BBC news 2009-12-27 加文本

2009-12-27 BBC

BBC News with Jerry Smate.

Authorities in the United States have charged a 23-year-old Nigerian man with attempting to blow up a trans-Atlantic passenger plane. A statement released by the Department of Justice said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to set off an explosive device which was attached to his body on the Northwest Airline's flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Friday. The statement added that an initial FBI analysis found that the device contained PETN, a high explosive, and that remnant of a syringe was found near to his seat. He'll make his first court appearance later on Saturday. Mark Mardel reports from Washington.

A man named as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab had apparently flown from Lagos in Nigeria to Amsterdam and there boarded the flight to Detroit. About 20 minutes before landing, passengers heard a noise.

"It sounded first like a balloon being popped and then it was, a minute later,, there was a lady shouting back, 'What are you doing? What are you doing?'"

It seemed as though the man had mixed the powder and the liquid together. There were flames and smoke .A film producer from Amsterdam, Jasper Schuringa, was sitting a few rows behind. He put it out with his bare hands.

"I didn't hesitate a moment. I just want to stop it."

US officials say Motala quickly told them he was acting on behalf of al-Qaeda and got the device in Yemen. But other sources treat that with caution. The police most want to know what the chemicals were and how they were smuggled aboard.

There has been a series of clashes in Iran between security forces and opposition supporters across the capital Tehran. Witnesses said police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. As Jon Lyne reports.

In video that's emerged on the Internet, there is a heavy security presence with many of the government's besieged militia patrolling on motorcycles. Opposition protesters break into chanting as few passengers on a couple of city buses. There's also the sound of gunfire. Witnesses said that was shooting in the air. Elsewhere, the security forces used batons, tear gas and electric cattle prods in an attempt to control the protesters. Later in the day, new clashes broke out as thousands of opposition supporters gathered for a ceremony addressed by one of the main opposition leaders, former President Khatami.

The Turkish army says it has detained eight soldiers over an alleged plot to assassinate the Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc. The military has denied being part of any plot. Jonathan Head reports from Istanbul.

The detention of eight military personnel puts a new twist on a case that broke last week when an army major and a colonel were apprehended by a special anti-terrorist squad near the home of Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc. According to Mr. Arinc, one of the officers was carrying a map pinpointing his house and attempted to swallow it when he was detained. However the two officers were later released and the military said they'd only been carrying out routine surveillance. But when prosecutors raided an army base on Friday night, they clearly found evidence of something more sinister. That's resulted in eight more soldiers being taken in for questioning.

BBC News.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has condemned Israel's killing at three suspected militants in Nablus as a dangerous escalation in the violence. Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Israel was destroying any hope of peace.

"The policy of assassinations, the policy of escalation from the Israeli side, is ruining every chance of peace, and as we said previously, this is a damaging act from the Israeli government. It's going to lead to more instability, more violence and do not help recovering and going back to the negotiations."

An Israeli army spokesman Colonel Itzik Bar said the men were militants who were shot after they refused to surrender.

"We acted in a very focused and professional manner. It was an operation in which we had to detain the terrorists. When they refused to cooperate and didn't turn themselves in, the soldiers operated according to open-fire regulations and made it possible for anyone who wanted to, to surrender. Those who didn't do so were shot by our soldiers."

In Gaza, Israeli forces killed three Palestinians suspected of trying to infiltrate into Israel.

Pakistani officials say at least five suspected Islamist militants have been killed in an American drone attack. They said two missiles were fired at a compound in a village in North Waziristan which has recently seen a significant increase in Taliban activity.

The death has been announced in Norway of Knut Haugland, the last surviving member of the 1947 Kon-Tiki Expedition in which six crewmen crossed the Pacific on a balsa-wood raft. The Kon-Tiki Expedition was launched by the anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl to demonstrate that South Americans could have settled Polynesia.

BBC News.