Europe's moves in South China Sea are political gestures, won't shift hard strategic balance: Expert
Bilahari Kausikan, Former Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore says Europe's moves in the Indo-Pacific region reflect growing 'international concern', and the U.S. ambitions to develop industrial base means opportunity for many Asian countries to participate.
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Business Wire
2 hours ago
- Business Wire
Elucidata and Sapien Biosciences Announce Strategic Partnership to Transform Biobank Assets into high quality AI Products
SAN FRANCISCO & HYDERABAD, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Elucidata, a leader in data-centric AI for drug discovery and translational research, and Sapien Biosciences, India's first and largest commercial biobank with 300,000+ patient samples founded in partnership with Apollo Hospitals, today announced a strategic partnership to convert Sapien's extensive biobank assets into AI-ready, multimodal data products for use in drug and diagnostic development. Through this collaboration, Sapien will harness Elucidata's platform to integrate, standardize, and enrich its vast repository of biospecimens and curated clinical data, making them accessible for predictive modeling, synthetic data generation, and advanced genomics research. The partnership reflects a shared focus on turning real-world patient data into high-value actionable insights that drive precision medicine and improve outcomes worldwide. With access to over 300,000 patient samples across oncology, cardiology, autoimmune, inflammation, neurology, and other diseases, Sapien operates at a scale matched by few biobanks worldwide. This includes more than 85,000 cancer patients, increasingly paired with digitized histopathology images, genomic profiles, and structured longitudinal clinical data, making it one of the top 10 biobanks globally and the largest integrated resource for Asian patient data. 'At Sapien, we believe that deeply characterized patient data especially from underrepresented populations like those in India can catalyze more inclusive and effective diagnostics and therapies worldwide,' said Dr. Jugnu Jain, CEO and Co-founder of Sapien Biosciences. 'This partnership with Elucidata enables us to convert our rich biological and clinical datasets into interoperable, AI-ready formats, unlocking their potential for translational research, patient stratification, and precision drug development.' The first phase of the collaboration will focus on building AI models that infer genomic and transcriptomic insights from digital pathology images. By using NGS-annotated slides from Sapien's cancer biobank, the project will enable the generation of synthetic multi-modal datasets essential for next-generation diagnostic tools and tissue-sparing research strategies. This is particularly valuable for rare cancers and limited biopsy specimens. 'Sapien's scale, sample quality, and data depth make it a critical partner in our mission to democratize access to high quality, AI-ready biomedical data,' said Dr. Abhishek Jha, CEO and Co-founder of Elucidata. 'By applying our Polly platform to Sapien's datasets, we can bridge the gap between fragmented sample collections and next-gen AI models that accelerate target discovery and biomarker validation.' In addition to oncology, the partnership will explore multi-disease use cases across Sapien's biobank, including cardiovascular, autoimmune, and neurological disorders, building synthetic clinicogenomic datasets that support pharma R&D and companion diagnostic development. 'This partnership between Elucidata and Sapien Biosciences brings together Sapien's extensive, high-quality biobank resources and Elucidata's expertise in AI-powered data integration. By making rich biospecimens and clinical datasets AI-ready, this collaboration has the potential to accelerate global innovation and help reduce the complexity of human biology for research and patient care,' said Dr. Navjot Singh, advisor of and healthcare leader with 22 years of expertise in strategy, technology, and innovation, most recently as a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company. Elucidata recently ranked 7th in the Broad Institute's Autoimmune Disease Machine Learning Challenge and recently won the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Research Data Commons AI Data Readiness Challenge, highlighting its leadership in data-centric AI for life sciences. About Elucidata Elucidata is a data-first AI company that accelerates life sciences R&D by converting fragmented biomedical datasets into harmonized, AI-ready assets. Its proprietary Polly platform integrates EHRs, genomics, imaging, and clinical trial data for seamless downstream analysis and model development. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices across the U.S. and India, Elucidata supports over 70 pharma and diagnostics clients, and has contributed to 16 drug programs progressing toward FDA approvals. Recognized by the National Cancer Institute and Fast Company for its innovation in biotech, Elucidata is enabling a new era of data-driven discovery. Visit for more information. About Sapien Biosciences Founded in partnership with Apollo Hospitals, Sapien Biosciences is India's premier multi-disease biobank and a leader in Indian real-world evidence (RWE) for personalized medicine. With access to more than 300,000 patients' samples including 2 million pathology samples, Sapien offers FFPE tissues, blood, and liquid biopsy samples along with annotated histopathology slides and longitudinal clinical data. Its resources support a broad range of applications from AI/ML modeling and multi-omics research to drug screening in patient tumor-derived cells and biomarker discovery. Sapien has published over 10 peer-reviewed studies using Indian patient data and collaborates with leading diagnostic and pharma companies to reduce the representation gap in global omics datasets. Learn more at
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Vietnam Ends Two-Child Policy to Tackle Falling Birth Rates
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Vietnam has abolished its long-standing two-child policy to tackle concerns about declining birth and fertility rates. The National Assembly Standing Committee approved a new regulation lifting the restriction, permitting couples to freely choose the timing, number, and spacing of their children on Tuesday, state media reports. Why It Matters The fertility rate in Vietnam, Southeast Asia's third-most-populous nation, has fallen to 1.91 births per woman in 2024, according to the Vietnam General Statistics Office. This is well below the replacement threshold of 2.1 needed to maintain the population size. Vietnam's Two-Child Policy: Origins and Purpose Vietnam introduced its two-child policy in 1988 to curb rapid population growth, when the average woman had more than four children. The law restricted most families to one or two children, with exceptions in special cases. Enforcement was stricter for Communist Party members, who faced penalties including warnings, reduced bonuses, or dismissal from positions for violations. What To Know Vietnam's decision to scrap its two-child policy followed a steady decrease in birth rates since 2022, when the fertility rate dropped to 2.01 and declined again to 1.93 in 2023. Health officials have expressed concern that the nation's population of nearly 100 million may begin to contract by mid-century. Authorities have also cited gender imbalances and the ongoing shift toward a "super-aged society," with projections that over 20 percent of Vietnamese will be age 65 or older by 2049. Under the new regulation, all families—regardless of Party membership—can now choose freely how many children to have and when. Vietnam's policy shift aligns with recent moves in other Asian countries also experiencing plunging fertility rates and rapid aging. A billboard campaigning for each family to have two children in an effort to improve the birth rate stands along the street in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Jan. 14, 2024. A billboard campaigning for each family to have two children in an effort to improve the birth rate stands along the street in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Jan. 14, 2024. AP China saw a slight uptick in its birth rate in 2024, attributed mainly to cultural factors such as the Year of the Dragon, despite wide-ranging pro-natal measures and the end of restrictive family policies. Meanwhile, the country's overall population has continued to shrink for the third consecutive year. Japan, facing a decades-long population decline and with nearly 30 percent of its population over age 65, is preparing to make childbirth free as early as April 2026. The Japanese government proposes that public health insurance cover all delivery costs nationwide, attempting to alleviate financial burdens on families. What People Are Saying The United Nations Population Fund says: "Vietnam is in the period of population aging. The process of population aging is progressing rapidly, caused by mortality and fertility declines, and life expectancy at birth increase and that transition from an 'aging' to an 'aged' population will occur within just 20 years." What Happens Next The Vietnamese Ministry of Health is expected to submit a new population law to the National Assembly in 2025, aimed at sustaining fertility rates near replacement level while monitoring the ongoing demographic transition and the effects of the relaxed family planning rules.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Australian woman on trial for mushroom murder of in-laws claims she was trying to fix a ‘bland' lunch
Before Erin Patterson's in-laws and their relatives arrived at her home for lunch, she bought pricey ingredients, consulted friends about recipes and sent her children out to a movie. Then, the Australian woman served them a dish containing poisonous death cap mushrooms — a meal that was fatal for three of her four guests. Whether that was Patterson's plan is at the heart of a triple murder trial that has gripped Australia for nearly six weeks. Advertisement 7 Erin Patterson woman served her in-laws and their relatives a dish containing poisonous death cap mushrooms. AP Prosecutors in the Supreme Court case in the state of Victoria say the accused lured her guests to lunch with a lie about having cancer, before deliberately feeding them toxic fungi. But her lawyers say the tainted beef Wellington she served was a tragic accident caused by a mushroom storage mishap. She denies murdering her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and their relative, Heather Wilkinson. Advertisement The mother of two also denies attempting to murder Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who survived the meal. In a rare step for a defendant charged with murder, Patterson chose to speak in her own defense at her trial this week. 7 Erin Pattterson's lawyers say the tainted beef Wellington she served was a tragic accident caused by a mushroom storage mishap. 10 News First On Wednesday, she spoke publicly for the first time about the fateful lunch in July 2023 and offered her explanations on how she planned the meal and didn't become sick herself. Adding more mushrooms to a 'bland' meal 7 In a rare step for a defendant charged with murder, Patterson chose to speak in her own defense at her trial this week. via REUTERS Advertisement No one disputes that Patterson, 50, served death cap mushrooms to her guests for lunch in the rural town of Leongatha, but she says she did it unknowingly. Patterson said Wednesday she splurged on expensive ingredients and researched ideas to find 'something special' to serve. She deviated from her chosen recipe to improve the 'bland' flavor, she said. She believed she was adding dried fungi bought from an Asian supermarket from a container in her pantry, she told the court. 'Now I think that there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well,' she told her lawyer, Colin Mandy. Patterson had foraged wild mushrooms for years, she told the court Tuesday, and had put some in her pantry weeks before the deaths. The accused says she 'shouldn't have lied' about cancer Advertisement 7 She believed she was adding dried fungi bought from an Asian supermarket from a container in her pantry, she told the court. AP Patterson, who formally separated from her husband Simon Patterson in 2015, said she felt 'hurt' when Simon told her the night before the lunch that he 'wasn't comfortable' attending. She earlier told his relatives that she'd arranged the meal to discuss her health. Patterson admitted this week that she never had cancer — but after a health scare, she told her in-laws she did. In reality, Patterson said she intended to have weight loss surgery. But she was too embarrassed to tell anybody and planned to pretend to her in-laws that she was undergoing cancer treatment instead, she said. 7 She earlier told his relatives that she'd arranged the meal to discuss her health. Provided 'I was ashamed of the fact that I didn't have control over my body or what I ate,' a tearful Patterson said Wednesday. 'I didn't want to tell anybody, but I shouldn't have lied to them.' Patterson says she threw up her mushroom meal The accused said she believes she was spared the worst effects of the poisoned meal because she self-induced vomiting shortly after her lunch guests left. She had binged on most of a cake and then made herself throw up — a problem she said she had struggled with for decades. Patterson also said she believes she had eaten enough of the meal to cause her subsequent diarrhea. She then sought hospital treatment but unlike her lunch guests, she quickly recovered. Advertisement At the hospital where her guests' health was deteriorating, her estranged husband asked her about the dehydrator she used to dry her foraged mushrooms, she said. 7 Erin Patterson said she believes she was spared the worst effects of the poisoned meal because she self-induced vomiting shortly after her lunch guests left. Newspix via Getty Images 'Is that how you poisoned my parents?' she said Simon Patterson asked her. Growing afraid she would be blamed for the poisoning and that her children would be taken from her, Patterson said she later disposed of her dehydrator. She told investigators she'd never owned one and hadn't foraged for mushrooms before. Advertisement While still at the hospital, she insisted she'd bought all the mushrooms at stores even though she said she knew it was possible that foraged mushrooms had accidentally found their way into the meal. She was too frightened to tell anyone, Patterson said. 7 If convicted, Erin Pattterson faces life in prison for murder and 25 years for attempted murder. JAMES ROSS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Also later, Patterson said she remotely wiped her cell phone while it sat in an evidence locker to remove pictures of mushrooms she'd foraged. Advertisement Prosecutors argued in opening their case in April that she poisoned her husband's family on purpose, although they didn't suggest a motive. She carefully avoided poisoning herself and faked being ill, they said. The trial continues on Thursday with Patterson's cross-examination by the prosecutors. If convicted, she faces life in prison for murder and 25 years for attempted murder.
