Shuttle launch delayed until next week at best

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA said Friday it would not try to launch the space shuttle Discovery until late next week at the earliest. Officials were no closer to figuring out why a fuel gauge acted up shortly before launch time on Wednesday. The space agency has given up trying to launch Discovery any time soon, said spokesman Bruce Buckingham.

60th anniversary of first atomic bomb detonation

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Today a tour bus will run from the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque to the Trinity Site, on what is now the Army's restricted White Sands Missile Range. The first atomic bomb was detonated there 60 years ago today, ushering in the nuclear age. No special events or speeches are planned.

Private planes to be allowed at D.C. airport

WASHINGTON -- The airport at the nation's capital is getting closer to normal after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Reagan Washington National Airport will reopen to private aviation in mid-August, the Transportation Security Administration said on Friday. The rules will be strict, however, and inconvenient.

China: U.S. attack could prompt nuclear response

BEIJING -- A Chinese general said Beijing might respond with nuclear weapons if the United States attacked China in a conflict over Taiwan, news reports said Friday. The State Department rejected the warning as "highly irresponsible." The exchange could add to tensions at a time of U.S. worries about China's military buildup and proposed takeover of the oil company Unocal Corp.

-- From wire reports