Family: Woman killed by lion was a tragic accident

This undated photo provided by Paul Hanson shows his sister, Dianna Hanson. Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern at the Cat Haven in Dunlap, Calif., was mauled to death by a lion at the exotic animal park on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Hanson)

This undated photo provided by Paul Hanson shows his sister, Dianna Hanson. Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern at the Cat Haven in Dunlap, Calif., was mauled to death by a lion at the exotic animal park on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Hanson)

This Oct. 12, 2012 photo released by JP Marketing shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/JP Marketing, Vicken Massoyan)

This 2012 photo provided by the KFSN-TV shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/KFSN-TV) OUT KGPE, KSEE, KMPH, KFTV; FRESNO BEE OUT, VISALIA TIMES-DELTA OUT

This 2012 photo provided by KFSN-TV shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/KFSN-TV) OUT KGPE, KSEE, KMPH, KFTV; FRESNO BEE OUT, VISALIA TIMES-DELTA OUT

Dale Anderson, founder of Project Survival Cat Haven near Dunlap, Calif. speaks to the media Thursday, March 7 2013 a day after Cat Haven sanctuary worker Dianna Hanson, 24, died from a lion attack. (AP Photo/Eric Paul Zamora, The Fresno Bee)

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) ? Family members of the young woman killed in a lion attack at a Central California animal park say they believe no rules were broken and the volunteer worker's death was a tragic accident.

Investigators think the 550-pound male African lion lifted the door of a partially closed feeding cage with its paw and killed 24-year-old Dianna Hanson as she cleaned a bigger enclosure area Wednesday, Fresno County Coroner David Hadden has said.

Hanson died immediately from a broken neck, according to the coroner's autopsy report. Other injuries were sustained after her death, the report states.

Family members say they're relieved the young woman was killed instantly when the lion swiped or lunged at her at Cat Haven, a 100-acre private zoo run by the nonprofit group Project Survival.

"We're thankful to know she didn't suffer," Hanson's brother, Paul R. Hanson, told The Associated Press.

Family members said Friday they don't believe it was a mauling, but rather a lion's rough play that turned tragic.

"It sounds like it was an accident. Maybe the latch had not been completely closed. ... You know, house cats are smart, they can open doors," Paul Hanson said. "It wasn't a vicious attack ... because you would expect severe lacerations and biting on the neck and that was not the case."

Paul Hanson and his wife Tiffany Windle-Hanson, who was the victim's college roommate, believe the facility followed safety protocols.

"It was just a tragic accident," Windle-Hanson said.

Investigators were focusing on the cage door that the 5-year-old animal managed to escape through to reach the volunteer intern.

"The lion had been fed, the young woman was cleaning the large enclosure, and the lion was in the small cage," Hadden said. "The gate of the cage was partially open, which allowed the lion called Cous Cous to lift it up with his paw."

Hadden said the lion then ran at Hanson.

The coroner said Hanson was talking with a co-worker on a cellphone in the moments before she was killed. The co-worker became concerned when the conversation ended abruptly and Hanson failed to call back. The co-worker then called authorities when she went to check on Hanson.

Family members say Hanson was actually using a walkie-talkie, which they understood to be the policy at the animal park.

"She wasn't distracted, she wasn't like that," Windle-Hanson said. "It's a safety protocol to have walkie-talkies there, which is important in case a situation like this occurs."

Sheriff's deputies shot Cous Cous after the animal couldn't be coaxed away from Hanson's body.

Hanson had been working for two months as an intern at Cat Haven.

Her father, Paul Hanson, described his daughter as a "fearless" lover of big cats and said her goal was to work with the animals at an accredited zoo. She died doing what she loves, he said.

Hanson's Facebook page is plastered with photos of her petting tigers and other big cats. She told her father she was frustrated that Cat Haven did not allow direct contact with animals.

"Dianna had a tremendous respect for big cats. It's something she wanted to do since she was 3 years old," said Dianna Hanson's aunt, Karen Postema, who lives in Laurel, Mont.

"She was a vivacious, terrific kid, and we are heartbroken about her death," she said. "But we wanted people to know that she loved what she was doing, and we don't want this accident to cast dispersions on her character or hurt the program at Cat Haven."

Dale Anderson, the owner of the zoo, said safety protocols were in place but he would not discuss them because they are a part of the law enforcement investigation.

Anderson said he's the only person allowed in the enclosure when lions are present.

"We want to assure the community that we have followed all safety protocols," Anderson said. "We have been incident-free since 1998."

He said the facility will reopen to the public Sunday.

When the attack occurred, Anderson said he and two other Cat Haven workers had left to take a cheetah to exhibit at a school. Hanson and another worker remained at the facility.

Whether Hanson was performing a function that placed her in danger is being investigated by Cal-OSHA, which also is trying to determine if employees were properly instructed about potential danger, as required.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act, is also looking to understand why the lion turned on the intern.

USDA inspectors conduct multiple unannounced inspections of Cat Haven every year and never had found a violation, Sacks said. Federal regulations pertain only to animal treatment.

Cat Haven breeds and keeps lions, tigers, jaguars, lynx and other exotic cats and takes them out for public appearances. There are 29 wild cats left at the park, including one female lion that lived with Cous Cous in the same enclosure.

On Friday, Hanson's family announced that a fund has been set up in her memory and urged people to donate to the wildlife organizations she loved, including Cat Haven.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-09-Fatal%20Lion%20Attack/id-6bc2a915ea73470db60ffe8596fdf971

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Crazy days in Rome with papal and political void

FILE - This March 1, 2013 file photo shows nuns walking behind a billboard with a torn poster of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)

FILE - This March 1, 2013 file photo shows nuns walking behind a billboard with a torn poster of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)

FILE - This March 1, 2013 file photo shows a poster with a picture of Nigerian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson with writing reading: "For the next conclave vote for Turkson", in front of the St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)

This March 1, 2013 photo shows a billboard with a torn poster of Pope Benedict XVI, with writing reading in Italian "You'll always be with us, Thank you", in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Joji Sakurai)

FILE - This Feb. 28, 2013 file photo shows a nun walking past posters of Pope Benedict XVI reading in Italian, " You will stay always with us. Thank you" along a street in Rome. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)

FILE - This March 4, 2013 file photo shows Cardinal Dominik Duka, of the Czech Republic, is escorted by police, surrounded by journalists, as he arrives for a cardinals' meeting, at the Vatican, Monday, March 4, 2013. These are crazy days in Rome - where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy. Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy?s going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church? Nobody really knows. We Romans are living truly surreal times when a bearded comedian whose surname means "cricket" is now one of the nation's most powerful leaders, and aging cardinals from around the world are mobbed by paparazzi as if they were Hollywood starlets. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

ROME (AP) ? These are crazy days in Rome, where limbo reigns in parliament and papacy.

Italy is usually a pretty anarchic place, with people bucking rules on everything from crossing the street to paying taxes. But the anarchy's going a bit far: Who's running the country? Who's running the church?

For now, at least, nobody really knows.

We Romans are living truly surreal times when a bearded comedian is now one of the nation's most powerful leaders, and aging cardinals from around the world are mobbed by paparazzi as if they were Hollywood starlets.

Then there are the eerie silences in a normally raucous city.

With no ruling pope, St. Peter's Square was strangely quiet as the Vatican saw its first Sunday without a papal window blessing, a weekly appointment that will normally draw thousands of pilgrims and tourists. With no government after inconclusive elections, downtown streets are blessedly free of the crush of lawmakers in dark blue official cars that speed through congested Rome with legislative impunity ? and are one of the notorious perks of being a parliamentarian.

Since Italians recently voted in national elections, it's no surprise to see the walls of Rome still plastered with campaign posters.

But ? Mamma Mia ? a poster urging votes for a cardinal in the upcoming papal conclave?

That's precisely the sight that Romans are seeing near several Rome basilicas ? with the campaign-style image of Africa's strongest papal contender looking up to the heavens against a slogan reading: "AT THE CONCLAVE VOTE PETER KODWO APPIAH TURKSON."

Nobody knows who's behind it, but it's widely regarded as a spoof campaign ahead of the solemn meetings in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next pope

Other papal posters point to Italians' cantankerous mood.

The day Benedict XVI went into retirement, the city of Rome plastered walls with posters of the pontiff thanking him for his service. "YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US. THANK YOU!," the posters read.

Romans woke up the next morning to the sight of many of them torn, defaced or simply gone.

And in a time when Rome is busy filling important vacancies, it's perhaps only natural that there are gatecrashers.

Despite all the security at the Vatican as cardinals meet to organize the conclave, a prankster in bishop's garb, an impressive cross across his chest and decidedly un-clerical black sneakers, managed to sneak into the congregation of cardinals this week and mingle. Photographers snapped him shaking hands with Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the Italian prelate named to clean up the disgraced Legion of Christ order.

Yet perhaps the biggest gatecrasher of all is Beppe Grillo, who has upset the established order by riding a self-styled "tsunami" of disgust with the powers-that-be and grabbing a quarter of the parliamentary vote. Grillo has no qualms about seeming a little bit off-the-wall: He was recently photographed jogging on a beach wearing what looked like a space alien outfit.

And while Grillo gleefully insults mainstream politicians, a German governor this week referred to the comedian and scandal-plagued former Premier Silvio Berlusconi as "two clowns" ? forcing visiting Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to skip lunch with him to preserve Italian pride.

For now, the cardinals are commanding the spotlight.

Each morning and afternoon, as they set out for their meetings, they are mobbed by a frightening wave of journalists staked out for hours waiting for them to appear in the narrow streets surrounding the Vatican. Even as affable a type as German Cardinal Walter Kasper took refuge behind policemen as he walked the gantlet on Monday.

One relief from the chaos appears to be lunch.

The cardinals are lining up in the Borgo, a picturesque knot of alleyways near the Vatican. Corriere delle Sera reported that Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, a Vatican heavyweight, showed up for lunch at "Il Passetto di Borgo" where his favorites include spaghetti with raw tomatoes, filet of sole and fried calamari.

Even a cardinal tied to vows of poverty, it seems, has to eat.

"In a few days, when the conclave begins, it will be goodbye to turbot and rigatoni alla Norcia," Corriere lamented ? referring to a dish of short pasta with sausages and creamy tomato sauce.

It noted that the poor cardinals will soon have to settle for institutional cooking while they are sequestered during the conclave at the Santa Marta residence, the Vatican's hotel.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-07-Italy-Crazy%20Days/id-5e7ac654b8e840eca406392ac23b2831

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The future of ion traps: Technology will continue to be leader in development of quantum computing architectures

Mar. 7, 2013 ? Recently Science Magazine invited JQI fellow Chris Monroe and Duke Professor Jungsang Kim to speculate on ion trap technology as a scalable option for quantum information processing. The article is highlighted on the cover of the March 8, 2013 issue, which is dedicated to quantum information.

The cover portrays a photograph of a surface trap that was fabricated by Sandia National Labs and used to trap ions at JQI and Duke, among other laboratories.

Trapped atomic ions are a promising architecture that satisfies many of the critical requirements for constructing a quantum computer. At the heart of quantum computers are qubits, systems maintained in two or more quantum states simultaneously. Here, the qubits are manifested in the internal energy levels of the ions, and are manipulated through laser and microwave radiation. These technologies are a key factor in the success of atomic ions: scientists can set the frequency of the radiation to match that of the ion's energy level spacings with extreme precision.

The qubits have long coherence time -- meaning they can be placed in quantum states and remain that way long enough to perform calculations. The qubit's states are not sensitive to ambient disturbances like magnetic fields, giving them inherent protection from the destructive environment.

Additionally, the ions are in a vacuum of lower than 10^-11 torr. This is about 100 trillion times lower than atmospheric pressure. To visualize this daunting number, imagine light particles like hydrogen or nitrogen in a vacuum chamber. After special pumps remove most of the air, there are so few molecules left that before one molecule will collide with another, it will typically travel a distance comparable to the circumference of Earth. At atmospheric pressure, even though we can't see them with our eyes, there are so many molecules floating about that they only travel about a hundredth the width of a human hair before they bump into a neighboring particle.

Scientists want to go even further. Using cryogenics (cooling to near absolute zero temperature), they expect to push a few more factors of ten lower in pressure. Cooling the system is effective because it makes the molecules stick to the walls, thus removing them from the region where the ions rest.

Ion traps themselves were invented more than a half-century ago, but researchers have implemented new technologies in order to store large ion crystals and shuttle ions around as quantum operations are executed. Professionally micro-fabricated devices, like the one shown on the cover, resemble traditional computer components. Some researchers are also integrating optics on-board the traps. Although quantum logic operations in such chip traps remain elusive, the obstacles are not prohibitive. In the US, researchers at institutions such as NIST (Boulder), Sandia National Labs, Georgia Tech Research Institute, JQI, Duke, MIT, and others are now, often collaboratively, fabricating and testing these technologies.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/Pgi0qz10np8/130307145722.htm

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New TSA policy on knives, bats sparks backlash

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, TSA officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, TSA officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2006, file photo, knives of all sizes and types are piled in a box at the State of Georgia Surplus Property Division store in Tucker, Ga., and are just a few of the hundreds of items discarded at the security checkpoints of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that will be for sale at the store. Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration?s new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration's new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes.

The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which representing nearly 90,000 flight attendants, said it is coordinating a nationwide legislative and public education campaign to reverse the policy announced by TSA Administrator John Pistole this week. A petition posted by the flight attendants on the White House's "We the People" website had more than 9,300 signatures early Friday urging the administration to tell the TSA to keep knives off planes.

"Our nation's aviation system is the safest in the world thanks to multilayered security measures that include prohibition on many items that could pose a threat to the integrity of the aircraft cabin," the coalition, which is made up of five unions, said in a statement. "The continued ban on dangerous objects is an integral layer in aviation security and must remain in place."

Jon Adler, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, whose 26,000 members include federal air marshals, complained that he and other "stakeholders" weren't consulted by TSA before the "countersafety policy" was announced. He said the association will ask Congress to block the policy change.

The Coalition of Airline Pilot Associations, which represents 22,000 pilots, said it opposes allowing knives of any kind in airliner cabins.

"We believe the (terrorism) threat is still real and the removal of any layer of security will put crewmembers and the flying public unnecessarily in harm's way," Mike Karn, the coalition's president, said.

The new policy, which goes into effect on April 25, permits folding knives with blades that are 2.36 inches or less in length and are less than 1/2-inch wide. The policy is aimed at allowing passengers to carry pen knives, corkscrews with small blades and other small knives.

Passengers also will be allowed to include in their carry-on luggage novelty-sized baseball bats less than 24 inches long, toy plastic bats, billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and two golf clubs. Items like box cutters and razor blades are still prohibited.

There has been a gradual easing of some of the security measures applied to airline passengers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The new policy conforms U.S. security standards to international standards and allows the TSA to concentrate its energies on more serious safety threats, the agency said when it announced the change this week.

The policy change was based on a recommendation from an internal TSA working group, which decided the items represented no real danger, the agency said.

A TSA spokesman said the presence on flights of gun-carrying pilots traveling as passengers, federal air marshals and airline crew members trained in self-defense provide additional layers of security to protect against misuse of the newly allowed items.

Not all flights, however, have federal air marshals or armed pilots onboard.

The new policy has touched off a debate over the mission of TSA and whether the agency is supposed to concentrate exclusively on preventing terrorists from hijacking or blowing up planes, or whether it should also help protect air travelers and flight crews from unruly and sometimes dangerous passengers.

"The charter, the mission of TSA is to stop an airplane from being used as a weapon and to stop catastrophic damage to that aircraft," David Castelveter, a spokesman for the agency, said. Pistole's position is "these small knives, these baseball bats, these sporting items aren't going to contribute to bringing an airplane down," he said.

In era of reinforced cockpit doors and passengers who have shown a willingness to intervene, the threat from terrorism has been greatly reduced, Andrew R. Thomas, a University of Akron business professor and author of several books on the airline industry and security, said.

Rather, "acts of aberrant, abusive and abnormal passenger behavior known as air rage remain the most persistent threat to aviation security," he said.

The International Air Transport Association recently reported that the incidence of air rage cases was way up, with an estimated 10,000-plus such events annually, Thomas said.

Adler, representing the air marshals, said aviation security is neither "terrorist proof nor psycho proof," and both should be protected against.

TSA's "primary concern, and their only concern, is to protect the cockpit to make sure the planes aren't turned into missiles," he complained. "Traveling Americans are expendable, disposable and otherwise irrelevant to air travel safety."

The new policy has aviation insurers concerned as well.

"We think this move is a bad idea, and isn't in the interests of the traveling public or flight crews in the aviation industry," said Joe Strickland, head of American operations for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, a leading global aviation insurer.

"Safety is the highest priority of every commercial air carrier, flight crew member and air traffic controller," he said. "We don't see how these changes support this priority."

___

Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-08-US-Knives-on-Planes/id-52eba672b3b14760a479c8184ffac528

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Senator ends filibuster of Brennan CIA nomination

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kentucky Republican Rand Paul took the floor of the Senate on Wednesday and spoke for nearly 13 hours in an attempt to block the confirmation of John Brennan as President Barack Obama's next CIA director in a protest of the administration's policy of using drones in targeted killings.

Paul began shortly before noon in a rare old-fashioned filibuster - in which a senator speaks until he can continue no longer - yielding the floor shortly before 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Thursday.

"I've discovered that there are some limits to filibustering, and I am going to have to take care of one of those in a few minutes here," he said to laughter, after thanking his supporters, staff and U.S. Capitol employees.

Paul's action did not keep the Senate from voting on whether Brennan, Obama's counter-terrorism advisor, should lead the U.S. spy agency, but he delayed it until at least Thursday.

After Paul finished, Senator Richard Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate, entered motions to clear the way for the confirmation to move ahead.

There could still be a further wait for a final confirmation vote, because of Senate rules that require 60 votes to stop debate, followed by a waiting period before a final vote.

It was not clear whether Republicans would agree to waive those rules. The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, who like Paul represents Kentucky, said during the filibuster that he would not back a motion to end debate and clear the way for a vote.

Brennan's confirmation, which requires only a simple majority of 51 votes in the full 100-member Senate, is expected when the vote finally takes place. The Democrats control 55 votes in the Senate and Brennan is also supported by many Republicans.

The filibuster was not a protest of Brennan's qualifications to lead the CIA, but a vehicle for Paul to draw attention to his demands for more information about the drone program.

Best known for his libertarian tendencies, Paul said he was protesting against a U.S. policy of using unmanned drone aircraft in foreign conflicts, as well as Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to rule out any possibility of drone strikes against U.S. citizens on American soil.

"I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court," Paul said.

SEEKING ANSWERS ON DRONE POLICY

Twelve other Republicans, including Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Texas' Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio of Florida and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who had just had dinner with Obama, took the floor to ask Paul questions during the filibuster, giving him a break.

McConnell's participation late in the evening signaled that Paul's cause had extended beyond the Republican Party's most conservative wing.

Liberal Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who has expressed strong doubts about the drone program, also participated in the filibuster, despite his vote for Brennan in the Senate Intelligence committee.

Durbin also spoke, but used his time to question some of Paul's assertions and suggest that he give up and raise his concerns in a Senate hearing.

Paul was the first senator to embark on a traditional talking filibuster - of the sort immortalized in the 1939 movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" - since the Senate voted early this year to make it more difficult to stop votes by using procedural tactics.

The last talking filibuster was by Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, who spoke for more than 8-1/2 hours against a tax bill in 2010. That speech was turned into a book.

The longest filibuster on record was by the late Senator Strom Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted by an overwhelming 12-3 majority to approve Brennan's nomination and send it to the full Senate for a final vote.

Some Republican critics of President Barack Obama's administration had threatened to try to delay the nomination until the White House discloses more information about its response to the attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 last year.

The Intelligence Committee put off a vote on Brennan last week because of squabbling among both Democratic and Republican committee members and the White House over congressional access to sensitive documents related to the Benghazi incident and the use of drones to attack suspected militants.

(Editing by Christopher Wilson and Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senator-leads-filibuster-brennan-nomination-cia-head-020410432.html

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Syrian jets pound rebel strongholds across country

In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, night falls on a Syrian rebel checkpoint in the Bustan Al-Pasha neighborhood, the boundary of the area controlled by rebel fighters at the northeast limit of the Kurdish controlled area of Sheikh Maksoud in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, night falls on a Syrian rebel checkpoint in the Bustan Al-Pasha neighborhood, the boundary of the area controlled by rebel fighters at the northeast limit of the Kurdish controlled area of Sheikh Maksoud in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, destroyed buildings are seen along a desolated street in the Bustan Al-Pasha district after several weeks of intense battles between rebel fighters and the Syrian army in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, a rebel sniper belonging to the Liwa Al-Fatah keeps an eye on an enemy position from a school building during skirmishes with the Syrian army in the nearby Bustan Al-Pasha front line in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, a Syrian woman is stopped and questioned by rebels at a checkpoint in the Bustan Al-Pasha neighborhood, the boundary of the controlled area by rebel fighters at the northeast limit of Sheikh Maaksoud in Aleppo, the Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 photo, a rebel sniper aims at a Syrian army position, seen with another rebel fighter reflected in a mirror, in a residential building in the Jedida district of Aleppo, Syria. Syrian fighter jets pounded rebel areas across the country on Monday with scores of airstrikes that anti-regime activists called the most widespread bombing in a single day since Syria's troubles started 19 months ago. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras).

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian warplanes pounded opposition strongholds around Damascus and in the north Wednesday as President Bashar Assad's forces intensified airstrikes following the failure of a U.N.-backed cease-fire, activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers reports from a network of activists on the ground, said government jets carried out five strikes in the eastern Ghouta district, a rebel stronghold close to the capital.

Three airstrikes also hit the rebel-held city of Maaret al-Numan, which straddles a key supply route from Damascus to Aleppo and has become a main front in the civil war.

No casualties were reported in Wednesday's strikes, the Observatory said.

However, at least 185 people were killed nationwide in airstrikes and artillery shelling the day before, pushing the total death toll since the conflict began in March 2011 to over 36,000, according to the Observatory's president Rami Abdul-Rahman. At least 47 soldiers were also killed Tuesday, the Observatory said.

Syria's crisis began as a peaceful uprising against Assad's regime inspired by the Arab Spring, but it quickly morphed into a civil war.

The international community remains at a loss about how to stop the war. A temporary truce timed to coincide with a major Muslim holiday last week failed to take hold as more than 500 people were killed in fighting during the four day period.

The U.S. and other Western and Arab nations have called on Assad to step down, while Russia, China and Iran continue to back him.

The U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, met Wednesday with China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to solicit Beijing's support for international efforts to stop the bloodshed.

Brahimi said he hoped "China can play an active role in solving the events in Syria."

Yang said that China is willing to work with the international community to make continuous efforts to achieve a "fair, peaceful and appropriate" resolution, according to Xinhua.

In the past weeks, the regime has intensified airstrikes on rebel positions and strongholds, particularly Maaret al-Numan, a city of 180,000 people that fell to rebel forces on Oct. 10.

A former resident of the city said more than 70 homes have been leveled as a result of air bombardments this week alone.

"The Syrian air force doesn't leave the skies. When the warplane goes, the helicopter comes," the resident who identified himself as Ahmad told The Associated Press in a phone interview on Wednesday. He spoke from a nearby village and would only give his first name for fear of reprisals from the regime.

Most of the city's inhabitants have fled due to heavy fighting, Ahmad said.

"Everyone has fled, you can't live here anymore," Ahmad said, adding that rebel groups, including the al-Qaida inspired Jabhat al-Nusra, had flocked to the area to defend it.

The inability to sustain even a limited truce has raised fears of a prolonged conflict in Syria that could drag in its neighbors such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday expressed "great sadness" that the holiday cease-fire had failed and said his government was done talking to Assad's regime.

That prompted angry comments from the Syrian government against its former ally.

Syria's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdessi, accused Turkey of having "destructive policies" against Damascus and claimed Davutoglu, was "targeting the security and stability" of Syria.

The spokesman insisted it was the unwillingness of Turkey and Gulf states to cease supporting the rebels that doomed the truce, the state-run SANA news agency reported late Tuesday.

Damascus views the rebels as terrorists and accuses them of being foot soldiers in a foreign plot to destroy Syria.

Also Wednesday, SANA said a bomb hidden in a garbage bag exploded in an area near Damascus that is home to a Shiite Muslim shrine, killing six people and wounding 13. The Observatory said at least eight people were killed.

The blast occurred in a suburb of the capital housing the golden-domed shrine of Sayeda Zeinab, the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter, which is popular with Iranian worshippers and tourists.

The U.N. refugee agency, meanwhile, said it delivered badly needed humanitarian aid to internally displaced Syrians in the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib, as well as in Homs in the center of the country and Hassakeh and Raqqa in the northeast. Speaking in Jordan, UNHCR's regional spokesman Ron Redmond said cooking materials, blankets, mattresses, and sanitary supplies were delivered to almost 3,000 Syrians who fled the fighting in the past weeks and have been left homeless.

___

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut and Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-10-31-Syria/id-3d733c2251654ac884cc7f61a773a488

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Stars ancient and modern?

Public release date: 31-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Richard Hook
rhook@eso.org
49-893-200-6655
ESO

This colourful view of the globular star cluster NGC 6362 was captured by the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. This new picture, along with a new image of the central region from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, provide the best view of this little-known cluster ever obtained. Globular clusters are mainly composed of tens of thousands of very ancient stars, but they also contain some stars that look suspiciously young.

Globular star clusters are among the oldest objects in the Universe, and NGC 6362 cannot hide its age in this picture. The many yellowish stars in the cluster have already run through much of their lives and become red giant stars. But globular clusters are not static relics from the past -- some curious stellar activities are still going on in these dense star cities.

For instance, NGC 6362 is home to many blue stragglers -- old stars that really do succeed in passing for a younger age. All of the stars in a globular cluster formed from the same material at roughly the same time (typically, about 10 billion years ago for most globulars). Yet blue stragglers are bluer and more luminous -- and hence more massive -- than they should be after ten billion years of stellar evolution. Blue stars are hot and consume their fuel quickly, so if these stars had formed about ten billion years ago, then they should have fizzled out long ago. How did they survive?

Astronomers are keen to understand the secret of the youthful appearance of blue stragglers. Currently, there are two main theories: stars colliding and merging, and a transfer of material between two companion stars. The basic idea behind both of these options is that the stars were not born as big as we see them today, but that they received an injection of extra material at some point during their lifetimes and this then gave them a new lease of life.

Although less well known than some brighter globular clusters, NGC 6362 holds much that is of interest to astronomers and has been well studied over the years. It was selected as one of the 160 stellar fields for the Pre-FLAMES Survey -- a preliminary survey conducted between 1999 and 2002 using the 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla to find suitable stars for follow-up observations with the VLT's spectroscopic instrument FLAMES. The picture here comes from data collected as part of this survey.

The new image shows the entire cluster against a rich background of the carpet of stars in the Milky Way. The central parts of NGC 6362 have also been [studied in detail][1] by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble view shows a much smaller area of sky in much greater detail. The two views -- one wide-angle and one zoomed in -- complement each other perfectly.

This brilliant ball of stars lies in the southern constellation of Ara (The Altar). It can be easily seen in a small telescope. It was first spotted in 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop using a 22-centimetre telescope in Australia.

###

[1]: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1244a/ (studied in detail)

More information

The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning the 39-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".

Links

• [Photos of the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope][1]
• [Other photos taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope][2]
• [Photos of La Silla][3]

[1]: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=mpg
[2]: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&facility=15
[3]: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/lasilla/

Contacts

Richard Hook
ESO, La Silla, Paranal, E-ELT and Survey Telescopes Public Information Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 31-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Richard Hook
rhook@eso.org
49-893-200-6655
ESO

This colourful view of the globular star cluster NGC 6362 was captured by the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. This new picture, along with a new image of the central region from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, provide the best view of this little-known cluster ever obtained. Globular clusters are mainly composed of tens of thousands of very ancient stars, but they also contain some stars that look suspiciously young.

Globular star clusters are among the oldest objects in the Universe, and NGC 6362 cannot hide its age in this picture. The many yellowish stars in the cluster have already run through much of their lives and become red giant stars. But globular clusters are not static relics from the past -- some curious stellar activities are still going on in these dense star cities.

For instance, NGC 6362 is home to many blue stragglers -- old stars that really do succeed in passing for a younger age. All of the stars in a globular cluster formed from the same material at roughly the same time (typically, about 10 billion years ago for most globulars). Yet blue stragglers are bluer and more luminous -- and hence more massive -- than they should be after ten billion years of stellar evolution. Blue stars are hot and consume their fuel quickly, so if these stars had formed about ten billion years ago, then they should have fizzled out long ago. How did they survive?

Astronomers are keen to understand the secret of the youthful appearance of blue stragglers. Currently, there are two main theories: stars colliding and merging, and a transfer of material between two companion stars. The basic idea behind both of these options is that the stars were not born as big as we see them today, but that they received an injection of extra material at some point during their lifetimes and this then gave them a new lease of life.

Although less well known than some brighter globular clusters, NGC 6362 holds much that is of interest to astronomers and has been well studied over the years. It was selected as one of the 160 stellar fields for the Pre-FLAMES Survey -- a preliminary survey conducted between 1999 and 2002 using the 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla to find suitable stars for follow-up observations with the VLT's spectroscopic instrument FLAMES. The picture here comes from data collected as part of this survey.

The new image shows the entire cluster against a rich background of the carpet of stars in the Milky Way. The central parts of NGC 6362 have also been [studied in detail][1] by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble view shows a much smaller area of sky in much greater detail. The two views -- one wide-angle and one zoomed in -- complement each other perfectly.

This brilliant ball of stars lies in the southern constellation of Ara (The Altar). It can be easily seen in a small telescope. It was first spotted in 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop using a 22-centimetre telescope in Australia.

###

[1]: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1244a/ (studied in detail)

More information

The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning the 39-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".

Links

• [Photos of the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope][1]
• [Other photos taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope][2]
• [Photos of La Silla][3]

[1]: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=mpg
[2]: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&facility=15
[3]: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/lasilla/

Contacts

Richard Hook
ESO, La Silla, Paranal, E-ELT and Survey Telescopes Public Information Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/e-saa102912.php

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