Drenched in sweat, drivers leap into Humvees and tanks to block off access to the main road.Mosul: It only takes a split second for the expression on the Iraqi soldiers face to transform from relaxed contentment to absolute terror.Any soldiers carrying weapons lighter than rocket-propelled grenades scramble into abandoned homes, with some kicking through windows to get inside.It is driving slowly along a main thoroughfare dividing the neighbourhoods east and west, likely looking for a route that could bring it closer to CTS forces.He shakes his head and starts directing the drone back towards his rooftop, sprinkled with broken glass and empty cans of cheap energy drinks guzzled by young fighters."I put the drone up in the sky as soon as I heard there was a suspicious car, but I cant find it," he says, fixated on the birds-eye view of Karkukli displayed on the tablet screen in front of him.Special operations forces have seized the western half of Karkukli from the Islamic State group, but the eastern half -- like most of Mosul -- remains under ISIS control.ISIS has repeatedly turned to suicide car bombings as part of its defence against Iraqi forces since the operation to retake Mosul was launched four weeks ago.The young, clean-shaven soldier is responsible for flying the Mosul Regiments surveillance drone, which has been instrumental in helping them spot incoming car bombs."Im monitoring this area here, as its the only way the car can reach us," Mr Hussein explains, pointing to a deserted main road leading into Karkukli from an adjacent industrial zone. Ill have Hussein set up one (anti-tank missile) for you at the end of the alley," Abbas responds.While the imminent danger has subsided, CTS forces remain on high alert -- the search is on."Grab the bazookas!" one unit leader bellows to his forces, several of whom grab anti-tank missiles and take up positions at intersections where they can spot the car. One sets his anti-tank missile in a corner of the rooftop."Armoured Kia Sportage coming your way.As soon as he heard of the suspicious vehicle, Lieutenant Haidar Hussein bounded up the steps to the rooftop of the abandoned three-storey home his unit is using as a base..The gunfire and yelling has died down, and Karkuklis now-deserted streets are eerily quiet as tense CTS soldiers wait for news of the cars location."Car bomb!"The scream slices across China Wholesale aquarium air pump for sale the otherwise quiet afternoon in Karkukli, a heavily damaged eastern district of Iraqs second city Mosul."Suspicious vehicle is heading north," a voice radios to Lieutenant Abbas of the Diyala Regiment, standing on a rooftop overlooking his units forward positions in Karkukli.The suspected car bomb is about 150 metres (yards) from the CTSs base inside the neighbourhood, he tells Agence France-Presse."Roger.Usually, Hussein locates the booby-trapped cars, which are then targeted by CTS tanks or air strikes from the United States-led coalition warplanes circling above."It reached our fortified positions and is turning back," the same voice says minutes later.Elite army troops are finishing their typical lunch of rice and tomato sauce on Monday afternoon when the warning comes through on the Diyala Regiments walkie-talkie channel.He isnt so lucky on Monday.But the troops spent the morning blocking off about a dozen alleyways with tanks and bulldozers, and the Kia Sportage struggles to find a way through.The clock is ticking -- the drones batteries only last 20 minutes and he has no other charged units. Take cover now!"The elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) fighters burst into panicked action, shouting at the few civilians on the dusty rubble-strewn road to hide."Its gone," the other says, waving his hand to indicate that the car has left their neighbourhood and that they are safe -- for now.Minutes later, a pair of grinning CTS soldiers emerge from the staircase
I had earlier written about the significance of REEs in this newspaper on August 31, 2012 (A doctrine of no use).India needs to focus on economic growth. China has, not surprisingly, described the tribunal’s ruling as "ill-founded".China’s claims to about 90 per cent of the SCS were first promulgated on a 1947 map showing a "9 dash line". At some future date of its choosing, the Chinese government is quite capable of producing a "new, just-found 700-year-old document" that would purport to show that Admiral Zheng He had visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in support of China’s claims to these islands.The second critical item that India imports from C the tense SCS, which is already teeming with warships and coastguard ships of rival claimant nations.On April 19 this year, in anticipation of an adverse ruling by the UN tribunal at The Hague known as the Permanent Court of Arbitration, that was delivered on Tuesday, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, as part of a global diplomatic offensive by Beijing, had invited some scholars from various think tanks in New Delhi to a presentation on China’s claims to the South China Sea (SCS).
The officiating Chinese ambassador ended the presentation by saying that should India back the Chinese position on the South China Sea, Beijing could accommodate New Delhi on the McMahon Line in the Himalayas, where both nations have an ongoing decades-long border dispute. India relies on the sea for 90 per cent of its imports and exports, and 50 per cent of its seaborne trade passes through the disputed SCS. Hence, freedom of navigation in the SCS is vital for India’s economic growth.At present, India is somewhat vulnerable as two critical items have to be imported from China, and hence it has no choice but to maintain cordial relations with Beijing while not compr ing through the Malacca Straits, visiting Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kerala, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. At the same time, it must deter any Chinese or Pakistani misadventure by tweaking its Nuclear No-First-Use doctrine to ensure that it actually deters the buildup of any blue-water navy that can operate in the Indian Ocean region as well as in the Western Pacific Ocean. However, India, by becoming a member of the 35-nation Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), can "quietly" oppose any Chinese attempts to enter the MTCR (China’s application to enter the MTCR was made in 2004).The writer retired as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam. In 2013, the Philippines, after 17 years of fruitless talks with China over the disputed Scarborough shoal (located 555 miles from China’s Hainan island and only 137 miles from the Philippines) had asked the UN tribunal to adjudicate on China’s claims in the SCS. Today, China makes about 97 per cent of the global REE output."In May 2016, when an Indian maritime Wholesale industry air pump for sale think tank visited China for discussions, the Chinese hosts, discreetly and "off the record", reiterated that in "future the Andaman and Nicobar Islands could be disputed by someone". The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an essential ingredient of the OBOR, and hence Pakistan has become an indispensable strategic ally of Beijing, which indirectly supported Islamabad by blocking India’s entry into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in June
"Invasive diseases, together with air pollution and climate change, have decimated populations of numerous North American tree species that once provided abundant food for native wildlife, as well scenic beauty," said Healy Hamilton, at NatureServe, a network of biodiversity scientists.". Their wood is used for making good-quality furniture and is the world’s most illegally trafficked wild product.The habit of razing down forests has led to the loss of habitat for seven species of primates, while overfishing has pushed two families of rays to the brink of extinction.The List also highlights the plight of wedgefishes and giant guitarfishes. These species are usually caught as bycatch. In western Africa, only 2,000 Roloway monkeys are left as they have been hunted for their meat and skin.Humanity’s continuing destruction of wildlife is driving several species towards extinction.Scientists observed that wildlife population has plunged from 60 per cent since 1970 and extinctions of species are occurring at a frightening rate. 15 species which generally grow in the European countryside are now threatened with extinction."Loss aquarium lighting of species and climate change are the two great challenges facing humanity this century," said Lee Hannah at Conservation International. An updates listed was published which added nearly 9,000 more species to the IUCN Red List, bringing up the total to 105,732. 500 deep-sea bony fish species, such as bioluminescent lanternfishes, are also under grave threat due to deep-fishing, oil drilling and seabed mining.Fungi have also made a surprise entry in the list. The American Elm is also facing extinction after the illegal deforestation in Madagascar for its famed rosewood. Sadly, none of the existing species recorded an improvement in numbers, reported The Guardian. These are now the more imperilled marine fishes in the world. River wildlife has greatly decreased from Mexico to Japan, due to pollution, dam construction and over-extraction of freshwater. IUCN has released its latest Red List with a list of all the species that are under threat. This, although, is just a fraction of the species that inhabit this planet. "The results are clear, we must act now on both. The red list addresses both, he said, by including the threat of global heating in the assessment of extinction risk. Half the freshwater fish in Japan and over a third in Mexico are now on the verge of extinction as they are caught for consumption. "Nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history," said Jane Smart, director of the IUCN biodiversity conservation group. The Hungarian birch mouse, Lake Oku puddle frog are also facing extinction due to a devastating fungus that is ravaging amphibians. Decisive action would have to be taken at the UN Biodiversity Convention in China next year.The dry forests of Madagascar are also 90 per cent threatened."The loss of these freshwater fish species would deprive billions of people of a critical source of food and income, and could have knock-on effects on entire ecosystems," said William Darwall, head of the IUCN freshwater biodiversity unit.The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the authority that assesses the status of these species
Hence incorporating more fish in diet is advisable for both partners if they are hoping for a pregnancy.Although sea food is known to be an aphrodisiac, it helps with fertility by improving semen quality, ovulation and embryo quality.. The findings suggested that apart from having sex more frequently, couples who had more than two servings of fish a week were more likely to have a child.Improving one’s sex life is considered as an important step towards ensuring aquarium heater overall well being.Research has revealed that while a number of foods can boost libido, increasing intake of sea food can improve sex drive as well as fertility. While several medical options as well as practices to apply in a relationship are recommended, simple dietary modifications can also work wonders
"This form of mirroring is a very simple social behaviour, in which the replica seeks only to stay as close as possible to the live animal," said Maurizio Porfiri, a professor at NYU. In preference tests, zebrafish showed greater affinity and, importantly, no signs of anxiety or fear — toward arobotic replica that mirrored its own behaviour rather than a robot that followed a pre-set pattern of swimming. "But this is the baseline for the types of interactions were hoping to build between animals and robots," said Porfiri, who led the study published in the journal Scientific Reports. Biomimetic robots have been deployed alongside live animals to better understand the drivers of animal behaviour, including social cues, fear, leadership, and even courtship. While mirroring is a basic, limited form of social interaction, these experiments are a powerful first step toward enriching the exchange between robots and live animals. swimming pool pump Manufacturers Scientists at the New York University in the US have now developed robots that can watch back."We are learning what really matters in zebrafish social interactions, and we can use this information to help the robot interpret and respond appropriately, rather than just copying what it sees," he said.Scientists have developed bio-inspired robots that "see" and mimic the behaviour of live fish in real time and may help improve our understanding of marine animals.However, the encounters have always been unidirectional — the animals observe and respond to the robots."We now have the ability to measure the response of zebrafish to the robot in real time, and to allow the robot to watch and manoeuvre in real time, which is significant," he said.. Researchers tapped advances in real-time tracking software and robotics to design and test the first closed-loop control system featuring a bioinspired robotic replica interacting in three dimensions with live zebrafish.The team tested the interaction of the robotic replica and live zebrafish under several different experimental conditions, but in all cases, the replica and the live fish were separated by a transparent panel. Scientists are now investigating social interactions among live zebrafish to better understand the animals natural cues and responses
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