Damaged airport, dock hamper Haiti aid efforts

HAITI : Impassable roads, a damaged airport, an unreachable dock and not enough equipment to unload relief supplies continued to keep most of the world's help Friday from devastated Haitians.

International businesses and relief agencies struggled to get aid into the battered country via the bottlenecked airport in Port-au-Prince three days after Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake.

British Airways offered aid agencies a relief aircraft to fly more emergency supplies and equipment. The plane that can hold 50 tons of supplies will be ready to fly to Haiti on Saturday, the airline said. A volunteer British Airways crew will man the plane, and the company also pledged close to $900,000 in fuel and money for supplies.

The British firm joins agencies from all over the globe that are heading to Haiti or who are already there.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is expected to arrive Friday, carrying 19 helicopters and 30 pallets of relief goods.

Belize, Brazil, China, Chile, Spain, Canada, Israel, Iceland, Ireland, the United States and Morocco were among the many countries offering aid.

But Friday morning, aid agencies were still struggling to get relief items from the airport, said Dave Toycen, a relief worker with the aid agency World Vision.

"The issue is obviously logistics. It is problematic to get the streets clear," Toycen said. "There was a milelong line to get gasoline. We are short the basics."

FBI releases age-enhanced picture of Osama

The US Government has released a new age-enhanced photograph of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as he may look now without his trademark long beard.

Digitally enhanced images show the world's most wanted terrorist with different grooming and clothing, which he may have adopted in a bid to evade capture.

It also shows him with more lined features and lacking the long beard which many people associate him with.

The images were released by the US State Department and the FBI as they renew their efforts to bring Bin Laden to justice.

His is one of 18 wanted terrorist suspects listed on the State Department's Rewards for Justice website.

The programme offers huge rewards for information leading to the capture and conviction of some of the masterminds behind international terror attacks.

Using sophisticated digital enhancement techniques, forensic artists at the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia have age progressed old photos of the 18 most wanted terrorist suspects.

"It is our hope that these digitally enhanced images will help someone recognise these terrorist suspects and then contact the Rewards for Justice program with information that leads to their apprehension," said Robert Eckert, assistant director for Diplomatic Security’s Threat Information and Analysis Directorate, which oversees the Rewards for Justice program.

"These new images are powerful examples of how advances in technology and science can be used to help find and bring to justice wanted persons,” said Louis E. Grever, Executive Assistant Director for the FBI's Science and Technology Branch.

“The FBI has and will continue to apply cutting-edge forensic, biometric, and technical capabilities to our most challenging cases. Together with our many partners, both here and abroad, we now call on the public to help us locate and take into custody those who threaten us," he added.

Since its inception in 1984, the Rewards for Justice Program has paid more than £50 million people who have provided credible information that has resulted in the capture, prosecution, or death of terrorists or has prevented acts of international terror.

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Doomsday Clock moves a minute back

WASHINGTON : The Doomsday Clock, a barometer of nuclear danger for the past 55 years has been moved one minute further away from the "midnight hour".

The concept timepiece devised by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) now stands at six minutes to the hour.

The group said it made the decision to move the clock back because of a more "hopeful state of world affairs".

The clock was first featured by the magazine in 1947, shortly after the US dropped its Atom bombs on Japan.

The clock had been adjusted 18 times before today since its initial start at seven minutes to midnight.

Most recently, in January 2007, the clock moved to five minutes to midnight, when climate change was added to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind.

Longest Solar Eclipse of the century enthrals world

PAKISTAN : The first and longest solar eclipse of this century is underway in different parts of the world including Pakistan.

The eclipse will last for an average of about twelve hours. In Pakistan, it will begin at 1230 and ends at 1:00 approximately.

According to meteorologists, the eclipse can be partially observed in Pakistan and will also be visible in African countries, India, Sri Lanka, China and Myanmar.

Annular solar eclipses occur when the Moon is too far to cover the Sun entirely. Therefore, when the eclipse reaches totality, you would see a ring (Annulus) around the moon and hence the name annular.

Please do exercise caution while watching this eclipse. Do not look directly at the Sun during the eclipse for it might put your eyes at risk even with your cool sunglasses. Also, do not try to use binoculars or telescopes and point at the eclipse directly without sufficient protection as you run the risk of being blinded.

Japan ends refuelling mission for Afghanistan war

TOKYO:   Japan on Friday ended a naval refuelling mission that has supported the US-led military effort in Afghanistan since 2001 as the centre-left government flexes its muscle in its ties with Washington.

Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa ordered the two naval ships and their 340 personnel to return home after eight years of helping supply oil and water to vessels used by international forces that are engaged in Afghanistan.

"The defence minister issued an order today to the fleet commander to end refuelling activity in the Indian Ocean at 12:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) on January 15 and to send the troops home," a ministry statement said.

With the end of the refuelling mission, Hatoyama has pledged that Japan would instead step up humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Tokyo has offered five billion dollars over the next five years to help rebuild the war-torn nation.