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In the Persian Gulf, Iran's drones pose rising threat to U.S.

PBS NewsHour

ABOARD THE USS NIMITZ -- High above the Persian Gulf, an Iranian drone crosses the path of American fighter jets lining up to land on the USS Nimitz. The drone buzzes across the sky more than a mile above the massive aircraft carrier and is spotted by the fighters. But for the senior Navy commanders on the ship, the presence of the enemy drone so close is worrying. Their biggest fear is the surveillance aircraft will start carrying weapons, posing a more direct threat to U.S. vessels transiting one of the world's most significant strategic and economic international waterways. "It's just a matter of time before we see that," said Navy Rear Adm. Bill Byrne, commander of the carrier strike group that includes the Nimitz.


Emerging AI: 7 Industries Including Law, HR, Travel And Media Where AI Is Making An Impact

#artificialintelligence

We take a look at categories where AI startups are beginning to emerge. A majority of them are in the early stages of funding. We take a look at categories where AI startups are beginning to emerge. A majority of them are in the early stages of funding. Artificial Intelligence is being hailed as the new linchpin of the tech industry.


AI is coming to war, regardless of Elon Musk's well-meaning concern

#artificialintelligence

Participants run ahead of Puerto de San Lorenzo's fighting bulls during the third bull run of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain. Each day at 8:00 am hundreds of people race with six bulls, charging along a winding, 848.6-metre (more than half a mile) course through narrow streets to the city's bull ring, where the animals are killed in a bullfight or corrida, during this festival, immortalised in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises" and dating back to medieval times and also featuring religious processions, folk dancing, concerts and round-the-clock drinking. Iraqi women, who fled the fighting between government forces and Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in the Old City of Mosul, cry as they stand in the city's western industrial district awaiting to be relocated


Stacked transfer learning for tropical cyclone intensity prediction

arXiv.org Machine Learning

Tropical cyclone wind-intensity prediction is a challenging task considering drastic changes climate patterns over the last few decades. In order to develop robust prediction models, one needs to consider different characteristics of cyclones in terms of spatial and temporal characteristics. Transfer learning incorporates knowledge from a related source dataset to compliment a target datasets especially in cases where there is lack or data. Stacking is a form of ensemble learning focused for improving generalization that has been recently used for transfer learning problems which is referred to as transfer stacking. In this paper, we employ transfer stacking as a means of studying the effects of cyclones whereby we evaluate if cyclones in different geographic locations can be helpful for improving generalization performance. Moreover, we use conventional neural networks for evaluating the effects of duration on cyclones in prediction performance. Therefore, we develop an effective strategy that evaluates the relationships between different types of cyclones through transfer learning and conventional learning methods via neural networks.


Stephen Colbert on ideas that 'could kill us all' and the moment that changed his life

Los Angeles Times

Stephen Colbert kicks up his feet at the Ed Sullivan Theater, where he tapes "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." Stephen Colbert kicks up his feet at the Ed Sullivan Theater, where he tapes "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) Stephen Colbert's desktop computer monitor is ringed with reminders -- Post-it notes ("Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God," Pierre Teilhard de Chardin), keepsakes (cards from musicians Regina Spektor and Jack White), directives ("Ask yourself this question: Is my attitude worth catching?"), When not in use, Colbert's computer screen defaults to a live feed of the Earth taken from the International Space Station. Right now, the view has just crossed the Nile, the sun is setting and clouds are casting long shadows across the Red Sea. Colbert looks at these images whenever he's feeling anxious. There's the whole world, he tells himself.


U.S. Navy reports another close call with Iran drone

The Japan Times

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – An unarmed Iranian drone shadowed a U.S. aircraft carrier at night and came close enough to F-18 fighter jets to put the lives of American pilots at risk, the Navy said Tuesday, reporting the second such tense encounter within a week. The Iranian Sadegh drone flew without any warning lights during the encounter Sunday night with the USS Nimitz, said Lt. Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. The drone did not respond to repeated calls over the radio and came within 1,000 feet (300 meters) of U.S. fighters, he said. That "created a dangerous situation with the potential for collision and is not in keeping with international maritime customs and laws," McConnaughey said in a statement. The drone was unarmed, the lieutenant said, though that model can carry missiles. Iran's military and state-run media did not immediately report the incident, which came after a similar encounter Aug. 8, in which the Navy said an Iranian drone came within 100 feet (30 meters) of an F-18 preparing to land on the Nimitz.


Iranian Drone Buzzes U.S. Fighter Jet Over Persian Gulf

NYT > Middle East

An unarmed Iranian drone buzzed an American Super Hornet fighter jet as it circled an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, Defense Department officials said on Tuesday. A statement released by the military's Central Command said that despite repeated radio calls demanding that Iran keep the drone clear of American flight operations in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier Nimitz, the Iranian vehicle came within 100 feet of the fighter jet, which had to swerve to avoid a collision. At the time of the incident, the jet had been in a holding pattern and was planning to land on the carrier, the statement said. "The dangerous maneuver created a collision hazard and is not in keeping with international maritime customs and laws," the statement said. The American military said this was the 13th "unsafe" or "unprofessional" interaction between American and Iranian maritime forces this year.


Iranian drone nearly hits US Navy fighter jet in Gulf, US defense official says

FOX News

An Iranian drone nearly collided with a U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet while the American jet was in a holding pattern, a U.S. defense official told Fox News. The jet was about to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which recently arrived in the Persian Gulf. It was the first time an Iranian drone has "interrupted a flight pattern," the official said. The F-18 "maneuvered to avoid collision," said the official, who described the unarmed Iranian drone as a Qom-1. The official described the encounter as "unsafe and unprofessional…and dangerous."


Tech will find MH370

FOX News

Searchers will eventually locate the wreckage of flight MH370 by harnessing the power of technologies such as artificial intelligence, said Malaysia Airlines' chief executive. Due to "advances in science" as well as "the availability of artificial intelligence that's coming on stream," wreckage of the Boeing 777 will eventually be found Malaysia Airlines CEO Peter Bellew said. Bellew made his comments in an interview with The Australian newspaper on the heels of an aviation summit. In March 2014, flight MH370 – a Boeing 777 – disappeared with 239 people on board, including 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers. After its disappearance, there was an extensive hunt in the southern Indian Ocean in which some marine debris was found, including a six-foot part of one of the wings. However, the bulk of the aircraft is still missing.


Where Is Flight MH370? AI Can Pinpoint Missing Plane's Location, Airline Says

International Business Times

The mystery behind the disappearance of Malaysia Airline Flight MH370 continues with no closure for the families of 239 people who were on board the jet. On Monday, Malaysia Airline's CEO Peter Bellew told The Australian newspaper that advances in science and technology, including artificial intelligence, can help pinpoint the resting place of the missing jet. The Boeing 777-200 went missing March 8, 2014, while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. After over three years of search in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean where the plane was believed to have crashed, no concrete clues as to what happened to the jet have been yielded. The multimillion-dollar hunt for MH370 was suspended this year after search vessels failed to find it.