Countdown Gets Underway For Launch

(Cape Canaveral, FL) -- The countdown is underway for Friday's scheduled launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. NASA says there's a 70-percent chance of favorable weather when the shuttle is scheduled to blast off at 7:38 p.m., Eastern time. Atlantis is scheduled for an eleven-day assembly mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff was delayed for three months after a hail storm damaged the shuttle's external fuel tank as it sat on the launch pad.

Plane Crash That Killed Six Also Threatens Life Of Transplant Patient

(Ann Arbor, MI) -- Monday's crash of a University of Michigan Survival Flight plane that killed six is also threatening the life of a man awaiting a lung transplant in Ann Arbor. Aboard that plane were two harvested lungs to be transplanted to that patient. Surgery had began, but was called off after news of the crash. The man is still in critical condition and being held in an intensive care unit inside U of M Hospital.

Report: Priest, Five Christians Kidnapped In Iraq

(Rome) -- The Catholic news service AsiaNews is reporting that a Catholic priest and five young Christians have been kidnapped in Baghdad. This news comes three days after the murder of another priest and three of his assistants. The news agency said the priest was taken with the five in a Sunni neighborhood in northern Baghdad. There are unconfirmed reports a ransom demand has been made.

Search Continues For Missing Kansas Teen

(Overland Park, KS) -- Authorities in Overland Park, Kansas are tracing cell phone signal pings as they look for missing teen Kelsey Smith. The cell phone signals have led them to concentrate their search in a lake area in south Kansas City. According to an Overland Park, Kansas police spokesman, authorities have gotten more than 500 leads, 200 of those since last night. Smith disappeared from the parking lot of an Overland Park Target store on Saturday night. Police are calling the disappearance a kidnapping and have released video images of a person of interest, who was in the area when the young woman vanished.

U.S., Japan To Hold North Korea To Nuclear Deal

(Heiligendamm, Germany) -- The U.S. and Japan intend to hold North Korea to a February deal requiring it to disband its nuclear program. President Bush made that clear today in Germany where he is attending the G-8 summit. North Korea has said it will not act until 25-million-dollars of funds frozen in a Macau bank are released. The U.S. has accused the bank of laundering money for North Korea.

Climate Change, Poverty Are Priorities At G-8

(Heiligendamm, Germany) -- President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are saying climate change and poverty are the top priorities at the G-8 summit. However, tension between the U.S. and Russia is threatening to overshadow the summit. Russia opposes an American plan to build a missile defense shield in central Europe. The President says Russia doesn't pose a threat to Europe, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments about targeting the continent if the U.S. deploys the missile shield.

D-Day Plus 63 Years

(Tulsa, Ok)--Hardly a day goes by that Tulsan Ken Renberg does not think about where he was 63 years ago this week. Renberg was an officer in the 1st Infantry Divison that landed on Omaha beach June 6th, 1944. He took part in the massive allied invasion at Normandy during World War II. Stuffed in a Higgins landing craft a German shell hit the water in front of Renberg. It was the first of several close calls. As an intelligence officer, Renberg began interrogating German pow's just moments after he arrived on the beach. As a teen Renberg had fled Nazi Germany and moved to Oklahoma. His ability to speak German became an assest during the war. Wednesday night Renberg will reflect on the invasion following the showing of the British film "Overlord" at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa.