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Pakistan's establishment parties, shaken by an upset election, managed to form a coalition government on March 3. Former prime minister and cricketer Imran Khan, who faced military opposition and has been imprisoned since August 2023, was barred from officially running. The Supreme Court also stripped his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), of its trademark election symbol -- a penalty that made it ineligible to claim special seats reserved for women and minorities. The PTI nevertheless won a plurality on February 8, with onetime prime minister Nawaz Sharif's center-right Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN) finishing second; the addition of the special seats put the PMLN over the top. The PMLN will govern with the center-left Pakistan People's Party, which took third -- but Nawaz Sharif was passed over for the premiership in favor of his brother Shehbaz. Pakistan's powerful military, however, will remain the force behind the throne, as it has been for most of the country's history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THE INCOMPARABLE LOFTINESS of the monk figure--placid and disinterested, having renounced desire--leads many to think of Buddhism as a religion detached from all worldly concerns, especially those of economy. But [...]

An interview with scientist Rupert Sheldrake is presented. A fellow of philosophy and history of science at Harvard University, Sheldrake is releasing his book "Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery." He talks about how science has developed into a philosophical system, evolving from an open inquiry to a ideologically driven approach. The scientist also explains how the materialist beliefs of science are undervalued by those who see it as a total system.

We report on multiepoch optical and near-infrared spectroscopy around the first-overtone rovibrational band of CO in the pulsating yellow hypergiant r Cas, one of the most massive stars in the Galaxy and a candidate SN II progenitor. We argue that the double cores of the CO absorption lines, which have previously been attributed to separate circumstellar shells expelled during its recurrent outbursts, result in fact from a superposition of a wide absorption line and a narrow central emission line. The CO line doubling returns over subsequent pulsation cycles, where the superposed line emission assumes its largest intensity near phases of maximum light. We find that the morphology and behavior of the CO band closely resemble the remarkable "line-splitting phenomenon" also observed in optical low-excitation atomic lines. Based on radiative transport calculations, we present a simplified model of the near-infrared CO emission emerging from cooler atmospheric layers in the immediate vicinity of the photosphere. We speculate that the kinetic temperature minimum in our model results from a periodic pulsation-driven shock wave. We further discuss a number of alternative explanations for the origin of the ubiquitous emission-line spectrum, possibly due to a quasi-chromosphere or a steady shock wave at the interface of a fast expanding wind and the interstellar medium. We present a number of interesting spectroscopic similarities between r Cas and other types of cool variable supergiants, such as the RV Tau and R CrB stars. We further propose a possibly common mechanism for the enigmatic outburst behavior of these luminous pulsating cool stars.

The article focuses on the relationship between self-help and Buddhism, and discusses the topics including focus of Buddhism on human ignorance and causes of discontent, training one's mind with diligence, and to support others for the same.

An interview with student and filmmaker Paul McBain from Chicago, Illinois is presented. He discusses his interest in Buddhism that started when he was about 19 years old. He mentions the part of his film "The Retreat" that was inspired by his own experience with meditation. Also noted is his opinion on the goal of Buddhist practice.

The article offers information on the Larung Gar Five Sciences Buddhist Academy which is situated in the remote hills of Larung Gar Valley, Tibet, China.