- Azerbaijan, Armenia publish text of US-brokered peace deal Reuters
- Iran rejects planned transit corridor outlined in Armenia-Azerbaijan pact Al Jazeera
- Azerbaijani president phones PM Shehbaz, appreciates Pakistan’s support on Karabakh issue Dawn
- President Trump Brokers Another Historic Peace Deal The White House (.gov)
- America’s New South Caucasus Corridor: Stakes for China, Russia, and Beyond The Diplomat – Asia-Pacific Current Affairs Magazine
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Azerbaijan, Armenia publish text of US-brokered peace deal – Reuters
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President vows to work for protection of minorities' rights – RADIO PAKISTAN
- President vows to work for protection of minorities’ rights RADIO PAKISTAN
- ‘Mazhab nahi, soch badlo’: Religious minorities seek end to forced conversions, intolerance Dawn
- President Zardari Reaffirms Protection of Minorities’ Rights in Pakistan ptv.com.pk
- MPAs close ranks to champion minorities The Express Tribune
- Govt to protect rights of minorities: PM nation.com.pk
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Global Migration Of Aerosol Particles Across Earth Shown In NASA Visualization
High above the oceans and landmasses, an unseen migration is constantly unfolding. These travelers are aerosols: millions upon millions of microscopic particles so small they can drift for days or even weeks, riding the planet’s invisible superhighways.
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Created by NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, the video shows the journey of aerosols swirling through Earth’s atmosphere within a brief window from August 1 to September 14, 2024.
It was made using NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System, a sophisticated model that uses data from satellite observations, on-the-ground measurements, and weather stations to better understand the dynamic movement of the planet’s system.
Each type of aerosol is painted in its own color: deep blue for sea salt whipped up by storms, magenta for desert dust, fiery orange and red for smoke from wildfires, and bright green for sulfate particles from pollution or volcanic eruptions.
By looking at the way different aerosols ebb, flow, and twirl around Earth, it’s possible to gain all kinds of insights into different weather systems and the environment.
For instance, that vast plume of pink heading westwards out of Africa is a cloud of desert dust from the Sahara. A significant plume of Saharan sand drifted across the Atlantic during the summer of 2024, impacting air quality across the Caribbean, Florida, and Texas.
You can also see a narrow stream of sulfate particles (in green) emitted from volcanic eruptions from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano and Italy’s Mount Etna.
Worrying amounts of wildfire smoke can be seen gushing out of southern Africa, created by seasonal agricultural burning, as well as South America, generated by the intense wildfires and deforestation.
The movement of the aerosols also picks up on the violent swirling of tropical storms. A spiraling cloud of sea salt, sulphates, and dust can be seen in the western Atlantic Ocean, representing Hurricane Ernesto. Meanwhile, Typhoons Shanshan and Ampil can be seen near Japan, drawing in pollution from mainland Asia.
Human-made air pollution makes up much of the other green data points on the map. While it tends to emerge from industry and urban centers, it eventually spreads far and away, affecting people beyond the cities. However, just a small amount of the planet’s total aerosols are human-made, and the vast majority have natural origins.
By mapping these airborne journeys, NASA aims to equip communities and researchers with the insight to anticipate shifts in air quality and visibility, while advancing our understanding of the atmosphere’s ever-changing nature. Beyond its scientific value, the visualization offers a striking reminder that our planet is deeply interconnected.
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Leaf it out! Chemical engineers develop bioplastic that breaks down in soil – News
US CHEMICAL engineers inspired by leaves have created a form of bioplastic packaging that degrades in the environment in ambient conditions.
Plastic packaging is a staple of modern life – it helps keep food fresh for longer and is lighter than many alternatives, reducing transport costs. Yet, too much of this single-use packaging is lost as litter to the environment, where plastic bottles and wrappers fragment into microplastics that end up polluting the environment and our bodies.
There are alternatives that can biodegrade without producing persistent microplastics such as the bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA). However, it won’t break down in the soil or the sea where packaging pollution is prevalent, requiring industrial composting conditions instead.
Now researchers at Washington University in St Louis, US, inspired by the cellulose-rich cell walls of plants, have added cellulose nanofibres to create a form of PLA that breaks down in soil in five weeks.
“We created this multilayer structure where cellulose is in the middle and the bioplastics are on two sides,” said Joshua Yuan, professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the university.
Publishing their results in Nature Communications, the team said the technique makes the resulting film highly transparent and water stable, and achieves high gas barrier properties to improve food shelf life and reduce waste.
“On top of all of this, the [composite’s] underlying cellulose structure gives it a higher tensile strength than even petrochemical plastics like polyethylene and polypropylene,” says study author Puneet Dhatt.
The team is now looking for funding to help develop the technology for industrial use. While concerned the US lags behind European and Asian research institutions working on similar technologies, they believe they can compete by tapping into the country’s vast farming sector to supply the corn and starch feedstocks needed for bioplastic building blocks like lactic acid.
“The US is particularly strong in agriculture,” Yuan said. “We can provide the feedstock for bioplastic production at a lower price compared to other parts of the world.
“The United States has a waste problem, and circular reuse could go a long way to turning that waste into useful materials. If we can ramp up our bioplastic supply chain, it would create jobs and new markets.”
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Implant treats Type 1 diabetes by oxygenating insulin-producing cells
Cornell researchers have developed an implant system that can treat Type 1 diabetes by supplying extra oxygen to densely packed insulin-secreting cells, without the need for immunosuppression. The system could also potentially provide long-term treatment for a range of chronic diseases.
The findings were published Aug. 11 in Nature Communications. The co-first authors were former postdoctoral researcher Tung Pham and doctoral candidate Lora (Phuong) Tran.
The technology builds off previous implantable encapsulation devices developed in the lab of Minglin Ma, professor of biological and environmental engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the paper’s senior author.
Ma has explored a variety of ways to address Type 1 diabetes, in which the body’s immune system turns hostile and destroys insulin-producing pancreatic cell clusters, known as islets. Without insulin, the body has no way to deliver glucose – sugar – into muscle and tissue cells to generate energy. People with Type 1 diabetes typically manage the disease through daily insulin injections or insulin pumps, but even with that treatment, patients still suffer devastating effects of the disease.
Ma’s previous implantable devices have proved effective in controlling blood sugar in diabetic mice, but they can only last so long.
“One of the major challenges is the implant itself often dies due to the lack of oxygen after implantation,” Tran said. “In our lab, they had success in mice that lived over one year, and they controlled the diabetes very effectively with some small capsules without oxygen generation. However, when we scale up, we need more cells, we need more density, especially. We need a higher dose. If we implant without generating oxygen, the cells often die within two weeks.”
Ma’s team developed the new system in collaboration with electrochemical researchers from Giner Inc., including co-author Linda Tempelman, Ph.D. ’93.
The key components of the system are a cylindrical capsule with a ring-shaped cross-section that contains transplanted insulin-secreting cells, and an electrochemical oxygen generator that is roughly the size of a dime and removeable. A nanofibrous membrane outside the capsule protects the cells from the host body’s immune system; a permeable membrane in the core of the capsule allows the central supply of oxygen to reach the ring of cells.
“We have to meet two requirements,” Tran said. “The first is immune protection. And second, you have to maintain mass transfer, like the glucose and other nutrients and molecules that can go in and out.”
Working with Dr. James Flanders, associate professor emeritus in the College of Veterinary Medicine, the researchers successfully tested the system in rat models.
“It’s the proof of concept. We really proved that oxygenation is important, and oxygenation will support high cell-density capsules,” Tempelman said. “The capsules are immune protective and last for a long time without having some kind of fouling of the membrane. The body never likes when you put a foreign substance in. So that’s the engineering in the Ma Lab, to look for materials and coatings for the materials that are immune protective, but also don’t invoke excess response from the body because of the material.”
The new system would enable a much greater number of the 2 million people who suffer from Type 1 diabetes in the U.S. to now have an islet transplant or cell therapy without requiring immune suppression, which is considered too dangerous for routine use. Also, the new system can provide much tighter sugar control, effectively curing the disease and enabling the person to eat, drink and exercise like everyone else.
The next step will be to implant the system in a pig model, and also test it with human stem cells. The researchers are interested in eventually trying to use the system for implanting different cell types in humans for long-term treatment of chronic diseases, according to Tempelman, who is CEO of Persista Bio Inc., a new startup she founded with Ma and Flanders that is licensing these technologies.
“We see an age where people will be getting implants with allogeneic cells from other human beings, from stem cell lines, and using it long term to treat things that your body is missing,” Tempelman said. “Here we’re missing insulin. In pain control, maybe you need more endorphins or some other molecule. In enzyme replacement therapy, you need more enzymes. We’re interested in things like other autoimmune diseases where there’s inflammation that’s out of control.
“So maybe you could put a small molecule in that would treat inflammation, and then someone, like a Lupus patient, wouldn’t have to take an oral medication. They could just have a low-level implant that provides a low amount of it.”
Co-authors include Flanders; Christopher Piccirillo ’24 and Alan Li ’23; and Simon Stone of Giner Inc.
The research was supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health, the Hartwell Foundation, Breakthrough T1D and Novo Nordisk.
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Govt hails Hague court’s award saying India must ‘let flow’ waters of western rivers for Pakistan’s ‘unrestricted use’ – Pakistan
The federal government on Monday welcomed the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague to issue an “Award on Issues of General Interpretation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)” in the Indus Waters case, stating that India must generally “let flow” the waters of the western rivers for Pakistan’s “unrestricted use”.
India in April held the IWT in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later said it was considering court action, citing a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
A supplemental award by the PCA in June held that India could not unilaterally hold the treaty in abeyance. India, in response, said it did not recognise the court or its decisions.
A press release issued today by the PCA said it rendered an award on Friday in an arbitration initiated by Pakistan against India on August 19, 2016, pursuant to Article IX and Annexure G to the IWT.
“This arbitration concerns the interpretation and application of the IWT to certain design elements of the run-of-river hydro-electric plants that India is permitted by the treaty to construct on the tributaries of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab Rivers.”
Regarding the overall approach to Article 3 (provisions regarding western rivers) of the IWT, the award said: “The general rule is that India shall ‘let flow’ the waters of the western rivers for Pakistan’s unrestricted use.
“There are certain specified exceptions to this rule, including in relation to the generation of hydroelectric power, but these exceptions must be strictly construed: the design and operation of run-of-river hydroelectric plants must hew strictly to the requirements in the treaty, rather than to
what India might consider an ‘ideal’ or ‘best practices’ approach.”It further noted that questions relating to the balance between the parties’ respective rights and obligations in this regard were to be identified and addressed through the treaty’s procedures for notification, objection and dispute resolution in furtherance of the treaty’s objective and its obligations of mutual cooperation.
The PCA said that to date, India had not participated in the arbitration proceedings and had repeatedly objected to the court’s competence of the court, adding that it had addressed the issue on various counts before.
“Throughout these proceedings, the court has ensured that India is fully informed in respect of the
proceedings and that the opportunity to participate remains open to it. Notwithstanding this, the court
has endeavoured to ascertain, understand, and consider India’s views, drawing on available materials,
including the records of the commission, correspondence between the parties, and/or submissions by
India in previous dispute resolution proceedings under the treaty,” the PCA said.It added that it had also taken steps to test the accuracy of Pakistan’s claims, including by requesting further written submissions from Pakistan, by questioning Pakistan both before and during the hearing on the merits, by requesting that Pakistan produce historical evidence concerning the operation of the IWT and the Permanent Indus Commission, and by considering publicly available materials and jurisprudence not presented by Pakistan.
The PCA explained that the Aug 8 award addressed questions concerning the treaty’s overall interpretation and application, including in relation to Article 3 and Paragraph 8 of Annexure D (which concerns new run-of-river hydro-electric plants that India may construct on the western rivers).
“The award also addresses a related question on the legal effect of decisions issued by dispute resolution bodies under the treaty (namely, courts of arbitration and neutral experts),” the PCA press release said.
“The award is binding on the parties and without appeal,” the press release stated.
A statement from the Foreign Office (FO) said Pakistan welcomed the award.
“The award carries special significance in the wake of India’s recent announcement to hold the IWT in abeyance, and its earlier decision to boycott the proceedings of the Court of Arbitration. It is an endorsement of Pakistan’s historical stance on the afore-stated issues.
“Pakistan remains committed to full implementation of the IWT. It also expects India to immediately resume the normal functioning of the treaty and faithfully implement the award announced by the Court of Arbitration.”
Award’s details
Among its 10 findings, the court said the awards of a court of arbitration were final, binding on the parties and had a controlling legal effect on subsequent neutral experts, subsequent courts of arbitration and the court that issued the award.
Further, it pointed out that to the extent that a court of arbitration and a neutral expert were operating at the same time on related matters, it was incumbent on both to pay attention to decisions of the other that had a binding or otherwise controlling effect.
The court said that the decisions of a neutral expert on matters within their competence were “final and binding” on the parties and any court of arbitration, in respect of the particular matter on which the decision was made.
“Due to the vulnerability of Pakistan as the downstream riparian of a critical but shared nature resource, and the potential for serious conflict between India and Pakistan in this regard, the object and purpose of the treaty, as it relates to the western rivers, is to delimit the two states’ respective rights and obligations, in conjunction with mutual cooperation and effective dispute resolution procedures for whenever questions as to the interpretation and application of these rights and obligations arise,” the court reiterated about the treaty’s objectives and aims.
The award said Paragraphs 8(d), 8(e), and 8(f) of Annexure D, on low-level outlets, gated spillways, and intakes for the turbines respectively, contained specific directions about their existence, size and/or location (addressed below), which might depart from engineering best practices that sought to maximise efficiency or power output.
“These limitations were of central significance in the treaty negotiations for addressing Pakistan’s
concerns as to India’s ability to release virtually all the water in dam reservoirs, along with
sediment, and to withhold a large volume of water when refilling the reservoirs,” the court said.On maximum pondage, the award said that the pondage required for firm power was
to be calculated based on the water accumulated over a seven-day period at the minimum mean
discharge (a historically low flow rate), taking into account the daily and weekly downstream
release requirements set out in Paragraph 15 of Annexure D and a “realistic, well-founded, and
defensible projection of the plant’s installed capacity and anticipated load”.It noted that maximum pondage should not be “more than twice this amount”.
The court further said that when designing a run-of-river plant, India was only entitled to freeboard the vertical distance in the dam wall from the full supply level to the top of the dam of a height necessary to address the safety of the dam as a whole from overtopping, with reference to internationally recognised standards.
“For each of the components of dam design indicated above, the parties must cooperate from an early stage of planning by India for a new hydro-electric plant on the western rivers, such that India’s designs can be modified as necessary in light of valid concerns raised by Pakistan in relation to these components. Ultimately, India bears the burden of establishing that its designs are treaty-compliant,” the award’s findings concluded.
However, the award clarified that the court did not address the application of its findings to the specific circumstances of the Kishenganga Hydro-Electric Plant or Ratle Hydro-Electric Plant — the two Indian
projects presented in Pakistan’s arbitration request.“The court remains seized of issues raised in the request for arbitration and not yet decided, and will determine the next steps in the proceedings after seeking the views of the parties,” it said.
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Wall Street flat and FTSE rises as Nvidia and AMD agree to pay US 15% cut of China chip sales – uk.finance.yahoo.com
- Wall Street flat and FTSE rises as Nvidia and AMD agree to pay US 15% cut of China chip sales uk.finance.yahoo.com
- Nvidia and AMD to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US government Financial Times
- U.S. Government to Take Cut of Nvidia and AMD A.I. Chip Sales to China The New York Times
- Nvidia and AMD to pay 15% of China chip sales to US government BBC
- Nvidia, AMD to pay 15% of China chip sales to US government, reports say Al Jazeera
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DLA Piper welcomes Miguel Colebrook to the Corporate practice
DLA Piper is pleased to welcome Miguel Colebrook as a Managing Director in the Corporate practice. He will be affiliated with the New York office.
Colebrook focuses his practice on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, investments, and strategic joint ventures. He has extensive experience representing clients in the Middle East and other strategic jurisdictions. He frequently advises some of the world’s most dynamic businesses and their investors on a broad range of complex and strategic transactions and possesses deep experience across the full spectrum of private capital structures, from disruptive venture investments to private equity-backed market-defining buyouts.
Highlights of Colebrook’s experience include: representing a global leading investment firm in connection with the investment in Finland’s largest electricity distribution company; advising the purchaser in relation to the acquisition of energy infrastructure and storage terminals assets from a Swiss multinational company, consisting of infrastructure assets located in multiple countries worldwide; and counseling a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company in its lead investment in the financing of a developer of heat transfer fluids that reduce energy consumption.
“Miguel’s addition to the firm will be pivotal for the expansion of our cross-border M&A, private equity, and venture capital capabilities, and his geographical experience in the Gulf Cooperation Council region and Saudi Arabia will be equally important to servicing our clients in the energy, infrastructure, and technology sectors,” said Andy Gilbert, US Chair of DLA Piper’s Corporate practice.
With more than 1,000 corporate lawyers globally, DLA Piper helps clients execute complex transactions seamlessly while supporting clients across all stages of development. The firm has been rated number one in global M&A volume for 15 consecutive years, according to Mergermarket, and ranked as number one in VC, PE and M&A in combined global deal volume according to PitchBook.
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Paris 2024 Olympic Closing Ceremony anniversary: what made it unforgettable
One of the most lasting images of the Closing Ceremony came during a dramatic segment imagining a world without the Olympic Games, as pianist Alain Roche played a vertically suspended piano, dressed in a coat made from recycled VHS tapes, while French tenor Benjamin Bernheim performed “Hymn to Apollo.”
Below, acrobats and breakdancers portrayed “archaeologists” searching for the lost rings, while the Golden Voyager—who first appeared in sensational fashion during the Opening Ceremony—soared above the Stade de France, symbolizing hope and rediscovery.
The moment combined striking visuals, powerful music, and inventive storytelling to stunning effect.
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Opioid Use Disorder Care Evolving for Fentanyl Crisis
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Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.Fentanyl and other high-potency synthetic opioids (HPSOs) are the leading cause of opioid overdose deaths in the United States. These substances have changed the way that hospitals start medication to treat opioid use disorder (OUD), but no standards exist.
A new study published in JAMA Network Open on August 7, 2025, assessed new initiation approaches used by hospital-based addiction consult services (ACS) to treat OUD around the country.
FDA-approved medications, including methadone and buprenorphine, have been demonstrated to reduce opioid-related mortality and overdoses by as much as 50%. Yet, clinical guidelines on how to initiate these lifesaving medications–which were developed when heroin and prescription opioids dominated the unregulated opioid supply–are outdated.
Researchers surveyed 58 directors of hospital-based ACS and found that most ACS recognized the prevalence of HPSOs, and agreed they have changed how they approach medication initiation.
“Our study shows hospital-based addiction consult clinicians are adapting their care to a rapidly evolving drug supply to best serve the people they’re caring for. As the drug supply continues to evolve so quickly, these practice changes are outpacing clinical guidelines and available research.” Shawn Cohen, MD
“Our study shows hospital-based addiction consult clinicians are adapting their care to a rapidly evolving drug supply to best serve the people they’re caring for. As the drug supply continues to evolve so quickly, these practice changes are outpacing clinical guidelines and available research,” says Shawn Cohen, MD, assistant professor of medicine (general medicine) and lead author of the study.
Individuals using HPSOs who are provided the same methadone initiation approach as those using heroin or prescription opioids may still experience opioid withdrawal symptoms.
“Inadequately treated opioid withdrawal causes unnecessary patient discomfort and can often lead to poor treatment outcomes for people with OUD,” says Melissa Weimer, DO, MCR, associate professor of medicine (general medicine) and of epidemiology (chronic diseases) at Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), medical director of the Yale Addiction Medicine Consult Service (YAMCS) at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), and co-author of the study.
New treatment approaches include more rapid methadone initiation, as well as both high and low-dose buprenorphine initiation protocols. Hospital-based ACS have emerged on the frontier of this new treatment landscape.
“Hospital-based addiction services like the one at Yale New Haven Hospital can deploy innovative specialty care to patients’ bedsides because of close monitoring in the hospital environment, regulatory allowances, and close collaboration with pharmacists and other hospital-based specialists.” Melissa Weimer, DO, MCR
“EDs and hospitals are on the frontlines of the overdose crisis and see some of the most unfortunate complications of opioid use. Hospital-based addiction services like the one at Yale New Haven Hospital can deploy innovative specialty care to patients’ bedsides because of close monitoring in the hospital environment, regulatory allowances, and close collaboration with pharmacists and other hospital-based specialists,” says Weimer.
In addition to further study of the safety and effectiveness of novel medication initiation approaches, the authors call for the incorporation of community-partnered research methods to inform thoughtful and time-sensitive guidelines development in collaboration with individuals and communities impacted by OUD and with the changing opioid supply in mind.
“The people most impacted by changes in the drug supply, and those with the most insight into how we can adapt and improve our care, are people who use drugs. For clinicians and researchers to be able to improve care as rapidly as the drug supply changes, research and clinical care need to embrace a community-partnered approach,” Cohen says.
Reference: Cohen SM, Straus E, Fiellin DA, et al. Hospital-based methadone and buprenorphine initiation practices by addiction consult services. JAMA Network Open. 2025;8(8):e2526077-e2526077. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.26077
This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.
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