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MILF attacks leave bloody trail
By Nikko Dizon, Inquirer Mindanao
MANILA, Philippines—In a major escalation of the fighting, Moro guerrillas Monday raided five towns, spraying gunfire, hacking civilians with machetes and torching houses before withdrawing using residents as human shields in the face of a government counteroffensive.
At least 41 people, including Army Lt. Col. Angel Benitez, two soldiers and a policeman, were killed in the worst flare-up of violence since a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was aborted two weeks ago, military and police officials said.
Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Philippine National Red Cross, said 24 soldiers were killed in Monday’s battles. He did not give details and his figure was not included in the reported death toll of 41.
There were no rebel casualties reported.
The MILF fighters slipped before dawn into Kauswagan, Kolambugan, Maigo and Bacolod in Lanao del Norte and Maasim in Sarangani unleashing brazen attacks on police stations and town centers that sent thousands of residents fleeing.


Japanese researchers eye 'e-skin' for robots
Agence France-Presse
TOKYO—Japanese researchers say they have developed a rubber that is able to conduct electricity well, paving the way for robots with stretchable "e-skin" that can feel heat and pressure like humans.
The material is the first in the world to solve the problems faced by metals -- which are conductive but do not stretch -- and rubber, which hardly transmits electricity, according to the team at the University of Tokyo.
The new technology is flexible like ordinary rubber but boasts conductivity some 570 times as high as commercially available rubbers filled with carbon particles, said the team led by Takao Someya at the university's School of Engineering.
If used as wiring, the material can make elastic integrated circuits (ICs), which can be stretched to up to 1.7 times their original size and mounted on curved surfaces with no mechanical damage or major change in conductivity.

COUNTRY G S B TOTAL
CHN 39 14 14 67
USA 22 24 26 72
GBR 12 7 8 27
AUS 11 10 12 33
GER 9 7 7 23