Health authorities in Laos have reported a significant increase in dengue fever cases across the country, raising concerns among officials and prompting urgent preventive measures.
Eight Provinces in Laos Ravaged by Severe Flooding and Landslides
Hundreds of people have been displaced across the country, and at least two fatalities have been recorded in Bolikhamxay due to widespread flooding and landslides amid the ongoing monsoon.
Cambodia’s King Appoints Army Chief Hun Manet as Successor to His Father, Long-Ruling Hun Sen

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s king on Monday formally appointed army chief Hun Manet to succeed his father and long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen as the nation’s leader later this month after their party sealed victory in a one-sided election last month.
Geologists Team at HKU Becomes First in Hong Kong to Retrieve Lunar Samples – Set to Unveil the Mysteries of the Moon’s Volcanic History

Led by postdoctoral fellow Dr Yuqi QIAN from the Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, the team obtained approval from the China National Space Administration’s Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Centre to study the lunar soil samples. Dr Qian personally travelled to Beijing to retrieve the samples, which weigh 822.6 milligrams in total. These lunar samples offer valuable insights into the Moon’s geological and thermal history and its connection to the formation and evolution of planetary bodies in the Solar System. The achievement by the HKU team underscores the university’s growing contributions to China’s lunar and planetary exploration efforts.
‘This is a dream come true for us and Hong Kong’s space science community,’ said Qian, who is eager to analyse the samples using state-of-the-art instruments at the university. ‘We hope to reveal the secrets of the Moon and gain insights into the early Earth, which could have important implications for our understanding of the Solar System and beyond.’
Previous Study on the Chang’e-5 Landing Site Paves the Way
Dr Qian is making waves in the field of planetary geology with his exceptional research on the Chang’e-5 landing site. Having published the first paper documenting the site and constructing a complete picture, he has been focusing on different aspects such as regolith properties, volcanic history and the provenance of lunar soils. His research work has been published in top-tier journals and widely cited, with over 400 citations, solidifying his position as an emerging expert. Recently, Dr Qian joined HKU as a postdoctoral fellow after obtaining his doctoral degree in Planetary Geology from China University of Geosciences.
Drawing on years of research on the Moon, the most exhilarating moment of his research career was an exciting discovery regarding the latest volcanic activity on the Moon’s surface – he discovered that the eastern part of the pre-selected Chang’e-5 landing region contained one of the youngest mare basalts on the Moon.
Recognising the scientific significance of this finding, he proposed that Chang’e-5 should explore this region to collect these young basalts, which were younger than any previously returned lunar basalts.
In 2020, Chang’e-5 successfully landed on the lunar surface within the Procellarum KREEP Terrane, a chemical anomaly province known for its elevated heat-producing elements and lunar volcanic deposits. Upon analysing the samples collected from this region, scientists were stunned to discover that the basalts were 2.0 billion years old – almost 1 billion years younger than any previous lunar volcanic samples collected by Apollo or Luna missions. This ground-breaking discovery confirmed Dr Qian’s prediction and has reshaped our understanding of lunar history. It has also raised the question: how did the young volcanism originate?
Dr Qian had been working tirelessly on this question, using remote sensing techniques to explore the volcanic history of the Chang’e-5 landing site. His previous research proposed that the Chang’e-5 basalts originated from the source vent of Rima Sharp, whose channel is only ~15 km from the landing site. Rima Sharp is a lunar sinuous rille whose formation required tons of lavas and was highly likely to be sampled by Chang’e-5.
Gearing up for Insights into Moon’s Volcanic History and Evolution of Planetary Bodies in the Solar System
After joining HKU, Dr Qian recognised the potential of the support and resources available at the university to make progress in understanding young lunar volcanism with samples. When Dr Qian learned about the sixth batch of lunar research samples is open for application earlier this year, he swiftly mobilised scientists in the department to join his application. ‘I knew this was an opportunity we could not miss for the further development of lunar science at HKU and with our collaborators throughout Hong Kong,’ said Dr Qian.
With the support of Dr Joseph MICHALSKI of the Department of Earth Sciences, an expert with extensive experience in planetary geology and mineralogy, Dr Qian formed a team to apply for the lunar samples. Other members of the department included Professor Guochun ZHAO, a renowned geologist specialising in tectonic processes and the evolution of the Earth’s lithosphere; Dr Weiran LI, a volcanologist specialising in magmatism, volatile cycling, and volcanic hazards; Professor Min SUN, a prominent geochemist focusing in the evolution of old continents; Professor Jian ZHANG, a structural geologist with expertise in crustal growth and tectonic evolution; and Dr Yiliang LI, an astrobiologist whose research centres in the search for life beyond Earth.
Now, armed with the returning samples and his previous research, Dr Qian and the team can link remote sensing and laboratory studies to unravel the secrets behind the lunar basalts and address the question that has puzzled scientists about the origins of young volcanism on the Moon. The team aims to use petrological-volcanological and spectroscopic techniques to reconstruct and study lunar magmas’ generation, ascent, and eruption, focusing on the evolution of volatiles in the lunar soil samples. By analysing the volatiles in the samples, the team hopes to gain insights into the history of lunar late volcanism and the distribution and evolution of volatiles in the Moon’s magma system, providing valuable information about the Moon’s geological and thermal history and its connection to the formation and evolution of the Solar System in the future.
Dr Qian’s supervisor Dr Joseph Michalski established the Planetary Spectroscopy and Mineralogy Lab at HKU, with the aim of providing laboratory support for space missions. He stated that the successful acquisition of lunar samples from the Chang’e-5 mission proved the value of the laboratory and expressed his hope for future collaborations in sample research. He said, ‘We are also proud to work with our collaborators at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and other universities in HK to build a strong space research community, that might help with our future collaborations and explorations.’
Dr Qian expressed that he is thrilled to be part of the effort to explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond. He stated, ‘I believe that space exploration is crucial for humanity’s future. It is an exciting time to be involved in this field, and I hope our research will inspire future generations to continue exploring and expanding our knowledge of the vast space.’
In addition to studying the samples collected by Chang’e-5, Dr Qian eagerly anticipates the upcoming Chang’e-6 mission to the lunar farside. He hopes to conduct further research on lunar geology based on China’s future lunar missions, especially the crewed ones and the International Lunar Research Station, which could provide valuable insights into the formation and evolution of the Moon and lead human’s way to other worlds.
More information about Dr Yuqi Qian: https://yuqiqian.com
More information about Dr Joseph Michalski: https://www.clays.space
Learn about Dr Qian’s EPMA Analysis of Lunar Samples in this Video: http://bit.ly/HKULunarSamples2023
Image download: https://bit.ly/LunarSamples2023PC
Hashtag: #HKU
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Siba 10th Anniversary Concert is Over, Meta48 Holdings Ltd. Accelerate the Layout of Meta-universe

SNH48 GROUP is a large woman group operated by Shanghai Siba Culture Media Group under Meta48 Holdings Ltd., the largest and longest-active woman idol group in the Chinese-speaking area. It is composed of five female groups: SNH48 (Shanghai), GNZ48 (Guangzhou), BEJ48 (Beijing), CKG48 (Chongqing), and CGT48 (Chengdu). Famous mainland artists such as Ju Jingyi, Li Yitong, Sun Rui, Xu Jiaqi, and Zhao Yue have emerged. All the female group members and artists attended the concert and garnered billions of discussions on the Internet.
In addition to the concert, a number of excellent works of the year were excavated and commended at that night’s event. In the end, SNH48 Yuan Yiqi’s work “The Law of the Forest” won the Gold Award of the Influential Member of the Year and the QUEEN honor of the year’s peak popularity. SNH48 Wang Yi’s work “Mute” and SNH48 Song Xinran’s “Brave Heart” won the Silver Award and Bronze Award. Meanwhile, SNH48 Zhou Shiyu, GNZ48 Zheng Dani, GNZ48 Chen Ke and GNZ48 Zeng Aijia’s works “Truth of the Night”, “The Law of the Forest”, “Walking without stop” and “I Wanna PLAY” won the Outstanding Member of the Year Award.
Shanghai Siba Culture Media Group Co., Ltd. has disclosed a series of major operational measures in the future, including the “Woman Group Going Overseas Strategy”. With Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan regions of China, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and other Asian countries as the core, official sister troupes and their own theatres will be set up in batches, and all kinds of large-scale events will be held.
At the concert, Meta48 Holdings Ltd. officially released China’s first vertical multimodal artificial intelligence model, “Xinle Dance River”, which entirely focuses on virtual digital human music, dance, and virtual sociality. the artificial intelligence multimodal model and its supporting digital toolkits, meta-universe SaaS “Seine River creation”,which are jointly built by Meta48 Holdings Ltd’s Meitao artificial Intelligence Lab, Meita Digital Homo sapiens Lab, and R & D centers in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu, and exclusively own 500T of graphics, audio and video materials accumulated during SNH48 GROUP’s operation over the past decade as initial feeding data.
At a time when AI computing power and data assets have become the core competitiveness of future development in the field of artificial intelligence, “Xin Yue Wu He “, which, when equipped with sufficient basic computing power, will play a key role in the technical realization and practical application of digital virtual humans and its industrial application scenarios such as music and dance entertainment, next-generation games, virtual social networking and the creation of all kinds of digital content, and provides indispensable core technical support for the implementation of WEB3.0 immersive interactive social meta-universe, especially its WEB3.0 co-creation functions PGA, UGA, PGC, and UGC, which is implementing limited user technology testing.
Hashtag: #Meta48Holdings
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The “NIA” is accelerating Thailand towards being an innovative nation through new roles as a “Focal Conductor,” moving forward with 7 issues to strengthen “government, private sector, SMEs, startups and infrastructure” and to be ready to diversify investment into the region.

Dr. Krithpaka Boonfueng, Executive Director of the National Innovation Agency (Public Organization), or NIA, revealed that in 2023, the policy of using innovation to drive the economy, society and infrastructure necessary for the development of the country had been discussed and roles in order to bring the country to compete at the macro level again were clearly defined. Through this drive, the NIA is another agency that plays a role both in terms of policy makers, facilitating an innovation ecosystem for work capability and for business value creation, including creating innovation among entrepreneurs, startups and government sectors. In addition, there is an important goal to accelerate Thailand to become one of the 30 leading innovation countries in the world by 2030.
“In order to enhance the direction of Thailand’s innovation drive to be in line with the global context, the NIA has a new strategy under the concept of “Create the Dot – Connect the Dot – Value Creation” through the “Groom Grant Growth” mechanism and the “2 reduce 3 increase” approach, which is to reduce inequality by focusing on open innovation through the exposure to new ideas from startups and SMEs to fill weaknesses or to combat social and economic problems. Second, to reduce barriers to access and to leverage innovation for all sectors along with revising regulations that could hinder growth and increasing opportunities to access funding sources for both the public and private sectors. Also, to increase the number of innovators and innovation-based entrepreneurs. To create employment, increasing the GDP and creating the image of an “Innovation Nation” as well as increasing the potential of innovation-based entrepreneurs. This will provide the opportunity to expand the market and to create Thai innovative brands that are ready to compete with innovations from abroad,” he said.
For the years 2023 – 2027, the NIA has changed its role from being a “system integrator” to become a “Focal Conductor”, which will be another new role according to the 7 strategies, he said, namely:
1) To create and upgrade innovation-based entrepreneurs (IBEs) in targeted industries together with networks throughout the supply chain to develop and expand the results of important projects in 5 industry groups: 1) Food Tech & Ag Tech 2) Travel Tech 3) Med Tech 4) Climate Tech and 5) Soft power by promoting IBEs to protect and manage intellectual property in innovative products and to use the NIA Academy as the main mechanism for developing IBEs through an intense curriculum. This is also to be achieved by establishing a network of cooperation with external agencies such as the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Confederation of Thai SMEs, The Federation of Thai Industries, The Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Thailand, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, the Siam Commercial Bank, the Government Savings Bank, the Government Housing Bank, etc., with a goal being that in 4 years there will be 10,000 innovation-based entrepreneurs along with 15,000 innovation personnel and workers and with an impact value in targeted industries and areas of 20,000 million baht.
2) To promote open innovation and to make the Thai innovation system more open by placing an emphasis on open funding and links to other sources of funds. Regionally-aligned industry sector funding should enhance the capacity for grant applications and in preparing project proposals with innovation networks such as universities, science parks, The Federation of Thai Industries, The Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Thai Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurs Group (YEC) and the Confederation of Thai SMEs to diversify opportunities to access sources of capital in the region, streamlining processes and expediting disbursements in grant projects. Using innovative coupons to provide faster funding as well as linking sources of funding, whether from state-owned banks or other sources of funding, both domestically and internationally. The goal in 4 years is 2,000 million baht in funds to support innovations managed by the NIA, supporting 1,500 projects and innovative businesses with an investment value of 2,000 million baht, with 5 times the cost-effectiveness and with the impact of innovation funding creating 3 new support mechanisms.
3) To promote access and the utilization of infrastructure with universities and science parks by working closely with the regional science parks and provincial governors to establish innovation committees as has been done in Phatthalung and Chiang Mai provinces. Also creating innovation networks in border areas in cooperation with agencies under the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Higher Education, such as the Department of Community Development, research agencies and universities, including the DEPA CEA, to increase the area of innovation provinces to be comprehensive and to generate results and have an impact in each region. The goal in 4 years is more than 3,000 IBEs participating, promoting the utilization of innovation infrastructure in 40 universities and 16 parks, creating regional innovation investment of 20,000 million baht. The urban innovation index ranking has risen by 5 places with innovation development centers in 12 provinces, 12 innovation districts and 3 regional offices.
4) To be a center for creating an ecosystem that promotes the utilization of innovation that facilitates the participation of all sectors, collaborating with partner agencies both domestically and internationally to promote and support IBEs both financial and in other dimensions. This emphasizes using innovation to create economic and social impact, building a network for utilizing research outcomes and creating a space to support startups like Station F of the French Republic. Also, tasks include preparing a database of Thai innovation systems, making policy recommendations and pushing for laws that strengthen the Thai innovation system, such as financial and tax policies that support innovative businesses, IP tax redemption, or policies that support targeted industries and extending privileges in Innovation Districts with the BOI and Draft Act to promote startup enterprises.
5) To promote innovation marketing both domestically and internationally for products and services of innovation-based entrepreneurs in the form of a “Business Brotherhood”, allowing large companies to support the business expansion of IBEs, such as promoting the marketing of innovative products with CP All, Makro, Siam Piwat and Central Group companies, including promoting IBEs to know how to build a brand, marketing through e-commerce platforms by expanding the cooperation with Shopee in the InnoMall project with other platforms such as TikTok and Line, including creating a catalog of innovative products in both Thai and English. In collaboration with agencies in the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the goal in 4 years is 1,000 IBEs participating in the project with the value growth from domestic and international markets to be 1,000 million baht.
6) To raise awareness and recognize the importance of innovation in all sectors through the Innovation Thailand project, organizing innovation award contests, SITE events, Ubon Art Fest events to create a coalition in driving the Thai innovation system. The goal in 4 years is the number of online and onsite participants of at least 50,000 people, with the number of online content visitors of not less than 2,000,000.
7) To develop the organization into one that is ready for change and which grows sustainably, focusing on cross-functional work, reducing complicated work processes. supporting job rotation, promoting creativity, implementing project-based management and setting clear and consistent Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) across the organization. Personnel management should be systematic, transparent and fair, emphasizing teamwork in order to achieve the mission of the organization as well as introducing the concept of sufficiency economy and ESG principles into operations.
“Within a year, the NIA has set a goal to make progress in Thai innovation both in terms of value and brand image, whether it is to push the draft Act to promote start-up enterprises successfully or to create a space to support startups based on the French Republic’s Station F model. This will be an area where startups and investors gather and are equipped with facilities, consulting firms, global technology offices and promotion program for support of both public and private companies,” he said.
“In addition, it will also create a network for utilizing research outcomes with agencies under the Ministry of Higher Education, making policy recommendations and pushing for laws that strengthen the Thai innovation system, such as financial and tax policies that support innovative businesses, IP Tax Redemption, or policies that support targeted industries, expanding privileges in innovation districts with the BOI, linking innovation databases and creating a platform for Innovation Thailand, etc.,” Dr.Krithpaka concluded.
Hashtag: #NationalInnovationAgency #NIA
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HKBU unveils treatment potential of herbal extract compound isoliquiritigenin for pancreatic cancer

The research findings have been published in the international academic journal Phytomedicine and recently presented in the Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research 2023 in Torino, Italy.
Pancreatic cancer as the “silent killer”
Pancreatic cancer is often called the “silent killer” as most patients experience little or no symptoms until it has advanced and spread. According to the Global Cancer Statistics 2020 released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the mortality-to-incidence ratio of pancreatic cancer is greater than 93%. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in Hong Kong.
Whipple (pancreaticoduodenectomy) operation is the only available curative treatment of pancreatic cancer. However, only 20% of patients are suitable for resection and the recurrence rate is high. In non-resectable cases and metastatic pancreatic cancer patients, the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine (GEM) remains the mainstream treatment. Nevertheless, GEM-based combination therapy exhibits profound chemoresistance with serious systemic toxicity.
Gancao extract identified as anticancer agent
In the search for alternative treatments for pancreatic cancer, a research team led by Dr Joshua Ko Ka-Shun, Associate Professor, Teaching and Research Division of the School of Chinese Medicine at HKBU, screened all the potential pancreatic cancer disease markers and the biological therapeutic activities of phytochemicals from the medicinal plant Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice, or Gancao in Chinese) using network pharmacology.
Network pharmacology is an emerging discipline which systematically catalogue the molecular interactions of a drug molecule in a living cell using complex computations, and has become an important tool in botanical drug discovery. Using this approach, the team identified ISL as a potential anticancer agent for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
With a series of cell experiments, the team demonstrated that ISL suppressed the growth and induced apoptosis (programmed cell death) of pancreatic cancer cells. In two human pancreatic cancer cell lines applied with 12.5 μM and 25 μM concentrations of ISL respectively, their cell survival rates were about 50% and 80% lower than the control cells with no ISL applied. The percentage of late stage apoptosis in the two cell lines was 11% and 13% respectively, compared to less than 5% in the control cells.
Inhibits cancer progression with fewer side effects
“ISL possesses a unique property of inhibiting pancreatic cancer progression through the blockade of autophagy, which is a natural process where the body’s cells clean out damaged or unnecessary components. The blockade of late-stage autophagy in our experiments results in cancer cell death,” said Dr Ko.
The research team further employed a mice tumor model to investigate the efficacy of ISL in inhibiting pancreatic cancer cell growth in vivo. The mice were divided into three groups with GEM (GEM group), ISL (ISL group) and no treatment agent (control group) applied. The ISL group was further divided into two sub-groups treated with 30mg/kg and 60mg/kg of ISL.
On the 21st day of the experiment, the tumor volumes of the control group and the GEM group were1000 mm3 and 400 mm3 respectively. The tumor volumes of the two ISL sub-groups treated with 30mg/kg and 60mg/kg of ISL were about 500 mm3 and 300 mm3 respectively. The results showed that ISL demonstrated treatment effects comparable to that of GEM. Meanwhile, compared with GEM, ISL showed fewer side effects in mice including neutropenia (drop in white blood cell count), anemia and body weight loss.
Enhances effects of chemotherapies
Current first-line chemotherapeutic drugs for pancreatic cancer, such as GEM and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), are frequently associated with chemoresistance. It is because these drugs induce autophagy which favours the growth of cancer cells, and thus jeopardises their treatment effects.
To explore ISL’s potential in counteracting the chemoresistance of GEM and 5-FU, the research team set up experiments with pancreatic cancer cells treated with GEM or 5-FU alone, and GEM or 5-FU together with ISL. The growth inhibition rate of pancreatic cancer cells applied with GEM and ISL together is 18% higher than using GEM only, while the growth inhibition rate using 5-FU and ISL together is 30% higher than 5-FU only. The results showed that ISL can enhance the treatment effects of chemotherapeutic drugs by blocking autophagy, which is conducive to the death of cancer cells.
“The findings in this study open a new avenue for developing ISL as a novel autophagy inhibitor in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. We hope to collaborate with other research partners to further evaluate the effectiveness and potential clinical application of ISL in treating pancreatic cancer,” said Dr Ko.
Hashtag: #pancreaticcancer #isoliquiritigenin
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Amfuture Expands into Singapore with the launch of SMEs User-Friendly and Affordable Sales & Marketing Solutions
Recognising the importance of customer satisfaction for local SMEs, Amfuture unveils its expansion plans in Singapore. Backed by prominent investor Parmway, led by Zhang Tao, founder and CEO of Dianping.com, and Eminence Ventures, a strategic partner of Emergence Capital who is known for its investments in renowned technology companies such as Zoom and Salesforce, adds further credibility to Amfuture’s offerings.
“Amfuture’s entry into the Singapore market will be a game-changer for SMEs,” says Judy Huang – Owner of Monkey Shoulder F&B Pte Ltd. “Their user-friendly and affordable solutions address the pressing needs of businesses. Their preinstalled marketing support enables us to acquire customers easily, build strong relationships and drive sustainable growth via Whatsapp. We welcome Amfuture’s commitment to supporting SMEs and look forward to the positive impact it will have on our business community.”
Amfuture’s suite of solutions is designed to aid businesses common problems. They have developed Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology to assist SMEs across three key areas: Sales & Marketing, Operations and Business Analytics.
Amfuture enables SMEs to leverage a straightforward customer contact generation process through QR code scanning and the Power of Online Marketing Links.
This approach will help to improve businesses’ ads performance and it allows SME’s to experience growth while reducing costs. Ads performance also improved as compared to traditional advertising.
Furthermore, Amfuture integrates ChatGPT, which is powered by Business Intelligence Capability, allowing businesses to craft personalised marketing messages for each customer during the same marketing event, to enhance personal touch.
“Amfuture’s one-stop sales and marketing solutions have transformed our business,” says Alwin Siew – COO of The Quotation Malay Cuisine and Yu Li Canteen Pte Ltd. “With their system, we have significantly improved customer acquisition and engagement. The ability to generate personalised marketing messages has strengthened our relationships and boosted sales. It’s an invaluable tool for SMEs like us.”
In addition, Amfuture helps businesses to analyse customer purchasing preferences and label them individually, thus enabling the personalisation of marketing campaigns and forecasting future business projections. This data-driven approach is utilised to improve upselling and cross-selling through targeted marketing campaigns.
Amfuture is not just a software company, the tools offered include access to their POS system. This onboarding process creates an integrated offline-online system, streamlining business operations and helps to improve productivity.
With Amfuture’s solutions, SMEs can gain access to a cost-effective platform that eliminates the steep learning curve associated with software adoption. Organisations can grasp the skills required in half an hour and carry on their business.
Amfuture’s also provides a customer success team to assist SMEs in fully utilising the platform, help them increase sales and achieve their business goals. From forming standard operating procedures for data collection to improving efficiency and conversion rates, the customer success team guides SMEs step by step to ensure their success.
“We are thrilled to support Singapore SMEs in their customer acquisition journey,” says Lester Raphael Ong, Co-Founder of Amfuture. “Our goal is to empower businesses with user-centric and cost-effective solutions that drive growth and foster exceptional customer experiences. By embracing Amfuture, SMEs can unlock their growth potential and overcome operational challenges while delivering exceptional customer experiences. In the near future, we will be introducing exciting functions such as eCommerce, a delivery platform, and a reservations system, providing even more value to our clients.”
Hashtag: #Amfuture
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About Amfuture
Amfuture Pte Ltd is a company, focusing on private data to provide sales and marketing solutions to Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to drive sales and business growth.
For further information or media queries, visit our website: https://www.amfuture.sg/