LONDON: Ben Affleck said the storm of sexual harassment allegations engulfing Hollywood has led him to examine his own behavior.
In an interview Sunday with The Associated Press for the superhero film “Justice League,” Affleck said he is “looking at my own behavior and addressing that and making sure I’m part of the solution.”
After condemning Harvey Weinstein’s actions last month, Affleck was forced to defend his own conduct. He apologized for groping the actress Hilarie Burton on camera in 2003 when she was a host on MTV’s “Total Request Live.” Another video from 2004 showed Affleck pulling Montreal TV host Anne-Marie Losique onto his lap.
Speaking Sunday, Affleck said two things need to happen, that “more women need to be pushed to power” and that sexual harassment has to also be “a men’s issue” where guys call out inappropriate behavior.
Ben Affleck weighs in on sexual harassment in Hollywood
Ben Affleck weighs in on sexual harassment in Hollywood
Gene Hackman died of heart disease, his wife died of hantavirus about 1 week prior, authorities say
- Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday
SANTA FE, N.M.: Actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from hantavirus in their New Mexico hillside home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, authorities revealed Friday.
Both deaths were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference.
“Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer’s disease,” Jarrell said. “He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death.”
Authorities didn’t suspect foul play after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative.
Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday.
Hackman’s pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later and that he had an abnormal heart rhythm Feb. 18, the day he likely died, Jarrell said.
Although there was no reliable way to determine the date and time when both died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said.
“It’s quite possible he was not aware she was deceased,” Jarrell said.
Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, said he believes Hackman was severely impaired due to Alzheimer’s disease and unable to deal with his wife’s death in the last week of his life.
Most older Americans with dementia live at home, and many receive care from family or friends.
Their bodies were found a little over a week later. Hackman was found in the home’s entryway. His death was tied to heart disease with Alzheimer’s disease contributing.
Arakawa was found in a bathroom. Authorities linked her death to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by infected rodent droppings. Thyroid medication pills prescribed to Arakawa were found nearby and weren’t listed as contributing to her death, Jarrell said.
Hantavirus typically is reported in spring and summer, often due to exposures that occur when people are near mouse droppings in homes, sheds or poorly ventilated areas. This is the first confirmed case of hantavirus in New Mexico this year.
While hantavirus is found throughout the world, most cases in the US have been found in western states. The virus can cause a severe and sometimes deadly lung infection.
Jarrell said it was not known how quickly Arakawa died.
One of the couple’s three dogs also was found dead in a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, while two other dogs survived. Authorities initially misidentified the breed.
Dogs do not get sick from hantavirus, said Erin Phipps, a veterinarian with the New Mexico Health Department. The sheriff considers this an open investigation until they receive results of the dog’s necropsy and finish checking into data from personal cellphones retrieved from the home.
When Hackman and Arakawa were found, the bodies were decomposing with some mummification, a consequence of body type and climate in Santa Fe’s especially dry air at an elevation of nearly 7,200 feet (2,200 meters).
“All of us that knew him should have been checking on him,” said Stuart Ashman, co-owner of Artes de Cuba gallery who cherished his encounters with Hackman at a local Pilates exercise studio, where they used to swap stories. “I had no idea. ... It’s just really sad. And that she died a week before him. My God.”
Dr. Victor Weedn, a forensic pathologist in Virginia, said when two bodies are found at the same time, the usual assumption would be that they died at the same time. But Hackman’s Alzheimer’s disease added a complicating factor: He apparently was unable to seek help after his wife died.
“They died several days apart: One dying of a viral infection, the hantavirus, which can kill quite quickly. And the other death occurring from heart disease. And that too can be a relatively sudden death,” Weedn said. “Their (the authorities’) explanation, I thought, was quite clear and plausible. I believe they really discovered what truly happened in this case.”
Hackman, a Hollywood icon, won two Oscars during a storied career in films including “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers” and “Superman” from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
Arakawa, born in Hawaii, studied as a concert pianist, attended the University of Southern California and met Hackman in the mid-1980s while working at a California gym.
Hackman dedicated much of his time in retirement to painting and writing novels far from Hollywood’s social circuit. He served for several years on the board of trustees at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and he and his wife were investors in local businesses.
Global coffee trade grinding to a halt, hit hard by brutal prices hikes
- Arabica coffee futures have surged 70 percent since November
- Traders and roasters making minimal purchases
HOUSTON: Global coffee traders and roasters say they have slashed their purchases to minimal levels, as the industry reels from a steep surge in prices that suppliers have yet to convince retail stores to accept.
At the US National Coffee Association annual convention in Houston this week, attendees said they have been in shock at a 70 percent increase since November for Arabica coffee futures on the ICE exchange, the benchmark for coffee deals around the world.
Renan Chueiri, director general at ELCAFE C.A. in Ecuador, said this year is the first time the instant coffee maker hasn’t sold all of its expected annual production by March.
“We would usually be sold out by now, but so far we sold less than 30 percent of production,” he said. “The big price increase eats clients’ cash flow, they don’t have all the money to buy what they need.”
The coffee price hikes have stemmed from lower production in important coffee growing regions, particularly in top grower Brazil, reducing the availability of beans.
“Nobody wants to be exposed, nobody is buying for future delivery, it is all hand to mouth,” said one coffee broker, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
By “hand to mouth,” he was referring to the practice of buying only what is necessary for the moment and eschewing stockpiling.
Many recent deals in Brazil, he said, have been conducted in a very conservative manner.
“You close a deal, and then you have seven days to go to the farm or warehouse and get your coffee. You check the quality, and if it is ok, you make the payment on the site and drive away with the coffee.”
A recent Reuters poll predicted that Arabica coffee prices could fall 30 percent by the end of the year, as high prices curb demand and early signs point to a bumper Brazilian crop next year.
But until prices drop significantly, much of the coffee industry could be in for a world of pain.
A chief executive of a major roaster in the United States — the world’s largest market for coffee consumption, said some of his clients are not sure they can continue to be in business.
“They don’t know if they will be able to sell their product at the new prices,” he said, also asking not to be identified. “Some people are going down.”
The CEO said supermarkets and grocery stores had been pushing back against the higher prices asked by roasters. Negotiations were taking a long time and some retail outlets were starting to be short of coffee on the shelves.
“It has been a nightmare,” he added.
Coffee warehouses close to ports in the US, which receive beans coming from Central and South America, currently have half their normal volumes, said an executive for one of the largest companies in the storage sector.
“Some storing companies are returning silos to the owners, canceling leasing contracts early,” he said.
Michael Von Luehrte, owner of broker MVLcoffee, said the coffee market, particularly on the trading side, could see consolidation.
Companies with more capital will be able to increase trading volumes, while others will suffer with reduced financing, he added.
Commodities trader Louis Dreyfus said in a presentation during the conference that the coffee planted area has been expanding in reaction to the higher prices.
Expansion has happened in countries such as India, Uganda, Ethiopia and Brazil. The company believes that if Brazil manages to have one big crop, then that in combination with the new planted areas could lead to a collapse in prices.
NASA powers down two instruments on twin Voyager spacecraft to save power
NEW YORK: NASA is switching off two science instruments on its long-running twin Voyager spacecraft to save power.
The space agency said Wednesday an instrument on Voyager 2 that measures charged particles and cosmic rays will shut off later this month. Last week, NASA powered down an instrument on Voyager 1 designed to study cosmic rays.
The energy-saving moves were necessary to extend their missions, Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement.
The twin spacecraft launched in 1977 and are currently in interstellar space, or the space between stars. Voyager 1 discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn’s moons, and Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune.
Each spacecraft still has three instruments apiece to study the sun’s protective bubble and the swath of space beyond.
Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24.14 billion kilometers) from Earth and Voyager 2 is over 13 billion miles (20.92 billion kilometers) away.
X-ray shows diamond earrings swallowed by theft suspect during arrest, police say
- An X-ray of the suspect’s torso showed what the Orlando Police Department believed to be the diamond earrings
- “These foreign objects are suspected to be the Tiffany & Co earrings taken in the robbery but will need to be collected ... after they are passed,” the department's arrest report said
FLORIDA: A suspected thief gulped down two pairs of diamond earrings during his arrest on the side of a Florida Panhandle highway last week, detectives say, leaving them with the unenviable task of waiting to “collect” the Tiffany & Co. jewelry worth nearly $770,000.
An X-ray of the suspect’s torso showed what the Orlando Police Department believed to be the diamond earrings — a white mass shining brightly against the grey backdrop of his digestive tract.
“These foreign objects are suspected to be the Tiffany & Co. earrings taken in the robbery but will need to be collected ... after they are passed,” the department’s arrest report said. Handwriting on an order of commitment document filed Monday said “outside medical,” suggesting he was at a medical facility.
The 32-year-old man from Texas is accused of forcibly stealing the earrings from an upscale Orlando shopping center last Wednesday.
Orlando police spokeswoman Kaylee Bishop said Wednesday she was checking with the lead detective on whether the earrings had been recovered yet. The earrings’ status also wasn’t known to a deputy who answered the phone but wouldn’t give his name in the rural Panhandle county where the suspect was arrested near Chipley, Florida.
During the theft, the man allegedly told Tiffany sales associates he was interested in purchasing diamond earrings and a diamond ring on behalf of an Orlando Magic basketball player. Sales associates escorted the man to a VIP room where he could view the jewelry. A short time later, he jumped out of his chair, grabbed the jewelry and tried to force his way out of the door.
One of the sales associates was injured trying to block him but managed to knock the diamond ring, valued at $587,000, out of his hands.
Detectives obtained the license plate of the suspect’s car through shopping mall security footage and believe he was driving back to Texas. State troopers tracked the car from tag readers on the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 10 until he was pulled over for driving without rear lights in Washington County, almost 340 miles (550 kilometers) away, the Orlando police report said.
As he was being taken into custody, he swallowed several items troopers believed were the earrings.
The suspect was charged with first-degree felony grand theft and robbery with a mask, a third-degree felony. Court records showed no attorney for him, and he was listed as being in police custody in Orange County Florida, which is home to Orlando, as of Wednesday morning.
Scientists genetically engineer mice with thick hair like the extinct woolly mammoth
- Scientists have been genetically engineering mice since the 1970s, but new technologies like CRISPR “make it a lot more efficient and easier,” said Lynch
WASHINGTON: Extinction is still forever, but scientists at the biotech company Colossal Biosciences are trying what they say is the next best thing to restoring ancient beasts — genetically engineering living animals with qualities to resemble extinct species like the woolly mammoth.
Woolly mammoths roamed the frozen tundras of Europe, Asia and North America until they went extinct around 4,000 years ago.
Colossal made a splash in 2021 when it unveiled an ambitious plan to revive the woolly mammoth and later the dodo bird. Since then, the company has focused on identifying key traits of extinct animals by studying ancient DNA, with a goal to genetically “engineer them into living animals,” said CEO Ben Lamm.
Outside scientists have mixed views about whether this strategy will be helpful for conservation.
“You’re not actually resurrecting anything — you’re not bringing back the ancient past,” said Christopher Preston, a wildlife and environment expert at the University of Montana, who was not involved in the research.
On Tuesday, Colossal announced that its scientists have simultaneously edited seven genes in mice embryos to create mice with long, thick, woolly hair. They nicknamed the extra-furry rodents as the “Colossal woolly mouse.”
Results were posted online, but they have not yet been published in a journal or vetted by independent scientists.
The feat “is technologically pretty cool,” said Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University of Buffalo, who was not involved in the research.
Scientists have been genetically engineering mice since the 1970s, but new technologies like CRISPR “make it a lot more efficient and easier,” said Lynch.
The Colossal scientists reviewed DNA databases of mouse genes to identify genes related to hair texture and fat metabolism. Each of these genetic variations are “present already in some living mice,” said Colossal’s chief scientist Beth Shapiro, but “we put them all together in a single mouse.”
They picked the two traits because these mutations are likely related to cold tolerance — a quality that woolly mammoths must have had to survive on the prehistoric Arctic steppe.
Colossal said it focused on mice first to confirm if the process works before potentially moving on to edit the embryos of Asian elephants, the closest living relatives to woolly mammoths.
However, because Asian elephants are an endangered species, there will be “a lot of processes and red tape” before any plan can move forward, said Colossal’s Lamm, whose company has raised over $400 million in funding.
Independent experts are skeptical about the idea of “de-extinction.”
“You might be able to alter the hair pattern of an Asian elephant or adapt it to the cold, but it’s not bringing back a woolly mammoth. It’s changing an Asian elephant,” said University of Montana’s Preston.
Still, the refinement of precision gene-editing in animals could have other uses for conservation or animal agriculture, said Bhanu Telugu, who studies animal biotechnology at the University of Missouri and was not involved in the new research.
Telugu said he was impressed by Colossal’s technology advances that enabled scientists to pinpoint which genes to target.
The same approach might one day help fight diseases in people, said Lamm. So far, the company has spun off two health care companies.
“It’s part of how we monetize our business,” said Lamm.
