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PASADENA, Calif. - For the first time, scientists have found rings of dust around planet-bearing stars - an important confirmation of theories about how planets form, NASA announced Thursday.
The Spitzer Space Telescope found the rings around five stars about the size and age of the Earth's sun, which is about 5-billion years old. A ring or disc also was found around a sixth star only a few hundred million years old. All are orbited by gaseous planets.
One scientist compared Spitzer's discovery to finding bricks left over from construction of a house, since planets are believed to form out of dust clouds.
Airport pat-downs altered: No more "hands in the air'WASHINGTON - Security screeners at the nation's airports will make a small adjustment to the way they conduct pat-down searches of passengers after receiving hundreds of complaints that the procedure was invasive, Transportation Security Administration sources said Thursday.
The change allows both male and female passengers to put down their arms after being screened on the upper body, sources said. Many passengers had said that standing in a "spread eagle" position throughout the inspection made them feel like criminals.
TSA will begin training screeners on the change on Monday. The decision comes after agency officials met last week to discuss the large volume of complaints from travelers.
"This is such a minor change, it is really not significantly going to improve the situation," said Lenora Lapidus, director of the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "We've been getting calls and complaints from women across the country, complaining that their breasts are being poked, prodded and pushed. Just saying passengers don't have to keep their arms extended is not going to address the invasiveness of these procedures."
Reporter gets house arrest for not divulging sourcePROVIDENCE, R.I. - A TV reporter was sentenced Thursday to six months of home confinement for refusing to say who leaked him an FBI videotape of a politician taking a bribe.
Jim Taricani, 55, was found guilty last month of criminal contempt for defying U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres' order to identify his source, and could have gotten up to six months in prison.
The judge went along with the punishment recommended by prosecutors, saying the only reason he did not send Taricani to prison was the reporter's health: Taricani had a heart transplant in 1996 and takes medication daily to prevent organ rejection.
Taricani is one of several journalists nationwide who have become locked in First Amendment battles with the government over confidential sources.
Elizabeth Edwards talks about her cancer on TVWASHINGTON - Elizabeth Edwards has lost a lot of her hair, which her young children find funny, and has received notes of encouragement from President Bush and first lady Laura Bush as she undergoes treatment for breast cancer.
The wife of former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards described her battle with the disease, treatment and side effects in an interview Thursday on CNN's Larry King Live . John Edwards called the experience an "up-and-down ride" for the family.
Mrs. Edwards has been receiving chemotherapy and will undergo surgery in March followed by radiation.
"We've had good success so far in reducing the size of the tumor, the lesion," she said.
Her biggest concern about her appearance was the loss of her hair, "which the kids thought was pretty amusing," she said. "But right now I have lost not all of my hair, but a lot of it, and I think I actually, without this wonderful wig, I think I look sick."
Despite his appeal in polls, Powell says he won't runBRUSSELS - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday he won't seek political office, dismissing suggestions that he run for governor or senator in New York.
Asked about a poll that shows him favored in a hypothetical matchup for the governor's race, Powell said, "I'm not going to be running for office even in my beloved home state of New York, as flattering as that poll might be."
The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll showed Powell leading Democrat Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney general, 47 percent to 42 percent if they were the candidates for governor.