Embryo gene-repair holds promise for inherited disease

Embryo gene-repair holds promise for inherited disease

WASHINGTON

Altering human heredity? In a first, researchers safely repaired a disease-causing gene in human embryos, targeting a heart defect best known for killing young athletes – a big step toward one day preventing a list of inherited diseases.

In a surprising discovery, a research team led by Oregon Health and & Science University reported Wednesday that embryos can help fix themselves if scientists jump-start the process early enough.

It’s laboratory research only, nowhere near ready to be tried in a pregnancy. But it suggests that scientists might alter DNA in a way that protects not just one baby from a disease that runs in the family, but his or her offspring as well.

Pentagon: Two US service members killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan

A suicide bombing attack on a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday left two American service members dead, a Pentagon spokesman said, despite repeated refusals by the U.S. military in Afghanistan to say whether there were any deaths in the assault claimed by the Taliban.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis confirmed the casualties in the attack near Kandahar city. The Pentagon’s decision to release the figures seemed to contradict orders issued two months ago by Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, barring information about U.S. combat deaths until days after the incident.

There was no information on the number of troops wounded.

Trump’s tweets blindsiding advisers searching for clarity

WASHINGTON

Aides to President Donald Trump were in deep talks about how to defuse tensions between Qatar and other Arab nations when the door to the secure room at the White House burst open.

The urgent message: Trump had just tweeted about Qatar.

One adviser read the tweet aloud and with that, the policymakers in midconference call had no other choice but to rework their plans to reflect the president’s tweeted assertion that Qatar, host to some 11,000 U.S. troops, was funding terrorism.

It was an accusation against a close U.S. ally that had never been voiced so publicly and with such indelicacy.

Professor, Oxford employee sought in man’s slaying

CHICAGO

Police are searching for a Northwestern University professor and a University of Oxford employee suspected in the stabbing death of a Chicago man and have alerted law-enforcement agencies around the country that the pair should be considered armed and dangerous.

Anthony Guglielmi, a Chicago police spokesman, said Wednesday that a Cook County judge issued first-degree murder warrants for Wyndham Lathem, 42, and Andrew Warren, 56, in the killing of Trenton Cornell-Duranleau.

Cornell-Duranleau, 26, was stabbed to death last week in a 10th floor apartment believed to be Latham’s in the River North neighborhood.

Police have not released a possible motive or said how they linked the suspects to the killing, but Guglielmi said security camera footage shows them leaving the building that night.

Associated Press