a surprise switch in court today. the underwear bombing pleads guilty to trying to blow up a plane on christmas day. good afternoon. i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. >> he told the court his weapon was to save the lives of innocent muslims. jay gray has more on the guilty plea. >> reporter: after sitting through the first day of the trial without a word, umar farouk abdulmutallab changed his plea this morning to guilty. >> pleading to something where there's a life sentence is not something i recommend. >> reporter: he ignored the advice of a lawyer and told the court he was guilty of all eight charges including the use of a weapon of mass destruction, and attempted murder. >> i don't believe there was any

particular photograph or piece of evidence that caused it. i think mr. abdulmutallab had something he wanted to say and he made a statement today. >> reporter: that statement came after the plea when he said the explosives hidden in his underwear was to save muslims. >> he don't regret trying to kill innocent people and don't feel remorse about it. >> reporter: passengers were surprised with the plea. >> i'm totally shocked. >> reporter: but confident. >> he did everything that he said he did. we witnessed it. i'm -- i don't know what the sentence is going to be. he deserves what he gets. >> reporter: what he will get is the only question left in this high profile case.

abdulmutallab faces it possibility of life in prison. sentencing is scheduled for january 12th. jay gray, news 4. condemning iran from the white house to saudi arabia. the obama administration says it will push for sanctions against iran. the plot was foiled and the two suspects are agents of iran. one is this man, a naturalized american citizen of iranian decent with a home in texas. his estranged wife lives there. he only used the address to get a drivers license. she doesn't believe the charges. >> we have been separated for a long time. we don't have a relationship. we don't have anything to do with each other. this is going to jeopardize our jobs, our lives, the neighbors. we don't want that.

my family and i just want to be in peace and move on like we were. we don't have absolutely nothing to do with this. >> neighbors say they say him there last month acting strangely. their attempts to be neighborly got them nowhere. well, the sun did a big disappearing act today. a damp afternoon with a little bit of rain. veronica johnson tells us what is next. >> next for the evening rush, it's going to be sloppy for the next couple of hours. take a look at the radar. we have shades of yellow and orange showing up. you can see them there, approaching frederick, maryland to the north of leesburg, virginia then another pocket of heavy rain up montgomery county through howard county through calvert and st. mary's county. it's moving to the northeast. it's going to be around for the next two hours, then showers after that.

a bit of a sloppy evening rush for us. temperatures all day long have been holding steady. it's 65 now with a east and northeast wind at 13 miles per hour. wind, well the wind is going to be an issue the next couple days. we'll talk about that in a couple minutes. for the good night forecast, we step down to 62 degrees. the temperatures will drop very, very slowly, holding steady. we have rain, showers again on tap for the overnight and early tomorrow morning. along with more patchy fog as was the case this morning. take a look at the forecast. evening rainshowers, scattered light rain tomorrow. we'll talk about how wet now, not only thursday but friday could be before the weekend. we'll have that in a couple minutes. jim. >> thanks. seven of the eight candidates met up in new hampshire. mitt romney did his best to try to shore up his fragile front-runner status.

he was in the firing line. nbcs political director, chuck todd reports. >> reporter: tuesday's debate setting may have been different but the establishment of mitt romney said the same. the nominee in waiting. >> we have to help the middle class in this country. the only way it will come together is people on both sides of the aisle who listen to a leader with experience in leading. >> reporter: candidate-to-candidate he stayed on the defensive. >> glen hubbard, who you know well he said romney care is obama care. how do you respond to his criticism of your signature accomplishment. >> we have less than 1% of kids uninsured. you have 1 million kids in

texas. >> some might say because of your past employment as more of a financial engineer. somebody who breaks down businesses and destroys jobs. >> my background is quite different than you described. we started staples and sports authority. >> reporter: he defended t.a.r.p., the bail out fund that is unpopular with tea party conservatives. >> we could have had a meltdown wiping out the american people. action had to be taken. was it perfect? no. >> my top priority is nine, nine, nine. jobs, jobs, jobs. >> reporter: herman cain found out with surging numbers came scrutiny, specifically with the nine, nine, nine plan. the current tax code is replaced with a 9% corporate tax. >> i thought it was the price of a pizza at first.

>> when you take the nine, nine, nine plan and turn it upsidedown, the devil is in the details. >> how many people are for a sales tax in new hampshire? there you go. >> can you name all 59 points in your 160 page plan? >> i have had the experience in my life of taking on tough problems. simple answers are very helpful, but oftentimes inadequate. >> reporter: rick perry struggled when asked to explain his own jobs plan. >> i'm not going lay it out for you tonight. mitt had six years to be working on a plan. i have been it in eight weeks. a group of senior citizens held a flash mob protest outside the debate. they danced to the song "stop in the name of love" for entitlement cuts. they talked to spectators about

the issue. first lady michelle obama was spotted shopping in a target store last month. running errands is nothing new for her. during an appearance on the "today" show, she says she sneaks out of the white house quite often and most of the time people don't recognize her. >> quiet as it's kept, i do it more frequently than people realize. it's amazing how people don't recognize you. they don't expect to see me at starbucks or chipolte. i took beau to petco. the cashier asked me, what kind of dog is that. i said a portuguese water dog. he didn't recognize us. my secret is out but we try to sneak out as much as possible. >> she said trips outside the white house help them maintain a sense of normalcy. don't expect to see them

shopping for bathroom paper or kleenex. it's stocked at the white house as one of the perks. there's more bad news for smartphone users. blackberry outages are stretching throughout the globe. messaging and e-mailer vises remains. the canadian company that makes the phones blames it on faulty infrastructure and a failed back up system. research in motion posted on the website fixing the problem is the number one priority. no word on how long that will take. new area code is coming to maryland. it's 667. the new 667 area code will be used next march in all or parts of baltimore, baltimore city, calvert, caroline.

talbot, and worster county. the last area cos were 240 and 443. general motors plans to sell an all electric car. it can travel up to 100 miles on a battery. >> reporter: the first electric vehicle is slated to hit the roads 2013. general motors are predicting the compact car will appeal to commuters. >> it is more urban. city dwellers will be attracted to this vehicle. >> reporter: they hope the spark will ignite new sales at a time the volt has yet to take off. fewer than 4,000 have sold this year. gm won't make the goal of selling 10,000 by the end of the

year. chevy is trailing the nissan leaf in sales. >> people believe electric vehicles are p wave of the future. >> reporter: when it comes to buying electric vehicles, the majority of consumers worldwide are not ready to make the switch. >> people are looking at this saying i'm paying more to not go as far as i would like and take longer to charge. it's making people say i'm not quite ready for an electric car. >> reporter: not ready now, but azts as technology goes. whether spark will be the game changer remains to be seen. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. >> when news 4 at 4:00 continues, the fbi says it solved the celebrity hacker

case. a family's trip to a corn maze turn sboos an adventure they will never forget. >> beyonce plans to make a new fashion line for women. what we need to know about allergies and w

fashion giant liz clay bourn is going down in size. they haven't made a profit since 2006. they plan an selling the brand to jc penny for $288 million.

liz claiborne plans on vamping the image by changing the name and focusing on their high end brand including juicy couture, lucky and kate spade. they are expected to generate $328 million to be put against the company's debt. there's one fashion line thanks to a baby bump. beyonce's house of daron is taking on a maternity collection. she wants to design clothes that flatter pregnant women. she says her focus is designs that are edgy and sexy. beyonce has been wearing city let toes. talk about fall fun gone horribly wrong. a family's trip through a seven acre corn maze took a turn for the worse when they couldn't

find their way out. the couple and two small children dialed 911 after getting lost amid the twists and turns. it takes the average person here at the connor's farm in massachusetts about 45 minutes to find their way out. this family got spooked about an hour in. luckily, it took a canine dog just over a minute to sniff the family back to their sense of safety. >> they were so happy to see us. it was -- i thought i was being invited to dinner or something. they were very, very nice. aappreciate yative. >> other families say they can understand how you can get lost, but they say, if it was too easy, it wouldn't be much fun. one in every five americans suffers from an allergy. some of us aler jinlg to pollen

and dust. others to iodine. in get healthy for life, we focus on those allergies. welcome dr. jackie. >> thank you. >> when we go to the hospital, they ask us, are you allergic to latex? >> right. >> how much of a concern is that? >> not as much as it used to be. most hospitals are latex free. people at risk are those who are exposed. either you have had a lot of injuries or in the latex business yourself. >> many say they are allergic to pencilen. how many are? >> 3% to 6% of people are. finld out before you need an antibiotic. >> if you get a ct scan, they ask if you are allergic to that or iodine, shellfish or salt. you say you don't need to answer those questions.

they don't need to ask, why? >> i was recently in the hospital and had a procedure. it's an old school concern. there used to be a type of dye that was salty for a lack of explanation. it caused an allergic reaction. if somebody is asking if you are allergic to shellfish or salt. >> i had a reaction to iodine at 23 and i say don't give that to me. >> exactly. >> what about morphine and codeine? >> not an allergy, but you can get itchy from those. if you know it happens, let them know ahead of time. they can give you something to counter act that. >> demerol is the same. >> it can cause itching. let them know ahead of time. >> hallucinating doesn't count? >> doesn't count. >> some suffer from

anti-inflammatory drugs like motrin and aspirin. >> some people need to take aspirin if they have a heart prab. it can be life threatening. if you are taking a motrin then you need to be able to know that you have that allergy. you may get lip swelling, swelling in your throat. go consult an allergist if you need to take them for arthritis or heart problems. >> local anesthetics. >> in a rare case. people go to the podiatrist or dentist. somebody is coming at them with a needle full of medication that constricts the blood vessels that make it easier for the surgeon to see what they are doing. they get a fast heart rate, they are concerned. they have a fast heart rate and pass out.

it is an allergy to needles, not the medication at all. >> my husband suffers from that. now we know the answer. thank you. coming up next, a superman fan who takes his fondness to the ultimate extreme. ♪ >> a big sur prize. this singing sensation gets a surprise on the "ellen" show. ♪

it's a little wet out there. >> a little wet? >> it's going to get wetter. >> we have the moderate rain moving through right now. for the evening rush, the tail end, it could get better. the rain is going to lighten up some. it's a nasty evening rush. a lot of the east is getting hit with this weather system. it's moving up from the south. tropical rains from today were cooler than yesterday in the low 60s. you can see all the drops of rain there on the camera lens.

it's 64 degrees right now. we have 94% relative humidity. the dew point at 63 degrees. if it's cool and wet, it's breezy. east-northeast wind at 12 miles per hour. now, i want to show you the rainfall totals with the system. there's close to an inch and a half in fredericksburg. a half inch north of d.c. i think with this wave that's coming through, we are picking up another quarter inch of rain, especially the areas in yellow and orange. howard county and columbia, that area, we have heavier rain, too, south and west of frederick, maryland. it's pushing east and northeastward around d.c. we have showers and things are starting to lighten up a little bit. it's still wet. still scattered showers all the way down to the south. moderate rain coming down now. showers on tap for the over

night period. north hagerstown where we have been cooling down the the rains. most of the temperatures will be hanging out in the upper 50s, low 60s in d.c. 62 for early tomorrow morning with fog once again. here is a look at the bigger part of the weather system where you see the tropical rains, the thunderstorms up through virginia. a lot of locations south of the virginia border, close to an inch and a half. the heavier rains moving through as low pressure makes its way northeastward. thought we were going get a break tomorrow. thursday looks like there will be some scattered showers around the area. maybe a thunderstorm if we get a break in the cloud cover. then for friday, there's the front. it's a very strong front. behind it, it's going to be chilly. behind the front, it's going to be very, very windy. let's take a look at the forecast in terms of rainfall amounts. what we could get anywhere in the green, it's less than a half inch.

areas around the rain in charlottesville, over an inch of rain. the forecast for the evening, showers likely. temperatures holding steady. a look at the four-day forecast. you can see the next couple days, we are warming up a little bit. 75 to 76 thursday and friday. big wet day. it's going to be friday when the front comes through. the weekend, can't emphasize this enough. it is going to be chilly and windy. we get the sunshine back. very chilly and very windy. wind is going to be a factor. the extended forecast is coming our way for the rest of fall. >> the season has changed. all right. thank you. a man in the philippines is taking his love of superman to a whole new level. for more than 15 years, herbert chavez under went a series of surgeries to look like the man of steel. he's had his cheeks, lips and thighs operated on. he plans to have his abdo min

worked on soon. he doesn't have superpowers like superman, but hopes to inspire people to do good. i think it's creepy. maybe for halloween, but you don't go to surgery for halloween. >> the surgeon did a good job though. >> yeah. >> his face looks a little like superman. still to come on news 4 at 4:00, the michael jackson case. ahead, hackers targeted hollywood celebrities. today, the f

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welcome back, everybody. i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. at this hour, the man who tried to blow up a plane with explosives in his underwear pleaded guilty. umar farouk abdulmutallab admitted he tried to blow up the

plane. he's facing life in prison. two men charged, but only this man is in custody accused in a plot to kill the saudi ambassador to the u.s. he's a naturalized u.s. citizen. he blamed iran for planning it. the obama administration says it will lobby for new sanctions on iran over the incident. blackberry users over the globe are having their patience tested for a third day in a row. delayed communications. the canadian company who makes blackberries blames it on faulty infrastructure. research in motion says -- posted an update saying fixing the problem is the number one priority. stocks finished higher despite losing steam in the final hour of trading. the dow was up 103 points.

nasdaq shot up 22. s&p 500 up 12 points to close at 1,207. a dramatic change of course in the trial of dr. conrad murray. >> the defense abandoned the key evidence that michael jackson swallowed the propofol himself. we have the new developments. >> reporter: in a surprising move, lawyers for dr. conrad murray dropped the claim jackson may have swallowed propofol. a study showed swallowing it would be trivial. a cardiologist from the medical board reviewed the case. he found six deviations in care given by dr. murray and the alleged missteps contributed to his death. >> giving someone propofol in someone's home unmonitored without the proper equipment,

medical personnel or back up was also an extreme deviation from the standard of care. >> reporter: under cross-examination, he held firm in his opinion. >> dr. murray spent nine hours trying to get him asleep. now you are trying to tell me he should have awaken him? >> he shouldn't have put him to sleep in the first place. >> reporter: yesterday, the medical examiner struck a blow to the defense's claim that jackson may have given himself propofol. >> that scenario does not support self-administration, is that accurate? >> yes. to be, it's an area that is less reasonable. >> reporter: on tuesday, the jury heard more of the taped interview with police where he described a moment jackson's children learned their father died. >> cried and cried and cried.

his daugtser uttered words of unhappiness and she didn't want to be an orphan. >> the defense will soon begin calling its witnesses. it's unclear if dr. murray himself will take the stand. an arrest today in the e-mail hacking scandal that targeted hollywood celebrities. a florida man is facing charges in the case. christopher of jacksonville hacked into the e-mail accounts of 50 people. the victims include scarlett johanns johannsen. 25 counts of identity theft. if convicted, he could face up to 120 years in prison. here is a sure way to get yourself arrested. a new mexico woman put an ad on craigslist to buy pot. she's 28 years old and lives in

roz well. police say she posted the ad, was new this town and looking to buy mary jane. it's slang for marijuana. officers offered to meet her and arrested her. she probably should have been more creative. >> perhaps. >> girl scout badges are getting a make over. >> you are soon going to see digital film making, web design and literacy sewn into their badges. this is the first major update for badges since 1987. >> the cookies keep getting a make over, too. they keep our favorites. >> the old favorites are still there. if you saw ellen, you saw this fun, big sur prize for a little girl who made a big splash for her imitation of a u.s. rap star.

♪ >> sophie grace is from the united kingdom. the 5-year-old can sing every single word of the rap hit by nicki minaj. it led to an invitation from ellen. that surprise appearance by nicki minaj herself. she was overwhelmed, but not shy. she got to perform with her favorite artist. that was so cute. >> that is so viral. millions everywhere. >> she's got quite a voice for a little tyke. >> she could give nicki minaj a

run for her money with that. she had to see that videoover and over again. we have a lot more. wendy shows off the sea food app

today's news 4 fandemonium prize is a 42 inch hd tv. all you need to do is like our nbc washington page on facebook, then sign up to win great prizes. we pick a winner at 6:00 and make the announcement during the 11:00 p.m. newscast. >> we like it. we like it. which seafood is ocean friendly? >> there's an app to find out. wendy is here to show us how it works. >> i love monterey bay, the seafood watch. they give tiny pamphlets to see the seafood and sushi to eat. now, it's an app for your iphone. we are over fishing.

the common seafood is virtually extinct. vote with your wallet and palette. you have the seafood watch seafood guidelines. they give the best choice. it's a real good education. chilean sea bass, southern ocean and wild caught sea bass is bad. avoid it. it is overfished. it's illegal. regulated fishing is depleting the population. >> halibut, wild caught. i love it. they'll tell you where it is. there are places you can go to and they tell you how you can find it in your area. a sushi guide, that's another thing. what is the best choice for sushi, look at all you have to choose from. why it's a good education.

tell you about the albacore tuna. this is really an important piece of information for consumers. a good educational tool. it's a good way to be a good, philips arena consumer and help us sort of restock our oceans. seafood watch. there's an app for that now and it's free. back to you. >> sounds good. thank you. next on news 4 at 4:00, apples new ios 5 is ready for down load. we'll show you how it works. ♪

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well, are we going to dry out? >> soon? >> yes. >> no. but when we do dry out, we are going to dry out in a big way, in a howling way, as a matter of fact. >> the wind. >> exactly. the wind helps with the drying process as well as the sunshine. perhaps it will be good kite flying weather this weekend. at least the pumpkins will be weighed down. let's talk about now and what to expect for the rest of the workweek. gray skies still. drops falling out there. they are slightly lighter drops in d.c. the moderate rains are making their way eastward through howard county.

it's 64 degrees right now. let's show it. there we go. east-northeast wind at 10 miles per hour. again, a lot of moisture in the air. as far as the moderate rain goes, you can see where it is up toward baltimore and around annapolis. that is moving away from this area. your future weather for 9:00, we have the areas of showers. it will be all around the area making their way eastward with low pressure moving through the area. early tomorrow morning, wet weather. light showers is what we are going to have around the area. a chance for thunderstorms by the afternoon. that's the green blobs moving through. friday morning, light showers with more, you guessed it, showers and storms through the afternoon. friday, a slightly higher chance than what we'll have tomorrow. 75 is the temperature in leesburg. 74 gaithersburg. 75 in d.c. look at the pictures from fall.

that's around 4,000 feet. way in the high elevations. moderate to high color showing up there. let's take a look at the four-day forecast which you can expect heading through. the rest of the week is going to be wet. for the rest of the weekend, an autumn chill comes your way. 65 for saturday, 68 for sunday. break out in sweaters, maybe fleece for the weekend. >> okay. >> and the kite. >> thank you. while apple officials count the hours until the launch of the new iphone, they are releasing a hot item. >> iosi 5 operating system. mark barger had the details. >> reporter: even if you are not rushing out to buy the new iphone on friday, the iphone, ipad or even ipod touch you

already own could be getting an upgrade. apple is releasing the new ios5 operating system today. >> there's over 200 updates to the software. there are going to be things in there that i think a lot of iphone users have been asking for and clamoring for. >> reporter: apple is playing catch up. wireless syncing of your gadget. >> it's the way they look. they look at apple people like oh, really, you have to plug that in to sync that. >> reporter: that wireless syncing, will allow for automatic content back ups. i message is similar to messenger. they can share text, pictures for free. >> you are going to be able to edit pictures right on your device.

that was something you weren't able to do before. you can create albums on there. >> reporter: an upgrade to the web browser is part of the package, which is available as free down load on itunes. >> i think it's an exciting update. i'm an ios user. i'm purned about it. >> reporter: they have high hopes that other customers will feel the same way. >> i have to do an upgrade on my upgrade on my upgrade. >> we both need to upgrade. a mother's legal trouble after her daughter got behind the wheel. >> kicking it up a notch for the upcoming holiday season. coming up, a worst case scenario. it's what played out on the orange line. now, they are talking on news 4 to avoid chaotic scenes like this when there's an emergency on the tracks. we are going to introduce you to

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they have been an iconic sign of the christmas holidays for nearly 80 years now. today, radio city music hall rockets began for the christmas

spectacular. they practiced their high kicks in a manhattan studio. all the ladies have to be tall and similar in height between 5'6" and 5' 10 1/2." a colorado mother is facing charges after being accused of letting her 9-year-old daughter drive. witnesses saw the young daughter behind the wheel twice last week. another child was in a car seat at the time. the mother is facing a number of criminal charges. coming up, the family of a missing girl

police in missouri seem to have run out of leads in their search for baby lisa. their family hired a private investigators. peter alexander has the latest. >> reporter: this video reveals what lisa's mother was doing hours before he says her baby vanished from the crib. on this tape, a mile and a half from the irwin's kansas city home, bradley seen shopping with an unidentified man buying a box of wine, baby food and baby wipes. police have seen the tape and so

far, it's produced no significant leads. on tuesday, investigators converged on this abandoned house blocks from the irwin home. their focus, a well, at least 30 feet deep and three feet wide. would the dark well hold clues to the baby's disappearance? we spoke to the owner of the home who's not been here in four to six months. you can't just see the well, you have to know it's beneath the deck. they lowered someone down twice. the third trip, a rescuer returned empty handed. >> it's been too long. something should have came up by now. if she is still alive, that's great, you know. if something's happened, you want to know that, too, so you can have closure. >> reporter: demolition crews

tore down the home. their eight-day search uncovered no signs of baby lisa. >> with a 10 month old, somebody knows something. bradley suggested they test fingerprints found on the ground. late tuesday night, the irwin family appeared in a news conference announcing they are bringing in their own private investigator. >> there are bad people out there with this child. we want to get the child home safe and sound. >> that's news 4 at 4:00. news 4 at 5:00 starts right now. a shopper stabbed at an unprovoked attack outside this target.

the woman arrested for the crime committed a strikingly similar attack six years ago. tonight, everyone is asking why a disturbed woman was released from custody so soon. a man arrested and charged of spying for syria. dozens of recordings from our area to the syrian government. blackberry outages today. tonight, millions of blackberry users were having problems staying connected. >> good evening. i'm wendy rieger. >> i'm jim handly. we have those stories coming up but we begin with the wet weather out there. >> this could be the beginning of a pattern of wet weather. doug is in the storm center with the latest. >> not the best pattern for a couple days. we have the shower activity. we saw heavy rain come through about an hour to two hours ago. that rain moved up. now, it's light