FURTHER TERROR UPDATE - AT 7:58 P.M. ET:  Both Fox and CNN are now live with continuous coverage of the attempt to blow up a Delta/Northwest (now the same company) airliner.  This is what we know:

1.  The alleged perpetrator was from Nigeria.

2.  He has told interrogators that he was under Al Queda control.  Terror expert Steve Emerson says the man was on a watch list. 

3. The device he tried to set off was sophisticated, and used a kind of detonator we haven't seen in terror incidents before.   Passengers and cabin crew subdued the perpetrator.

4. The device is reported to be from Yemen.  Yemen has emerged as a major center for Al Qaeda activity.  There was a U.S. air strike in Yemen earlier in the week that presumably killed the imam who was in touch with Major Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter.

5. The attempt to bring down the plane, according to a passenger on board, occurred on the approach to Detroit.  The flight originated in Amsterdam.

6. There are no reports of other attempts on airliners today, but airport and airline security is being beefed up.

Stand by.

UPDATE:  Fox has now gone back to regular programming - repeats of "The O'Reilly Factor," whereas CNN is continuing live coverage of the terror incident.  I don't get that news call from Fox.  It's not like them.

December 25, 2009