Gene therapy restored hearing in deaf patients

Karolinska Institutet

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Gene therapy can improve hearing in children and adults with congenital deafness or severe hearing impairment, a new study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet reports. Hearing improved in all ten patients, and the treatment was well-tolerated. The study was conducted in collaboration with hospitals and universities in China and is published in the journal Nature Medicine.

“This is a huge step forward in the genetic treatment of deafness, one that can be life-changing for children and adults,” says Maoli Duan, consultant and docent at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and one of the study’s corresponding authors.

The study comprised ten patients between the ages of 1 and 24 at five hospitals in China, all of whom had a genetic form of deafness or severe hearing impairment caused by mutations in a gene called OTOF. These mutations cause a deficiency of the protein otoferlin, which plays a critical part in transmitting auditory signals from the ear to the brain.

Effect within a month

The gene therapy involved using a synthetic adeno-associated virus (AAV) to deliver a functional version of the OTOF gene to the inner ear via a single injection through a membrane at the base of the cochlea called the round window.

The effect of the gene therapy was rapid and the majority of the patients recovered some hearing after just one month. A six-month follow-up showed considerable hearing improvement in all participants, the average volume of perceptible sound improving from 106 decibels to 52.

Best results in children

The younger patients, especially those between the ages of five and eight, responded best to the treatment. One of the participants, a seven-year-old girl, quickly recovered almost all her hearing and was able to hold daily conversations with her mother four months afterwards. However, the therapy also proved effective in adults.

“Smaller studies in China have previously shown positive results in children, but this is the first time that the method has been tested in teenagers and adults, too,” says Dr Duan. “Hearing was greatly improved in many of the participants, which can have a profound effect on their life quality. We will now be following these patients to see how lasting the effect is.”

No serious adverse reactions

The results also show that the treatment was safe and well-tolerated. The most common adverse reaction was a reduction in the number of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell. No serious adverse reactions were reported in the follow-up period of 6 to 12 months.

“OTOF is just the beginning,” says Dr Duan. “We and other researchers are expanding our work to other, more common genes that cause deafness, such as GJB2 and TMC1. These are more complicated to treat, but animal studies have so far returned promising results. We are confident that patients with different kinds of genetic deafness will one day be able to receive treatment.”

The study was conducted in collaboration with a number of institutions, including Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, China, and was financed by several Chinese research programmes and Otovia Therapeutics Inc., the company that has developed the gene therapy and that employs many of the researchers involved in the study. See the published paper for a full list of conflicts of interest.

Publication: “AAV gene therapy for autosomal recessive deafness 9: a single-arm trial”, Jieyu Qi, Liyan Zhang, Ling Lu, Fangzhi Tan, Cheng Cheng, Yicheng Lu, WenXiu Dong, Yinyi Zhou, Xiaolong Fu, Lulu Jiang, Chang Tan, Shanzhong Zhang, Sijie Sun, Huaien Song, Maoli Duan, Dingjun Zha, Yu Sun, Xia Gao, Lei Xu, Fan-Gang Zeng, Renjie Chai, Nature Medicine, online 2 July 2025, doi: 10.1038/s41591-025-03773-w.

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Journal

Nature Medicine

DOI

10.1038/s41591-025-03773-w 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

AAV gene therapy for autosomal recessive deafness 9: a single-arm trial

Article Publication Date

2-Jul-2025

 

Survey finds Trump losing favor, Newsom gaining

Harris could win if she runs for governor, according to UCI-OC Poll

University of California - Irvine

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Irvine, Calif., July 2, 2025 — President Donald Trump’s approval ratings among California residents are tanking while Gov. Gavin Newsom’s favorability has improved, according to the latest UCI-OC Poll, administered by the University of California, Irvine School of Social Ecology. 

In late May and early June, Newsom’s approval ratings looked nearly as bad as those for Trump. Fifty-nine percent of Californians disapproved of the governor’s job performance, nearly a third of them strongly at the time. Californians disapprove of Trump by more than a 2:1 ratio.

The federal government’s clash with California over recent immigration raids seems to have improved Californians’ impression of Newsom. Fifty-six percent of Californians now rate Newsom as “somewhat favorable” or “strongly favorable.”

“There is no mistaking that Newsom’s battle with Trump has been good for his standing in the state, certainly among Democrats and also with Independents,” says Jon Gould, dean of the School of Social Ecology, who oversees the UCI-OC Poll. “Newsom has an upside, which may help him if he chooses to run for president.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has not entered the gubernatorial race, but if she were a candidate, voters would prefer her, according to the Poll. When presented with a binary choice between Harris and an unnamed Republican, 41 percent of survey respondents chose Harris, 29 percent chose the Republican, 16 percent were undecided, and 14 percent said they would not vote. Harris maintains an 11 percent net favorability rating among Californians, the highest of candidates tested. Many respondents had never heard of several candidates, including those who have run statewide before.

“The path to governor seems well-paved for Vice President Harris if she decides to run. Although she lacks majority support at the moment, people know her better than the other candidates and generally view her favorably,” Gould says.

The Poll also found that Californians believe the state is on the wrong track by a 2:1 margin. The rate is 4:1 among Republicans and nearly 3:1 for Independents, whereas Democrats are evenly split. Among racial and ethnic groups, African Americans are an exception in narrowly believing that the state is headed in the right direction. Across age groups, only those Californians over 80 believe the state is on the right track.

Asked about funding priorities for the state, 70 percent of Californians named housing. Indeed, 33 percent listed housing as the top priority, mentioned almost twice as often as the next highest priority — health care. 

However, significant partisan differences exist. 

“Republicans differ from other Californians in their lower prioritization of housing and higher ranking of regulation relief, just as Democrats diverge in their higher prioritization of health care and education and lower rank for law enforcement and public safety,” Gould notes. “Perhaps the only issue on which there is broad agreement across partisan identification is the modest ranking for road and bridge maintenance and construction.”

Overall, the study, which polled more than 4,600 California residents in three separate surveys, found a disenchanted electorate, one worried about the direction of the state and concerned about several key policy issues.

“We’re in a period of disappointment and distrust,” Gould says. “No one seems happy with anything. And, the chasm between Democrats and Republicans is real and shows no signs of faltering.”

In addition, he says, “there has been a lot of talk — at least nationally — of the dire straits in which Democrats find themselves. In California, by contrast, Democrats may find their strength and future: they haven’t lost some key voting groups yet, several voters’ funding priorities (even among Independents) favor them, and Newsom just showed the potential political benefits of standing up to Trump. The question is whether the Democrats will be able to capitalize on those opportunities.”

The full UCI-OC Poll report is available online. For more information about the UCI-OC Poll, visit the website.

 

Religion, politics and war drive urban wildlife evolution

Washington University in St. Louis

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The downstream consequences of religion, politics and war can have far-reaching effects on the environment and on the evolutionary processes affecting urban organisms, according to a new analysis from Washington University in St. Louis. 

Typically viewed from a sociological perspective, the implications of religion, politics and war are rarely discussed in the field of evolutionary biology. That should change, according to an international team of biologists, including Elizabeth Carlen in Arts & Sciences at WashU, co-lead author of a new review published in Nature Cities. 

Better understanding the effects of religion, politics and war on urban evolutionary biology can enhance our ability to design and remodel cities to make them better for people while supporting the environment and evolutionary potential within the city, study authors said.

“For a long time we have separated humans from biology. But humans, especially in urban areas, are a very active part of biology, and our decisions have consequences,” said Carlen, a Living Earth Collaborative postdoctoral fellow. 

She helped organize a team of contributors from five of the seven continents of the world to offer global and local perspectives on the social processes discussed in the paper. 

Starting with religious practices, the authors described ways that socially driven interactions between humans and urban wildlife can lead to evolutionary change for animals or plants. While previous research has established that religious practices have shaped urban biodiversity, the study authors argue that such practices also generate downstream evolutionary change in urban wildlife. 

In one example, when walls were constructed around religious buildings in the city of Oviedo, Spain, that change led to genetic drift and resulted in population differences among fire salamanders (Salamandra salamandra) within and outside the walled area. 

In another religion-related example, the ritual release of prayer animals — the paper mentions birds, fish and even bullfrogs — in cities often involves the capture and release of wild animals; this release may occur far from where the animal was captured, leading to human-facilitated gene flow.

The study authors offer a list of testable hypotheses for future research furthering our understanding of the impact of religion, politics and war on urban evolutionary biology. They also encouraged scientists to think about how they could record changes as they are happening. “Digital technology has allowed us to revolutionize what kind of data we’re collecting,” Carlen said. 

“One of our co-authors published a paper on social media accounts of animal changes during war,” she said. “So, for example, going through Twitter and Instagram and finding posts that people had put up showing a polecat that’s stuck in the crater of a bomb. We now have that capability to document things like that, even though a war is going on.”

In her own work in the American Midwest, where Carlen is studying the impacts of environmental management decisions on wildlife, including Eastern gray squirrels, politics can exert a sizable influence on biodiversity and evolution, she said. 

In St. Louis, political mandates have led to a crime prevention approach in certain areas of the city that can have an impact on biodiversity, Carlen said. “Places like Fountain Park and Fairground Park don’t have any low bushes and don’t have any small trees. This is partly because it enables police to see across the landscape.

“But you can imagine, if you’re a small animal, moving across that same space becomes much more difficult,” she said. “Raccoons moving across an open space are more vulnerable than if there’s a bush that provides cover.”

The biologists emphasized the need for additional research to tease apart how evolution is being shaped by human conflict and socially driven choices.

“Religion, politics and war are all highly interconnected,” Carlen said.”It’s difficult to separate these processes in many instances, making things messy for human societies, biologists and the wildlife being influenced by our human actions.”

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Journal

Nature Cities

DOI

10.1038/s44284-025-00249-3 

Article Title

Legacy effects of religion, politics and war on urban evolutionary biology

Article Publication Date

2-Jul-2025

 

Peeking inside AI brains: Machines learn like us

New research reveals a surprising geometric link between human and machine learning. A mathematical property called convexity may help explain how brains and algorithms form concepts and make sense of the world

Technical University of Denmark

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A new connection between human and machine learning has been discovered: While conceptual regions in human cognition for long have been modelled as convex regions, Tetkova et al. present new evidence that convexity playes a similar role in AI. So-called pretraining by self-supervision leads to convexity of conceptual regions and the more convex the regions are, the better the model wil learn a given specialist task in supervised fine-tuning. 

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Credit: DTU

New research reveals a surprising geometric link between human and machine learning. A mathematical property called convexity may help explain how brains and algorithms form concepts and make sense of the world.

In recent years, with the public availability of AI tools, more people have become aware of how closely the inner workings of artificial intelligence can resemble those of a human brain.

There are several similarities in how machines and human brains work, for example, in how they represent the world in abstract form, generalise from limited data, and process data in layers. A new paper in Nature Communications by DTU researchers is adding another feature to the list: Convexity.

"We found that convexity is surprisingly common in deep networks and might be a fundamental property that emerges naturally as machines learn," says Lars Kai Hansen, a DTU Compute professor who led the study.

Convexity may bridge human and machine intelligence

To briefly explain the concept, when we humans learn about a "cat," we don't just store a single image but build a flexible understanding that allows us to recognise all sorts of cats—be they big, small, fluffy, sleek, black, white, and so on.

Coming from mathematics to describe, e.g., geometry, the term convexity was applied to cognitive science by Peter Gärdenfors who proposed that our brains form conceptual spaces where related ideas cluster. And here's the crucial part: natural concepts, like "cat" or "wheel," tend to form convex regions in these mental spaces. In short, one could imagine a rubber band stretching around a group of similar ideas—that's a convex region.

Think of it like this: Inside the perimeter of the rubber band, if you have two points representing two different cats, any point on the shortest path between them also falls within the mental "cat" region. Such convexity is powerful as it helps us generalise from a few examples, learn new things quickly, and even helps us communicate and agree on what things mean. It's a fundamental property that makes human learning robust, flexible and social.

When it comes to deep learning models - the engines behind everything from image generation to chatbots - they learn by transforming raw data like pixels or words into complex internal representations, often called "latent spaces." These spaces can be viewed as internal maps where the AI organises its understanding of the world.

Measuring AI's internal structure

To make AI more reliable, trustworthy and aligned with human values, there is a need to develop better ways to describe how it represents knowledge. Therefore, it is critical to determine whether machine-learned spaces are organised in a way that resembles human conceptual spaces and whether they also form convex regions for concepts.

First author of the paper, Lenka Tetkova, who is a postdoc at DTU Compute, dove into this very question, looking at two main types of convexity:

First is Euclidean convexity, which is straightforward: if you take two points within a concept in a model's latent space, and the straight line between them stays entirely within that concept, then the region is Euclidean convex. This is like generalising by blending known examples.

The other is graph convexity, which is more flexible and especially important for the curved geometries often found in AI's internal representations. Imagine a network of similar data points—if the shortest path between two points within a concept stays entirely inside that concept, then it's graph convex. This reflects how models might generalise by following the natural structure of the data.

"We've developed new tools to measure convexity within the complex latent spaces of deep neural networks. We tested these measures across various AI models and data types: images, text, audio, human activity, and even medical data. And we found that the same geometric principle that helps humans form and share concepts—convexity—also shapes how machines learn, generalise, and align with us," says Lenka Tetkova.

AIs hidden order

The researchers also discovered that the commonalities are found in pretrained models that learn general patterns from massive datasets and finetuned models that are taught specific tasks like identifying animals. This further substantiates the claim that convexity might be a fundamental property that emerges naturally as machines learn.

When models are fine-tuned for a specific task, the convexity of their decision regions increases. As AI improves at classification, its internal concept regions become more clearly convex, refining its understanding and sharpening its boundaries.

In addition, the researchers discovered that the level of convexity in a pretrained model's concepts can predict how well that model will perform after finetuning.

"Imagine that a concept, say, a cat, forms a nice, well-defined convex region in the machine before it's even taught to identify cats specifically. Then it's more likely to learn to identify cats accurately later on. We believe this is a powerful insight, because it suggests that convexity might be a useful indicator of a model's potential for specific learning tasks," says Lars Kai Hansen.

A route to better AI

According to the researchers, these new results may have several important implications. By identifying convexity as a pervasive property, they have better understood how deep neural networks learn and organise information. It provides a concrete mechanism for how AI generalises, which may be like how humans learn.

If convexity does prove to be a reliable predictor of performance, it may be possible to design AI models that explicitly encourage the formation of convex concept regions during training. This could lead to more efficient and effective learning, especially in scenarios where only a few examples are available. The findings may therefore provide a crucial new bridge between human cognition and machine intelligence.

"By showing that AI models exhibit properties (like convexity) that are fundamental to human conceptual understanding, we move closer to creating machines that 'think' in ways that are more comprehensible and aligned with our own. This is vital for building trust and collaboration between humans and machines in critical applications like healthcare, education, and public service," says Lenka Tetkova.

"While there's still much to explore, the results suggest that the seemingly abstract idea of convexity may hold the key to unlocking new secrets on AI's internal workings and bringing us closer to intelligent and human-aligned machines."

The project

The research carried out within the research project “Cognitive Spaces – Next generation explainable AI” funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The project’s aim is to open the machine learning black-box and build tools to explain the inner workings of AI-systems with concepts that can be understood by specific user groups.

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-60809-y 

Article Title

On convex decision regions in deep network representations

Article Publication Date

2-Jul-2025

‘Mystery of Cleopatra’ exhibit in Paris pushes back against clichés


For centuries, depictions of Cleopatra have emphasised her beauty and romantic entanglements – much more so than her two-decade rule of Egypt. The Institut du monde arabe (Arab World Institute) in Paris aims to change that with “The Mystery of Cleopatra”, a new exhibit running until January 11, 2026.


Issued on: 26/06/2025 - FRANCE24
By: Vitoria Barreto

"The Death of Cleopatra", oil on canvas, Toulouse, Musée des Augustins, 1874. 

© Jean-André Rixens


Cleopatra has become an icon throughout the centuries, depicted in both classical art and pop culture as a strategic seductress who had relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, overshadowing her role as a head of state.

“The Mystery of Cleopatra” exhibit at the Institut du monde arabe in Paris, on view until January 11, 2026, aims to push back on these clichés. It opens with archaeological and historical information about her reign, then shifts to explore how the myth of her was constructed through cinema and contemporary art – and, ultimately, how Cleopatra is being reimagined as a symbol of resistance.

A 17th-century white marble statue of Cleopatra, standing tall with a snake wrapped around her body, is the first element a visitor encounters, which sets the tone for the rest of the show.

Cleopatra dying, standing, 17th century Versailles, châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. © Château de Versailles, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn, Didier Saulnier

Exhibit curator Claude Mollard points out that from the 15th century onwards, Cleopatra was presented as a seductress. Even Cleopatra’s death has been sexualized. But he says artists have also long been fascinated by her as a symbol of freedom and defiance: she ultimately chooses death over submission. “She is a free woman,” he says.

Cleopatra “preferred to kill herself rather than submit to Octavian, who wanted to take her prisoner and present her in Rome as evidence of his triumph and then, perhaps, execute her".

Born in Alexandria around 69 BCE, Cleopatra was both Greek and Egyptian – a descendant of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty that had ruled Egypt since 305 BCE.

Watch moreIn Paris, a museum displays "rescued treasures from Gaza"

Mollard describes Cleopatra's Alexandria as a relatively tolerant regime where multiple religions coexisted and ethnic groups governed themselves through their own courts.

“The Jews had their courts, the Greeks had their courts, and the Egyptians had their courts,” he says. “It was hyper modern, hyper tolerant."

Burial urns and figurines of deities from the time included in the exhibition depict the juxtaposition of religions living in relative harmony.

Egypt’s political structure at the time was unique: men and women often ruled together, often through symbolic sibling marriages, as was the case with Cleopatra and her brother, whom she eventually displaced with Caesar’s support.

Following Caesar’s assassination, Cleopatra allied herself with Marc Antony, continuing Egypt’s co-sovereign tradition within the Roman political framework. But as Octavian moved to consolidate Rome under his rule, Cleopatra and Antony resisted, eventually committing suicide after Octavian defeated their forces. Their deaths marked not just the end of a dynasty, but the fall of an entire system of governance.

“The death of Cleopatra marks the end of a tolerant, mixed way of governing and its replacement by a paternalistic male government, which would spread throughout Europe all the way to General [Charles] de Gaulle” and even the conflicts of today, says Mollard.

With Octavian’s victory, the Roman patriarchal regime expanded across Egypt and the Middle East. But Cleopatra’s legacy endured. Coins bearing her face – the only evidence we have of what she looked like –remained in circulation and were cherished by Egyptians for more than 150 years.

Coin of Cleopatra VII, made in Alexandria (Egypt). 

© National Library of France, Paris, Department of Coins, Medals and Antiques

Sexualization of a queen

In the second part of the exhibition, both Roman and Arabic texts discuss how Cleopatra’s image has been shaped throughout time.

At the entrance to this section, a wall of sculpted noses is a reference to French physicist Blaise Pascal’s quote: “The nose of Cleopatra: if it had been shorter, the whole face of the earth would have changed.” Pascal’s attribution of the reasons for the Egyptian queen’s influence to a single facial feature illustrates how Western narratives often objectified her, erasing her political legacy.

"About 2 inches long", 2020 (production 2025). © Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos

These reductive portrayals date from Ancient Rome, when Octavian spread rumours about his erstwhile competitor by calling her a “prostitute queen”. Roman society followed suit, and coins bearing her image were vandalised.

Roman poets including Horace, Virgil and Propertius celebrated the defeat of the last Hellenistic queen in their poems, with Propertius deriding her as a whore-queen who dared to usurp masculine authority.

The exhibit suggests that Arabic thinkers held a different view of Cleopatra. Historian Ibn Abd al-Hakam (803-871 AD) described her as a "builder queen concerned with ensuring the safety and well-being of her people” even crediting her with the construction of the legendary Lighthouse of Alexandria.

The exhibit’s final section looks at what modern art and pop culture has made of Cleopatra.

From myth to symbol of resistance

Renaissance portrayals of the death of Cleopatra fill a section of the exhibition, leading visitors to a dark room with a screen showing how cinema has told Cleopatra’s story over time.

Cleopatra costumes, from Monica Bellucci’s in "Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra" to Elizabeth Taylor’s iconic performance, fill the room. Elements from commercials and consumer goods that commodify the queen’s image are also on display.

"Cleopatra's Kiosk", Shourouk Rhaiem, 2025. © Collection of the artist Alberto Ricci

These final rooms present her as a symbol of both feminist and colonial resistance. She became a symbol of anti‑colonial defiance during British rule of Egypt and she inspired African‑American pride during and after the Civil War in the United States.

Contemporary feminist artists also contribute to this reframing, exposing the deep misogyny of the way Cleopatra has been portrayed throughout history. One installation revisits ancient texts that once vilified her, now marked in red and rewritten.

One of the most striking final pieces is a coin depicting her profile that includes notations of the cosmetic procedures Cleopatra would have to undergo to meet modern-day beauty standards.

"I want to look like Cleopatra #1", 2020. © Esmeralda Komatopoulos

“Cleopatra is a feminist woman who resists the obstacles the Romans place in her path. And so, she has become an example, especially today, when we live in an international period in which the use of brute force is increasing every day," Mollard says.

Thailand’s political chaos: what happens now?

Thailand’s Constitutional Court suspended PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday as it considers a petition filed by 36 senators seeking her removal. The senators have accused the 38-year-old premier of dishonesty and breaching ethical standards in violation of the constitution over a leaked telephone conversation with Cambodia's former premier Hun Sen.


Issued on: 02/07/2025 - 
By: FRANCE 24

Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra speaks during a press conference following her suspension by the country's Constitutional Court at Government House in Bangkok on July 1, 2025. © Lilian Suwanrumpha, AFP

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended by the Constitutional Court pending a probe into her ethics during a diplomatic spat with Cambodia.

The development comes at the same time as a cabinet reshuffle, setting the scene for a remarkably rapid rotation schedule at the prime minister's office.

Here is what we know about the crisis:

Who's in charge?

Thai analysts say transport minister and deputy prime minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit, from Paetongtarn's own Pheu Thai party, will initially take charge as acting prime minister.

But just hours before Paetongtarn's suspension, Thailand's king approved a cabinet reshuffle after her biggest coalition partner quit the government over the diplomatic row.

Transport minister and deputy prime minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit began his engagements by attending a ceremony in Bangkok celebrating the longevity of the prime minister's office.

Read more'Thailand is an autocracy: The system is loaded against progressive parties'

The event marked the 93rd anniversary of an institution Suriya is set to command for far fewer than 93 hours as Thailand reels from the suspension of Paetongtarn, heiress of the country's dominant political dynasty.

During a brief ceremony open to media Suriya declined to respond to queries asking how he felt about his ephemeral leadership, which caps a decades-long political career.

He said his most urgent business had been to "sign a paper" ensuring a smooth transition to his successor on Thursday.

The new office holders will be sworn in on Thursday, when outgoing defence minister Phumtham Wechayachai will be sworn in as interior minister. He will also resume his previously-held role as deputy prime minister.

He is also expected to step into the role of acting premier, two analysts told AFP, the third person to control the office in three days.

But Paetongtarn's father and the family patriarch Thaksin Shinawatra is said to remain the true driving force of the Pheu Thai party, even as its fortunes fade.

Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, hugs his daughter, the now suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra before the royal endorsement ceremony appointing Paetongtarn as Thailand's new prime minister at Pheu Thai party headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 18, 2024. © Sakchai Lalit, AP

What happens next?

The path forward is unclear. There is no set time limit for the Constitutional Court's investigation, but if it finds Paetongtarn has breached ministerial ethics she could be removed from office permanently.

In the cabinet reshuffle Paetongtarn assigned herself the portfolio of culture minister, meaning she may keep a perch in the upper echelons of power.

But her position and her coalition are severely weakened, even though they still command a parliamentary majority which reduces the chance of an imminent election.

Another Thai analyst, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, said Paetongtarn's suspension plunged her into "a prolonged political limbo".

"Thailand will have a rudderless government with policy inertia and murky directions ahead," he told AFP.

"With Pheu Thai's weak grip on power, infighting and squabbling will likely characterise the coalition government."

What caused this?

The court case was brought against the heiress of the powerful Shinawatra dynasty by conservative lawmakers accusing her of breaching a requirement for "evident integrity" during a diplomatic call with Cambodia.

Thailand and Cambodia have long been at loggerheads over a territorial dispute, which intensified into a cross-border clash in May that left one of Phnom Penh's troops dead.

When Paetongtarn called Cambodian ex-leader Hun Sen to discuss the row she called him "uncle" and referred to a Thai military commander as her "opponent", sparking widespread backlash over her rhetoric.

The Constitutional Court said there was "sufficient cause to suspect" Paetongtarn may have breached ministerial ethics in the conversation, a recording of which was leaked in Cambodia.

Paetongtarn said she accepts the court's decision to suspend her. "I will do my best to explain my intention," she told reporters. "It's always been my intention to do the best thing for my country."

The suspended premier – who came into power only last August – assigned herself the culture minister position in the new cabinet before she was suspended, meaning she is set to keep a perch in the upper echelons of power.

She, Suriya and Phumtham are all members of Pheu Thai, which came second in the 2023 election but secured power by forming an unsteady coalition with its former enemies in pro-military parties.

But analysts say Paetongtarn's pause from office represents a dramatic waning of the Shinawatras' influence, even though the acting prime ministers are still considered their loyal lieutenants.

Tuesday also saw the second day of Thaksin's criminal trial for royal defamation, in which he faces a possible 15-year sentence if convicted.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

Philippines biodiversity hotspot pushes back on mining

Brookes Point (Philippines) (AFP) – A nickel stockpile towers over farmer Moharen Tambiling's rice paddy in the Philippines' Palawan, evidence of a mining boom that locals hope a new moratorium will tame.


Issued on: 02/07/2025 

Locals in the Philippines' Palawan hope a moratorium will stop a nickel mining boom

PHOTO FEATURE    © Ted ALJIBE / AFP

LONG READ

"They told us before the start of their operations that it wouldn't affect us, but the effects are undeniable now," Tambiling told AFP.

"Pangolins, warthogs, birds are disappearing. Flowers as well."

A biodiversity hotspot, Palawan also holds vast deposits of nickel, needed for everything from stainless steel to electric vehicles.

Once the world's largest exporter of the commodity, the Philippines is now racing to catch up with Indonesia. In 2021, Manila lifted a nine-year ban on mining licences.

Moharen Tambiling (C), his sister Alayma (R) and their mother stand on their farm next to stockpiled nickel ore in Palawan province 

Despite promised jobs and tax revenue, there is growing pushback against the sector in Palawan.

In March, the island's governing council unanimously passed a 50-year moratorium on any new mining permits.

"Flash floods, the siltation of the sea, fisheries, mangrove areas... We are witnesses to the effects of long-term mining," Nieves Rosento, a former local councillor who led the push, told AFP.

Environmental rights lawyer Grizelda Mayo-Anda said the moratorium could stop nearly 70 proposed projects spanning 240,000 hectares.

"You have to protect the old-growth forest, and it's not being done," she said.

'Fearsome' flooding

Mining company Ipilan says increased production will result in greater royalties for Indigenous people and higher tax revenues 

In southern Palawan's Brooke's Point, a Chinese ship at a purpose-built pier waits for ore from the stockpile overlooking Tambiling's farm.

Mining company Ipilan says increased production will result in greater royalties for Indigenous people and higher tax revenues, but that means little to Tambiling's sister Alayma.

The single mother-of-six once made 1,000-5,000 pesos ($18-90) a day selling lobster caught where the pier now sits.

"We were surprised when we saw backhoes digging up the shore," she told AFP, calling a one-time compensation offer of 120,000 pesos ($2,150) insulting.

"The livelihood of all the Indigenous peoples depended on that area."

On the farm, Tambiling stirred rice paddy mud to reveal reddish laterite he says is leaking from the ore heap and poisoning his crops.

Swathes of the Mantalingahan mountains have been deforested, producing floods

Above him, swathes of the Mantalingahan mountains have been deforested, producing floods he describes as "fearsome, deep and fast-moving."

Ipilan has faced protests and legal challenges over its logging, but its operations continue.

Calls to parent company Global Ferronickel Holdings were not returned.

For some in Palawan, the demand for nickel to power EVs has a certain irony.

"You may be able to... eliminate pollution using electric vehicles," said Jeminda Bartolome, an anti-mining advocate.

"But you should also study what happens to the area you are mining."

'First-class municipality'

Workers armed with brooms, goggles, hats and scarves sweep an access road that carries 6,000 tonnes of ore destined for China each day 

In Bataraza, the country's oldest nickel mine is expanding, having secured permission before the moratorium.

Rio Tuba employees armed with brooms, goggles, hats and scarves are barely visible through reddish dust as they sweep an access road that carries 6,000 tonnes of ore destined for China each day.

Company senior vice president Jose Bayani Baylon said mining turned a barely accessible malarial swamp into a "first-class municipality".

"You have an airport, you have a port, you have a community here. You have a hospital, you have infrastructure which many other communities don't have," he told AFP.

Thousands of trees have been cleared since January, according to locals 

He dismisses environmental concerns as overblown.

With part of its concession tapped out, the company is extending into an area once off-limits to logging but since rezoned.

Thousands of trees have been cleared since January, according to locals, but Baylon said "under the law, for every tree you cut, you have to plant 100".

The company showed AFP a nine-hectare plot it spent 15 years restoring with native plants.

But it is unclear to what degree that will be replicated. Baylon concedes some areas could become solar farms instead.

'Four kilos of rice'

A fifth of the Philippines' Indigenous land is covered by mining and exploration permits 

Nearby, Indigenous resident Kennedy Coria says mining has upset Mount Bulanjao's ecosystem.

"Honeybees disappeared where we used to find them. Fruit trees in the forest stopped bearing fruit," the father-of-seven said.

A fifth of the Philippines' Indigenous land is covered by mining and exploration permits, according to rights group Global Witness.

Legally, they have the right to refuse projects and share profits, but critics say the process is rarely clear.

"There are Indigenous peoples who have not received any royalties for the past 10 years," said Rosento.

Legally, Indigenous residents have the right to refuse projects and share profits, but critics say the process is rarely clear 

Coria, who can neither read nor write, said he must sign a document each year when accepting what he is told is his share of Rio Tuba profits.

"We get about four kilos of rice from the community leader, who tells us it came from the company," he said.

Rio Tuba said funds are distributed in coordination with the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), which is meant to represent the communities.

But some say it acts in the interests of miners, attempting to persuade locals to accept concessions and the terms offered by companies.

The NCIP referred questions to multiple regional offices, none of which replied. The government's industry regulator declined interview requests.

While Palawan's moratorium will not stop Rio Tuba's expansion or Ipilan's operations, supporters believe it will slow further mining 

While Palawan's moratorium will not stop Rio Tuba's expansion or Ipilan's operations, supporters believe it will slow further mining.

There are looming legal challenges, however.

A recent Supreme Court decision struck down a mining ban in Occidental Mindoro province.

Backers remain confident though, and Rosento said the council would stand firm.

"Responsible mining is just a catchphrase," she said.

© 2025 AFP

'Society totally collapsing': Civilians in war-torn Gaza 'desperate, they feel alone and abandoned'


Issued on: 02/07/2025 - FRANCE24

Over 170 international charities and humanitarian groups are calling for an end to the deadly Israeli and US backed system to distribute aid to starving people in Gaza. Hundreds of displaced civilians have been shot dead. The Israeli army systematically claims they were neutralising a threat. So far, over five hundred people have been killed at those aid sites. As Israel continues to bomb every inch of Gaza and block any real amount of aid getting to people we can get more insight on the situation now from the Head of Mission for the Palestinian Territories for MSF/Doctors Without Borders, Marie-Elisabeth Ingres.

Video by:  Eve IRVINE