US Space Shuttle Discovery roared safely back to Earth in California in a dramatic finale to the first shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster in 2003. Iran Iran expressed defiance in the face of an emergency meeting on its nuclear programme, with President Mahmood Ahmadinejad dismissing a European Union offer of nuclear cooperation as an "insult". Iran Russia, the main foreign partner in Iran's effort to develop atomic energy, called on Tehran to suspend "without delay" its nuclear fuel conversion work, saying this would not undermine its civilian nuclear power program. Iraq Insurgents killed at least 30 Iraqis and a US soldier as a crucial meeting of top politicians began to hammer out a deal on the country's new constitution ahead of an August 15 deadline. Mideast Mahmud Abbas called on the Palestinian people to show the world they deserved their independence by ensuring that this month's Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip takes place free of violence.