Soaring eagle films crumbling Alpine glaciers as
Earth warms
PARIS — The images will be stunningly beautiful yet also hint of dire future consequences. Filmed with a camera mounted between his majestic wings, they’ll show how a white-tailed eagle named Victor sees the world as he flies over the Alps and capture its once-magnificent glaciers now crumbling because of global warming.
Their wasting away is unlikely to be a pretty sight. And that’s the whole point.
Victor will embark upon five flights this week over the Alps. Organizers hope his spectacular eagle’s-view footage will help jolt the world out of climate-change apathy and toward swifter action to combat its effects.
His handler hopes that seeing the world as an eagle sees it will also convince viewers of the importance of protecting birds and their environments, especially after a devastating recent report chronicled their decline.
“Humanity has two dreams: to swim with dolphins and fly with eagles,” French falconer and Freedom Conservation founder Jacques-Olivier Travers said. “This is the first time that we’ll really ride on an eagle’s back over such distances and such vistas, and see how he flies.”
World War II-era bomber crashes; at least seven reported dead
WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — A World War II-era plane with 13 people aboard crashed and burned at the Hartford airport after encountering mechanical trouble on takeoff Wednesday, killing seven of them.
The four-engine, propeller-driven B-17 bomber struggled to get into the air and slammed into a maintenance building at Bradley International Airport as the pilots circled back for a landing, officials and witnesses said.
It had 10 passengers and three crew members, authorities said.
Connecticut Public Safety Commissioner James Rovella said hours after the crash that some of those on board were burned, and “the victims are very difficult to identify.”
Some of the survivors of the crash were critically injured, authorities said. One person on the ground was also hurt in the crash and a firefighter involved in the response suffered a minor injury. No children were on the plane.
North Korea says underwater-launched missile test succeeded
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea confirmed Thursday it has carried out its first underwater-launched ballistic missile test in three years, in an apparent bid to dial up pressure on the United States ahead of a weekend resumption of their nuclear diplomacy.
Wednesday’s test of the Pukguksong-3 missile, which North Korea describes as a submarine-launched ballistic missile, is seen as the North’s most high-profile weapons launch since it began diplomacy with the United States early last year. Some experts say North Korea wants to show to the U.S. what would happen if diplomacy fails again.
The Korean Central News Agency said the missile test in the waters off its east coast was successful and “ushered in a new phase in containing the outside forces’ threat to (North Korea) and further bolstering its military muscle for self-defense.”
It didn’t say which outside forces threaten its security. But North Korea has previously said it was forced to develop nuclear-armed missiles to cope with U.S. military threats.
The KCNA report didn’t elaborate on whether the missile was fired from a submarine, a barge or other underwater launch platform. North Korea-dispatched photos showed the missile rising and spewing bright flames above a cloud of smoke from the sea, but the launch platform was not identifiable.
From wire sources
___
AP-NORC poll: Most say whites treated more fairly by police
Majorities of Americans across racial lines say white people are treated more fairly than black people by the police, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
But the poll finds a disconnect between white Americans who identify disparate treatment of people of color by the police, but who don’t see police violence as a serious problem _ a contrast on display this week as many black Americans welcomed the guilty verdict against former Dallas officer Amber Guyger as a singular victory, rather than proof of changing attitudes.
About 7 in 10 black Americans, and about half of Hispanics, call police violence against the public very serious, compared with about a quarter of white Americans. Roughly another third of white Americans call it a moderately serious problem.
The dynamic has played out in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, which began in 2014 with the fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by white, former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson.
The work of activists around the issue of policing in communities of color has helped to raise awareness, said poll respondent Warren Miller, a 62-year-old realtor living in Fairview, Michigan, who said his black friends helped him realize that white people are treated more fairly by police.
___
Group pulls video that stirred talk of designer babies
A government-funded group that’s leading efforts to set standards for gene editing has pulled a video it posted in the wake of concern about how it portrayed the ethically dicey science and its possible use to make designer babies.
The National Academy of Sciences posted the video earlier this week along with a tweet it later removed.
The tweet read: “Dream of being stronger? Or smarter? Do you dream of having a top student or star athlete? Or a child free of inheritable #diseases? Can human #GeneEditing eventually make this and more possible? #TheScienceBehindIt Take the quiz!” It included emojis of a brain, bulging muscles, a professor and an athlete.
“I am disappointed by this,” said Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin, Madison ethicist involved in past academy panels on gene editing. She said the tweet and video could further misunderstanding about editing’s most important uses or wrongly suggest that it’s possible now to bestow traits like intelligence.
The video gives the inaccurate impression that gene editing can give positive traits without any potential downsides _ “the definition of hubris,” said Harvard Medical School dean Dr. George Q. Daley, who also has been involved in academy work. “We are not there yet.”
___
Placido Domingo resigns as general director of LA Opera
SAN FRANCISCO — Opera star Placido Domingo resigned Wednesday as general director of the Los Angeles Opera and withdrew from all future performances, following multiple allegations from women who say the legendary tenor sexually harassed them there and at opera companies around the country over a period of decades.
Domingo’s departure from LA Opera raises questions about his future career in the United States, where he has been removed or has stepped down from all scheduled appearances since the allegations were first reported by The Associated Press.
In two reports published Aug. 13 and Sept. 5 , the AP spoke to more than 20 women who accused Domingo of sexual harassment or other inappropriate, sexually charged conduct. Many said Domingo tried to pressure them into sexual relationships and sometimes punished them professionally if they rejected him. All said they feared reporting him because of his power to make or break their careers, and that his behavior was an open secret in the opera world.
The accusers’ stories laid out strikingly similar patterns of behavior that included Domingo persistently contacting them _ often calling them repeatedly at home, late at night _ expressing interest in their careers and urging them to meet him privately at his apartment or a hotel room, or for a drink or meal, under the guise of offering professional advice. Several women said they took extreme measures to avoid Domingo, hiding from him in dressing rooms, not answering their phones or asking male colleagues to walk them to their cars so they wouldn’t be alone.
In a statement Wednesday, Domingo said that his ability to continue at LA Opera was “compromised” by the accusations against him.
___
