The mishap took place during a routine training flight, resulting in no injuries on the ground
A private military contractor piloting a French-made Mirage F1 fighter jet suffered minor injuries ejecting from the cabin as the aircraft went down in a non-residential area of Arizona on Thursday morning, the US Air Force has revealed.
The incident unfolded around 11 am local time, some 15 miles away from the Luke Air Force Base – home of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) – west of Phoenix.
“I’m grateful nobody was hurt on the ground and the pilot was safely recovered with only minor injuries,” Brigadier-General Gregory Kreuder said in a statement about the incident.
Local police, firefighters as well as explosive ordnance disposal experts responded to the scene of the crash, suggesting that the fighter may have been armed.
The French-built fighter and attack plane designed by Dassault Aviation was owned by the Virginia-based government contractor Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC). Its representatives told local media that the jet was destroyed in the crash.
The F1 was retired from French service in 2014, but a number of US military contractors use it for the rule of the “aggressor squadron” opponent to US Air Force pilots in training exercises.
This is the second Mirage F1 to crash in the western US in less than a year. Last May, a pilot for the Texas-based military contractor Draken US died after his plane crashed in a residential area in northeast Las Vegas, Nevada. Draken subsequently grounded its Mirage F1 fleet for three months to investigate the incident. The flights eventually resumed in August, with Draken saying they were “double-checking and triple-checking everything” but “have not found anything to be amiss.”
Feb 10 (IPS) – My name is Bisma Bhat and I am a journalist in Srinagar, Kashmir. I currently work as a features writer atFree Press Kashmir, a weekly magazine.
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Feb 10 (IPS) – The global consensus about an international treaty on pandemic prevention is certainly a milestone towards the creation of a global health security framework.Read the full story, “An International Treaty on Pandemic Prevention?â€, on globalissues.org →find more fun & mates at SoShow now !
Health Minister Saia Piukala told reporters that 31 more people had tested positive for the COVID-19, nearly doubling Tonga’s active cases for the second day in a row, local media reported.
Citizens in the Basel-Stadt canton will decide whether their fundamental rights should be extended to non-human primates
On Sunday, residents in the northern Swiss region of Basel-Stadt will take to the polls to decide whether non-human anthropoids should enjoy the same basic rights as their human cousins.
The vote has been instigated by campaign group Sentience under Switzerland’s direct democracy system after amassing more than 100,000 signatures.
The country’s supreme court gave it the go-ahead after cantonal and city governments claimed the vote would violate federal law.
Sentience, which launched the campaign in 2016, said it was “thrilled at this historic decision,” after the supreme court threw out the regional government’s objections.
Basel-Stadt’s residents will vote on whether to give primates the right to life, as well as the right to “mental and physical integrity.”
“This will mark the first time worldwide that people can vote on fundamental rights for non-human animals,” the group claims.
The group says that all primates are highly intelligent and experience human-like feelings and emotions, such as pain, grief, and compassion. It adds that they also maintain an active social life.
“Non-human primates have a fundamental interest in their life and physical and mental integrity,” Sentience stated, adding: “However, this is hardly taken into account by the Swiss animal welfare legislation.”
According to Sentience, some 150 primates live in the canton, which borders France and Germany. Some experts have raised objections to the vote. Basel Zoo board member Olivier Pagan noted concerns around euthanasia.
“If the initiative was adopted, the scrutiny of their well-being and safety would no longer be the responsibility of experienced biologists, veterinarians and experienced caregivers, but of a mediator… or even unqualified lawyers,” he told AFP.
Zoo veterinarian Fabia Wyss concurred, noting that, under the proposals, if she put an animal to sleep, she would be putting herself beyond the law.
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Feb 10 (IPS) – The global consensus about an international treaty on pandemic prevention is certainly a milestone towards the creation of a global health security framework.
