Obama links terror suspect to al-Qaida
HONOLULU, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama said it appeared an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen armed and trained the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner.
In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama for the first time directly linked the suspect in the Christmas Day terror attempt, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
"We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies," Obama said. "It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida and that this group, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America.
"All those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on Christmas must know -- you too will be held to account."
The president, who spoke from Hawaii, where he is vacationing with his family, pledged anew to take steps to protect Americans from terrorism as the country fights a "war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred."
Obama said he will send the White House counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, John Brennan, preliminary findings from security reviews the president ordered. Brennan is to make recommendations to the president in the coming days.
White House officials have acknowledged intelligence agencies failed to share clues or connect dots when doing so could have raised alarms about Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old man accused of attempting to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on Northwest Flight 253.
"I will do everything in my power to make sure our hard-working men and women in our intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security communities have the tools and resources they need to keep America safe," Obama said. "This includes making sure these communities -- and the people in them -- are coordinating effectively and are held accountable at every level."
He asked Americans to put aside party politics and unite to battle terrorism.
"Instead of succumbing to partisanship and division, let's summon the unity that this moment demands," Obama said.
Somali man charged in cartoonist attack
AARHUS, Denmark, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Danish police said Saturday they have charged a Somali man who allegedly entered the home of a cartoonist who has attracted the anger of Muslims.
The 28-year-old man, who has been charged with attempted manslaughter, denied he tried to kill Kurt Westergaard and a police officer who was guarding him, the BBC reported Saturday.
The Guardian said Danish media reported the man, armed with a knife and ax, broke a window on the Aarhus-area home of the 74-year-old cartoonist about 10 p.m. Friday and tried to get in.
East Jutland Police Chief superintendent Morten Jensen said when officers arrived, the man tried to attack one of them with the ax and he was shot in his right leg and his left arm. Jensen said the wounds were not serious.
Westergaard ignited a firestorm in the Muslim world in 2005 when the Jyllands-Posten newspaper published his drawing depicting Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a fuse. The drawing was considered a serious affront by Muslims, who believe no image of the prophet should be produced or shown.
Jyllands-Posten quoted Westergaard as saying the intruder "threatened to kill me."
Feds get high marks for pandemic handling
NEW YORK, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. government did many things right in responding to the 2009 swine flu pandemic, medical experts said.
The government deserves "at least a B-plus" for its handling of the first pandemic in 40 years, Dr. William Schaffner, head of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University's medical school, told The New York Times.
While luck played a role, quick but conservative decisions contained the pandemic with minimal disruption to the U.S. economy, medical experts told the newspaper in a story published Saturday.
Misinformation was kept to a minimum due to frequent updates from numerous officials ranging from the Public Health Service to President Barack Obama.
The pandemic also highlighted weaknesses in the federal response system, including outdated vaccine technology, a reliance on foreign vaccine companies and a need for more hospital beds in some areas.
Overall, however, the government's response was "excellent," said Dr. Peter Palese, a leading virologist at Mount Sinai Medical School.
U.S. mayors to seek more federal money
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A national bipartisan political agenda is needed to confront unemployment in American cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors said.
The nation's cities also need federal grants to produce green jobs, aid in climate protection and modernize transportation systems in metro areas, conference President-elect Elizabeth Kautz said in a release Saturday.
Kautz is to be sworn in as mayor of the conference Tuesday in Burnsville, Minn., where she has been mayor since 1994. Kautz succeeds former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who last year was defeated in his bid for a third term as Seattle's mayor.
The nonpartisan mayor's conference represents 1,139 U.S. cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The conference holds its 78th Winter Meeting in Washington Jan. 20-22.
6 killed, hundreds hurt during revelry
MANILA, Philippines, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- New Year's Eve celebrations in the Philippines resulted in six deaths, with 340 people injured by fireworks and 22 hit by stray bullets, officials say.
Among those killed was the 5-year-old son of a fireworks store owner in Suriago who died when the shop exploded, The Philippine Star reported Saturday.
The newspaper said the boy, his mother and a store worker were killed in the blast and following fire.
Also reportedly killed was a 14-year-old boy in Pampanga. The Star said initial reports indicated that Jeff Concepcion of Angeles City was struck on the neck by an exploding firecracker. He was declared dead on arrival at the Angeles University Foundation Medical Center, the newspaper said.
Police officials said two people, including a 50-year-old polio victim, died and five others were hurt during a fireworks explosion that destroyed several stall in a Science City of Munoz market, the Star reported.
Police reportedly said the polio victim died from suffocation.
