AP - Japan is planning ultra long-range 30-year weather forecasts that will predict typhoons, storms, blizzards, droughts and other inclement weather, an official said Tuesday.

AFP - Space Shuttle Discovery ended a near-flawless 8.8 million-kilometer (5.5 million-mile) journey with a smooth return, giving a major boost to the trouble-plagued US space program.

Reuters - With the last potential snags to landing cleared on Sunday, the astronauts on space shuttle Discovery hoped for good weather to cap a comeback mission for NASA with a Florida touchdown.

AP - The flow of lava and rock fragments from Mayon volcano southeast of the Philippine capital has picked up, scientists said Sunday, increasing the possibility of a violent eruption soon.

AP - Discovery's six astronauts spend their last full day in space Sunday stowing equipment, giving television interviews and testing the space shuttle's flight control system for landing.

AP - Sipping black tea on a glacial beach of jagged gray rocks nearly four miles above sea level, the lanky Briton had the air of a jilted lover who didn't want to admit it was over.

AFP - The Discovery shuttle's six astronauts have bid farewell to the three crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) and returned to their spaceship for a two-day journey back home.

AP - The space shuttle Discovery and the international space station flexed their robotic arms repeatedly Friday, racking up a record for robotics in space and taking yet one more look for damage to the shuttle's heat shield.

AP - Scientists say they may have found an important clue in the mystery of why the Confederate submarine Hunley sank 140 years ago after making history by sinking an enemy warship in battle.

AP - Even the powerful tyrannosaurs seem to have encountered a midlife crisis. Once they made it to about age 2 they could take on just about any other predator and had very little mortality until they reached sexual maturity in their teens, researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.