Merchants at home and abroad discuss during the 18th Urumqi Trade Fair in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 1, 2009. The 18th Urumqi Trade Fair, China's only business event targeting central, west and south Asia, opened Tuesday. The trade fair has attracted more than 500 overseas businessmen from 29 countries and regions, including Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It also attracted many business people from China's 21 provinces and municipalities.[Xinhua]

The Space Shuttle Discovery is photographed from the International Space Station as the two spacecraft draw nearer before docking in this NASA handout photo taken August 30, 2009.[Xinhua/Reuters]