DIGEST
Nation Digest
The Buzz Lightyear float is inflated in New York on Wednesday in preparation for the 83rd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. For the first time, the parade will bypass Broadway, parts of which have been closed to automobile traffic with the building of pedestrian malls at Times Square and at Herald Square.
(Frank Franklin Ii/associated Press)
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SPACE SHUTTLE
Astronaut returning home to newborn
Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station early Wednesday and headed home with one astronaut eager to hold his newborn daughter for the first time and another who's been away from her young son since the summer.
Before signing off from Mission Control, flight director Mike Sarafin wished the seven crew members a happy Thanksgiving. Atlantis is scheduled to land Friday morning at NASA's spaceport in Florida.
Over the past week, the astronauts stockpiled the outpost and performed maintenance that should keep it running for another five to 10 years.
Astronaut Nicole Stott, on her way home after three months in orbit, said goodbye to the five colleagues she left behind on the space station. Randolph Bresnik is also eager to get back. His wife gave birth to their second child, Abigail Mae Bresnik, on Saturday in Houston -- shortly after his first spacewalk.
-- Associated Press
LAND MINES
Administration still reviewing policy
The Obama administration backtracked Wednesday on its announcement that it would leave in place its policy allowing military use of land mines.
State Department spokesman Ian C. Kelly said Tuesday that the administration had completed a review of the policy and decided not to sign an international convention banning land mines.
But Kelly said in a statement Wednesday that there had been only a partial review, concerning who would represent the United States at a conference on the Mine Ban Treaty next week in Cartegena, Colombia. He said that the administration is still looking at its overall policy.
