Detroit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab | featured news

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian who attempted to bring down a U.S. commercial flight on Christmas Day 2009 by detonating a bomb hidden in his underwear, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday in federal court in Detroit.

A guilty plea by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab took a federal court in Detroit by surprise as he admitted he tried to blow up an airliner with a bomb in his underwear for Al-Qaeda.

Lawyers for a Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a plane near Detroit on Christmas said Thursday that they've talked to prosecutors about resolving the case with a deal.

President Obama said a "mix of human and systemic human failure" allowed a terror suspect to board an airliner in the botched Christmas Day bombing attempt.