Brazil’s Disease-Fighting Mosquitoes
Our reporter, Apoorva Mandavilli, goes inside a mosquito factory in Brazil, where scientists are producing millions of mosquitoes to fight deadly tropical diseases in a warming world.
China’s homegrown narrow-body jetliner completes second-ever international commercial flight
China’s homegrown C919 jetliner completed its second international commercial flight on Thursday, landing in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
Flightradar24 earlier reported that the Air China flight was en route from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, having departed at 3:36pm local time (12:36pm PKT). Tracking data later showed that the flight landed at 5:17pm local time (2:17pm PKT), completing the journey in one hour and 41 minutes.
Flightradar24 noted that the C919 is scheduled to replace the 737 MAX on the route over the coming week.
The narrow-body Comac C919 completed its first scheduled international commercial passenger flight on Wednesday, marking a milestone for the aircraft following its maiden commercial flight on May 28, 2023, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.
The flight from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar landed safely after one hour and 42 minutes and was welcomed with a water-salute ceremony at the airport.
“The operation of this flight on the China-Mongolia international route demonstrates that the C919 has successfully passed the verification of bilateral international civil aviation operating standards, thereby officially acquiring the qualification for regular international commercial passenger operations,” Xinhua reported.
It cited analysts as saying that the milestone flight marked a “starting point” for China’s domestically developed large passenger aircraft to gain global recognition.
Tian Linchuan, an assistant researcher at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said the ability to operate cross-border scheduled flights reliably demonstrated that “the C919 has reached the advanced level of its international counterparts in terms of safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness”, the agency reported.
According to Xinhua, the C919 is China’s first self-developed trunk jetliner in accordance with international airworthiness standards and registered with independent intellectual property rights.
It has already been successfully operating along multiple domestic routes since entering commercial service, gaining widespread market recognition due to its “reliable flight performance, comfortable cabin experience, and stable safety standards”, according to the agency.
Air China currently operates 12 of these aircraft, and the C919 jet is also operated by China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, Xinhua added.
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (Comac), the developer of the jet, said that as of Aug 10 (Monday), the C919 had served 57 routes linking 25 cities and handled over 7.5 million passenger trips. The latest route between Beijing and Ulaanbaatar marks the 58th route and 26th linked city.
Science and Technology Daily said that the steadily rising production capacity of C919 planes also supports their operation in overseas markets. Comac has set a target of reaching an annual production capacity of 200 aircraft by 2029, according to Xinhua.
Prince Harry violated Prince William’s “sacred rule” at Eton
Upon joining his older brother Prince William at elite boarding school Eton College in 1998, the future heir established the golden rule: don’t know each other at school.
Will wanted Harry to carve out his own path and be seen as something more than a “package deal” with his brother – but that one, crucial command was shattered by a panicked self-inflicted haircut as recounted by Prince Harry in his best-selling 2023 memoir “Spare.”
The “Sacred Rule” at Eton College
As Harry began his first day at Eton aged 14, William was already comfortable navigating the school’s highly prestigious structure. In his memoir, he recalls how:
William’s Boundaries: The Prince explicitly told Harry to refrain from speaking to him or acknowledging him as family while they were at school.
Harry’s initial feelings: He felt shocked by the intensity of the “high-pressure academic system,” which he admitted, on many an occasion, he felt “in way, way over [his] head.”
While William had enjoyed his time boarding, Harry admitted that, on entering Eton, he felt like “school was a constant storm of anxiety.”
The Haircut that Broke the Rule
The agreement the brothers had made about how to act at school was solid for their entire duration there, until an all-night “banter session” among Harry and his friends got totally out of hand.
After concluding that Harry’s hair was an “all-around disaster,” they persuaded him to shave his entire head. The end result left Harry in pure panic mode.
“I was running in circles. I wanted to put back the clock. I wanted to scoop up the hair from the floor and glue it back on. I wished to wake from this nightmare.”
Panicked about his appearance, Harry sprinted upstairs to his brother’s room in violation of the sacred school rule.
William’s Unsupportive Reaction
In response to Harry’s desperate plea, Prince William simply laughed at the hair debacle, just as Harry’s friends had done.
“Harold, what have you done?” was his reaction, “You shouldn’t have done it, Harold!” “Which sounded exactly like Stewie from Family Guy,” Harry joked in Spare. Embarrassed and defeated, Harry turned and left his room.
Press Controversy: “Harry the Skinhead”
The incident, as most things related to the young royals, became national news, and the next day’s front-page story of the Daily Mirror declared: “Harry the Skinhead,” accompanied by a picture mocking the Prince’s appearance. The outrage from St James’s Palace was swift:
Privacy Concerns: Prince Charles, through his spokeswoman Sandy Henney, condemned the “flagrant invasion of privacy” in his sons’ school lives.
Press Standards: The palace complained to the Press Complaints Commission about persistent intrusions on the family.
The Next Generation at Eton
The story of William and Harry at Eton has re-emerged as the future King, Prince George, is expected to join his uncle and father by starting at Eton College.
While William looks back on boarding school fondly and Harry feels like it was a series of overwhelming shocks, the nation waits to see how the next heir navigates life at Britain’s most famous educational institution.
Putin Visits Islands Seized From Japan in World War II, Angering Tokyo
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America Wants to Make Its Own Humanoid Robots. That Won’t Be Easy.
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