A Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft carrying a space veteran and two rookies, including China's first female "taikonaut," rocketed into orbit Saturday on a mission to dock with a prototype space station module, an incremental but critical step on the road to building a Mir-class space station later this decade.

Broadcast live on Chinese television, the Long March-2F rocket carrying the three-seat Shenzhou 9 spacecraft roared to life on time and quickly climbed away from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north central China at 6:37 p.m. local time (GMT+8; 6:37 a.m. EDT), arcing to the east through a cloudless blue sky.

The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, perched atop a Long March-2F rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north central China Saturday evening.
(Credit: CCTV)

The mission commander is 46-year-old Jing Haipeng, veteran of China's third and most recent manned mission in 2008 and the first Chinese astronaut to make a return trip to space. His crewmates are both making their first flight: Liu Wang, 43, and Liu Yang, 33, the first female Chinese astronaut. She is an air force major in the People's LIberation Army with 1,680 hours of flying time.

Live television from the spacecraft during the climb to space showed Jing, strapped into the capsule's center seat, with Liu Wang seated to his right and Liu Yang to his left. All three appeared relaxed and in good spirits as they monitored cockpit displays, occasionally waving at the camera.

"I am grateful to the motherland and the people," Liu Yang told reporters during a pre-flight news conference. "I feel honored to fly into space on behalf of hundreds of millions of female Chinese citizens."

Along with achieving the technical goals of the mission, "I want to experience the fantastic environment in space and appreciate the beauty of Earth and our homeland," she said in a report from the Xinhua news agency. "I will live up to your expectations and work with my teammates to complete this space mission."

Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China's space program, said Liu Yang's selection "will play well domestically. They're always quoting that Mao said women hold up half of heaven. So this is a big nod to half of 1.3 billion people. It plays well domestically and internationally."

Liu Yang, a 33-year-old Chinese air force major, is the first woman from China to be launched into space. She is seen here during training.

The goal of China's fourth manned space mission is to carry out the first manned rendezvous and docking with the orbiting Tiangong 1 module, a prototype of the much larger laboratory components that will be assembled into an operational space station by the end of the decade, a program that was approved by China's leadership in 1992.

Following a deliberate, step-by-step approach to that long-term goal, China became the third nation, after the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, to launch a manned spacecraft in October 2003 when Yang Liwei blasted off aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. Shenzhou 6, carrying two crew members, was successfully launched in October 2005 and Shenzhou 7, carrying a three-man crew -- including Jing Haipeng -- flew in September 2008.

The Tiangong 1 -- "Heavenly Palace" -- research module was launched Sept. 29, 2011, to serve as a target for unmanned and then manned docking missions. One month after Tiangong 1 reached orbit, China launched the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, which carried out an automated rendezvous and televised docking with the research module two days later.

"Currently, China is still experimenting with docking technology, which is critical to its ability to transfer people and material from the ground to a long-term outpost in space," wrote Gregory Kulacki in a background paper distributed by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Docking requires careful and accurate control of the space capsule to allow it to rendezvous with and attach itself to a port on the station. Experience with docking will also allow China to gain valuable information and experience needed for the design and construction of the space station, which will be assembled from a series of large modules joined together with a similar docking mechanism."

In the end, the gifted trauma surgeon widely beloved as a lifesaver turned to violence, killing himself with a gunshot to the head as he was being sought in the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend.

A two-day nationwide search for Dr. Timothy Jorden ended when police found his body in thick brush a half-mile from his Lake Erie shoreline home. A neighbor had reported hearing a gunshot from the area on Wednesday morning, and police with dogs found the body, dressed in surgical scrubs, on Friday morning.

Authorities had been looking for Jorden since Wednesday morning, when 33-year-old Jacqueline Wisniewski was found shot to death in a stairwell at the Erie County Medical Center, where they both worked. Friends said Wisniewski was afraid of the 49-year-old Jorden and had broken off their relationship some time ago.

Police said Timothy Jorden killed himself with one shot to the head from the .357 Magnum and didn't leave a suicide note. He had withdrawn large sums of money recently and had given friends gifts.

Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said Jorden went to the hospital with a shotgun and a .357 Magnum pistol intending to kill Wisniewski because of their breakup. Jorden lured her to the hospital basement, where he shot her five times at point-blank range, Derenda said. He then ran from the hospital and drove home, where surveillance video showed him arriving about 30 minutes later.

Just four minutes later, Jorden is seen leaving the house, down a path to a ravine and disappearing into the woods.

Derenda said Jorden killed himself with one shot to the head from the .357 Magnum and didn't leave a suicide note. He had withdrawn large sums of money recently and had given friends gifts.

Police say they found body of fugitive surgeon suspected of murder


As Jorden's tailspin accelerated, friends, neighbors and colleagues painted a picture of a man in decline. Jorden, once 250 pounds and clean-shaven, had lost up to 75 pounds and let his face get scraggly. His neatly manicured lawn got overgrown. He just didn't seem the same; not as "nice" as before, was how neighbor June Dupree put it.

Dupree said she was distraught over what had happened.

"It doesn't make any sense that he did that and that he killed himself," she said. "Oh, my God, it's just terrible. I can't get over it. I'm just about in tears right now."

Forget colored jeans and bright lipstick. The hottest trend for spring 2012 is dressing like Britney Spears.

No, we don't mean wearing Uggs and tattered jorts. Think 2004. Think the "Toxic" video. Think... catsuit.

Jennifer Lopez brought her newly recharged musical act (and style!) to the Figali Convention Center in Panama part of the Dance Again World Tour on Thursday night and during one of her myriad costume changes, she whipped out this little Zuhair Murad number, which consists of nude mesh, sparkles and not much else.

Thanks to rows of well-placed bling, though, the 42-year-old singer managed to avoid a serious wardrobe malfunction. After all, it's not like this is her first time at the catsuit rodeo; girl's been a big fan for years, whether they're made of leather, cobwebs, -- or even a similar diamond version that she donned at the 2011 American Music Awards.

Sheer bodysuits are having a total renaissance this month. Earlier, Jessica Chastain donned a sheer and sparkly dress to the 2012 Tony Awards that definitely gave us a hint of a Britney vibe.

But hold the phone, everyone. We need to think about the societal repercussions of ladies donning catsuits again. Is fabric about to be "so over"? Will we all start showing up to work with just two rhinestones in place of a bra? How can we make this look work for the office? Next time we run into Anna Wintour, we'll run all these questions by her.

It's official: Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux are the matchiest (yes, it's a word) couple in Hollywood.

We first caught on when they ran errands in jeans, black leather jackets, black hats, work boots and dark shades several months ago. Since then, they've been seen in all sorts of coordinating looks, mainly consisting of Jen's beloved jeans and tees and Justin's signature leather jackets.

Currently on a closely chronicled European trip, the attractive pair showed up to the Eiffel Tower in matching black suits (although she chose a tight tank instead of a classic white button-down). Today, they jetted off to Rome in gray tees, Justin pairing his with jeans and Jen wearing a dress version.

Jeans and tees, of course, are a fairly common clothing choice for anyone, couples included. But you'd think Jen and Justin would check with each other before leaving the hotel room, no?

Rock Of Ages Reviews

"Rock of Ages" is the story of a small-town girl (Julianne Hough) and city boy (Diego Boneta), but it's Tom Cruise who critics are praising most.

"Cruise is without question the best thing about 'Rock of Ages' and certainly the only reason to see it," writes Will Leitch for Deadspin about Cruise's performance as Stacee Jaxx. "It's not necessarily good, but it's insanely watchable, and every scene he's not in, you keep waiting for him to come back."

Echoed Manhola Dargis in the New York Times, "A whispering and writhing Mr. Cruise makes ['Rock of Ages'] watchable."

This is not to say every critic enjoyed Cruise's shirtless take on Stacee Jaxx, a rock god in the mold of Axl Rose.

"He’s fun to watch in his first few scenes, hamming it up as a spoiled rock’n’roll satyr," Movieline critic Stephanie Zacharek notes. "But the role quickly becomes a retread of the one he played in 'Magnolia,' only in a different costume. Cruise can’t hide his cockiness -- it’s in his blood. But even when he tries to kick back and poke fun at himself, he takes the job so seriously that it becomes a sort of grind. There’s nothing sexy about him, unless you find studied posturing erotic."

As for the film itself, there seem to be two camps forming: one which found "Rock of Ages" to be a cheesy -- if overlong at more than two hours -- delight; the other which found it unbearable.

"I haven’t seen a movie this bad since 'Battlefield Earth' and 'Howard the Duck,'" writes New York Observer critic Rex Reed. "The filthy, disgusting script is by three people who should remain nameless, but I can hardly believe one of them is Justin Theroux, a good actor who would do the world a favor if he dropped his laptop off the top of the Chrysler Building." Reed later compares "Rock of Ages" to an iron lung.

With a wry smile, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg laid waste Friday to all those rumors about the fate of the Affordable Care Act in the Supreme Court.

“Those who know don’t talk. And those who talk don’t know,” she quipped Friday night at a conference hosted by the American Constitution Society at the Capital Hilton.

Ginsburg said she was responding to a "steady stream of rumors and fifth-hand accounts" about the court's deliberations on the law.

(Also on POLITICO: Democrats in the dark on how to respond to SCOTUS ruling)

Careful not to tip her hand on the court’s ruling — expected in the next two weeks — Ginsburg described the oral arguments in the case as unprecedented for the number of “press conferences, prayer circles, protests and counterprotests” that occurred on the courthouse steps.

Although she offered no insight into the tightly held decisions of her colleagues, Ginsburg did indicate that many of the court’s decisions over the next two weeks — which are also expected to include an FCC indecency ruling — might be close.

The 21 remaining decisions, she said, were “many of the most controversial cases” that the court reviewed this term.

“It is likely that the sharp disagreement rate will go up next week and the week after,” she said.

Although the oral arguments on the ACA spanned six hours over three days, she noted that a case cited during those arguments — McCullough v. Maryland — featured oral arguments that spanned nine days over two months.

Ginsburg noted that one ACA-related question the court must decide is whether the whole law must fall if the individual mandate is unconstitutional — “or may the mandate be chopped, like a head of broccoli, from the rest of it?”
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Is your favorite restaurant mistreating its workers?According to a guide released earlier this year by a group dedicated to workplace justice, some of the most popular fast-food, fine-dining, and family-friendly restaurants in the United States -- including McDonald's, The Capital Grille, and The Olive Garden -- are also the worst ones at which to work.

"We all enjoy eating out," Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) writes on the website for its National Diners' Guide 2012. "Unfortunately, the workers who cook, prepare, and serve our food suffer from poverty wages, no benefits like paid sick days, and little or no chance to move up to better positions. When the people who serve us food can't afford to pay the rent or take a day off when they're sick, our dining experience suffers."

Related: The 10 best and worst restaurants

Ninety percent of the more than 4,300 restaurant workers surveyed by ROC reported their employers did not offer employees paid sick leave. Two-thirds of those surveyed reported that their employees routinely cook, prepare, and serve food while sick.

Rich Jeffers, director of media relations for Darden Restaurants, owners of the Olive Garden,  the Capital Grille steakhouse, Longhorn Steakhouse, and Red Lobster -- all of which were called out in the survey over possible illegal practices because workers there have sought help for discrimination and wage theft -- said the organization never reached out to Darden about how employees are compensated before publishing its guide. He noted the average hourly wage with tips for the chain's wait staff is nearly $14.50, and the average hourly wage for a busser is $11. He took exception with a survey of 4,300 restaurant workers in an industry that employs 13 million people.

Workers are entitled to a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour if they do not receive tips and $2.13 per hour if they do, as well as overtime pay, if they work more than 40 hours per week; if tips and wages don't add up to $7.25 per hour, the employer is obligated to make up the difference. But many workers aren't aware that they're entitled to payment for all of the hours they work, let alone at what rate, the guide noted. And a wage gap exists even among workers making the bare minimum that the government requires employers to pay. "Women, immigrants, and people of color hold lower-paying positions in the industry, and do not have many opportunities to move up the ladder," the report found. "Among the 4,300 workers surveyed, we found a $4 wage gap between white workers and workers of color, and 73 percent reported not receiving regular promotions on the job."

The guide, which was published in January but gained some newfound attention this week when the New York Times' Mark Bittman and others wrote about it, ranked 150 of the most profitable restaurants in the United States on how much their workers earn, whether they get paid sick leave, and what kind of chances they have for advancement. Darden's Jeffers said 48.9 percent of its restaurant managers advance from entry-level positions, and that the company is keenly focused on upward mobility for its employees.

A sizable number of well-known restaurant chains earned "zero" ratings because they didn't meet any of the minimum requirements for their workers -- and, contrary to what you might think, there are more than a few high-end fine-dining establishments on the list. Take a look:

Jenny McCarthy gave a dentist something to smile about when she accidentally sent him a nude photo of herself (hey! it works). The former Playboy cover girl said she had snapped nude photos of herself meant for her boyfriend, Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher. But things went awry one morning when her 10-year-old son, Evan, woke up with a curious "thing" in his mouth, prompting her to send a photo of his mouth to the dentist.

"So I'm taking a picture of it and I'm sending it to the dentist and I sent him a nude on accident! I swear to God!" McCarthy recalled.

"The dentist is, like, 80 years old. I literally screamed at the top of my lungs."

Last week, McCarthy told Howard Stern that son Evan, who has autism, misses ex-boyfriend Jim Carrey "almost weekly" and even attended therapy sessions as a result. McCarthy and Carrey split in 2010 after dating for more than five years.

Bristol Palin weighed in on her political future on Thursday, telling Fox News' Sean Hannity that she wouldn't rule out the possibility of running for office one day.

When asked by the Fox host if she would leave the door open to follow in her mother Sarah Palin's footsteps, Palin said she was too young to eliminate the possibility just yet.

"I don't think I'd shut it completely yet," she said. "I'm only 21, but not any time soon."

Palin declined to state whether or not her mother would decide to run for office again. However, she said, her family is well prepared for the trials of campaign life.

"We all have tough skin. We're all strong. Our roots are very grounded," she said. "Whatever she does, we're going to support her."

Palin appeared on Hannity's show to talk about her new reality show, "Life's a Tripp," which chronicles her life as a single mother. According to Palin, she agreed to document her life on camera with hopes of showing what her life is really like.

"No matter what i'm doing, people are going to be talking about me," Palin, whose son Tripp will turn four this year. "I might as well have a platform and talk about things that are important to me, and show other girls that it's not easy."

While Palin was not as critical of Tripp's father as she has been on other recent occasions, she did admit she was "sad that Tripp doesn't have an active father figure."

Although the Lifetime series has yet to air, Palin has already expressed some regrets about how the show turned out.

"If I would have known it was my own name and so much in my life is gonna be shown on this show, I think I would reconsider it and think about it more," Palin said of the series.