Researchers obtained a series of radar images of the approachinglate Wednesday (May 29) using the Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. Images captured over the course of two hours showed that the asteroid is actually a binary system.

The main space rock is the size of nine ocean liners, roughly 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) across, and the satellite that orbits it is estimated to be 2,000 feet (600 meters) wide, according to NASA.

Binary systems are quite common among near-Earth . Of space rocks at least 655 feet (200 meters) across, about 16 percent are binary or triple systems, NASA officials said.

1998 QE2 poses no threat of hitting Earth during the flyby, space agency officials assure. Its closest approach will occur at 4:59 EDT on Friday (May 31) and it is expected to pass at least 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers) away from the planet. The asteroid won't be visible to the unaided eye as it zips by, but on Friday afternoon, you canon SPACE.com.

Though harmlessly far away, this will be the nearest 1998 QE2 gets to Earth in the next two centuries. As it passes, the asteroid will be closely watched by astronomers. In addition to the 230-foot-wide (70 meter) Deep Space Network antenna, astronomers will also be using the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to observe 1998 QE2 until June 9.

Radar images help scientists understand the nature of asteroids and improve their calculations of asteroid orbits. The images obtained Wednesday night also revealed dark features on the surface of 1998 QE2, which suggest it has several large concavities, NASA scientists said.

1998 QE2 was first discovered on Aug. 19, 1998, by MIT's Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program near Socorro, N.M.

NASA keeps a close watch on near-Earth objects, or NEOs, that could pose a potential threat to the planet. Among the space agency's ambitious plans for the future study of asteroids is , a mission set to launch in 2016 and rendezvous with the near-Earth asteroid 1999 RQ36 in 2020.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter . We're also onand .

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 208 points at 15,115 Friday, a loss of 1.4 percent. Pfizer led the Dow lower.

The Dow held on to a gain of 1.9 percent for May and is still up 15 percent so far this year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 23 points to 1,630, a decline of 1.4 percent. The Nasdaq fell 35 points to 3,455, a decline of 1 percent.

The declines were broad. All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 fell, led by health care and energy stocks.

Five stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was heavier than usual at 3.9 billion shares.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a victory for Planned Parenthood, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to consider whether the state of Indiana can prevent the nonprofit, which is the country's largest provider of abortions, from receiving federal Medicaid funding for any medical services it offers to low-income people.

Supporters of the law, which was blocked by an appeals court, had wanted to prohibit any government funding of Planned Parenthood's medical programs, such as cancer and HIV screenings, because the group also provides abortion services.

Medicaid is a federal health program for lower-income people that is administered by the states.

Under existing federal and state law, no government funds can be used to directly fund abortions, but Indiana's law went further by saying that no group that provides abortions could receive government funding for other services. The funding would have the effect of subsidizing the abortion programs, the law's supporters say.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled in October that Indiana had broad authority to exclude unqualified providers from its Medicaid program for the poor, but could not deny funding to a class of providers for an unrelated reason, which in this instance was because Planned Parenthood clinics perform abortions.

Indiana Attorney General Gregory Zoeller, a Republican, subsequently sought Supreme Court review. The Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case leaves the appeals court ruling in place.

Lawmakers in more than a dozen U.S. states have in the last few years taken steps to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, prompting it to file several lawsuits.

Planned Parenthood is the country's largest provider of abortions, conducting about one-quarter of those performed in the United States.

The case is Secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration v. Planned Parenthood, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-1039.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Mohammad Zargham)

Twenty-six-year-old Keith Luke of Brockton displayed no emotion as he listened to the guilty verdicts for the fatal shootings of 20-year-old Selma Goncalves and 79-year-old Arlindo Goncalves. The two were of Cape Verdean descent. They were not related. Luke was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

He also was convicted of numerous other crimes, including aggravated rape.

The defense argued Luke was mentally ill and not criminally responsible for his actions. But prosecutor Frank Middleton said Luke did not have a mental defect and was motivated by a desire to kill and rape. Police said Luke told investigators he wanted to kill "non-whites."

Lahlum, who rarely paused for more than a few seconds, discussed topics ranging from U.S. presidents to his fictional characters during the online show hosted by VG Nett, the online arm of Norwegian tabloid VG.

The new record awaits approval from Guinness World Records.

Fast-talking Lahlum, who is also a left-wing politician, historian and top chess player rarely stumbled during the gabfest, which also covered such scintillating topics as his preferences for mixing puddings and kebabs.

"I think I can safely say that tonight I might go to bed a little earlier than usual," he said as he and interviewer Mads Andersen beat the old record of just over 26 hours.

Shortly after surpassing the previous record, Lahlum plunged into a weighty discussion on world literature in general and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in particular.

"Do you have a plan for how you will get Lahlum to stop talking when the interview ends?" one viewer asked VG on its online forum.

The previous record holders - New Zealand's Tim Shadbolt and Tom Conroy, who set the mark in a marathon radio broadcast last year - told VG on Thursday they aim to take the record back.

Norway, a pioneer in slow programming, has spawned several lengthy television hits in recent years, and public broadcaster NRK earlier this year aired a 12-hour show centered on a burning fireplace with experts discussing the intricacies of fire wood.

In 2011, it broadcast 134 hours non-stop of a cruise ship going up the Norwegian coast to the Arctic, bagging the world record for the longest continuous TV program along the way.

And an earlier broadcast of an eight hour train journey from Oslo to Bergen was so popular, NRK had to repeat it.

(Reporting by Victoria Klesty, editing by Paul Casciato)

And on Sunday, the first Hispanic justice on the nation's highest court explained why, saying "you can't come from the world I grew up in, the South Bronx, without feeling the frenzy of exile, constantly."

She spoke at Cooper Union, a private college in Manhattan's East Village where Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech against slavery.

The justice said she wasn't "doing press" on an evening in her hometown that ended with hugs from some members of the audience who asked her to sign their copies of her memoir, "My Beloved World."The best-selling book was published earlier this year with what she called Sunday "some baring of my own heart."

She spoke on the closing night of the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in New York City, which included her conversation with scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

It was hardly a private event.

With a wry smile, Sotomayor said she recognized that "it seems pointless today to exclude the press from any event, when any member of the audience can tweet quotations."

This year's festival has focused on looking at the idea of bravery in art and politics.

The judge's speech came as she and fellow Supreme Court justices are considering three issues dividing the nation: affirmative action, voting rights and gay marriage.

Sotomayor was careful not to reveal her personal opinions, though she conceded that "it is impossible for a homosexual couple today not to be affected by the DOMA and Proposition 8 cases in some way," adding to laughter, "just so you're all clear, I'm not predicting anything."

The federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman now being considered by the Supreme Court. The court must also rule on California's Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage.

The justice told the New York audience on Sunday that 2013 is likely to be "a turning point for those whose lives will be changed, for better or for worse, by those rulings."

Born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, Sotomayor was nominated for the Supreme Court in 2009 by President Barack Obama and sworn in later that year.

She said she needs to keep returning to the Bronx, "to the essence of my world, with love, to take strength from."

Sotomayor said that while the streets of her childhood South Bronx were portrayed as "ugly, dirty, crime- and drug-ridden" in movies, she wrote about "the hopes and struggles of the people," about "a beloved world for someone like me."

Police raided houses in connection with the brazen slaying of the off-duty soldier, identified as Lee Rigby, of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, who served in Afghanistan. In addition to the two suspects who were hospitalized after being shot by police, authorities said they had arrested a man and a woman, both 29, on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

Police would not say whether it appeared Rigby had been targeted specifically because of his military service. Although he was not in uniform at the time he was killed, he was said by witnesses to be wearing a T-shirt for a British veterans' charity.

Authorities have not identified either of the two wounded suspects and have not said when they would do so. Officials in Britain usually wait to name suspects until charges have been filed.

Anjem Choudary, the former head of the radical group al-Muhajiroun, told The Associated Press that the man depicted in startling video that emerged after Rigby's death was named Michael Adebolajo, a Christian who converted to Islam around 2003 and took part in several demonstrations by the group in London.

The BBC broadcast video from 2007 showing Adebolajo standing near Choudary at a rally.

Omar Bakri Muhammad, who now lives in Lebanon but had been a radical Muslim preacher in London, also said he recognized the man seen on TV as Adebolajo and said he attended his London lectures in the early 2000s.

Bakri, speaking from Lebanon, said he remembers Adebolajo as a "shy person" who was keen to learn about Islam and asked interesting questions.

"He used to listen more than he spoke," Bakri said. "I was very surprised to learn that he is the suspect in the attack."

Mary Warder, who has lived in the Woolwich area for more than 30 years, told the AP said she had seen both of the suspects preaching on the streets. Shopkeepers, however, said they couldn't remember seeing them.

The two men suspected of killing the 25-year-old Rigby had been part of previous investigations by security services, a British official said Thursday, as investigators searched several locations and tried to determine whether the men were part of a wider terrorist plot.

There also was no clear indication on when or where the suspects may have been radicalized.

Rigby, the father of a 2-year-old boy, was slain Wednesday afternoon outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in the Woolwich area of south London while horrified bystanders watched in the busy city known for its decorum.

The bizarre scene was recorded on witnesses' cellphones, with one of the two suspects boasting of their exploits and warning of more violence as the soldier lay on the ground. Holding bloody knives and a meat cleaver, they waited for the arrival of police, who shot them in the legs, according to a passerby who tried to save the dying soldier.

A British government official said one of the two men tried to go to Somalia to train or fight with the terror group al-Shabab. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the police investigation, would not say if the suspect had been arrested or whether he had made any other trips to the country.

Citing unidentified sources described as having "knowledge of British jihadis," the BBC's "Newsnight" program reported that one of the suspects in the attack was arrested last year on his way to joining al-Shabab.

Prime Minister David Cameron vowed that Britain would not be cowed by the horrific bloodshed, and that it would reject "the poisonous narrative of extremism on which this violence feeds." In Washington, President Barack Obama said the U.S. "stands resolute with the United Kingdom" in the fight against violent extremism.

There were few signs of alarm on the streets of London, which has been hit by terrorist attacks during a long confrontation with the Irish Republican Army and more recently, in July 2005, by al-Qaida-inspired suicide bombings that killed 52 commuters.

"It's hateful, it's horrific and upsetting. But it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference," Christian White, 43, said at King's Cross station, close to the site of one of the 2005 bombings. "Londoners are used to living in a city where life is complicated."

Even so, security was increased at military barracks and installations in the capital, with extra armed guards added in many cases. Police said extra patrols were added at sensitive areas, including places of worship, transport hubs and congested areas.

Both of the hospitalized suspects had been part of previous terrorism investigations by Britain's security services, according to a British official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the police inquiry and cautioned that details could jeopardize future trials.

It was unclear how recent the investigations were, whether the men were loosely tied to other suspects being investigated, or whether they themselves had been put under surveillance, which could have included being watched by undercover investigators or having their phone calls and emails intercepted.

Dramatic video showed a black man animated, hands stained with blood and holding a meat cleaver criticizing the British government and the presence of U.K. troops in foreign lands.

Maajid Nawaz, a former Islamist now with the London-based Quilliam anti-extremism think tank in London, said the video and emerging details indicated the men had been inspired by al-Qaida even though they may not have been directed by any specific affiliate to attack the soldier.

"There is always mood music playing before these attacks happen," Nawaz told the AP. "In this instance, I'm not saying they are operationally linked to al-Qaida, but these men clearly felt an affinity to this global jihadist zeitgeist. And they wouldn't have had to have visited any foreign countries for this ideology to have resonated with them."

Security officials have been worried over the recent increase of men seeking training and fighting opportunities in countries such as Syria, Somalia and Yemen.

Dozens of British men and women are said to have been radicalized by U.S.-born militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the militant leader who was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

A Twitter account used by members of Somalia's al-Shabab militant group made a lengthy post Thursday about the attack in Woolwich.

The Twitter account referenced the video in which the bloodied suspect called the attack "an eye for an eye." The tweet said the British army had a "woeful record of abuses" against Muslims worldwide.

"We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you," the man in the video declared, complaining about British troops fighting Muslims. "We must fight them as they fight us."

The camera then panned away to show a body lying on the ground. This video, with its venomous threats, may provide the lasting image of the tragedy.

Police in the eastern England county of Lincolnshire said a property was searched in connection to the Woolwich attack. Police said a search warrant had been obtained but would not provide details. Police were also scouring the attack site for further clues.

There also was a police raid on a public housing complex in east Greenwich just outside of London thought to be related to the investigation.

One man was arrested Wednesday outside a mosque in Essex after he threw a smoke bomb, police said. He was also found to be carrying knives and is expected in court Friday. No one was injured.

Separately, police in Kent said they charged a 45-year-old man with religiously aggravated criminal damage and burglary. The man, Andrew John Grindlay, was arrested Wednesday night.

There were no incidents reported at London mosques. Police called for calm and said there were 1,200 officers deployed on the streets.

Britain's security threat remained the same since the killing, but security officials said they were reviewing preparations for the June 17-18 Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland. Obama and other world leaders are expected to attend.

Police defended the speed of the department's response to the Woolwich attack. Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne said police were on the scene nine minutes after receiving the first emergency call. Once it became clear that guns were involved, firearms officers were called and arrived 14 minutes after the first call to police, he said.

The Ministry of Defense said Rigby, who joined the army in 2006, was a machine gunner posted in Cyprus, Afghanistan and Germany before becoming a recruiter who assisted with duties in the Tower of London.

Nicknamed "Riggers," he was an important member of the Corps of Drums who was known for his good nature and wit, and his love of his hometown soccer team, Manchester United, according to fellow soldiers.

"He was one of the battalion's great characters, always smiling and always ready to brighten the mood with his fellow Fusiliers. He was easily identified ... on parade by the huge smile on his face and how proud he was to be a member of the Drums," Warrant Officer Class 1 Ned Miller said in a statement issued by the ministry.

Rigby's family said he would "do anything for anybody," always looked out for his sisters and took a "big brother" role with everyone he met.

"He was a loving son, husband, father, brother, and uncle, and a friend to many," the family said in a statement issued by the ministry.

___

Associated Press writers Cassandra Vinograd, Sylvia Hui, Matt Surman and Danica Kirka in London and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sprint said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on May 1 that the new director appointed by Tokyo-based SoftBank would oversee public safety concerns related to Sprint's wireless and wireline operations.

Chinese telecommunications equipment suppliers like Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's second-largest maker of routers and other gear, and ZTE Corp, the fifth largest, have been blocked from making big pushes into the United States due to the national security concerns.

Dish Network Corp, SoftBank's rival for Sprint, is running a campaign against the Japanese firm, seeking to convince lawmakers and government reviewers that the deal poses national security risks.

SoftBank said it is committed to using only network equipment that is acceptable to the U.S. government and would not use equipment from Huawei on Sprint's network. Dish has not made such promises.

The proposal for a security director was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said the move could cost the company up to $1 billion. (http://link.reuters.com/tat38t)

The newspaper also reported that it was unusual for officials to exert such broad influence over how a company is run, citing people who follow such deals.

Sprint declined to comment. SoftBank could not be immediately reached for comment.

Dish, in line with its public relations campaign, said in a statement that "these reported steps do not adequately protect our national security interests." Dish added that it has concerns about the security of Sprint's "critical fiber backbone network," as well as Sprint's contracts with government agencies, law enforcement and defense customers.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad and Krithika Krishnamurthy in Bangalore; Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Jeffrey Benkoe)

U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane on Tuesday scheduled oral argument for May 1, nearly four months after the Republican governor filed a lawsuit over the NCAA's penalties against Penn State.

The NCAA argues its consent decree with Penn State, generated by the school's handling of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal, doesn't violate federal anti-trust law and actually improves competition in college sports.

Penn State isn't a party to the lawsuit, which accuses the NCAA of exploiting the Sandusky case to increase the power of the organization's president and help some universities gain a competitive advantage.

LONDON (Reuters) - The new strain of bird flu that has killed 17 people in China has been circulating widely "under the radar" and has acquired significant genetic diversity that makes it more of a threat, scientists said on Friday.

Dutch and Chinese researchers who analyzed genetic data from seven samples of the new H7N9 strain say it has already acquired similar levels of genetic diversity as much larger outbreaks of other H7 strains of flu seen previously in birds.

"The diversity we see in these first few samples from China is as great as the diversity we have seen with a large outbreak in the Netherlands several years ago and one in Italy," said Marion Koopmans, head of virology at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who worked on the study as part of a nine-member team.

"This means it (the H7N9 strain in China) has been spreading quite a bit and it's important to understand where exactly that is going on."

Its genetic diversity shows the virus has an ability to mutate repeatedly and is likely to continue doing so, raising the risk that it may become transmissible among humans.

Koopmans, whose research was published in the online journal Eurosurveillance, said the circulation would probably have taken place in either birds or mammals, but said exactly which animals were involved was not yet clear.

"Simply the fact that this virus is spreading under the radar - because that is what this data confirms - is of concern," she told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The H7N9 virus is so far known to have infected 87 people in China, killing 17 of them. Health officials raised further questions on Friday about the source of the new strain after data indicated that more than half of patients had had no contact with poultry.

MUTATIONS

A scientific study published last week showed the H7N9 strain was a so-called "triple reassortant" virus with a mixture of genes from three other flu strains found in birds in Asia. One of those three strains is thought to have come from a brambling, a type of small wild bird.

For their study, Koopmans and her team compared some data from the first two weeks of the China H7N9 outbreak with data from a large H7N7 flu outbreak in birds and people the Netherlands in 2003 and an H7N1 epidemic in birds in Italy in 1999 and 2000.

The Dutch outbreak resulted in infection of poultry on 255 farms and led to the culling of about 30 million chickens. Some 89 people were also diagnosed as having the H7N7 virus and one person, a vet, died as a result of the infection.

The comparison suggested that "widespread circulation (of the H7N9 strain in China) must have occurred, resulting in major genetic diversification", the researchers wrote in their study.

They added: "Such diversification is of concern, given that several markers associated with increased risk for public health are already present."

Flu experts in China and at the World Health Organization say there is no evidence so far that H7N9 is passing easily between people.

But scientists who analyzed the genetic sequence data from three early samples from China say the virus has already acquired some mutations that might make it more likely to be able to do so in the future, raising the risk of a human pandemic.

"Although human infections with H7 influenza viruses have occurred repeatedly over the last decades without evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, the absence of sustained human-to-human transmission of H7N9 viruses does not come with any guarantee," Koopmans' team wrote in their study.

(Editing by Ben Hirschler and Alison Williams)