NASA DELAYS LAUNCH

Sunday, August 27, 2006 NASA delays launch CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA officials decided Saturday to delay the launch of space shuttle Atlantis by 24 hours to give engineers more time to determine whether one of the most powerful lightning strikes ever at a Kennedy Space Center launch pad caused any problems. The launch, planned for today, now won't happen until at least Monday. It was the first time a lightning strike at the launch pad had caused a shuttle launch delay. The lightning Friday didn't hit the shuttle — it struck a wire attached to a tower used to protect the spacecraft from such strikes at the launch pad — but it created a lightning field around the vehicle, NASA managers said. There was no indication that any system was damaged, but if repairs were needed they would likely take days, not weeks, said Leroy Cain, launch integration manager. "We know just enough to know that we don't know enough to be able to press on into a launch situation," Cain said. Engineers wanted time to pore over data on ground and flight systems. Militants' deadline passes GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A 72-hour deadline set by a militant group holding two Fox news journalists passed Saturday night with no new information on their fate, but Palestinian officials expressed confidence the men would be released soon. The journalists, correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of Washington, D.C., and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, were seized in Gaza City on Aug. 14. Their captors demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the U.S. by midnight Saturday in exchange for freeing the journalists. The kidnappers, a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades, did not say what it would do to the men if the deadline passed with their demands unanswered. Palestinian officials said they had no evidence that the kidnappers had harmed the men after the deadline passed. "The group, which announced they captured the journalists, has done nothing against the journalists after 72 hours," Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said. "The ministry has information that the journalists are safe, and the Palestinian security forces are doing their best to secure their release." 29 insurgents killed in fighting in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan — A coalition airstrike in southern Afghanistan killed a Taliban commander and 15 other militants, the U.S. military said Saturday. A top American general, meanwhile, said insurgents are still using neighboring Pakistan as a base for infiltration. Two French soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in the volatile east Friday, while at least 13 other insurgents were killed in clashes with police and NATO in the south, the U.S. military said. On Saturday, Canadian troops in the south mistakenly killed a policeman and wounded six other people, including two civilians, according to NATO. Afghanistan is experiencing its worst bout of violence since the late-2001 ouster of the Taliban regime for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. More than 1,600 people, mostly militants, have died in the past four months, according to an Associated Press tally of violent incidents reported by U.S., NATO and Afghan officials. Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said militants are using Pakistan as a base from which to infiltrate into Afghanistan, but he said the Pakistani government is not conspiring with them. Associated Press