China military researchers pinpoint AI for hypersonic weapons accuracy Taiwan won't start a war with China, defence minister says Chinese ambassador slams AUKUS pact as "textbook case" of nuclear proliferation Myanmar military won't allow ASEAN envoy to meet Suu Kyi U.S., EU, Israel adopt tough tone on Iran, mull options Russia can help Europe, not using gas as a weapon says Putin Putin: Russia ready for talks with NATO, but against reporting on national military drills Russia calls on EU to give up on deployment of military mission in Ukraine — diplomat Sputnik Light '70% effective against Delta variant Blue Origin spacecraft carrying 'Star Trek' actor Shatner launches in Texas PLA missile scientists say the accuracy of hypersonic weapons could be improved by more than 10 times if control is taken out of human hands and given to a machine. Conventional missiles are equipped with positioning software which is installed and fine-tuned on the factory floor. But if the software was written by AI, with a different algorithm for each weapon, the researchers found they could address the challenges of controlling flight at five times the speed of sound or beyond.
Whether a hypersonic weapon can hit its target after travelling hundreds or thousands of kilometres depends heavily on how precisely it can determine its own position while making complex manoeuvres during flight. At hypervelocity, parts of an aircraft can get hotter than the sun’s surface, breaking air molecules into electrically charged ions which form a plasma coating. This reduces the craft’s radar signature but can also make it blind and deaf – unable to pick up GPS signals or use other references, such as the Earth’s magnetic field, for guidance. Their study showed an AI-based system could keep a hypersonic weapon on course with an accuracy of about 10 metres (32 feet). Using their method, the AI would start work immediately after launch, before the weapon reached hypervelocity, to calculate its position using the signal from the GPS or BeiDou – China’s navigational positioning system – and compare it with the results generated by the on-board sensors to evaluate the actual condition of the hardware.
Taiwan will not start a war with China but will defend itself "full on", Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said on Thursday, amid a spike in tensions across the Taiwan Strait that has raised concern internationally. "What is clearest is that the Republic of China absolutely will not start or set off a war, but if there are movements we will meet the enemy full on," Chiu told a parliament committee meeting, using Taiwan's official name. Taiwan, a major semiconductor producer, has repeatedly said it will defend itself if attacked, but that it will not "advance rashly" and wants to maintain the status quo with China. Military tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, are at their worst in more than 40 years, Chiu said last week, adding that China will be capable of mounting a "full-scale" invasion by 2025 He was speaking after China mounted four consecutive days of mass air force incursions into Taiwan's air defence identification zone that began on Oct. 1, part of a pattern of what Taipei views as stepped-up military harassment by Beijing.
No shots have been fired and China's aircraft have stayed well away from Taiwan's airspace, concentrating their activity in the southwestern corner of Taiwan's air defence zone. The ministry, in a report to parliament ahead of Chiu's appearance before lawmakers, warned China of strong countermeasures if its forces got too close to the island. "Their aims are on the one hand to pressure Taiwan, and on the other to say to everyone else we have the ability to scare away and obstruct foreign military forces from getting involved," he said. China on Wednesday called its military activities a "just" move to protect peace and stability, and again blamed Taiwan's "collusion" with foreign forces - a veiled reference to the United States - for sowing the tension. China's Washington embassy on Wednesday said it had complained to the U.S. government about a meeting between Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the country and senior U.S. diplomats, and of the visit of Taiwan's army commander, Hsu Yen-pu, to the United States.
"The U.S. should not fantasise (about) seeking China's support and cooperation while wantonly challenging China's red line on the Taiwan question," it said. Speaking earlier in the week, Chiu said Hsu was not in the United States on a secret trip but as part of regular annual exchanges, according to Taiwan's official Central News Agency. The AUKUS pact among the United States, Britain and Australia, which will enable Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines with technology provided by the United States and Britain, is a "textbook case" of nuclear proliferation based on the Cold War mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical calculation, a Chinese diplomat said Wednesday. Answering questions at a virtual press conference, Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs Li Song said that the deal constitutes a serious challenge to the letter and spirit of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He told journalists from the United Nations Correspondents Association that AUKUS is also an awkward example set by the United States, Britain and Australia in their so-called "leadership" in non-proliferation.
"To put it in a nutshell, AUKUS is like a fire, the comprehensive safeguard mechanism is like a piece of paper. You just can't cover the fire with paper," he added "As the depositary states of the NPT, the United States and Britain are to help Australia, a non-nuclear-weapon state, to obtain nuclear-powered submarines, sensitive nuclear materials including tons of weapon-grade Uranium, and other relevant technologies and equipment. Such cooperation has never happened in the history of the NPT," Li said. The Chinese envoy further pointed out that such cooperation will lead to a wider range of impacts to regional nuclear-weapon-free zones in South Pacific and Southeast Asia, spur regional arms race, undermine regional unity and cooperation, and therefore disturb regional peace and stability. Malaysia's Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told parliament on Tuesday a meeting with his counterparts from ASEAN scheduled next month will present an opportunity for the bloc to agree on a shared response to AUKUS. "Our endgame as always is to ensure the region's stability, regardless of the balance of powers [between] the US or China," he said.
Indonesia does not want an escalating arms race and power projection in the region that will threaten security and stability, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in late September, after the signing of AUKUS. The Philippines has publicly voiced support. In a statement on October 6, the country's Department of Foreign Affairs said that Acting Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and Asean Affairs Theresa Lazaro echoed the earlier statement of Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. that the Philippines "sees value in the enhancement of a neighbor's capability to project power."
Myanmar's ruling military has not blocked a special Southeast Asian envoy from visiting the country but will not allow him to meet detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, because she is charged with crimes, the junta's spokesman said. A delay in the United Nations approving the military government's U.N. ambassador nomination was politically motivated, spokesman Zaw Min Tun added, saying the U.N. and other countries and organisations "should avoid double standards when they are engaging in international affairs". The spokesman's remarks, issued by the military in a summary dated Wednesday, come as international pressure builds on the junta to implement a five-point peace plan its top general Min Aung Hlaing agreed to in April with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) The junta spokesman also insisted Myanmar's judicial system was fair and independent would handle Aung San Suu Kyi's case accordingly, adding the chief justice was appointed by the previous government. The junta's inaction on the ASEAN plan was "tantamount to backtracking" and some member countries were "deep in discussions" about excluding Min Aung Hlaing from a summit this month, Erywan Yusof, the bloc's special envoy, said last week.
Erywan earlier this week said he was in consultations with parties in Myanmar, does not take sides or political positions and looks forward to a visit. Myanmar has been in political and economic paralysis since the military's Feb. 1 coup, which triggered an outpouring of anger and protest that has not abated, with some civilians forming militias to take on the powerful army. U.S., Israeli and EU officials took a tough line toward Iran on Wednesday, with U.S. officials saying they would consider all options if Tehran failed to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and Israel saying it reserved the right to act. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has so far refused to resume indirect talks with the United States in Vienna on both sides returning to compliance with the deal, under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief. "We will look at every option to deal with the challenge posed by Iran," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a joint news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed. Earlier, the U.S. special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, said Washington was ready to consider "all options" if Iran is unwilling to return to the 2015 deal,
The phrase "all options," is typically intended to include the possibility - however remote - of military action. The State Department said Malley would travel to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from Oct. 15-21 to coordinate with Gulf allies. "If the Iranians don't believe the world is serious about stopping them, they will race to the bomb. Israel reserves the right to act at any given moment in any given way," Lapid said. Israel has previously bombed nuclear sites in Iraq and Syria. A Western diplomat said on Wednesday he thought the earliest talks might happen was in late October, if then.
Iran struck the deal in 2015 with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. The last round of Vienna talks took place in June. Iran, beyond saying they would resume "soon," has not set a new date. President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia was not using gas as a weapon and was ready to help ease Europe's energy crunch as the EU called an emergency summit to tackle skyrocketing prices. Energy demand has surged as economies have rebounded from the pandemic, driving up prices of oil, gas and coal, stoking inflationary pressures and undermining efforts to cut the use of polluting fossil fuels in the fight against global warming.
Europe's gas squeeze has shone a spotlight on Russia, which accounts for a third of the region's supplies, prompting European politicians to blame Moscow for not pumping enough. Putin told an energy conference in Moscow that the gas market was not balanced or predictable, particularly in Europe, but said Russia was meeting its contractual obligations to supply clients and was ready to boost supplies if asked. He dismissed accusations that Russia was using energy as a weapon: "This is just politically motivated chatter, which has no basis whatsoever."
The European Union has not asked Russia to increase supplies of gas to the bloc, a European Commission official told Reuters. Russia and Europe have been embroiled in a dispute over a new pipeline, Nord Stream 2, to supply Russian gas to Germany. The pipeline is built but awaits approval to start pumping, amid opposition from the United States and some Europeans nations that fear it will make Europe even more reliant on Russia. The European Commission outlined measures on Wednesday that the 27-nation EU would take to combat the energy crisis, including exploring a voluntary option for countries to jointly buy gas.
Ministers from EU countries hold an extraordinary meeting on Oct. 26 to discuss the price spike. The Paris-based IEA said the world had to invest $4 trillion by 2030 in clean energy and infrastructure - triple current levels - to achieve net zero emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, the target of the 2015 Paris climate accord. "The world is not investing enough to meet its future energy needs," The EU’s plans to deploy a military training mission in Ukraine will contribute to escalation of the Donbass conflict, Russia calls for abandoning this thoughtless step, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Thursday. "Brussels’ plans to deploy the EU military training mission in Ukraine cause a growing concern. This initiative, which directly contradicts the Minsk agreements, will contribute
to Ukraine’s militarization as well as the escalation of the Donbass conflict. It will also encourage the Kiev authorities to further sabotage the Minsk agreements," the Russian diplomat noted. "And in this regard, we call for abandoning this, to put it mildly, rash step." The EU-Ukraine summit took place on October 12 in Kiev. Following the event, President of the European Council Charles Michel mentioned that the EU and Ukrainian leaders were considering the possibility of establishing the EU military training mission as well as further participation of Ukrainian servicemen in the EU foreign missions.
Russia is always ready for direct talks with NATO, but has no plans of delivering reports to any side about military drills on its own territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. "It is true that we recently held military drills, the Zapad-2021 [strategic military exercise], and it was a large-scale military exercise," he continued. "I reiterate that we are holding our [military] exercises on the territory of our own country." "There is nothing strange about it and we are not obliged of filing reports in this regard to any other party," Putin added. The Zapad-2021 joint strategic drills ran at nine practice ranges in Russia and five training grounds in Belarus between September 10 and 16, 2021 According to earlier reports, the Zapad-2021 strategic exercise brought together around 200,000 troops, over 80 aircraft and helicopters and up to 760 items of combat hardware: more than 290 tanks, over 240 guns, multiple rocket launchers and mortars and also up to 15 warships.
Almost 13,000 troops, more than 30 aircraft and helicopters and up to 350 combat vehicles were involved in the strategic maneuvers on Belarusian territory. The Russian president also said that the US and NATO military forces regularly hold combat drills not on their territories, including near the state borders of Russia. "In fact, it is our partners, who breach all earlier reached agreements, including on the measures of trust in Europe," Putin stated. "It also goes for NATO’s expansion to the East and I have repeatedly pointed out to this fact." Putin also recalled that the United States exited earlier from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), Open Skies and Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaties. Some progress has been made on a number of issues in Russian-US relations after US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland’s visit to Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday, adding that a list of issues in bilateral relation that require the soonest resolution was handed over to her. "I cannot disclose everything, it was talks behind closed doors, after all. The only thing I can say, probably, that there was some progress on some issues. Not a resolution of these
issues, not an elimination of problems. But some elements of progress," she said in an interview with the Zvezda television channel. "But the most important thing is that Victoria took a rather long list of issues to Washington that Moscow outlined as necessary for prompt resolution," she said. On Wednesday, Nuland met with deputy head of the Kremlin administration Dmitry Kozak, She described the talks as productive. On the same day, she met with Russian presidential aide for international issues Yuri Ushakov. On Tuesday, Nuland had talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin also took part in the talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday (October 13) he saw potential to work with the United States on a host of issues from arms control to energy and that he had established a solid working relationship with President Joe Biden. Addressing an energy conference attended by top executives of Exxon Mobil and other oil majors, Putin was largely silent on the many disputes that have driven relations to post-Cold War lows, choosing instead to focus on the potential to mend fences. He said Russia was ready for constructive talks on arms control, and the two sides also had "objective mutual interests" in fighting terrorism and money laundering, combating tax havens and stabilizing energy markets. He said relations with Biden and his administration were stable and constructive.
Biden this week sent a top Russia expert, Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, to Moscow for talks that failed to make significant progress in a row over the size and functioning of the two countries' embassies in each other's capitals. Nuland said on Wednesday she had had productive talks with Kremlin officials and that the United States was committed to having a "stable, predictable relationship" with Russia. Ties are badly strained over a host of other issues, including cyber-attacks launched from Russia against U.S. businesses and the jailing of Alexei Navalny, Putin's most prominent domestic opponent.
Russia's one-shot Sputnik Light vaccine shows 70% effectiveness against the Delta variant of coronavirus three months after injection, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Wednesday, citing the vaccine's developer. Edward Baran reports The data comes as Russia battles soaring infections and hesitancy about vaccines at home, while struggling to compete with more established vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca. The data comes as Russia battles soaring infections and hesitancy about vaccines at home, while struggling to compete with more established vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.
RDIF said Sputnik Light as a booster for other vaccines will be almost as effective against the Delta variant as Russia's flagship two-shot Sputnik V vaccine. Russia's one-shot COVID vaccine, Sputnik Light, shows 70% effectiveness against the Delta variant of coronavirus three months after injection. The Sputnik V vaccine, widely used in Russia and approved for use in more than 70 countries, is undergoing a review by the World Health Organization and the EMA. A fully autonomous Blue Origin rocketship lifted off on Wednesday (October 13) from a launch site in rural West Texas on a planned suborbital flight that is due to make "Star Trek" actor William Shatner the oldest person ever in space.
Shatner, at age 90, became the oldest person ever in space during a flight expected to last about 11 minutes. Shatner and his three crewmates took off aboard the white 60-foot-tall (18.3 meters-tall) New Shepard spacecraft at Blue Origin's launch site about 20 miles (32 km) outside the rural west Texas town of Van Horn. Blue Origin said the four astronauts will experience about three to four minutes of weightlessness and travel above the internationally recognized boundary of space known as the Karman Line, about 62 miles (100 km) above Earth. The crew capsule returned to the Texas desert under parachutes. Shatner, who turned 90 in March, has been acting since the 1950s and remains busy with entertainment projects and fan conventions. He is best known for starring as Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise on the classic 1960s TV series "Star Trek" and seven subsequent films about fictional adventures in outer space.
As an actor, Shatner was synonymous with space voyages. During the opening credits of each episode of the series, he called space "the final frontier" and promised "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." These are FBNC's morning International news Thanks for watching
2021-10-16