...it is after all WINTER!

On Christmas Day, a young Nigerian man on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit attempted to blow up a commercial jet while the plane was preparing to land in the Motor City. Brave passengers and crew thwarted that attempt and restrained the man after flames were seen leaping from his lap. Questioned by officials after the incident, the man claimed he was trained in Yemen and given instructions by Al Qaeda on when to launch the attack. On Monday, a regional wing of Al Qaeda claimed responsbility for the failed attack.

The Al Qaeda group in the Arabian Peninsula posted on Islamic websites that it has provided the suspect, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdul Muttallab, with a "technically advanced device" but that it had failed to detonate due to a technical fault. In the message, the group also urged the killing of Western embassy workers in the region as part of an "all out war on Crusaders."

According to the White House, President Barack Obama will make a statement on Monday regarding the incident, which will include outlining steps that his administration has taken to ensure air safety. It will mark the first public statement that Obama, who has been vacationing in Hawaii, has made about the December 25th incident.

Mutallab told investigators that Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen had supplied him with the explosive device and trained him how to detonate it. He also said that there are more Al Qaeda trained men in Yemen who are planning to blow up American planes.

The reason behind heightened security at airports across the United States over the holidays has been revealed to be a result of a foiled terrorist attack. Officials say that an Al-Qaeda linked terrorist attempted to blow up a commercial jet over Detroit on Friday, but was tackled by passengers as he attempted to explode a bomb.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, of Nigeria, was immediately subdued while on board Northwest Fligth 253 just minutes before the plane landed. The plane was carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members.

Abdumutallab suffered third degree burns, and told authorities that he got the explosives in Yemen and received orders from Al-Qaeda operatives to detonate the sophisticated device aboard a plane over U.S. soil. The suspect, who is an engineering student at University College of London, also revealed that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and confessed to trying to use a chemical filled syringe to ignite the powder.

A reaction to news that the stolen Auschwitz concentration camp sign had been found.