CAMDEN — Heathrow briefly halts flights because of drone
LONDON (AP) — London’s Heathrow Airport briefly halted departing flights on Tuesday after a reported drone sighting — a development that came just three weeks after multiple reports of drone sightings caused travel chaos at nearby Gatwick Airport.
The suspension of takeoffs from Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, was announced shortly before 6 p.m. on Tuesday, a move the airport said was made as a safety precaution.
London’s Metropolitan Police said it received a report about a drone “in the vicinity of Heathrow airport” at about 5:05 p.m. Police and airport officials were investigating the reported sighting, which was not confirmed.
Flights resumed roughly 90 minutes later.
The airport said that “based on standard operating procedures, working with Air Traffic Control and the Met Police, we have resumed departures out of Heathrow following a short suspension.”
The temporary departure shutdown at Heathrow follows the pre-Christmas shutdown of London’s Gatwick Airport for parts of three consecutive days due to dozens of reported drone sightings. The Gatwick closure stranded or delayed more than 100,000 travelers — the worst-ever drone-related disruption at an international airport.
The person or persons responsible for the Gatwick drones have not been located and no group has claimed responsibility.
2 charged in contract killing of pregnant mom
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two men have been charged with capital murder for the alleged contract killing of a pregnant Kansas mother who was found dead on Christmas Day, according to investigators.
Prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint filed Monday that Mashaun Jay Baker hired his co-defendant, Dion Jamel Green, to kill 31-year-old Jenna Schafer. The woman was found dead around 9:30 a.m. in an apartment in Junction City, which is near the Fort Riley military base in central Kansas.
Green was arrested later that day, while Baker was arrested on Jan. 2, police said.
How either man knew Schafer wasn’t detailed in the criminal complaint. Police declined to comment on the case Tuesday, saying no other details would be immediately released.
Green and Baker, both 33, are charged with capital murder because Schafer’s death was part of an alleged murder-for-hire plot. Green faces an additional capital murder charge because Schafer’s unborn child also died.
Capital murder carries a possible death sentence in Kansas.
U.S. cancer death rate hits milestone: new low
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. cancer death rate has hit a milestone: It’s been falling for at least 25 years, according to a new report.
Lower smoking rates are translating into fewer deaths. Advances in early detection and treatment also are having a positive impact, experts say.
But it’s not all good news. Obesity-related cancer deaths are rising, and prostate cancer deaths are no longer dropping, said Rebecca Siegel, lead author of the American Cancer Society report published Tuesday.
Cancer also remains the nation’s No. 2 killer. The society predicts there will be more than 1.7 million new cancer cases, and more than 600,000 cancer deaths, in the U.S. this year.
There’s been a lot of bad news recently regarding U.S. death rates. In 2017, increases were seen in fatalities from seven of the 10 leading causes of death, according to recently released government data. But cancer has been something of a bright spot.
The nation’s cancer death rate was increasing until the early 1990s. It has been dropping since, falling 27 percent between 1991 and 2016, the Cancer Society reported.
Lung cancer is the main reason. Among cancers, it has long killed the most people, especially men. But the lung cancer death rate dropped by nearly 50 percent among men since 1991. It was a delayed effect from a decline in smoking that began in the 1960s, Siegel said.
The report has some mixed news about prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in men.
The prostate cancer death rate fell by half over two decades, but experts have been wondering whether the trend changed after a 2011 decision by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to stop recommending routine testing of men using the PSA blood test.