Ujian Memandu satu perkara yang telah lalu? - Google melancarkan kereta baru automatik . . .

Srikandi גבורה - Google sedang membina satu kumpulan 100 kereta tanpa pemandu elektrik dan berharap dapat memulakan mengujinya menjelang akhir tahun ini. Mereka mungkin mengambil sedikit untuk membiasakan diri, tanpa stereng atau pedal, semasa mereka buat sementara waktu akan mempunyai satu kelajuan tertinggi 25mph.

Projek ini telah beberapa tahun dalam membuat. Sehingga kini, Google telah memasang semula kereta yang sedia ada, terutamanya Lexus dengan radar, sensor, peralatan navi-gasi dan kamera, dan juga komputer untuk menjadikannya memandu dengan sendirinya.

Walau bagaimanapun, dalam tempoh ini, mereka diam-diam telah bekerja pada proto-taip mereka sendiri, yang tidak akan mempunyai kawalan yang manusia boleh menguna-kan, kecuali butang berhenti kecemasan, dan juga butang mula.

Ini adalah matlamat utama, tetapi pada peringkat ujian, untuk mematuhi undang-undang California, kereta automatik akan mempunyai roda dan pedal. Ini sememangnya telah diberikan Jabatan California Kenderaan Motor sesuatu untuk berfikir tentang: mereka perlu menulis peraturan-peraturan bagi penggunaan 'operasi' kereta yang benar-benar tanpa pemandu.

DMV menyangka bahawa realitinya adalah beberapa tahun lagi, jadi ia akan mempunyai masa untuk menyempurnakan kaedah-kaedah. Jam yang hanya dipercepatkan, kata ketua program kereta tanpa pemandu DMV itu, Bernard Soriano.

"Oleh kerana apa yang disifatkan di luar sana tidak lama lagi, kita perlu memastikan bahawa peraturan-peraturan di tempat yang akan menjaga orang ramai selamat tetapi tidak akan menghalang kemajuan," tambah Soriano.

Pengasas bersama Google, Sergey Brin, yang telah memainkan peranan yang besar dalam operasi itu, memulakan projek ini pada tahun 2009. Pasukan ini telah berjaya rak sehingga beratus-ratus beribu-ribu batu memandu di California pada kereta biasa, tetapi kini mereka mahu pergi ianya semata-mata.

"Sebab utama pasukan dan saya memutuskan untuk membina kenderaan prototaip ini ialah kita boleh melakukan kerja yang lebih baik daripada yang boleh kita lakukan dengan kenderaan yang sedia ada," kata pengasas bersama Google.

"Projek ini adalah mengenai perubahan DUNIA bagi orang-orang tidak baik yang disampaikan oleh pengangkutan hari ini."

Ia adalah tidak diketahui yang pengilang akan diberikan kontrak untuk membina 100 kereta, tetapi Brin fikirkan ia akan menjadi sedikit masa lagi sebelum kereta muncul, walaupun menjanjikan sebelum ini bahawa mereka akan berada di jalan raya pada 2017.

Satu boleh lupa tentang pergi untuk spin keluar jalan, kerana kereta yang hanya bekerja di kawasan membina. Kenderaan-kenderaan automatik beroperasi dengan menggunakan data yang telah terkumpul, yang dipindahkan ke dalam peta yang sangat terperinci. Kereta itu juga dapat sentiasa mengimbas kawasan sekitarnya.

A Googler@google

The next stop on the road to a self-driving car http://goo.gl/0YMiVq

10:06 AM - 28 May 2014

Chris Urmson, yang merupakan pengarah projek kereta memandu-sendiri Google, berkata sasarannya ialah untuk menjalankan ujian dilanjutkan di California di mana syarikat itu adalah berdasarkan. Urmson berhujah kereta tanpa pemandu akan meningkatkan kesela-matan jalan raya, memanggil pembangunan "satu langkah penting ke arah meningkatkan keselamatan jalan raya dan mengubah mobiliti bagi berjuta-juta orang."

Sementara itu, Brin berkata, beliau teruja bahawa prototaip baru boleh mempunyai kesan yang besar ke atas mengubah kehidupan rakyat menjadi lebih baik. "Jika anda melihat orang-orang yang terlalu tua, terlalu muda, atau kurang upaya, dan tidak boleh menda-patkan sekitar, itu adalah satu cabaran besar bagi mereka," tambah pengasas bersama Google.

Kenderaan yang mempunyai 2 tempat duduk, skrin memaparkan laluan dan kelajuan ter-tinggi 25mph (40kmh). Pelbagai sensor membolehkan komputer kenderaan untuk menen-tukan lokasi dan persekitarannya dan ia boleh 'melihat' di hadapan beberapa ratus meter, menurut Google.

Google menunjukkan keluar prototaip kereta memandu-sendiri pada Selasa dalam video dan blog post (Google showed off its prototype self-driving car on Tuesday in a video and blog post. (Image from recode.net)

Driving tests a thing of the past? – Google launches 

new automated car . . .

Google is building a fleet of 100 electric driverless cars and hopes to start testing them by the end of the year. They may take a bit of getting used to, with no steering wheel or pedals, while they will temporarily have a top speed of 25mph.

This project has been several years in the making. Up until now, Google had refitted existing cars, mainly Lexus’s with radars, sensors, navigation equipment and cameras, as well as computers to make it drive by itself. However, during this period, they had secretly been working on their own prototype, which will have no controls that humans can use, except for an emergency stop button, as well as a start button.

This is the ultimate aim, but during the test stage, in order to comply with Californian law, the automated cars will have a wheel and pedals. This has certainly given the Californian Department of Motor Vehicles something to think about: they have to write the regulations for the ‘operational’ use of truly driverless cars.

The DMV had thought that the reality was several years away, so it would have time to perfect the rules. That clock just sped up, said the head of the DMV's driverless car program, Bernard Soriano. "Because of what is potentially out there soon, we need to make sure that the regulations are in place that would keep the public safe but would not impede progress," Soriano added.

Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin, who has played a big part in the operation, started the project in 2009. The team has already managed to rack up hundreds of thousands of miles driving around California in regular cars, but now they want to go it alone.

“The main reason the team and I decided to build this prototype vehicle is that we can do a better job than we can do with an existing vehicle,” said Google’s co-founder. “The project is about changing the world for people who are not well-served by transportation today.”

It is unknown which manufacturer will be given the contract to build the 100 cars, but Brin thinks it will be some time yet before the cars appear, despite promising earlier that they would be on the roads by 2017.

One can forget about going for a spin off road, as the cars only work in built up areas. The automated vehicles operate by using data that has been accumulated, which is transferred into highly detailed maps. The car is also able to constantly scan the surrounding area.

Chris Urmson, who is the director of Google's self-driving car project, said the aim was to run extended tests in California where the company is based. Urmson argued driverless cars would improve road safety, calling the development "an important step toward improving road safety and transforming mobility for millions of people."

Meanwhile, Brin says he is excited that the new prototype could have a massive effect on changing people’s lives for the better. "If you look at people who are too old, too young, or disabled, and can't get around, that's a big challenge for them," the co-Google founder added.

The vehicle has two seats, a screen displaying the route and a top speed of 25mph (40kmh). An array of sensors allows the vehicle's computer to determine its location and surroundings and it can ‘see’ ahead several hundred meters, according to Google.

READ MORE:  http://on.rt.com/rt3hpk

Amerika Syarikat menghantar kapal serangan dengan 1,000 Marin berhampiran Libya, meminta Amerika untuk 'segera berlepas' . . .

Seorang doktor melihat dokumen sambil dia mengkaji badan seorang wanita dibunuh akibat daripada berjuang di bandar Ukraine timur Slavyansk pada 26 Mei 2014 (A doctor looks at documents as she examines the body of a woman killed as a result of fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk on May 26, 2014 (AFP Photo/Viktor Drachev)

Srikandi גבורה - Badan adalah cerucuk di dalam rumah mayat Donetsk selepas Kiev mele-paskan jet pejuang dan meriam pada tenggara negara hanya beberapa jam selepas pilihan raya presiden. Baru pemimpin memilih Petro Poroshenko menolak untuk tindakan keras untuk menjadi lebih " banyak berkesan."

Tenggara Ukraine menyaksikan hanya penggantungan ringkas operasi ketenteraan Kiev pada hari Ahad sementara negara akan mengambil ke pemilihan. Sebelum pilihan raya presiden, Ahli Parlimen Ukraine menggesa pengunduran tentera segera dari tenggara negara.

Berikutan undi, calon utama - jutawan jutawan coklat Petro Poroshenko - berkata beliau melihat ada sebab mengapa tentera perlu hentikan operasi.

"Saya menyokong kesinambungan, tetapi menuntut perubahan dalam format - ia mesti lebih pendek dan ia perlu menjadi lebih cekap, unit-unit tentera mesti lebih bersedia," katanya, walaupun kenyataan sebelum ini bahawa dia bersedia untuk berdialog dengan mengisytiharkan diri Republik Donetsk dan Rakyat Lugansk.

Tidak lama selepas undi yang terakhir telah dibuang, tentera Kiev turun di tenggara den-gan tenaga baru, serangan Slavyansk dan menyerang lapangan terbang di Donetsk dengan mortar.

Jumlah mangsa belum diketahui. Menurut Perdana Menteri Republik Donetsk Rakyat mengisytiharkan diri, Aleksandr Boroday, 100 kuasa diri dan orang awam mati di Donetsk dalam serangan itu. Pihak berkuasa Donetsk melaporkan bahawa kira-kira 40 orang mati dan 43 yang lain yang tercedera.

Dalam Slavyansk, sekurang-kurangnya 3 orang awam mati, termasuk seorang wanita.

"Kami melihat apa yang bermakna hari ini - serangan terhadap orang awam, bom yang jatuh berhampiran blok pangsapuri yang diduduki, jet pejuang, helikopter dan melan-carkan terhadap penduduk bandar," penganalisis Daniel Patrick Welch memberitahu RT, sambil menambah bahawa perbincangan tidak pernah sebahagian daripada rancangan Poroshenko ini.

"Kami datang untuk melihat lelaki itu tetapi dia sudah mati. ‘Shell (tempurung, cang-kerang, mortar)’ telah jatuh betul-betul bersebelahan blok pangsapuri sembilan tingkat, semua kaca itu bekecai keluar. 

Kepala lelaki pendarahan, tangan dan kaki beliau telah patah, "pemastautin Slavyansk memberitahu RT. Pihak awam bandar - yang merupakan rumah kepada kira-kira 130,000 orang-datang di bawah api buat pertama kali pada hari Isnin.

"Apabila kami pergi lebih jauh, kita dapati seorang perempuan mati berhampiran sebuah kolej guru, ‘shell (tempurung)’ melanda di sana juga," tempatan menambah, mengatakan bahawa lelaki yg ke-3 ditemui berdekatan.

Pada hari Selasa, laporan muncul seorang mangsa yg ke-4 mungkin di kalangan penduduk awam di Slavyansk. Seorang wanita juga telah dibunuh berhampiran Gereja ‘Mother of God’ bertahan, menurut satu mesej di laman yang Gorlovsk dan Slavyansk daerah pemi-likan gereja tertentu Gereja Ortodoks Ukraine. Ia menambah bahawa pembinaan gereja telah rosak bersama-sama dengan bangunan pangsapuri dan asrama pelajar berdekatan.

"Bom jatuh hanya 10 meter dari gereja. Mujurlah, tidak ada orang di dalam gereja pada masa itu," sebagaimana mesej yg berbunyi.

Pada hari Selasa, jet pejuang Ukraine dan helikopter telah melepaskan ‘armed self-defense forces’ menduduki lapangan terbang di bandar Donetsk.

Petr Shelomovskiy @shelomovskiy

Army helicopter just passed over us, fired towards airport and left. Black smoke is rising over the train station building #Donetsk

9:49 PM - 26 May 2014

"Kami telah kehilangan lebih daripada 50 orang pejuang ‘self - defense," kata PM Republik Donetsk Rakyat mengisytiharkan diri, Aleksandr Boroday, seperti yang dipetik oleh RIA Novosti.

"Kebanyakan mangsa adalah hasil daripada 2 trak Kamaz telah dikupas oleh tentera Ukraine. Trak memandu yang cedera dari medan perang berhampiran lapangan terbang."

Pengenalpastian badan sedang dijalankan rumah mayat di bandar ini.

Maria Finoshina @MFinoshina_RT

We ask 2 cover the young man's body.#Donetsk #morgue employee:'U shd've come in the morning,piles of dead bodies'

9:02 PM - 27 May 2014

Maria Finoshina @MFinoshina_RT

You expect more bodies?-Yes. #Donetsk morgue.Just one of several in the city where those killed in clashes r brought

9:50 PM - 27 May 2014

  

Sementara itu, stesen keretapi pusat di bandar ini juga telah dikupas pada hari Selasa. Seorang awam terbunuh dan 2 yang lain - termasuk seorang budak lelaki berusia lapan tahun - cedera, pentadbiran di rantau ini memberitahu RIA Novosti.

Наталия Тропешко @n_tropeshko

ЖД вокзал,Донецк.Простые жители #Донецк #Донбасс#донецкаянароднаяреспублика

2:30 AM - 27 May 2014

  

Tentera kerajaan dilaporkan melancarkan mortar api di kawasan perumahan swasta di Donetsk pada hari yang sama.

Kemudian pada hari itu, tentera meningkatkan serangan, dan pertempuran di Donetsk berterusan sepanjang malam di sekitar lapangan terbang, yang kemudiannya diambil di bawah kawalan oleh tentera Ukraine.

Pada hari Isnin, Naib Perdana Vitaly Yaryoma menegaskan bahawa operasi ini akan ber-terusan sehinggalah tak seorangpun dari mereka pejuang ‘self-defense fighter’ tunggal "ditinggalkan di wilayah Ukraine."

"Kami melihat keputusan semalam," tambah Yaryoma.

Kiev pertama melancarkan operasi ketenteraan punitif di kawasan tenggara menentu Donetsk dan Lugansk kembali pada bulan April. Berikutan rampasan kuasa di Kiev, kedua-dua ianya mengisytiharkan kemerdekaan daripada pihak berkuasa baru, dengan hasrat untuk berpisah melihat sokongan tanah runtuh 11 Mei referendum.

(GRAPHIC) 'Slaughterhouse': Civilians die in Kiev's 

ruthless military attacks . . .

Bodies are piling up in Donetsk morgues after Kiev unleashed fighter jets and artillery on the country’s southeast just hours after the presidential election. New leader-elect Petro Poroshenko is pushing for the crackdown to become even “more effective.”

Ukraine’s southeast saw only a brief suspension of Kiev’s military operations on Sunday while the nation took to the polls. Just before the presidential election, Ukrainian MPs called for immediate troop withdrawal from the country’s southeast.

Following the vote, the leading candidate – billionaire chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko – said he sees no reason why the military should stop the operation.

“I support its continuation, but demand a change in its format – it must be shorter and it must be more effective, military units must be better equipped,” he said, despite earlier statements that he is ready for dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

Soon after the last vote was cast, the Kiev military descended on the southeast with new energy, shelling Slavyansk and attacking the airport in Donetsk with mortars.

The number of victims is not yet known. According to the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Aleksandr Boroday, 100 self-defense forces and civilians died in Donetsk during the attack. Donetsk authorities reported that about 40 people died and 43 others were injured.

In Slavyansk, at least three civilians died, including one woman.

“We see what that means today – shelling against civilians, bombs that fall near occupied apartment blocks, fighter jets, and helicopter launches against an urban population,” analyst Daniel Patrick Welch told RT, adding that talks were never part of Poroshenko's plan.

“We came up to look at the man but he was already dead. A shell had fallen right next to a nine-story apartment block, all the glass was out. The man’s head was bleeding, his arms and legs were broken,” a Slavyansk resident told RT. Civilian quarters of the city – which is home to about 130,000 people –came under fire for the first time on Monday.

“When we went further, we found a dead woman near a teachers college, a shell hit there too,” a local added, saying that a third man was found nearby.

On Tuesday, reports appeared of a possible fourth victim among the civilians in Slavyansk. A woman was also killed near the Church of the Reigning Mother of God, according to a message on the website of the Gorlovsk and Slavyansk Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It added that the building of the church was damaged along with an apartment building and student dormitory nearby.

“A bomb fell just 10 meters from the church. Fortunately, there were no people in the church at that time," the message reads.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian fighter jets and helicopters were unleashed at armed self-defense forces occupying the airport in the city of Donetsk.

“We’ve lost more than 50 self-defense fighters,” said the PM of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Aleksandr Boroday, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

“Many of the casualties are a result of two Kamaz trucks having been shelled by the Ukrainian army. The trucks were driving the wounded from the battlefield near the airport.”

The identification of bodies is underway the city’s morgue.

Meanwhile, the city’s central railway station was also shelled on Tuesday. One civilian was killed and two others – including an eight-year-old boy – were injured, the region's administration told RIA Novosti.

Government troops reportedly launched mortar fire on a private housing area in Donetsk on the same day.

Later in the day, the military stepped up the offensive, and fighting in Donetsk continued throughout the night around the airport, which was then taken under control by Ukrainian troops.

On Monday, Vice Premier Vitaly Yaryoma stressed that the operation will continue until not a single self-defense fighter “is left on the territory of Ukraine.”

“We saw the results yesterday,” Yaryoma added.

Kiev first launched a punitive military operation in the volatile southeastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk back in April. Following a coup in Kiev, the two proclaimed their independence from the new authorities, with the desire to break away seeing landslide support in May 11 referendums.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/peptka

Amerika Syarikat menghantar kapal serangan dengan 1,000 Marin berhampiran Libya, meminta Amerika untuk 'segera berlepas' . . .

USS Bataan (AFP Photo/Justin Webster)

Srikandi גבורה - Amerika Syarikat sedang menghantar 1,000 Marin di sebuah kapal seran-gan amfibia ke pantai Libya sebagai "berjaga-jaga" Langkah perlu kedutaan Ame-rika Syarikat memerlukan pemindahan, kata seorang pegawai Amerika Syarikat. Masalah keselamatan juga mengetuai Amerika Syarikat untuk mencadangkan Amerika di Libya "berlepas serta-merta."

Menambah kepada ketegangan, lelaki bersenjata menyerang rumah Tripoli bagi Perdana Menteri baru Libya, Ahmed Maiteeq, pada Selasa. Ahli perniagaan Maiteeq , 42, dan keluarganya melarikan diri bahaya, menurut AFP.

Pembantu kepada Maiteeq berkata "terdapat satu serangan roket dan senjata kecil di rumah Perdana Menteri" di Tripoli pada 3:00 pagi (0100 GMT). Pengawal Maiteeq itu melepaskan tembakan ke atas penyerang, melukai dan menangkap 2 daripada mereka, tambah pegawai itu.

Dalam reaksi kepada persengketaan memuncak di Libya, USS Bataan, dipenuhi dengan beberapa helikopter di samping Marin, adalah untuk menjadi di kawasan pesisiran pantai di negara ini "dalam masa beberapa hari," kata seorang pegawai pertahanan tanpa nama Amerika Syarikat, menurut AFP.

Langkah pencegahan adalah reaksi kepada pertempuran militia semakin ganas, yang boleh mengancam keselamatan kedutaan Amerika, kata pegawai itu.

Berdasarkan peningkatan kebimbangan keselamatan, Jabatan Negara Amerika Syarikat disyorkan Selasa bahawa Amerika di Libya "berlepas serta-merta."

"Sebab-sebab keselamatan, Jabatan Negara telah kakitangan terhad di Kedutaan Tripoli dan hanya dapat menawarkan perkhidmatan kecemasan yang sangat terhad untuk rakyat Amerika Syarikat di Libya," kata amaran perjalanan.

Amerika Syarikat juga ada mempunyai 250 Marin, 7 pesawat tempur Osprey, dan 3 pesawat mengisi minyak di Sigonella, Itali, AFP melaporkan.

Jabatan Negara berkata minggu lepas bahawa kedutaannya di Tripoli telah beroperasi seperti biasa walaupun perbalahan melalui dilancarkan oleh umum pembangkang, Khali-fah Haftar, terhadap parlimen Libya dan puak Islam.

Angkatan Khas Tentera Libya Komander Wanis Bukhamada (depanDaritenggah) menyampaikan satu kenyataan di Benghazi 19 Mei 2014. Bukhamada telah bersekutu dengan umum murtad Khalifah Haftar dalam kempen menentang militan Islam, menonjolkan kegagalan kerajaan pusat di Tripoli untuk menegaskan kekuasaannya (Libyan Army Special Forces Commander Wanis Bukhamada (front C) delivers a statement in Benghazi May 19, 2014. Bukhamada has allied with renegade general Khalifah Haftar in his campaign against militant Islamists, highlighting the failure of central government in Tripoli to assert its authority (Reuters/Esam Al-Fetori)

Sementara itu, Mohamed Zahawi, ketua Ansar Al-Syariah kumpulan militan Libya di Beng-hazi, memberi amaran terhadap mana-mana campur tangan Amerika Syarikat dalam kekacauan berterusan negara.

Zahawi menuduh kerajaan Amerika Syarikat menyokong Ketua Haftar, suatu "Gaddafi baru," dan "ejen perisikan Amerika."

"Kami mengingatkan Amerika, jika mereka campur tangan, kekalahan mereka di Afgha-nistan, Iraq dan Somalia, kerana mereka akan menghadapi di Libya tentang yang lebih buruk," katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini. "Ia adalah Amerika yang menggesa Haftar untuk menjadikan negara ke arah perang dan pertumpahan darah."

Jabatan Negara telah menafikan apa-apa peranan dalam perbalahan melalui baru-baru ini Haftar meskipun tuduhan bahawa Amerika Syarikat adalah menggalakkan pegawai tentera kanan. Haftar dahulunya dihabiskan dekad di Amerika Syarikat sebelum pulang ke Libya pada tahun 2011 untuk menyertai pemberontak berjuang rejim kemudian Presiden Muammar Gaddafi.

Berikutan penyingkiran Gaddafi pada tahun 2011, militia di Libya yang tidak stabil berkembang dalam bilangan, kedua-dua mengeksploitasi dan mengisi jurang keselamatan sementara negara bergelut dengan lemah tentera dan pasukan polis.

Parlimen Libya masih berpecah oleh persaingan, dengan pembaharuan demokratik kecil yang dibuat sejak 2011. Negara ini kini di bawah pemerintahan Perdana Menteri yang ke-3 sejak Mac, dan perlembagaan baru masih tidak bersedia.

Maiteeq, yang disokong oleh Islam di Parlimen, telah dipilih sebagai perdana menteri baru bulan ini di undi huru-hara oleh Kongres Agung Kebangsaan. Beliau menggantikan Abdullah Al-Thani, yang meletak jawatan pada April selepas mendakwa beliau dan keluarga beliau adalah sasaran serangan.

Maiteeq telah menjemput lawan untuk menyertai "dialog negara yang komprehensif untuk melengkapkan institusi negeri," walaupun dia juga telah berkata beliau komited untuk "menekan peperangan menentang pengganas dan mereka yang mengancam keselamatan negara," mengangguk kepada militan timur, beberapa daripada mereka membuat benteng terminal minyak di rantau ini.

US sends assault ship with 1,000 Marines near Libya, asks Americans to 'depart immediately' . . .

The US is sending 1,000 Marines in an amphibious assault ship to Libya's coast as a “precautionary” move should the US embassy require evacuation, a US official said. Security concerns also led the US to suggest Americans in Libya "depart immediately."

Adding to tensions, gunmen attacked the Tripoli home of Libya’s new prime minister, Ahmed Maiteeq, on Tuesday. Businessman Maiteeq, 42, and his family escaped harm, according to AFP.

An aide to Maiteeq said "there was an attack with rockets and small arms on the prime minister's house" in Tripoli at 3:00 a.m. (0100 GMT). Maiteeq’s guards opened fire on the attackers, wounding and arresting two of them, the official added.

In reaction to the heightened strife in Libya, the USS Bataan, stocked with several helicopters in addition to the Marines, is to be in the nation’s coastal area “in a matter of days,” an anonymous US defense official said, according to AFP.

The preemptive move is a reaction to increasingly violent militia battles, which could threaten the American embassy’s security, the official said.

Based on escalating security concerns, the US State Department recommended Tuesday that Americans in Libya "depart immediately."

"Due to security concerns, the Department of State has limited staffing at Embassy Tripoli and is only able to offer very limited emergency services to US citizens in Libya," the travel warning said.

The US also has 250 available Marines, seven Osprey combat aircraft, and three refueling aircraft in Sigonella, Italy, AFP reported.

The State Department said last week that its embassy in Tripoli was operating as usual despite offensives launched by a dissident general, Khalifa Haftar, against the Libyan parliament and Islamist factions.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Zahawi, the head of Libya’s Ansar Al-Sharia militant group in Benghazi, warned against any US interference in the nation’s ongoing tumult.

Zahawi accused the US government of backing General Haftar, a "new Gaddafi," and an "agent of American intelligence.”

“We remind America, if they intervene, of their defeats in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, because they would face in Libya something much worse," he said in a statement on Tuesday. "It was America who urged Haftar to turn the country towards war and bloodshed."

The State Department has denied any role in Haftar’s recent offensives despite accusations that the US is encouraging the senior military official. Haftar previously spent decades in the US before returning to Libya in 2011 to join rebels fighting the regime of then-president Muammar Gaddafi.

Following the ouster of Gaddafi in 2011, militias in a destabilized Libya expanded in numbers, both exploiting and filling in the security gap while the nation struggled with weak military and police forces.

Libya's parliament remains split by rivalries, with little democratic reforms made since 2011. The country is now under the rule of its third prime minister since March, and a new constitution is still not ready.

Maiteeq, who is backed by Islamists in parliament, was chosen as the new premier this month in a chaotic vote by the General National Congress. He replaced Abdullah Al-Thani, who resigned in April after claiming he and his family were the target of attacks.

Maiteeq has invited opponents to join a "comprehensive national dialogue to complete state institutions,” though he has also said he is committed to "pressing the battle against terrorists and those who threaten the security of the country," a nod to eastern militants, some of whom are blockading oil terminals in the region.

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