BBC News with Nick Kelly.
Less than six months before a general election in Britain, the governing Labour Party is embroiled again in internal strife. Two former cabinet ministers have called for secret ballot of members to decide whether the Prime Minister Gordon Brown should continue as party leader. Mr Brown has called a general election by June this year. Our political correspondent Rob Watson reports.
The two former cabinet ministers Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt had stunned everyone at Westminster with their last-minute efforts to challenge Gordon Brown's leadership. But Downing Street and Labour Party officials have moved quickly to quash any revolts. Most importantly, current cabinet ministers have come out and backed the prime minister,orbiting some cases with little apparent enthusiasm. So the latest challenge looks likely to be short lift. Although many within the Labour Party doubt Mr Brown's leadership qualities, they also seem to think it would only make things worse to get rid of him before the general election.
A grand jury in the American city of Detroit has formally charged the Nigerian man in connection with an alleged attempt to blow up an American airliner on Christmas Day. Among the six charges filed against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Richard Lister reports from Washington.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been indicted on six counts including the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and the attempted murder of the 278 other passengers and 11 crew aboard the plane. Northwest Flight 253 had taken off from Amsterdam. And it was about 20 minutes from landing at Detroit on December 25th, when it's alleged the young Nigerian tried to detonate bomb he had concealed in his underwear.