Terrorist, 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.

Terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab defiantly shouted during the start of jury selection today in federal court that his alleged mentor, U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, is "alive." He also railed against the United States — saying the United States is a cancer — and complained about his clothes, adding high drama to the most high-profile terror case in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner with a bomb hidden in his underwear last year, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, on Thursday waived his right to a speedy trial.