Posts Tagged ‘ south ’

Combined Forces Command in South Korea is conducting Key Resolve 2010, one of the world’s largest simulated exercises.

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Many Pieces Come Together for ‘Key Resolve’

A South Dakota bio-tech firm is using blood byproducts from cattle to develop new ways of treating injured soldiers on the battlefield.The technology could also save lives after natural disasters such as the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, company executives say.”It could help a lot of people in mass casualty situations where blood loss and wounds that need to get healed are a problem,” says Steve Tye, vice president of operations for IKOR Inc. “This is a drug that can be stored for years so it can be delivered on the first flights out there.”IKOR aims to use hemoglobin from cattle as its raw material to develop blood replacement products for injured soldiers, Tye says. The goal is to heal their wounds more quickly and effectively, partly because the products can help deliver oxygen to the wound.The cattle byproducts would come from packing plants, where much of the blood from cattle goes to waste as the animals are processed.The firm plans to develop and produce its products in Aberdeen, S.D., where it has its laboratories. Executives expect to collaborate with Northern State University in Aberdeen. Investors who provided funding for IKOR's start-up are from South Dakota, which is a main reason IKOR's work is being done in the state, says co-founder James Canton.Up to 50 percent of deaths on the battlefield are from severe blood loss, according to a statement from Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who helped IKOR to secure $1.2 million in funding from the U.S. military to continue its research. Johnson included the money as part of the Defense Appropriations Bill which passed the Senate in December.Treating soldiers injured in combat now requires materials that are difficult to store on or near the battlefield, according to the statement from Johnson's office. IKOR's product requires no refrigeration, and can be stored and carried where it's needed, Canton says.Blood products which could be stored and then taken by medics to injured soldiers could be very useful, says Dr. Jeff Anderson, the state surgeon for the South Dakota Army National Guard. The Army's medical professionals are “always looking for innovation, always looking for new ways to best serve the greatest fighting force that the world has ever known,” says Anderson, who is also an emergency room physician in Mitchell, S.D.Getting rapid help for injured soldiers — or survivors of a disaster — is crucial if there's hope of stopping blood loss. The window of survival is usually an hour or less. That's because deaths from blood loss typically occur during the first hour after an injury, says Dr. Chris Carlisle, an emergency room physician at Sanford-USD Medical Center.Wounds left untreated are invaded by bacteria, Carlisle says. That has been a major concern in Haiti, where preventing deaths from infected wounds is among the most pressing public health concerns, according to documents from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Untreated wounds have led to deadly cases of sepsis, doctors in Haiti have reported.IKOR has obtained some patents already, and has about a half-dozen more patents pending, Tye says. It was founded in 2005 and has its laboratories in a 10,000-square-foot facility in Aberdeen's industrial park. IKOR also has an office in San Francisco, home of Tye's father and IKOR co-founder Dr. Ross Tye.IKOR has 10 employees now, and hopes to have well over 100 by the time production of its products begins.Tye says the firm's executives are in discussions with federal regulators as the technology is developed, a process which can take years. One upcoming milestone is federal approval to test the drugs on humans.

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Cattle blood used in treatment experiments

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired artillery rounds toward its disputed sea border with South Korea on Wednesday, prompting a barrage of warning shots from the South’s military and raising tensions on the divided peninsula.No casualties or damage were reported, and analysts said the volley — which the North announced was part of a military drill — was likely a move by Pyongyang to highlight the need for a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.North Korea fired about 30 artillery rounds into the sea from its western coast and the South immediately responded with 100 shots from a marine base on an island near the sea border, an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said. The North said it would continue to fire rounds.He said the North’s artillery fire landed in its own waters while the South fired into the air. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy.The western sea border — drawn by the American-led U.N. Command at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War — is a constant source of tension between the two Koreas, with the North insisting the line be moved farther south.Navy ships of the two Koreas fought a brief gunbattle in November that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded. They engaged in similar bloody skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.North Korea issued a statement later Wednesday saying it had fired artillery off its coast as part of an annual military drill and would continue doing so.Such drills “will go on in the same waters in the future,” the General Staff of the (North) Korean People’s Army said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.The North fired more shots later Wednesday, but South Korea didn’t respond, a Defense Ministry official said, also requesting anonymity due to department policy.The exchange of fire came two days after the North designated two no-sail zones in the area, including some South Korean-held waters, through March 29.The North has sent a series of mixed signals to the South recently, combining offers of dialogue on economic cooperation with military threats, including one this month to destroy South Korea’s presidential palace. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, meanwhile, angered Pyongyang by saying Seoul’s military should launch a pre-emptive strike if there was a clear indication the North was preparing a nuclear attack.South Korea’s Defense Ministry sent the North’s military a message Wednesday expressing serious concern about the firing and saying it fostered “unnecessary tension” between the two sides.It also urged the North to retract the no-sail zones, calling them a “grave provocation” and a violation of the Korean War armistice. The war ended with a truce, but not a formal peace treaty.Separately, South Korea’s point man on North Korea criticized Pyongyang for raising tension near the sea border.“This kind of North Korean attitude is quite disappointing,” Unification Minister Hyun In-taek told a security forum in Seoul.South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said it was the first time that North Korea has fired artillery toward the sea border. The Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said the North Korean artillery shells were believed to have fallen into the no-sail zones about 1.75 miles north of the maritime border.Top South Korean presidential secretary Chung Chung-kil convened an emergency meeting of security-related officials on behalf of President Lee Myung-bak, who was making a state visit to India, according to the presidential Blue House. It said Lee was informed of the incident.Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in South Korea, said the North’s action was aimed at highlighting the need for a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War by showing that the peninsula is still a war zone.“It’s applying pressure on the U.S. and South Korea,” Yoo said. He said North Korea also was expressing anger over South Korea’s lukewarm response to a series of recent gestures seeking dialogue.Earlier this month, North Korea called for the signing of a peace treaty and the lifting of sanctions as conditions for its return to stalled nuclear disarmament talks it quit last year.The U.S. and South Korea, however, brushed aside the North’s demands, saying they can happen only after it returns to the disarmament negotiations and reports progress in denuclearization.Despite the exchange of fire, the capitals of the two Koreas were calm.North Koreans in Pyongyang wearing thick winter coats walked briskly through the streets while a female police officer directed traffic and a crowded tram passed by, according to footage shot by broadcaster APTN.The military tensions had little effect on South Korean financial markets. Seoul’s benchmark stock index fell less than 1 percent, while South Korea’s currency, the won, rose against the U.S. dollar.———Associated Press writer Yewon Kang contributed to this report.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s Adjutant Gen. Stanhope Spears said Tuesday he will not run for re-election after serving 16 years as the state’s top military officer and the nation’s longest serving adjutant general.“These 16 years have been the best years of my life,” Spears said in a letter released by his office. “But it is now time to pass the torch.”The adjutant general oversees the 13,000-member Military Department of South Carolina, which includes the Army National Guard, the Air National Guard, the State Guard and the state’s Emergency Management Division.Spears was elected to his fourth term in 2006, besting Democrat Glenn Lindman, who argued that the adjutant general should be appointed by the governor and serve under a term limit.Spears brushed aside that argument at the time, saying his longevity in the post helped South Carolina’s position at the military table.“I don’t have to go to the Pentagon, the Department of Army or the National Guard Bureau and introduce myself to them,” Spears said.The 72-year-old said in his letter that he was proudest of taking the state’s Army and Air Guard from a strategic reserve to an operational force and working to get the Air Force’s newest fighter jet, the F-35, based at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, near Columbia.During his tenure, Spears oversaw the state’s largest guard deployment since World War II.In 2007, South Carolina’s 1,800-strong 218th Brigade Combat Team deployed to Afghanistan for a year. Its members trained soldiers in the Afghan military and members of its police force.In his 2006 election campaign, Spears argued that he had realigned the guard’s structure in the state, worked to improve guard benefits and helped protect state military installations during the 2005 round of Base Realignment and Closure.Spears was originally elected adjutant general as a Democrat, but switched to the Republican Party during his first term.State Republican Party Chairman Karen Floyd issued a statement praising Spears for his “professionalism and dedication” adding that she intended to help elect another adjutant general from the GOP to succeed Spears.“Given the threats to our national and homeland security that we face today, the leadership of our National Guard has never been more critical,” Floyd said.Brig. Gen. Robert Livingston of Columbia, who commanded the 218th in Afghanistan, is running as a Republican for the job. Livingston has $262,000 in hand for the coming election, according to a report with the S.C. State Ethics Commission.In September, Greenville Republican Dean Allen launched a campaign for the adjutant general slot by selling $25 tickets to a barbecue and offering a chance to win an AK47. Allen said the event was meant to show his support for gun rights.Spears played football for the University of South Carolina and has served in the South Carolina National Guard since 1959. He retired as a brigadier general after 32 years in the Guard and retired as senior vice president with insurance brokerage firm Marsh-McLennan Inc. after 27 years.

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North Korea issued two no-sail zones near its disputed western sea border with South Korea, officials said Tuesday, a possible indication the country may be preparing to conduct missile tests.

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Signs Point to North Korea Missile Launch

The U.S. commitment to Central and South Asia is long-term and enduring, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told chiefs of defense from the region.

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Mullen Urges Closer Ties With Central, South Asia

An al-Qaida-backed terror syndicate is focused on destabilizing South Asia and stoking tensions between India and Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said.

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Gates: Syndicate Threatens to Destabilize South Asia

Iraqi instructors are now exclusively teaching a four-phase Iraqi Federal Police training course at Contingency Operating Station Cashe South.

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U.S. Turns Over Training of Iraqi Federal Police

A syndicate of terror groups is working to sow violence and destruction across South Asia, and India and Pakistan need to work together to combat the mutual threat, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today.

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Gates: Terror Groups Working Together

KABUL, Afghanistan — Protesters claiming that international troops destroyed copies of the Koran clashed with Afghan and foreign security forces on Tuesday, leaving six people dead, Afghan officials said.Also in the south, 13 insurgents were killed by a missile that international forces fired from an unmanned drone, NATO said.A protest of about 2,000 people in Helmand province's Garmsir district turned violent as demonstrators fought with security forces, leaving six civilians dead, according to the top official in the province, Abdullah Barak. Provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi confirmed six dead but did not say if they were civilians.NATO said only one person was killed during the protest — an insurgent sniper who allegedly shot at an Afghan official and was killed by NATO troops.A NATO spokesman denied that the foreign troops desecrated any copies of Islam's holy book in Sunday's operation with Afghan forces in Garmsir. Lt. Nico Melendez said no shots were fired, and no property was damaged.”We take such allegations very seriously and would support a combined investigation with local Afghan authorities,” he said.Afghanistan is a Muslim nation where blasphemy of Muhammad and the Koran is considered a serious crime that is punishable by death.Similar allegations that U.S. troops desecrated the Koran during an operation in October in Wardak province also sparked protests. U.S. and Afghan authorities denied the allegation, insisting that the Taliban are spreading the rumor to stir up public anger.Tensions have intensified in southern Afghanistan as U.S. and other foreign troops step up their efforts to rout the Taliban.Coalition troops saw a group of insurgents near a safe house preparing ammunition as well as insurgent mortar teams moving equipment in the Naw Zad area of Helmand province, NATO said. The international force launched one missile, killing the 13 militants.On Monday, another missile fired from an unmanned aircraft killed three insurgents farther south in the Nad Ali district of Helmand, according to NATO.Drone attacks are widely associated with the fight against al-Qaida and its allies in neighboring Pakistan, where the unmanned aircraft are used to go after militants in areas where U.S. troops are banned from entering. But a NATO spokesman said the aircraft are also regularly used in Afghanistan.”The use of drones is routine and drone strikes are something that we're able to rely upon when we need them,” Lt. Nico Melendez said, adding that their use has not increased or decreased in recent months.Melendez said drones are used in Afghanistan for reconnaissance, aerial monitoring and for attacks.In the south-central part of the country, a member of the Afghan National Police was killed and two others were wounded in a suicide attack Monday evening at a police station in Uruzgan province, police chief Juma Gul Hamit said. The suicide bomber detonated his cache of explosives near the gate of the police chief's office in Dihrawud district.Hamit said the attacker tried to enter the office where a meeting was under way. Although wounded by police, the bomber detonated his explosive vest, killing the one policeman and injuring the two others who kept him from going inside.In Paris, meanwhile, the French military said an army captain died Tuesday of wounds suffered a day before during an insurgent ambush in the Alasay valley east of Kabul. Another French soldier was killed instantly in the same ambush.Both casualties were with a joint Afghan and French army patrol that was attacked by small arms fire in a village market place.France has some 3,500 troops with NATO in Afghanistan. It has lost 38 men in Afghanistan since 2001.Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt and Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

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Afghan officials: 6 killed in Koran protest