life imprisonment the department of justice said in statement the attempted
murder charges carry maximum sentence of years while two charges of
possession and use of firearm or destructive device 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
hours after charges were laid against abdulmutallab the los angeles times
reported that us border security officials were aware that he was on the
detroit bound flight and were ready to question him on landing
officials told the daily that agents discovered abdulmutallab name on the
customs and border protection database after he boarded the plane in amsterdam
the database had picked up the state department concern about this guy and his
possible involvement with extremists in yemen senior law enforcement official
was quoted as saying
they could have made decision on whether to stop him from getting on the
plane he said
red faced top officials have admitted mistakes were made and vowed to do better
to confront an evolving threat from terror groups an al qaeda cell in yemen
where abdulmutallab spent time in 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
reports have said there was 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 radicalization
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
the measures also include new restrictions for passengers coming from
countries including nigeria and yemen
but director of national intelligence dennis blair acknowledged the need 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 blair
said
french nuclear group areva to sell stake in eramet reports
paris jan afp
the french state controlled nuclear engineering group areva is about to shed its
percent interest in nickel mining company eramet to the strategic
investment fund fsi press reports said on thursday
eramet which notably has big nickel mining interests in the french pacific
territory of new caledonia would transfer its interest imminently to the fsi
an entity created by the french state as sovereign wealth fund to invest in
companies
the newspaper le figaro said that talks had been underway for months
dow jones newswires quoted source as saying that the transaction could be
concluded in the first quarter of the year for about billion euros
million dollars
areva declined to comment to afp beyond saying that in june the group had
considered disposing of its holding while assuyring that the holding would
remain under french state control given its strategic nature
afp gmt news advisory
paris jan afp
duty editor smith
tel
top stories
nigerian charged over us plane attack
gunmen kill six coptic christians in egypt
sudan risks new war aid groups warn
attacks us nigeria thlead wrap
washington
young nigerian is charged with attempted murder and trying to use weapon of
mass destruction aboard us plane as under fire security chiefs vow to revamp
intelligence services
words gmt by jo biddle picture video
egypt religion unrest christmas rdlead
cairo
attackers in car rake crowd of shoppers in south egypt town with gunfire
killing policemen and six coptic christians on the eve of their christmas
celebrations security official says
words gmt
sudan vote conflict south
khartoum
sudan africa largest country blessed with oil reserves could descend into
new war unless the world community takes action to salvage peace accord that
ended one of africa longest conflicts five years ago aid groups warn
words gmt by guillaume lavallee
filing plans by region
europe
britain politics newseries
london
british prime minister gordon brown fends off leadership coup by two former
ministers highlighting his vulnerability just months before general election
words gmt
europe weather lead wrap
london
europe shivers through bitterly cold temperatures as britain is hit with more
snow that has already caused chaos amid its most brutal winter in decades
words gmt pictures
germany economy banking it
berlin
german shoppers hit by year computer bug that has bitten million
bank cards fell back this week on proven means of payment cash
words gmt by anne padieu picture
middle east
attacks yemen wrap
sanaa
yemeni authorities unveil new strategies to crack down on al qaeda militants
day after the arrests of the leader of the network and two other militants
believed to be behind threats on western interests
words gmt by hammoud mounassar
iraq iran diplomacy ndlead
baghdad
iranian foreign minister manouchehr mottaki holds talks with iraqi leaders over
bilateral ties just weeks after dispute between the two countries over their
border
words gmt by ammar karim picture
iraq unrest lead
ramadi iraq
co ordinated early morning bombings shatter the homes of four police officers in
the western iraqi town of heet killing seven people including the town anti
terror chief
words gmt by bassim al anbari
mideast conflict gaza egypt tunnel focus
rafah gaza strip
angry palestinians watch as cranes bury the iron fence along the gaza border
but few believe egypt will succeed in its latest bid to shut down the
territory economic lifeline
words by adel zaanoun gmt picture
americas
us attacks intelligence focus
washington
us intelligence officials under pressure to better track terrorist threats are
hampered by their own vast bureaucracy and an overwhelming flow of information
analysts say
words moved by dan de luce
we have also moved attacks aviation security us afghanistan iraq qaeda lead
us russia nuclear disarmament analysis
washington
the united states and russia may have found negotiations for broad new nuclear
disarmament deal tougher than expected but are still likely to seal one soon in
the new year analysts say
words moved by lachlan carmichael
us it internet television electronics ces lead
las vegas nevada
breathtaking wave of televisions hits the consumer electronics show ces
with the technology being touted as the next big thing in home theater
words gmt by glenn chapman picture
asia
afghanistan unrest us cia qaeda thlead wrap
kabul
al qaeda in afghanistan hails the attack on cia base last week that killed
seven us agents as revenge for the deaths of militant masterminds in us drone
attacks in pakistan according to monitoring group
words gmt graphic picture
nepal maoists un conflict children ndlead
sindhuli nepal
thousands of former child soldiers who fought for the maoists in nepal decade
long civil war start to leave the un monitored camps where they have spent the
last three years
words gmt by deepesh shrestha picture graphic
india unrest kashmir ndlead wrap
srinagar india
commandos storm hotel in indian kashmir where two militants had been holed up
for nearly hours killing the gunmen and bringing an end to the siege
words gmt by izhar wani
australia japan whaling nzealand ndlead
wellington
new zealand and australia say they will investigate japanese whaling ship
alleged ramming of protest boat in antarctic waters as activists claim only
luck prevented someone being killed
words moved by david brooks graphic
japan politics economy lead
tokyo
japan new finance chief pledges to revive the economy and shake up his
powerful ministry after his predecessor quits due to poor health in fresh
setback to the government
words gmt graphic picture
pentagon gives ok for taiwan missile deal official
taipei jan afp
the us defense department has approved the sale of upgraded missile equipment to
taiwan taipei based us official said thursday risking the ire of the
island rival china
the sale of the patriot missile equipment is part of package passed by the us
congress more than year ago said spokesman with the american institute in
taiwan the us de facto embassy in the absence of formal ties
the us defense department awarded lockheed martin corp the contract to provide
patriot missile defence systems to taiwan as part of big arms deal approved by
congress in the spokesman told afp
the us defense department said in statement posted on its website wednesday
the contract for lockheed martin involved basic missile tooling upgrades
the announcement followed close on the heels of warning from china which
considers the island part of its territory and wants it back even if it means
war
we firmly oppose the us selling arms to taiwan chinese foreign ministry
spokeswoman jiang yu told reporters at regular briefing tuesday saying
beijing has had serious consultations with washington on the issue
we urge the us to recognise the gravity of selling arms to taiwan cancel any
plans to sell arms to taiwan and stop selling arms to taiwan so as not to damage
china us relations
the pentagon in october notified congress of billion dollars in arms
sales to taiwan triggering stern condemnation from china
the package included patriot advanced capability pac missiles worth up
to billion dollars
the contract now awarded by pentagon which totals million dollars and
also covers deals not involving taiwan appears to be for only part of the
missile sale announced in
national hockey league results
washington jan afp
national hockey league results and standings after wednesday games
wednesday january th results
buffalo tampa bay
ny rangers dallas
philadelphia toronto
minnesota calgary
ny islanders colorado
san jose st louis ot
eastern conference
atlantic division
new jersey
pittsburgh
ny rangers
ny islanders
philadelphia
northeast division
buffalo
boston
ottawa
montreal
toronto
southeast division
washington
atlanta
tampa bay
florida
carolina
western conference
central division
chicago
nashville
detroit
st louis
columbus
northwest division
calgary
colorado
vancouver
minnesota
edmonton
pacific division
san jose
phoenix
los angeles
dallas
anaheim
note overtime losses ot are worth one point in the standings and are
not included in the loss column
thursday january th schedule
st louis at anaheim pm
ny rangers at atlanta pm
chicago at boston pm
columbus at edmonton pm
carolina at nashville pm
phoenix at vancouver pm
ottawa at washington pm
detroit at los angeles pm
florida at montreal pm
philadelphia at pittsburgh pm
all times are eastern
afp
three policemen killed in south yemen attack
sanaa jan afp
yemeni officer and two policemen were killed thursday in an attack by
unidentified men in the south of the country local security source told afp
the attack took place in al buraiqa west of aden the source added
separatist sentiment has grown in recent years with southerners complaining of
discrimination and under investment by the sanaa government
several protests in recent months have sparked bloody clashes with the security
forces
yemen police wednesday arrested the owner and editor of the main southern
newspaper al ayyam following clashes between police and armed guards of the
banned daily
hisham bashraheel was taken into custody over clashes since monday in which
policeman and guard were killed and seven people were wounded
irritable kan takes control of japan finances
tokyo jan afp
japan new finance minister naoto kan is former grassroots activist and co
founder of the ruling democratic party known for his sharp debating skills and
sometimes short temper
nicknamed irritable kan for his fiery temperament the former opposition
leader is seen as possible candidate to replace prime minister yukio hatoyama
if he is forced to step down over political fund scandal
kan is graduate of the tokyo institute of technology and started his
political career as an aide to lawmaker and prominent women rights activist
he was first elected to the lower house of parliament in
he replaces year old hirohisa fujii proponent of fiscal discipline who was
hospitalised on december suffering from fatigue and high blood pressure after
months of wrangling over the national budget
in comparison kan is seen as lacking in depth experience in financial issues
although he has been involved in drafting the national budget
he spooked financial markets thursday by saying he wanted the yen to weaken in
contrast to fujii who had signalled tolerance of stronger currency
my thinking is that it would be preferable if the correction continues toward
weaker yen kan said at press conference causing the currency to drop on the
foreign exchange market
throughout his political career kan has sought to establish an alternative to
japan powerful conservative liberal democratic party ldp which dominated
politics for half century before being ousted in august elections
he earned popularity among the public during his years as health minister in
the when he pushed public servants to disclose the ministry involvement
in allowing the use of imported blood products tainted with hiv
kan who will have his hands full as both the finance minister and the deputy
prime minister has criticised the finance ministry as the symbol of old style
politics led by unelected but powerful bureaucrats
he faces the tough task of steering asia biggest economy out of its worst
post war downturn while also keeping the soaring national debt under control
unlike other heavyweights in his party kan has never belonged to the
conservative ldp he was rising star in the dpj assuming the post of
president of the party twice since its creation in
he is rare politician in japan who has background of grassroots activism
and has never belonged to the ldp nor the former socialist party said tetsuro
kato professor of politics at hitotsubashi university
he is certainly an influential figure inside the dpj if he succeeds
politically as finance minister it is possible he would be the next prime
minister said kato
cricket bangladesh elect to bat against india
dhaka jan afp
bangladesh captain shakib al hasan elected to bat after winning the toss against
india in triangular one day series match here on thursday
the hosts made one change from the side that lost to sri lanka in their opening
match replacing paceman shafiul islam with syed rasel india retained the team
that lost to sri lanka in the previous match on tuesday
each side will play four league matches before the top two advance to the final
on january
bangladesh shakib al hasan capt tamim iqbal imrul kayes mohammad ashraful
raqibul hasan mushfiqur rahim mohammad mahmudullah naeem islam abdur razzak
rubel hossain syed rasel
india mahendra singh dhoni capt virender sehwag gautam gambhir virat
kohli suresh raina yuvraj singh ravindra jadeja harbhajan singh zaheer
khan ashish nehra shanthakumaran sreesanth
umpires enamul haque ban and ian gould eng
tv umpire sharfuddoula shahid ban
match referee andy pycroft zim
korea reports foot and mouth outbreak
seoul jan afp
south korea thursday confirmed an outbreak of highly contagious foot and mouth
disease on cattle farm and ordered halt to pork and beef exports
six of milk cows at farm in pocheon kilometres miles northeast of
seoul had tested positive for the virus the agriculture ministry said in
statement
foot and mouth disease affects animals with cloven hooves such as cattle pigs
deer goats and sheep the virus can be spread between animals through the air
and on clothing however it is rarely transmitted to humans
all animals with cloven hooves found within radius of metres yards
yards from the affected farm will immediately be culled the ministry
livestock bureau director lee chang buhm told journalists
exports of such animals will also be halted until further notice he said
south korea last year exported some tonnes of swine products mostly
intestines skin and lard
total of milk cows pigs deer and goats were being raised at
seven farms within the metre radius he said
movement restrictions were also put in place to help contain the disease within
three kilometre two mile radius from the contaminated farm he added
the disease was reported south korea in and resulting in the
slaughter of infected animals at total cost of about billion won
million dollars
european stocks post weak open
london jan afp
europe main stock markets mainly fell at the start of trading on thursday
with frankfurt dax dropping percent to stand at points
in paris the cac also lost percent in value to reach points
while london ftse was flat at
tennis hewitt plays down injury scare
perth australia jan afp
dual grand slam champion lleyton hewitt dismissed concerns over an injury scare
at the hopman cup here thursday
in australia final group tie at the mixed teams tournament the former world
number one appeared hampered by hip and back soreness during his straight sets
singles loss to spaniard tommy robredo raising concerns over his fitness ahead
of the australian open in melbourne in just under fortnight
hewitt who has been troubled by injury over the last two years and also
slightly jarred knee earlier in the week called an injury time out at the end
of the first set but finished the match losing
he seemed to move more freely in the second set of the singles and then returned
to the court for mixed doubles rubber
speaking after the tie the year old played down the problem saying he had
been suffering back spasms but had responded well to treatment on the court and
again between the singles and doubles
the world number admitted the injury initially gave him fright
was little bit worried at the start it was about the second point and my
back went into bit of spasm felt something on the serve he said
was more concerned about that for the first set than trying to compete and
play tennis
the second set the back loosened up bit which was nice
hewitt said he fully expected to be fit for the medibank international in sydney
starting sunday
we ll have bit more physio over the next few days before sydney starts
still not per cent at the moment but by the time play in sydney in
few days time am pretty confident will be fine
with two wins from three singles matches here plus three mixed doubles matches
hewitt said the hopman cup had served its purpose of providing valuable match
practice in the new year
the main reason we come is to get matches under the belt he said
the grand slams are the priorities and want to be playing my best tennis in
melbourne
you can buy that sort of practice where you go out there and you are break
points down in competitive environment
both of us hewitt and team mate samantha stosur will take lot out of this
week
hewitt said he was in much better shape for this year australian open than in
when he bowed out in the first round following limited preparation after
hip surgery
hong kong gold closes higher
hong kong jan afp
hong kong gold closed higher on thursday at us dollars an
ounce up from wednesday close of dollars
it opened at dollars
sri lanka opens main road north after crushing rebels
jaffna sri lanka jan afp
sri lanka on thursday opened the main road to the northern peninsula of jaffna
heartland of the island minority tamils seven months after tamil separatists
were defeated
the highway had been closed since when tamil tiger rebels mounted an
offensive to retake the peninsula which had fallen into government hands in
competing attempts to control the led to bloody battles claiming thousands
of lives on both sides
social services minister and jaffna member of parliament douglas devananda told
visiting journalists and businessmen that travel restrictions still in place may
soon be lifted
we are currently working out the modalities to ease the travel restrictions on
foreigners to the north devananda said on thursday
from thursday the would be open around the clock he said
much of the road was in rebel held territory before the liberation tigers of
tamil eelam ltte were finally defeated by the military in may
during the final stages of the ethnic conflict the government shipped or
airlifted goods to the peninsula which is regarded the cultural capital of sri
lanka tamils
devananda also said plans were underway to set up economic zones in the towns of
omanthai and mankulam in the island north
the northern province accounts for just percent of the island billion
dollar economy and devananda said the government hopes to raise the figure to
percent of gross domestic product within the next two years
japanese firms slow construction of dubai metro
tokyo jan afp
consortium led by japan mitsubishi heavy industries has put the brakes on
construction work on the dubai metro due to disagreement over payments one of
the firms said thursday
we are slowing the pace of the construction for the purpose of negotiating the
terms of contracts said toshitaka kawahara spokesman for obayashi corp
which is one of the constructors
the consortium also comprises mitsubishi corp kajima corp and turkey yapi
merkezi
dubai said in september that the cost of building the metro had nearly doubled
to billion dollars adding to the financial troubles of the gulf emirate
which is battling serious debt crisis
the japanese nikkei business daily reported earlier thursday that the consortium
would suspend construction on the metro as early as thursday due to delay in
payment from the dubai government
the consortium members decided to halt the work for the time being to secure
back payments from the dubai government it said
the global financial crisis has hit the construction sector in dubai delaying
many projects due to the credit crunch
the emirate narrowly escaped financial catastrophe last month as neighbouring
deep pocketed abu dhabi threw it last minute lifeline worth billion dollars
to pay imminent debt owed by dubai world
dubai inaugurated its metro network in september in bid to cut dependency on
cars and ease congestion becoming the first city in the oil rich gulf to
introduce rail as commuting option
hong kong china shares end lower
hong kong jan afp
hong kong shares closed percent lower thursday as dealers took profits from
recent rally
the benchmark hang seng index fell points to with turnover
reaching billion hong kong dollars billion us
and chinese shares fell percent led by banks and automakers amid renewed
concerns over possible government tightening measures dealers said
the benchmark shanghai composite index which covers and shares closed down
points at on turnover of billion yuan billion
dollars
iran to try five rioters held over ashura unrest report
tehran jan afp
iran will put on trial five people who were arrested in december following anti
government unrest during the shiite religious commemoration of ashura the isna
news agency reported on thursday
five people were indicted regarding the ashura riots and their case files were
sent to the revolutionary court isna said quoting statement from the
prosecutor office
the crimes of the defendants will be soon dealt with in the presence of their
