Science & Technology

US, Russia block consensus at ‘killer robots’ meeting

GENEVA; 3 Sep 2018; (AP) — A key opponent of high-tech, automated weapons known as “killer robots” is blaming countries like the U.S. and Russia for blocking consensus at a U.N.-backed conference, where most countries wanted to ensure that humans stay at the controls of lethal machines.

Coordinator Mary Wareham of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots spoke Monday after experts from dozens of countries agreed before dawn Saturday at the U.N. in Geneva on 10 “possible guiding principles” about such “Lethal Automated Weapons Systems.”

Situation on space station under control, cosmonauts fixing problem with air leak

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Cosmonauts are working to fix the problem with a minor air leak discovered on the International Space Station (ISS) and the situation on the orbital outpost is under control, the press office of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos told TASS on Thursday.

Fragments of Russia’s Progress MS-08 space freighter splash down in Pacific

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Fragments of Russia’s Progress MS-08 cargo spacecraft, which was deorbited on Thursday following a weeklong experiment, splashed down in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean, a Russian Mission Control Center official said.

"Unburied fragments of the Progress MS-08 spacecraft have landed in a non-navigational region of the Pacific Ocean," the source said.

Members of India’s first space crew may be trained in Russia

NEW DELHI, August 30. /TASS/. The members of the first Indian space crew may undergo training in a foreign state, Russia being one of the options, Kailasavadivoo Sivan, head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), told journalists.

ISRO will need to take the help of a foreign country for advanced training of the crew, he said. "We have not decided which country we will choose for training. Russia, Germany and USA have the facilities," Sivan said, according to the PTI news agency.

China launches official online rumor information platform

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A national-level platform to alert the public about online rumors and refute slander was launched in Beijing Wednesday.

The platform is hosted by the Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center under the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and operated by xinhuanet.com.

The platform operates under the guidance of 27 units, such as the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission.

Experts assemble for UN-hosted meeting on ‘killer robots’

GENEVA (AP) — Experts from scores of countries are meeting to discuss ways to define and deal with “killer robots” — futuristic weapons systems that could conduct war without human intervention.

The weeklong gathering that opened Monday is the second at U.N. offices in Geneva this year to focus on such lethal autonomous weapons systems and to explore possibilities for regulating them, among other issues.

China-made large amphibious aircraft enters new test phase

GUANGZHOU, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's independently-developed large amphibious aircraft, the AG600, has completed trial flights from a land take-off and entered a new test phase from the water.

The AG600, codenamed "Kunlong," successfully finished a trial flight from an airport in the city of Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, to an airport in Jingmen, a city in central China's Hubei Province, on Sunday, according to China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. Ltd.

The company said that it marked the start of a new journey for AG600 -- a test phase on the water.

Russia to start trials of most advanced Katran combat drone this year

KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, August 24. /TASS/. The most advanced Katran rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle publicly shown for the first time at the Victory Day parade in Moscow in the spring will enter flight tests before the end of the year, Russian Helicopters Group told TASS at the Army-2018 forum on Friday.

"Currently, the Katran drone is undergoing ground trials that will be concluded in the autumn of this year, after which the Group’s specialists will start the program of the Katran’s flight tests to be completed in 2019," the press office said.

U.S. leading driverless car enterprise sets up company in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. self-driving company Waymo LLC, the driverless car division of Google's parent company Alphabet, has registered its exclusively-founded enterprise in Shanghai, according to information published on National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

Dr Congo: Experimental ebola treatment ' successful' - authorities

KINSHASA, Aug 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) has said a drug used for the first time on Ebola patients, the mAb114, is working well in North Kivu. It said it expects some patients to leave hospital on Tuesday Aug 21.

Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the INRB’s director-general said 10 Ebola patients had received mAb114 in Beni and that they are waiting for its US manufacturers to deliver more doses this week.

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