The IRS has been under fire since last month after admitting it targeted tea party and other conservative groups that wanted the tax-exempt designation for tough examinations. While investigators have said that agency screening for those groups had stopped in May 2012, Monday's revelations made it clear that screening for other kinds of organizations continued until earlier this month, when the agency's new chief, Danny Werfel, says he discovered it and ordered it halted.

The IRS document said an investigation into why specific terms were included was still underway. It blamed the continued use of inappropriate criteria by screeners on "a lapse in judgment" by the agency's former top officials. The document did not name the officials, but many top leaders have been replaced.

Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee released 15 lists of terms that the IRS agency used and has provided to congressional investigators. Some of the lists, which evolved over time, used the terms "Progressive" and "Tea Party" and others including "Medical Marijuana," ''Occupied Territory Advocacy," ''Healthcare legislation," ''Newspaper Entities" and "Paying National Debt."

The lists were dated between August 2010 and April 2013 the month before the IRS targeting of conservative groups was revealed. They ranged from 11 pages to 17 pages but were heavily blacked out to protect sensitive taxpayer information.

Neither the IRS document obtained by the AP or the 15 IRS lists of terms addressed how many progressive groups received close scrutiny or how the agency treated their requests. Dozens of conservative groups saw their applications experience lengthy delays, and they received unusually intrusive questions about their donors and other details that agency officials have conceded were inappropriate.

In a conference call with reporters, Werfel said that after becoming acting IRS chief last month, he discovered varied and improper terms on the lists and said screeners were still using them.

He did not specify what terms were on the lists, but said he suspended the use of all such lists immediately. Lists from April 2013 that were released included the terms "Paying National Debt" and "Green Energy Organizations."

"There was a wide-ranging set of categories and cases that spanned a broad spectrum" on the lists, Werfel said. He added that his aides found those lists contained "inappropriate criteria that was in use."

Werfel ordered a halt in the use of spreadsheets listing the terms called BOLO lists for "be on the lookout for on June 12 and formalized their suspension with a June 20 written order, according to the IRS document the AP obtained. Investigators have previously said that the lists evolved over time as screeners found new names and phrases to help them identify groups to examine.

Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee released one of the lists, dated November 2010, that the IRS has provided to congressional investigators. That 16-page document, with many parts blacked out, shows that the terms "Progressive" and "Tea Party" were both on that list, as well as "Medical Marijuana," ''occupied territory advocacy" and "Healthcare legislation."

Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, top Democrat on the Ways and Means panel, said he was writing a letter to J. Russell George, the Treasury Department inspector general whose audit in May detailed IRS targeting of conservatives, asking why his report did not mention other groups that were targeted.

"The audit served as the basis and impetus for a wide range of congressional investigations and this new information shows that the foundation of those investigations is flawed in a fundamental way," Levin said.

Republicans said there was a distinction. A statement by the GOP staff of House Ways and Means said, "It is one thing to flag a group, it is quite another to repeatedly target and abuse conservative groups."

George's report criticized the IRS for using "inappropriate criteria" to identify tea party and other conservative groups. It did not mention more liberal organizations, but in response to questions from lawmakers at congressional hearings, George said he had recently found other lists that raised concerns about other "political factors" he did not specify.

On Monday, Karen Kraushaar, a spokeswoman for the inspector general, said their May audit focused on terms the IRS used to pick cases to be studied for political campaign activity, which might disqualify a group from tax-exempt status.

She said the inspector general has since found other "criteria" the agency used to list potential cases, and "we are reviewing whether these criteria led to expanded scrutiny for other reasons and why these criteria were implemented."

Democratic staff on Ways and Means said in a press release that they had verified that of the 298 groups seeking tax-exempt status that George's audit had examined, some were liberal organizations something George's report did not mention.

Many organizations seeking tax-exempt designation were applying for so-called 501(c)(4) status, named for its section of the federal revenue code. IRS regulations allow that status for groups mostly involved in "social welfare" and that don't engage in election campaigns for or against candidates as their "primary" activity, and it is up to the IRS to judge whether applicants meet those vaguely defined requirements.

Werfel's remarks came as he released an 83-page examination he has conducted of his embattled agency. The conclusions, which Werfel cautioned are preliminary, have so far found there was "insufficient action" by IRS managers to prevent and disclose the problem involving the screening of certain groups, but no specific clues of misconduct.

"We have not found evidence of intentional wrongdoing by anyone in the IRS or involvement in these matters by anyone outside the IRS," he told reporters.

The report found no indication so far of improper screening beyond the IRS offices, mostly in Cincinnati, that examine groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Werfel's report describes several new procedures the agency is installing to prevent unfair treatment of taxpayers in the future. They include a fast-track process for groups seeking tax-exempt status that have yet to get a response from the IRS within 120 days of applying. He is also creating an Accountability Review Board, which within 60 days is supposed to recommend any additional personnel moves "to hold accountable those responsible" for the targeting of conservative groups, Werfel's report said.

The top five people in the agency responsible for the tax-exempt status of organizations have already been removed, including the former acting commissioner, Steven Miller, whom President Barack Obama replaced with Werfel.

"The IRS is committed to correcting its mistakes, holding individuals accountable as appropriate" and establishing new controls to reduce potential future problems, Werfel told reporters.

IRS screening of conservative groups had sparked investigations by three congressional committees, the Justice Department and a Treasury Department inspector general.

Werfel's comments and report drew negative reviews from one of the IRS's chief critics in Congress, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Issa said the review "fails to meaningfully answer the largest outstanding questions about inappropriate inquiries and indefensible delays. As investigations by Congress and the Justice Department are still ongoing, Mr. Werfel's assertion that he has found no evidence that anyone at IRS intentionally did anything wrong can only be called premature."

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., whose panel is also investigating the agency, said the IRS "still needs to provide clear answers to the most significant questions who started this practice, why was it allowed to continue for so long, and how widespread was it? This culture of political discrimination and intimidation goes far beyond basic management failure and personnel changes alone won't fix a broken IRS."

Werfel had promised to produce a report within a month of taking over the agency.

Werfel said he briefed Obama and Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew on the report earlier Monday.

Werfel, initially named the IRS's acting commissioner, is now the agency's deputy principal commissioner because federal law limits the time an agency can be led by an acting official.

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Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher and Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.

A prominent expert called the work a landmark, but noted that a different, simpler technique now under development may prove more useful.

Stem cells can turn into any cell of the body, so scientists are interested in using them to create tissue for treating disease. Transplanting brain tissue might treat Parkinson's disorder, for example, and pancreatic tissue might be used for diabetes.

But transplants run the risk of rejection, so more than a decade ago, researchers proposed a way around that: Create tissue from stem cells that bear the patient's own DNA, obtained with a process called therapeutic cloning.

If DNA from a patient is put into a human egg, which is then grown into an early embryo, the stem cells from that embryo would provide a virtual genetic match. So in theory, tissues created from them would not be rejected by the patient.

That idea was met with some ethical objections because harvesting the stem cells involved destroying human embryos.

Scientists have tried to get stem cells from cloned human embryos for about a decade, but they've failed. Generally, that's because the embryos stopped developing before producing the cells. In 2004, a South Korean scientist claimed to have gotten stem cells from cloned human embryos, but that turned out to be a fraud.

In Wednesday's edition of the journal Cell, however, scientists in Oregon report harvesting stem cells from six embryos created from donated eggs. Two embryos had been given DNA from skin cells of a child with a genetic disorder, and the others had DNA from fetal skin cells.

Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health & Science University, who led the research, said the success came not from a single technical innovation, but from revising a series of steps in the process. He noted it had taken six years to reach the goal after doing it with monkey embryos.

Mitalipov also said that based on monkey work, he believes human embryos made with the technique could not develop into cloned babies, and he has no interest in trying to do that.Scientists have cloned more than a dozen kinds of mammals, starting with Dolly the sheep.

The new work was financed by the university and the Leducq Foundation in Paris.

Dr. George Daley, a stem cell expert at Children's Hospital Boston who didn't participate in the work, called the new results "one landmark step in a very long journey" toward creating DNA-matched transplant tissue.

Now, Daley said, scientists must compare the embryo-cloning approach with another technology that reprograms blood or skin cells directly into substitutes for embryonic stem cells. This reprogramming approach is technically simpler and doesn't involve embryos or require the donation of human eggs, and it was widely acclaimed when it was reported in 2007. Its Japanese developer shared a Nobel Prize last year.

But these substitute cells show some molecular differences compared to embryonic ones, which has led to questions about whether they can safely be used for treating patients. So it's essential to compare the cells from the two methods, Daley said.

The new results mean "we have another tool," he said. "We have to learn more about this tool."

Daley said he believed scientists will prefer using the reprogramming approach unless it can be proven "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that embryo cloning produces better cells for treating patients.

Mitalipov said he believed his technique would present a particular advantage for treating patients with a certain type of rare diseases. These are caused by mutations in genes of the mitochondria, the power plants of cells. He noted his technique, unlike the cell-reprogramming approach, would supply tissue with new mitochondrial genes that could replace defective ones. Those new genes would come from the egg.

The Rev. Tad Pacholczyk, director of education for National Catholic Bioethics Center, an independent think tank in Philadelphia, reiterated his opposition to embryo cloning, calling the approach unethical.

"It involves the decision to utilize early human beings as repositories for obtaining desired cells," he said. "You're creating them only to destroy them."

Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, Calif., said she was glad that Mitalipov doubted the embryos could be used to clone babies. She said the report still provides a good opportunity for the federal government to ban the use of cloning for reproduction.

___

Online:

Journal Cell: http://www.cell.com/

___ Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

Monday was the first chance for all but a handful of the state's same-sex couples to wed since 2008, when about 18,000 marriages went forward during a brief legal window before a voter-approved ban.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on the constitutional merits of that ban called Proposition 8 and a lower court on Friday said same-sex marriages could resume. On Sunday, Justice Anthony Kennedy rejected a last-ditch appeal.

While a few lucky couples were able to score marriage licenses before government offices closed and wed late Friday and scores of others tied the knot at San Francisco City Hall over the weekend, Monday was the day many couples had been awaiting for years.

The Los Angeles County clerk-recorder's office logged more than 600 online marriage license applications over the weekend more than five times the normal amount and posted extended hours Monday and Tuesday to deal with the crush.

In West Hollywood, where about 40 percent of the population is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, the City Council was deputized to perform nuptials. Free shuttles ran from court to near City Hall.

Twenty couples were married within the first 45 minutes Monday and a line grew throughout the morning.

In the smaller, rural counties, the scene was more subdued but joyous.

In Shasta County, one couple wed before 9 a.m., said County Clerk Cathy Darling Allen, but the county will perform same-sex weddings on an as-needed basis to supplement its regular twice weekly ceremonies for couples.

In Tulare County, fewer than a dozen couples showed up to get marriage licenses, said Julie Poochigian, the county's Chief Deputy Clerk-Recorder.

Though ceremonies were taking place throughout the state, gay marriage opponents say they still believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.

"From a church perspective, we're going to stick to our guns," said the Rev. Chris Clark, pastor of the East Clairemont Baptist Church in San Diego. "God's design for marriage hasn't changed. It's one man, one woman."

In Sacramento, opponents were less visible Monday than during the lengthy legal saga. Fewer than a dozen protesters gathered outside the clerk-recorder's office holding large signs that read "GOD has ruled on marriage" and "Marriage=1 Man+1 Woman." One man shouted at couples through a bullhorn. The protesters left by midmorning.

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DOGS IN TUXEDOS

SANTA ANA, Calif. Mary Darby and Tracy Scofield showed up at the courthouse three times last week for a marriage license, but each time they were told applications for same-sex couples were still on hold or the court was closed.

On Monday, they made sure they were first in line.

Darby, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, and Scofield, a 42-year-old elementary school teacher, pitched lawn chairs outside the historic brick building before 6 a.m. and waited with their two tuxedo-clad Chihuahua-terrier mixes.

Binks and Pepito weren't allowed inside for the ceremony, but Darby and Scofield were thrilled to be the first same-sex couple married in the county since 2008.

"It feels amazing, absolutely amazing," Darby said.

The couple met while bowling two years ago and had planned to tie the knot in New York, which is Darby's home state and where same-sex marriage was already legal. The chance to wed in California, however, was too much to pass up.

After exchanging tearful "I dos" in front of a simple wooden altar adorned with fake flowers, the newlyweds posed for photos with other gay and lesbian couples and their mutts.

Then they headed for Disneyland.

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HELPING OUT OTHERS

FRESNO, Calif. Susan Stewart has legally married her same-sex partner twice once in Canada and once in California. So when gay marriages resumed in California, Stewart was there to support others doing the same.

The second-grade teacher stood in the shade outside the county clerk's office and handed out pretzel wedding favors (tied in knots), frosted cupcakes and most importantly bottled water to couples on a blazing day expected to reach 111 degrees.

Stewart, who wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the word "Equalifornia," said she and her partner were among the couples who rushed to marry in 2008.

She said the new crop of brides and grooms seems older, more mature and in less of a hurry.

"There was a lot more urgency back in 2008, there was a rush to get married," said Stewart, 36, who has two young children with her wife. "This time, it's more steady. This is the law; this is how it's going to be from now on."

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SHUTTLE TO LOVE

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Wanda Lawson, 63, and Lauryne Braithwaite, 65, met 32 years ago at a technical college and have been together ever since but they didn't get organized in time to wed in 2008.

The two were among the first to take advantage of free ceremonies all day Monday in West Hollywood, where the City Council was deputized to conduct weddings.

A free bus service shuttled beaming couples between the Beverly Hills courthouse, where they got a marriage license, and West Hollywood for the ceremonies.

"It's exciting," Lawson said. "We've laughed. We've cried. To be made equal is a wonderful thing."

Wearing rainbow leis, the two walked arm-in-arm down the sidewalk with the marriage certificate tucked in a manila envelope.

Braithwaite, a retired transit employee, said she felt married already, but went through the ceremony because it was important to Lawson.

"I don't need a piece of paper to say that you're mine," she said, turning to Lawson.

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IMMIGRATION IMPLICATIONS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. The chance to marry was especially meaningful for Jay and Juan Carlos Redden, who met seven years ago in Juan Carlos' native Costa Rica.

The couple arrived shortly after the Sacramento clerk's office opened Monday and said the brief ceremony will finally allow Jay Redden to petition immigration officials on behalf of his spouse, who traveled to the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2006, decided to stay with Redden and never left.

The two decided against marrying in 2008 out of fear that Juan Carlos might have been deported.

Now, they are planning a big celebration in November to mark the anniversary of Juan Carlos' arrival in the U.S. and their life together.

Redden, 48, said he had some jitters heading into the ceremony but he wasn't bothered by the same-sex marriage opponents outside the office.

"There's still going to be a lot of legal challenges, but I think this issue in fairly short order will be a thing of the past," he said.

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Associated Press Writers Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, Calif.; Gosia Wozniacki in Fresno, Calif.; Laura Olson in Sacramento; Sarah Parvini in West Hollywood, Calif.; and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

Scientists used new techniques and computing to take DNA from a 5-inch fossil fragment most of which was contaminated with more modern bacteria and get a good genetic picture of an ancestral horse. The work was published Wednesday in the journal Nature and discussed at a science conference in Helsinki.

The research gives a better insight into the evolution of one of the most studied mammals. Perhaps more importantly, it opens up new possibilities for mapping the genetic blueprints of all sorts of ancient animals from early human ancestors to mastodons to mammoths to bison, said study lead authors Ludovic Orlando and Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen.

This "is breaking the time barrier," Willerslev said.

The previous oldest animal fossil genetically mapped had been an ancient relative of Neanderthals called the Denisovans, from about 75,000 years ago, found in a Siberian cave.

The ancient horse was probably about the size of current Arabian horses, the researchers said. It didn't have the same genes for large muscles that make today's breeds good for racing, and it was larger than researchers once thought, Orlando and Willerslev said.

The new mapping techniques, which involve all sorts of technical changes, could be used not just with fossils from frozen areas like Canada's Yukon and Russia's Siberia, but also from more temperate climates, and may eventually allow researchers to map animal genomes from 1 million years ago, Orlando said.

Ross MacPhee, curator of mammals at the American Museum of Natural History, who wasn't part of the research, said the accomplishment suggests "there's no reason in substance why we couldn't go back further."

"I think it's cool," said another outside expert, Edward Rubin, who heads the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute and has deciphered Neanderthal and cave bear DNA.

"We can always keep our fingers crossed that (DNA from) an ancient hominid will be found in one of those environments that have been cold," perhaps even the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans, he said.

Orlando and Willerslev said it doesn't have to be that cold, but much of the most ancient human development was in Africa where the hotter climate makes DNA disintegrate faster. Still, there were enough hominids in temperate climates to give hope for older genome sequencing of some of our ancestors, they said.

There was a lot of junk in the Yukon fossil that wasn't horse but bacteria, Orlando said. He said for every 200 DNA molecules they sequenced, only one was from the horse.

The research estimated that the evolutionary tree split that led to horses on one branch and donkeys on the other happened about 4 million years ago.

The analysis also found new evidence that an endangered animal called the Przewalski's horse, found in Mongolia and China, is the last surviving wild horse. It is genetically distinct from domestic horses.

___

Ritter reported from New York.

___

Online:

Journal Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature

___

Seth Borenstein can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/borenbears

Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

Hernandez, a top tight end in the National Football League, is at the center of an investigation into the shooting death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, a semiprofessional football player for the Boston Bandits. Michael Fee, an attorney for Hernandez, did not return a telephone message seeking comment.

(Reporting by Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

They are expecting their first child soon. I have been left out of all the excitement of the baby. She has not invited me to the baby showers or to see the nursery, etc. I know it's not all about me, but I would like to be included.

My side of the family doesn't seem to matter to her or my son. Because he doesn't stand up for me, I fear I will never get to be close to my grandchild. I don't want to upset them, but how do I handle this? -- SAD GRANDMA-TO-BE

DEAR SAD: Talk to your son about your feelings, and ask if there is a reason for his wife's behavior. Then ask if he wants you to be a part of his child's life, because the way things are going, it doesn't appear to be the case. That you haven't been invited to the baby showers is terrible, but nothing will change until you bring your concerns out into the open.

I'm sad to say your problem isn't unusual, and it usually happens in marriages where the husband is afraid or unwilling to talk about uncomfortable subjects and prefers to avoid confrontation.

DEAR ABBY: I have been a widower for 15 years. I had kids at home, so restarting romantic life wasn't a priority after my wife died. Ten years later, I realized I was no longer interested in women, and my love life since then has been with men. While I have never been vocal about it with family and friends, I assume they all probably know.

A couple of months ago, one of my male friends -- much younger than I and from my poker group -- came to my home to take me to lunch. I had always assumed he was gay. I made a pass and ended up seducing him. He was a great sex partner, but he changed his mind about going to lunch afterward. He has never shown up for poker since and no one has heard from him.

I feel bad, but I am not ashamed and I would never say anything that would lead anyone to know what happened. Should I contact my former friend and reassure him? He's a good man and I worry about him. -- MISSING A FRIEND IN MIAMI

DEAR MISSING: The man you seduced may not have been as comfortable with gay sex as you assumed he was. Try to contact him once, but if he wanted to see you again, he wouldn't have disappeared. My advice is to leave it at that because it appears he isn't interested in another round of poker -- or anything else -- with you.

DEAR ABBY: I have discovered that the man I have been seeing for several years has been stealing money from me. There is no question in my mind that it's him. What is the best way to confront him? It breaks my heart, but I need to give him a chance to be honest about this.

I care for him as a person but no longer trust him. I know he's going through a lot right now, but so are a lot of us. Please guide me. I don't do confrontations well. -- USED IN INDIANA

DEAR USED: If you have proof of what he has done, a way to approach it would be to discuss with him in a public place that money has disappeared -- and you would like his "help" in figuring out where it went. Depending upon his response, you may have to take specific action by involving your lawyer, your CPA or the police.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

What teens need to know about sex, drugs, AIDS and getting along with peers and parents is in "What Every Teen Should Know." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

PRETORIA (Reuters) - The United States does not feel threatened by the growth of trade and investment in Africa by China and other emerging powers, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday.

Suggestions that he has allowed China to steal a march over the United States in doing business with Africa have dogged Obama's three-nation swing through the continent, but he said the increased Chinese engagement was beneficial for all.

"I don't feel threatened by it. I feel it's a good thing," Obama told a news conference during a visit to South Africa.

The more countries invest in Africa, the more the world's least developed continent can be integrated into the global economy, the first African-American U.S. president said.

"I want everybody playing in Africa. The more the merrier."

China has greatly expanded its reach in Africa since the start of the new century. It overtook the United States as Africa's largest trading partner in 2009, a February report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) showed.

China's advantage in trade stems mostly from how much it sells to Africa. Chinese exports to the continent in 2011 were almost triple the level of U.S. exports.

When it comes to investment flows, however, the picture is different. Data for 2007-2011 suggest U.S. foreign investment flows to the region were larger than China's, the GAO said.

"China's role as an investor, aid donor and financier is not outsized," Johns Hopkins University China scholar Deborah Brautigam wrote recently.

"Although Western countries fret about China's growing role in Africa, the United States alone disbursed more official finance to African countries than China did in 2010."

Still, China's influence looms large over the continent, partly because it has been so aggressive in its courtship.

RESTING ON ITS LAURELS?

Obama's visit to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania will bring to four the number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa that the U.S. president has visited in the last four years. He stopped briefly in Ghana in his first term.

In contrast, China's president and vice president have visited 30 African countries over the same period, said Mwangi Kimenyi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

There is also a sense that the United States may be resting on its laurels.

"There hasn't really been a presence of U.S. companies since 1994, taking advantage of the new opportunities," Haroon Bhorat, a professor at the University of Cape Town said recently, speaking of South Africa.

"So, you've seen new emerging markets entering into other emerging markets like South Africa and taking advantage of economic opportunities in a way where the U.S., already with a foothold, arguably hasn't done enough."

Obama's aides have argued that he has had two wars and a deep economic crisis to deal with since he took office in 2009.

Obama has also said that U.S. interactions with Africa have included goals of social and political development, unlike those of China, which he said were more narrowly focused on commercial benefits.

"A lot of people are pleased that China is involved in Africa," he told reporters travelling with him on Friday.

"On the other hand, they recognize that China's primary interest is being able to obtain access for natural resources in Africa to feed the manufacturers in export-driven policies of the Chinese economy."

That relationship makes Africa an exporter of raw materials but does not create jobs in Africa and is not a sustainable model over the long-term, he added.

In Pretoria on Saturday, Obama urged African nations to be tougher negotiators in accepting investments from abroad.

"You produce the raw materials, sold cheap and then all the way up the chain somebody else is making the money and creating the jobs and the value," he said.

"Make sure that whoever you're dealing with ... you're getting a good deal that's benefiting the people here and that can help to spur on broad-based development."

(Writing by Pascal Fletcher and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Gareth Jones)

The Austrian parachutist known as "Fearless Felix" reached 843.6 mph, according to official numbers released Monday. That's equivalent to Mach 1.25, or 1.25 times the speed of sound.

His top speed initially was estimated at 10 mph slower at 834 mph, or Mach 1.24.

Either way, he became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. He wore a pressurized suit and hopped from a capsule hoisted by a giant helium balloon over New Mexico.

Baumgartner was supersonic for a half-minute "quite remarkable," according to Brian Utley, the record-keeping official who was present for the Oct. 14 feat.

The 43-year-old's heart rate remained below 185 beats a minute, and his breathing was fairly steady.

The leap was from an altitude of 127,852 feet. That's 248 feet lower than original estimates, but still stratospheric.

"He jumped from a little bit lower, but he actually went a little bit faster, which was pretty exciting," said Art Thompson, technical project director for the Red Bull-sponsored project.

"It's fun for us to see reaching Mach speeds and proving out a lot of the safety systems," Thompson said in a phone interview from his aerospace company in Lancaster, Calif.

Thompson said everything pretty much unfolded as anticipated, with no big surprises in the final report. The updated records were provided by Utley, official observer for the National Aeronautic Association's contest and records board. Utley was in Roswell, N.M., for Baumgartner's grand finale following two test jumps.

Based on all the data collected from sensors on Baumgartner's suit, Utley determined that Baumgartner was 34 seconds into his jump when he reached Mach 1. The speed for breaking the sound barrier depends on the temperature at a given altitude; for Baumgartner, that came together just shy of 110,000 feet.

He reached peak speed by the time he was at 91,300 feet, 50 seconds into the jump, and was back to subsonic by 75,300 feet, give or take, 64 seconds into his free fall.

His entire free fall lasted four minutes, 20 seconds. He used a parachute to cover the final 5,000 feet, landing on his feet in the desert outside Roswell.

Not everything went well.

Baumgartner went into a dreaded flat spin while still supersonic. He spun for 13 seconds at approximately 60 revolutions per minute, making 14 to 16 spins before using his body to regain control, Thompson said. The skydiver was well within safety limits the entire time, he noted. Baumgartner's brain remained under 2G, or two times the force of gravity, during the spin.

If the flat spin had lasted longer and been more severe exceeding six continuous seconds at 3.5 G Baumgartner's drogue, or stabilizing, parachute would have deployed automatically. Doctors worried about him blacking out and suffering a stroke or, in the case of a suit tear, his blood boiling at such an extreme altitude. The outside temperature registered as low as minus 96 Fahrenheit.

In the foreword of the 71-page report, Baumgartner said he never imagined how many people would share in his dream to make a supersonic free fall from so high.

Some 52 million people watched YouTube's live stream of the exploit.

The scientific and engineering experts who helped bring him back alive "broke boundaries in their own fields just as surely as I broke the sound barrier," Baumgartner wrote.

Baumgartner shattered the previous record set by Joe Kittinger, an Air Force officer, in 1960. Kittinger did not quite reach supersonic speed during his jump from 19.5 miles up.

Kittinger noted in the Red Bull Stratos report (Stratos for stratosphere) that future work is needed to test a stabilizing parachute for use at extreme altitudes.

The private project was aimed, from the start, at helping future space crews whether NASA or commercial survive high-altitude accidents.

If a highly trained jumper like Baumgartner with 2,500 jumps couldn't prevent a flat spin, "an astronaut, pilot or space tourist could not overcome this spinning probability," Kittinger wrote.

Thompson agreed, noting that given the right safety gear and the right conditions, there's "a remote possibility" a space crew could survive even under such harsh circumstances as were faced by the space shuttle Columbia astronauts.

All seven astronauts perished as Columbia returned to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003. One of the crew, Laurel Clark, was married to the former NASA flight surgeon who led Baumgartner's medical team, Dr. Jonathan Clark.

"You never know what the possibilities are ... that's the direction we need to look at," Thompson said.

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Online:

http://www.redbullstratos.com/

Yahoo News asked voters to comment on President Barack Obama's climate change plan, which he largely unveiled in a speech on Tuesday. Here's one response.

COMMENTARY l When the presidentdetailing his latest assault on climate change, he presented a solution in search of a problem. Despite his insistence, which approached Al Gore levels of silliness, that the science of global warming is settled, President Obama is wide of the mark on his facts.

the rise in global temperatures stopped in the late 1990s and has not resumed since even though 100 billion tons of carbon have been pumped into the atmosphere between 2000 and 2010.

The president also intends to double down on his green energy folly, supporting alternative energy technologies before they are ready for the marketplace. The embarrassment of Solyendra has clearly not cooled his enthusiasm for environmentally correct boondoggles.

His insistence that energy efficiency standards be imposed on appliances and cars by government fiat completes the folly.

President Obama's environmental/green energy agenda has already failed the test of the democratic process. Even when Congress was controlled entirely by Democrats, it recoiled from passing cap and trade. So the president intends to use executive orders and the regulatory process to get his way no matter what Congress or the people think.

The result of all of this, if not stopped, will be a punch in the gut to the weak economy, a loss of jobs, and all for no purpose whatsoever except, as an adviser stated , to wage a "war on coal."

Abandoning his suit jacket under a sweltering sun at Georgetown University, Obama issued a dire warning about the environment: Temperatures are rising, sea level is climbing, the Arctic ice is melting and the world is doing far too little to stop it. Obama said the price for inaction includes lost lives and homes and hundreds of billions of dollars.

"As a president, as a father and as an American, I'm here to say we need to act," Obama said. "I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that's beyond fixing."

At the core of Obama's plan are new controls on new and existing power plants that emit carbon dioxide heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming. The program also will boost renewable energy production on federal lands, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures. Obama called for the U.S. to be a global leader in the search for solutions.

But Obama's campaign will face extensive obstacles, including a complicated, lengthy process of implementation and the likelihood that the limits on power plants will be challenged in court. Likewise, the instantaneous political opposition that met his plan made clear the difficulty the president will face in seeking broad support.

"There will be legal challenges. No question about that," former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said in an interview. "It's a program that's largely executive. He doesn't need Congress. What that does, of course, is make them (Congress) madder."

Obama also offered a rare insight into his deliberations on whether to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, deeming it in America's interests only if it doesn't worsen carbon pollution. Obama has faced intense political pressure from supporters and opponents of the 1,200-mile pipeline from Canada to Texas.

Declaring the scientific debate over climate change and its causes obsolete, Obama mocked those who deny that humans are contributing to the warming of the planet.

"We don't have time for a meeting of the flat-earth society," Obama said.

Obama's announcement followed years of inaction by Congress to combat climate change. A first-term effort by Obama to use a market-based approach called cap-and-trade to lower emissions failed, and in February a newly re-elected Obama issued lawmakers an ultimatum in his State of the Union: "If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will."

Four months later, impatient environmental activists reveled in the news that Obama was finally taking matters into his own hands, announcing a series of steps that don't require congressional approval.

"This is the change we have been waiting for," said Michael Brune, who runs the Sierra Club, an environmental group. "Today, President Obama has shown he is keeping his word to future generations."

Republicans on both sides of the Capitol dubbed Obama's plan a continuation of his "war on coal" and "war on jobs." The National Association of Manufacturers claimed Obama's proposals would drive up costs. Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of the coal-heavy state of West Virginia slammed what she called Obama's "tyrannical efforts to bankrupt the coal industry."

"The federal government should leave us the hell alone," said Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, whose agency handles Texas' environment and energy markets.

Even industry groups that have been friendly to Obama and supportive of his climate goals, such as the Edison Electric Institute, which represents power plants, signaled their apprehension by calling for "achievable compliance limits and deadlines."

Obama said the same arguments have been used in the past when the U.S. has taken other steps to protect the environment.

"That's what they said every time," Obama said. "And every time, they've been wrong."

Obama broke his relative silence on Keystone XL, explicitly linking the project to global warming for the first time in a clear overture to environmental activists who want the pipeline nixed. The pipeline would carry carbon-intensive oil from Canadian tar sands to the Texas Gulf Coast refineries and has sparked an intense partisan fight.

"Our national interest would be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution," Obama said.

The White House indicated Obama was referring to overall, net emissions that take into account what would happen under alternative scenarios. A State Department report this year said other methods to transport the oil like shipping it on trains could yield even higher emissions.

"The standard the president set today should lead to speedy approval of the Keystone pipeline," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Announcing he will allow more renewable energy projects on public lands, Obama set a goal to power the equivalent of 6 million homes by 2020 from sources like wind and solar, effectively doubling the current capacity. The set of actions also includes a new set of fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks, more aggressive efficiency targets for buildings and appliances, and $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to spur innovation.

By far the most sweeping element and the one likely to cause the most consternation is new limits on carbon dioxide pollution from power plants.

The administration has already proposed rules for new coal-fired plants, but they have been delayed amid industry concerns about the cost. A presidential memorandum Obama issued Tuesday directs the EPA to revise and reissue the new plant rules by September, then finalize them "in a timely fashion."

The key prize for environmental groups comes in Obama's instruction that the EPA propose rules for the nation's existing plants by June 2014, then finalize them by June 2015 and implement them by June 2016 just as the presidential campaign to replace Obama will be in full swing.

Rather than issue a specific, uniform standard that plants must meet, the EPA will work with states, power sector leaders and other parties to develop plans that meet the needs of individual states and also achieve the objective of reducing emissions.

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Associated Press writers Matthew Daly and Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington and Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston, contributed to this report.

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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP