WikiLeaks cables, day 23: summary of today's key points

Day 23, Monday 21 December The Guardian • German energy company RWE, the owners of one of Britain's biggest energy suppliers, npower, helped develop a nuclear reactor in Bulgaria which was "dogged by ongoing serious safety concerns". • US diplomats were so concerned about rumours of "bribery, money-laundering and political manipulation" surrounding Allen Stanford that they avoided contacting or being photographed with him . Their concern predated his financial involvement with the England and Wales Cricket Board by more than two years. • Richard Branson believes the British education system does not prepare students for the world of business. • Members of the Libyan government tried to force the closure of a Marks & Spencer store in Tripoli in a "repugnant anti-semitic" smear campaign. • Syria believed Israel was behind the sniper killing of General Muhammad Suleiman, President Bashar al-Assad's top security aide. • The head of the UN's office on drugs and crime, Antonio Maria Costa, told Nato representatives that Afghan insurgents were holding back tonnes of heroin, treating their drug reserves like a savings account . New York Times • A senior Russian official asserted that Russian authorities in London had been following individuals moving radioactive substances around the city but were waved off by British security services before the poisoning of Litvinenko. Der Spiegel • The US threatened the Italian government to make sure that no international arrest warrants were issued for CIA agents accused of being involved in cleric Abu Omar's abduction.