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nigerian charged in plane plot faces life term
washington jan afp
young nigerian was wednesday charged with attempted murder and trying to use
weapon of mass destruction aboard us plane as under fire security chiefs
vowed to revamp intelligence services
umar farouk abdulmutallab was indicted on six counts arising out of the
botched christmas day plot to blow up northwest airliner packed with
passengers and crew as it approached detroit michigan
michigan district court documents accused him of carrying concealed bomb
inside his clothing on board flight from amsterdam
the bomb consisted of device containing pentaerythritol tetranitrate petn
triacetone triperoxide tatp and other ingredients the charge sheet said
adding that both substances were highly explosive
the bomb was designed to allow defendant umar farouk abdulmutallab to detonate
it at time of his choosing and to thereby cause an explosion aboard flight
the documents added
if convicted of trying to use weapon of mass destruction the young nigerian
faces life imprisonment the department of justice said in statement other
charges carry maximum of years while two charges of possession of
firearm carry mandatory years in prison
this investigation is fast paced global and ongoing and it has already
yielded valuable intelligence that we will follow wherever it leads attorney
general eric holder said in the statement
he vowed that anyone we find responsible for this alleged attack will be
brought to justice using every tool military or judicial available to our
government
president barack obama tuesday sharply rebuked intelligence and security
services for missing series of red flags which could have unmasked the plot
earlier
it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully
leveraged obama said after gathering agency chiefs and national security aides
at high stakes white house meeting
that not acceptable and will not tolerate it he said in an unusual
public dressing down of the intelligence services
obama was even more explicit during the meeting in the secure white house
situation room an official said
this was screw up that could have been disastrous the official speaking on
condition of anonymity quoted obama as saying
red faced top officials admitted mistakes had been made and vowed to do better
to confront an evolving threat from terror groups an al qaeda cell in yemen
where abdulmutallab spent some time in has claimed to be behind the plot
we know based on this incident and certainly the direction we ve all received
from the president we have to learn these lessons and make it better the
chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mike mullen said
it not perfect system he admitted
director of national intelligence dennis blair was even blunter in statement
saying the intelligence community received the president message today we
got it and we are moving forward to meet the new challenges
reports have said there were series of clues that should have raised the
alarm including warning from abdulmutallab father prominent nigerian
banker who told the us embassy he was concerned about his son
the white house will thursday release an unclassified version of report into
the intelligence failures
think you ll see tomorrow that this is failure that touches across the full
waterfront of our intelligence agencies said white house spokesman robert
gibbs
the christmas day incident has triggered series of new security measures at
airports around the world and us officials have already added dozens of names
to no fly lists
but blair acknowledged intelligence services had to become more nimble in
reacting to new methods being developed by terror groups such as al qaeda which
hijacked planes to destroy new york twin towers in
we can and we must outthink outwork and defeat the enemy new ideas the
intelligence community will do that as directed by the president working
closely with our nation entire national security team blair said
the threat has evolved and we need to anticipate new kinds of attacks and
improve our ability to stay ahead of them and protect america
last minute deal to save saab unlikely gm chief
chicago jan afp
last minute deal to save swedish carmaker saab from being shut down is
unlikely the head of general motors said wednesday
gm extended deadline to consider offers for saab last month after dutch sports
car maker spyker approached the us automaker with last ditch proposal
but gm chairman and chief executive officer ed whitacre told reporters that he
was not confident deal could be made given what happening here and the
speed with which it moving
it real easy just show up with the money and you can have it whitacre
said but nobody shown up with the money so we re in wind down mode here
spyker efforts to purchase saab came after interest from swedish luxury sports
car maker koenigsegg which withdrew its bid for saab in november citing costly
delays in the transaction
but whitacre dismissed critics who said gm was giving up too easily on the
historic swedish brand don think we could do any more than we ve done
think we ve done everything possible
the swedish government has repeatedly said it will not bail out the
trollhaettan based company which directly employs around people but
would help workers re skill
analysts have warned that some jobs could be lost with saab closure
saab which has barely turned profit in two decades under gm management was
due to resume production on january after four week shutdown as part of
plans to close the plant
saab closure would be just the latest upheaval in sweden once blooming auto
industry
in december us auto giant ford agreed to sell its swedish brand volvo cars to
chinese car maker geely
ford said the geely deal would provide volvo which employs people
worldwide with the resources to further strengthen the business and build its
global franchise
probe finds hutu extremists killed rwandan leader report
nairobi jan afp
extremists inside rwanda hutu regime were responsible for the death of
president juvenal habyarimana in airplane crash that preceded genocide
rwandan probe into the assassination says
according to the findings of fact finding panel set up in april by the
kigali government ranking members of the rwandan armed forces far were behind
the attack that it said was part of coup bid aimed at averting any power
sharing with tutsi rebels
the committee looked into various assumptions and now is convinced that the
former far are fully responsible for the preparation and execution of the attack
that cost the lives of presidents habyarimana and cyprien ntaryamira of
burundi the french falcon crew and the rwandan and burundian passengers in
their company said its report of which afp saw copy wednesday
the executive jet carrying habyarimana and ntaryamira was shot down with
surface to air missiles as it was approaching kigali on april
habyarimana hutu had returned from dar es salaam tanzania where he had
taken part in summit in which negotiations with tutsi rebels of the rwandan
patriotic front played major role
french lawyer bernard maingain who represents rwandan presidential aide rose
kabuye told afp the rwandan report was an extraordinary contribution to the
investigation which is also being carried out by france
the rwandan side has done job that any magistrate should have done go there
speak to the people who saw what happened he said
kabuye has been charged with complicity in murder in relation to terrorism
over the downing of habyarimana plane
former guerrilla fighter who now is rwandan president paul kagame chief of
protocol kabuye was arrested in germany on november and transferred to paris
to face charges
the rwandan panel said it did not see any french involvement in habyarimana
assassination but noted that french military officials stationed in rwanda as
part of military agreement with the late president regime had had access to
the plane wreck
the investigating committee said the french officials walked away with the
downed aircraft flight recorder and missile debris
kigali has repeatedly accused france of siding with the hutus who carried out
the genocide in which people essentially minority tutsis were
massacred between the assassination and july
paris has always denied accusations of involvement in the genocide
the two countries said in november they would resume diplomatic relations and
french foreign minister bernard kouchner on wednesday arrived in kigali for his
first visit to the former colony since the announcement
more guantanamo inmates tied to militant groups pentagon
washington jan afp
an increasing number of detainees transferred from the us prison in guantanamo
have forged links to militant groups the pentagon said on wednesday
the precise number remained classified but was in keeping with previous
defense department report in april that said percent of former inmates had
engaged in or were suspected of having ties to militants pentagon press
secretary geoff morrell said
can give you the numbers other than to say that do not believe that
trend has reversed itself morrell told news conference
human rights groups have dismissed the pentagon numbers as propaganda saying
the information was too vague and that most of the detainees that had allegedly
returned to the fight were not identified
the april report showed an increase from to percent in what the pentagon
calls the recidivism rate for detainees transferred out of the prison at the us
naval base in guantanamo bay cuba
the issue has taken on heightened importance after failed attack on us
airliner on christmas day was tied to al qaeda branch in yemen where two
former guantanamo detainees are believed to be acting as senior leaders
including said ali al shihri
president barack obama on tuesday suspended transfers of guantanamo detainees to
yemen following the christmas day incident
the administration is under intense pressure from domestic critics not to send
more detainees back to yemen due to fears they could slip into extremism in the
arab nation where al qaeda has expanded its presence in recent years
morrell said deciding which of the remaining detainees at guantanamo could
be transferred to another country was daunting challenge
this is an inexact science he said
we are making subjective calls based upon judgment intelligence and so there
is no foolproof answer in this realm that what makes this so difficult
obama has vowed to close the controversial guantanamo prison where inmates
are still held of the remaining detainees about are yemeni according to
defense officials
seven yemeni detainees have already been sent home by the obama administration
including six in december several others were repatriated during george
bush administration
high level obama administration task force is working to determine the fate of
the remaining prisoners at guantanamo including some of the most wanted terror
suspects
some inmates will face trial before military or civilian courts and others will
be detained indefinitely because they are considered too dangerous to release
but cannot be tried because evidence against them is scant or tainted
wall street stocks flatline amid unemployment worries
new york jan afp
wall street stocks ended little changed wednesday as the market digested
disappointing report on private sector jobs and federal reserve minutes showing
concern about high unemployment
the dow jones industrial average gained mere points percent to
at the market close barely ending in positive territory after weak
opening
the technology heavy nasdaq composite fell points percent to
and the broad market standard amp poor index advanced
point percent to preliminary close of
payrolls firm adp reported before the opening bell the nonfarm private sector
shed jobs in december the smallest drop since march
most analysts had expected losses in the key private sector report which
comes ahead of the labor department nonfarm jobs data release friday which
includes government workers
with the reported adp number being close to the consensus estimate and the
prior month number being upwardly revised from decline of to
decline of the key takeaway for the market this morning is that the adp
report won prompt any negative rethinking of estimates for friday nonfarm
payrolls report said patrick hare at briefing com
the labor department is expected to report nonfarm payrolls fell by
after shedding in november and the unemployment rate holding at
percent
in blow to obama top senate ally announces retirement
washington jan afp
us president barack obama democratic allies were off to rocky election year
start wednesday with high profile retirements endangering their fragile senate
majority and his agenda
democratic senator christopher dodd chairman of the powerful senate banking
committee announced he would not seek re election in november depriving obama
of steadfast powerful ally and year veteran of washington
this is my moment to step aside dodd told reporters outside his connecticut
home acknowledging series of troubles had left him in the toughest political
shape of my career
democrats their senate and house of representatives majorities up for grabs in
the november vote hoped the embattled lawmaker departure would help them keep
his seat in state where obama won easily in
the announcement came day after democratic senator byron dorgan of north
dakota announced he would not seek another term boosting republican chances of
seizing his spot which would strengthen their ability to block obama agenda
today the senate democrats when joined by two independents who are often
their allies have the bare minimum vote majority needed in the seat
senate to overrun any republican delaying tactics
dodd hurt by controversial home loan and failed white house bid has
been key author of legislation to enact obama top domestic priority
remaking us health care and central player in efforts to revamp rules for
wall street battle climate change and pressure iran over its nuclear program
dorgan and dodd departures leave democrats defending four open senate seats
and three highly vulnerable ones including the spot held by democratic senate
majority leader harry reid of nevada
republicans will defend six open senate seats and democrats hope to wage
competitive races in five of those
republican national committee chairman michael steele has already said his party
will not retake the house even though mid term elections usually result in
losses for the president camp
democrats praised dodd starting with obama who said the senator worked
tirelessly to improve the lives of our children and families support good jobs
for hard working americans and keep our nation strong and prosperous
while his work in the senate is not yet finished his leadership in that
institution will be missed the president said in statement
some senate observers said democrats who were on the cusp of passing historic
health care overhaul within weeks would redouble their efforts to pass key
parts of obama agenda while they still have their vote majority
white house spokesman robert gibbs sidestepped questions about the impact of
democratic departures on obama legislative priorities saying it is hard to
look into the crystal ball months from election day
dodd whose term ends in january refused to speculate on the impact of his
move one year from this week our state will have new senator in the
meantime we have important work to do he said my service is not over
democratic representative barney frank chairman of the house financial services
committee praised dodd and said they would be working closely for the rest of
this year on rewriting tougher rules for wall street
but delighted republicans pounced on the news which they described as evidence
of democratic pessimism about the coming election after squandering the
opportunities wrought by obama ascent
these should serve as major wakeup call to democrat leadership that members
of their own caucus don want to be held accountable to the voters they have
ignored for the past year said steele
the senate retirements came as democratic governor bill ritter of the once
solidly republican state of colorado and one time rising star in the party
also said he would not seek reelection
dodd saw his political stock fall beginning in late with his failed bid for
the democratic presidential nomination and drew heavy fire over receiving
discounts from troubled lender countrywide financial
dodd faced deep disapproval from voters in his home state and the prospects of
tough re election fight against wealthy businesswoman linda mcmahon
afp world news agenda
hong kong jan afp
what coming up around the world
us releases report after airliner attack
leadership test for british pm
washington obama administration releases report on intelligence failures
relating to terrorist watch lists following the thwarted christmas day airliner
attack attacks us nigeria
london following up after two ex ministers called for ballot of labour
lawmakers on whether british prime minister gordon brown should remain leader
britain politics
abuja monitoring us nigeria relations after washington places us security
restrictions on air passengers from nigeria which the government in abuja
warned is likely to harm ties between the two countries us attacks nigeria
security airport diplomacy
chinese foreign minister yang jiechi visits nigeria as part of his african
tour
accra fbi inquiry continues into the sojourn in ghana of nigerian man accused
of trying to blow up us airliner attacks us nigeria ghana fbi
berlin monitoring situation after around million high tech german bank cards
were rendered useless on january by computer bug linked to the year
germany banking it
copenhagen decision over the release of greenpeace militants detained in
denmark since december when they displayed banner during an official
dinner at the un climate summit
goma drcongo developments in eastern democratic republic of congo where the
nyamulagira volcano has been erupting since saturday drcongo volcano
the hague defence case opens in the war crimes trial of congolese warlord
thomas lubanga accused of recruiting child soldiers before the international
criminal court warcrimes icc lubanga trial defence
kigali bernard kouchner meets rwandan president paul kagame during the first
visit to rwanda by french foreign minister since the two countries resumed
ties in november rwanda france diplomacy
tokyo reporting on developments after japan replaced its finance minister for
health reasons japan politics economy
blair allies call for ballot on british pm
london jan afp
two ex ministers called wednesday for ballot of labour lawmakers on whether
british prime minister gordon brown should remain leader highlighting his
vulnerability months before general election
brown has faced repeated rumours of threat to his struggling leadership since
taking over from tony blair in but has held on and will have to fight
general election before june this year
although the latest development seems unlikely to unseat brown it is deeply
embarrassing and makes public the splits which have dogged labour for most of
his premiership
in letter to all labour lawmakers geoff hoon defence secretary when
britain joined the iraq war in and former health secretary patricia
hewitt said the party was deeply divided over whether brown should be leader
many colleagues have expressed their frustration at the way in which this
question is affecting our political performance they wrote
we have therefore come to the conclusion that the only way to resolve this
issue would be to allow every member to express their view in secret ballot
if there was no secret ballot this grumbling could continue into the election
campaign diverting attention from our real message said hoon and hewitt
seen as blair allies
the letter gained early support from handful of persistent brown critics who
say that with labour around points behind the main opposition conservatives
led by david cameron it is time for change
its timing is awkward british political parties effectively started election
campaigning this week after the christmas break brown has not yet called the
general election but it looks likely to come in may
it seems improbable that any vote which could come as early as monday would go
against him not least because there is no obvious candidate to replace him
but if it did it could allow figures like foreign secretary david miliband
who reportedly considered standing against brown in way to challenge
for the leadership without having wielded the knife
in statement few hours after the hoon hewitt letter miliband said he
supported the re election campaign for labour government
am working closely with the prime minister on foreign policy issues and
support the re election campaign for labour government that he is leading
miliband said
in june last year brown fended off nascent leadership plot after several
cabinet ministers quit in quick succession and one james purnell urged him to
step down
westminster rumours that another cabinet minister could be about to call
publicly for brown to quit in the coming days have so far proved unfounded
peter mandelson business secretary and brown effective deputy who reportedly
fell out with the prime minister in recent weeks responded to the letter by
saying the government should carry on as usual
no one should over react to this initiative he said it is not led by
members of the government no one has resigned from the government
the prime minister continues to have the support of his colleagues and we
should carry on government business as usual
mandelson has also dismissed the reports of resignation
one of brown closest allies schools secretary ed balls also dismissed the
call for ballot saying it would make voters think labour had lost our
marbles
the government the cabinet the labour party is fully behind gordon brown
balls told sky news television ve spoken to the prime minister but he
getting on with doing his job
costa rica increases volcano alert
san jose jan afp
costa rica on wednesday raised an alert level to cover wider area around the
turrialba volcano day after it erupted
the alert level is rising from green to yellow vanessa rosales the head of
the national emergency commission told news conference in the capital san
jose some kilometers miles from the volcano
winds were sweeping some ash toward the capital rosales said adding that
intense but low seismic activity continued in the crater area
evacuations would extend from three kilometer radius to five or six
kilometers with some people already evacuated she added
the meter foot volcano erupted tuesday spewing ash and rocks and
forcing people in its vicinity to evacuate their homes
the last major eruption of the turrialba volcano was in it has had at
least five major explosive eruptions in the last years
us holocaust museum shooter dies officials
washington jan afp
an elderly white supremacist charged with shooting dead guard at the us
holocaust museum last year died wednesday in hospital near the jail where he
was being held federal prisons official said
authorities at the location where james von brunn was incarcerated the federal
correctional complex at butner north carolina told us that he was pronounced
dead at local hospital shortly before pm today edmond ross spokesman
for the federal bureau of prisons told afp
he had long history of poor health which included chronic congestive heart
failure and sepsis ross said although he was unable to state the precise
cause of von brunn death
aj kramer public defender who was appointed to represent von brunn in court
confirmed that the year old had died in hospital
he has died kramer said although he was also unable to give the cause of
death
long time holocaust denier with ties to hate groups von brunn pulled up
outside the holocaust museum in washington tourist district last june strode
the few steps to the main entrance and shot at point blank range an african
american security guard who held open the door for him witnesses said
security guard stephen tyrone johns died from injuries sustained in the
shooting which was ended rapidly by two other security guards who opened fire
on von brunn seriously wounding him
von brunn faced possible execution if convicted of the first degree murder of
johns one of litany of charges including hate crimes and weapons violations
that were read out against him at court hearing in september
at the hearing federal prosecutor nicole wade ordered that von brunn remain
behind bars saying that despite his advanced age and seemingly fragile health
he posed safety risk
the fact that he that makes him dangerous because he has nothing to
lose she said
he continues to be danger for the community wade said adding that if von
brunn were released there is no doubt that he will try to kill again
von brunn had previously served time in prison after entering the us federal
reserve in carrying shotgun saying he was going to carry out citizen
arrest
he was an unrepentant racist who described the united states on his blog as
third world racial garbage dump stupid ignorant dead broke and terminal
search of the car he left in the street outside the museum after the shooting
in june turned up notebook of handwritten anti semitic rants denouncing
president barack obama as jewish puppet
his ex wife has said his hatred of jews and blacks ate him alive like cancer
and his son erik denounced his father cowardice after the shooting and
called his actions unforgiveable
von brunn had been incarcerated at butner federal prison complex since september
last year after being sent there for court ordered evaluation to see if he
was mentally competent to stand trial ross told afp
von brunn lawyer kramer had asked for the evaluation against his client
wishes
nigerian faces six charges for us plane plot
washington jan afp
us officials wednesday charged nigerian man with attempted murder and
attempted use of weapon of mass destruction after botched attempt to bomb
passenger jet on christmas day
umar farouk abdulmutallab was accused of boarding northwest flight
carrying concealed bomb inside his clothing according to court documents
that detailed total of six charges against him
the bomb consisted of device containing pentaerythritol tetranitrate petn
triacetone triperoxide tatp and other ingredients the charge sheet said
the bomb was designed to allow defendant umar farouk abdulmutallab to detonate
it at time of his choosing and to thereby cause an explosion aboard flight
if convicted of the charges the young nigerian faces life imprisonment the
department of justice said in statement
abdulmutallab has been in custody in detroit since christmas day when the
device stitched inside his underwear failed to detonate correctly and he was
overpowered by passengers and crew after sparking an onboard fire
he was charged with total of six counts by michigan district court including
attempted use of weapon of mass destruction attempted murder of people
within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the united states and willful
attempt to destroy and wreck an aircraft
he was also charged with willfully placing destructive device on an aircraft
and two counts of possession of firearm or destructive device during the
flight from amsterdam
the charge sheet said that both petn and tatp are highly explosive
the charges that umar farouk abdulmutallab faces could imprison him for life
said attorney general eric holder in statement
this investigation is fast paced global and ongoing and it has already
yielded valuable intelligence that we will follow wherever it leads
and he vowed that anyone we find responsible for this alleged attack will be
brought to justice using every tool military or judicial available to our
government
an al qaeda cell in yemen where abdulmutallab spent some time in has
claimed to have been behind the plot
abdulmutallab the son of prominent nigerian banker is due to be arraigned on
friday in michigan court to face the indictment brought by grand jury
us holocaust museum shooter dies officials
washington jan afp
an elderly white supremacist who last year shot dead guard at the us holocaust
museum died wednesday in hospital near the jail where he was being held
federal prisons official said
authorities at the location where james von brunn was incarcerated the federal
correctional complex at butner north carolina told us that he was pronounced
dead at local hospital shortly before pm today edmond ross spokesman
for the federal bureau of prisons told afp
he had long history of poor health which included chronic congestive heart
failure and sepsis ross said although he was unable to state the precise
cause of von brunn death
aj kramer public defender who was appointed to represent von brunn in court
confirmed that the year old had died in hospital
he has died kramer said although he was also unable to give the cause of
death
long time holocaust denier with ties to hate groups von brunn pulled up
outside the holocaust museum in washington tourist district last june strode
the few steps to the main entrance and shot at point blank range an african
american security guard who held open the door for him
security guard stephen tyrone johns died from injuries sustained in the
shooting which was ended rapidly by two other security guards who opened fire
on von brunn seriously wounding him
von brunn faced possible execution if convicted of the first degree murder of
johns one of litany of charges including hate crimes and weapons violations
that were read out against him at court hearing in september
at the hearing federal prosecutor nicole wade ordered that von brunn remain
behind bars saying that despite his advanced age and seemingly fragile health
he posed safety risk
the fact that he that makes him dangerous because he has nothing to
lose she said
he continues to be danger for the community wade said adding that if von
brunn were released there is no doubt that he will try to kill again
von brunn had previously served time in prison after entering the us federal
