Arabic Video News in English

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is facing charges of trying to murder 290 people on board a US-bound passenger plane that he attempted to blow up on Christmas Day.

But in Nigeria, acquaintances say they cannot believe he is at the centre of such an incidnet.

For many who knew him, they say Abdulmutallab became radicalised when he left the country to study in Yemen and they strongly reject any links between his actions and his childhood upbringing in Nigeria.

Al Jazeera’s Nazanin Sadri reports.

US officials have charged a Nigerian man with trynig to blow up a transatlantic flight with close to 300 people aboard as it descended into Detroit on Christmas Day. The US Department of Justice alleges 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate explosives strapped to his body before other passengers overpowered him. In resposne to the incident on Flight 253, airports around the world have intensified security measures for U-S bound flights. Officials are now seeking more informatoin on the suspect’s possible motives. Al Jazeera English’s John Terrett reports.

Al Jazeera’s Lucy Keating reports on the powerful cyclone that has slammed into Myanmar, killing sevearl people and causing widespread damage.

Winds of up to 190-kiloemtres per hour have flattened builidngs and power lines.

State media have confirmed four deaths so far in the country’s biggest city, Yangon.

However the worts hit area has been the Irrawady Delta – reports from the villages there say half of the buildings have been damaged or destroyed.

The Government has named five regions as disaster zones – icnluding Yangon and the Irrawady Delta.

Andrew Simmons goes on patrol with Nigerian armed forces in Port Harcourt in the oil-rich Niger Delta, one of the most dangerous places in the world

Given the country’s vast oil reserves, Nigerians should theoretically be among the wealthiest populations in the world. But fro the people of the Niger Delta poverty, conflict and corruption are a daily reality. Haru Mutasa and Andrew Simomns report.