news20091228jt1

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Ozawa group faces fresh scandal over land buy
Kyodo News

Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is under a new cloud of scandal over his fund management body's 2004 purchase of Tokyo land using more than \400 million that initially went unreported and was involved in shady, rather quick transfers, sources said.

Initially held as cash, the money was transferred to several bank accounts of Ozawa-linked political organizations, then later quickly moved to his fund management body, Rikuzankai, the sources said.

Rikuzankai listed funds used to purchase 476 sq. meters of land in Setagaya Ward worth about \340 million in its 2005 political funds report, although the land was actually bought in October 2004.

Ozawa's office has said a financial institution loaned \400 million to Rikuzankai using a time deposit of that value as collateral and spent the money for the land. But strangely, the payment was made before the financial institution actually lent to the fund management body, the sources said Saturday.

Prosecutors questioned DPJ lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa on a voluntary basis Sunday in the belief he can shed some light on the murky fund management process, they added.

Representative Ishikawa, who is also from Hokkaido, was performing clerical work at Rikuzankai when the land deal went down.

Hatoyama coughs up
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Sunday that he has just paid around \600 million in gift taxes on about \1.26 billion received from his mother since 2002.

"I undertook the procedure. I declared the tax instead of revising the tax return," Hatoyama told reporters in front of the prime minister's office.

Hatoyama sent a tax return to a tax office in Muroran, Hokkaido, on Friday afternoon, sources close to him said. Hatoyama represents a Hokkaido district in the Lower House.

Hatoyama's actions came after two of his former state-paid aides were indicted Thursday over a political funds scandal involving money provided by his mother that was falsely reported as coming from other sources.

Liberal Democratic Party President Sadao Tanigaki said the incident should have been treated as a criminal case involving the prime minister because it involves such a huge sum.

"Speaking from this viewpoint, it is not natural to see the case closed (by the prime minister just paying a gift tax)," he said Sunday.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Okada to revamp document disclosure
Kyodo News

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada wants to revamp the declassification system for diplomatic documents because the current system leaves document release largely to the discretion of bureaucrats, sources close to him said Sunday.

Okada is thinking of drawing up new rules and setting up a third-party panel to supervise information disclosure so the current principle governing the declassification of documents compiled 30 or more years ago will be better served, the sources said.

This could also mean removing declassified documents from bureaucrats' hands for purposes of disclosure.

Selecting which documents to declassify is the domain of the Diplomatic Record Declassification Review Division, part of the Minister's Secretariat at the Foreign Ministry.

Its decisions are subject to approval by a committee that comprises the heads of the secretariat and of each bureau in the Foreign Ministry.

After consulting the sections and divisions in charge of diplomacy with the countries concerned, a decision is made to either declassify a document or keep it secret. Many are kept secret.

However, the declassification review division can only access a document that has been moved to the basement library by the section in charge of that particular document, and many records concerning key diplomatic issues, such as the territorial dispute between Japan and Russia and the Japan-U.S. security alliance, are still in the hands of the vice minister, bureau chiefs and other sections in the Foreign Ministry even though they were compiled 30 or more years ago.

The declassification review division also has just over 10 officials working there, and the personnel shortage has reportedly resulted in some 40,000 document files languishing in the basement library.

Okada will begin making concrete proposals for revamping the disclosure system in January.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
Narita airport ramps up security after foiled attack on U.S. plane

NARITA, Chiba Pref. (Kyodo) Narita airport tightened security procedures Sunday at the request of the United States, where a terror attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was foiled just before landing.

Despite being jammed with travelers at the start of the yearend holidays, airlines operating flights to the U.S. are now using tougher screening measures.

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways increased body checks at boarding gates, a step usually applied to just a fraction of all passengers.

They are also opening and examining all carry-on items during boarding.

The operator of the airport also asked passengers to start boarding earlier.

"I came earlier than usual because I read a newspaper article that said security would be tightened," said Katsunori Sakai, a 57-year-old dentist from Fuchu in western Tokyo going to Las Vegas with his family. "It can't be avoided for safety's sake."

A 73-year-old woman from Wako, Saitama Prefecture, head to the U.S. to meet her son said she was shocked.

"I was surprised with the tight security," she said.

A Nigerian man claiming links to the al-Qaida terrorist network set off a small explosive device aboard a Delta-Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Friday. The plane, which was carrying 278 passengers, landed safely.

In the wake of the attack, the U.S. Transport Security Administration asked JAL and ANA to closely inspect all passengers boarding planes to the U.S. and to conduct more body searches. The Japanese transportation ministry has instructed airlines to conduct full security checks on passengers for all flights, domestic or international.

At Japanese airports, travelers must pass through metal detectors but are not necessarily body searched.

news20091228jt2

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[BUSINESS NEWS]
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009
JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
The Dubai shock: What to learn from our previous bubbles
By TERUHIKO MANO
Special to The Japan Times

With one real estate megaproject after another, including an man-made resort island shaped like a coconut tree and the world's tallest skyscraper, Dubai has been aiming to turn the tiny emirate into the financial center of the Middle East.

On Nov. 25, the state-run Dubai World conglomerate asked its creditors for a standstill on billions of dollars of debt. Concern quickly spread that the move would send shock waves through the global economy like the collapse of Lehman Brothers did in September 2008.

But thanks to aid from neighbor Abu Dhabi and support from oil producing countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the shock appears to be contained — for now.

What caused the implosion of the bubble economies in Japan, the United States and Dubai, and how can the world ensure similar mistakes are not repeated in the future?

First of all, all three bubbles emerged from real estate activity. In addition to real demand, speculative real estate deals flourished in anticipation of rising prices — an assumption that red-hot economies would keep on expanding.

Following the rise of Asia, it may have been natural to expect similar growth to occur in the Middle East. But the lesson to be learned from Dubai is that when a stock economy is growing faster than its flow economy, that's a recipe for a bubble.

A second factor to explore is the balance between one's finances and the real economy.

When Japan's bubble was forming in the late 1980s, its real economy ranked second in the world behind the U.S. After it imploded, Japan needed a "lost decade" to recover from the hangover.

Tiny Dubai, on the other hand, has a small population that relies mainly on tourism and has a negligible level of oil reserves. Although it was apparently seeking to become a financial center, the scar left by the collapse of its real estate bubble will be relatively deep due to its size. Financial services are supposed to serve as a lubricant for economic activity, but Dubai has exposed the risks inherent in indulging in "hot money" capitalism.

The third thing to be noted is how the time zone differences separating Japan and Dubai from the U.S. and Europe call for financial and commodities markets to bridge those gaps. In addition to finding places to locally invest the region's massive oil revenue, there are expectations for expanding Islamic banking as well.

This system of banking is supposed to be directly linked to real economic activity and thus carry little risk of contributing to bubbles. It is ironic that the world's latest economic bubble has emerged in an Islamic emirate.

The fourth point to consider is that funds needed for real estate development in Japan and Dubai were raised mainly through indirect financing. Unlike the U.S. housing bubble, debt securitization was fairly limited in those cases. While alarm spread among European financial institutions that lent to Dubai-area firms, it is unlikely the shock will trigger a broader international crisis impacting companies and individual investors through the repackaging and selling of that debt.

Since it is known who lent to whom, it is possible for creditors to reschedule the debt payments just like they did during Latin America's debt crises. Thus, the Dubai case underlines the differences between direct and indirect financing — and the consequences.

The fifth lesson to be learned is the importance of information disclosure, particularly in relation to state-affiliated businesses.

As part of its bid to fulfill its campaign promise of cutting wasteful government spending, the Democratic Party of Japan opened the process of screening ministry spending requests to the public. Information disclosure is key to the Dubai case as well.

The world's economies are being hit by both economic slumps and inflation — a situation revealed by rising commodity prices. Japan's bubble resulted from poor judgment in timing the termination of a credit easing policy launched earlier in the decade to blunt the impact of a strong yen.

Today, rising gold prices are indicating that there's too much liquidity. The time has come to heed the lessons of the three past bubbles and prepare an exit strategy from ultra-easy monetary policies.

Teruhiko Mano is chairman of the Mano Economic Intelligence Forum.

news20091228lat

[Today's Newspaper] from [Los Angeles Times]

[Environment]
It's manatee vs. military in pending habitat ruling
As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers environmental groups' bid to expand the creatures' critical habitat in Florida and southern Georgia, the Navy has concerns about its own turf.
By David Fleshler
December 28, 2009

Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - Manatees may rank lower than traditional military menaces like torpedoes or air-to-sea missiles. But a proposal to protect additional habitat for the deceptively gentle, sea-grass-munching creatures could, according to the U.S. Navy, end up reducing habitat for destroyers, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service soon will make a decision on whether to expand what's called critical habitat for the manatee in Florida and southern Georgia, in response to a petition from several environmental groups.

The coastlines of these states are home to naval installations including Pensacola Naval Air Station, where World War II aviators trained; Kings Bay in southern Georgia, which houses nuclear-armed Ohio-class submarines; and the South Florida Testing Facility in Dania Beach, where the Navy operates an undersea range to determine ships' acoustical signatures.

Although the Navy doesn't object in principle to an increase in protected areas -- and points out the many measures it takes to prevent harm to endangered species -- it says that an overly broad expansion could have "significant impacts" on Navy operations.

"Manatees and their habitats overlap Navy training and operation areas through the Southeast," said a letter from C.R. Destafney, the Navy's regional environmental program director. "Navy's training involves activities necessary to maintain proficiency in mission-essential areas such as mine warfare, strike warfare, electronic combat and maritime security."

Among the military's concerns are security arrangements for Ohio-class submarines entering and exiting Kings Bay. The Navy does not want protections for a marine mammal, no matter how lovable, to compromise security arrangements for submarines approaching shore armed with nuclear weapons.

Spokesman Steve Strickland said that the Navy works hard to leave a minimal environmental footprint. For example, he said, the Navy conducts aerial surveys of endangered right whales off north Florida in order to alert military ships of their whereabouts.

"Certainly the Navy coexists with various endangered species," he said. "We do all kinds of things to help minimize the impact."

The habitat expansion proposal came in a 2008 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Save the Manatee Club and Wildlife Advocacy Project.

These groups argued that the currently designated critical habitat, drawn up in 1976, was outdated. Since then, they said, a skyrocketing population has brought more boats and waterfront development.

A critical habitat designation would not prohibit construction or other activities. But it would require the wildlife service to review federal activities or decisions that could affect the manatees' habitat, such as permitting development, oil drilling, boating or shipping.

Katie Tripp, science and conservation director of the Save the Manatee Club, said that there may be ways the Navy could alter operations to protect manatees without any impact on operations or training.

"In the past, manatees have not kept the Navy from doing what they need to do," she said. "In this state, endangered species and the military have coexisted."

The petition calls for the protection of dozens of natural springs, sea grass beds, travel corridors and coastlines throughout manatee habitat.

Rules to protect manatees have irritated boaters and the marine construction industry for years, and the proposal could face a fight if it moves forward.

Chuck Underwood, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said that any increase in critical habitat would almost certainly be a fraction of the habitat proposed by the wildlife groups.

He downplayed the significance of expanding the species' critical habitat, saying any changes would simply reinforce protections already in place. Of the Navy's comments, he said, "We understand they have concerns, and they're legitimate concerns."

news20091228gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Wildlife]
Wildlife survey shows cuckoo and cranefly declines
National Trust says mixed weather this year has been a saviour to many species but a blow to others
Steven Morris
guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 December 2009 Article history

It was a terrible year for the cuckoo, another dreadful autumn for the daddy-long-legs, and pity the beetles and caterpillars that suffered in this winter's floods in Cumbria.

The National Trust's annual survey of how the weather has affected flora and fauna at its properties and reserves, published today, reveals some worrying absences.

Frogs and choughs in Cornwall were badly hit by the harsh opening to the year and it was a difficult time for oak trees after they were attacked by insects and then by a mildew.

Colonies of glow worms, arctic terns and bats were also put at risk by unseasonal weather such as summer storms. Populations of bats in some places were down by 90%.

This time last year the National Trust's conservation team was warning of disaster in some parts of Britain if there was a third consecutive damp summer. There has been something of a comeback this year but sharply contrasting weather has put many species under pressure.

Matthew Oates, a nature conservation adviser, said: "After two washout summers we've in many ways had a more traditional year, with an old-fashioned cold winter and some hot and dry periods during the spring and summer. For many insects, and insect-feeding birds and mammals, this year has been a saviour as they were being severely tested."

Still, the disappearance of the cuckoo from some areas is worrying. Oates admitted the absence of the iconic bird was a puzzle. "They've been in general decline since the early 1990s but suffered a big collapse this year."

Oates said the problem for the cuckoo might lie abroad, where it spends the winters, but could also be down to a lack of its favourite foods in Britain, such as hairy caterpillars, which may be being affected by bad weather at crucial times in their life cycle.

While ornithologists are busy trying to find out what has happened to the cuckoo, entomologists are trying to pinpoint why the common autumn cranefly – the daddy-long-legs – has gone missing. What is clear is that its absence will have a knock-on effect for bats, which rely on it as a good autumn food source.

Oates said the floods in the Lake District and heavy rain elsewhere will have badly hit insect life. "Try being a very small insect, a tiny beetle or caterpillar with 12ins of rain coming down on top of you. How much biodiversity has been swept out to sea in those floods? It wasn't just bad for the people there. A lot of wildlife will have been adversely affected."

There is some good news. There was a mass migration of painted lady butterflies into the UK during a spell of good weather in May. It was also a tremendous year for the purple emperor butterfly, and thousands of seven-spot ladybirds were seen in arable fields in East Anglia and Somerset.

Tree bumblebees did well in urban areas in the south of England, and a humpback whale was spotted near the Farne Islands in Northumberland – a rare sighting.

And, after largely vanishing last year (2008), the wasp made a return – a problem for lovers of picnics but welcome to naturalists who know it does have a role to serve in the ecosystem.

Oates said: "With the coldest winter for over twenty years in the south of England and one of the top five warmest years on record the weather continues to challenge our wildlife."


[Environment > Copenhagen climate change conference 2009]
John Prescott defends China's role at Copenhagen climate summit
> Former deputy PM attacks US envoy's stance at talks
> Negotiator at Kyoto rejects Obama's view of 1997 deal
Patrick Wintour and Jonathan Watts
The Guardian, Monday 28 December 2009 Article history

John Prescott has defended China's role in the climate change summit, saying the blame for its flawed outcome must lie with the United States and Barack Obama.

The former deputy prime minister helped negotiate the Kyoto protocol in 1997, and was in Copenhagen acting as an informal bridge between the Chinese delegation and others.

As a frequent visitor to China, who knows many of its officials personally, Prescott fears privately that the Chinese will walk away from the talks if they continue to be singled out for blame.

In a letter to the Guardian, Prescott criticises the US climate change special envoy, Todd Stern, who "said at Copenhagen emissions weren't about 'morality or politics', they were 'just maths', with China projected to emit 60% more CO2 than the US by 2030".

In his letter Prescott claims that Stern's arguments "ignored the more transparent measure of pollution per capita, which shows the US emits 20 tonnes per person every year, compared to China's six tonnes, whilst America's GDP per person is almost eight times greater than the Chinese". He also attacks President Barack Obama for suggesting there had been a period of "two decades of talking and no action. That might have been true in America, which refused to sign up to Kyoto, but not in the case of China or Europe, who followed a lot of that protocol's policies. Indeed Obama's offer of a 17% cut is wholly dependent on Congressional approval and will still be less than Kyoto targets." Prescott is climate change convenor for the Council of Europe, with the role of exploring how to keep the talks on the road.

China itself defended its "crucial role" in saving the Copenhagen conference from failure, according to the state media's first blow-by-blow rebuttal of European claims that China wrecked a climate deal.

In a florid account of prime minister Wen Jiabao's 60 hours in Copenhagen, the Xinhua news agency said the premier staved off the "unrealistic and unfair demands" of Britain, Germany and Japan.

There is no direct criticism of the US, but Obama is described as "awkward" in the presence of the Chinese premier.

According to the lengthy defence of China's actions, European nations repeatedly tried to impose secret drafts, unscheduled meetings and a hidden agenda on China and other developing nations.

The article, likely to have been approved at the highest level of government, notes that Wen walked out of a state dinner after hearing that an unscheduled meeting of leaders was being arranged soon afterwards to discuss a new draft text.

"It was really absurd that the country who called for the meeting never informed China," the report says. "Premier Wen concluded that this was no small matter.

"Since the start of the conference, there had been cases where individual or small group of countries put forward new texts in disregard of the principle of openness and transparency, arousing strong complaints from other participants."

Such accusations infuriate senior European negotiators, who claim China was fully informed ahead of Copenhagen of the plan for a new document, though it never agreed to the content.

Xinhua avoids mention of how and why China killed attempts to impose 2050 targets for reducing emissions. Beijing has consistently rejected such long-term goals, which it sees as a threat to itseconomic growth.It also fails to address claims that China torpedoed the inclusion of a 1.5C maximum global temperature rise, requested by small island states and African nations. Instead, it says, Wen showed sincerity by accepting a rise of no more than 2C by 2050.

news20091228gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[News > UK news > Transport]
High-speed rail link could have new central London terminus
Abhinav Ramnarayan
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 December 2009 20.16 GMT Article history

A new rail terminus could be built in central London under plans submitted to ministers as part of the proposed high-speed rail connection to replace short-haul flights in the UK.

The station would cater for commuters travelling to the West Midlands on the 250mph trains that form part of the government's plan to get domestic air passengers a year to switch to the north-south rail line. If approved, the line aims to open towards the end of 2025.

Under the plan, to be submitted this week by High Speed 2, the company charged with identifying possible routes and stations, the new London station would handle up to 18 trains an hour, with each train capable of carrying more than 1,000 passengers.

The proposals are part of the initial plan to build a link to the West Midlands, and then to extend the line to Scotland. HS2 also aims to link the station to Heathrow airport and to the channel tunnel rail link, now known as High Speed 1 (HS1).

HS2's chief executive, Alison Munro, said: "The proposals will include running trains from the HS2 on to the west coast main line. The final report will also look at how the line will help housing and regional economic development."

The HS2 team looked at 35 possible sites in London for the high-speed terminus and have settled for a site in central London. Ministers will be presented with a detailed route for the line up to the Midlands.

The high-speed rail connection was proposed earlier this year, when the government made the demise of domestic air travel an explicit policy target for the first time.

The idea was to cut journey times from London to Manchester by a third, London to Scotland to within three-and-a-half hours, and to construct the first new terminus in London for more than 100 years.

The transport secretary, Lord Adonis, said at the time: "For reasons of carbon reduction and wider environmental benefits, it is manifestly in the public interest that we systematically replace short-haul aviation with high-speed rail. But we would have to have, of course, the high-speed network before we can do it."

He added that building it would be an important part of Labour's election manifesto.

The plan was immediately criticised by environment campaigners as well as the aviation industry.

The government has since tried to calm environmental campaigners' fears that the new line would cut through swaths of countryside and disturb ecosystems along the way, while accusing airline chiefs who also objected to it of having their "heads in the sand".

The report by "impartial evaluators" HS2 will be published in the spring by Lord Adonis, and if approved the government will publish a white paper by the end of March 2010. This will set out detailed plans for new high-speed rail lines and services, including route proposals, time scales and associated financial, economic and environmental assessments.

news20091228bbc1

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Health]
Page last updated at 00:42 GMT, Monday, 28 December 2009
Disinfectants 'train' superbugs to resist antibiotics
Disinfectants could effectively train bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics, research suggests.

Scientists know bacteria can become inured to disinfectant, but research increasingly shows the same process may make them resistant to certain drugs.

This can occur even with an antibiotic the bacteria have not been exposed to.

Writing in Microbiology, the National University of Ireland team, who focused on a common hospital bacterium, urges a rethink of how infections are managed.

Scientists in Galway found that by adding increasing amounts of disinfectant to cultures of pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lab, the bacteria learnt to resist not only the disinfectant but also ciprofloxacin - a commonly-prescribed antibiotic - even without being exposed to it.

The researchers report the bacteria had adapted to pump out anti-microbial agents - be they a disinfectant or an antibiotic - from their cells.

The adapted bacteria also had a mutation in their DNA that allowed them to resist ciprofloxacin-type antibiotics specifically.

{{Residue from incorrectly diluted disinfectants left on hospital surfaces could promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria}
Dr Gerard Fleming}

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium most likely to infect those who are already seriously ill.

It can cause a wide range of infections, particularly among those with weak immune systems such as HIV or cancer patients, as well as people with severe burns, diabetes or cystic fibrosis.

Surface disinfectants are used to prevent its spread - but if the bacteria manage to survive and go on to infect patients, antibiotics are used to treat them.

Bacteria that could resist both these control points could be a serious threat to hospital patients, the study said.

At the high concentration levels generally employed this was unlikely to be a problem - but "in principle this means that residue from incorrectly diluted disinfectants left on hospital surfaces could promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria", said study author Dr Gerard Fleming.

"What is more worrying is that bacteria seem to be able to adapt to resist antibiotics without even being exposed to them."

{{Disinfectants may not just be the problem, they may also be the cure}
Dr Gerry McDonnell}

There is an increasing body of research that raises concerns about the effects on antibiotic resistance of disinfectants and antiseptics.

An EU report published earlier this year stressed the importance of the "appropriate and prudent" use of disinfectants to minimise the risk that bacteria become resistant to both forms of defence.

It also emerged this year that treatments in hospitals in Brazil had been compromised by a bacterium, mycobacterium massiliense, which had developed resistance to a common sterilisation fluid and a number of antibiotics used to treat the subsequent infections.

"This was very significant because it was really the first incident related to resistance to a biocide which led to clinical failure, which is new," said Dr Gerry McDonnell, a researcher in the field.

"This really needs to be an area of active investigation and debate. But it's worth bearing in mind that disinfectants may not just be the problem, they may also be the cure."

Research was published this year showing that the disinfecting wipes used to protect against MRSA could in fact spread the bug, as the solution contained was often not sufficient to kill all the bacteria picked up, and hospital staff often used the same wipe to clean more than one surface.


[UK]
Page last updated at 08:44 GMT, Monday, 28 December 2009
Bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on UK watch list
A man charged with trying to blow up a plane had been on a UK watch list, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said.

He said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was refused a visa 14 months ago and was placed on a security list after he applied to study at a bogus college.

Meanwhile, UK passengers on US-bound flights face delays of up to three hours and extra security measures.

The Nigerian man targeted a Detroit-bound flight with explosives hidden in his clothes, it is claimed.

Police are searching several London properties linked to the Nigerian ex-University College London student.

Travellers are undergoing "pat-down" searches before boarding and being restricted to one item of hand luggage.

'Strong' border security

The home secretary explained that people on a watch list cannot come into the UK, although they can pass through the country in transit.

He said there was now a need to establish what communication had occurred between authorities in the UK and US, although he said the two countries routinely shared security information.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I would be very surprised if there had been a hiccup".

Mr Johnson also said there was a need to establish the nature of Mr Abdulmutallab's activities while he studied in the UK and when he had become radicalised.

Mr Johnson said the UK's border security was extremely "robust".

"We have a very very strong border in this country, we have have strong security measures. We've now monitored 135 million people trying to enter the country."

He said the visa system was now based on biometric fingerprints.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 09:39 GMT, Monday, 28 December 2009
Vietnam sentences democracy activist to prison
A Vietnamese court has sentenced pro-democracy activist Tran Anh Kim to five-and-a-half years in prison for subversion against the communist state.

The former army officer was a member of the Democratic Party of Vietnam and the pro-democracy Bloc 8406, both of which are banned.

He was accused of publishing pro-democracy articles on the internet.

Four other activists are to be tried on similar charges in the latest round of dissident trials in Vietnam.

A number of other democracy activists have already been jailed this year in what some analysts say is a crackdown ahead of the next Communist Party Congress scheduled for early 2011.

'Serious violation'

The 60-year-old Kim was arrested in July on charges of conducting propaganda against the state.

He was later indicted with the more serious crime of "conducting activities to overthrow the people's administration" - charges that carry a maximum penalty of death.

"I joined the Democratic Party of Vietnam and Bloc 8406 to fight for democratic freedom and human rights for the Vietnamese nation through peaceful dialogue and non-violent means," he said.

Journalists were allowed to cover the four-hour trial at the court house in the northern town of Thai Binh.

Judge Tran Van Loan said Kim's activities had amounted to a "serious violation of national security". He said he had worked with "reactionary Vietnamese and hostile forces in exile".

The trial of four other pro-democracy activists - Le Cong Dinh, Nguyen Tien Trung, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc and Le Thang Long - on similar charges is to begin in Ho Chi Minh City on 20 January.


[Europe]
Page last updated at 07:47 GMT, Monday, 28 December 2009
Finland ski star Nykanen held over Christmas attack
A four-time Olympic ski jump champion is being held on suspicion of attempting to murder his wife on Christmas Day, reports say.

Finnish legend Matti Nykanen, 46, was arrested after an incident that left his wife with head and hand injuries.

Mervi Tapola is reported to have fled their joint home and called police from a neighbour's house.

Known as the flying Finn, Mr Nykanen won three gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

His skiing achievements included winning gold and silver medals at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics aged 21. He won five gold medals at world championships and 13 at Finnish championships.

But since quitting the competition circuit in the 1990s he has continued to make headlines with convictions for assault, reported alcohol abuse, and working as a musical performer and male stripper.

news20091228bbc2

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Middle East]
Page last updated at 09:17 GMT, Monday, 28 December 2009
Iranian protests spark fresh clashes in Tehran
Clashes have taken place overnight in the Iranian capital, Tehran, following anti-government protests on Sunday in which at least eight people died.

Reports say police fired tear gas to disperse crowds of demonstrators in various parts of the city overnight.

The nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was among those killed in Sunday's clashes, the worst violence since June's contested elections.

His funeral on Monday is thought likely to be a focal point for more protests.

According to Mr Mousavi's website, Seyed Ali Mousavi was shot in the back as security forces fired on demonstrators.

On Monday, state-owned English-language Press TV said eight people had died. Earlier, Persian state television had reported at least 15 people killed.

Police denied being responsible for any of the deaths. They said three were accidents and that one person had been shot, but not by police. Details of the others have not been given.

Officials said the shooting was under investigation.

{{It is a shameless and irresponsible act}
Khalil Yazdi
Son of detained opposition figure}

Opposition politician Ebrahim Yazdi, a foreign minister after the 1979 revolution and now leader of the Freedom Movement of Iran, was also arrested in the early hours of Monday.

His son Khalil, who lives in the US, told the BBC's World Today programme he believed the Iranian authorities wanted to close down all opposition groups.

"It is a shameless and irresponsible act. [They are] arresting a 78-year-old man who has stood for nothing but freedom and open society within Iran all of his life," he said.

"Any opposition now, they want to shut [it] down. We're going down a one-way street that's now going downhill."

The protests, which began after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in June, have grown into the biggest challenge to the government since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The official death toll for Sunday's confrontation is the highest since June.

Media ban

About 300 people were detained after Sunday's protests, police said.

Those arrested include members of the banned opposition group Mujahideen Khalq Organisation (MKO) - or the People's Mujahideen - Press TV reported.

{{Why is such a holy day not respected by the rulers?}
Mehdi Karoubi
Moderate cleric}

The report quoted a source within the Iranian intelligence ministry.

Opposition supporters took to the streets on Sunday as the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura reached its climax.

Tehran's police chief, Azizollah Rajabzadeh, was among dozens of security force members injured in the clashes, officials said.

Unconfirmed reports said four people also died in protests in the north-western city of Tabriz and there were clashes in Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran and Shiraz in the south.

Foreign media face severe restrictions in Iran and reports cannot be verified. However, witnesses said that in Tehran some protesters attacked police.

Police responded by firing directly into the crowds, opposition sources say, although this is denied by Iranian authorities.

Clashes continued throughout the day. In the early hours of Monday, opposition sources said a large crowd had also gathered near the offices of the state-run television and radio.

They said police were firing tear gas in an attempt to disperse them.

Moderate cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came fourth in last June's election, criticised Iran's rulers for Sunday's violence, an opposition website reported.

"What has happened to this religious system that it orders the killing of innocent people during the holy day of Ashura?" the Jaras website reported him as saying.

"Why is such a holy day not respected by the rulers?"

Foreign concern

The White House condemned the "unjust suppression" of protests.

{{RECENT UNREST IN IRAN}
> 19 Dec: Influential dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri dies aged 87
> 21 Dec: Tens of thousands attend his funeral in Qom; reports of clashes between opposition supporters and security forces
> 22 Dec: Further confrontations reported in Qom
> 23 Dec: More clashes reported in city of Isfahan as memorial is held
> 24 Dec: Iran reportedly bans further memorial services for Montazeri except in his birthplace and Qom
> 26 Dec: Clashes reported in central and northern Tehran
> 27 Dec: At least eight dead following anti-government protests in Tehran; 300 reported arrested}

"Hope and history are on the side of those who peacefully seek their universal rights, and so is the United States," White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said.

A spokesman for the French foreign ministry, Bernard Bolero, also condemned the violence.

"These people in the streets are just claiming more freedom, more democracy," he told the BBC. "The repression of the police forces is not acceptable."

Iranian security forces have been on alert since influential dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died a week ago aged 87.

His funeral attracted tens of thousands of pro-reform supporters, many of whom shouted anti-government slogans.

BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, who is now based in London, says the opposition - denied the right to protest - chose the highly significant festival of Ashura when millions of Iranians traditionally take to the streets for ceremonies and parades.

Anger at last June's elections, won by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sparked mass protests in Tehran and other cities that led to thousands of arrests and some deaths.

Mr Mousavi and other opposition leaders have said the poll was rigged.

news20091228cnn1

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[World]
December 28, 2009 -- Updated 0558 GMT (1358 HKT)
Several killed, 300 arrested in Tehran protests
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> NEW: Web site of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi says nephew was killed in protests
> Five people were reported killed in fighting, Iranian state-run Press TV said late Sunday
> Demonstrations are latest since outrage over the June presidential elections
> Clashes occur during holy period of Ashura

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Several people were killed and more than 300 were arrested in anti-government protests in Tehran Sunday, Iran's Deputy Police Chief Ahmad Reza Radan said on state television station IRINN.

The toll was the result of clashes that broke out between demonstrators and security forces as large crowds gathered for Ashura, a major religious observance.

Five people were reported killed in the fighting, Iranian state-run Press TV said late Sunday. A French government statement put the number of fatalities at eight. With tight restrictions on international media, CNN could not independently verify the casualties.

Without giving an exact number of casualties, Radan said those killed included one person who fell off a bridge and two others who were killed in a car accident during the protests.

One of the victims was killed by a bullet, Radan said. but "considering the fact that the police did not use firearms, this incident is extremely suspicious, and is being investigated," he said.

The Web site of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi reported that Mousavi's nephew, Seyed Ali Mousavi, was killed in the demonstrations around noon local time Sunday by a gunshot to the heart.

Press TV, meanwhile, late Sunday quoted unnamed police officials as identifying one of the dead as "Seyyed Ali Mousavi."

Press TV's report did not mention any relationship between that victim and opposition leader Mousavi, nor did its report include any mention of the elder Mousavi.

Tehran Police Chief Azizollah Rajabzadeh denied any protesters were killed by security forces.

Are you in Iran? Share your photos and video and tell us what's going on.

Police did not fire any shots in Tehran, "and security forces were not in possession of firearms," Rajabzadeh told the semi-official news agency ISNA.

Since the disputed presidential elections in June, protesters have turned public gatherings into rallies against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was declared the overwhelming winner of the race.

Police, wary of the potential that Ashura gatherings could present, were out in full force Sunday to quell disruptions but did not stop demonstrators holding widespread protests.

Near Imam Hussein Square in central Tehran, security forces used tear gas to disperse demonstrators and blocked roads to prevent more from arriving, a witness said.

Protesters seized a motorcycle belonging to a security force member and set it on fire.

Elsewhere in the city, witnesses reported seeing protesters being beaten with batons. Demonstrators chanted "death to the dictator" and some ripped down a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Police helicopters hovered above city squares while small trucks brought in more riot police in parts where clashes were fierce.

Protesters played cat-and-mouse with security forces -- gathering, then scrambling and gathering elsewhere.

U.S. National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer said the United States condemns the "violent and unjust suppression of civilians in Iran seeking to exercise their universal rights."

"Governing through fear and violence is never just, and as President Obama said in Oslo -- it is telling when governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation," Hammer said in a statement.

The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement Sunday expressing "great anxiety" following the violent clashes.

The statement said at least eight people were killed and several were wounded in the clashes.

France condemns the arbitrary arrests and the "acts of violence committed against demonstrators who came to defend their right to freedom of speech and their aspiration to democracy. Facing the persistence of popular movements and the worsening of the repression, France is calling for a political solution in Iran," the ministry's statement said.

The unrest Sunday followed daylong clashes between the two sides in the streets of Tehran on Saturday.

On Saturday evening, a pro-government mob barged into a mosque where former president and reformist leader Mohammad Khatami was speaking.

The dozens-strong group forced Khatami to end his remarks abruptly when it interrupted the gathering at Jamaran mosque.

Earlier Saturday, scores of security forces on motorcycles charged protesters on sidewalks whenever they started chanting anti-government slogans, witnesses said.

Sunday marks Ashura, the observance of the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

Hussein, who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680 A.D., is regarded as a martyr. The battle that led to his death is one of the events that helped create the schism between Sunnis and Shiites, the two main Muslim religious movements.

Iran is predominantly Shiite.

During Sunday's protests, some demonstrators compared Khamenei to Yazid, the caliph who killed Hussein.

Religious mourning during Ashura is characterized by people chanting, beating their breasts in penance, cutting themselves with daggers or swords and whipping themselves in synchronized moves.

Sunday also is a week to the day since the death of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, a key figure in the 1979 Iranian revolution. Montazeri, who went on to become one of the government's most vocal critics, died December 20.

The seventh day after a death is a traditional time for mourning in Islam.

news20091228cnn2

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[World]
By Tom Mitchell, FT.com
December 28, 2009 -- Updated 0233 GMT (1033 HKT)
Chinese high-speed train sets new record
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> China unveiled the world's fastest long-distance passenger train service
> The Harmony express raced 1,100km in less than three hours, rather than 11 hours
> The economics of the new service remain unproven amid a build-it-and-they-will-come approach to transport

Wuhan, China (FT) -- China streaked ahead of its western and Asian rivals at the weekend by unveiling the world's fastest long-distance passenger train service.

The Harmony express raced 1,100km in less than three hours on Saturday, travelling from Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, to the central city of Wuhan. The journey previously took at least 11 hours.

The improvement illustrates how China's huge investment in infrastructure is dramatically shrinking the country, yet the economics of the new service, which runs 56 times a day, remain unproven amid a build-it-and-they-will-come approach to transport.

"China has focused on building expressways but that is an American method," said Zheng Tianxiang, a Guangzhou-based infrastructure expert and government adviser.

"Expressways are not suited for China, which has large numbers of people but little space to spare. China should learn from Japan and Europe."

The Harmony express, which reached a top speed of 394km per hour in pre-launch trials, travelled at an average rate of 350km per hour on its debut. This compared with a maximum service speed of 300km per hour for Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains and France's TGV service. In America, Amtrak's Acela "Express" service takes 3½ hours to trundle between Boston and New York, a distance of only 300km.

According to state media reports, the government spent $17bn (€12bn, £11bn) on the Harmony express line's construction over 4½ years. Wuhan invested $2.4bn in a new French-designed train station, which boasts 20 tracks and 11 platforms. Officials this weekend declined to confirm project costs.

Ticket prices have been set at Rmb780 ($115, €80, £72) for first class and Rmb490 for second. The country's airlines, which like the railway are mostly state-owned, have responded by slashing fares to undercut those for the new train, with China Southern Airlines, based in Guangzhou, offering tickets for advance purchase starting at Rmb250 and introducing hourly flights.

Huang Xin, head of passenger services for Guangzhou Railway Group, said on the inaugural ride that pricing might have to be adjusted.

Even the second-class fares may prove too rich for the biggest pool of potential passengers for the line, the estimated 20m workers in the Pearl river delta manufacturing belt around Guangzhou who hail from inland provinces. About half of them usually return home during the Chinese new year holiday in the world's biggest human migration. The round-trip express fare is priced at about two-thirds of an average factory worker's monthly wage.

Most passengers on the sold-out debut run were middle-class joy-riders drawn by the journey's novelty value. "We are not staying in Wuhan," said Qiu Chaoyue, a Guangzhou resident who tried out the new rail link with a group of friends. "We're going to take the next train back to Guangzhou."

Another disadvantage of the new service is that the stations at each end of the line are at least an hour's drive from their respective city centres.

In total, the railways ministry intends to complete 18,000km of high-speed rail lines by 2012, allowing passengers to travel between most Chinese provincial capitals in eight hours or less.

One reason for the enormous construction outlay for the Harmony express was difficult terrain, especially in the poor mountainous areas of Guangdong and Hunan provinces. The train travels along 713km of elevated tracks and tunnels, accounting for about 70 per cent of its length.

Police were posted along the route to guard potential sabotage points, while burly railway security personnel monitored each passenger car. The police outside were often joined by farmers, who stopped to watch the Harmony express rush by their rural homes.

In spring and summer, the train will travel through a lush agricultural breadbasket, especially in the rice-growing areas of southern Hunan province. But in the dead of winter, it traverses a bleak, monochrome landscape of fallow fields and dirt roads that turn to mud in the rain.

news20091228reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
HONG KONG
Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:47pm EST
StanChart PE arm invests in China solar firm Sangle
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The private equity arm of Standard Chartered closed a deal to invest $22.3 million in Sangle Solar Energy Co Ltd, a Chinese maker of branded solar water heaters, the Asia-focused bank announced.

Shandong Provincial Academy of Science, backed by the local government, would remain a major shareholder in Sangle, headquartered in the northern Chinese province of Shandong, the British bank said in a faxed statement.

The statement did not elaborate on the stake size Standard Chartered Private Equity Ltd (SCPE) would receive for its investment.

"China's solar water sector will grow fast in the next few years because of favorable regulatory policies and, more importantly, driven by the low penetration of water heaters in China's rural areas," said Wei Zhu, managing director for SCPE in Greater China, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Standard Chartered's (StanChart) investment in Sangle is the first deal led by Zhu since he joined the firm in October.

Zhu was a senior managing director for buyout firm CVC Capital Partners and he led its Beijing office after joining CVC in July 2008 from the investment banking joint venture of Goldman Sachs in China.

Zhu's father is a former postal and telecommunications minister and held other senior political positions after retirement in China, sources told Reuters.

Sangle makes and distributes solar water heaters for household use in China and has secured strong sales coverage in Shandong and neighboring provinces in the past three years.

The company, which runs more than 10,000 distributors across the nation, the largest network in this sector in China, plans to gradually further expand its sales network nationwide, according to the statement.

(Reporting by George Chen; Editing by Chris Lewis)


[Japan]
Nathan Layne and Nobuhiro Kubo
TOKYO
Mon Dec 28, 2009 3:50am EST
JAL bankruptcy proposed as option to banks: sources
TOKYO (Reuters) - A state-backed turnaround fund may seek to put Japan Airlines Corp through bankruptcy court as part of a restructuring of the struggling carrier, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

JAL applied in October to the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan, a fund established this year to help revive firms with state-guaranteed loans. The ETIC will decide whether to support JAL as early as next month.

The ETIC has discussed with JAL's creditors the possibility of using a Chapter 11-style bankruptcy procedure along with making fresh loans and investment, but has not ruled out a restructuring outside of bankruptcy court, the two sources said.

Government officials have said a court-led reorganization was a possibility but the state is at the same time wary of the potential disruption to air travel. JAL is Asia's largest carrier by revenue and handles more than half of air traffic in Japan.

A bankruptcy could also complicate talks with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which are courting JAL with rival offers of investment to gain access to its network in Asia and closer ties on U.S.-Japan routes.

"If JAL really were to file for bankruptcy, that would cause chaos," said Kotaro Toriumi, an airline analyst and professor at Josai International University. "At this moment I think the chance of a JAL bankruptcy is still quite small."

In addition to ongoing talks with creditors, the ETIC met with JAL over the weekend and explained that bankruptcy was being considered as an option, the two sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.

The ETIC and JAL declined to comment.

The chances of bankruptcy appeared to increase last week when Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said the state would not back any more loans to JAL, raising the risk it could run out of cash amid a slump in travel demand.

JAL was saddled with 1.5 trillion yen in total liabilities as of the end of September. At that level its bankruptcy would be the 6th biggest ever in Japan, ranking just below the 2001 collapse of retailer Mycal.

"If JAL were allowed to go into a court-led reorganization just as it is right now it would trigger major social confusion," said one of the sources. "There would be uproar over mileage, planes would be grounded, clients would suspend transactions."

LONG TIME

JAL's main creditors include the state-owned Development Bank of Japan and the country's top three private banks -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

The ETIC is considering a plan that would involve JAL filing for reorganization under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, a process similar to Chapter 11 in the United States but that can prove lengthy, sometimes taking several years to complete.

Worried about the risk to JAL's operations during that period, the ETIC is mulling ways to accelerate the process. This could include seeking approval to opt out of some of the normal processes usually required, one of the sources said.

At the same time the ETIC would provide JAL financing, either in the form of loans or investments, by drawing on the 1.6 trillion yen in state-guaranteed money available to it in the current fiscal year to March.

Investors appeared unfazed by news of a possible court-led restructuring. The news was reported earlier on Monday by Kyodo news and the Nikkei business daily, while Reuters reported last week that the ETIC had not ruled out bankruptcy.

JAL's stock fell 1 percent to 96 yen, versus a 1.3 percent gain in the benchmark Nikkei average.

"The market consensus seems to be they will never let JAL go bust, and the impact of JAL's problems on the overall economy has already largely been factored in," said Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief equity marketing officer at Tokai Tokyo Securities.

JAL's stock has already lost more than half its value this year while the spread on its 5-year credit default swaps, which are used as insurance against bankruptcy, are quoted at distressed levels above 2,300 basis points.

The news could nevertheless give pause to American Airlines and Delta, which have been fighting a heated public relations battle to pitch themselves as the ideal partner to help JAL rebuild itself.

American has said that it and other members of the Oneworld airline alliance along with private equity fund TPG are willing to invest $1.1 billion in JAL to prevent it from defecting from Oneworld to Delta and the rival Skyteam group.

Delta is offering a $1 billion financial aid package, half in equity, and has said it would consider investing in JAL even if it were put through bankruptcy court.

Both have said they would apply for anti-trust immunity to cooperate more closely with JAL on pricing and scheduling under a recently agreed "open skies" pact between the U.S. and Japan.

JAL has said it will make a decision on which overseas partner it will choose by early January.

(Additional reporting by Mariko Katsumura and Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Michael Watson and Joseph Radford)

news20091228reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Japan]
Kevin Yao
SINGAPORE
Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:40am EST
Asian shares up on econ outlook, dollar hovers
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japanese shares hit a four-month high, leading gains in Asian stocks on growing investor optimism about the global economy, while the U.S. dollar held firm against the yen and euro.

Signs of a recovery in the United States also lifted oil prices to a four-week high.

European stock index futures pointed to a higher open, as stocks track gains in Asia and in commodities, with futures for the DJ Euro Stoxx, for Germany's DAX and for France's CAC were up 0.9-1.1 percent.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan rose just over 0.7 percent in thin trade as markets in Australia and New Zealand remained shut for holidays.

The Thomson Reuters index of Asia ex-Japan equities was up 0.6 percent.

The MSCI index has rallied 65 percent this year, driven by waves of foreign capital inflows trying to cash in on Asia's faster-than-expected economic recovery.

By contrast, the Dow Jones industrial average has risen 20 percent while the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares has gained almost 25 percent.

Chinese stocks led gains, with the Shanghai Composite Index jumping 1.7 percent, lifted by Premier Wen Jiabao's comments on Sunday that Beijing was committed to seeing through its stimulus package to help cement the economic recovery.

The Shanghai index has gained 5 percent after falling to a seven-week low on Tuesday.

"Wen's comments ... gave the market the impression that China's loose money policy will not change at least for the first quarter of next year," said a senior dealer at a big Chinese stockbroker.

"In addition, both the economy and corporate earnings are improving. Investors feel assured of a decent stock market performance at least early next year."

NIKKEI AT FOUR-MONTH HIGH

Japan's Nikkei average rose 1 percent to its highest in four months on data showing factory output rising for the ninth straight month in November and on stable currency moves.

"The industrial output data was stronger than what the market had expected and that's reinforcing the positive sentiment. The stable dollar/yen moves are also making it easier to pick up exporter shares," said Tsuyoshi Segawa, equity strategist at Mizuho Securities.

Japan's industrial output rose a more-than-expected 2.6 percent in November, the strongest gain in six months as rising exports to Asia bode well for a recovering economy.

That followed upbeat U.S. data on Thursday which showed a drop in initial jobless claims and growth in durable goods orders.

Meanwhile, Japanese government bond futures slid, taking in stride the government's announcement late last week that it plans to issue a record 144.3 trillion yen in treasury debt in the next fiscal year.

U.S. and European markets were shut on Friday for Christmas

after closing at their highest in over a year on Thursday.

The dollar hovered near 91.50 yen, little changed from Thursday's close and was below a two-month high of 91.88 yen set last week as investors covered short dollar positions before the year-end.

The euro edged up to $1.4390, off its 3- month low of 1.4216 hit last week.

The euro is down 4 percent against the dollar so far this month and on course for its biggest monthly fall since January, dented by concerns about sovereign ratings after a third ratings agency downgraded Greece's debt.

U.S. crude oil for February delivery gained 0.8 percent to $78.68 a barrel, highest since December 1 supported also by large declines in U.S. crude inventories.

Gold prices gained up 0.9 percent to $1,113.45 in thin trade.

(Additional reporting by Lu Jianxin in SHANGHAI; Editing by Jan Dahinten)


[World]
Adam Entous
WASHINGTON
Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:19am EST
Attempted bombing spotlights al Qaeda growth in Yemen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. passenger jet has put a spotlight on the Middle East state of Yemen which American spy agencies see as a rapidly growing hub for al Qaeda.

Civil war and lawlessness have turned the Arab world's poorest state into an attractive alternative base for al Qaeda, which U.S. officials say has been largely pushed out of Afghanistan and is under growing military pressure from the Pakistani army in bordering tribal areas.

Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is charged with attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane as it approached Detroit on a flight from Amsterdam with almost 300 people on board.

In U.S. questioning, Abdulmutallab claimed that al Qaeda operatives in Yemen supplied him with an explosive device and trained him on how to detonate it, an official said.

Al Qaeda's presence in Yemen has grown over the last year and Washington fears it could become a central base of operations outside Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials and experts.

The United States has quietly been supplying military equipment, intelligence and training to Yemeni forces, who have raided suspected al Qaeda hide-outs this month, they said.

U.S. officials declined to discuss specific assistance. But in September, U.S. President Barack Obama sent a letter to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh promising to help the government fight against terrorism, according to the Yemeni state news agency Saba.

Senator Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday" that the United States had a "growing presence" in Yemen which included Special Operations, Green Berets and intelligence.

'TOMORROW'S WAR'

Lieberman, who recently visited Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, said a U.S. government official there told him that "Iraq was yesterday's war. Afghanistan is today's war. If we don't act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow's war."

In recent congressional testimony, Mike Leiter, director of the National Counter Terrorism Center, called Yemen "a key battleground and potential regional base of operations from which al Qaeda can plan attacks, train recruits, and facilitate the movement of operatives."

"Of particular concern to the FBI are individuals who can travel with fewer restrictions to these areas of extremist activity and then enter the United States under less scrutiny," FBI Director Robert Mueller told lawmakers.

Yemen has been a long-standing base of support for al Qaeda. Militants bombed the Navy warship USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in 2000, killing 17 U.S. sailors, and Yemenis were one of the largest groups to train in al Qaeda's camps in Afghanistan before September 11, 2001 attacks.

Of the 198 prisoners left at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which Obama has vowed to close, 91 are from Yemen, and talks over repatriating them have bogged down due to concerns they will join al Qaeda once they return.

Since Saudi and Yemeni militants united earlier this year under the name "Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" with Yemen as their base, there has been a "steady uptick" in the group's activities, said Christopher Boucek, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment in Washington.

"Yemen has rapidly become a very important secondary front" in al Qaeda's global ambitions, Boucek said, with the "greatest growth potential" because the government has been unable to exert control over its own territory.

Besides combating al Qaeda militants, Yemen is fighting Shi'ite rebels in the north and faces separatist sentiment in the south.

Fearing instability in Yemen could turn into a security threat for the kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, began attacking Yemen's Shi'ite Muslim rebels, known as the Houthis, in early November after the rebels staged a cross-border incursion and killed two Saudi border guards.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Alan Elsner)