Longer, Bloodier Fight for Mosul as ISIS Adopt Horrific New Tactics

Dozens of people arrived in a mosque to offer condolences to the family of Brigadier Hamid Birmous.

Brigadier Hamid Birmous was recently killed in action during the Iraqi Securty Forces attempt to retake the city of Mosul.

“I would need days to talk about his life. He was a hero,” said by Iraqi Sergeant Hermen Idress, the dead brigadier’s nephew.

Idriss has been fighting ISIS for a long time and said the bomb that killed his uncle was a kind he hadn’t seen before.

The Iraqi security forces supported by different branches including advisors from the U.S. led coalition have been preparing months for this offensive.

Iraqi Prime Minister and U.S. officials said that operations are on track. However earlier this week, some Iraqi officials told National Public Radio (NPR) that operations would take weeks. But after the recent chaotic battle, Idriss disagrees.

“They are fighting a tough fight, and that means it will take longer,” he added.

In recent weeks, ISIS has been delaying the advancing Iraqi forces, by sending dozens of trucks, car bombs and suicide bombers, planting network of mines, setting mortars and snipers.

Over the past years, Iraqi security forces have known where ISIS Fighters are located and also have intelligence about what they have been planning.

Nevertheless, Iraqi commander Jamal al Amenki says they weren’t expecting attacks on this magnitude.

“We knew all their tactics. We knew that when we started to attack them, they would also fight us — and we knew where they were.”

Mosul honeycombed by booby traps and tunnels

He believes that during the past two years, the front line had barely moved which gave ISIS extremist plenty of time to build tunnels, bombs, and booby traps, laying them at night.

ISIS does not directly engage the advancing forces. Their strategy is to delay the attackers then slowly exterminate them using traps and suicide bombers.

No one knows the exact number of casualties, but soldiers speaking unofficially and anonymously says dozens have died this week.

Mosul, home to over 2.5 million people is also the birth-place of the ISIS caliphate. Hence, it is the most important city for the extremist group.

The post Longer, Bloodier Fight for Mosul as ISIS Adopt Horrific New Tactics appeared first on Newsline.

Most Filipinos Still Trust U.S. Over China Despite Duterte Statements

Newly elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been disrupting relations between the countries long-time ally the United States. A few months after the elections, the President repeatedly made vulgar comments about the U.S. government, their envoy in Manila and United States’ President Barrack Obama. He threatened to kick out U.S special forces operating in the country and ended the annual exercise with the U.S. military.

Recently, President Duterte visited China to secure a new economic alliance, but he went a step further releasing a provocative statement against the U.S.

In a business forum in Beijing’s Great Hall of People, President Duterte said, “In this venue, I announce my separation from the United States.” He went further by saying “Americans are loud, sometimes rowdy,” and that their vocal chords are “not adjusted to civility.”

President Duterte’s sudden alliance with China has surprised many including his own officials, they released statements backtracking the President statements.

Over the past, the Philippine government has been suspicious of American activities, first in the form of Washington’s imperial rule and its military presence over the country.
U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said, “we are going to be seeking an explanation of exactly what the president meant when he talked about separation from us,” he added, “It’s not clear to us exactly what that means and all its ramifications.”

Duterte still the most trustworthy

After releasing statements against western leaders, President Duterte remains the most trusted official at home, despite recent opinion polls showing the majority of Filipinos still trust the United States over China.

In 2015, polls show 92% of Filipinos had a more favorable view of the United States, only 54% looks at China more favorably. Filipinos attitude over the United States surpasses its neighbors’ by a great deal. A Manila-Based newspaper also said, “Filipinos like the U.S. even more than the Americans do.”

Despite President Duterte’s hostility toward Washington, the public’s view over its traditional ally hardly changed.

Some reports suggest that his views over the U.S. connect to episodes of abuse during his childhood made by an American Jesuit priest.

Filipino Congressman Walden Bello describes the president as “very knee-jerk kind of politician who is extremely sensitive to criticisms and personalizes them,” he added, “L’état, c’est moi — that’s him.”

The post Most Filipinos Still Trust U.S. Over China Despite Duterte Statements appeared first on Newsline.

Tasmanian Devil’s Milk Possible Weapon Against Super-bugs

The Sydney University researchers discovered a possible powerful antidote in Tasmanian Devil’s Milk against antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The milk from the marsupial animal contains essential peptides that seem to fight deadly infections including Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or MRSA.

Tasmanian Devils developed the milk’s useful component to help their offspring ward diseases and make them stronger in the process. They found an important element called cathelicidins, the infection-fighting factor in the marsupial milk. The Sydney University team initiated an endeavor to imitate the peptides.

Emma Peel, a Ph.D. student researcher said they found six important peptides. These peptides are present in other marsupial’s milk, which she mentioned are also worth studying. The student researcher said, “Tammar wallabies have eight of these peptides and opossums have 12”. She also said that research on koala’s milk is underway. Peel’s work was published in a Nature journal, Scientific Reports.

Thriving in Filth

Scientist believed that the Tasmanian Devil’s habitat served as a suitable sample for research since their offspring thrive in “relatively dirty environment”.

Only a few weeks into pregnancy, Tasmanian devil mothers give birth and the little marsupial snuggle in the mother’s pouch for the next four months.

The Australian researchers successfully imitated six Tasmanian devil’s peptides they discovered. They tested the newly formed peptides in 25 bacteria and six types of fungi.

Saha-CATH5

The Saha-CATH5, one of the synthetic peptides had a positive effect in fighting the MRSA virus. Most of the time, MRSA infection is harmless, numerous people carry the virus on their skin, nose, and throat. But if the virus enters thru an open wound, problems will start to occur. That is why people who stay longer in a hospital are at greater risk.

MRSA can only be treated with medications of combined antibiotics which can withstand resistant problems.

The Saha-CATH5 appears to work on Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus, another hard to kill resistance virus. It also performs well against a fungus called Candida, which usually cause skin infections.

Researchers say that by 2050, superbugs can kill one person every three seconds worldwide. This promotes the immediate need to discover new drugs to combat treatment-resistant infections.

According to Dr. Richard Stabler, “We need to do this hunting in unusual places for new antibiotics. People are beginning to explore and find new molecules”. Stabler is an Associate Professor in Molecular Bacteriology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine,

The post Tasmanian Devil’s Milk Possible Weapon Against Super-bugs appeared first on Newsline.

Will AI destroy humankind?

In an old interview of Professor Stephen Hawking with BBC two years ago citing the advancement of AI, he maintained that it could wipe out humanity.

Recently, Stephen Hawking joined with Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak expressing their concerns about the rapid technology growth. They warned humanity that Artificial Intelligence can be more dangerous. However, above all them, Prof Hawking’s has the most portentous vision of a world where robots decided to overtake us.

However, above all, Prof Hawking’s fear has the most portentous vision of a world where robots decided to overtake us.

The goal of these group of AI experts was to let the whole world know about the future of science. Furthermore, they aim to persuade other scientists to join and let their voices be heard in a debate.

In the event at Cambridge last Wednesday, the group formed the Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI). This Organization was designed to research the implications of AI.

“I’m glad someone was listening,” added Prof Hawking’s during the launch of the centre.

In a short speech, he discussed the positive and negative effects of technology. Some examples are the recent self-driving car technology and Google’s DeepMind AI.

He said, “I believe there is no deep difference between what can be achieved by a biological brain and what can be achieved by a computer. It therefore follows that computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence — and exceed it.”

Recent technological discoveries could lead to eradication of some diseases, poverty and even climate change. However, it could also have negative effects like the creation of autonomous deadly weapons, economic disruption, and machines that could conflict with humanity.

“In short, the rise of powerful AI will be either the best, or the worst thing, ever to happen to humanity. We do not yet know which.”

So the CFI’s mission is to find out whether AI would eventually destroy us or not.

The multi-disciplinary centre, which gathers philosophers, psychologists, lawyers and computer scientists, will have a more realistic programme of research.

Before we develop robots deciding the faith of humanity, we should start deciding first if autonomous vehicles should protect pedestrians or passengers.

Robotic automation a more imminent problem

Another famous speaker at the launching was Professor Maggie Boden, an expert in AI research for more than 50 years.

“It is too early for us to worry about eminent extinction and was less convinced that we are heading into an AI future soon,” said Prof Boden.

She worries about robotic automation, like in Japan where they developed a robot to take care of elderly and sick. She said we should ask ourselves whether this was dehumanizing. “I’m scared of that,” she said.

After years of study, Prof Boden is still not convinced robots would replace humans’ functions that include emotions and empathy.

Artificial Intelligence could soon help the government with functions that could cut down cost and focus more on social care. Nevertheless, this should be only at the cost of those who need help.

Centre for the Future of Intelligence can now address these concerns and other urgent issues, rather than focus on the future “terminator” threat.

The post Will AI destroy humankind? appeared first on Newsline.