WASHINGTON - YOU can put those maps away. The US Air Force has shot down fears that the space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) is going to crash.

The GAO, the investigative arm of the US Congress, expressed concern that GPS could be interrupted because of delays in modernising and deploying the constellation of Air Force satellites which provides the service.

CAPE CANAVERAL - SPACE shuttle Atlantis prepared on Thursday to leave orbit after a successful mission that repaired the Hubble Space Telescope, but poor weather over Florida may delay Friday's planned homecoming.

Shuttle Commander Scott Altman and his flight crew tested Atlantis' rocket thrusters and other equipment needed to return through the atmosphere and land.

WASHINGTON - YOUTUBE just keeps getting bigger. The Google-owned video-sharing site said late Wednesday in a blog post that 20 hours of video are being uploaded to YouTube every minute.

It said that in mid-2007, six hours of video were being uploaded to the site every minute. It grew to 15 hours in January of this year and now stands at 20 hours a minute, YouTube said.