WASHINGTON, dc (AP):

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano conceded yesterday that the aviation security-system failed when a young man on a watchlist with a United States visa in his pocket and a powerful explosive hidden on his body was allowed to board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. The Obama administration has ordered investigations into the areas of aviation security: how travellers are placed on watchlists, and how passengers are screened, as critics questioned how the 23-year-old Nigerian man charged in the airliner attack was allowed to board the December 25 flight.