Militants use Google Earth: Reports

LONDON: Google Earth, the internet site providing detailed satellite maps of the world, is being used by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to select targets in Israel for rocket attacks.

Earlier also Google Earth came under fire for allegedly aiding militants in executing their terror attacks. A failed attack on oil facilities in Yemen was reportedly planned with its use in September 2006, the 'Telegraph' reported.

However, in January this year, after 'The Daily Telegraph' revealed that Iraqi insurgents were using the website to attack British bases in Basra, the company took the rare step of replacing the images of military positions there with others taken before the war.

Google Earth, in partnership with the world's most advanced commercial imaging satellite the Digital Globe, also responded immediately to provide high resolution photographs during unfolding crises such as the fires now raging in California, the daily reported.

The reports said that in the last six weeks since Israel's air strike against Syria, Google Earth has provided new imagery of the barren desert along the Euphrates River where the strike is believed to have occurred.

When queried about the use of Google Earth by militants, Google issued a statement saying "We have paid close attention to concerns that Google Earth creates new security risks. The imagery visible on Google Earth and Google Maps is not unique; commercial high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world is widely available from numerous sources. Indeed, anyone who flies above or drives by a piece of property can obtain similar information."

UK to fight forced Asian marriages

LONDON: After years of finding itself unable to deal with the phenomenon of South Asian families in Britain forcing their children to marry people from the Indian sub-continent, the British government has now stepped up measures to tackle the problem.

The Forced Marriages Unit (FMU), jointly operated by the Home Office and Foreign Office, has been dealing with thousands of cases in which young men and women from south Asian families are forced by their families to marry strangers. Many such cases lead to suicides and what are called 'honour killings'.

At a two-day conference here this week, Imran Rehman, a Derby-based functionary of the charity organisation Karma Nirvana, narrated how he became a victim of forced marriage when he was taken to Pakistan as a 10-year-old and was engaged to a girl aged five.

Saudis OK Sharif's Pak return

ISLAMABAD: The Saudi Arabian government has given its approval to former PM Nawaz Sharif to go back to Pakistan and modalities are being worked out for his return in November, a senior leader of his PML-N party said on Friday.

"Saudi Arabia has already told Sharif that he can go back to his country whenever he likes. We are working out the modalities," said PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.

Sharif was arrested and deported to Saudia Arabia hours after he returned to Pakistan on September 10.

Sharif, who signed an agreement to go into exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years in exchange for the dropping of his jail terms, had come back after the supreme court ruled that he was free to return. A bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is currently hearing a contempt of court petition challenging his deportation.

Pollution threatens Beijing Olympics

BEIJING: Children and the elderly in Beijing were advised to stay indoors as thick smog choked the city on Friday, a day after the top Olympic official warned pollution could disrupt next year's Games.

Beijing's top weather official, Sun Jisong, said old and young risked contracting respiratory diseases if they went outside. "Wear a face mask if you have to go out today," the official Xinhua news agency quoted 'Sun' as telling all Beijingers.

Xinhua blamed a heavy fog that had enveloped Beijing for trapping the pollution, and the smog caused havoc across the city on Friday. Major highways leading into the Chinese capital, one of the world's most polluted cities, were closed, with visibility reduced to 50 metres in some areas, state press reported.

Thousands of passengers were also stranded at Beijing's Capital International Airport in the northeast as the thick grey haze shrouded the runways and forced flight delays, witnesses said.

The spike in Beijing's environmental problems came a day after International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge said that events at next year's Olympics could be delayed because of pollution. Rogge said Beijing had worked hard to improve its pollution woes but could still fall short of ensuring clean air for athletes.

Gunmen in speedboats kidnap 6 oil workers in Nigeria

LAGOS (NIGERIA): Gunmen in speedboats kidnapped six workers from an oil vessel, off Nigeria's coast at dawn on Friday, the second attack on an oilfield in a week, officials said.

The Polish, Filipino and Nigerian workers were seized from the Mystras, some 85 kilometers (50 miles) offshore, Italian energy giant Eni SpA said on its Web site. Another Nigerian worker was reported to have been wounded in the leg, the statement said.

The Mystras, used for production, storage and offloading crude oil, is capable of producing 80,000 barrels of oil per day. An Eni spokeswoman refused further comment.

Militants have kidnapped more than 150 foreigners this year to press their demands for local control of oil revenues. The attacks since late 2005 have cut Nigeria's regular output by about 20 percent, helping send crude prices toward all-time highs.

Locals have for years demanded a greater share of the wealth in Africa's largest crude producer, and the region remains desperately poor despite its great natural bounty.

Valene goes for the World via China

Six-feet-worth of Valene Maharaj strode in. Four inches courtesy stilettos. Glossy black hair, polished brown skin and skinny jeans accounted for the rest. With her departure for the Miss World Pageant in China just days away, the 21-year-old is anxious to play the game of beauty meet

strategy.

"The biggest lesson throughout all of this has been that little things make a big difference," she told me over a steaming cup of Chai tea (just one sugar). "Thank you notes for chaperones; being punctual, friendly, positive. I'm so happy. Someone would have to beat me for me to be sad. What is the point of being negative? Having a positive attitude gets me through lots of long days."

And she expects the combination of positive attitude and preparation to get her through her first real pageant experience. She was the teenaged runner-up to Kenisha Thom and Tineke De Freitas when Peter Elias and Company held one of their open-calls-and-final-decisions-in-one-day-flat two years ago.

Before that her only beauty-meet-competition experience was at the 2003 Caribbean Model Search with its finale at Jamaica Fashion Week. Still, that's not quite a pageant. She's yet to experience the psychological warfare that a month of estrogen-fuelled competition in the lead up to one crowning night must be.

Justice Department 'dismayed' over release of USS Cole bombing leader

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. law enforcement officials Friday blasted Yemen's release of one of the leaders of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. soldiers.

"We are dismayed and deeply disappointed in the government of Yemen's decision not to imprison [Jamal al-Badawi]," said a Justice Department statement issued by the Department's National Security Division.

"We have communicated our displeasure to Yemeni officials," the statement said.

The statement pointedly referred to al-Badawi as one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists and noted prosecutors in New York City want to get their hands on him.

"He was convicted in Yemeni courts and has been indicted in the Southern District of New York," the Justice Department said. Officials said the decision is not consistent with cooperation between counterterrorism officials of the United States and Yemen.

Al-Badawi -- who had escaped prison last year -- was freed after turning himself in two weeks ago, renouncing terrorism and pledging allegiance to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, according to news reports.

Witnesses said al-Badawi was "receiving well-wishers at his home" in Aden, Yemen, according to The Associated Press in Sana, Yemen.

Former New York City Mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani promptly called for the U.S. government to cancel $20 million in aid to Yemen for releasing al-Badawi.

The retired former commander of the Cole called the release "disappointing."

"In the war on terrorism, actions speak stronger than words, and this act by the Yemeni government is a clear demonstration that they are neither a reliable nor trustworthy partner in the war on terrorism," said Cmdr. Kirk Lippold.

U.S. law enforcement officials close to the case privately expressed outrage over the release of al-Badawi.

"He's got American blood on his hands. He confessed to what he did ... and they let him go," said one official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

"This will not be the last we hear of him," another federal official under the same restriction told CNN's Kelli Arena.

The Justice Department said U.S. officials will try to work with the Yemeni government "to ensure al-Badawi is held accountable for his past actions."

Suicide bombers on a boat attacked the guided missile destroyer USS Cole on October 12, 2000, in the harbor at Aden. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed and 39 injured.

Al-Badawi, convicted in 2004 and sentenced to death, previously escaped from prison in 2003, before his trial, and was recaptured in 2004. In 2006, he escaped again with 22 others, and had been at large since then.