India-Afghanistan Relations in the Post 2014 Scenario in Afghanistan

Introduction Important developments have taken place in Afghanistan.On May 1,2012,U.S.President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA),which signaling the end of U.S.combat role in Afghanistan after 2014 and providing the outline of U.S.-Afghanistan ties in the post-2014 period.According to the summary of the SPA provided by the White House,the U.S.will not be seeking permanent military bases in Afghanistan but will continue to provide security assistance to the country.The U.S.has also designated Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally.It is understood that the U.S.may maintain some troops in the country to train and equip the Afghan security forces and help them in combating A1 Qaeda remnants.     

Acetyl Fentanyl: Trends and Concentrations in Metro Detroit

Acetyl fentanyl (N‐[1‐phenethylpiperidin‐4‐yl]‐N‐phenylacetamide) is a potent opioid analgesic with no medicinal uses. We report deaths between 2016 and 2017 at the Medical Examiner's Office in Detroit, MI where acetyl fentanyl was found in the decedent's blood and compare them to previously published deaths between 2015 and 2016. The recent cases (cohort B) had a mean acetyl fentanyl concentration of 0.9 ng/mL (range: 0.1–5.3 ng/mL) and an associated higher concentration of fentanyl along with multiple other drugs present. The older cases (cohort A) had higher concentrations of acetyl fentanyl (mean: 8.9 ng/mL; range: 0.28–37 ng/mL) with lower, yet still toxic, concentrations of fentanyl. We conclude that the cause of death in these recent cases was likely multiple drug toxicity with fentanyl and that the consistently observed lower peripheral blood concentrations of acetyl fentanyl are most likely an artifact in the manufacture of the consumed illicit fentanyl.     

Mass Tort Jurisprudence and Critical Epistemologies of Risk: Dissolution of Public–Private Divide in the Indian Mass Tort Law

Liverpool Law Review - The Bhopal gas tragedy essentially marked the beginning of mass tort jurisprudence in India. When the US courts dismissed the consolidated lawsuit resulting out of the Bhopal...     

Levels of Benzene,Toluene, Ethylbenzene,and Xylene near a Traffic-Congested Area of East Delhi

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) have been classified as hazardous air pollutants and cause serious effects on human health. In this study, BTEX sampling was conducted during March 2018 and the concentrations were analyzed using GC-FID. The BTEX emissions exhibited a diurnal pattern with a peak in the evening followed by in morning due to rush hours of traffic. The study suggests that the high density of vehicles and traffic on road is responsible for higher emission of BTEX that affects the health of daily commuters and also the people residing near the roadside area in East Delhi.     

Achieving the 1.5 °C objective: just implementation through a right to (sustainable) development approach

Achieving the 1.5 °C objective of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in a just manner requires equitably sharing the responsibilities and rights that relate to this objective. This paper examines how international law concerning the Right to Promote (Sustainable) Development can contribute to determining what would be a “just” approach to achieving the 1.5 °C objective. This entails building on both the Right to Development (RtD) and the Right to Promote Sustainable Development (RtPSD). The RtD is a central notion within international human rights law and the RtPSD has been adopted under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Based on a literature review and legal analysis, we argue that, although the two Rights are prima facie different, in the context of the unanimously adopted Agenda 2030, including the SDGs, they partly complement and partly merge with each other. Together they provide a framework for assessing how a just transition towards a low greenhouse gas development process could be achieved and what this means for phasing out fossil fuels especially in the context of prospective oil producing countries.