AP - In an unprecedented step, a space shuttle was moved to the launch pad Friday for a trip NASA hopes it will never make — a rescue mission. The shuttle Endeavour is on standby in case the seven astronauts who go up on Atlantis next month need a safer ride home.

AFP - The main militant group in southern Nigeria -- the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) -- said Thursday it had destroyed a major oil pipeline belonging to Royal Dutch Shell.

AP - Arabs across the ideological spectrum, from secular-minded liberals to Muslim hard-liners, are denouncing a top Saudi cleric's edict that it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content.

AP - An ultra-Orthodox Jewish party run by an octogenarian rabbi who has said Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment emerged Thursday as the kingmaker in forming the next Israeli government.

AP - Scientists plan to use satellite photos to count Giant Kangaroo Rats, the first-ever monitoring of an endangered species from outer space.

AP - Marine scientists have discovered hundreds of new animal species on reefs in Australian waters, including brilliant soft corals and tiny crustaceans, according to findings released Thursday.

AP - Mayor Richard M. Daley has announced a plan to dramatically slash emissions of heat-trapping gases, part of an effort to fight global warming and become one of the greenest cities in the nation.

AFP - Hundreds of new marine species have been found on Australia's coral reefs, surprising an international team of biologists who announced details of their findings here Thursday.

AP - The barrier island community of Galveston just "isn't ready" for residents to return even briefly to the city thrashed by Hurricane Ike, officials said Thursday as they pleaded for at least another week to make repairs.

AFP - The Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, which was shut down as Hurricane Ike barreled toward the US Gulf Coast, will reopen next week, US space officials said Thursday.