The "Global Exploration Roadmap" is an update to a plan first put forward in 2011 that unites the interests of the space agencies of Italy, France, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Ukraine, Russia, the United Kingdom, as well as the European Space Agency and NASA.

The roadmap sends "a clear signal that the global community wants to be a part of NASA's unifiedstrategic plan, with robotic and human missions to destinations that include near-Earth asteroids, the moon and Mars," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said today during a press conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to introduce theselected to join the agency. []

"Beau Biden is being evaluated to determine the cause of an episode of disorientation and weakness that he experienced while on vacation with his family," the White House said in a statement.

Biden, 44, is the oldest son of the vice president and was hospitalized in 2010 for what doctors described as a mild stroke. He is the attorney general for the state of Delaware.

The younger Biden was hospitalized on Wednesday after a drive to Indiana for a holiday, the state DOJ said.

The next day, he traveled to Philadelphia to consult with his doctor at Jefferson University Hospital. He was discharged from the hospital and spent the weekend at home, his office said.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Faced with security crises across the Mideast, North Africa and Asia, the White House largely has turned its attention away from Iraq since U.S. forces left in 2011. But the country has been hit with deadly bombings at a rate reminiscent of Iraq's darkest days, stoking new fears of a civil war. More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in terror-related attacks in July, the deadliest month since 2008.

The violence has spurred Baghdad to seek new U.S. aid to curb the threat, said Iraqi Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. He said a U.S. assistance package could include a limited number of advisers, intelligence analysis and surveillance assets including lethal drones.

"There is greater realization in the Iraq government that we should not shy away from coming and asking for some help and assistance," Zebari told reporters Friday in Washington.

He described U.S. interest in Iraq after the 2011 troop withdrawal as "indifferent, completely" but said that seemed to shift as the White House realized al-Qaida's resurrection there.

"Recently I noticed, and during this visit specifically, there is a renewed interest because of the seriousness of the situation and the challenges," Zebari said. "I think that is because of the threat of terrorism, the threat of the renewal of al-Qaida and its affiliates has become a serious, serious concern to the U.S."

The American troops left Iraq in December 2011 as required under a 2008 security agreement. Both countries tried to negotiate plans, but failed, to keep at least several thousand U.S. forces in Iraq beyond the deadline to maintain security. But the proposal fell through after Baghdad refused to give the troops immunity from legal charges, as Washington demanded.

Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops were killed, and American taxpayers spent at least $767 billion during the nearly nine years of war in Iraq.

Zebari attributed the insurgency's comeback to its partnerships with al-Qaida fighters in neighboring Syria and outlawed Baath Party extremists in Iraq's south. Intelligence experts have described the terror group's footing in Iraq and Syria as a new al-Qaida hub in the Mideast, one that has sought for years to underscore Baghdad's inability to protect its people.

Most of the attacks in Iraq target government officials, security forces and Shiite pilgrims and neighborhoods. A senior U.S. administration official this week said the number of suicide bombings in Iraq has more than tripled over the last months, and it's believed that most of the attackers are coming from Syria.

"The security situation in Iraq is deteriorating rapidly and is of significant concern," Sen. Bob Corker, top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said this week after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other senior Iraqi officials during a trip to Baghdad and Irbil, the Kurdish capital in Iraq's north.

"A United States foreign policy that does not recognize this will be very problematic," said Corker, R-Tenn.

Distracted by a civil war in Syria, a policy pivot to Asia, growing extremism in North Africa and Iran's nuclear ambitions, the White House put Iraq on the back burner.

Egypt, once reliably stable, has disintegrated over deadly street riots and attacks that killed more than 600 people this week during protests over the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Jordan, a key U.S. ally, is threatening to collapse under financial strain caused, in large part, by more than 1 million refugees who have crossed into the country from Syria. The U.S. is also leading peace talks between Israel and Palestinian authorities, and watching a growing threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. A threat from al-Qaida led to the closing of 19 diplomatic posts across the region last week.

"That's a pretty large agenda," said Jon Alterman, a Mideast expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "Iraq is no longer viewed as central to everything the U.S. cares about in the Middle East. But Iraq is still relevant to a wide range that the U.S. cares about."

In the 20 months since the troop withdrawal, the U.S. has sought to stay out of Iraqi affairs and engage with its government as Washington would with any other nation. A majority of Americans agreed with that approach, and 58 percent of U.S. adults said in a Washington Post-ABC poll taken in March that the Iraq war had not been worth the fight.

Still, U.S. officials say they remain actively involved in Iraq, and have quietly stepped up diplomatic efforts since March, when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Baghdad for the first time in his new post. They largely have focused on ensuring Sunni Muslims are included in Iraq's Shiite-led government, and have urged Shiite leaders to resist retaliating to the Sunni insurgency's attacks in what State Department spokesman Mike Lavallee described Friday as "quite intensive" diplomacy.

But the engagement also has centered on making sure Iraq's government remains independent from the Shiite government in Iran and staying out of the civil war in Syria, where Sunni Muslim rebels are seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, an Alawite. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Washington has repeatedly chastised Baghdad for allowing Iranian planes to fly weapons over Iraqi airspace to Assad's forces, a violation of U.N. sanctions. Zebari said Friday that Baghdad has inspected at least 15 flights to Syria since March, and did not find any fighters or weapons. He said most of the inspected flights were from Iran or Syria, but also included planes form North Korea and Armenia.

But Iraq is grappling with its own sectarian tensions that experts say could spawn civil war.

In a report released this week, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group described boiling frustrations among Iraqi Sunnis for being politically sidelined and, in at least one deadly raid in April, targeted by security forces.

"A new wave of violence is engulfing Iraq," the report concluded. "Citizens and politicians alike express fears of a return to sectarian strife."

___

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/larajakesAP

For those eager to rejoin Twitter lest they miss a hot link, heres the kernel: the characteristics that McDougall deplores are requirements for the survival of women in science (actually in all endeavors that arent explicitly coded feminine). And the permission nay, requirement to be a strong silent kick-ass may be one of the few upsides of being a non(whiteAnglo)male in a STEM field, though it comes with a heavy load of baggage.

Judge Joseph Laplante asked David Kwiatkowski, 34, why he wasn't going to trial.

"Because I'm guilty," Kwiatkowski responded.

Kwiatkowski pleaded guilty to 14 charges of drug theft and tampering in New Hampshire, along with two similar counts in Kansas, although he was never formally charged there. Sentencing was set for Dec. 3, at which time the judge could impose a different sentence.

Before he was hired by New Hampshire's Exeter Hospital in 2011, Kwiatkowski worked as a cardiac technologist in 18 hospitals in seven states, moving from job to job despite being fired at least four times over allegations of drug use and theft.

Forty-six people in four states have been diagnosed with the same strain of hepatitis C Kwiatkowski carries and is accused of spreading by replacing stolen painkiller syringes with saline-filled syringes tainted with his blood. Thirty-two patients were infected in New Hampshire, seven in Maryland, six in Kansas and one in Pennsylvania. Kwiatkowski also worked in Michigan, New York, Arizona and Georgia.

One of the Kansas patients died, and authorities say hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus that can cause liver disease and chronic health problems, played a contributing role. The charges Kwiatkowski admitted to in Kansas stem from the patient who died, and many of the other patients have experienced serious medical problems, U.S. Attorney John Kacavas said.

"Tragically, the defendant's admissions of guilt today are too little, too late for those victims," he said. "There were many warning signs, there were many stop signs, there were many red lights along that road that were simply ignored by the defendant himself, a health care worker, by other individuals and entities in the health care industry."

Kwiatkowski grew up in Michigan and started his career there before becoming a traveling hospital technician who was assigned by staffing agencies to fill temporary openings around the country. According to the plea agreement filed Monday, Kwiatkowski told investigators he had been stealing drugs since 2002 the year before he finished his medical training and that his actions were "killing a lot of people." His lawyers have declined numerous interview requests.

Kwiatkowski told the judge Wednesday he was addicted to drugs and alcohol and was recently diagnosed with depression, for which he is taking several medications. Asked how he was feeling Wednesday, he answered, "good."

Kacavas said most of Kwiatkowski's victims support the plea agreement, though some were disappointed that the proposed sentence wasn't longer.

"I understand victims who want nothing less than a life sentence or the death penalty I get that. But our system doesn't allow for that," he said. "The victims support this disposition for the most part but are frustrated that they will carry this infection for the rest of their lives and feel that the defendant should spend the rest of his life beyond bars, which ... if this 40-year sentence is imposed he may well do."

At least two dozen civil lawsuits related to his case are pending, most of them against Exeter Hospital, and while Wednesday's plea rules out further criminal charges against Kwiatkowski, charges against hospitals or staffing agencies are possible, Kacavas said.

"Our investigation is not done," he said. "As we approach finality in his case, we are also looking elsewhere."

(Reuters) - Dereck Seltzer wasn't happy when he learned that Green Day used his artwork without permission as a video backdrop at its concerts. But a federal appeals court on Wednesday said the popular rock band didn't violate his rights.

The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California, in what it called a "close and difficult case," can make it easier for performers to incorporate works of art to enhance the experience of concert fans, so long as they don't simply copy the artwork or diminish its value.

Seltzer, a Los Angeles illustrator, in 2003 created "Scream Icon," an abstract image of an anguished, contorted face that has been used on posters and plastered on walls as street art.

During a 2009 tour, Green Day, whose lead singer is Billie Joe Armstrong and which has sold more than 70 million records, used a version of the artwork covered by a red "spray-painted" cross in a video backdrop for its song "East Jesus Nowhere."

The version had been adapted from a photo of a weathered and torn copy of Seltzer's work posted on a brick wall on a corner of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Seltzer sued after rejecting a proposed settlement that included concert tickets. But a federal district judge in Los Angeles in 2011 rejected his claims of copyright infringement and violations of the Lanham Act, a federal trademark law.

In upholding that decision, Circuit Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote for the 9th Circuit that Green Day's use of "Scream Icon" was fair, and was "transformative and not overly commercial" despite making few alterations.

"With the spray-painted cross, in the context of a song about the hypocrisy of religion, surrounded by religious iconography, (the) video backdrop using Scream Icon conveys new information, new aesthetics, new insights and understandings that are plainly distinct from those of the original piece," O'Scannlain wrote for a three-judge panel.

O'Scannlain said Seltzer's testimony that the value of his work wasn't affected, and the absence of the work from Green Day merchandise and promotional material, also weighed in the band's favor.

The 9th Circuit did overturn a $201,000 award of attorney's fees to Green Day. Even though Seltzer lost, it said, he had not been "objectively unreasonable" by suing.

Nathan Canby, a lawyer at Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman representing Seltzer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Peter Anderson, a lawyer for Green Day, did not immediately respond to similar requests.

The case is Seltzer v Green Day Inc et al, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 11-56573.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Vicki Allen)

(Reuters) - A giant panda at the Atlanta zoo delivered an extra bundle of joy on Monday when she gave birth to twins, an apparent surprise to zoo officials who had been excitedly anticipating the birth of a single cub.

Lun Lun delivered the tiny, hairless duo at 6:21 p.m. and 6:23 p.m. EDT, the first giant panda cubs to be born in the United States in 2013, Zoo Atlanta officials said.

"We had no reason to expect twins, although we had not ruled them out," said Dwight Lawson, deputy director of Zoo Atlanta, adding that pandas regularly give birth to twins. "On the few ultrasound images that Mom actually cooperated with, we only saw one developing fetus."

Twin cubs have never been born at Zoo Atlanta, zoo officials said. Lun Lun has given birth to three cubs there.

Giant pandas are an endangered species that make their homes in a few mountain ranges in central China. There are about 1,600 living the wild, and about 300 in captivity, mostly in China, zoo officials said.

The sex of the cubs has not been determined yet, Lawson said. Panda cubs are about the size and weight of a stick of butter, and are pink, hairless and blind.

Lun Lun weighs more than 200 pounds (91 kg), he said. Panda babies are about 1/900th the size of their mothers, according to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.

While pandas often give birth to twins in the wild, they are only able to raise one at a time - leaving the second twin to perish, Lawson said.

But in a zoo setting, staff are able to incubate one cub while the mother takes care of the other, and then swap them out so she can have a chance at successfully raising both, Lawson said.

"It's physically difficult for the mother panda to manipulate more than one cub," Lawson said.

The zoo will work with experts in China to decide on how to name the twins once they turn 100 days old, Lawson said.

For example, Taiwanese rockstar Su Huilun named Lun Lun, while U.S. actor Jack Black was at the naming of her most recent cub, Po, whose namesake character Black voiced in the "Kung Fu Panda" movies.

The cubs are the fourth and fifth babies to born to Lun Lun and male Yang Yang, both 15. Their firstborn, Mei Lan, 6, is at China's Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, and the other two - 4-year-old Xi Lan and 2-year-old Po - are on site at the zoo but being prepared for a move to China later in the year.

All five offspring are the product of artificial insemination, according to zoo officials.

(Reporting by Karen Brooks in Austin, Texas; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Sandra Maler)

SYDNEY, Aug 17 (Reuters) - New Zealand coach Steve Hansen hit out at those who doubted his selection of returning skipper Richie McCaw and the quality of flyhalf Aaron Cruden after the All Blacks hammered Australia 47-29 at Sydney's Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

Before addressing the inevitable questions about how to manage complacency after such a thumping victory to open their Rugby Championship title defence, the former Wales coach felt the need to make a few points to the news conference.

Firstly, he addressed those who had questioned his wisdom in starting openside flanker McCaw so soon after the All Blacks captain had returned from a six-month sabbatical.

Although not perhaps at his very best, the 32-year-old played 72 minutes, scored his 20th test try and was the usual thorn in the side of the Australians at the breakdown.

"For Richie to come back after having the break and everyone doubting him, to get through the 70 minutes like he did just shows the character of the bloke once again, so hopefully there won't be any more doubters," he said.

He followed up by heaping praise on flyhalf Cruden, who scored a try and 13 points from the kicking tee but most importantly ran the All Blacks attack with aplomb in place of the injured Dan Carter.

"People have questioned Aaron Cruden at times at this level and I think he showed tonight that he's a true international player of world class ability and he led the team very well," Hansen said.

Then it was back to the World Cup winning veterans with dreadlocked centre Ma'a Nonu receiving the plaudits after a typically rampaging performance in midfield in his 80th test.

"Ma'a Nonu struggled all week with an ankle injury and probably played one of his better games for the All Blacks and he's had some good ones," said Hansen.

The final words of Hansen's statement were reserved for a player all but forced upon him by the late withdrawal of blindside flanker Liam Messum through injury - Steven Luatua.

"Last but not least, a young man who came into the side with five minutes to go at training on Thursday and played his first full international," Hansen said.

"I thought Steven Luatua was quite outstanding in his performance."

McCaw, who gave up a couple of early penalties and fumbled one pass early in his 117th test, said he had enjoyed being back in international rugby after missing the three-match series against France in June.

"I was just excited to be out there and run around," he said.

"The first 20 minutes I was a bit over-eager at times but I settled into it. But it was good fun to be involved again."

Hansen said the All Blacks had injury concerns over lock Luke Romano (groin) and Cruden (knee) and that Messum would not be fit for the return test against Australia in Wellington next weekend. (Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

The seven measuresdiscussed with some lawmakers ahead of time, according to aidescame in a statement from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday and include creating a program that will aid sexual-assault victims during the judicial process and will direct the Pentagon's inspector general to review closed cases.

"All of these measures will provide victims additional rights, protections, and legal support, and help ensure that sexual-assault-related investigations and judicial proceedings are conducted thoroughly and professionally," Hagel said.

But some lawmakers panned the announcement, arguing that the Pentagon's "new" measures were actually already on the books.

"The most memorable statement from the Pentagon today was from Major General Jessica Wright [retired], who said that these new policies are best practices from policies already in existence across much of the armed services," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., according to a statement. "These aren't new policies."

Sexual assaults in the military have increasingly become a high-profile issue as the Pentagon winds down wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2012, according to a Pentagon report, an estimated 26,000 service members experienced unwanted sexual contact, 7,000 more than in 2010. Pentagon officials have publicly, and repeatedly, committed to eradicating the problem.

The issue has grown in political significance as well. A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate, led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., including Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., have backed a measure that would remove the decision to pursue charges against assailants from the military chain of command, instead placing it in the hands of military prosecutors.

The Pentagon's announcement, though, has done little to satisfy those lawmakers.

"As we have heard over and over again from the victims, and the top military leadership themselves, there is a lack of trust in the system that has a chilling effect on reporting," Gillibrand said in a statement.

Gillibrand, whose military judicial review bill lost a vote during a National Defense Authorization Act markup, plans to offer an amendment to the measure when it hits the Senate floor, aides say. But she faces opposition from members of her own party, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich.

In May, comments by President Obama meant to condemn sexual assault seemingly backfired when the president called for perpetrators to be "prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged." Some argued that, as commander in chief, the comments amounted to "unlawful command influence," according to The New York Times. Lawyers for those charged with assaults began to argue their clients could not get a fair trial.

Thursday's announcement underlines the Pentagon's hard line against sexual assaults and represents an effort to change the culture in the military, which is a significant barrier to halting the assaults, veterans organizations and victim advocates say.

"We're all working toward the same mission," said Kate O'Gorman, political director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of American. "[The Pentagon] definitely has an open ear toward solutions, and sometimes you have to be that watch dog that pushes the agency to do better."

But the announcement does little to satisfy lawmakers advocating for further changes to help victims who reported attacks, only to be diagnosed with a personality disorder and removed from the military. A San Antonio Express-News series highlighted the phenomenon in May, raising questions about what the paper suggested was a double betrayal: Victims are first assaulted or raped and are then labeled with a mental illness, discharged, and stripped of benefits.

"The department's new initiative does nothing to correct the record and bring justice to sexual-assault victims that were improperly discharged with personality disorder after they reported being raped," said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. "It is important for Congress and the secretary to ensure these veterans receive the fair due process they have earned and deserve."

Figures don't exist to show how many military victims of sexual assault have been subject to such treatment, but the military discharged 31,000 service members because of a personality disorder from 2001 to 2010, according to a Vietnam Veterans Association of America study.

Walz offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have authorized a board to review these cases, but the measure did not become part of the House bill. Walz is hoping, an aide said, that a similar bill in the Senate sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., would be offered as an amendment, and a spokesman for Tester said the senator is planning to offer his bill.

"The truth of the matter is that the military are going to be the ones who lead the charge," O'Gorman said. "It is going to take consistent vigilance."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly characterized Sen. Jon Tester's plan to offer an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Tester does plan to offer his bill as an amendment.

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