Goto

Collaborating Authors

 Asia


10 Killed In Suicide Attack Near Afghan Capital

International Business Times

A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and wounded four on Wednesday in an attack on a bus carrying staff from an appeal court west of the Afghan capital, Kabul, officials said, and the Taliban claimed responsibility. The attack came on the same day the Taliban announced a new leader to succeed Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike at the weekend. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack on staff from the judicial system was in response to the Afghan government's decision earlier this month to execute six Taliban prisoners on death row. Other attacks would follow, he said. "We will continue on this path," he said in a statement.


Afghan Taliban Appoint Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada As New Leader After Mansour's Death

International Business Times

The Afghan Taliban Wednesday confirmed the appointment of a new leader following the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a U.S. drone strike last week. This is the group's first official confirmation that Mansour was killed. In a statement sent to media, the Taliban declared that their new leader is Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, one of two of Mansour's deputies. It said he was chosen at a meeting of Taliban leaders, which was believed to have been held in Pakistan. The U.S. military carried out an airstrike Saturday targeting Mullah Akhtar Mansour (seen in this undated handout photograph by the Taliban) in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.


Afghan Taliban appoints new leader after Mansour's death

Los Angeles Times

The Afghan Taliban has confirmed that its former leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike last week and appointed a successor. In a statement sent to news media Wednesday, the insurgent group said its new leader is Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, one of Mansour's two deputies. It said he was chosen at a meeting of Taliban leaders, which was believed to have been held in Pakistan. Mansour was killed in Pakistan on Saturday when his vehicle was struck by a U.S. drone, believed to be the first time a Taliban leader was killed in such a way inside Pakistani territory. Pakistani authorities are believed to support Taliban leaders in cities over the Afghan border. The insurgents have been fighting to overthrow the Kabul government since 2001.


Afghan Taliban appoint new leader after Mansour's death

U.S. News

FILE - This Saturday, May 21, 2016 file photo taken by freelance photographer Abdul Malik, purports to show volunteers standing near the wreckage of the destroyed vehicle, in which Mullah Akhtar Mansour was allegedly traveling in the Ahmed Wal area in Baluchistan province of Pakistan, near Afghanistan border. The Afghan Taliban has confirmed that its former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike last week and appointed a successor. In a statement sent to media Wednesday, May 25, 2016, the insurgent group said its new leader is Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, one of two Mansour's deputies.


Afghan Taliban appoint new leader after Mansour's death

Associated Press

The Afghan Taliban confirmed on Wednesday that their leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike last week and that they have appointed a successor -- a scholar known for extremist views who is unlikely to back a peace process with Kabul. The announcement came as a suicide bomber struck a minibus carrying court employees in the Afghan capital, killing at least 10 people, an official said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement sent to the media, the Taliban said their new leader is Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, one of two of Mansour's deputies. The insurgent group said he was chosen at a meeting of Taliban leaders, which was believed to have been held in Pakistan, but offered no other details.


Afghan Taliban Appoint New Leader After Mansour's Death

International Business Times

The Afghan Taliban have named a deputy to former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour as their new leader, a spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday, the group's first official confirmation that Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Haibatullah Akhunzada, who was named in a United Nations report last year as the Taliban's former chief justice, is reported to be a respected religious scholar but little is known of his background. Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of a network blamed for many high-profile bombs attacks in Kabul in recent years, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, will serve as deputies, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's main spokesman, said in the statement. "All people are required to obey the new Emir-al-Momineen (commander of the faithful)," the statement said. The announcement, following a meeting of the Taliban's main shura or leadership council, ends three days of confusion during which the Islamist movement had provided no official reaction to the death of Mansour in a drone strike in Pakistan on Saturday.


Zebra Medical Vision Announces Collaboration with Intermountain Healthcare To Bring Machine Learning to Radiology

#artificialintelligence

The collaboration will accelerate the creation of Zebra's imaging analytics engine and create neural networks that will use Zebra's vast imaging dataset to assist radiologists with automated diagnostic algorithms. Kibbutz Shefayim Israel, May 24, 2016 - Zebra Medical Vision is announcing a new collaboration with Intermountain Healthcare, one of the top performing integrated care providers in the U.S. Intermountain plans to work with Zebra to accelerate the creation of meaningful imaging algorithms to improve patient care. Zebra is also announcing today an additional financing round of 12 million led by Intermountain Healthcare, with the participation of existing investors. Zebra Medical Vision was founded in 2014 with the vision of teaching computers to automatically read and diagnose medical imaging data. The company's analytics engine helps physicians and healthcare providers analyze millions of imaging records, in an effort to close the diagnostic gap created by a billion people worldwide joining the middle class in the coming decade, who will require diagnostic services.


Creating Better User Experiences with Microsoft Cognitive Services

#artificialintelligence

Computer scientists have been captivated by the potential of artificial intelligence to create human like experiences with computers for decades. Although we are not at the point of true human intelligence, we have seen great advances in vision, speech, language understanding and knowledge recall that will produce better human computer experiences. This started with investments in speech recognition and natural language processing (NLP) for a variety of uses. Microsoft demonstrated this technology 15 years ago at CES and since then has continued to drive these innovations into products. Having computers mimic human behavior at scale has augmented our lives in useful ways.


China to expand artificial intel products market to 15 bn

#artificialintelligence

China will speed up the development of its artificial intelligence (AI) sector and create a market worth more than 100 billion yuan (USD 15.26 billion) over the next three years, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement. By 2018, China shall build platforms for fundamental AI resources and innovation and make breakthroughs on basic core technology, the three-year implementation programme for "Internet Plus" artificial intelligence said. Under the plan, China will cultivate and develop emerging artificial intelligence industries, promote innovation in intelligent products and enhance the intelligence level of terminal products. The programme will involve key projects such as intelligent home appliances, smart automobiles, intelligent unmanned systems, intelligent wearable devices and robots. China will also offer some guarantee measures involving financial support, intellectual property protection, talents and international cooperation, state-run China Daily reported.


Medical Device Company Medasense Biometrics Completes Series B Venture Capital Funding

#artificialintelligence

Medasense Biometrics Ltd., an Amat Gan, Israel-based medical device company developing a non-invasive, objective pain monitoring technology, completed a Series B financing round. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Newest investor Baxter Ventures joined the recent round led by Benslie International Ltd. together with am undisclosed global medical technology corporation and other private investors. The company will use the funds to continue global clinical research and market development of its flagship product PMD-200 . Led by Galit Zuckerman, CEO and founder, Medasense is advancing PMD-200, an objective pain monitoring system for non-communicating patients in operating rooms and critical care, aiming to support clinicians in evaluating their patient's pain level in order to optimize pain treatment.