AI vs. cancer: AstraZeneca exec reveals how COVID pandemic helped develop early cancer diagnosis tech
AstraZeneca is pushing forward with implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in early cancer diagnosis and drug treatment plans with the hope of significantly reducing mortality rates over the next two decades.
David Fredrickson, the Executive Vice-President of the company’s Oncology Business Unit, recently expressed his hope for the future of oncological work at the Milken Institute Global Conference, detailing what he expects cancer outlooks might look like in the year 2040.
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Fredrickson said he expects blood-based screening to allow healthcare providers to identify cancer as early as possible and with the greatest potential for finding a cure. The rapid acceleration of AI technology could also help to pair a medicine or a combination of medicines with a specific signature that a patient has for why their cancer is growing inside them.
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Additionally, therapies could be better cultivated to harness the immune system and “directly target and kill” cancer. All these tools, according to Fredrickson, should allow researchers and oncologists to think about the quantification of cancer care and survivorship as opposed to mortality rates.
“I think all of this is absolutely within our grasp, and I’m incredibly excited and optimistic about the opportunity that sits in front of us,” Fredrickson said. “And obviously there’s challenges that we’re going to have to tackle. But at AstraZeneca, we’re really investing in the science, technology and data that we think can make that vision for 2040 become a reality.”
In January, it was announced that Clinithink and AstraZeneca Oncology UK were coordinating a new project that utilizes AI to identify patients with early-stage lung cancer and thus receive the best early treatment for greater patient outcomes.
Just last week, executive directors at AstraZeneca penned a piece focusing on how their Oncology Data Science team is leveraging state-of-the-art ML techniques to construct models for drug development efforts and greater efficiency in clinical trials. In one example, the team discussed how they are trying to integrate millions of data points to produce novel target and disease insight. The team is also creating models to identify various drug response biomarkers in patients.’
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Many hospitals and pharmaceutical companies are deploying and leveraging AI in computational pathology to sift through large swathes of scans to diagnose cancers at earlier stages better.
“One of the things that we saw during COVID was an influx in scans and X-rays of lungs that were associated with really just COVID diagnoses,” Fredrickson said. “What we were able to do with a lot of countries around the globe is then use AI to examine those same scans to be able to conduct lung cancer screenings. And there was a huge interest and willingness from countries across the globe to be able to do that.”
Fredrickson also noted that AI has helped pathologists read digitized slides and produce results that the human eye alone could not. As a result, patients can have greater confidence in the tailored precision medicines targeting their cancer. Fredrickson said these applications have produced interest worldwide in democratizing the ability to bring forth better precision care and better early screening to places that have previously remained unreachable.
However, to produce these results, Fredrickson said it is important to expand access to care by developing new technologies and stressing the importance of investment in health. AstraZeneca, Fredrickson added, is currently speaking with counties and health ministers about the importance of seeing investment in national cancer care plans as an investment in the country’s health, which translates to a healthy economy.
“I think that the more that we can transform a conversation from health care as a cost to health care, as an investment, I think that we will find that actually the return on those investments is outstanding. And again, this gets back to early diagnosis, making sure that we deliver the right treatment plans, making sure that we’re able to actually deliver high-quality safe treatments,” Fredrickson said. “These are the things that are going to make a difference on ensuring we have a healthy society. And we certainly know that a healthy society results in a healthy and thriving economy.”
“From our standpoint, it’s really clear that the investments that we want to continue to make in this is growing as our ambition truly is to eliminate cancer as a cause of death,” he added.
AI has Keanu Reeves, Harrison Ford and Elon Musk’s ex-girlfriend Grimes at odds over its use
In the past few years, artificial intelligence has trickled into the entertainment industry, distinguishing itself in films, television and music. Despite its rapid advancements, AI remains an enigma to many, with minimal legislation to regulate the technology. In recent days, it’s been a part of the conversation surrounding Hollywood’s writer’s strike, the first strike in 15 years.
Given the unlimited avenues of its use, actors and musicians are beginning to speak out on the use of artificial intelligence in conjunction with their name and likeness. Some are selling their rights to AI companies, while others are making provisions in contracts to prevent them from being manipulated by its technology.
“AI is not one thing that is either good or bad,” Tobias Queisser, founder and CEO of business intelligence platform Cinelytic, told Fox News Digital.
“AI’s been around for a long time,” Liz Moody, senior partner and chair of New Media Practice at Granderson Des Rochers, LLP, added. “What I’m finding is that there is a lot of confusion right now and a lot of fear about what’s going to happen next [within the entertainment space].”
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The level of interest in AI is different for actors like Keanu Reeves and Harrison Ford. Here’s a look at what stars have said about the use of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry.
In the upcoming film “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” artificial intelligence is used to reimagine Harrison Ford’s face as if he were still 35 years old.
“They have this artificial intelligence program that can go through every foot of film that Lucasfilm owns,” Ford said of George Lucas’ production company on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“I did a bunch of movies for them. They have all this footage, including film that wasn’t printed. So they can mine it from where the light is coming from, from the expression. I don’t know how they do it. But that’s my actual face,” Ford said of how he appears so young in a promotional still from the movie. “Then I put little dots on my face, and I say the words, and they make [it]. It’s fantastic.”
James Mangold, the director of the film, told Total Film magazine, “We had hundreds of hours of footage of [Ford] in close-ups, in mediums, in wides, in every kind of lighting — night and day.
“I could shoot Harrison on a Monday as, you know, a 79-year-old playing a 35-year-old, and I could see dailies by Wednesday with his head already replaced,” Mangold explained.
The expedited process Mangold is referencing is what has drawn executives and producers to use other artificial intelligence tools within the entertainment industry, including Queisser’s Cinelytic technology, which includes a forecasting tool that predicts multiple revenue streams, including domestic and international box offices as well as non-theatrical release revenues including streaming.
“Whether it’s a studio or an independent film company, they use the platform themselves, so they get access to the tools and the data. And so they could then log in basically and say like, ‘Hey … which actors, directors, writers, producers are … valuable for my type of project?’ Yes, that’s a question that the system can answer,” Queisser, whose clients include Warner Bros., explains of the cloud-based, business intelligence platform.
“It can put together a list of potential, you know, actors, writers, directors very quickly just by using the system,” he added. “And then there’s a forecasting tool where they themselves can then input their project. So I have a, whatever, $20 million production budget, thriller, that’s based on a book and I consider that director, that actor, that producer, and you can forecast it. And then you can change the actor, for example. Then you can rerun the forecasts, and it gives you a different forecast.”
A process that previously took “20, 30 hours” is now “20 minutes,” Queisser said.
James Earl Jones, 92, has long voiced Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” franchise, another entity under Lucasfilm. In 2022, Jones announced he was retiring from future projects, although his voice would remain.
Ukrainian startup company Respeecher partnered with Lucasfilm to recreate Jones’ voice from 45 years ago for the new television series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
Respeecher is a voice-cloning software that uses archival recordings and AI algorithms to formulate new dialogue while still using the voice of a previous performer.
Matthew Wood of Lucasfilm told Vanity Fair Jones intended to move on from his infamous role.
“He had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character. … So how do we move forward?” Wood said.
Wood introduced the famed actor to the concept of Respeecher’s work, which led to Jones signing off on usage of his archived voice recordings. He is consulted with for character direction.
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Reeves is a part of what many consider to be the ultimate franchise foreshadowing AI with “The Matrix,” but he is not as receptive to new technology as Ford or Jones.
The “John Wick” actor has a clause in his contracts that prohibits digital manipulation without his consent.
“I don’t mind if someone takes a blink out during an edit,” Reeves told Wired. “But, early on, in the early 2000s, or it might have been the ’90s, I had a performance changed. They added a tear to my face, and I was just like, ‘Huh?!’ It was like, ‘I don’t even have to be here.’
“What’s frustrating about that is you lose your agency,” Reeves added of deepfakes. “When you give a performance in a film, you know you’re going to be edited, but you’re participating in that. If you go into deepfake land, it has none of your points of view.
“That’s scary. It’s going to be interesting to see how humans deal with these technologies. They’re having such cultural, sociological impacts and the species is being studied. There’s so much ‘data’ on behaviors now.”
A deepfake is defined by Oxford Dictionary as “a video of a person in which their face or body has been digitally altered so that they appear to be someone else, typically used maliciously or to spread false information.”
“People are growing up with these tools. We’re listening to music already that’s made by AI in the style of Nirvana. There’s NFT digital art,” Reeves added. “It’s cool, like, ‘Look what the cute machines can make!’ But there’s a corporatocracy behind it that’s looking to control those things. Culturally, socially, we’re gonna be confronted by the value of real, or the non-value. And then what’s going to be pushed on us? What’s going to be presented to us?”
Jonathan Steinsapir, partner at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP, tells Fox News Digital there are two predominant reasons a celebrity might add a clause such as Reeves’ in a contract.
“As to why you would want to prevent it, I think it’s just one more, one more protection. If you have a right to prevent use of your image or use of your, you know, voice. … If you have a right to prevent that, that means that if someone wants to do it, they have to pay you to do it.
“So the reason to do it would be … economics so that you could exploit that in the future. And the second reason, obviously, is because you want to control. … What you put out there is used as a moral, you know, as a moral matter.”
KEANU REEVES REVEALS WHY HE RETURNED TO ‘THE MATRIX’ FRANCHISE: IT ‘RESONATED WITH ME’
Despite his involvement in the industry, Cinelytic’s Queisser agrees that some of what AI is capable of doing is problematic.
“I think it definitely needs regulation because it is a very powerful tool,” Queisser said. “And like every, you know, powerful tool that can impact society, it needs to be regulated. … Certainly, AI definitely needs to be regulated.
“It’s important to take a very nuanced and educated approach about what it means,” he added. “And then certain use cases … that have potential negative impacts should definitely be regulated. … I’m sure the legal side has to catch up. … Whether it’s regulation or whether it’s, you know, just attorney work and contracting. I’m sure things will change to [adapt] to that new environment.”
Last month, musicians Drake and The Weeknd found themselves at the center of AI-manipulated music when a new song was created and released to social media using their vocals, or vocals eerily similar to both men’s unique and distinguishable sound.
A TikTok user known as “GhostWriter,” posted a song, “Heart on my Sleeve,” amassing millions of views. It later went public on streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music, but was eventually taken down.
Universal Music Group, which represents Drake, released a statement about the viral song.
“UMG’s success has been, in part, due to embracing new technology and putting it to work for our artists – as we have been doing with our own innovation around AI for some time already,” a spokesperson for UMG told Fox News Digital.
“With that said, however, the training of generative AI using our artists’ music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law), as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs, begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation.
FROM FAKE DRAKE TO AI-GENERATED EMINEM TRACKS: CAN MUSICIANS COPYRIGHT STYLE?
“These instances demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists,” the UMG spokesperson added. “We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues – as they recognize they need to be part of the solution.”
Drake also separately voiced his frustration with AI manipulation after it was able to create what sounded like Drake rapping a cover to fellow rapper Ice Spice’s song “Munch.”
“This is the final straw AI,” Drake wrote to his Instagram in April.
Following the controversy surrounding the artificial song involving Drake and The Weeknd, fellow musician Grimes, who previously dated Twitter CEO Elon Musk, shared her views on potential royalties earned through AI-generated music.
“I’ll split 50% on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice,” she tweeted, sharing an article addressing the fake song scandal. “Same deal as I would with any artist I collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings.
“I think it’s cool to be fused w a machine and I like the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright,” she said in a separate tweet.
‘Stunned’ mother of deputy killed by motorist blasts Soros DA for not pursuing charges: ‘Unconscionable’
FIRST ON FOX: The mother of a sheriff’s deputy killed in a car crash on the job in Austin, Texas, is speaking out after she says she learned from a friend that the progressive district attorney would not be pressing charges against the other driver in a move she called “unconscionable.”
“I was stunned, I didn’t know what to say,” Nancy Korzilius told Fox News Digital about the moment in January she found out through a friend, who heard it on the radio, that the Travis County District Attorney’s Office would not impanel a grand jury after the crash that killed her son, 32-year-old Travis County Sheriff Sr. Deputy Christopher Korzilius, in March 2020 in the early morning hours after St. Patrick’s Day.
Korzilius says that her son, who was on-duty at the time, was driving east on a two-lane highway when a vehicle driving west slammed into him head-on, sending his car flying over a guardrail into a canyon. The male driver of the other vehicle was traveling more than 80 mph in a 65 mph zone before failing to control his vehicle, Korzilius’ mother said.
Korzilius died in the crash from blunt force trauma, and his mother says there were several troubling aspects about the moments following the crash, including the other driver not having a toxicology test until that afternoon and his claim that he swerved to avoid something in the road, which she said has not been corroborated.
Nancy Korzilius said she has served on a grand jury before and believes there was enough evidence for the case to be heard and that she would have respected any decision the jurors made.
“I just couldn’t believe that they weren’t willing to present this case to a grand jury,” Korzilius said. “I know you can agree or disagree with a jury, but it’s got to get to that point before the legal system even functions properly.”
“I’m very familiar with the process and realized it’s unconscionable and maybe even unconstitutional not to give this case a chance to be heard by a grand jury in Texas. The grand jury bills or no bills these cases, and they can move forward into the process of a jury trial, or they can be plea bargained, or many things can happen to them, but nothing will happen unless the grand jury reviews the case.”
Korzilius says she urged the DA’s office to reconsider during a February phone call in which she wrote down a statement to a prosecutor in the Vehicular Crimes Special Prosecutions Unit.
“Your decision has forever broken my trust in the county district attorney,” Korzilius wrote. “I am ashamed to say that for the rest of my life I will have to try and understand and explain to my family and friends how this decision happened and how [he] received no punishment for this crime, involuntary manslaughter.“
SOROS-BACKED DA CUTS DEAL GIVING NO JAIL TIME TO ‘WASTED’ BUS DRIVER WHO KILLED CYCLIST IN CRASH
“Now the justice + law that my son gave his life to support has been denied. He did not deserve this either.”
Her request to reconsider was later denied by the DA’s office, which told her there was not enough evidence to move forward. Jennifer Hackney-Szimanski, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas public affairs director and former Austin police officer, told Fox News Digital that video from a nearby business showed the other driver’s car traveling more than 100 mph and “hauling ass” around a turn. She said that, at minimum, the case should have been presented to a grand jury.
“I used to work for the Austin Police Department in types of situations where there’s reckless, clear, reckless behavior, they would, at a minimum, present it to the grand jury because it’s a probable cause standard,” she said, adding that she “can’t imagine” that the totality of evidence would not have resulted in “at least negligent homicide.”
SOROS-BACKED DA GIVES TEXAS MAN 10 DAYS IN JAIL FOR DUI CRASH THAT KILLED PASSENGER
Hackney-Szimanski, a City Council member in Lakeway, Texas, expressed the belief to Fox News Digital that the fact Garza’s office “didn’t even bother” to make sure Korzilius’ mother had the information before announcing no charges would be filed shows a “disrespect for law enforcement.”
Garza has been widely criticized since taking office in January 2021 for not only implementing policies that his critics say are soft on crime, he has also taken heavy criticism from several families of crime victims who have said he hasn’t made them a priority.
“The prosecution is acting more like defense attorneys than they are prosecutors,” Dennis Farris, president of the Austin Retired Officers Association, told Fox News Digital about Garza’s office last year. “Whatever his skewed view of what criminal justice reform is, isn’t working. It sure isn’t working for the victims. It used to be that they got the victims’ buy-in before offering plea bargains. Now it doesn’t appear he’s even doing that because they’re not even communicating with them, and that’s what’s leading to the revictimization of these families.”
Garza, backed by progressive mega-donor George Soros, campaigned on both “reimagining” policing in Austin and promising to prosecute police officers.
One of those police officers, Austin Police Officer Justin Berry, told Fox News Digital that Korzilius’ story shows the “utter disdain” the district attorney’s office has for law enforcement.
“Those in the law enforcement profession take great personal risk to be police officers, and you’ve got to worry about doing your job to protect the community and risk getting indicted by the district attorney but then also know that even if you do end up getting killed, and you happen to be in the law enforcement community, your families will not be able to get any form of justice either,” Berry said.
Berry was one of 19 police officers indicted by Garza’s office, despite objections from Austin’s chief of police, for their role in quelling a Black Lives Matter riot in 2020 on charges that some critics believe is politically motivated.
“It’s not just a blatant disrespect for law enforcement, but he’s going after law enforcement while allowing people who should be held accountable to get away with their actions,” Hackney-Szimanski added, pointing to a recent case in which an alleged serial public masturbator who broke a woman’s leg in a violent chase was given no jail time in an agreement with Garza’s office.
KYLE RITTENHOUSE UNLOADS ON SOROS-BACKED PROSECUTORS’ ‘DOUBLE STANDARD’ FOR SELF-DEFENSE
To this day, Korzilius says Garza has never picked up the phone to call her.
“We can only judge somebody really by their actions, and everyone I talk to is like, ‘What’s the deal with this?'” Korzilius told Fox News Digital. “He has to be biased against police officers.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Garza’s office said, “Our hearts continue to break for Deputy Christopher Korzilius and his family. In this case, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) conducted a thorough investigation into this matter and did not file a criminal complaint.”
“Our office conducted a review of the DPS investigation and also did not think the facts warranted criminal charges.”
Texas DPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Both Korzilius and Hackney-Szimanski expressed optimism about measures in the Texas legislature, most notably House Bill 17, which Republicans say will rein in “rogue prosecutors” like Garza, but Korzilius told Fox News Digital that real change comes at the ballot box.
“The only thing we have is the court of public opinion, which is a powerful thing,” Korzilius said, adding that she hopes a different district attorney could potentially reopen the case someday.
Biden expected to nominate Air Force general as next Joint Chiefs chairman
President Biden is expected to recommend Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as Army Gen. Mark Milley’s four-year term approaches its end.
If nominated and confirmed by the Senate, Brown, who currently serves as the chief of staff of the Air Force, would become the second black man in the position. Army Gen. Colin Powell, who was appointed to the post by former President George H.W. Bush in 1989, was the first.
Though Brown was long expected to become the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Biden also interviewed Gen. David Berger, the 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Brown’s expected nomination was first reported Thursday by Politico, the WSJ said.
Though the chairmanship does not follow a strict rotation between branches, it was unlikely that another Army general would be nominated to succeed Milley. It also appeared to be unlikely that a sailor would be nominated for the position since the current Joint Chiefs vice chairman is Navy Admiral Christopher Grady.
As expected, the White House and defense officials have been quiet on Brown’s potential nomination, releasing limited details in statements to media outlets.
“When President Biden makes a final decision, he will inform the person selected and then announce it publicly,” the White House said via the WSJ. “That hasn’t happened yet.”
If confirmed, Brown would be sworn into office on Oct. 1, the day after Milley’s term ends.
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Brown’s resume includes 26 assignments during his nearly 40 years of service in the Air Force. He was promoted to his current rank as a four-star general on July 26, 2018, according to his biography on the USAF website.
During his decades in the military, Brown has commanded a fighter squadron, the U.S. Air Force Weapons School, two fighter wings and U.S. Air Forces Central Command. He is also a command pilot with more than 3,000 flying hours, including 130 combat hours.
Prior to becoming the Air Force Chief of Staff in August 2020, he was stationed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii in the following roles: commander of the Pacific Air Forces, air component commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and executive director of Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff.
As chairman, Brown would inherit a Pentagon facing notable domestic and foreign issues, including its submersion in Russia’s war on Ukraine, competition with China in the Indo-Pacific and challenges within U.S. military recruitment.
The last time an Air Force general served as the Pentagon’s top officer was in the early 2000s when former President George W. Bush appointed Gen. Richard Myers to become the 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He sworn into office in October 2001.
‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant loses trip to Hawaii on massive mistake
A “Wheel of Fortune” contestant lost out on a trip to Hawaii after failing to solve a seemingly simple puzzle in Thursday’s episode of the popular game show.
https://nypost.com/2023/05/05/wheel-of-fortune-contestant-loses-trip-to-hawaii-on-massive-mistake/
Serbia: Police arrest suspect in second mass shooting
Police have arrested a man suspected of killing eight people in the second mass shooting in Serbia in just two days. They hunted for the attacker as the country mourns.
Masked teens shoot at 14-year-old boy’s head in ‘attempted murder’ on school bus
An onboard video system captured the moment one of the alleged masked juveniles made the point-blank attempt to shoot the middle schooler in the head.
Apple introduces 20 new games to Apple Arcade
Apple launched 20 new games Thursday on Apple Arcade including a new exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title along with classic games like Temple Run and Snake.io.
Paramount Global’s TMNT Splintered Fate is a “roguelike adventure” game where you must play different characters including Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael to find the missing Master Splinter.
Image Credits: Apple
Other titles include Words with Friends-like Disney Spellstruck, a silly but fun game called WHAT THE CAR? from the makers of WHAT THE GOLF?, Playdead’s dark puzzle platformer LIMBO+ along with classic games like Snake.io+ and Temple Run+.
Here is the complete list of 20 games releasing on Apple Arcade:
- TMNT Splintered Fate (Paramount Global)
- Disney SpellStruck (Artist Arcade)
- WHAT THE CAR? (Triband)
- Cityscapes: Sim Builder (Magic Fuel Games)
- Chess Universe+ (Tilting Point)
- Disney Coloring World+ (StoryToys)
- Disney Getaway Blast+ (Gameloft)
- Farming Simulator 20+ (GIANTS Software)
- Getting Over It+ (Bennett Foddy)
- Hill Climb Racing+ (Fingersoft)
- Iron Marines+ (Ironhide Game Studio)
- Kingdom Two Crowns+ (Raw Fury)
- Playdead’s LIMBO+ (Playdead)
- My Town Home – Family Games+ (My Town Games LTD)
- Octodad: Dadliest Catch+ (Young Horses)
- PPKP+ (SHIMADA TOSHIHIRO)
- Snake.io+ (Kooapps)
- Temple Run+ (Imangi Studios)
- Time Locker+ (Sotaro Otsuka)
- Very Little Nightmares+ (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
These “Plus” versions essentially offer ad-free and in-app purchase-free versions of the mentioned titles.
Image Credits: Apple
Apple made these additions to the Apple Arcade catalog after launching more than 50 games last year.
The company said that later this month, it will update titles like Jetpack Joyride 2, Angry Birds Reloaded, LEGO Star Wars: Castaways, Asphalt 8: Airborne+, and Cut the Rope Remastered.
Apple announced its quarterly results for Q2 FY2023 on Thursday. Its services vertical — which includes Apple Arcade — reached all-time record revenue of $20.91 billion. However, it failed to beat analysts’ expectations of $20.97 billion.
Apple introduces 20 new games to Apple Arcade by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/04/apple-introduces-20-new-games-to-apple-arcade/
21 Russian Cities Cancel V-Day Parades As Tit-For-Tat Drone War Heats Up
21 Russian Cities Cancel V-Day Parades As Tit-For-Tat Drone War Heats Up
Russia has witnessed several drone attacks against its territory and infrastructure over the past 24 hours, following the pair of drones sent against Kremlin buildings in the heart of Moscow, which was denounced as an assassination attempt on Putin.
Separate overnight drone attacks damaged oil refineries in the southern oblasts of Rostov and Krasnodar. The Krasnodar attack involved four drones and caused a large fire, while the Rostov attack resulted in limited damage. Russia’s RT counts multiple recent incidents, detailing: “Earlier in the week, there was a drone incident at another oil facility in the same region, and last week, an oil terminal was hit in the city of Sevastopol in Crimea.”
“Kiev claimed responsibility for the latter, stating that the attack was meant to disrupt Russian military logistics ahead of the long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.”
This flurry of attacks from Ukraine, possibly with help from Western intelligence (as Moscow is currently alleging), has put the Russian population on edge just ahead of planned annual military parades commemorating the Soviet victory in World War II. Last year’s events, nearer the start of the war, were also toned down and some of them scrapped altogether.
The ‘Victory Day’ holiday on May 9th typically involves large military parades in the centers of dozens of cities, but the stepped-up drone attacks have unnerved authorities:
At least 21 Russian cities have called off their annual military parades marking the Soviet victory in World War II next week, the independent Vyorstka media outlet reported Thursday, as the country has alleged a flurry of drone attacks on its territory ahead of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
…Cities near Russia’s border with Ukraine, which have faced repeated shelling and drone strikes in the 14 months since Moscow launched its offensive on Kyiv, will not hold their Victory Day parades.
Already Moscow authorities are taking extreme precautions, which has included sealing off Red Square to the public for two weeks ahead of festivities.
Locations of fuel depots/oil refineries struck inside Russia in the last week:
🟢Sevastopol – 29 April
🟡Volna – 03 May
🔵Il’skii – 04 May
⚪Novoshakhtinsk – 04 May (No images, claim only)
🔴Stavropol – 04 May pic.twitter.com/yyny9uYgUY— Kyle Glen (@KyleJGlen) May 4, 2023
Some of the westernmost regions near Ukraine had already canceled their pubic events weeks ago, including hard-hit Belgorod as well as Kursk regions. Belgorod recently had four civilians die as a result of Ukrainian drone and missile strikes. It has suffered sporadic cross-border incidents throughout the conflict, given its close proximity to the border.
No-fly zones, including for small drones, have also been imposed over major cities, notably Moscow and St. Petersburg. This as the Ukrainians have gotten more brazen, even as the much-touted Spring counteroffensive has stalled, with the main reason given being the mud and weather factors.
Ukraine is bracing for Russian retaliatory attacks…
Drones over Kyiv downtown, air defense at work.#StandwithUkraine pic.twitter.com/Wr2XliMelv
— Arad Benkö (@AradBenkoe) May 4, 2023
Later into the evening hours Thursday (local time), intense drone activity was reported over Kiev. It seems Russia has initiated a retaliatory response for the Wednesday drone strike on the Kremlin.
Stunning video has emerged of a successful intercept by anti-air defenses over the Ukrainian capital:
⚡️#BREAKING Video shows air defence taking down drone in Kyiv pic.twitter.com/BZeoJEd69H
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 4, 2023
Air raid sirens reportedly went off in the capital as the Ukrainian population braces for more possible Russian retaliatory strikes, which have already increased in prior days amid reports Kiev could be finally readying its major counteroffensive.
Meanwhile on the ground in Turkey…
Scuffle over the Ukraine flag during the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly in Turkeypic.twitter.com/GzfaI6QQcB
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 4, 2023
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/05/2023 – 02:45
Germany’s Scholz heads to Kenya on day 2 of Africa trip
Scholz has set off to Kenya to continue his visit to the East African region. Berlin and Nairobi share close ties going back to Kenya’s independence 60 years ago.