Asia-Pacific markets fell Wednesday, tracking Wall Street declines overnight, as investors parsed Japan’s trade data and awaited China’s loan prime rate decision.
Japan’s exports dropped 2.6% year over year in July, notching its steepest drop in over four years. The fall was sharper than the 2.1% contraction expected by economists polled by Reuters and compared to the 0.5% drop seen in June.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.93%, while the Topix lost 0.31%.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.52% and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 1.77%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.24% lower at the open.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,977, pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI’s last close of 25,122.9.
Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 pulled back, weighed down by Nvidia shares and a broad decline in technology stocks. The broad market S&P 500 lost 0.59% and closed at 6,411.37, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.46% to settle at 21,314.95.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10.45 points, or 0.02%, and ended at 44,922.27. The 30-stock index touched a fresh record high during the session.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh and Yun Li contributed to this report.
Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal against the federal court ruling that he was not defamed by Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson has started.
The appeal against that finding will be heard over three days before the federal court’s full court of justices, Michael Wigney, Craig Colvin and Wendy Abraham.
Key events
Daryl Maguire sentenced to 10 months in jail for misleading Icac
Former NSW Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has been sentenced to 10 months in jail after he was found guilty of misleading a corruption inquiry in June.
Daryl Maguire in Sydney in June. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP
The former member for Wagga Wagga, who had a secret relationship with former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, initially gave evidence to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) during a hearing in July 2018. At the time, he denied knowing he would benefit from a $48m property development deal.
Magistrate Clare Farnan said:
The misleading evidence was given deliberately while Mr Maguire was the sitting member of parliament … he has not demonstrated any remorse and maintains his innocence. A significant sentence is required to deter others who might give misleading evidence to the Icac.
A term of imprisonment is required.
Farnan said Maguire would serve five months of the sentence without parole. His legal team said it would appeal the sentence.
Nino Bucci
Lehrmann’s lawyer tells court her client can’t afford a senior counsel
Bruce Lehrmann is appealing against the ruling that he was not defamed by Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, and that on the balance of probabilities he raped former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019 before the full court of the federal court.
Zali Burrows, for Lehrmann, starts the appeal hearing by apologising to the court for the absence of a senior counsel, which she says her client couldn’t afford.
Burrows says Lehrmann had hoped to be able to afford Guy Reynolds SC.
Justice Wigney assures her she is well qualified to continue, and mentions her detailed written submissions.
Burrows also checks with the justices that Lehrmann is permitted to sit at the bar table, a slightly unusual occurrence, given this table immediately before the judges is generally reserved for lawyers. Wigney has no issue with this.
Burrows says Lehrmann appeals on four grounds, and starts by outlining the first of these grounds: that the judgment of Justice Lee in the federal court was found outside the pleadings, denying Lehrmann procedural fairness and natural justice.
She said that Lee reached his decision outside the evidence led by Higgins. The hearing continues.
Ley says ‘respect goes both ways’ amid Israel-Australia row
The opposition leader Sussan Ley just spoke at a press conference in Sydney, where she said the prime minister needs to explain how he plans to get Australia’s relationship with Israel “back on track”.
Ley is continuing her criticism of Albanese this morning. She said:
Respect goes both ways, and the series of events we have seen in relationship between Israel and Australia are regrettable. And that relationship has been and is being mismanaged.
It is a strong relationship, an enduring relationship that dates back to 1947 … Of course, along the way there have been disagreements and there have been a robust conversations. That is normal.
But what we are seeing now is something different. We are seeing a relationship that has deteriorated and the consequences of that are not good and they are spilling over into our relationship with the US, our most important ally. The prime minister needs to explain how he is going to get this relationship that he has so badly mismanaged back on track.
Sussan Ley. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Bruce Lehrmann appeal begins
Nino Bucci
Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal against the federal court ruling that he was not defamed by Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson has started.
The appeal against that finding will be heard over three days before the federal court’s full court of justices, Michael Wigney, Craig Colvin and Wendy Abraham.
Bruce Lehrmann has arrived at the Federal Court in Sydney ahead of his defamation case appeal hearing – we’ll bring you all the action when it kicks off.
Bruce Lehrmann in Sydney today. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP
Peter Milne
Perth’s water supply at ‘high risk’ from Alcoa bauxite mining, expert study finds
Alcoa’s plan to vastly expand its strip mining of forest near Perth’s dams poses a high risk to the water supply for the city’s 2.3 million people, according to global engineering consultancy GHD.
The US aluminium producer commissioned the detailed analysis as part of its bid for approval to mine an additional 67 sq km of jarrah forest for bauxite – the source material for aluminium.
An analysis commissioned by Alcoa as part of its bid to mine an additional 67 sq km of jarrah forest for bauxite found it would pose a high risk to Perth’s water supply. Photograph: Miles Tweedie Photography/WA Forest Alliance
GHD identified 22 pathways for Alcoa’s mining to contaminate dams inland of Perth and concluded that all but one of them presented a high risk.
The triple threats to the water supply are contamination of the dams by pathogens from sewage, hydrocarbons from oil spills (both from Alcoa’s mining) or simply excessive soil washing into the dam, which makes the water unclear, rendering water treatment plants ineffective.
Read more here:
Head of Australian Jewish group says Netanyahu’s remarks to Albanese ‘unseemly’ and ‘not the way to do it’
Alex Ryvchin, the head of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of Anthony Albanese is “not the way to do it”, saying the growing diplomatic stoush has become a mess. Ryvchin spoke to Sky News this morning, saying of Netanyahu’s remarks:
I think it’s unseemly to speak to another leader, a foreign leader of another country, an allied nation, in that way and in that forum. … If the prime minister of Israel wishes to make his views known to the prime minister in a robust fashion, our prime minister here can handle it. Doing so on Twitter in that way I think is unacceptable.
Alex Ryvchin. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Ryvchin said recent remarks by the Australian government were “overblown as well,” urging “everyone to really calm down and think about what’s at stake here”. He went on to say that he believed Burke’s comments this morning, as reported in the blog, were also out of line.
I think both parties are acting contrary to the interests of the people they’re seeking to represent and serve. They need to find a new course and a new way of dealing with each other.
NSW SES issues warnings for possible flooding
Emergency officials are warning residents in northern and central NSW to prepare for possible flooding amid a heavy deluge of rain set to continue into tomorrow.
NSW SES said 24-hour totals near Tamworth are likely to reach 30-45mm, with isolated falls of 70mm. In the northern and Central Coast areas, rainfall totals are expected to peak Thursday with totals of 25-80mm likely.
Photograph: NSW SES
A flood watch has been issued for parts of the mid-north coast, the Hunter and the north west slopes, with minor to moderate flooding likely from later today, with isolated major flooding possible.
Colin Malone, the assistant commissioner of the NSW SES, urged people to have an emergency plan in place, saying people should “understand their own risk and know where you will go and what you will do”.
Malone stressed flash flooding can be unpredictable, and urged residents to “never, under any circumstance, drive through flood waters”.
“If you come across a flooded road, turn around and find another way”.
Natasha May
‘Clear cut’ regulator decisions would help keep capital in Australia, AustralianSuper says
Speeding up regulator decisions would be the “single most important thing” that would help keep investments in Australia rather than overseas, AustralianSuper’s boss says.
The fund’s chief executive, Paul Schroder, appeared on ABC’s 7.30 program last night after speaking at the government’s economic roundtable as one of four experts on a session about attracting capital to Australia.
Given more than half of AustralianSuper investments are overseas, host Sarah Ferguson asked Schroder what would make them invest more money in Australia.
Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
He insisted the fund needs to have a globally diversified portfolio to make the most money for members in retirement but when pushed acknowledged more still could be invested domestically if governments make financial decision making easier:
We need to be in a situation where governments of all tiers can make decisions more quickly – whether that is a yes or no – knowing that is really important. Having the right settings about the long term is really important … for example, housing. …
The single most important thing the government could do is to say at all levels of government, ‘We are going to make it much easier and much more clear-cut’.
Netanyahu sent Albanese a letter last week, saying antisemitism has ‘scarred’ Australia
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent Albanese a letter last week after Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, writing antisemitism had “scarred” cities across the nation and the move would only pour “fuel on this antisemitic fire”.
Sky News obtained a copy of the letter, dated 17 August, which accused Albanese of appeasing Hamas:
Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire. It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas’s refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.
Netanyahu went on to praise Donald Trump for protecting the civil rights of Jewish people, telling Albanese:
Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent. It retreats when leaders act. I call upon you to replace weakness with action, appeasement with resolve.
Benjamin Netanyahu. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Josh Butler
Greens want Albanese to legislate right to work from home
The federal Greens are pushing for the Albanese government to follow Victoria’s lead and legislate the right for workers to work from home at least two days a week.
In a new policy announcement on Wednesday, Senator Barbara Pocock wants employers to be required to “positively consider reasonable requests to work from home at least two days a week, provided working from home was not at odds with the inherent nature of a workers’ role”, according to a statement from her office.
Barbara Pocock. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
The policy would apply where WFH is “is sensible and doable”. The Greens note that the government has taken up previous ideas around establishing a right to disconnect, and that women especially could benefit from a WFH right being enshrined in law. The Greens’ leader, Larissa Waters, said:
The prime minister supports Victorian Labor premier Jacinta Allen’s push for legislating work from home two days a week. Now he has a chance to work with the Greens in federal parliament to make this a reality for those Australians whose jobs it suits.
Pocock noted that working from home “is not possible in all roles” but said that “where it is practical, workers should have a reasonable right to work from home for up to a couple of days a week.” She added:
The productivity commission has found that working from home not only reduces breaks and sick days, it can be less distracting than working on-site, which can lead to improved productivity. Similarly, OECD research shows that working from home – especially in hybrid models – can boost productivity and employee wellbeing, provided businesses invest in digital tools and smart management practices.
Burke said Israeli politician’s calls for destruction of Hamas not one of the grounds for cancelled visa
Burke was asked about the specifics behind Rothman’s visa cancellation on RN Breakfast earlier, including if the politicians calls for the destruction of Hamas were one of the grounds behind that decision.
The home affair minister said that claims were “mischievous” and “ridiculous”, saying the delegate who made the decision had included “simply descriptive” details about Rothman in the decision, including his views of Hamas, his professional qualifications and his alignment with his far-right party platform. Burke was asked if “his calling for the destruction of Hamas” was one of the specifics behind the rejection. He replied:
Of course not. Then just look at the number of people, yeah, the number of people with that exact view who we give visas to in Australia. Like, obviously, it’s not.
And some of what follows in that paragraph [in the visa decision] is simply descriptive of his views and consistent with many people who we let into the country.
And some of it is quite extreme views, which are not consistently held across the country.
Coalition says Burke has applied visa decisions ‘inconsistently’
Andrew Hastie, the shadow minister for home affairs, maintained the Coalition stance that Australia’s relationship with Israel is “now at an all-time low”. In an interview with RN Breakfast, Hastie said the decision to recognise a Palestinian state had “damaged” the relationship, adding:
I think as well, this latest visa decision, regardless of what you think of the Knesset MP who applied to come to this country, has further damaged the relationship as well. …
I think the government’s failed to recognise what this cancellation would mean. This wasn’t just any old visa. … I’m sure he said a whole range of things that I probably wouldn’t agree with. But nonetheless, he’s a member of the Knesset.
Hastie was asked again about Rothman’s views, saying while he “obviously” didn’t support them, Burke had applied the standard of visa approvals “very inconsistently”.
Andrew Hastie. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Burke defends decision to deny visas to far-right Israeli politicians
Burke was asked about the government’s decision to deny a visa to Simcha Rothman, a far-right Israeli politician, earlier this week, as well as that of another Israeli politician last year. The home affairs minister vehemently defended the call, saying the government had taken similar steps in the past against other controversial speakers, including US far-right commentator Candace Owens and the rapper Kanye West.
Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, right, with Simcha Rothman in 2023. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters
Burke told RN of the two Israeli politicians:
One of them has described Palestinian children as the enemy, and the other has described Palestinian children as little snakes. As little snakes.
Now, if anyone wanted to come on a public speech tour and they had those views publicly expressed about Israeli children, I would block the visa. And I am going to not have a lower bar for the protection of views that are bigoted views against the Palestinian people. I take the role very seriously in Australia that we have a power, or I have a power, and my delegates in the department have a power under the Migration Act, to block people from coming here if we think they will incite discord.
Burke went on to say his views on the matter were firm:
I have a strong view that no matter who you are in Australia, you have a right to feel safe and to be safe. And I also have a view that words can be bullets.
Burke addresses Netanyahu criticism, says strength not measured by ‘how many people you can blow up’
Tony Burke, the minister for home affairs, has addressed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism, saying Anthony Albanese had shown strength in standing up for Australian values on the world stage.
Burke spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying Israel was “lashing out” as the country had against others who said they would recognise a Palestinian state. Burke said:
Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up, or how many children you can leave hungry. Strength is much better measured by exactly what prime minister Anthony Albanese has done –which is when there’s a decision that we know Israel won’t like, he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu.
He has the conversation, he says exactly what we’re intending to do, and has the chance for the objections to be made person to person. And then having heard them, makes the public announcement and does what needs to be done.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, was speaking on ABC Radio National this morning. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Burke said he had not yet seen a letter Netanyahu sent to Albanese. But he said such criticism was further isolating Israel:
What we are seeing with some of the actions they’re taking is a continued isolation of Israel from the world, and that is not in their interests either.
Sussan Ley says Albanese ‘mismanaging’ Israel relationship
Sarah Basford Canales
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has accused Anthony Albanese of “mismanaging” Australia’s relationship with Israel after Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out overnight calling him a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews”.
The latest diplomatic row between Australia and Israel was prompted by the visa cancellation of far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman ahead of his planned speaking tour in Sydney and Melbourne later this week. The home affairs department cancelled Rothman’s visa on the basis it was “an unacceptable risk” to order in Australia and concern he could make “inflammatory statements to promote his controversial views and ideologies”.
In retaliation, the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, revoked the visas of three Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority living in East Jerusalem and working in an office in the West Bank. Sa’ar also cited Australia’s intention earlier this month to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in September as another example of the Albanese government “choosing to fuel” antisemitism.
Opposition leader Sussan Ley. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Ley’s statement said while the Australian prime minister deserved respect, it was a “two-way street”.
She continued:
Anthony Albanese has mismanaged international relationships to the point where he now finds himself at the centre of a troubling diplomatic incident.
This is a direct consequence of bad decisions he and his government have taken that do not advance Australia’s interests …
Her intervention comes after Netanyahu launched a blistering attack on Albanese for “abandoning” Israel.
Ham was one of the chimpanzees NASA used during the 1960s to test the Mercury capsule before human space flight. NASA/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
This week, Russia is expected to launch its Bion-M No.2 biosatellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying 75 mice and 1,500 fruit flies.
While the mission underscores Russia’s ongoing investment in space medicine, it reignites ethical concerns over the treatment of animals in space research.
Animals have played a pivotal role in space exploration since the 1950s. The former Soviet Union’s launch of the stray dog Laika aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957 marked the first living creature in orbit.
Laika’s cramped, stressful conditions and eventual death from oxygen deprivation highlighted the harsh realities of early space missions.
Laika became the first living creature in orbit. Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA
The US followed suit in 1961 with Ham , a chimpanzee sent on a suborbital flight to test task performance in space. Ham endured invasive monitoring, electric shocks for incorrect responses and severe dehydration. Although he recovered physically, he showed signs of psychological trauma following the mission.
As space exploration expands, the absence of legal protections for animals becomes increasingly problematic. International regulations are long overdue to formally recognise the sentience of animals in outer-space law and to safeguard their welfare before, during and after missions.
Forgotten animal casualties of space exploration
Despite technological advances, animal casualties persist. In 2019, Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft crash-landed on the Moon with thousands of tardigrades aboard. The fate of these eight-legged microscopic animals, also known as water bears or moss piglets, remains unknown.
Often, animals used in missions are deemed surplus afterwards, with little legal obligation for their continued care. For example, France’s Félicette , a cat sent into orbit in 1963, was euthanised post-mission for brain study, despite surviving re-entry.
Unlike military working animals, which undergo transition programmes for civilian life, space animals lack formal exit protocols.
Records of their fates are scarce, and their legal status remains ambiguous. This gap stems partly from the absence of animal considerations in outer-space law.
International responses and ethical shifts
Activist pressure, particularly from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ), has led to some reforms.
In 1996, NASA withdrew from the BION programme and introduced the Principles for the Ethical Care and Use of Animals . These guidelines were prompted by the Belmont Report which was commissioned in 1974 by the US Congress following controversy about unethical practices in research.
The guidelines emphasise bioethical responsibility, acknowledging that animals “warrant moral concern”.
NASA committed to stewardship of research animals, encompassing acquisition, care and what happens to them after the space mission. The principles outline three core ethical tenets:
Respect for life: use only appropriate species in minimal numbers necessary for valid results.
Societal benefit: weigh the ethical value of animal use against potential societal gains.
Non-maleficence: minimise pain and distress, recognising that animals may suffer similarly to humans.
While these principles don’t ban animal use, they promote ethical reflection and accountability.
Some agencies have followed suit. In 2010, the European Space Agency rejected primate research, opting for simulation technologies to study astronaut health risks.
NASA briefly considered resuming primate experiments in 2010, but PETA’s lobbying led to the cancellation of proposed research at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Nonetheless, NASA continues to use mice in space studies. In 2024, a group of mice was sent to the International Space Station to examine the effects of space on bodily systems.
Private companies have also faced scrutiny. In 2022, KEKA Aerospace in the Democratic Republic of Congo pledged to stop using animals after a rat named Kavira died aboard its Troposphere 5 rocket.
Legal gaps in outer-space law
Despite growing awareness, the legal and ethical frameworks surrounding animals in space remain underdeveloped. The lack of formal protections and transparency continues to raise questions about the ethical and moral cost of scientific progress.
There are five core outer space treaties, covering issues such as the peaceful use of outer space, the rescue of astronauts, the registration of space objects and liability for damage. But despite the long history of animals participating in space missions, none offers formal protections, focusing solely on human and state interests.
A common argument is that prioritising animal welfare could hinder scientific progress. While violence against humans is prohibited, harm to animals for food, research, medicine and other purposes remains widely accepted on Earth. Some question whether it would be inconsistent to restrict harm to animals in space, where human casualties are more likely.
However, two key observations challenge this view.
First, many countries, including New Zealand , now legally recognise animals as sentient beings, deserving moral and legal consideration. Just as human rights evolved after the second world war, the animal welfare movement has gradually secured protections against cruelty and neglect. Yet, space law remains largely silent on the physical and psychological harm animals endure during missions.
Second, concerns that animal welfare might overshadow human safety are unfounded. Outer-space law is already flexible enough to ensure human protection takes precedence. The real question is whether space law can evolve to safeguard both human and animal interests without conflict.
Importantly, the types of harm animals face in space – stress, injury and death – are not fundamentally different from those permitted on Earth in service of human needs. In both contexts, animals are used to advance human survival or ambition. Thus, the perceived inconsistency in protecting animals in space may be less significant than it appears.
We need a more balanced framework – one that acknowledges animals as sentient participants and ensures their welfare is considered alongside human interests.
Anna Marie Brennan was awarded the Borrin Foundation’s Women Leaders in Law Fellowship in 2024.
/Courtesy of The Conversation. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).
In a recently published study, researchers with Oregon State University (OSU) tested the accumulation of cannabinoids in cows when given hemp in their feed, finding that the cannabinoids became undetectable over time. Noting that the use of spent hemp biomass (SHB) in livestock feed is currently illegal due to the safety risk posed to consumers by the presence and potential accumulation of THC, the researchers tested the accumulation of cannabinoids in the milk and tissue of cows and evaluated the risk it poses to consumers. The study, “Cannabinoid Distribution and Clearance in Feeding Spent Hemp Biomass to Dairy Cows and the Potential Exposure to Δ9-THC by Consuming Milk,” was published in May 2025 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Though industrial hemp has been legal to grow since 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not currently allow its addition in livestock feed, explained a June 26, 2025, news release from OSU. The news release also explained that more than 60% of hemp grown in the US is for cannabidiol (CBD) extraction, a process that results in a significant amount of the spent hemp biomass. “This study is one step forward in providing the data needed for FDA approval of spent hemp biomass as a feed supplement for livestock,” stated Massimo Bionaz, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences at OSU.
The study involved 18 Jersey cows, and for the first 28 days, nine of the cows were fed a diet containing 13% SHB and the other nine were fed a control diet with 13% alfalfa pellets. A four-week withdrawal period followed, in which all 18 cows were fed the control diet.
The researchers used ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) to measure the cannabinoid content in the milk of the cows fed the SHB, finding less than 1% of cannabinoid transfer. Additionally, a high amount of THC was detected in the fat tissue.
Other results stated in the abstract include:
After 12 days of withdrawal, THC was not detected in milk, but it was detectable in fat tissue until 30 days after withdrawal
CBD and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) were detectable in the plasma of cows 90 days after withdrawal
The total intake of THC from milk from the cows fed the hemp diet surpassed the acute reference dose of 1 μg/kg BW, though this changed over time. “Two weeks of spent hemp biomass withdrawal from diet of the cows eliminates any risk of ingesting THC by consuming the milk from those cows,” explained Bionaz.
In an earlier study, published in Food Additives and Contaminants, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and North Dakota State University (NDSU) found that that cows fed hempseed cake will retain low concentrations of THC and CBD in their meat, particularly in the muscle, kidney, liver, and fat tissues. The hempseed cakes were described as high in crude protein and fiber, a viable alternative food source for cattle, and offered a potential market for hemp producers.
References
Irawan, A.; Nosal, DG.; Muchiri, RN.; van Breemen, RB.; Ates, S.; Cruickshank, J.; Ranches, J.; Estill, CT.; Thibodeau, A.; Bionaz, M. Cannabinoid Distribution and Clearance in Feeding Spent Hemp Biomass to Dairy Cows and the Potential Exposure to Δ9-THC by Consuming Milk, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry202573(22), 13934-13948. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5c02827
Nelson, S. THC undetectable after withdrawal period in cows fed hemp byproduct https://news.oregonstate.edu/news/thc-undetectable-after-withdrawal-period-cows-fed-hemp-byproduct-0 (accessed Aug 19, 2025).
Colli, M. USDA Finds Cows Fed Hemp Cake Can Retain Safe Levels of THC and CBD https://www.cannabissciencetech.com/view/usda-finds-cows-fed-hemp-cake-can-retain-safe-levels-of-thc-and-cbd (accessed Aug 19, 2025).
A recent retrospective study has demonstrated the nonlinear positive correlation between liver stiffness and fat content and coronary heart disease (CHD), highlighting a new key indicator for CHD risk.
Liver health has recently become a focal point of cardiovascular disease research, as it holds a central role in metabolism. Recent literature has indicated a correlation between liver disorders, such as fibrosis and fat accumulation, and cardiovascular risk. Liver stiffness, in turn, has been associated with inflammation, metabolic dysregulation, and endothelial dysfunction.1,2
“By elucidating the connections between liver health and CHD, this research intends to provide novel biomarkers and tools for early detection and risk stratification, thereby informing targeted prevention and intervention strategies for cardiovascular disease,” wrote Shengnan Li, department of pharmacy, the Affiliated Cardiovascular Hospital of Qingdao University, and colleagues.1
Investigators collected data from the NHANES database, extracting demographic information, physical examination data, and lab results from 27,493 participants from 2017-2020 and 2021-2023. Participants were excluded if they were missing liver stiffness values (n = 11,093), liver fat values (n = 3), CHD outcome data (n = 2902), educational attainment data (n = 8), or antibody data (n = 799).1
After filtering for exclusion criteria, investigators included 12,684 participants with a mean age of 48.23 +/- 17.11 years. Among these, 539 were diagnosed with CHD. The association between liver stiffness and CHD was measured via transient elastography. It was categorized into quartiles: Q1 (lowest 25%), Q2 (25-50%), Q3 (50-75%), and Q4 (highest 25%).1
Investigators found a consistent positive association between liver stiffness and CHD risk; in an unadjusted model, it was not significant in Q2 (odds ratio [OR] 1.244; P = .16) but was in Q3 (OR 1.514; P = .017) and Q4 (OR 2.303; P <.001). Disease development risk rose in Q3 and Q4 compared to Q1, indicating liver stiffness as a risk factor. Subgroup analysis found that the association between liver stiffness and CHD was significantly affected by race and blood parameters (P-interaction <.05).1
Additionally, the team found a consistently positive association between liver fat and CHD risk. The unadjusted model also did not display significant risk in Q2 (OR 1.181; P = .382), but it did in Q3 (OR 1.689; P = .001) and Q4 (OR 2.336; P <.001). The risk of disease development also rose in Q3 and Q4 compared to Q1. Subgroup analysis showed significant interactions for CHD risk with sex, age, and cholesterol levels (P-interaction < .05).1
Li and colleagues point out that these results challenge the longstanding belief that CHD is driven solely by traditional risk factors, such as hypertension, smoking, and dyslipidemia. The team advocates for a more integrated approach to risk stratification, which includes liver health markers in addition to standard predictors.1
“Future research should prioritize longitudinal studies to elucidate causal pathways and assess the long-term impact of liver health interventions on cardiovascular outcomes,” Li and colleagues wrote. “Advances in omics technologies, including metabolomics, proteomics, and genomics, offer exciting opportunities to uncover novel biomarkers and mechanisms linking liver and cardiovascular health.”1
References
Li, S., Li, X., Xiao, H. et al. The relationship between liver stiffness, fat content measured by liver elastography, and coronary artery disease: a study based on the NHANES database. Sci Rep 15, 30010 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-15709-y
Wu Y, Zhao Q. Refining risk assessment for intra-abdominal infections in immunocompromised intensive care unit patients. Eur J Intern Med. 2025;134:138-139. doi:10.1016/j.ejim.2024.12.025
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A mysterious new AI image model has been generating buzz for being so good.
There is speculation that Google is behind it, and the company may have just confirmed this.
It’s bananas!
Nano Banana.
Unless you’re deep in the weeds of AI models, those two words probably don’t belong together. But for several days, a mysterious new image model with that very name has been creating buzz among people who have gotten to try it — because it’s simply so good.
The model has been showing up on LMArena, a benchmarking website that crowdsources user feedback. The site has a feature where you can “battle” two randomly selected models, which is where the model “nano-banana” has been appearing. When it has appeared, people have been remarking on just how good it is.
There’s just one problem: we don’t know for certain who nano-banana belongs to.
Enthusiasts have been trying to sleuth its maker and, so far, the most popular answer is Google, partly because the company started teasing something image-related earlier this month.
Over the past week, posts have been popping up on Reddit and X from users who have been impressed by the model’s ability to generate images and edit them carefully when prompted.
Business Insider managed to get nano-banana to appear on LMArena, and we found it to be pretty great at bringing our prompts to life, even if it still struggled with spelling the odd word correctly.
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Google hasn’t yet laid claim to the model — at least not directly. A Google spokesperson did not respond to Business a request for comment from Business Insider on it. On Tuesday, Logan Kilpatrick, Google’s head of product for AI Studio, posted a banana emoji on X. Naina Raisinghani, a Google DeepMind product manager, also posted a picture similar to Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s banana-taped-to-wall piece from 2019.
The use of the word “nano” could suggest this is a model capable of running locally on a device (Google has in the past referred to its smaller models as “nano”). Coincidentally, Google is holding a big event for its new devices on Wednesday — will Jimmy Fallon reveal all?
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This week, Russia is expected to launch its Bion-M No.2 biosatellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying 75 mice and 1,500 fruit flies.
While the mission underscores Russia’s ongoing investment in space medicine, it reignites ethical concerns over the treatment of animals in space research.
Animals have played a pivotal role in space exploration since the 1950s. The former Soviet Union’s launch of the stray dog Laika aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957 marked the first living creature in orbit.
Laika’s cramped, stressful conditions and eventual death from oxygen deprivation highlighted the harsh realities of early space missions.
Laika became the first living creature in orbit. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
The US followed suit in 1961 with Ham, a chimpanzee sent on a suborbital flight to test task performance in space. Ham endured invasive monitoring, electric shocks for incorrect responses and severe dehydration. Although he recovered physically, he showed signs of psychological trauma following the mission.
As space exploration expands, the absence of legal protections for animals becomes increasingly problematic. International regulations are long overdue to formally recognise the sentience of animals in outer-space law and to safeguard their welfare before, during and after missions.
Forgotten animal casualties of space exploration
Despite technological advances, animal casualties persist. In 2019, Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft crash-landed on the Moon with thousands of tardigrades aboard. The fate of these eight-legged microscopic animals, also known as water bears or moss piglets, remains unknown.
Often, animals used in missions are deemed surplus afterwards, with little legal obligation for their continued care. For example, France’s Félicette, a cat sent into orbit in 1963, was euthanised post-mission for brain study, despite surviving re-entry.
Unlike military working animals, which undergo transition programmes for civilian life, space animals lack formal exit protocols.
Records of their fates are scarce, and their legal status remains ambiguous. This gap stems partly from the absence of animal considerations in outer-space law.
International responses and ethical shifts
Activist pressure, particularly from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has led to some reforms.
In 1996, NASA withdrew from the BION programme and introduced the Principles for the Ethical Care and Use of Animals. These guidelines were prompted by the Belmont Report which was commissioned in 1974 by the US Congress following controversy about unethical practices in research.
The guidelines emphasise bioethical responsibility, acknowledging that animals “warrant moral concern”.
NASA committed to stewardship of research animals, encompassing acquisition, care and what happens to them after the space mission. The principles outline three core ethical tenets:
Respect for life: use only appropriate species in minimal numbers necessary for valid results.
Societal benefit: weigh the ethical value of animal use against potential societal gains.
Non-maleficence: minimise pain and distress, recognising that animals may suffer similarly to humans.
While these principles don’t ban animal use, they promote ethical reflection and accountability.
Some agencies have followed suit. In 2010, the European Space Agency rejected primate research, opting for simulation technologies to study astronaut health risks.
NASA briefly considered resuming primate experiments in 2010, but PETA’s lobbying led to the cancellation of proposed research at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Nonetheless, NASA continues to use mice in space studies. In 2024, a group of mice was sent to the International Space Station to examine the effects of space on bodily systems.
Private companies have also faced scrutiny. In 2022, KEKA Aerospace in the Democratic Republic of Congo pledged to stop using animals after a rat named Kavira died aboard its Troposphere 5 rocket.
Legal gaps in outer-space law
Despite growing awareness, the legal and ethical frameworks surrounding animals in space remain underdeveloped. The lack of formal protections and transparency continues to raise questions about the ethical and moral cost of scientific progress.
There are five core outer space treaties, covering issues such as the peaceful use of outer space, the rescue of astronauts, the registration of space objects and liability for damage. But despite the long history of animals participating in space missions, none offers formal protections, focusing solely on human and state interests.
A common argument is that prioritising animal welfare could hinder scientific progress. While violence against humans is prohibited, harm to animals for food, research, medicine and other purposes remains widely accepted on Earth. Some question whether it would be inconsistent to restrict harm to animals in space, where human casualties are more likely.
However, two key observations challenge this view.
First, many countries, including New Zealand, now legally recognise animals as sentient beings, deserving moral and legal consideration. Just as human rights evolved after the second world war, the animal welfare movement has gradually secured protections against cruelty and neglect. Yet, space law remains largely silent on the physical and psychological harm animals endure during missions.
Second, concerns that animal welfare might overshadow human safety are unfounded. Outer-space law is already flexible enough to ensure human protection takes precedence. The real question is whether space law can evolve to safeguard both human and animal interests without conflict.
Importantly, the types of harm animals face in space – stress, injury and death – are not fundamentally different from those permitted on Earth in service of human needs. In both contexts, animals are used to advance human survival or ambition. Thus, the perceived inconsistency in protecting animals in space may be less significant than it appears.
We need a more balanced framework – one that acknowledges animals as sentient participants and ensures their welfare is considered alongside human interests.
The current report adheres to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement for cohort studies [15].
This study is a registry-based retrospective cohort study that was conducted as part of the analytical tasks of the I-CARE4OLD project, a European Union (EU) funded program aimed at improving prognostication in older adults with complex chronic conditions through the use of ML methods [16]. The study was approved by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) (permission no. THL/1118/6.02.00/2021). The data sources were the RAI-LTC (Resident Assessment Instrument for Long-Term Care) based comprehensive geriatric assessments of LTCF residents and the Finnish Care Register for Health Care. Trained assessors, usually registered nurses, collected data using the Minimum Data Set (MDS) 2.0 version of the RAI-LTC instrument. All LTCF residents in Finland are regularly assessed with this instrument at least twice per year, as defined by the Elderly Care Act 980/2012. RAI assessments are delivered twice a year to the THL either by the service provider themselves or by their authorized application provider. The national RAI database is maintained by THL, responsible by legislation for keeping social and health records based on the Act on the Institute of Health and Welfare 31.10.2008/668. The validity and reliability of the RAI-LTC instrument has been demonstrated in previous studies [17].
Data collected over the years 2014 to 2018 were used in the present study. The RAI-LTC instrument collects information on each resident’s demographic, functional, medical, and cognitive status and drug prescriptions. Several scales to measure clinically relevant indicators such as cognition (cognitive performance scale, CPS) [18], self-function (activity of daily living, ADL) [19], behavior (aggressive behavior scale, ABS) [20], or depression (depression rating scale, DRS) [21] are embedded in the instrument.
Data preprocessing steps and the operational definitions of variables and scales are described in details in the supplementary material (see Additional file 1) [22,23,24,25,26].
Definition of study groups
Antipsychotic use was identified from the RAI-LTC section dedicated to drug prescription using the ATC code N05A, excluding N05AN. According to previous estimates from RAI data, the overall prevalence of antipsychotic use among LTCF residents in Finland ranges from 28% to 35% with atypical antipsychotics being the most frequently prescribed agents and risperidone accounting for the majority of prescriptions followed by quetiapine and olanzapine [27]. Residents who were 65 years of age or older were selected for this study. To be included in the study, residents had to have at least four consecutive RAI assessments, each conducted at 6-month intervals. Time period of assessments 1 and 2 was defined as the baseline period. Follow-up period started from the third assessment. Residents were classified in the discontinuing group, if antipsychotic medications were prescribed at the baseline period (assessments 1 and 2) but not at the follow-up period (assessments 3 and 4). Residents were classified in the group of chronic users, if antipsychotic medications were prescribed both at the baseline and follow-up period (assessments 1 to 4). The input variables (or candidate predictors) in the models were collected from the second assessment of the baseline period. For residents with more than one valid group of four RAI assessments, the assessment group was randomly selected. Those residents who died during the study period were excluded from the analyses. Definition of study groups is further described and illustrated in Additional file 1: Fig. S1.
Definition of study outcome
The main outcome in this study was hospitalization for any cause. Information on hospitalizations was obtained from the Finnish Care Register for Health Care. The operational definition adopted was any number of hospitalizations within 360 days of the first follow-up assessment (i.e., the third assessment) and it was categorized on a binary scale (yes/no).
Individual treatment effect models
A causal ML approach was adopted to assess the effect of antipsychotic discontinuation on the risk of hospitalization. Causal ML models, particularly ITE models, estimate how an intervention would affect outcomes at the individual level. Unlike standard supervised ML models, which predict the risk of an outcome, ITE models aim to estimate the causal effect of a treatment. This makes them well-suited for evaluating pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions in older adults with complex chronic conditions, as they account for patient heterogeneity and enable personalized effect estimates. The ITE when antipsychotic medication is stopped can be represented by equation:
where Yi(1) and Yi(0) are potential outcomes [28] after the medication is discontinued or continued and Xi are the covariates of resident i. This measure (ITE) can be interpreted as the absolute risk reduction (ARR). For example, it can be interpreted that (widehat{tau }<0) indicates that discontinuing antipsychotic medications reduces the risk of hospitalization, while (widehat{tau }>0) implies an increased the risk. Currently, there is no generally accepted standard algorithm for estimating ITE. Therefore, we used several different algorithms (DML, DR-learner, X-learner, and causal forest) and compared their estimates. For training and evaluating causal ML models, the dataset was split into the training/validation set and test set. The split was based on the index day (June 1, 2016), which divided the data set in the ratio of 70% for training/validation (before the index date) and 30% for testing (after the index date). The parameters of the models were searched and the models were trained in the training/validation set. Then, the trained models were evaluated on the test set. The workflow of causal ML model training and evaluation and confounder selection is illustrated in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1
Workflow of ML model training and evaluation
Confounders
From an overall set of 298 variables available from the data source, a subset of potential confounders was selected using both a data-driven and knowledge-based selection approach. A complete list of processed variables has been included in Additional file 1: Table S1. Based on data-driven approach, candidate confounders were searched through univariate logistic regression models that were trained for predicting hospitalization and exposure. The relevance sorting criterion was the area under curve (AUROC) value for both outcomes. A group of three study researchers (DF, HF, RL), who are experts in the field of clinical geriatrics and clinical pharmacy, reviewed the list of potential confounders and included additional variables that, although not considered relevant based on the logistic regression, were considered potential confounders because they were deemed good proxies for unmeasured factors associated with antipsychotic discontinuation and influencing the probability of being hospitalized. The final list of potential confounders included: age, gender, body mass index (BMI), number of medications, number of comorbidities, cognitive decline (CPS score) [18], functional status (ADLH score) [19], depression (DRS score) [21], presence and severity of behavioral symptoms (ABS score) [20], delirium symptoms, delusions or hallucinations, unsteady gait, acute episode or flare-up of recurrent or chronic problem or monitoring acute medical condition, recent hospital visits or emergency department visits, chemotherapy or end-stage disease, problems with eating and swallowing, any restraints used, physician visits in last 14 days or doctor orders changed or abnormal laboratory tests. Detailed definitions of confounders can be found in Additional file 1: Table S2.
Model evaluation
A fundamental problem in evaluating causal inference models is that a given individual can never be observed in both treated and untreated conditions (Eq. 1). Therefore, metrics that calculate the difference to true treatment effect can only work in a simulation where you know both possible outcomes. However, we can accept that if model found heterogeneity in the data, then model-assisted recommendations are better than random treatment assignment. In this study, we used the area under uplift curve (AUUC) [29] and c-for-benefit [30] metrics to verify this property. Both metrics have been increasingly adopted in the literature to evaluate the discriminative ability of ITE models [31]. Furthermore, we analyzed treatment effect distributions for presenting information about what models have learned from data and conducted a set of sensitivity analyses.
Model interpretation
For the interpretation ITE models, we used SHAP values (SHapley Additive exPlanations) [32, 33], partial dependence plots (PDP) [34], and surrogate models [35]. PDP plots were calculated for the variables with the highest absolute sum of SHAP values. Our surrogate models were decision trees that were trained to predict the estimations of the trained ITE models when the input were the confounders.
Software
All analyses were performed using Python version 3.9.7 and the following libraries: Scikit-learn package [36] version 1.0.2 for all data processing steps, EconML [37] version 0.14.0 for ITE models, and SHAP [32, 33] version 0.40.0 for model interpretation.
