Hill Politics

The mission in Afghanistan is expected to be centre-stage when leaders from 60 countries gather to meet at the NATO Summit in Chicago starting on Sunday.

LOS ANGELES — With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant engineering yet another late comeback, the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed Kobe Bryant to the brink.

Westbrook scored 10 of his 37 points during a stirring fourth-quarter rally, Durant added 31 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds left, and the Thunder seized control of the second-round series with a 103-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 on Saturday night.

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(Adds background on castle, new magnitude)

By Stephen Jewkes

BOLOGNA, Italy, May 20 (Reuters) – A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of northern Italy early on Sunday, causing at least three deaths and bringing about the collapse of rural factories and ancient bell towers in towns.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 4:04 a.m. (0204 GMT) and had a magnitude of 6.0, was in the plains near Modena in the Po River Valley and the tremors were felt in nearby regions.

It was the strongest quake to hit Italy in three years.

One person working a night shift died in the collapse of a factory and two were killed when a modern ceramics factory made of steel crumpled.

Rescue officials were checking reports that other people were buried under rubble.

There was serious damage to historic buildings such as the 14th century Estense Castle in the town of San Felice Sul Panaro, near the epicentre.

There were fears that one of the towers of the famous mediaeval castle, the town’s biggest attraction, could collapse. The town’s main church was also severely damaged.

Thousands of people living in the area rushed into the streets after the quake, which shook the major towns of Bologna, Modena, Ferrara, Rovigo, Verona and Mantua. No serious damage was reported in the larger, heavily populated towns and cities.

A series of strong aftershocks hit the area, the strongest measuring 5.1, and local mayors ordered residents to stay out of their homes.

The quake was centred 22 miles (35 km) north-northwest of Bologna at a relatively shallow depth of 6.3 miles (10 km), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The last major earthquake to hit Italy was a 6.3 magnitude quake in the central Italian city of L’Aquila in 2009, which killed nearly 300 people. (Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome and Doina Chiacu, writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by Tim Pearce)

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WASHINGTON — He barely speaks in his own first general-election ad. On the top floor of his Boston campaign headquarters, the most visible poster is one of his dad’s. His party’s leaders in Congress, the states and the lobbying world don’t bow to him, or mention him much, even as they make moves that can’t help but define his agenda for him. Arguably the key person in his campaign is Republican kingpin Karl Rove, but Rove doesn’t work there.

And this is just the way Mitt Romney and his team like it. Romney is the incidental candidate in an incidental campaign. He’s a bland, blunt instrument, but only an instrument, in a wider crusade dedicated to one goal: ousting President Barack Obama and reversing whatever policy victories he has won.

Goofy or creepy when off script, burdened by an ideologically muddled record and a penchant for privacy in his business and religious life, Romney has chosen to focus on everyone but himself and to surrender his campaign to a larger conservative effort.

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When you’ve got a goal in mind, research shows that it works to have a specific plan in place to achieve it. But that may not be the case when you’re trying to achieve several goals at once, a new study suggests.

The research, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, incorporated the results of several experiments carried out by the researchers. For one of the experiments, the researchers had study participants come up with specific plans to accomplish either one goal or six goals over a five-day period.

The researchers found that for people with just one goal, having a plan in place helped them to accomplish it. But that planning didn’t help the people who had to accomplish six goals.

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Wisconsin’s biggest newspaper released an editorial on Saturday recommending that voters choose to keep Governor Scott Walker in office. (Read the whole thing here.)

“No governor in recent memory has been so controversial,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial begins. “No governor in America is so polarizing. Everyone has an opinion about Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Here’s ours: We see no reason to remove Walker from office. We recommend him in the June 5 recall election.”

Walker will face Milwaukee governor Tom Barrett at the polls.

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By: Clara Moskowitz
Published: 05/19/2012 08:01 AM EDT on SPACE.com

This story was updated at 6:15 p.m. EDT.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A failed rocket engine valve appears to be responsible for the unexpected abort of a private SpaceX rocket launch before dawn on Saturday (May 19), officials said.

SpaceX was slated to blast off its unmanned Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT) here at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Just after igniting its main engines, the computer onboard the booster initiated an automatic abort due to a high pressure reading in one of the rocket’s nine main engines.

Dragon was due to fly to the International Space Station to become the first non-governmental vehicle to berth there. The spacecraft’s next chance to launch is Tuesday (May 22) at 3:44 a.m. EDT (0744 GMT), followed by a potential opportunity Wednesday (May 23) at 3:22 a.m. EDT (0722 GMT).

This afternoon SpaceX engineers examined the rocket, and traced the problem back to the check valve on the Falcon 9′s fifth Merlin engine (the booster has a total of nine).

"We have discovered root cause and repairs are underway," SpaceX officials said in a statement Saturday evening.

Technicians are now working to replace the failed valve for a second try at launch.

"Those repairs should be complete tonight," officials said. "We will continue to review data on Sunday. If things look good, we will be ready to attempt to launch on Tuesday, May 22nd at 3:44 AM Eastern."

The flight is a trial run for SpaceX’s plan to deliver cargo, and eventually crew, to the space station. The mission is partially funded by NASA’s COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program, and the firm has a NASA contract to fly 12 delivery missions to the outpost once test flights are completed.

"We’re ready to support when SpaceX is ready to go," Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA’s commercial crew and cargo program, said during a news briefing following the launch attempt.

Officials from both NASA and SpaceX have emphasized the uncertain nature of test flights, and said that the main goal was to gather more data about the vehicle.

"This is not a failure," SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said. "We aborted with purpose. It would have been a failure if we had lifted off with an engine trending in this direction."

You can follow SPACE.com assistant managing editor Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

• Photos: SpaceX Set for Historic Launch to Space Station
• SpaceX to Space Station: Complete Coverage
• SpaceX Dragon Launch Aborted At Last Second | Video

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — UFC star Jon Jones was charged with DWI early Saturday after the car he was driving struck a utility pole, police said.

In a statement, police said they dispatched units at 5:02 a.m. for a one-car accident. Jones’ 2012 Bentley struck a pole, according to the statement.

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The Group of Eight world leaders has warned North Korea that it faces more sanctions if it continues to threaten the stability of the region with provocative acts such as its failed long-range rocket launch in April.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, speaking in South Carolina on Saturday, slams President Barack Obama for being the most divisive figure in American politics.