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California, September 12: Space shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts took a cross-country detour and landed safely in California on Friday after stormy weather prevented them from returning home to Florida for the second day in a row.

Discovery swooped through the sky and touched down at Edwards Air Force Base an hour before sunset, ending its delivery trip to the international space station.

“Welcome home, Discovery,” Mission Control radioed. “Congratulations on an extremely successful mission.”

Tehran, September 12: On the day to remember the terror of 9/11, the war it spawned in Afghanistan sowed fresh divisions.

President Barack Obama, speaking under rainy skies after placing a wreath at the site of the attack on the Pentagon, called on the world to “renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and who plot against us still.”

But his call for an increased war effort in Afghanistan, birthplace of the 9/11 plot, is rejected by some who fear a Vietnam-style quagmire as the battle against Taliban insurgents bogs down in faraway, hostile terrain.

Pittsburgh, September 12: An US rights group is suing the city of Pittsburgh and the US Secret Service on behalf of activists seeking to protest the upcoming G-20 summit to be held here September 24 and 25.

“After a month of negotiation with the city and the Secret Service, we have come to an impasse and today we filed a lawsuit in the US district court,” said Witold Walczak, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Washington, September 12: U.S. President Barack Obama slapped steep additional duties on tire imports from China in a move that pleased domestic labor groups but will likely ratchet up trade tensions with Beijing.

“The president decided to remedy the clear disruption to the U.S. tire industry based on the facts and the law in this case,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

The United Steelworkers union, which represents workers at many U.S. tire production plants, filed a petition earlier this year asking for the protection.

Caracas, September 12: Venezuela’s leftist President Hugo Chavez said on Friday that his country is buying Russian missiles with a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles) as part of a series of arms deals with Moscow.

Chavez, who on Friday returned from a ten day-tour of Africa, Asia and Europe that included a visit to Russia, is also negotiating the purchase of 100 T-72 and T-90 tanks from Moscow.

Washington, September 12: A powerful US senator warned against sending more American troops to Afghanistan, signalling growing skepticism over the war within Obama’s own party.

Carl Levin, the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was the latest top Democrat in Congress to voice opposition to a fresh military build-up in Afghanistan, as the White House weighs deploying yet more troop combat troops.

But his comments came as the Pentagon confirmed it intended to send more troops to Afghanistan to tackle a growing threat from improvised explosive devices.

Beijing, September 12: China has sentenced three people to prison terms of up to 15 years for a series of mysterious syringe attacks in the restive region of Xinjiang.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday that 19-year-old Yilipan Yilihamu was given 15 years for inserting a needle into a woman’s buttock.

A 34-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman were sentenced to 10 years and seven years respectively for threatening a taxi driver with a syringe and robbing him.

Miami, September 12: Forecasters say Fred is continuing to weaken in the middle of the Atlantic, while Linda has dissipated in the Pacific.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Friday that Fred’s maximum sustained winds had dropped to near 60 mph (95 kph) and the storm is moving slowly.

Fred is centered about 650 miles (1,045 kilometers) west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands and moving northeast near 2 mph (3.2 kph).

In the Pacific, Linda was no longer a tropical cyclone. The remnant low was moving toward the west-northwest near 5 mph (8 kph).

Washington, September 12: President Barack Obama vowed Friday to renew the battle against Al-Qaeda as he marked the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Obama lamented that passing time had not dulled the pain of the loss of nearly 3,000 lives in a “terrible instant,” as he led national commemorations of the world’s worst terror attack for the first time as president.

Washington, September 11: The United States and China are to expand their dialogue to cover counterterrorism, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced but Beijing cautioned against any interference in internal affairs.

“I am pleased to announce that the United States and China will be conducting joint talks on counterterrorism this fall,” Clinton said on Thursday at a business forum attended by China’s chief legislator, Wu Bangguo, the second most powerful man in China’s ruling Communist Party led by President Hu Jintao.

Prague, September 11: China protested on Thursday against a Prague visit by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and Uighur human rights activist Rebiya Kadeer.

They arrived in the Czech capital to attend a conference on human rights and democracy in Asia.

Chen Jianjun, spokesman for the Chinese embassy, said the visits were aimed at “dividing the state and disrupting national unity”.

“The Chinese side is resolutely against it,” he said by telephone. “We clearly expressed our position to the Czech side.”

New York, September 11: New York will lead tributes on Friday to victims of the 9/11 attacks in a ceremony at Ground Zero where work on replacements for the World Trade Center, and even a memorial, remains mostly stalled.

On the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks by al Qaeda militants riding hijacked airliners, mourners will remember the 2,752 people who died in the destruction of the Twin Towers in Manhattan.

Beijing, September 11: Mysterious needle attacks have spread to new cities in China’s restive far-western region of Xinjiang, a newspaper said on Friday, although once again the assaults appear to be a mix of real and imagined.

Nearly 600 people in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, home to the native Muslim Uighurs, have said they were stabbed with needles over the last two weeks, leading to mass demonstrations by Han Chinese against a government they said could not guarantee their safety.

Nine suspects were detained in the cities of Hotan, Altay and Kashgar, the newspaper said.

Washington, September 11: Democratic congressional leaders predicted passage of health care legislation within a few months despite undimmed Republican opposition, claiming momentum on Thursday from President Barack Obama’s speech and renewed commitment from lawmakers fresh from a month of meetings with constituents.

Increasingly, events in the Senate Finance Committee appeared pivotal, precursor to likely votes in both the House and the Senate by early October. “I’m confident the President will sign a bill this year,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

Tokyo, September 11: Japan’s incoming Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, may delay choosing his Cabinet until a meeting of party lawmakers next week on the advice of a party heavyweight known for behind-the-scenes maneuvers, media said on Friday.

Following a landslide election victory by his Democratic Party of Japan on August 30, Hatoyama initially said he would announce his ministerial lineup after officially being voted in as Prime Minister by Parliament on September 16.