ASTANA, Aug 21 (Kazinform/APP) : Egypt opened on Wednesday an exhibition for sunken antiquities at the Alexandria National Museum, showcasing treasures from the Mediterranean seabed, Xinhua reports. Dubbed the “Secrets of the Sunken City Exhibition,” the exhibition showcased 86 rare artifacts recovered from several sites in Alexandria, including the two submerged cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus, and the submerged Royal Quarter in the Eastern Harbor of ancient Alexandria. According to the Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry, Thonis-Heracleion, a once-flourishing port city active between the 6th century BC and 4th century AD, gradually sank over the centuries due to earthquakes, land subsidence and rising sea levels. It was known for its multiple harbors and Egyptian and Greek temples, including Amun, Khonsu and Heracles. The submerged city of Canopus was renowned for its sacred sanctuaries dedicated to Osiris and Serapis. The city was also known for its extravagant celebrations during the Roman era, the ministry said.
A new study finds that a high-salt diet triggers brain inflammation that drives up blood pressure.
The research, led by McGill University scientist Masha Prager-Khoutorsky in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team at McGill and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, suggests the brain may be a missing link in certain forms of high blood pressure – or hypertension – traditionally attributed to the kidneys.
This is new evidence that high blood pressure can originate in the brain, opening the door for developing treatments that act on the brain.”
Prager-Khoutorsky, associate professor in McGill’s Department of Physiology
Hypertension affects two-thirds of people over 60 and contributes to 10 million deaths worldwide each year. Often symptomless, the condition increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and other serious health problems.
About one-third of patients don’t respond to standard medications, which primarily target the blood vessels and kidneys based on the long-standing view that hypertension begins there. The study, published in the journal Neuron, suggests the brain may also be a key driver of the condition, particularly in treatment-resistant cases.
How salt disrupts the brain
To mimic human eating patterns, rats were given water containing two per cent salt, comparable to a daily diet high in fast food and items like bacon, instant noodles and processed cheese.
The high-salt diet activated immune cells in a specific brain region, causing inflammation and a surge in the hormone vasopressin, which raises blood pressure. Researchers tracked these changes using cutting-edge brain imaging and lab techniques that only recently became available.
“The brain’s role in hypertension has largely been overlooked, in part because it’s harder to study,” Prager-Khoutorsky said. “But with new techniques, we’re able to see these changes in action.”
The researchers used rats instead of the more commonly studied mice because rats regulate salt and water more like humans. That makes the findings more likely to apply to people, noted Prager-Khoutorsky.
Next, the scientists plan to study whether similar processes are involved in other forms of hypertension.
About the study
“Microglia regulate neuronal activity via structural remodeling of astrocytes” by Ning Gu et al., was published in Neuron and supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Azrieli Foundation.
Source:
Journal reference:
Gu, N., et al. (2025). Microglia regulate neuronal activity via structural remodeling of astrocytes. Neuron. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2025.07.024.
Israel pushes into Gaza City as Hamas accepts a ceasefire. What does this reveal about Israel’s broader Gaza plan?
Israel’s ground push into Gaza City comes as Hamas accepts a ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar. Palestinians are being forced south in the Gaza Strip, where tent camps are rising and aid remains scarce. What does this move reveal about Israel’s broader plan?
In this episode:
Jeremy Scahill (@jeremyscahill), investigative journalist and cofounder, Drop Site News
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker, Sonia Bhagat and Marcos Bartolome, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Melanie Marich, Farhan Rafid, and guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Kylene Kiang, Amy Walters and Sari el-Khalili.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad Al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is the Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Pakistan wicketkeeper‑batter Mohammad Rizwan is set to feature in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for the first time, having agreed a deal with the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Pakistan’s former T20I captain joins the Patriots as a replacement for Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi, who has been called up to his national side ahead of their tri‑series against Pakistan and the UAE in the Emirates later this month.
Rizwan, meanwhile, has been cleared to play in the CPL following his omission from Pakistan’s T20I squad for both the UAE tri‑series and the upcoming Asia Cup, freeing him up for the entirety of the tournament. If all goes to plan, he could take the field in tomorrow’s clash against the Barbados Royals.
While his opportunities in international T20s have become limited, Rizwan remains a hot commodity in franchise cricket. Earlier this year, he signed with the Melbourne Renegades for the Big Bash League, meaning the Patriots stint will complete his quota of two overseas leagues allowed for centrally contracted Pakistan players within a 12‑month window.
For the Patriots, Rizwan’s arrival comes at a time when the two‑time CPL champions are struggling for momentum. After opening their campaign with a win, they have suffered three consecutive defeats and currently sit fourth on the points table.
The 33‑year‑old will also link up with familiar faces in the Patriots’ camp, with Naseem Shah and Abbas Afridi already part of the squad. The 2021 champs will be banking on Rizwan’s experience and consistency to steady their campaign.
For Rizwan—Pakistan’s go‑to man in T20 cricket for much of the past five years—this CPL debut offers not only a chance to test himself in Caribbean conditions but also an opportunity to remind fans back home of his enduring value at a time when the national selectors have looked elsewhere.
Dom Dolla headlines the 10th anniversary edition of Beyond The Valley, one of Australia’s biggest multi-day music festivals.
The superstar Australian DJ and producer is joined on the NYE lineup by pop culture phenom Addison Rae; hip-hop veteran Kid Cudi, who returns to the land Down Under for the first time in over a decade; plus US hardcore punk act Turnstile, and many others.
Also on the bill is Spacey Jane, I Hate Models, KETTAMA, Chris Stussy, Ben Böhmer, The Temper Trap, Luude, JoJo (Australian exclusive), 070 Shake, DJ HEARTSTRING, VTSS, SWIM, Pegassi, Channel Tres, Balu Brigada, Fcukers, Jane Remover, and Miss Kaninna.
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“Ten years ago, what BTV is now, we’d never have thought possible,” comments Nicholas Greco, co-founder and managing partner of Untitled Group, producers of the fest. “It’s become a rite of passage for so many, and we’re proud to create a space where people can discover new artists, share unforgettable moments, and ring in the new year with friends.”
When Dom Dolla gets to work on the wheels of steel, it’ll been seen as the return of the prodigal son.
Dolla has a career-long relationship with UNTITLED Group, the Melbourne-based independent events team, and has performed at eight editions of BTV.
This year has been one highlight after the next for Dom, during which he headlined two sold-out Madison Square Garden shows (where he collaborated on stage with Kid Cudi), played Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, EDC Las Vegas, Ultra Miami, covered Rolling Stone AU/NZ, and launched a 10-week Hï Ibiza residency, which is ongoing.
Last year, Dolla (real name: Dominic Matheson) smashed the box-office record for a homegrown DJ’s tour of these parts, selling more than 170,000 tickets across a four-date lap, produced by Untitled.
He’ll set the bar once again this December, when he’ll perform his biggest-ever Australian headline show at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium, from which he’ll bounce into the BTV lineup.
Presented by Untitled Group and triple j, the festival returns to Victoria’s picturesque Barunah Plains from Dec. 28 to Jan. 1. The most recent BTV featured performances from FISHER, Royel Otis, Chase & Status, Natasha Bedingfield and Tinashe, hosting over 35,000 party-goers across four days, making it the event’s biggest yet. That show earned a spot in DJ Mag’s Top 100 Festivals list for 2025, rising 92-82. Untitled Group, meanwhile, came in at No. 12 on Billboard’s 2025 mid-year promoter’s list.
The “BTV Besties” presale begins Thursday, Aug. 28 at 11am AEST, with the official presale launching the following Thursday, Aug. 28 at 6pm AEST, and general on sale starting Friday, Aug. 29 at 12pm AEST.
Beyond The Valley 28 December 2025 – 1 January 2026 Barunah Plains, Wadawurrung Country, Victoria
As most people who have used adaptive cruise control in traffic can no doubt appreciate, the most common event that required intervention was a car ahead cutting into the driver’s lane. These occurred about once every 8.6 miles, or 24.4 minutes, with 90 percent requiring intervention by the driver.
Inadequate lane centering was the next most common event, occurring once every 11.3 miles or 32.2 minutes. Seventy-two percent of those events also required intervention. Not resuming after coming to a halt happened 71 times, each of which required the driver to act. On 57 occasions, the lane keeping or adaptive cruise control deactivated, and there were 43 instances of a test car failing to adequately slow down, of which 70 percent required the driver to hit the brakes.
Hands-on versus hands-off
AAA found that the less-advanced systems that required a driver to keep their hands on the steering wheel experienced notable events at three times the frequency of hands-free systems. Hands-off systems only required intervention every 7.2 miles or 20.1 minutes, whereas the less advanced systems required intervention on average every 2.3 miles or 6.7 minutes. AAA also noted that the hands-off systems told the driver to put their hands back on the wheel every 5.5 miles (or 15.3 minutes) on average.
AAA has some recommendations based on its findings, which could also be categorized under common sense. When you’re behind the wheel of a vehicle, you should always remain alert, and AAA cautions that ADAS is “never a substitute for an engaged driver.” Don’t be distracted, especially by your smartphone. Read the car’s user manual and understand how, when, and where its systems can be expected to work. And set an appropriate following distance to the car ahead, even if it means more cut-ins.
The organization says it will encourage automakers to improve ADAS performance, especially cut-in response and lane-centering.
One year later, the group has created an evanescent coupler to copackage photonics and electronics. Integrating photonics with electronics within the same package “is the transistor for the 21st century,” says Kimerling, a professor of materials science and engineering at MIT, as well as director of MIT’s Microphotonics Center.
Significantly, the group’s evanescent coupler enables manufacturing on existing electronics foundries’ equipment with a less expensive passive alignment process.
It also handles the optical fiber baggage that comes along with copackaging electronics and photonics into a single package: The optical fiber (core diameter of 10 µm) that connects them must be precisely aligned with the photonic chips (cross-sectional dimensions of merely 0.2 µm × 0.5 µm) or the light will disperse. Today, this means each connection must be actively tested with a laser to ensure light passes through.
Since the number of fibers necessary for greater data communication is increasing exponentially, this active alignment process “won’t cut it for scaling forward,” points out Drew Weninger, who worked with Kimerling and recently completed his Ph.D. at MIT.
The group’s evanescent coupler provides “wiggle room” connecting the fibers within an electronic-photonic package. While conventional couplers have a single coupling point, which makes alignment tolerances tight, this one features “a much larger interaction length that increases the alignment tolerance,” says Agarwal, a principal research scientist at MIT’s Materials Research Lab.
Why is this a big deal? It means robots can passively assemble the resulting copackaged integrated circuits (ICs) to let more light to pass through—without active laser alignment.
It can also transmit light vertically between multiple layers of chips, which is difficult to pull off because it involves pulling light out of a horizontal plane. For electronics, this is simple because “electrons can easily flow out of plane,” says Weninger. “Light never wants to take right angles,” but this is where the evanescent coupler comes in.
The group’s packaging/interconnect design is “reliable, has a larger alignment tolerance, doesn’t lose much light, and doesn’t waste much space,” says Luigi Ranno, another group member who worked on the coupler and recently completed his Ph.D. at MIT.
Congrats to the group!
FURTHER READING
D. Weninger, S. Serna, L. Ranno, L. Kimerling, and A. Agarwal, Adv. Eng. Mater., 27, 4, 2570012 (Feb. 2025); https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202570012.
What 3 things make Travis Kelce so special to Taylor Swift? Report
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are going strong as the pair is about to hit their two-year anniversary next month.
As per a recent report by Us Weekly, the couple “found a lot of common ground they were not expecting, and it made their relationship stronger.”
During the last couple of months, the pair has taken major moves in their relationship including Travis posting snaps with Taylor on his official Instagram account and her recent record-breaking appearance at the NFL star’s podcast, New Heights, which he hosts with his brother Jason Kelce.
Travis and Taylor have three common things that made their bond more strong. “They have found their counterpart in terms of ambition, work ethic and values,” the source told the outlet.
A second insider noted, “Athletes have a different mindset; they are more disciplined, and it’s very similar to Taylor’s mindset. There are a lot of parallels, and they have really connected on that level with eating and working out.
And their recent summer holidays together also made the popstar and the quarterback more closer than ever as per the tattler.
“Taylor and Travis have settled into a real rhythm as a couple, and the more time they spend together, the more they realize how aligned they are,” the source said while a third insider added, “During this downtime, they really noticed all the little things they have in common. They feel like they’ve found their person.”
“The break came at the right (moment),” says the third insider. “Taylor needed to spend more time with Travis (so they could really) get to know each other.”
Another common thing between Taylor and Travis is that they both are “very empathetic people”. “Meeting someone like that is a dream come true for them.”
“She leaves Travis love notes and buys sentimental gifts, and he does the same thing,” and it’s something the Lover hitmaker “never experienced in a partner before Travis.”
Moreover, “They want to be married and have kids in the future,” said the source. “They’re both genuinely ready for that chapter.”
The logos of Walmart and Sam’s Club are pictured in Cuautitlan Izcalli, Mexico, January 30, 2025.
Raquel Cunha | Reuters
Walmart will report quarterly earnings on Thursday, as economists and investors try to gauge how U.S. consumers are responding to President Donald Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on dozens of countries across the globe.
Here’s what Wall Street expects for the big-box retailer, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: 74 cents expected
Revenue: $176.16 billion
As the largest U.S. retailer, Walmart offers a unique window into the financial health of American households. As higher duties have come in fits and starts — with some getting delayed and others going into effect earlier this month — Wall Street has tried to understand how those costs will ripple through the U.S. economy.
The company has said it expects net sales to rise between 3.5% and 4.5% for the fiscal second quarter, but it did not provide earnings guidance for the period because of changing U.S. tariff policies.
Walmart said in May that it expects full-year sales to grow 3% to 4% and adjusted earnings to range from $2.50 to $2.60 per share.
The Arkansas-based discounter said in May that, even with its size and scale, it would have to to raise prices for some items because of higher duties.
Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told CNBC at the time that tariffs were “still too high,” despite Trump agreeing at the time to lower duties on imports from China to 30% for 90 days. Earlier this month, Trump delayed China’s tariff deadline again, keeping the levies at that rate.
“We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb,” Rainey told CNBC in May. “It’s more than any supplier can absorb. And so I’m concerned that consumers are going to start seeing higher prices.”
About a third of what Walmart sells in the U.S. comes from other parts of the world, with China, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam and India representing its largest markets for imports, Rainey said in May.
Walmart’s comments drew ire from Trump, who said in a social media post that Walmart should “EAT THE TARIFFS.”
According to an analysis by CNBC of about 50 items sold by the retailer, some of those price changes have already hit shelves. Items that rose in price at Walmart over the summer included a frying pan, a pair of jeans and a car seat.
Yet even with higher costs from tariffs, Walmart has fared better than its retail competitors as it has leaned into its reputation for value, competed on faster deliveries to customers’ homes and attracted more business from higher-income households.
It also marked a milestone in May — posting its first profitable quarterfor its e-commerce business in the U.S. and globally. Its online business has drummed up more revenue, as it has sold more advertising and made commissions from sellers who are part of its third-party marketplace.
