Oregon State University photo

The U.S. space agency has introduced eight new astronaut candidates, selected from a pool of 6,300 applicants.

The new astronaut trainees, Josh Cassada, Victor Glover, Nick Hague, Christina Hammock, Nicole Mann, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir and Dr. Andrew Morgan, have all dreamed of becoming space explorers. During the past year-and-a-half, they have passed rigorous medical and psychological evaluations, and have performed well during multiple tests and interviews. Now they are letting their families and employers know that they are changing careers, all in the pursuit of their dream.

NASA's Janet Kavandi, a veteran astronaut and the director of Flight Crew Operations, says the candidates are an amazing group of people. 

Once they complete their training, they'll join NASA's astronaut corps, which currently stands at 48. That is about one-third the size it was at its peak a decade ago.

"With a smaller astronaut corps and fewer people in the office, now each person needs to have as diverse a background as possible, so we tried to work hard to make sure that the eight people we got had a broad spectrum of experiences, and I think you can tell that from their qualifications," Ms. Kavandi said.

Most of the candidates either are presently in the military or have served in the military. One is a medical doctor. Some are civilians who are trained scientists, and several have spent ample time in a cockpit. The candidates are all in their 30s, and they will begin their astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas this August

Candidate Josh Cassada, a former naval aviator, was emotional in his video introduction that was broadcast on NASA TV Monday.

"I think if society isn't exploring, we're really just kind of sustaining, and to be able to contribute to that exploration in any small way is really exciting to me," he said.

Candidate Christina Hammock serves as the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration station chief in American Samoa.

"What actually inspired me to make the move to actually do the application was just reflecting on my career and realizing that through following my own personal dreams, I had accumulated a set of skills that I thought could really be useful in contributing to human space flight," she said.

Nick Hague, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, said this was the third time he applied to the astronaut corps.

"My parents are going to be excited.  They know that this has been a life-long goal, trying to become part of the program," he said. "My brothers, as they always do, will give me a hard time." 

Half of the new astronaut trainees are women. NASA says this is the highest percentage of female candidates ever selected for a class.

"That was not by choice or by determination," said Ms. Kavandi. "We never determine how many people of each gender we're going to take, but these were the most qualified people of the ones that we interviewed. They earned every bit of the right to be there."

Ms. Kavandi said she attributes this to women's achievements in demanding fields that put them on equal footing with male candidates.

This is NASA's 21st astronaut class. The U.S. space agency has selected and trained 330 astronauts since the initial class of 1959.

NASA says its plan is to keep an active astronaut corps of between 45 and 55 people.   


Snowden denies telling Chinese
information about surveillance


The British newspaper The Guardian says a former U.S. intelligence contractor who recently exposed some U.S. surveillance operations has denied he had any contact with the Chinese government.

The newspaper said Edward Snowden made the comment Monday in a live question-and-answer session with Internet users, hosted on The Guardian Web site. Snowden has been hiding in the autonomous Chinese territory of Hong Kong since leaking U.S. intelligence documents to several newspapers earlier this month.

Former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney denounced Snowden as a traitor in a Sunday television interview, warning that the former National Security Agency contractor could provide classified U.S. information to Chinese authorities.

In Monday's online interview, Snowden is quoted as calling Cheney's assertion a predictable smear and saying that being labeled a traitor by the former vice president is the highest honor you can give an American.

Snowden's comments could not be independently verified.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying also denied that Snowden has spied for China, calling the suggestion complete nonsense.

In her Monday briefing, Ms. Hua urged U.S. authorities to pay attention to international concerns about their surveillance operations and provide what she called a necessary explanation. It was the first comment by a Chinese official on the NSA leaks.

In another part of the online interview, The Guardian quoted Snowden as saying U.S. intelligence analysts have the ability to view the content of U.S. citizen phone and e-mail communications without a warrant, provided that they label such data collection as incidental to the search for suspected terrorists.

Snowden also criticized other U.S. political figures including President Barack Obama, senior members of Congress and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. He accused them of colluding to expand a suspicion-less surveillance operation that he described as an abuse of human rights.

The former NSA contractor did not mention any specific cases of U.S. intelligence operatives viewing private communications of Americans and did not give any examples of alleged rights abuses by those operatives.

Some U.S. officials and lawmakers have accused Snowden of damaging national security by tipping off U.S. enemies about previously-secret surveillance programs and enabling them to change tactics. Snowden rejected that charge, saying "I did not reveal any U.S. operations against legitimate military targets."

Snowden fled to Hong Kong last month and has vowed to use its British-rooted legal system to fight any attempt to extradite him to the United States. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has said Snowden is under criminal investigation but it has not filed any charges against him or asked for his extradition.

In an earlier report Monday, The Guardian said documents leaked by Snowden show that Britain spied on diplomats attending the 2009 Group of 20 summit in London.

The newspaper said Britain's eavesdropping agency, the General Communications Headquarters, hacked into the phones and computers of Turkish and South African delegates at the summit. It said the agency also tricked some G-20 delegates into using Internet cafes that it secretly modified to intercept diplomatic communications.

The Guardian published redacted versions of some of the documents, but their authenticity could not be immediately confirmed. Their release coincided with Britain hosting the first day of a Group of Eight industrialized nations summit in Northern Ireland.


Obama's popularity sags
in midst of multiple scandals


Controversies are taking a toll on U.S. President Barack Obama's popularity with Americans, according to a public opinion poll published by CNN.

The data show Obama's approval rating fell 8 percentage points over the past month, to 45 percent. CNN said that is the lowest approval rating in a year and a half. 

The poll follows revelations about government surveillance of Americans, unfair treatment of conservative groups by the tax agency, government snooping into reporters' phone records, and questions about the way the administration handled an attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Libya.

Pollsters working for CNN questioned more than 1,000 Americans by telephone between June 11 and 13.

Other recent polls showed mixed results on Obama. Gallup and Rasmussen show more voters disapprove of the president's performance than approve of it. But a poll conducted for Time magazine showed more poll respondents approve than disapprove.


U.S. firms balk at signing
workplace safety agreement


The tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza clothing factory in Bangladesh in April that killed more than 1,200 people has brought greater pressure to increase garment building safety and worker protections.  A number of European fashion companies have signed an accord to address workplace safety.  But, most U.S. retail firms have not signed the pact.

The factory fell just days after it was considered unsafe, but employees were told to come to work anyway.  

U.S. Rep. George Miller, a long-time advocate for garment workers’ rights, recently visited the site.  He also put blame on the retail industry, which he says pits one factory against another to drive the prices of apparel to its lowest level.

“So the factory owners are under stress all the time about whether they're going to get a new contract.  That doesn't leave a lot of room for improvements in working conditions in factories. That really hampers the ability of the factory owners in upgrading their factories," said Miller.

The Rana Plaza tragedy has created a call for action.  This includes the Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh that legally binds apparel retailers to having independent building and fire safety inspections in factories.

Miller is urging U.S. retail firms to sign the pact, but so far, only a few have.   However, some 40 European companies have signed it, and Miller explains one reason why.

“Many of the American firms use middle men.  Anytime something bad happens in a factory they say that was unauthorized, where Europeans, in many instances, put people in the factories to monitor what's taking place," he said.

U.S. firms are concerned about their legal liability, says global trade expert Kimberly Elliott.

“They may be more concerned than the European firms about actually being sued.  They don't want to have it be that it's their responsibility to pay for health and safety for factories that they don't own," said Ms. Elliott.

Instead, these clothing firms, including the giant Wal-mart company and fashion retailer The Gap, want to continue self-regulation.   Both Wal-mart and the Gap said they were not available for TV interviews.  But in a statement, a Gap spokesperson said while the company shares the goals of the accord, it also believes the Bangladeshi government and local industry and worker representatives need to be included.  

Ms. Elliott says the garment factory collapse and a massive fire at another clothing factory in Bangladesh five months earlier show that self-regulation isn't working.

“We're still having big problems in the garment sector.  There have been improvements.  Some of the programs are better than others, but it's not a solution. I think it's more about protecting the brand than improving conditions," she said.

A U.S. State Department official says American retail companies need to make their own decisions as to whether they will sign the accord.


U.S. High Court rejects
voter citizenship rule


The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot demand proof of citizenship when people register to vote.

The justices' 7-2 ruling Monday struck down Arizona's requirement that voters prove they are U.S. citizens in order to use a federal registration form. The court's ruling could affect other states with similar laws, including Alabama, Georgia and Kansas. Twelve other states are contemplating similar legislation.

States say the laws were designed to prevent voter fraud, but civil rights groups said the Arizona law was aimed at discouraging certain groups from voting, such as Native Americans, the elderly and minorities.

The ruling only affects those trying to register using federal forms. Most register through the state, meaning they will continue to be asked to provide proof of citizenship when signing up to vote.


Religions turning green
despite natural conservatism


Few religious communities have gone as far in fighting climate change as a church in Queensland, Australia, which has 24 solar panels bolted to the roof in the shape of a Christian cross.
 
“It's very effective. It's inspired some members of our congregation to install panels on their homes,” Rev. David Lowry said of the solar cross mounted in 2009 on the Caloundra Uniting Church, which groups three Protestant denominations.
 
Many religions have been wary of moving to install renewable energy sources on their places of worship, from cathedrals to mosques or of taking a strong stand on climate change in general despite teachings that people should be custodians of nature.
 
But slowly, that may be changing, thanks to new religious leaders including Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
 
Francis's stress on environmental protection since he was  elected in March and his choice of the name of a 13th century nature lover, St. Francis of Assisi, may make a difference for all religions trying to work out how to safeguard the planet from threats including climate change.
 
Under his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican took green steps such as installing solar panels on the roof of the Papal Audience Hall in 2008. It says it wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but has no formal target.
 
“Religious environmentalism is slowly increasing,” said John Grim, a coordinator of the forum on religion and ecology at Yale University in the United States. “It's very uneven. Religions tend to be very conservative in their practice and doctrine.”
 
Grim said the pope's influence was significant since few other religions recognize a single earthly leader, and there are 1.2 billion Catholics, amounting to a sixth of humanity, according to the Vatican.
 
In his inaugural homily, Pope Francis stressed that people should safeguard the Earth.
 
“Let us be 'protectors' of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world!” he said.
 
In a 2010 book “On Heaven and Earth”, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he said mankind sometimes lost respect for nature, “then ecological problems arise, like global warming.”
 
Some religions have been reluctant to be associated with climate change policies because of divisions among believers. A 2012 Pew Research Center poll showed that only 42 percent of Americans agree global warming is mainly man-made, a view overwhelmingly held by climate scientists, for example.
 
The Church of England says it aims to cut its carbon emissions by 42 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 across widely varying energy use in 16,000 buildings, but it is an exception.
 
“Some churches are used all week and others used very occasionally, with only one light bulb,” said David Shreeve, environmental advisor to the Archbishops' Council. He said other religions were now asking for advice on emissions cuts.  Irrespective of climate change, big savings can be made by plugging drafts and improving heating and lighting.
 
Some believers object that solar panels can damage or disfigure fragile historic buildings. Some cathedrals, like the Catholic St. Stephens in Vienna, have elaborate patterns on the roof.
 
Bradford Cathedral, where the oldest parts of the Nave date from 1458, installed solar panels in 2011 and said it was the first cathedral in England and perhaps in the world to generate its own power.
 
Among other examples, a planned mosque in Bursa, west Turkey, aims to use solar panels and install a vertical axis wind turbine - without big revolving blades on a minaret.
 
“Mosques ... can be covered with photovoltaic panels,” the mosque's architect ECelik Erengezgin said.
 
Green initiatives by religious leaders and groups are not new.
 
The Jewish Temple Emanuel in Lowell, Massachusetts, installed solar panels in 1978 in what is believed to be the first such system on a religious building in North America, the Lowell Green Building Commission says.
 
And Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, has long been called the Green Patriarch for seeking to protect the environment, from organizing conferences about fresh water to writing an encyclical in 2012 urging repentance for “our sinfulness in destroying the world.”
 
St. Francis has long been a green inspiration.
 
In what are known as the Assisi Declarations from 1986, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Islamic leaders called for people to live in harmony with nature. Baha'i, Jainism and Sikhism later added their own declarations.
 
In the United States, many evangelical Christians stress a broad need for stewardship of creation, rather than man-made climate change, as a spur to action.
 
Many evangelical Christians are Republicans who are more likely than Democrats to doubt that climate change is mostly caused by human activity, such as burning fossil fuels.
 
“Americans allow their politics to inform their faith,” said Katharine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian and climate scientist at Texas Tech University.
 
In Australia, Lowry said the solar panels were saving money and cutting greenhouse gas emissions for the Uniting Church, which brings together Methodists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians.
 
“The solar cross ... doesn't bring hordes of people into the church,” he said. “But it helps people understand that God is a presence in the world in which we live.”
 
The Vatican has an observer seat at U.N. talks among 200 nations who have agreed to work out, by the end of 2015, a climate deal to avert more floods, droughts and rising sea levels.
 
Pope Francis himself has focused on environmental protection without yet spelling out clear solutions.
 
Raising awareness of the environment could be a step to modernize the church, besieged by scandal for covering up sexual abuse of children by priests and whose strict moral traditions are often at odds with a increasingly secular society.
 
“With Pope Francis there is new hope,” said the Rev. Henrik Grape of the Church of Sweden, who is also a member of the World Council of Churches' climate change group.


Chinese supercomputer called
the world's fastest device


China can now boast the world’s fastest supercomputer, according to the semiannual TOP500 official listing of the world's fastest supercomputers released Monday.

Tianhe-2, or Milky Way-2, clocked in at number one with a performance of 33.86 petaflops per second, according to a press release issued byTOP500. The computer was developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology and will be deployed at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzho, China, by the end of the year.

China last wore the crown of fastest supercomputer in November of 2010 with Tianhe-1.

The Chinese computer was a surprising winner, according to the release, because it was developed two years ahead of schedule.

Tianhe-2 has 16,000 nodes, each with two Intel Xeon IvyBridge processors and three Xeon Phi processors for a combined total of 3,120,000 computing cores.

"Most of the features of the system were developed in China, and they are only using Intel for the main compute part," said TOP500 editor Jack Dongarra in a news release accompanying the announcement. "That is, the interconnect, operating system, front-end processors and software are mainly Chinese," said Dongarra, who toured the Tianhe-2 development facility in May.

The previous number one, the Cray-made Titan computer installed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, is now ranked second. The third ranking computer, IBM’s Sequoia, installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is also in the U.S.

  
John Denver tribute unites
artist to perform biggest hits


Fifteen years after his death in an ultralight plane crash and more than 40 years after his first hit, John Denver’s songs are getting a new lease on life. “The Music Is You,” is a new tribute that brings musicians from various genres and generations together to re-imagine Denver’s biggest hits.

The musicians include southern rockers My Morning Jacket, who cover “Leaving On A Jet Plane.” The 10-piece alternative band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros reinterprets “Wooden Indian.” And multi-Grammy winning singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams delivers a soulful take on “This Old Guitar.” Ms. Williams says she was determined to make the song her own.

“You know, you don’t want to do a John Denver song and sound like John Denver. I mean, you want to show that ‘Wow, look how this song can be done,” she said.“You know, the more I got into it, I was really moved. I was actually moved to tears a little ... you can hear that in the song.”

Unlike some tribute discs, “The Music Is You” was not produced to bring attention to an underrated or forgotten artist. Denver was a superstar, selling millions of records, packing concert venues the world over and starring in hit movies. He was instantly recognizable, even when on humanitarian missions in the most remote places.

Denver would have been 70 years old this December. Producers of the tribute CD hope that the new versions of old favorites will please Denver’s loyal followers while winning his music new fans.  Among the new versions on the release is Evan Dando of the Lemonheads singing "Looking for Space.”

Brandi Carlile, 32, grew up listening to Denver’s music and his writing inspired her own career as a singer-songwriter.

“I hope that people that love John Denver’s music will look at this album and its tribute as an honest to goodness inspired version of how we as singer-songwriters are influenced by John Denver’s music and by his lyrics and his life," she said. "I hope that they’ll see that none of us are trying to be John Denver, because that is a bar that no one will reach.”
   
Teaming up with Emmylou Harris, Brandi Carlile took on the daunting task of covering Denver’s iconic “Take Me Home, Country Roads” for “The Music Is You.” They’ve made it sound like their own song…that’s the mark of a good tribute.