Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/pope-benedict-officially-resigns-discord-remains/
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Dust from Africa affects snowfall in California
This 2011 image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows a field survey site in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. A new study published online Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 in the journal Science found snowfall in the Sierras was influenced by dust and microbes from as far away as Africa. (AP Photo/Jessie Creamean/NOAA)
This 2011 image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows a field survey site in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. A new study published online Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 in the journal Science found snowfall in the Sierras was influenced by dust and microbes from as far away as Africa. (AP Photo/Jessie Creamean/NOAA)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? One of the driest spots on Earth ? the Sahara desert ? is increasingly responsible for snow and rain half a world away in the western U.S., a new study released Thursday found.
It's no secret that winds carrying dust, soot and even germs make transcontinental journeys through the upper atmosphere that can affect the weather thousands of miles away. Yet little is known about the impact of foreign pollutants on the West Coast, which relies on mountain snowmelt for its water needs.
Previous studies hinted these jet-setting particles may retard rainfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California by reducing the size of water droplets in clouds. But scientists who flew through storm clouds in an aircraft, measured rain and snow and analyzed satellite imagery found the opposite: Far-flung dust and germs can help stimulate precipitation.
During the 2011 winter, a team from the University of California, San Diego and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration traced particles suspended in clouds over the Sierra to distant origins ? from the skies over the arid Sahara that later mingled with other pollutants in China and Mongolia before crossing the Pacific.
The days with the most particles in the clouds were also "days when we see the most snow on the ground," said study leader Kimberly Prather, an atmospheric chemistry professor at UC San Diego, whose study was published online Thursday in the journal Science.
Scientists believe wafting dust, grit and microbes ? including bacteria and viruses ? can spur the formation of ice crystals in clouds that in turn can influence how much rain or snow falls.
For years, governments and utilities in California and other Western states have used cloud seeding, in which a chemical vapor is sprayed into clouds, in a bid to increase rainfall.
The new study shows how "Mother Nature has figured out how to give us more precipitation" and that may lead to changes in cloud-seeding efforts, which can be hit-or-miss, Prather said.
David J. Smith at the NASA Kennedy Space Center said it was refreshing to see measurements from the ground, air and orbit to tackle how airborne particles affected Northern California snowfall.
"Such a comprehensive approach is the only way to thoroughly examine global transport" of particles, Smith, who had no role in the research, said in an email.
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Online:
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org
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Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia
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Rodman tells North Korean leader he has 'friend for life'
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman met North Korea's Kim Jong Un on Thursday on the third day of his improbable journey to Pyongyang, telling the leader "You have a friend for life," a delegation spokesman said.
Rodman and Kim sat side by side at an exhibition game in Pyongyang, chatting as they watched players from North Korea and the U.S. play on mixed teams, Alex Detrick, a spokesman for the New York-based VICE media company, told The Associated Press.
Kim, a diehard basketball fan, told Rodman he hoped the visit would break the ice between the United States and North Korea, Detrick said. Kim later invited the Americans to dinner.
The encounter makes Rodman the most high-profile American to meet with the young North Korean leader since Kim took power in December 2011, and takes place against a backdrop of tension between Washington and Pyongyang.
North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test just two weeks ago, making clear the provocative act was aimed at sending a warning to the United States to drop what it considers a "hostile" policy toward the North. The two countries fought each other during the Korean War, and do not have diplomatic relations.
Rodman arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the professional Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy and a VICE production crew to shoot a documentary for a new HBO TV series.
The surprise visit by the flamboyant Hall of Famer known as "The Worm" makes him an unlikely ambassador at a time when North Koreans are girding for battle with the U.S. Just last week, Kim guided frontline troops in military exercises.
The Korean War ended in a truce in 1953, and the two foes never signed a peace treaty.
Thursday's game in a packed gymnasium ended in a 110-110 draw, with two Americans playing on each team alongside North Koreans, Detrick said.
After the game, Rodman addressed Kim in a speech before a crowd of tens of thousands of North Koreans, telling him, "You have a friend for life," Detrick said.
The leader later plied the group with liquor, according to VICE TV producer Jason Mojica.
"Um ... so Kim Jong Un just got the (hash)VICEonHBO crew wasted ... no really, that happened," Mojica wrote on his Twitter feed from Pyongyang.
Duffy later invited Kim to visit the United States, a proposal met with hearty laughter from the North Korean leader, Detrick said.
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Follow AP's Korea bureau chief Jean Lee at twitter.com/newsjean.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rodman-tells-kim-jong-un-friend-life-141655557--spt.html
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Venezuela VP: Chavez'battling for life
A man wearing a handcrafted mask depicting the face of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez attends an event commemorating the violent street protests of 1989 known as the "Caracazo," in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. The wave of the 1989 violent protests, seen by the Chavez government as a "popular uprising," was in response to the economic measures imposed by then PresidentCarlos Andres Perez. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A man wearing a handcrafted mask depicting the face of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez attends an event commemorating the violent street protests of 1989 known as the "Caracazo," in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. The wave of the 1989 violent protests, seen by the Chavez government as a "popular uprising," was in response to the economic measures imposed by then PresidentCarlos Andres Perez. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez wears a headband that reads in Spanish "I am Chavez" during a small gathering of supporters near the military hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The government said last week that the country's ailing president was continuing unspecified medical treatments at the military hospital in Caracas. Chavez's sudden return to Venezuela after more than two months of cancer treatments in Cuba has fanned speculation that the president could be preparing to relinquish power and make way for a successor and a new election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Indigenous supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez dance around a bonfire during a vigil to pray for Chavez as he remains in a hospital undergoing cancer treatment in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Chavez hasn't been seen since he returned to Venezuela on Monday from Cuba, where for 10 weeks he was recovering and fighting complications following his latest cancer surgery Dec. 11. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuela's vice president said Thursday that President Hugo Chavez is fighting for his life while he continues to undergo treatment more than two months after his latest cancer surgery.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro said on television that Chavez "is battling there for his health, for his life, and we're accompanying him."
The vice president has used similar phrasing in the past, saying on Dec. 20 that Chavez "is fighting a great battle ... for his life, for his health."
Chavez hasn't spoken publicly since before his latest cancer operation in Cuba on Dec. 11. He returned to Venezuela on Feb. 18, and the government says he has been undergoing more treatment at a military hospital in Caracas.
Maduro also called for Venezuelans to keep praying for Chavez and to remain loyal to the president. He said Chavez's health had suffered because he had dedicated himself "body and soul" to his work as president.
Chavez himself has previously acknowledged that he was neglecting his health in recent years, often staying up late and drinking dozens of cups of coffee a day.
The president has undergone surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments since June 2011, when he first announced his cancer diagnosis. He hasn't specified the type of cancer or the exact location in his pelvic region where his tumors have been removed.
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19th-century Pa. immigrant reburied in Ireland
FILE - In this March 9, 2012 file photo, Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald takes part in a funeral at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., for five 19th-century Irish immigrants whose remains were excavated from the Duffy's Cut site. Researchers believe the site in Malvern, Pa., contains the remains of about 50 Irish immigrants who died weeks after coming to Pennsylvania to build a railroad in 1832. The remains of one of the immigrants who researchers believe was murdered while building the railroad will be reburied in his home country on Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE - In this March 9, 2012 file photo, Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald takes part in a funeral at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., for five 19th-century Irish immigrants whose remains were excavated from the Duffy's Cut site. Researchers believe the site in Malvern, Pa., contains the remains of about 50 Irish immigrants who died weeks after coming to Pennsylvania to build a railroad in 1832. The remains of one of the immigrants who researchers believe was murdered while building the railroad will be reburied in his home country on Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
In this March 24, 2009 file photo, Immaculata University history professor William Watson displays what he says are human remains that members of the Duffy's Cut Project unearthed in Malvern, Pa. The bones are from a mass grave for nearly five dozen 19th century Irish immigrants who died weeks after coming to Pennsylvania to build a railroad. The remains of one of the immigrants, who researchers believe was murdered while building the railroad, will be reburied in his home country on Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? The remains of a 19th-century Irish immigrant who researchers believe was murdered while building a Pennsylvania railroad will be reburied in his home country this weekend after being identified in part through a missing molar.
U.S. historians unearthed the bones of the young man thought to be 18-year-old John Ruddy near train tracks in suburban Philadelphia four years ago. On Saturday, they'll attend a re-interment for the railway worker more than 3,000 miles away at a cemetery in County Donegal.
"We can't help but think he would prefer to be buried there," said Bill Watson, a lead researcher on the team that found the remains.
Ruddy was among 57 Irishmen hired in 1832 to help build a stretch of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad known as Duffy's Cut. But the immigrants from Donegal, Tyrone and Derry died about six weeks after their arrival, and the railroad company never told their families.
Watson and his twin brother Frank, also a historian, led a team in a 10-year effort to research and dig up evidence of how the workers died in what is now a woodsy area behind homes in Malvern, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia.
Their conclusion? Many workers died of cholera and were dumped in a mass grave. Yet forensic evidence indicates several were homicide victims, likely killed by local vigilantes because of ethnic hatred or fear of the disease. Those immigrants, including Ruddy, were found buried separately.
The research team tentatively identified Ruddy based on a passenger list from the ship on which the immigrants traveled, and his small bone size. There was only one 18-year-old worker listed in railroad archives, Watson said.
Ruddy's jaw also had a genetic dental abnormality ? a missing molar. It's a trait that still runs in his family, according to Watson, who said modern-day Ruddys in Ireland contacted him after reading about the discovery. One Ruddy donated a DNA sample to confirm the identification in 2010, but researchers have not had the time nor the money to complete the analysis yet.
However, it's unlikely another body with that bone size and "super-rare" tooth anomaly would be found at the site, said University of Pennsylvania anthropologist Janet Monge, who works with the all-volunteer team.
Researchers are going ahead with Ruddy's burial this weekend because of a looming deadline for a documentary film crew that has been following the Duffy's Cut project. Ruddy's relatives, who could not be reached for comment, are expected to attend, as are other community members, Watson said.
"A lot of the people throughout Donegal see this as being important because they've all got stories in their family tree like this ? people who left for America and were never heard from again," said Watson, whose own ancestors also hail from the county.
Ruddy will not be buried in his homestead of Inishowen but in the nearby town of Ardara, where a grave was donated by a more recent immigrant to the U.S.
Vincent Gallagher, now president of the Irish Center in Philadelphia, said it was the least he could do for a fellow countryman who died on a lonely journey to build a better life. Gallagher himself emigrated from Donegal about 40 years ago, joining a slew of relatives who came before him.
"When I came to this country, there were a bunch of people waiting for me from my own family," said Gallagher, a landscaper. "But these people ? 57 of them ? they came here, they didn't know a soul."
The Watsons have been unable to identify the other alleged homicide victims because their bones indicate they were all in their 20s, leaving too many possibilities. However, their remains were reburied last year in a solemn ceremony at a suburban Philadelphia cemetery. The mass grave can't be excavated because of its proximity to active railroad tracks.
"The idea of somehow being able to get one of them back to Ireland, it seemed like a distant hope 10 years ago," said Watson, who is also a history professor at Immaculata University in Malvern, not far from where the workers died. "It's just a miracle, actually."
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Online:
http://www.duffyscutproject.com
___
Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson
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Congress set to OK bill renewing anti-violence law
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Calling a truce in the partisan battles, Congress appears ready to send to President Barack Obama a bill that renews and expands the nation's primary law on protecting women from domestic violence.
In a carefully scripted course, the Republican-led House on Thursday is expected to first reject its own, more limited attempt to renew the Violence Against Women Act before voting for a more ambitious bill that passed the Senate two weeks ago by a wide bipartisan margin.
The GOP decision not to prolong the dispute over how best to extend the 1994 law came after the party's poor showing among women in last fall's election and Democratic success in framing the debate over the Violence Against Women Act as Republican policy hostile to women. President Barack Obama won 55 percent of the women's vote last November. Republican presidential candidates haven't won the women's vote since 1984, when Ronald Reagan held a 12-point lead over Walter Mondale among women.
With House approval of the Senate bill, Obama will sign the reauthorization of the law that laid the foundation for federal efforts to better protect women, and some men, from domestic abuse and better prosecute the abusers.
The law expired in 2011, and has been stuck in political limbo as the House, up to now, has resisted Senate efforts to enlarge the scope of the legislation to ensure that gays and lesbians, immigrants and Native American women have equal access to anti-violence programs.
The Senate passed its bill on a 78-22 vote with every Democrat, every female senator and 23 out of 45 Republicans supporting it, but the legislation appeared headed for another impasse at the end of last week when the House introduced its version, which omitted references to sexual orientation and weakened Senate provisions giving Indian courts greater jurisdiction to try non-Indians accused of acts of domestic violence on tribal lands.
But on Tuesday House GOP leaders, apparently not wanting to add a war on women to the ongoing war over the budget, gave ground, agreeing that the House will vote on the Senate version if it first defeats the House proposal. With every Democrat and several dozen Republicans supporting the Senate bill, it is expected to prevail.
Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., said a letter he and 18 other House Republicans wrote to the GOP leadership, urging support of a bipartisan plan that would reach all victims of domestic violence, may have been the catalyst in ending the stalemate. A strong supporter of the law, Runyan said the most important thing was compromising and moving the legislation forward. "A lot of people around here have a hard time understanding that."
Another Republican backing the Senate approach was Tom Cole of Oklahoma, one of only three House members of Indian heritage and a strong proponent of giving Indian courts the right to prosecute non-Indian domestic violence suspects. He said that while the latest House bill, crafted by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., had made strides in addressing the Indian court issue, "it falls short of giving tribes what they need to keep their citizens protected from the scourge of domestic violence."
Indian women are victimized by domestic violence at rates more than double national averages, and federal prosecutors, lacking the resources to pursue cases on isolated reservations, prosecute only about half of the violent crimes. Opponents of the Senate bill say there are constitutional questions about Indian courts trying non-Indians.
The House bill quickly ran up against a wall of resistance, with the White House on Tuesday providing a list of supposed flaws. Those included inhibiting prosecutions by tribal authorities, removing Senate provisions that address the high rates of violence on college campuses, omitting a Senate provision reauthorizing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and not explicitly protecting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) victims from discrimination when they seek services funded by the law.
The House bill also was opposed by major anti-violence and Native American groups, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said all Democrats were being urged to oppose it. "The groups that are excluded are the groups that are in most need of protection against violence," she said.
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., who co-wrote the original 1994 law with former Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., said the law, which provides grants for legal assistance, transitional housing, law enforcement training and hotlines, has helped bring instances of domestic violence down by two-thirds over the past two decades. "Perhaps the greatest victory," she said, "is that the law finally brought millions of victims out of the shadows and gave them a place to stand."
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