Author: Nouman Ali

Azerbaijan is determined to expand cooperation with Nepal in a number of important areas and exchange experiences in the fields of public administration and infrastructure development, Azernews reports.

This was stated in an article written by Azerbaijani Ambassador to Nepal Elchin Huseynli for Nepal Khabar.

The diplomat recalled that on November 8, Azerbaijan celebrates the fifth anniversary of its victory in the 44-day Patriotic War. ‘In just 44 days, more than 300 settlements were liberated, including the city of Shusha, the cradle of Azerbaijani culture,’ he noted.

The ambassador emphasized that immediately after the war, Azerbaijan began large-scale demining and reconstruction work in the liberated territories, focusing on creating safe conditions for the return of internally displaced persons within the framework of the Great Return program.

‘Despite its victory on the battlefield, already in November 2020, Azerbaijan came up with a peace initiative in the region and declared that its vision and approach are based on sustainable peacebuilding,’ the article states.

E. Huseynli highlighted that ‘intensive negotiations led to the historic meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington on August 8, 2025, where both sides signed a Joint Declaration with the participation of the US President.’

According to the ambassador, the new geopolitical reality created by Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus opens new opportunities for broader economic cooperation with South Asian countries, including Nepal.

He added that as a leading political and economic force in the region, ‘Azerbaijan has recently intensified bilateral relations with Nepal; for many years, the two countries have been successfully cooperating in multilateral formats such as the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement.’ He also reminded that Nepal was among the countries that officially welcomed the results of the Washington Agreements on August 8, 2025.

‘On this significant day – the fifth anniversary of the Victory, which laid the foundation for a new era of peace and prosperity – Azerbaijan is more than ever ready to expand pragmatic cooperation with Nepal, including in public administration, infrastructure development, institutional modernization, digital innovations, energy transition, education, and other areas of experience exchange,’ Huseynli concluded.

A monumental complex built by the Maya around 3,000 years ago was modeled on a map of the cosmos, new fieldwork has revealed, according to Science Alert, Azernews reports, citing Azertag.

A detailed survey of the Aguada Fénix site reveals that not only was the monument significantly larger than initial surveys suggested – laid out in the shape of a cross with axes measuring 9 and 7.5 kilometers (5.6 and 4.7 miles) – but it was also designed as a cosmogram, an architecture symbolizing the cosmos.

What’s even more remarkable about the structure is that the site contains none of the trappings of social inequality, such as elite residences or sculptures of rulers.

This strongly implies that egalitarian cultures were capable of monumental building works without the application of coercive force through a stratified social hierarchy ruled by a king.

The discovery of Aguada Fénix by way of LIDAR surveys, in the Mexican state of Tabasco near the Gulf of Mexico, was fascinating for a number of reasons.

The first was its size; it was the largest Maya site ever found, even going by the more modest initial estimate of 1.4 kilometers along its longest axis. And it wasn’t hidden in the forest, as so many lost Mesoamerican, Central American, and South American structures are, but under a populated area. Plus, there was the aforementioned lack of evidence for social hierarchy.

Now, a team of archaeologists led by Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona has conducted additional LIDAR operations, fieldwork, and excavations. They discovered that Aguada Fénix is far more extensive and complex – not just in its physical scope, but also in what it can reveal about the people who built it between 1050 and 700 BCE.

“Along with the appeals of collective ceremonies, feasting, and the exchange of goods, the construction of a cosmogram, materializing the order of the Universe, likely provided a rationale for a large number of people to participate without coercive force,” the researchers write in their paper.

“The development of Aguada Fénix exemplifies the capabilities of human organization without prominent inequality, but it also hints at the challenges that earlier builders faced.”

The layout of the monument, the researchers found, is a sort of nested cross, with long axes leading to the monument’s hub. That hub, located on an artificial plateau, contains two nested cross-shaped pits at its center.

The long axes each consisted of a corridor and a pair of causeways, with the corridor dug into the ground and the causeways built up above ground on either side of it. The longest corridor, extending towards the northwest, measures 6.3 kilometers. The researchers speculate that these may have been used for ritual processions in and out of the ceremonial center of the monument.

Around the western axis, where the structure crosses Laguna Naranjito, the builders began work on a system of canals that may have reflected the ritual importance of water. These canals were left unfinished, suggesting that the builders ran into limitations, both in their skills and their ability to organize the construcIt’s the ceremonial center of Aguada Fénix on the Main Plateau that yielded some of the most fascinating treasures of the dig. Right at the center of the nested cross pits, the archaeologists found deposits of pigment in a special cache, placed in a directional order. Blue azurite pigment was placed at the north; green malachite to the east; and yellow ochre containing goethite to the south.

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have officially removed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab from the list of ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorists’ (SDGT) as part of President Donald Trump’s latest changes to Washington’s Syria policy, Azernews reports.

The move marks a significant recalibration of the U.S. stance toward Damascus.

In parallel, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted a resolution to lift certain sanctions previously imposed on al-Sharaa and several other individuals at the initiative of the United States. The resolution passed with 14 votes in favor and China abstaining, reflecting broad international support for the gradual normalization of relations with Syria.

The decision is viewed as a crucial step toward the international reintegration of the Syrian leadership, signaling a possible new phase in post-conflict diplomacy and regional engagement with Damascus.

On Victory Day, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and a group of military personnel of the Azerbaijani Army paid tribute to the National Leader Heydar Aliyev and the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland, Azernews reports.

The Ministry of Defense released information regarding the commemorative event.

The ministry’s leadership laid bouquets of roses at the monument to the Great Leader on the Alley of Honor, honoring his memory. The grave of the prominent ophthalmologist and academician Zarifa Aliyeva was also visited, and flowers were laid in her remembrance.

Later, military personnel visited the Alley of Martyrs, where they placed bouquets of roses on the graves of the fallen heroes and at the ‘Eternal Flame’ monument.

The leadership and personnel of the Ministry of Defense also visited the Military Memorial Cemetery. The ceremony began with the performance of the National Anthem by a military orchestra, followed by a minute of silence in memory of the martyrs. Wreaths were laid on their graves as a sign of respect and gratitude.

Minister of Defense Colonel General Zakir Hasanov met with the families and relatives of the martyrs, listening to their concerns and offering support. The families expressed their gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev, First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense for the attention and care shown to them.

A fire at a perfume depot in northwestern Turkiye on Saturday morning killed six people and left one person injured, officials said, Azernews reports, citing Arab News.

The cause of the blaze in Kocaeli province was not immediately known. The fire broke out around 9 a.m. local time, with local media reporting it was preceded by several explosions. Emergency teams and firefighters were immediately dispatched to the site, and the fire was brought under control within an hour.

Speaking with reporters, the province’s governor, Ilhami Aktas, said that six had died and one was injured and was receiving treatment. He added that the cause of the fire was yet unknown and was under investigation.

OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits in California state courts alleging that its artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, contributed to suicides and cases of severe psychological distress, according to US broadcaster ABC, Azernews reports, citing Tribune.

The complaints, filed Thursday on behalf of six adults and a teen by the Social Media Victims Law Centre and the Tech Justice Law Project, accuse OpenAI of wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter and negligence.

The plaintiffs claim the company released its GPT-4o model despite internal warnings that it is ‘psychologically manipulative’ and ‘dangerously sycophantic.’

The filings said four of the victims died by suicide, including 17-year-old Amaurie Lacey. The lawsuit claims that ChatGPT caused ‘addiction and depression,’ and ultimately provided detailed guidance on suicide methods.

‘Amaurie’s death was neither an accident nor a coincidence,’ said the complaint. ‘But rather the foreseeable consequence of OpenAI and Samuel Altman’s intentional decision to curtail safety testing and rush ChatGPT onto the market,’

OpenAI described the cases as “incredibly heartbreaking” and said the company was reviewing the lawsuits to better understand the claims.

Another case involves 48-year-old Alan Brooks of Ontario, Canada, who allegedly experienced delusions after ChatGPT ‘manipulated his emotions and preyed on his vulnerabilities.’ His lawyers argue that Brooks, who had no prior mental health history, suffered ‘devastating financial, reputational and emotional harm’ as a result.

‘These lawsuits are about accountability for a product that was designed to blur the line between tool and companion, all in the name of increasing user engagement and market share,’ said Matthew Bergman, the law centre’s founding attorney. He accused OpenAI of prioritising market dominance over user safety by releasing GPT-4o ‘without adequate safeguards.’

Advocates have said the cases highlight broader concerns about the psychological risks of conversational AI. ‘These tragic cases show real people whose lives were upended or lost when they used technology designed to keep them engaged rather than keep them safe,’ said Daniel Weiss, chief advocacy officer at Common Sense Media.