■UNITED STATES
Kepler reaches orbit: NASA
The Kepler space telescope launched by NASA to search for Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy has reached orbit, the space agency said. The telescope separated from its carrier, a Delta II rocket, 62 minutes after launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at the altitude of more than 721km, NASA said. Kepler will stare at the same spot in space for three and a half years, taking in about 100,000 stars around the Cygnus and Lyra constellations of the Milky Way. At a cost of nearly US$600 million, it will be NASA’s first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours, at just the right distance and temperature for life-sustaining water to exist.
■UNITED STATES
Arsonist convicted of murder
A 38-year-old man who set deadly wildfires in California was convicted on Friday in the murder of five people in the October 2006 Palm Springs fire, the Los Angeles Times reported. Raymond Lee Oyler, who was found guilty by a jury that deliberated for a week, faces the death penalty. Sentencing will be decided at a later date. The five dead were firefighters who were overcome by fast moving flames in the worst single wildfire casualty for firefighters since 14 were killed battling a Colorado blaze in 1994.
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