Nation & world digest 10/16/01

Jet Blue installing bulletproof cockpit doors

NEW YORK -- The new sign on the cockpit doors of JetBlue Airways planes warns would-be hijackers: This door is plated and locked from the inside.

Bullets won't penetrate the new door, the airline says, and someone swinging an ax wouldn't be able to cut through it, either. The door is lined with a layer of Kevlar -- the material inside bulletproof vests.

After pilots close the door, they lock four new deadbolts made of titanium, a move aimed at preventing passengers from using their own weight to crash through.

Two of JetBlue's planes are now fitted with the $10,000 modified cockpit doors, and the rest of the company's 16 jets will have them soon, said David Neeleman, the airline's chief executive.

New York mayor gets honorary knighthood

NEW YORK -- Mayor Rudolph Giuliani received an honorary knighthood Monday from Queen Elizabeth II for his "outstanding help and support to the bereaved British families in New York."

The queen also conferred honorary titles -- Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire -- on the city's police and fire commissioners.

The titles were announced during a City Hall visit by the queen's son, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

Giuliani, who was named Knight Commander of Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, does not get the right to call himself "Sir Rudolph."

Up to 200 Britons are listed as missing or killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Kuwaiti royal criticizes tepid support for U.S.

KUWAIT -- Kuwait's former ambassador to Washington said his country has not been strong enough in its support for the U.S. anti-terror campaign, and he accused it of being "hijacked by groups that call themselves Islamic."

Sheik Saud Al Sabah, a member of the ruling family and Kuwait's ambassador when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, said his Persian Gulf country should have taken a leading role in the U.S.-led effort.

In an interview that appeared Saturday in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, he said he was afraid Washington would drop Kuwait from its list of allies because of its lukewarm support.

"We should have led the international coalition against terrorism, not just taken part in it," Sheik Saud said.

Influential Islamic groups in Kuwait have strongly condemned the U.S.-British strikes that began Oct. 7 on alleged terrorist bases in Afghanistan.

Military buys exclusive rights to satellite photos

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military is paying for the exclusive rights to commercial satellite imagery of Afghanistan even though its own satellites are thought to take far better pictures.

This could serve two purposes: to provide an extra eye on Afghanistan, and to prevent anyone else from peeking at the war zone.

The images of the Ikonos satellite, among the best available to the public, will add to those collected by military satellites and airplanes, Joan Mears, a spokeswoman for the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, said. She declined to discuss how much the government is paying for the pictures.

-- From wire reports