Sana'a, Yemen  - Yemeni authorities have released the former driver of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden nearly two weeks after he was released from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a family source said on Saturday.

The source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Salim Hamdan, 40, was released from the intelligence prison in the capital Sana'a late on Thursday.

Security officials confirmed Hamdan's release, but they refused to give further details.

New York, Jan. 10 : Ten international banks, including British-based Lloyds laundered "billions of dollars" for Iran through New York banks, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced Friday.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, the scheme helped Iran turn its dirty money into greenbacks, which it could then use to buy goods prohibited by international sanctions.

Some of the money went to fund terrorist groups like the Hamas and Hezbollah, and to help Iran get materials, including tungsten, for long-range missiles, sources said.

Melbourne, Jan 10 : The Australian Government has rejected claims that its decision not to resettle Guantanamo Bay inmates in the country was due to pressure from China.

The Kevin Rudd Government denied a request from the Bush Administration to resettle 17 Chinese locked up in Guantanamo Bay military prison after a number of warnings from Beijing not to take the former terror suspects.

New York, Jan 10 : Aussie actor Russell Crowe has been throwing his weight around on the pre-production of `Nottingham' so much that Brit actress Sienna Miller has dropped out of the flick.

Crowe is reportedly telling producers to get a new director and demanding script rewrites.

Miller, who was supposed to play Maid Marian, left the production on January 9 after she was put on hold while shooting was pushed back from February to April.

Washington, Jan 10 : President elect Barack Obama's pick for CIA chief, Leon Panetta, does not belong to the intelligence community, but is a professional manager, just what the CIA might need.

Obama's nominee for CIA director has faced skepticism from some senators and intelligence insiders, but he is not the first to come to Langley with a resume in politics, FOX News reported.

George H. W. Bush faced similar criticism when President Gerald Ford tapped him to lead the embattled agency in 1975.

New York, January 10 : While rumours are rife that Anna Wintour going to give up