Delgado “allows insurgents to easily conduct operations in Niassa province,” said a Mozambican military officer on condition of anonymity.

The raid on the tourist wildlife lodge straddling Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces was for “propaganda effect”, said Lima, as it grabbed more international media attention than hits on local villages that claim the lives of locals.

Strikes on civilians, with several cases of decapitation reported, often fall under the radar because of the remoteness of the impoverished region and official silence.

“More than 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique within a few weeks,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week.

This was in addition to the 1.3 million the UN said in November had been displaced since the conflict began in 2017.

“The renewed intensity of the conflict affects regions previously considered rather stable,” said UNHCR’s Mozambique representative Xavier Creach.

In Niassa, for example, about 2,085 people fled on foot after an attack on Mbamba village late April where women reported witnessing beheadings.

More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict since it erupted, according to Acled.

strs-clv/ho-br/ach

 

Huge sea-urchin populations are overwhelming Hawaii’s coral reefs

North Carolina State University

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As coral reefs struggle to adapt to warming waters, high levels of pollution and sea-level rise, ballooning sea-urchin populations are threatening to push some reefs in Hawaii past the point of recovery.

The phenomenon is described in a new study that uses on-site field work and airborne imagery to track the health of the reef in Hōnaunau Bay, Hawaii. Overfishing is the main culprit behind the explosion in sea-urchin numbers, said Kelly van Woesik, Ph.D. student in the North Carolina State University Center for Geospatial Analytics and first author of the study.

“Fishing in these areas has greatly reduced the number of fishes that feed on these urchins, and so urchin populations have grown significantly,” van Woesik said. “We are seeing areas where you have about 51 urchins per square meter, which is among the highest population density for sea urchins anywhere in the world.”

Those urchins eat the reef, which is already not growing at a healthy rate, van Woesik said. Water pollution and overheated water created by climate change result in a poor environment for the coral to reproduce and grow, leaving the reef even less able to keep up with the pace of erosion caused by the urchins.

Reef growth is generally measured in terms of net carbonate production, which refers to the amount of calcium carbonate produced in a square meter over a year. Prior research in the 1980s found areas in Hawaii with carbonate production around 15 kilograms per square meter, which would signal a healthy, growing reef, van Woesik said. The reef in Hōnaunau Bay today, however, showed an average net carbonate production of only 0.5 kg per square meter, indicating that the reef is growing very slowly.

By combining data gathered through on-site scuba diving with images taken from the air, van Woesik determined that the reef would need to maintain an average of 26% coral cover to break even with the pace of urchin erosion, and a higher cover in order to grow. The average coral cover across all depths was 28%, she said, but areas in shallow depths with more erosion would still need nearly 40% cover to break even.

For the islands they surround, coral reefs like those in Hōnaunau Bay provide important coastal protection against erosion from waves, absorbing up to 97% of incoming wave energy. They are also often vital to the economies of those areas, which rely on the reefs and the fishes that live there. Van Woesik said the study highlights the need for more robust fisheries management in the area to bolster the populations of carnivorous fishes that eat the urchins.

“The reefs cannot keep up with erosion without the help of those natural predators, and these reefs are essential to protecting the islands they surround,” she said. “Without action taken now, we risk allowing these reefs to erode past the point of no return.”

The study, “Scaling-up coral reef carbonate production: sea-urchin bioerosion suppresses reef growth in Hawaiʻi,” is published in PLOS One. Co-authors include Jiwei Li and Gregory P. Asner of Arizona State University.

-pitchford-

Note to editors: The abstract of the paper follows.

“Scaling-up coral reef carbonate production: sea-urchin bioerosion suppresses reef growth in Hawaiʻi”

Authors: Kelly van Woesik, North Carolina State University; Jiwei Li and Gregory P. Asner, Arizona State University.

Published: May 28, 2025 in PLOS One

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324197

Abstract: Coral reefs provide essential social, economic, and ecological services for millions of people worldwide. Yet, climate change and local anthropogenic stressors are damaging reefs globally, compromising their framework-building capacity and associated functionality. A reef carbonate budget provides a quantitative measure of growth and functional status, but utilization of remote sensing to scale-up such a metric remains limited. This study used census-based field surveys across depths in Hōnaunau Bay, Hawaiʻi to examine rates of carbonate production, and scaled up estimates across the bay with high-resolution benthic-cover data derived from airborne imaging spectroscopy. Average net carbonate production was ~0.5 kg CaCO3 m-2y-1across the 2–17 m depth gradient, ranging from -2.1 to 2.4 kg CaCO3 m-2y-1 at 3 and 6 m, respectively. The scaling model with the lowest root mean square error was achieved using a 2-m resolution map of live coral cover. Sea-urchin densities averaged 51 individuals m-2, which were among the highest recorded densities on coral reefs globally. The subsequent high bioerosion from sea urchins suppressed estimated reef-growth potential, particularly in the shallow reef <6 m. Field estimates of net carbonate production translate to vertical reef accretion of ~0.5 mm y-1 across depths, indicating the reef in its present form is not keeping pace with the current rate of sea- level rise (3.55 mm y-1) in west Hawaiʻi. These results suggest a need for improved fisheries management in Hōnaunau Bay to enhance carnivorous-fish abundances, thereby helping to reduce sea-urchin densities and improve reef-growth capacity. Critically, an estimated threshold of ~26% live coral cover is currently needed to maintain positive net production across depths. This study demonstrates the utility of monitoring carbonate production by integrating field measurements and airborne imaging spectroscopy, and highlights the need for management decisions in west Hawaiʻi that enhance resilient carbonate budgets of coral reefs.

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0324197 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Scaling-up coral reef carbonate production: Sea-urchin bioerosion suppresses reef growth in Hawaiʻi

Article Publication Date

28-May-2025

COI Statement

 

Lack of gender lens in tobacco control research could stymie efforts to help smokers quit, York University researchers say

York University

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TORONTO, May 28, 2025 – Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, York University researchers with Global Strategy Lab (GSL) have published a paper that finds a lack of gender analysis in tobacco control research. The researchers say this means that we could be missing out on important strategies accounting for gendered behaviors that could help smokers quit. The paper, published today in BMJ Tobacco Control, is the first in a series of papers coming out of York University and GSL on gender and smoking. 

“In the tobacco control research community, we're not looking at gender, and even though we all know that gender is a hugely important determinant of tobacco use and how effective tobacco control policies are,” says Mathieu Poirier, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health, York Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Director of Global Strategy Lab. “This lack of a gender lens limits our understanding of the effectiveness of tobacco control policy interventions and fails to address gendered smoking behaviors.” 

The researchers, including Poirier, GSL Investigator and York University researcher  Tina Nanyangwe-Moyo and GSL research assistant and York researcher Laura R Pereira, examined 43 peer-reviewed studies on tobacco control and found that while some studies looked at basic comparisons between men and women, only five evaluated the gender-specific impacts of tobacco control policies. 

“The incorporation of gender in the peer-reviewed research is lackluster,” says Nanyangwe-Moyo. “We hope our contributions will show the importance of looking at the differences in smoking behaviors of men and women around the world in creating effective policy and smoking cessation programs.” 

While this study is the first to examine the intersection of tobacco-control and gender-based policy, it builds on existing research from the Global Strategy Lab on smoking and global policy. 

In Canada, while smoking rates are on the decline, 14.8 per cent of men and 10.2 per cent of women smoke. Globally, more than a fifth of the world’s population uses tobacco, with the World Health Organization reporting 36.7 per cent of men and 7.8 of women using tobacco products in 2020. 

Poirier says they chose to focus on cigarette smoking in their research rather than vaping as it is the most common form of tobacco use and because of its level of harm.

“There are harms associated with vaping itself, but when we look at the number one preventable cause of premature mortality and morbidity, it's combustible tobacco use,” he says. 

GSL is hosting a discussion of how to strengthen tobacco controls globally on Thursday May 29 at 10 a.m. EDT. Details and registration information can be found here. 

-30- 

York University is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. York's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. York’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future. 

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Journal

Tobacco Control

DOI

10.1136/tc-2025-059334 

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Structured evaluation of gender integration in tobacco control research

Article Publication Date

28-May-2025

 Inflammatory bowel disease

IBD on the rise: International research highlights spread in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

Global study of IBD describes four distinct stages of the disease as it spreads to newly developing regions

University of Chicago

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image: 

Global epidemiologic stages of IBD from a) 1950 to 1959, b) 1960 to 1969, c) 1970 to 1979, d) 1980 to 1989, e) 1990 to 1999, f) 2000 to 2009, g) 2010 to 2019, and h) 2020 to 2024.

view more 

Credit: Hracs, et al. Nature.

Inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, has long been considered a modern condition of the industrialized West, with cases steadily increasing in North America and Europe throughout the 20th century. New research conducted by an international consortium shows that IBD and related conditions are now spreading through developing regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America as well.

The study, published in Nature, used data from more than 500 population-based studies covering more than 80 geographic regions to describe a pattern of four distinct stages IBD progresses through as it first appears in a region and spreads through the population. In describing these stages, the researchers hope to provide resources and guidance to local health care systems for coping with the growing burden of patients with IBD.

The research was conducted by the Global IBD Visualization of Epidemiology Studies in the 21st Century (GIVES 21) consortium, a group of international IBD and public health experts led by Gilaad G. Kaplan, MD, from the University of Calgary and Siew C. Ng, MBBS, PhD, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. GIVES21 has built a large repository of IBD epidemiology data and offers open access to the complete dataset for researchers, clinicians, and patients worldwide through a web application.

“This has been a huge, collaborative effort to understand IBD around the globe,” said GIVES21 team member David T. Rubin, MD, the Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago.

“Now that we recognize what's happening with IBD in emerging areas of the world, we can start focusing on being able to treat it in places where these conditions are new. We can also study it in these emerging areas so we might get new clues as to what's driving this so we can help prevent it,” said Rubin, who is also the newly elected Chair of the International Organization for the study of IBD (IOIBD), which supported the new study.

Drawing on a century of data

The team drew on a century’s worth of data about IBD compiled by GIVES21. They analyzed new diagnoses per year and total people living with IBD, and found that it is unfolding in four distinct, predictable stages:

1. Emergence: Currently seen in low-income countries, with both new and total cases remaining low.
2. Acceleration in Incidence: Marked by a rapid rise in new diagnoses as regions industrialize and lifestyles shift, though total cases remain limited.
3. Compounding Prevalence: With incidence stabilizing, prevalence soars—driven by low mortality and accumulating cases in younger populations.
4. Prevalence Equilibrium: Projected in several high-income regions by 2045, where new diagnoses balance disease related deaths, plateauing overall prevalence.

As a chronic inflammatory condition that is driven by immune system responses, IBD has been linked to so-called Western diets that are high in processed foods, animal products, and sugar while also low in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. People in industrializing economies tend to adopt more elements of this diet, but that alone doesn’t tell the full story; IBD is increasing in India, for example, which has a high proportion of people who are vegetarian.

Rubin said other factors may be contributing as well. Growing evidence points to the implications of how food is prepared and stored, as more researchers explore the effects of emulsifiers and microplastics in food on IBD. He also emphasizes that it’s important to remember that IBD is really dozens of distinct different conditions caused by myriad genetic and environmental factors.

“By understanding where you're studying the disease, what you're looking at, and which people are developing IBD, you can get different ideas of what might be driving it, which will help us separate out these different types of IBD and find the right ways to treat them,” Rubin said.

Applying lessons on a local scale

As Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at UChicago, Rubin hopes to bring some of these same insights home on a smaller scale. He and his colleagues are planning to launch their own epidemiological study in Chicago to understand how different socioeconomic factors and access to care affect the largely Black and Latino patient populations on the south and southwest sides of the city who often have more severe versions of the disease.

“Even though we have one of the largest IBD centers in the world, there's a clear disparity in diagnosis and access to expert care just a mile from here,” he said. “Taking something like this at a global level and getting down to the microcosm of the South Side of Chicago is incredibly important to find better ways to diagnose, treat, and eventually prevent IBD our own patients.”

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-08940-0 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Global evolution of inflammatory bowel disease across epidemiologic stages