WASHINGTON/ANKARA: The US-led coalition has killed as many as 150 Daesh fighters in an operation in the middle Euphrates River Valley in Syria, officials said Tuesday.
According to a coalition statement, the airstrikes took place on Saturday near Al-Shafah, in Deir Ezzor province, on a Daesh headquarters where the terrorists appeared to have been “massing for movement.”
Dozens of combatants have been killed since Turkey launched an offensive in the Kurdish region of Afrin in northwestern Syria on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday, citing sources on all sides.
The observatory said Turkish shelling and airstrikes in Afrin had killed 28 civilians, while two civilians had been killed near the Syrian opposition-held town of Azaz as a result of shelling by the Kurdish YPG, which is defending Afrin.
Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said 48 Turkey-backed Syrian fighters with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had been killed. The death toll among the Kurdish YPG was so far 42, he said.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to expand the operation in northern Syria toward the town of Manbij, which would bring Turkish troops and their Syrian allies closer to US forces supporting the Kurds against Daesh.
As Turkey pushed ahead with its operation, fears grew of an escalation in tension with the US, despite both countries being NATO allies.
But instead, US military officials reacted differently — at least in public statements. They began empathizing with Ankara over its domestic security concerns, most significantly the decades-long insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is linked with the PYD and YPG.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway said that if the YPG in northern Syria moves to Afrin and if the military equipment provided by the US is used for other purposes than fighting Daesh, the group will lose US support.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the Turkish Army had falsely claimed that Daesh is present in the Afrin region, accusing it of trying to mislead global public opinion.
In a separate development, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that this week’s round of UN-sponsored talks on Syria is the “last hope” for reaching a political solution to the seven-year war.
“There is no prospect of a political solution today except, and it’s the last hope, the meeting that opens tomorrow in Vienna led by the UN and with all the stakeholders present,” Le Drian told Parliament.
Detailed coverage — Page 6
Coalition strikes kill up to 150 Daesh terrorists in Syria
Coalition strikes kill up to 150 Daesh terrorists in Syria
Rahim Al-Hussaini is named the new Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims
- Rahim Al-Hussaini was designated as the Aga Khan V
- The Aga Khan is treated by his followers as a head of state
He was designated as the Aga Khan V, the 50th hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims, in his father’s will. His father died Tuesday in Portugal.
The Aga Khan is considered by his followers to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and is treated as a head of state.
The Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili religious community announced earlier that His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, the Aga Khan IV and 49th hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims, died surrounded by his family.
It said his burial and will-reading will be held in the coming days, followed by an homage ceremony.
The late Aga Khan was given the title of “His Highness” by Queen Elizabeth in July 1957, two weeks after his grandfather the Aga Khan III unexpectedly made him heir to the family’s 1,300-year dynasty as leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect.
A defender of Islamic culture and values, he was widely regarded as a builder of bridges between Muslim societies and the West despite — or perhaps because of — his reticence to become involved in politics.
The Aga Khan Development Network, his main philanthropic organization, deals mainly with issues of health care, housing, education and rural economic development. It says it works in over 30 countries and has an annual budget of about $1 billion for nonprofit development activities.
Ismailis lived for many generations in Iran, Syria and South Asia before also settling in east Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as Europe, North America and Australia more recently. They consider it a duty to tithe up to 12.5 percent of their income to the Aga Khan as steward.
A special tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders over Ukraine wins backing from European institutions
A special tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders over Ukraine wins backing from European institutions
- Legal experts agreed on the framework for the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine
- “Now, justice is coming,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said
BRUSSELS: A project to establish a court to prosecute the Russian leaders who orchestrated the invasion of Ukraine took a step forward Wednesday, with an announcement from a group of international organizations, including the European Union and the Council of Europe, working together with Ukraine.
Legal experts agreed on the framework for the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, which will allow for the prosecution of senior Russian officials for planning and coordinating the full-scale invasion in 2022.
“When Russia chose to roll its tanks over Ukraine’s borders, breaking the UN Charter, it committed one of the gravest violations: the Crime of Aggression. Now, justice is coming,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
The move to create a special tribunal aims to fill a void created by limitations on the International Criminal Court. While The Hague-based court can go after Russian nationals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, it cannot prosecute Russians for orchestrating the invasion itself.
The 2002 Rome Statute which created the court does include the crime of aggression but only for countries who have joined the court. The Russian Federation is not a member state.
“The accountability gap for the crime of aggression must be closed right now because the lid of Pandora’s Box is blown off completely and our world is plunged into chaos and darkness,” Ukraine’s deputy minister of justice Iryna Mudra told reporters after the announcement was made.
Ukraine has been pushing for the creation of a special tribunal since early in the conflict. “If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law but make bold decisions that will correct those shortcomings that unfortunately exist in international law,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a visit to the Netherlands in 2023.
There are still significant issues to be worked out, including how the tribunal will be paid for and where it will be located. The Netherlands, home to the ICC, the International Court of Justice and other judicial organizations, has offered to host the tribunal.
It is already home to the International Center for Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression, which supports evidence-gathering for a future tribunal and is overseen by the European Union’s judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust. The Council of Europe-backed register of damages, which allows Ukrainian victims of war to catalog the financial harm they have suffered, is also based in the Netherlands.
The tribunal will be established under Ukrainian law, which leaves the future court unable to prosecute the so-called troika, consisting of a country’s head of state, head of government and foreign affairs minister. International law grants that trio immunity while they are in office.
The ICC, which isn’t limited by immunity, has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and several military leaders for war crimes.
The Council of Europe aims to get the tribunal up and running by the end of the year.
Superintelligent AI could replace human researchers, experts suggest
- AI opens new horizons in hypothesis generation, data analysis, Riyadh panel hears
- Global Healthspan Summit discusses ethical implications surrounding AI in healthcare
RIYADH: Experts at a Riyadh conference on Wednesday tackled the question of whether human researchers will become obsolete in the face of superintelligent machines capable of making groundbreaking discoveries.
A panel discussion during the Global Healthspan Summit, which has Arab News as a media partner, brought together specialists to explore the potential of artificial intelligence in scientific research.
The session, titled “AI — The Greatest Scientist in Waiting?” challenged the scientific community by positing that the new technology could surpass human capabilities in hypothesis generation, experimental design, and data analysis.
Two prominent contributors, Dr. Christoph Benn, director of the JLI Center for Global Health Diplomacy in Switzerland, and Jamie Heywood, CEO and founder of Alden Scientific in the US, took part in the discussion, which was moderated by Dr. Jens Eckstein, investment partner at the Hevolution Foundation in Saudi Arabia.
Heywood opened the conversation by emphasizing the transformative potential of AI.
“Mathematics and data techniques are not particularly new. What changes is the amount of data and the computational power we can apply to it,” he said.
Modern scientific method, when combined with AI, allows researchers to ask more nuanced questions, Heywood said.
Rather than relying on generalized clinical trials, researchers can now tailor inquiries to individual circumstances, thus enhancing the relevance and applicability of findings.
Heywood explained: “With enough variables and carefully designed queries, we can answer critical questions like: What will help me? What might be harmful? How will a change in my life, whether it be a diet or medication, feel?”
Such personalized insights would not be feasible without the integration of modern AI technologies, he added.
However, Heywood also cautioned against the pitfalls of AI, particularly the “garbage in, garbage out” phenomenon.
He explained that while machine learning can generate valuable insights, it is also susceptible to errors if the underlying data is flawed or misinterpreted.
“Machine learning can correct for seasonality errors in data, but it can also produce spurious correlations that traditional scientific methods might not catch,” he warned.
For instance, he recounted how the UK Biobank data suggested a correlation between vitamin D and aging that contradicted prior knowledge, highlighting the importance of critical oversight in AI-assisted research.
Benn echoed these comments, stressing the necessity of using AI responsibly in the context of personalized medicine.
“Is it possible to do modern medicine effectively without machine learning? I’m not even sure,” he said.
Benn said that the complexities of modern health data — comprising thousands of variables — are beyond the capacity of human intuition alone.
“Humans can intuit some relationships, but we can’t analyze data at that level,” he said.
The discussion also explored the ethical implications and regulatory needs surrounding AI in healthcare.
Benn pointed out the importance of establishing frameworks to ensure that AI tools are validated and certified.
“We need to trust these tools, both from the consumer’s perspective and from researchers,” he said.
He shared concerns raised by researchers who were hesitant to market their AI innovations without a clear certification process and accountability measures in place.
“Unless we know whether there is a certification process and whether we will be held accountable for unintended side effects, we will not market our AI tools.”
As the panel concluded, the conversation highlighted a critical juncture for the scientific community, noting that the integration of AI into research has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of health and disease, but also necessitates careful consideration of ethical and regulatory frameworks.
Chelsea star Kerr ‘feared for my life’ during taxi ride
- Kerr told a jury at Kingston Crown Court on Wednesday that she had put her head out of the window when she began to feel sick
- She added the dangerous driving continued for 15 to 20 minutes
LONDON: Chelsea striker Sam Kerr said she “feared for my life” while she and her partner were in the back of a taxi moments before one of them smashed the vehicle’s rear window.
The Australia international is on trial charged with causing racially aggravated harassment to police officer Stephen Lovell during an incident in south-west London in the early hours of January 30, 2023.
It is alleged Kerr, 31, and her partner, West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis, had been out drinking when they were driven to Twickenham Police Station by a taxi driver who complained the pair had refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick, and that one of them smashed the vehicle’s rear window.
Kerr told a jury at Kingston Crown Court on Wednesday that she had put her head out of the window when she began to feel sick before the driver “rolled it up” and began to “drive dangerously.”
She added the dangerous driving continued for 15 to 20 minutes, saying: “I was terrified for my life. Everything was going through my mind about being in a car with a stranger I deemed to be dangerous. There was no reasoning with him. It was his way or nothing.
“Kristie asked him to stop the car but there was no change to his driving. We had no idea where we were.
“Kristie was very distressed. She was crying and scared. I’ve never seen her like that before and it made me more scared.
“I started to realize how serious the situation was. It put me in protective mode... he had the power over us... I deemed him to be dangerous because of the driving, but also because he could have taken us anywhere.”
Kerr said the pair tried to open the doors and windows several times, but they remained locked.
Mewis eventually “kicked out (the window) with her boot” which led Kerr to feel “relieved,” but she added: “We didn’t get out straight away as the car was still moving.”
On Tuesday, the court was told Lovell first saw Kerr as she crawled through the smashed taxi window outside the station.
A “heated” discussion about the incident ensued between Kerr and the police, during which she allegedly became “abusive and insulting” toward Lovell, calling him “stupid and white.”
Kerr made her debut for current Women’s Super League champions Chelsea in 2020. She is currently out of action with a knee injury.
All Saudis should have access to AI health-monitoring tech, says Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed
- Technology can help extend healthy human lifespan, prince says
- Government should invest in improving population’s longevity
RIYADH: All Saudis should have access to artificial intelligence technology that monitors their health in real time, Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
“Every Saudi citizen should have a real-time AI-driven health dashboard tracking metabolic markers, predictive disease risks, and lifestyle optimization strategies,” said the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures on the sidelines of the Global Healthspan Summit in Riyadh, which has Arab News as a media partner.
“We can also incentivize longevity-focused R&D. Governments should treat health-tech startups like they treat defense contractors: Fund them, fast-track them, and make breakthroughs happen.”
The prince and investor spoke about the idea of extending the healthy lifespan of the Saudi population, which is a key focus of the two-day summit.
“Aging isn’t the onset of disease; it’s the failure of medicine to treat the root cause. We’ve been conditioned to believe that heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and metabolic disorders are just part of ‘getting older.’ That’s like saying a car breaking down after 100,000 miles is inevitable. It’s not; it’s a mechanical failure due to wear and tear.”
In addition, the financial stress on economies is not from people living longer, the CEO believes, but rather from people living sick longer.
“Healthcare systems are designed to treat disease, not prevent it. We spend trillions on end-stage care instead of investing in tech that keeps people healthy for longer. The longer people stay active, productive, and self-sufficient, the better it is for the economy,” he said.
According to Prince Khaled, a healthy population is not a burden but an economic accelerator.
He continued: “What happens when we add 20 high-performance years to a person’s life instead of 20 years of dependency? We flip healthcare from an expense to an investment.”
The problem, he said, is governments and legacy institutions that treat healthcare as an expense instead of a growth sector.
However, to change this perspective, longevity should be a national priority, as should investing in new technology to extend healthy lifespans, he added.
“The same way governments invest in infrastructure and energy security, we should be funding longevity tech, AI-driven medicine, and regenerative therapies,” Prince Khalid said.
He added: “We need to overhaul preventative healthcare. Move from a ‘treat once sick’ model to a ‘predict and prevent’ model.”
Another idea the CEO raised was leveraging Saudi Arabia as a biotech corridor.
Saudi Arabia could be presented to the world as a global hub for longevity research, “offering regulatory flexibility, AI-powered clinical trials, and public-private partnerships that make biotech innovation move faster,” he said.
A healthier population will drive productivity, innovation, and economic expansion like never before, he added.
Furthermore, the future of health is not exclusively held by hospitals but by algorithms. With advanced technology, Prince Khaled suggested, AI will design personalized longevity plans for every individual by detecting disease before any symptoms appear.
“AI isn’t replacing doctors — it’s making every citizen their own health CEO. We should be running simulations of every human body and predicting health outcomes before they happen. The data exists. We just need AI to make sense of it,” he said.
While the country is developing and advancing with a number of megaprojects, the CEO believes that the government could build the world’s first longevity-first city as well, where AI can play a significant role in optimizing public health, fostering genetic research, and reversing the effects of aging.
“With AI-driven biotech, the Kingdom can lead in regenerative medicine, gene editing, and age-reversal therapies. A 100-year lifespan shouldn’t be a burden — it should be an advantage,” he said.
“The future of Saudi health isn’t about more hospitals and doctors. It’s about AI-driven longevity, proactive medicine, and ensuring every Saudi lives healthier for longer.”
When aging is viewed as an unsolvable problem, it becomes so, Prince Khaled said. However, if it is treated as an engineering challenge, it can be solved.
In a final note, Prince Khaled said: “The countries that prioritize longevity will dominate the global economy.”
