UPDATE: Thai prime minister suspended by court over leaked audio – Cambodia regards this as Thai internal issue

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra / Thai Prime Minister Office

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By bno - Phnom Penh Office July 1, 2025

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been temporarily suspended from her duties following a decision by Thailand’s Constitutional Court to accept a petition submitted by a group of senators, according to a report by Prachatai English. The court’s ruling comes in the wake of a leaked audio recording allegedly featuring a private conversation between Paetongtarn and former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

In the court session held on Tuesday, July 1, seven out of nine judges voted in favour of suspending the prime minister while the case is under investigation. Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit has been appointed as Acting Prime Minister in the interim.

The petition against Paetongtarn alleges that she has breached ministerial ethics. Her suspension also coincides with rising tensions over an unresolved border issue with Cambodia, which has led to temporary closures of certain border crossings and disruptions in the movement of people and goods. When questioned recently about the matter, Paetongtarn admitted feeling anxious, saying, “If you are asking if I am worried, I am.”

From the Cambodian side, the government has responded cautiously. Speaking to Kiripost, government spokesperson Pen Bona emphasised that the issue is an internal Thai affair. “This is not a matter involving Cambodia,” he said. “Cambodia respects the internal political processes of its neighbour.”

When asked whether the leadership change in Thailand could affect ongoing bilateral discussions, including those on border demarcation and trade, Pen Bona reaffirmed Cambodia’s stance on continuity and cooperation.

“Cambodia will continue to engage with Thailand regardless of political changes. We remain committed to maintaining constructive relations and resolving shared challenges through dialogue,” he added.

Thailand's Constitutional Court rules to suspend Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra

Philippine President Bongbong Marcos and Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra meet on the sidelines of the 46th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 26, 2025. / Presidential Communications Office - Manila - PD

By bno - Phnom Penh Office July 1, 2025

The Constitutional Court of Thailand has ruled 7-2 to suspend Paetongtarn Shinawatra from her duties as Prime Minister according to sources in the region.

The court has agreed to consider her impeachment over a  recent highly controversial audio clip of a phone call that emerged as part of a territorial spat with neighbouring Cambodia. 

In the recording, Paetongtarn is understood to have referred to Hun Sen - Cambodia’s former leader - in familial terms whilst also criticising a senior Thai military figure. The incident triggered widespread public backlash and eventually prompted a formal petition seeking her removal. That request is now under court review local sources including The Nation report.

The suspension sidelines Paetongtarn temporarily as she is given 15 days to respond to the allegations against her. In the meantime, Deputy Prime Minister Suriya and Minister of Transport, Jungrungruangkit has stepped in as acting prime minister.

Paetongtarn is now the third member of the influential Shinawatra political dynasty to be pushed out of office before completing a full term. The family has shaped Thai politics for more than 20 years but has repeatedly faced challenges from more conservative and military-aligned factions.

Her fragile ruling coalition, which only holds a narrow majority, has been further weakened by the recent withdrawal of a major right-wing partner.

Should the court opt to remove her, Paetongtarn would become the second prime minister from the Pheu Thai party to be ousted in under a year. Her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, lost his position in August 2024 after he controversially appointed a cabinet minister who had previously served a prison sentence the BBC reports.

Paetongtarn, herself the daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, took office shortly afterwards. At 38, she is the youngest person to lead Thailand and to date only the second woman to do so, following her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra - who was also removed from office.

The current scandal adds to the headwinds facing Paetongtarn’s government as it struggles to boost a flagging economy. Public confidence in her leadership has dropped sharply, with approval ratings falling to just over 9% in recent days, compared with 31% as recently as March.

Paetongtarn has issued an apology for the remarks made in the leaked call, describing them as part of a diplomatic approach to ease tensions over recent border disputes. However, critics in Parliament, particularly among conservative MPs, accuse her of yielding to Cambodia and compromising national security.

El Salvador’s Bukele offers to ‘ship inmates to Paris’ following fashion week controversy

Chavarria opened his Paris show with a tribute to immigrants and US citizens facing ICE detention and potential deportation to El Salvador, as the models walked the runway "dressed in baggy white tees and loose shorts."

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By bne IntelliNews July 1, 2025

El Salvador’s government has sharply criticised a Paris Fashion Week show by Mexican-American designer Willy Chavarría for featuring outfits resembling the prison-issue uniforms used in the country’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT). AFP reported that the former Ralph Lauren designer staged models kneeling in white T-shirts and shorts, mirroring imagery associated with the mega-prison’s inmates.

According to Dazed, Chavarria opened his June 27 show with a tribute to immigrants and US citizens facing ICE detention and potential deportation to facilities in countries including El Salvador, as the shaved-headed models walked the runway "dressed in baggy white tees and loose shorts." The gesture comes as President Donald Trump intensifies his crackdown on illegal migration.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele quickly responded on social media, quipping that his government could “ship them all to Paris” if France authorised it—an assertion his press office later portrayed as a principled stand against “glorifying criminality.” Yet, the tone of the reaction underlines the government’s sensitivity to how its tough-on-gangs narrative is depicted abroad.

CECOT, a mega jail established in early 2023 under Bukele’s security initiatives, has capacity for 40,000 inmates but housed approximately 14,500 by mid-2024 and over 105,000 across the system by December 2023. Built as part of a broader strategy to reduce gang violence, the facility operates under a state of emergency first declared in March 2022. This legal framework permits arrests without warrants and has resulted in roughly 86,000 detentions—among them over 3,000 minors—according to rights groups and official sources.

Although homicides have declined significantly, numerous international observers, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Human Rights First, have flagged patterns of arbitrary arrests, overcrowding, torture, and due-process violations.

Notably, CECOT also houses around 252 Venezuelan migrants deported under the Trump administration’s wartime Alien Enemies Act. These individuals were transferred to El Salvador without court hearings under a controversial bilateral agreement and are accused of gang affiliation, claims their lawyers dispute. Venezuela’s attorney-general has condemned their treatment as “human trafficking,” calling for their release. Reports describe substandard conditions: severe overcrowding, inadequate food, limited legal access, and instances of physical and psychological harm. 

Several Salvadoran police officers, speaking anonymously, have confirmed the existence of arrest quotas and fabricated cases aimed at meeting targets to boost profits, further raising questions over the rule of law. The Catholic Bishops of El Salvador have also warned that the country risks becoming an “international prison” if deportation policies continue

Social Probing: indirect surveys to better understand society

The project, coordinated by IMDEA Networks, proposes an innovative alternative to understanding public opinion with fewer resources and greater respect for privacy

 News Release 1-Jul-2025

IMDEA Networks Institute

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How can we understand what a society thinks without relying on traditional surveys that require large samples and significant investment? The Social Probing project, now completed and coordinated by researcher Antonio Fernández Anta at IMDEA Networks, was carried out in collaboration with UC3M, UPM, and Universitat Jaume I to achieve precisely that: develop scalable, cost-effective, and privacy-preserving tools that allow for continuous societal monitoring. Their solution: indirect surveys.

This type of survey doesn’t ask people directly about their own opinions, but about those of their contacts: “How many of your contacts would vote for party X?” or “How many have shown symptoms of COVID-19?” Based on these responses, the team can estimate the actual behavior or situation of the broader population.

New uses for an underutilized technique

Although indirect surveys have existed for decades, their use has been limited. Social Probing, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, has revived and expanded this methodology, applying it to diverse contexts such as COVID-19 tracking, voting intention estimation in various elections, and the distribution of domestic chores between men and women, in collaboration with the Women’s Institute.

“Thanks to this technique, we’ve been able to accurately estimate voting intentions in regional (such as Madrid or Valencia), national, and European elections. In fact, in the national elections in Madrid, our seat distribution estimate missed just one seat—using only 200 participants—compared to traditional surveys that rely on thousands,” Fernández Anta emphasizes.

More privacy, lower cost, greater honesty

Indirect surveys offer several advantages over traditional polls: they require smaller samples, which reduces costs, and they better preserve privacy. “Asking about the voting intention of a participant’s contacts is less intrusive than asking about their own,” explains Fernández Anta. This also increases the likelihood of receiving honest answers.

The team also identified key factors that influence result accuracy, such as the participant’s age, which can introduce hard-to-correct biases. To address this, they have begun stratifying samples by age groups.

Results and next steps

The project’s main outcomes include both the data collected and the tools developed to design, deploy, and analyze indirect surveys. This technological and methodological legacy will live on beyond the project: the team is currently working on a PhD thesis focused on robust methods for processing this kind of data, and on identifying which types of social networks are best suited for its application.
They are also exploring new application areas, such as raising awareness about water use in Spain, with new surveys already in development.

 

Fentanyl detection through packaging

PNAS Nexus

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Fentanyl has killed hundreds of thousands of people globally since 2015. Detection of the drugs during interdiction is currently done through Raman spectroscopy or chemical strips—both of which require direct access to samples. Michael Malone and colleagues use a magnetic resonance technique to detect fentanyl hydrochloride inside sealed opaque containers and packages—an approach that could be used in airports, border crossings, post offices, and other contexts. Nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectroscopy sends a radio frequency pulse with a frequency corresponding to a transition energy of the target nucleus and, if the target nuclei are present, receives in return a detectable and chemically specific magnetic signature. For fentanyl, key target nuclei include the naturally abundant isotopes of nitrogen and chlorine. Effective NQR spectrometers can cost just a few thousand dollars and do not require superconducting magnets or extreme temperatures. There are some limitations: thick metallic wrapping could block detection, and the detector must be within several centimeters of the drugs. According to the authors, the technique could nevertheless help detect and divert large quantities of fentanyl.

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Journal

PNAS Nexus

Article Title

Standoff detection of fentanyl hydrochloride via nuclear quadrupole resonance: A multimodality pursuit

Article Publication Date

1-Jul-2025

 

New 3D glacier visualizations provide insights into a hotter Earth

Fine satellite monitoring offers novel way to track glacier melt, study finds

Ohio State University

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – As glaciers retreat due to a rise in global temperatures, one study shows detailed 3D elevation models could drastically improve predictions about how they react to Earth’s warming climate.  

While only 10% of Earth is covered in glacial ice, these masses have far-reaching impacts on all the world’s ecosystems. Rapid melting can trigger natural disasters, and glaciers help to regulate the planet’s temperature and sea level and are sources of pristine fresh drinking water.

To better differentiate between seasonal ice loss and that caused by long-term climate trends, researchers studied the fluctuating heights of three glaciers: the La Perouse Glacier in North America, the Viedma Glacier in South America and the Skamri Glacier located in Central Asia.

Their analysis revealed that between 2019 and 2023, the Viedma Glacier (Argentina) and the La Perouse Glacier (Alaska) experienced consistent thinning, but the Skamri Glacier (Pakistan)  had been stable enough to experience a small net gain of ice, said Rongjun Qin, co-author of the study and an associate professor of civil, environmental and geodetic engineering at The Ohio State University.

Measurements in this study were made using daily high-resolution images gathered by the PlanetScope satellite constellation, which researchers then used to create 3D reconstructions of how glacial ice flows evolved over time. By incorporating local and global climate data into these models to explore seasonal variations of glacier melt, the team essentially designed a way to monitor the behavior of glaciers across diverse regions.

“This is something that we’ve been thinking about for a long time, because existing glacier studies have such sparse seasonal observations since it’s difficult to get data out of remote areas,” said Qin, who is also a core faculty member of Ohio State’s Translational Data Analytics Institute. “What we wanted to do is to use medium-to-high resolution data to broaden those capabilities and improve the accuracy of the 3D models generated from that data.”

The study was recently published in the journal GIScience & Remote Sensing.

According to the study, while many modern 2D tracking techniques can provide valuable insights into glacier flow, previous studies tend to capture only short-term snapshots or else offer observations without in-depth motion analysis or high-resolution 3D data. This team’s work may help scientists keep better track of seasonal climate issues like glacier melt and expand long-term observations of these masses, and their 3D model method also reveals new data about how quickly the glaciers react to changes in the weather.

The Viedma and Skamri Glaciers, for example, exhibit a 45-day lag time in response to changes in local climate conditions like rain or snow. The La Perouse Glacier, however, was shown to react to changes almost immediately, meaning that its flow can very quickly become faster or slower based on how much precipitation it has accumulated.

In another finding, researchers concluded that behavior differences in all three are driven by distinct environmental and climatic conditions, but suggest that both local and global factors, rather than any single one, are responsible for patterns in glacier motion dynamics worldwide.

Such observations are vital to deepening our global understanding of glacier science, and with further improvements, this study’s algorithm could also be a useful tool for future disaster prediction and management, said Qin. Already, scientists have used similar systems to warn communities of natural disasters that would have led to tragedy.

In all, researchers hope that supporting modeling works like this one will inspire more scientists to utilize satellite data to investigate other types of important environmental research questions.

“Hopefully we can build on all sorts of applications that people are interested in with this,” said Qin.

Shengxi Gui of Ohio State was a co-author. This work’s data was provided by PlanetScope.

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Contact: Rongjun Qin, Qin.324@osu.edu

Written by: Tatyana Woodall, Woodall.52@osu.edu

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Journal

GIScience & Remote Sensing

DOI

10.1080/15481603.2025.2507470 

Article Title

Using PlanetScope-derived time-series elevation models and orthophotos to track glacier 3D dynamics in mid-latitude mountain regions

 

Creativity across disciplines

PNAS Nexus

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Jean Metzinger, 1911–1912, La Femme au Cheval (Woman with a Horse), oil on canvas, Statens Museum for Kunst. A favorite painting of the physicist Niels Bohr.

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Credit: Jean Metzinger

In a Perspective, Julio M. Ottino describes different classes of creativity and proposes a benchmark for the highest level of creativity. Combinative creativity is the process of combining existing elements to create new solutions, while transformative creativity leads to entirely new frameworks. But beyond the breakthroughs of transformative creativity, according to Ottino, is the “break-with,” a conceptual advance that destroys previous worldviews completely and ushers in a new order. Advances that rise to the level of a break-with include quantum mechanics in physics and cubism in visual art. Although AI excels in combinatorial creativity, Ottino says large language models struggle to be transformationally creative, and their reliance on training data may limit their ability to come up with solutions that represent a true break with the past. The Perspective includes case studies of historical figures who demonstrate creative fluidity, including Filippo Brunelleschi, the 15th century architect and engineer; Galileo Galilei, the 17th century astronomer and artist; Louis Pasteur, the 19th century scientist and lithographer; Jules Henri Poincaré, the early 20th century mathematician and essayist; Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the early 20th century neuroscientist and artist; and Niels Bohr, the early 20th century physicist and art explainer. 

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Journal

PNAS Nexus

Article Title

Creativity across domains: Thoughts in Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science, Technology, and Art

Article Publication Date

1-Jul-2025

 

Youngest in class at higher risk of mental health problems

ADHD was the most prevalent diagnosis, where researchers saw an increase in incidence of 20-80 per cent for the youngest class members.

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

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A recent study by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has found that children born in October, November or December are statistically more often identified as having a mental health diagnosis than their classmates born earlier in the year. The findings apply to both boys and girls, and regardless of whether they were born full term or prematurely.

Extensive research material

The researchers have followed over one million Norwegians aged 4 to 17 years (all born between 1991 and 2012) through Norwegian health registries.

The aim of the study was to identify what are known as ‘relative age effects’. In other words, whether children and adolescents born late in the year are more frequently diagnosed with mental health disorders than their peers born early in the year (January, February and March).

“Our findings show that the youngest members of a school class tend to be diagnosed with a mental illness more frequently than the oldest,” said Christine Strand Bachmann, a PhD research fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU’s) Department of Public Health and Nursing.

“This is most obvious with regard to ADHD, where we saw an increase in incidence of 20-80 per cent for the youngest class members, depending on whether the children were born full term or prematurely.”

The researchers found the same trend for ‘other neuropsychiatric disorders’. These include delayed developments in areas such as language, academic skills and motor skills.

The study has been published in BMJ Peadiatrics Open.

Additional risks for premature girls

In addition, the youngest premature girls were at a significantly greater risk of being diagnosed with emotional disorders, such as anxiety, depression and adaptation disorders, compared with the oldest premature girls in the same year group.

“We know that children and adolescents born prematurely are already more vulnerable to poor mental and social health compared with children and young people born full term. For those born prematurely, the risks associated with being born late in the year comes in addition to this vulnerability.

“We believe that these findings, which show an increase in the number of psychological diagnoses for the youngest class members, can partly be linked to the way in which we organize our education system. The school system is unable to adequately provide for children with normal, but more immature behaviour. Possible solutions include flexible school start dates or additional support.”

In addition to being a researcher at NTNU, Christine Strand Bachmann is also a consultant at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Children and Adolescent Medicine Department, St. Olavs Hospital.

Reference:
Christine Strand Bachmann, Kari Risnes, Johan Håkon Bjørngaard et al: Relative age as a risk factor for psychiatric diagnoses in children born preterm and to term: a cohort study BMJ Pediatrics Open, 5 April 2025

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Journal

BMJ Paediatrics Open

DOI

10.1136/bmjpo-2024-003186 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Relative age as a risk factor for psychiatric diagnoses in children born preterm and to term: a cohort study

 

Champions for change – Paid time off initiative just made clinical trials participation easier

The American Thoracic Society now provides employees with paid time-off to enroll in medical research.

American Thoracic Society

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ATS  is one of seven organizations providing employees with paid time off for clinical trials. 

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NEW YORK, NY – July 1, 2025 – Research has always been critical to improving patient lives. That is why the American Thoracic Society (ATS), a Coalition to Transform Clinical Trial Engagement Steering Committee (CTCTE) member, is proud to be one of seven organizations partnering with the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR) to make it easier for patients, including those with chronic lung disease, to join research. The Champions for Change – Paid Time Off (PTO) Initiative is a national effort to reduce job-related barriers to clinical trial participation by partnering with employers to provide PTO for employees enrolling in trials.

Clinical trials drive medical innovation and often offer patients access to better treatment options. Yet those who could benefit most are frequently left out due to systemic barriers to participation. According to FSR’s national IRB-approved survey of Black patients with sarcoidosis, limited paid time off, inflexible work schedules, and income loss from missed work were cited as barriers to joining or completing a clinical trial.

Other regional and national studies have come to the same conclusion about job-related barriers contributing to lower enrollment and retention – especially among underserved communities. These burdens lead to exclusion from trials, which not only harms the communities most impacted by chronic conditions but also jeopardizes the clinical trials enterprise by failing to include patients from all backgrounds—limiting what we learn about potential treatments.

This initiative builds upon the work of the FSR and CTCTE which resulted in clarification from the Department of Labor issued in November of 2024, which indicates that the Family Medical Leave Act ensures job security for anyone living with chronic disease in the U.S. or their family member caregivers who enroll in clinical trials.

“As the President and CEO of a mid-size health-focused non-profit, I am acutely aware that the health of my employees is essential to the success of our organization. By providing my employees with paid time off for clinical trial participation, I not only signal to my employees that I care about them and their health and wellbeing, but it also starts the conversation at the workplace about the power of clinical trial participation to advance the development of better therapies and outcomes for all impacted by chronic diseases.  FSR appreciates ATS’s leadership on this initiative and as a member of the CTCTE, and call on other companies to join us to offer this as a benefit to their employees,” said Mary McGowan, who represents the FSR as a member of the Public Advisory Roundtable, the patient arm of the ATS.

“The burden of chronic lung diseases is very high and requires innovation, vision and collaboration across disciplines and communities. The patient community is critical in helping research scientists find the answers to extend the lives of patients and eradicate disease,” said ATS President Raed Dweik, MD, MBA, ATSF. “I am proud that the American Thoracic Society is leading the charge in taking this bold step to stand up for patient and their families as a Champion for Change. I am grateful to the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research for their partnership and vision.”

The initiative was first introduced in May of 2023 by FSR at a Congressional Briefing in response to barriers identified in FSR’s 60-page white paper as part of a comprehensive roadmap to expand engagement of underrepresented communities in clinical trials. This year on Clinical Trials Day the initiative went public with seven national partners, including the ATS, committed to championing change for clinical trials in the workplace.

Listen to FSR President and CEO Mary McGowan discuss the initiative on the ATS Breathe Easy – The Latest podcast.

Founding members of the Champions for Change – PTO Initiative:
American Thoracic Society, Diverse Research Now, Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Mural Health, Recursion, and Sabai Global. Each of these employers has committed to providing at least one day of paid time off for employees participating in clinical trials— demonstrating their leadership in expanding access and driving innovation in medical research.

For more information about the Champions for Change – PTO Initiative and how to join the Coalition to Transform Clinical Trial Engagement, visit ignorenomore.org.