Friday, November 27, 2009 HOUSTON: The space shuttle Atlantis landed back on Earth with its crew of seven astronauts Friday to cap an 11-day mission to the International Space Station. Atlantis commander Charlie Hobaugh and pilot Barry Wilmore touched down as scheduled at 9:44 am (1444 GMT) at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida amid clear blue skies. During their successful voyage, the Atlantis crew delivered nearly 30,000 pounds (13,608 kilograms) of spare parts to the orbiting space station, including a pair of gyroscopes, thermal control system components and robot arm gear.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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