WASHINGTON - NASA engineers on Friday began work to replace several parts on the space shuttle Discovery after a gas leak delayed its launch just hours before liftoff, the US space agency said.

A technical team has drawn up a plan to repair what is known as the ground umbilical carrier plate interface from which hydrogen gas leaked on Wednesday as Discovery's external tank was being filled with fuel for the launch.

BRISBANE (Australia) - ONE OF Australia's leading conservation groups has warned the oil spill along Queensland's coast will affect every level of the marine food chain said reports on Friday.

Martin Taylor from WWF said everything from fish and crabs to water birds, dugongs and dolphins, would feel the effects after oil spilled from a cargo ship caught in cyclonic winds on Wednesday.

ALMOST six in 10 people in the United States who left their jobs last year helped themselves to confidential company information such as customer contact lists, a new survey has found.

The data taken included e-mail lists, employee records, customer information including contact lists, and non-financial information.