Underwear

The terrorism trial of the man accused of trying to use a bomb hidden in his underwear to blow up an international flight to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009 has ended with the Nigerian defendant accepting responsibility but justifying his failed attack on the United States. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab abruptly pleaded guilty to eight felonies Wednesday, halting the trial of the confessed Al Qaeda operative whose attack on a jetliner carrying 279 passengers and 11 crew members embarrassed the Obama administration and led to heightened security at many airports.

On Christmas Day 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab flew into Detroit allegedly trying to detonate a bomb in his underwear in what authorities said was a terrorist mission inspired by Anwar Awlaki, a U.S.-born Muslim radical killed last week in a U.S. missile strike. On Tuesday, as jury selection began in his federal trial, Abdulmutallab shouted in court, "Anwar is alive!" Abdulmutallab, 24, is the latest foreign radical to be tried in a U.S. courtroom under American laws they reject.

Stuffed animals, teen magazines and children's underwear were found in a raid of a Wilmington motel that was home to dozens of convicted child molesters and registered sex offenders, authorities said Monday. Eight people were taken into custody Friday for alleged parole violations, including possession of child pornography or narcotics. Most of those arrested were middle-aged men whose previous offenses included lewd and lascivious conduct with children or other sex crimes, said Det. Patricia Batts of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Reporting from San Diego -- Marines serving in Afghanistan from Camp Pendleton and other bases will soon receive specially designed underwear to provide protection against the improvised explosive devices that are the Taliban's favorite weapon. The new underwear, which looks like the shorts worn by professional cyclists, will not stop bullets or shrapnel but is designed to prevent dirt and other debris from entering wounds to the genitals or femoral arteries and causing infection.

Florida state Sen. Gary Siplin has been trying for years to get kids to pull up their trousers. Now it looks as if his "baggy pants" bill might finally become law. How much effect this will have is another matter. All school districts throughout the state already have dress codes that prohibit students from showing off their underwear — or worse. But Siplin, an Orlando Democrat, thinks the ban should be more than just a school or district policy. He wants the force of state law behind it. The public, he said, "is tired of seeing underwear.

A Colorado man thinks he's found a way to protect your private parts from unwanted radiation and government peeping at airports. Jeff Buske of Larkspur is selling tungsten-lined underwear online, with fibers of the X-ray-repelling material strategically placed over the crotch. He says he's seen his sales skyrocket in the last week, since the Transportation Security Administration began rolling out full-body scanners at several airports and conducting aggressive pat-downs of people who refuse to use them.

The head of the Transportation Security Administration refused to back down from using aggressive pat-downs and full-body scans at airports, telling a Senate committee on Wednesday that the screenings were necessary to protect the nation's fliers. TSA Director John Pistole said the pat-downs, which include searches of passengers' genital areas, and scanners that reveal nude images of their bodies would have found the explosives on an alleged would-be airline bomber last Christmas Day. Umar Abdulmutallab is accused of boarding a flight bound for Detroit with explosives in his underwear that went undetected by metal detectors.

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. -- An unemployed woman who said she was desperate for money has been arrested on charges she robbed an Oklahoma McDonald's with a white stretch girdle wrapped around her face as a makeshift mask. Authorities said 51-year-old Sharon Lain of Midwest City admitted to being the underwear-masked bandit who made off with the contents of a cash drawer from the fast-food restaurant around 3 a.m. Tuesday. A surveillance video captured the woman on tape and was broadcast on local television, prompting several tips that led police to a condemned home on Wednesday night where Lain was found living, said Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes.

When it comes to film locations, few could be considered as forbidding as Greenland. After all, 85% of the land is covered in ice. But the world's largest island proved to be the ideal backdrop for some key scenes in "The Last Airbender," Paramount Pictures' $150-million fantasy adventure film that hit theaters last week and has since earned $69.3 million at the box office. And there wasn't a film tax credit in sight to take advantage of. The latest film by director M. Night Shyamalan, which is based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series, is about an avatar who controls the elements of fire, air, earth and water.