excerpt:
Concerns about the man, who was travelling with a French passport, was one of the factors contributing to security jitters about transatlantic flights, ABC News quoted unnamed officials as saying.
A source in Paris close to the affair said the suspect was an Afghan national whose name -- Abdoulaye -- bore a phonetic resemblance to that of a man captured by US forces in Afghanistan but who managed to escape.
The US authorities noted the resemblance and informed their French counterparts.
The man's birthday and birthplace were not known, the source said.
French officials fear the suspect may have a small bomb whose components might get past airport security, the network said.
The man had a ticket for Air France's Flight 68 from Paris to Los Angeles on December 24 but the flight was cancelled and the passenger never showed up at the airport, it said.