National News

The bill would extend background checks – which are currently required only for sales by licensed dealers – to transactions between private individuals. It would also “renew the requirement that states and federal agencies report records on felons, people with major mental health problems, drug abusers and others to the federal background check system — something that many states and agencies do poorly,” The Associated Press reports.

Last week, the committee voted 11-7 for a bill that would make gun trafficking a federal crime carrying long prison terms. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa was the sole Republican supporter. That measure would also crackdown on straw purchasers, people who buy a firearm for criminals or others forbidden to buy one.

USA Today reports that:

“Given the panel’s Democratic majority, all of the bills are expected to pass. Each measure, however, faces varying levels of uncertainty on the Senate floor in their current forms, especially the proposed assault weapons ban. The bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is opposed by the National Rifle Association as well as Republicans and Democrats who hail from states with high gun-ownership rates.”

According to the AP:

“Leaders of the GOP-run House have said they will wait to act until the Senate passes legislation. House Republicans have expressed little interest in requiring background checks for private sales.”

That is, at one point Mars had the right conditions to support living microbes.

Scientists came to this conclusion after the rover drilled into a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed and found sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon — key ingredients for life.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains in a press release:

“Scientists were surprised to find a mixture of oxidized, less-oxidized, and even non-oxidized chemicals, providing an energy gradient of the sort many microbes on Earth exploit to live. This partial oxidation was first hinted at when the drill cuttings were revealed to be gray rather than red.

“‘The range of chemical ingredients we have identified in the sample is impressive, and it suggests pairings such as sulfates and sulfides that indicate a possible chemical energy source for micro-organisms,’ said Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator of the SAM suite of instruments at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.”

One of the more controversial questions asked during the press conference was whether Earth and Mars may have been habitable at the same time. The scientists said they couldn’t answer that question, yet.

But this is big news Michael Mayer, lead scientists for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, said in a statement.

“A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” he said. “From what we know now, the answer is yes.”

Update at 2:35 p.m. ET. ‘Achievement Unlocked’:

Here’s how Curiosity Rover broke the news on Twitter:

“I was sent to Mars to find evidence of past habitable environments. Achievement unlocked!”

I was sent to Mars to find evidence of past habitable environments. Achievement unlocked! [info & images] go.nasa.gov/12MeiIS

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) March 12, 2013

 

NASA: Rover Data Indicates Ancient Mars Could Have Supported Life

The discovery has raised fears of drinking water contamination in China’s most populous city, although state media reports that officials have run tests and determined that so far there’s nothing to fear.

NPR’s Frank Langfitt says Shanghai officials first discovered the pig carcasses last Tuesday in one of the Huangpu’s tributaries and that the city has been using dozens of barges to pick up the bloated swine. The number of carcasses was sure to rise, he says.

According to Xinhua, a sample of river water has tested positive for porcine circovirus, which affects pigs but cannot be spread to humans.

A preliminary inquiry has found that the dead pigs originated in Zhejiang province, which is south of Shanghai and upstream on the Huangpu, The New York Times reports.

The newspaper says:

“Many Chinese are expressing growing concern over air, soil and water pollution. In recent weeks, several official news organizations have run articles and editorials casting a spotlight on pollution of some of China’s major waterways. In one prominent case, a 39-ton chemical spill on Dec. 31 from a fertilizer factory in Shanxi province affected two other provinces downstream. Local officials had delayed reporting the chemical spill for five days.

“A statement issued Monday by the Shanghai government and posted on its Web site said that there were piglets as well as adult animals weighing hundreds of pounds. Residents in Songjiang District, the area southwest of downtown Shanghai where most of them have been discovered, said this was not the first time they had seen dead pigs in the Huangpu River. But this time, the number was higher than in the past, according to the city government’s statement.”

The New York Times reports that in a speech, today, President Obama’s national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, called on China to takes steps to stop the attacks.

The Times reports this is the “first direct response” from the United States after a rash of reports implicating China in the hacking of dozens of American companies. The Times adds:

“Mr. Donilon said the threats to cybersecurity had moved to the forefront of its concerns with China, noting that he was not ‘talking about ordinary cybercrime or hacking.’

“But although Mr. Donilon emphasized the importance of developing a code of conduct on cybersecurity, he made no mention of Washington’s attacks on the computer networks in Iran, which have impeded Tehran’s development of nuclear centrifuge machines.”

According to China Daily, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was the highest-ranking official to address the hacking claims. During a session of the National People’s Congress on Saturday, Yang called for “rules and cooperation” instead of a cyberwar.

Yang also defend his country against claims made by the U.S.

China Daily adds:

“‘Those reports may have caught the eye of many people, but they are built on shaky ground,’ said Yang, voicing his opposition to “turn cyberspace into another battlefield, or capitalize on virtual reality to interfere in another country’s internal affairs.”

“China’s Ministry of National Defense had scorned the accusations as ‘unprofessional and false’ shortly after the report was released. It also said China has never directly accused the US government of being behind the attacks even though its military computers suffered “a large number” of overseas attacks, with ‘a considerable number’ of them originating from the US judging from the IP addresses.”

Denver’s ABC affiliate reports:

“Judge William Blair Sylvester issued an order Monday with a list of questions and information he will give Holmes if Holmes enters that plea. …

“The defense asked Judge Sylvester to tell Holmes in court the consequences of an insanity plea and the judge agreed last week.

“That list includes that Holmes could face a narcoanalytic interview using drugs that are medically appropriate.”

According to the local CBS station, a “narcoanalytic interview” is conducted using a “truth serum,” usually sodium amytal and pentothol that lowers inhibitions and is thought to lead to a more truthful exchange.

Judge Sylvester may issue his warnings to Holmes in a hearing tomorrow, where he is expected to enter a plea.

Denver’s Westword reports that back in January, Holmes’ attorneys asked Judge Sylvester some questions about Colorado’s insanity defense laws.

“They asked the judge to clarify the meaning of the word ‘cooperate’ — as in, the law says defendants must cooperate with court-ordered mental examinations — as well as the term ‘mental condition.’ They also asked the judge to rule that ‘state doctors should not be allowed to interrogate Mr. Holmes about the facts of the case’ or cause him to incriminate himself, in addition to asking the judge to rule the laws unconstitutional,” the paper writes.

The judge found the laws were constitutional and the ABC affiliate reports that he expanded a bit on what “cooperation” means in his decision today.

Holmes, the judge will say in case he pleads not guilty, will be observed by “one or more psychiatrists;” he will give up “any claim of confidentiality or privelege with physicians or psychologists;” and he may face a polygraph exam.

And, Hagel says in a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., he has asked the secretaries of the Army and Navy “to report to me on whether the case points to changes that should be considered in the [Uniform Code of Military Justice], or in the military services’ implementation of the UCMJ.”

The case, how it has been handled and the laws that govern such proceedings are expected to come up Wednesday when the Senate Armed Services Committee convenes a hearing on “sexual assaults in the military.”

Particularly at issue is whether the “convening authority” — in this case Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin — should have the right to overturn such a conviction. A military panel had convicted Lt. Col. James Wilkerson of sexual assault on a civilian employee and sentenced him to a year in prison and dismissal from the Air Force.

Franklin reviewed the case and determined that “the entire body of evidence was insufficient to meet the burden of proof,” Hagel wrote to Boxer. Under the uniform code, Hagel added, “the decision of the convening authority [Franklin] cannot be changed, either by the Secretary of the Air Force or by the Secretary of Defense.”

Not only has Hagel asked whether changes should be made to the code of military justice, he also wrote Boxer that he has told the Pentagon’s acting general counsel to ensure that the role of convening authorities in sexual assault cases is reviewed by an independent panel that is investigating how cases of sexual assault are handled.

After word emerged that Wilkerson’s conviction had been overturned, The Associated Press writes:

“Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., told Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Gen. Mark Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, in a March 5 letter that Franklin’s decision ‘shows ignorance, at best, and malfeasance, at worst.’ Franklin’s decision undermines efforts by the Air Force and the other military branches ‘to erase a culture that has often turned a blind eye on sexual assault,’ McCaskill added.

“Shaheen and McCaskill are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.”