Hello Jupiter!

Hello Jupiter!

PASADENA, Calif.

Braving intense radiation, a NASA spacecraft reached Jupiter on Monday after a five-year voyage to begin exploring the king of the planets.

Ground controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory erupted in applause when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft beamed home news that it was circling Jupiter’s poles.

The arrival at Jupiter was dramatic. As Juno approached its target, it fired its rocket engine to slow itself down and gently slipped into orbit. Because of the communication time lag between Jupiter and Earth, Juno was on autopilot when it executed the daring move.

Prosecutors: Man paid woman to let him abuse girls

ENGLEWOOD, N.J.

Prosecutors say a New Jersey man paid a Philadelphia woman to allow him to sexually assault two girls for years.

Alfredo Rosales, of Englewood, and Esperanza Mani-Cortez each face three counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts each of sexual assault and child endangerment and single counts of aggravated criminal sexual contact.

Bergen County prosecutors say they learned Friday that the 51-year-old Rosales might be engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl. They say an investigation determined Rosales had been sexually assaulting the 14-year-old and a 12-year-old girl since 2010.

Authorities wouldn’t say whether Rosales or the 44-year-old Mani-Cortez was related to the children. They say Mani-Cortez made the girls available in return for “financial compensation.”

Amnesty documents ‘chilling’ abuses by groups in Syria

BEIRUT

Amnesty International says some opposition groups in Syria have adopted methods of abuse similar to those employed by the government, after documenting a “chilling” wave of torture, abductions and summary killings in insurgent-controlled areas.

In a report released Tuesday, the London-based rights group says civilians in insurgent-controlled areas are living under the rule of the gun, facing widening abuse that often amounts to war crimes. The report details 24 cases of abductions since 2012 of activists, religious or ethnic minorities as well as three children, two of whom remain missing.

The abuses were committed in northern Syria by five armed groups, including some backed by the U.S. and other regional powers, and al-Qaida’s branch in Syria.

Suspected militant dies in Indonesia suicide bombing

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Indonesian police said a suspected militant has died in a suicide-bombing attack Tuesday outside police headquarters in the city of Solo.

The attack about 7.30 a.m. local time also injured one policeman.

Maj. Gen. Condro Kirono, chief of Central Java Police, said a bomb squad is combing the area around the police headquarters in Solo for explosives.

He said authorities believe the attack was carried out by a militant network that targets police and other security forces.

Solo is known as a hotbed of Islamic radicalism in Java, one of Indonesia’s main islands. The city is home to the fundamentalist Al Mukmin Islamic boarding school founded by Abu Bakar Bashir, the aging spiritual leader of the Bali bombers, which produced a generation of violent militants.

Associated Press