Editor's Note: The CNN Wire is a running log of the latest news from CNN World Headquarters, reported by CNN's correspondents and producers, and The CNN Wire editors. "Posted" times are Eastern Daylight.
NASA: Preliminary exam shows no major problems with Atlantis launch
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (CNN) -- Some debris came off the space shuttle Atlantis as it lifted off Saturday morning, but the event happened more than four minutes after flight, and caused no threat, a NASA official said at a post-launch briefing.
"There were no events of note before that," he said. An image from one of the cameras trained on the shuttle showed debris -- possibly pieces of foam insulation -- falling from the external fuel tank. The critical period of the launch is during the first 135 seconds or a little over two minutes, according to NASA.
After that, there isn't enough dynamic pressure to impact the shuttle, an official said. Officials said theing of the U.N. General Assembly during the week of Sept. 18, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Saturday.
IRNA said Ahmadinejad will go first to Cuba to participate in the Non-Aligned Movement Summit, Sept. 15-16. Last year, Ahmadinejad's comments about Israel and his government's stance on nuclear power stirred controversy at the United Nations and harsh criticism from around the world.
He said Israel -- the Jewish state and a longtime member of the United Nations -- should be wiped off the map. The U.N. Security Council later condemned the comment. Israeli officials also said any country whose leader calls for the destruction of another member state of the United Nations doesn't deserve a U.N. seat.
Iran has ignored a U.N. deadline to suspend its uranium enrichment work, declaring it has a right to develop nuclear technology. Tehran insists the work is aimed at producing civilian electric power. However, the United States and other Western nations are concerned that Iran could use the nuclear technology to develop weaponry. (Posted 10:45 a.m.)
Blair carrying fresh set of ideas for regional peace in Mideast visit
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to visit the Middle East this weekend with an eye on offering ideas for a comprehensive peace, sources told CNN.
He is to visit Israel on Saturday. On Sunday, he is headed to Lebanon and to the Palestinian territory of the West Bank.
Arab and Western diplomats and senior U.S. officials said that Blair will discuss a set of ideas developed recently among British and American officials on how to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
As the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon persists, Blair wants to move tackle root causes of instability and violence in the region, particularly the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the Syrian and Lebanese track.
Among the issues he will discuss are "guarantees" for Israelis and Palestinians that would promote a two-state solution and moves to re-energize aid structures for Palestinians.
Such structures would bypass the Hamas militant movement that controls the Palestinian government and build up moderate Palestinians and the Palestinian political process, the sources said. (Posted 9:38 a.m.)
Journalist gunned down in Baghdad, among 3 killed in violence
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Insurgents in Baghdad shot and killed an Iraqi journalist on Saturday morning, one of several attacks in Baghdad that left three people dead and 20 others wounded.
Sabah al-Rubaie -- assistant chief editor of Iraq's state-owned daily newspaper, Al-Sabah -- was killed in a drive-by shooting outside his house in central Baghdad this morning, state TV and the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory reported.
The observatory -- an Iraqi journalists' group -- monitors violations of the free press in Iraq. This was the second time in the past few months Al-Sabah has been targeted by insurgents. Al-Rubaie's colleague was also shot, but survived.
In other incidents:
-- In Baghdad's northern, mainly Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya, a suicide car bomber killed a police officer and wounded at least six civilians wounded, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said. The explosion also killed the suicide bomber.
-- Also in Adhamiya, a roadside bomb exploded and wounded two members of an Iraqi army convoy, police said.
-- In eastern Baghdad, a car bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy in the Zayuna neighborhood left one civilian dead and 6 more wounded, police said.
-- Police also said two officers were wounded during a roadside bomb explosion that targeted a police patrol in New Baghdad.
-- Three U.S. soldiers were wounded in a car bombing in the city. (Posted 9:22 a.m.)
Report: Syria's Assad welcomes idea of EU presence on Syrian border
ROME (CNN) -- Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said on Saturday Syria's President Bashar Assad "has welcomed" a proposition that would place a European Union presence on Syria's border to help stem the passage of arms into Lebanon, according to ANSA, an Italian news agency.
Prodi's proposition called for EU frontier guards to control the passage of arms between the two nations, the report said.
Assad has said he would consider the deployment of U.N. international peacekeeping troops along his country's border with Lebanon as "hostile" to Syria and that it would create problems between the two nations. (Posted 7:43 a.m.)
NATO soldier, more than 40 insurgents killed in southern Afghanistan
(CNN) - More than 40 insurgents and a NATO soldier were killed in action late yesterday and early today during fighting in southern Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Forces said.
The fighting came during a NATO offensive in Kandahar province dubbed Operation Medusa, a push against the Taliban that began last Saturday. The operation is being spearheaded by Canadian and Afghan troops.
Three insurgent positions, a bomb-making factory, and a weapons cache were destroyed, and ISAF troops are now occupying parts of Panjwayi and Zhari districts.
The nationality of the latest NATO soldier killed has not been released. Scores of insurgents and at least five Canadian soldiers have been killed in Medusa so far. (Posted 7:32 a.m.)
3 killed, 13 wounded in dual roadside bomb attack in Kirkuk
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Dual roadside bomb attacks targeting a police convoy exploded nearly simultaneously Saturday morning in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, leaving 3 dead and at least 13 wounded -- including Iraqi military officials, local police said.
One of the explosions occurred in the city's center and the second detonated at a nearby bridge, police said. (Posted 6:51 a.m.)
Bermuda under hurricane watch as Florence churns in the Atlantic
(CNN) -- Tropical Storm Florence intensified Saturday as it cut a path through the Atlantic and headed towar in the southern Gaza area of Khuza'a on Saturday, Palestinian security forces said.
Israel Defense Forces said militants opened fire at Israeli troops in the area of Khan Younis, but the IDF did not return fire because they could not find its source.
Israeli forces have been moving in and out of the area as part of a broader offensive that was precipitated by the seizure of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid June 25. (Posted 5:39 a.m.)
Nuclear research reactor shut down after 'abnormality'
(CNN) -- A nuclear research reactor in Norway was shut down after a "minor incident" caused by an "abnormality," a spokesman with the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority announced Saturday.
Nothing was released in the environment and the cause of the shut-down is under investigation, the spokesman said.
The nuclear reactor was being used for research purposes, not to produce commercial energy.
"We believe the situation is stable," the spoknce Tuesday in Kyrgyzstan has been found alive and is stable condition, the military said Saturday.
Bishek police in Kyrgyzstan told U.S. Embassy and military officials they had found Maj. Jill Metzger at 1:15 a.m., a military statement said.
After an examination by a team of doctors, Metzger's medical condition Saturday was listed as stable and the military was working to get her back home as soon as possible, Capt. Anna Carpenter at the Manas Airbase in Krygyzstan said.
Metzger has been transported out of Krgyzstan but Carpenter did not give details on the new location or facility. (Posted 3:12 a.m.)
Freedom only hours away for jailed Chicago journalist in Sudan
(CNN) -- Chicago Tribune journalist Paul Salopek was hours away from freedom early Saturday morning after being imprisoned in Sudan under charges of espionage and entering the country illegally, David McGuffin, a Canadian journalist in Khartoum told CNN.
"We're hoping in a few hours time for the release,&qu
