The CNN network claimed US officials believe the missing passenger may be a trained pilot.French officials would not confirm reports about the bomb or reveal any information about yesterday’s police raids. Asked about the ABC report, the French Justice Minister, Dominique Perben, said: “I can tell you that we are looking for someone, but nothing more at this stage.” The French authorities have informed their British counterparts about the continuing search for the passenger.Three Air France flights to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were cancelled after the US warned France that it had spotted several suspect names on passenger lists. Previously, both French and American officials have said the warning was a false alarm and that all the passengers had been checked out and proved harmless.It now appears this may have been a cover story to distract attention from the continuing search for one of the passengers who failed to turn up for the first flight on 24 December, Air France flight 68, and has not been traced since.A Bush administration official who briefed reporters, said: “There were several passengers on that flight that were of concern and we’re working with our international partners to make sure that all passengers on that flight are questioned Two passengers did not show up. Anti-terrorist police are hunting a man with suspected links to al-Qa’ida who failed to turn up for a recent Paris-Los Angeles flight, triggering the deep American fears which have disrupted transatlantic travel in recent days.

US intelligence believes he may be called Abdou Hai, an Afghan al-Qa’ida suspect.The ABC television network reported earlier this week that US officials fear the man may be travelling with a miniature bomb, capable of evading airport detection systems. Others searched for radiation spikes near the Las Vegas Strip as well as at the annual Rose Bowl American football parade in Los Angeles.The revelations cast new light on the degree of concern expressed when officials put America on an elevated code orange alert on 22 December It is still in place.. Scores of undercover nuclear scientists screened America’s largest cities for radiation amid fears that al-Qa’ida might release a dirty bomb at an open-air event such as the New Year celebrations in Times Square.
The operation, detailed by The Washington Post , was performed in secrecy, in contrast to public efforts to thwart any attack on a passenger or cargo aircraft.Other thana false alarm in Las Vegas, involving a homeless man who had a radium pellet, originally manufactured to treat cancer, in a duffel bag, no such bomb was detected.Dozens of scientists searched Times Square before the New Year’s Eve gathering. Mr Bush is proposing to increase the number of green cards issued, but it is unclear by how much.. These will include provisions for pensions payable in their native countries, based on their working years in the US.Hispanic and civil rights groups say the measures do not go far enough. By having to depend on “sponsors”, immigrant workers may be even more at the mercy of their employers, it is claimed. In addition, people on the programme seeking a green card could find themselves in a legal no-man’s land if their initial employment period expired before they obtained their green card – a wait that could reach more than six years.

Conservatives on Capitol Hill, where the plan is likely to encounter resistance by some usual allies of Mr Bush, say it amounts to an amnesty for individuals who have broken the law by coming to the US. The White House hopes to win over critics who say the country risks being swamped by foreigners with incentives for immigrants to return home. Mr Bush acknowledged yesterday that the US economy and society function largely thanks to undocumented immigrants prepared to do the menial jobs. The aim, officials say, is to “match willing workers with willing employers to fix a broken system”. It was “a win-win situation,” Scott McLellan, Mr Bush’s spokesman, said.Under the scheme, legalised guest workers would be sponsored by their employers.

Their growing number is threatening the Republican grip on states such as Arizona, which is high on the Democrats’ target list of states carried by Mr Bush in 2000.Under the scheme, undocumented workers would be able to apply for temporary “guest worker” status for an initial period – probably three years. The initiative should give a boost to the frosty relations between the US and its neighbour.A similar scheme was under examination by the two countries in the summer of 2001, but was shelved after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, which turned protection of US borders into an all-consuming national priority. In a blatant election-year gambit aimed at the Hispanic vote, President George Bush offered yesterday legal status and a virtual amnesty to millions of illegal workers. But at least eight million, and perhaps 12 million, illegal immigrants are in the US, alongside the official population of 290 million. More than half are believed to be from Mexico, whose President, Vicente Fox, will meet Mr Bush at next week’s western hemisphere summit in Monterrey, Mexico.