Midday Roundup: ISIS takes new territory despite U.S. airstrikes

ISIS gains. Kurdish forces suffered major losses yesterday in a battle with ISIS over a Syrian town near the Turkish border. If ISIS captures Kobani, the militants will secure a symbolic and strategic victory, giving them an undisputed swath of territory between Turkey and their self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa, Syria. The gains are a blow to the U.S.-led alliance pounding the militants with airstrikes. The attacks have taken out some of the militants’ weaponry but obviously haven’t been enough to cause major setbacks. A Pentagon official downplayed concerns about Kobani’s significance, saying other border towns have fallen to the militants without much comment. Kurdish officials on the ground say airstrikes won’t be enough to defeat ISIS. The “international community cannot defeat ISIS by just hitting them from the sky,” said Idriss Nassan, an official from Kobani. “They have to help the people who are fighting—the (Kurdish People's Protection Unit) YPG, the (rebel) Free Syrian Army—who are here on the ground.”

Teenage angst. Meanwhile, U.S. officials have arrested a 19-year-old Chicago resident, saying he was attempting to join ISIS. FBI agents arrested Mohammed Hamzah Khan as he was trying to board a plane at O’Hare International Airport. He planned to fly to Vienna and then on to Istanbul. In a three-page letter to his family announcing his plan to leave, Khan decried Western depravity and said he couldn’t stand the thought of his U.S. taxes being used to kill fellow Muslims. Friends, neighbors, and members of his mosque described Khan as nice and polite. “Surprised, really surprised,” said neighbor Steve Moore when he learned about the arrest. “The kid was polite. I didn’t expect anything like that in the least bit.”

Ebola update. The Liberian man being treated for Ebola in a Dallas hospital is getting a new experimental drug to help fight the virus. Thomas Eric Duncan remains in critical condition after being admitted to the hospital last week. The drug, brincidofovir, has never been tested against Ebola in humans but has shown promise in test-tube experiments. Amid criticism about how Duncan managed to board a flight to the United States after being infected with the deadly virus in Monrovia, the Obama administration announced it will increase passenger screenings here and in Africa. But the president has declined to issue a travel ban for the three countries most affected by the disease. In Spain, a nurse has tested positive for Ebola, becoming the first person to contract the virus outside Africa. The nurse treated a sick priest who was evacuated to Spain for treatment. He later died.

Democratic drift? Democracy protests in Hong Kong seem to be losing steam, although groups of students and other activists still block major thoroughfares in an attempt to force Beijing to allow the former British colony to select its own leader. The protesters are in talks with officials on a solution, but analysts say China’s communist government isn’t likely to make any concessions. Communist Party leaders call the protests illegal, but have so far declined to use the same heavy-handed tactics they employed during the country’s last major pro-democracy protests in 1989. Protestors vow to carry on their demonstrations and blockades until their demands are met.

Light prize. Three physicists who developed the blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) used in smartphone, computer, and television screens will share this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics. Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura produced the blue light beams from their semiconductors in the early 1990s, according to The Washington Post. In addition to their use in tech devices we’ve all come to rely on, the blue light diodes are quickly replacing traditional lightbulbs.