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| Obama condemns intelligence failings over Abdulmutallab Dutch government says all passengers to US will have to go through full-body scanners once they have been installed at Schiphol airportBarack Obama today described US intelligence failings as "totally unacceptable" after it emerged that agencies knew leaders of a branch of al-Qaida in Yemen had talked about "a Nigerian" being prepared for a terrorist attack.The US president interrupted a holiday in Hawaii to speak bluntly about the lapses that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board a Northwest Airlines flight to the US in Amsterdam.The Dutch government today announced that all passengers to the US would have to go through full-body scanners once they have been installed at Schiphol airport in three weeks.The Dutch interior minister, Guusje Ter Horst, said the authorities had wanted to introduce the scanners for passengers travelling to the US before the attempted bombing.However, the devices were not installed because US authorities wanted them to be used on flights to all destinations.Ter Horst said the attempted plane bombing had been prepared professionally but executed amateurishly."If the detonation had been done in a correct manner, then part of the plane would have exploded and a hole in the plane would have caused a great tragedy," she said.A preliminary Dutch investigation said all security checks were correctly carried out in Amsterdam before the flight left, and US authorities cleared the passenger list that included Abdulmutallab.Holst said the Dutch authorities did not know that Abdulmutallab – who was travelling on a Nigerian passport – was on a US security list.Ter Horst said Abdulmutallab apparently assembled the explosive device, including 80 grams of the military explosive PETN, in the aircraft toilet and had planned to detonate it using a syringe of chemicals."It is not exaggerating to say the world has escaped a disaster," Ter Horst said.Meanwhile, officials in Somalia said a Somali tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month with powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion.Abdulahi Hassan Barise, a police spokesman, said the suspect was arrested before the 13 November Daallo Airlines flight left.It was scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai.Two international officials in Nairobi said the incident was similar to the attempted Detroit attack.US officials said they were aware of the incident and were investigating any possible links with the Detroit incident.A senior official told the New York Times Obama had been briefed that the US had information that would have amounted to a clear warning if shared among agencies.This included details on where Abdulmutallab had been and what some of his plans were."When our government has information on a known extremist and that information is not shared and acted upon as it should have been so that this extremist boards a plane with dangerous explosives that could cost nearly 300 lives, a systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable," the US president said.The New York Times reported that although US agencies did not have the name of the 23-year-old Nigerian, they could have found it by looking at information about him that was already available.Abdulmutallab has been charged with trying to blow up the flight to Detroit on Christmas Day."Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged," Obama said."The warning signs would have triggered red flags and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America."Senior US officials told the Associated Press that the intelligence authorities were looking at conversations between Abdulmutallab and at least one al-Qaida member.The unnamed officials said the conversations were vague or coded, but US intelligence believed that, in hindsight, they may have been referring to the attempted attack in Detroit.Obama's homeland security and counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, is due to present the president with an early report based on recommendations and summaries from across the government.Yemen, meanwhile, has warned of hundreds more militants on its soil planning to attack the west, and appealed for help to stop them.Yemen's foreign minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, told the BBC that up to 300 extremists, backed by al-Qaida, were waiting to follow the example of Abdulmutallab."Of course there are a number of al-Qaida operatives in Yemen, and some of their leaders," he said."We realise this danger. They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit ... I can't give you exact figures. There are maybe hundreds of them – 200, 300."The minister said Britain, the US and other western nations could do "a lot" to improve Yemen's response to militants on its own soil and it was the "responsibility" of developed countries with strong intelligence capabilities to warn it about the movements of terror suspects."We have to expand our counter-terrorism units and this means providing them with the necessary training, military equipment, ways of transportation – we are very short of helicopters," he said, claiming the US, UK and EU could do more."There is support, but I must say it is inadequate."Yemen's government confirmed that Abdulmutallab had visited the country twice in recent years – for several months in 2005 and again from August until shortly before his failed attempt to bring down the airliner.He has told FBI interrogators that he was trained in Yemen by al-Qaida.Abdulmutallab described Yemen as "great" in internet postings made after he visited the country for the first time to learn Arabic while he was a boarder at an elite international school in west Africa.Global terrorismUS national securityAl-QaidaUnited StatesNigeriaYemenChris McGrealMark Tranguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Tax-Cut Row Roils German Coalition Germany's conservative party has raised doubts over planned cuts in income tax, sparking a conflict with their business-friendly Free Democrat partners. online.wsj.com |
Clashes With Migrants Rattle Italy Riots and the evacuation of immigrants from a southern Italian town have prompted a wave of soul-searching over how Italy should respond to racial tensions stoked by economic malaise. online.wsj.com |
Viktor Yanukovich wins first round of Ukraine election Villain of 2004 Orange Revolution will face Yulia Tymoshenko in presidential run-off, while incumbent Yushchenko is wiped outViktor Yanukovich, Ukraine's opposition leader and the villain of the 2004 Orange Revolution, is on the brink of a stunning political comeback after opening up a commanding 11-point lead in Sunday's first round of the presidential election.According to Ukraine's election commission, Yanukovich was ahead with 35.51% of the vote. In second place, with 24.88%, was Yulia Tymoshenko – Ukraine's prime minister and Yanukovich's bitter rival.As neither won 50%, they will face a run-off vote on 7 February.Ukraine's unpopular incumbent president, Viktor Yushchenko, has been ousted from power, coming fifth with 5.41%.The results, with 85% of the vote counted, confounded some exit polls that suggested a much narrower gap between the two leading candidates.International observers have warmly praised the election as a significant step forward from the fraud-marred poll of 2004 in which Yanukovich tried to rig the result, triggering the mass protests in Kiev's Independence Square that became the Orange Revolution.At a press conference in Kiev, Heidi Tagliavini, the head of the OSCE election observer mission, described the poll as "mostly in line with international standards". Despite some "shortcomings", observers said the election, contested by 18 candidates, had been "good, clean and competitive".Pawel Kowal, head of the observer delegation from the European parliament, said: "The people of Ukraine had a genuine democratic choice."Both leading candidates have claimed victory. Tymoshenko predicted she would win the support of "democratic voters" in the second round and defeat the "stone age" Yanukovich. She promised to continue Ukraine's integration with Europe.But analysts have suggested it will be an uphill task for Tymoshenko, who has been grappling with a severe economic crisis, to close the yawning gap with Yanukovich. They have predicted that whoever loses is likely to bitterly contest the result, going to court and possibly the streets."I would say that Yanukovich has a very high chance to win this game," Sergiy Taran, director of the International Democracy Institute in Kiev, told the Guardian."This isn't because of Yanukovich but because of the constant fight in the post-Orange camp and the lack of economic reforms conducted by the Orange camp."Others said the generally low-key and trouble-free election was a sign of Ukraine's growing political maturity. Unlike in 2004, when the Russian-speaking east overwhelmingly backed Yanukovich and the west plumped for Tymoshenko, voting patterns were less polarised and more diffuse."Ukraine is becoming more open," said Sergiy Yevtushenko, the director of Ukraine's foreign investment agency. "Political shows beat football games in terms of popularity. Ukraine is on its way to becoming a normal European country."Yevtushenko said that the "hate" that characterised the 2004 poll had ebbed away.If elected, Yanukovich will seek warmer relations with Moscow. He is dismissed by his enemies as a wooden and gaffe-prone, but he is unlikely to become a Kremlin stooge since this strategy would inevitably damage the economic interests of his key oligarchic backers.While opposing Ukraine's Nato membership, he is likely to seek close ties with the European Union."Yanukovich is pro-Yanukovich and Tymoshenko is pro-Tymoshenko," said one senior western official who declined to be named. "They are not pro-Russian. They will try to have good relations with Russia, the US and Europe."Both would try to strengthen presidential powers, he said, and to end the executive rivalry between president and prime minister that has paralysed the country over the past five years.UkraineRussiaLuke Hardingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Haiti and India: Different Responses to Two Very Different Deadly Quakes As much as quake zones look alike, though, the people caught in them respond to their tragedy in different ways. feedproxy.google.com |