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Obama orders changes after terror attempt WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama suggested Thurs- day he would not fire any- one for the attempted Christmas airline attack, saying it appears the secu- rity lapses that led to the near-disaster were not the fault of a single individual or institution. ''Ultimate- ly the buck stops with me,'' said the commander in chief. He declared anew that the government had the information to prevent the botched attack but failed to piece it together. He announced a range of changes designed to fix that, including wider and quicker distribution of intelligence reports, stronger analysis of them and new terror watch list rules. But, added Obama, ''When the system fails, it is my responsibility.'' He spoke from the State Dining Room, his remarks delayed twice as officials scrambled to declassify a report on the failures. That report was released immediately after he spoke. The White House is anxious to resolve and move beyond the issue, which threatens to dam- age the president politi- cally and distract further from his agenda. Bombing suspected may have met radical cleric SAN'A, Yemen (AP) — Yemen on Thursday provided the most com- prehensive account yet of contacts between al- Qaida and the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner, saying he may have met with a radical U.S.-born cleric who previously had con- tact with the alleged Fort Hood shooter. In the weeks before the attempted airliner attack, Umar Farouk Abdulmu- tallab met with al-Qaida operatives in a remote mountainous region that was later hit in an airstrike that targeted a gathering of the group's top leaders, Yemen's deputy prime minister said. The account by Rashad al-Alimi, who oversees security issues in the gov- ernment, filled in some of the blanks in Abdulmutal- lab's movements before his failed attempt to deto- nate explosives on a Christmas Day flight to Detroit. But al-Alimi also raised new questions. He contended that Abdulmu- tallab was recruited by al- Qaida in Britain and that the 23-year-old received the explosives in Nigeria. U.S. officials say Abdul- mutallab told FBI investi- gators that al-Qaida oper- atives in Yemen gave him the material and trained him in how to use it. In a speech Thursday, President Barack Obama outlined three broad areas where U.S. agencies fell short in addressing the threat, failing to ''connect the dots'' that would have revealed Abdulmutallab was planning an attack. He also announced steps to prevent such failure again. Winter storm through the Midwest DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Snow was piled so high in Iowa that dri- vers couldn't see across intersections and a North Dakota snowblower repair shop was over- whelmed with business as heavy snow and wind chills as low as 52 below zero blasted much of the Midwest on Thursday. Frigid weather also gripped the South, where a rare cold snap was expected to bring snow and ice Thursday to states from South Carolina to Louisiana. Forecasters said wind chills could drop to near zero at night in some areas. In Bowbells, in north- western North Dakota, the wind chill hit 52-below zero Thursday morning. ''The air freezes your nostrils, your eyes water and your chest burns from breathing — and that's just going from the house to your vehicle,'' said Jane Tetrault, the Burke County deputy auditor. Her vehicle started, but the tires were frozen. Suspect in plant shooting believed to be among dead ST. LOUIS (AP) — A disgruntled worker embroiled in a pension dispute with his company showed up at the plant and opened fire Thursday, killing three people and wounding five before apparently killing him- self. The shooting spree at ABB Group's plant sent frightened co-workers scrambling into closets and to the snow-covered roof for safety. Fire officials identified the shooter as 51-year-old Timothy Hendron of Webster Groves, a St. Louis suburb. Police said a man believed to be the gunman was found dead inside the plant from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, but they would not release his name. ''We're very confident that this is the shooter,'' Police Chief Dan Isom said at a news conference. The shooting began at 6:30 a.m. at the plant where the Swiss-owned company makes electrical transformers. Police spent hours inside the sprawling building searching for the gunman and additional victims. EPA poses stricter smog regulations WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of commu- nities far from congested highways and belching smokestacks could soon join big cities and indus- trial corridors in violation of stricter limits on lung- damaging smog proposed Thursday by the Obama administration. Costs of compliance could be in the tens of bil- lions of dollars, but the government said the rules would save other billions — as well as lives — in the long run. More than 300 coun- ties — mainly in southern California, the Northeast and Gulf Coast — already violate the current, looser requirements adopted two years ago by the Bush administration and will find it even harder to reduce smog-forming pol- lution enough to comply with the law. The new limits being considered by the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency could more than double the number of counties in violation and reach places like Califor- nia's wine country in Napa Valley and rural Trego County, Kan., and its 3,000 residents. For the first time, counties in Idaho, Neva- da, Oregon, the Dakotas, Kansas, Minnesota and Iowa might be forced to find ways to clamp down on smog-forming emis- sions from industry and automobiles, or face gov- ernment sanctions, most likely the loss of federal highway dollars. Ex-guards charged with murdering Afghans RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Two former Blackwa- ter contractors were arrested Thursday on murder charges in the shootings of two Afghans after a traffic accident last year, according to a feder- al indictment. The indictment unsealed hours after the arrests charges Justin Cannon, 27, and Chris Drotleff, 29, with second- degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges. FBI agents arrested both of them without incident, said Peter Carr, a spokesman with the U.S. attorney's office in Virginia's east- ern district. Both men have told The Associated Press that they were justified in opening fire on a car that caused an accident in front of their vehicle, then turned and sped toward them. The indictment says the shooting at a Kabul intersection killed two people. At least one other person was injured. ''I feel comfortable fir- ing my weapon any time I feel my life is in danger,'' Drotleff said in a recent interview. ''That night, my life was 100 percent in danger.'' The arrests came a day after Xe, the company formerly known as Black- water, settled a series of federal lawsuits alleging that illegal activity by the company led to the deaths of dozens of Iraqis. Those killings and other prob- lems in Iraq have strained relations between Wash- ington and Baghdad and led to the U.S. govern- ment's push to increase oversight of contractors in war zones. Astronomers could find Earth-like planets WASHINGTON (AP) — Astronomers say they are on the verge of finding planets like Earth orbiting other stars, a key step in determining if we are alone in the universe. A top NASA official and other leading scien- tists say that within four or five years they should discover the first Earth- like planet where life could develop, or may have already. A planet close to the size of Earth could even be found sometime this year if pre- liminary hints from a new space telescope pan out. At the annual Ameri- can Astronomical Society conference this week, each discovery involving so-called ''exoplanets'' — those outside our solar system — pointed to the same conclusion: Quiet planets like Earth where life could develop proba- bly are plentiful, despite a violent universe of exploding stars, crushing black holes and colliding galaxies. NASA's new Kepler telescope and a wealth of new research from the suddenly hot and compet- itive exoplanet field gen- erated noticeable buzz at the convention. Scientists are talking about being at ''an incredible special place in history'' and closer to answering a question that has dogged humanity since the begin- ning of civilization. ''The fundamental question is: Are we alone? For the first time, there's an optimism that sometime in our lifetimes we're going to get to the bottom of that,'' said Simon ''Pete'' Worden, an astronomer who heads NASA's Ames Research Center. ''If I were a bet- ting man, which I am, I would bet we're not alone — there is a lot of life.'' Restaurant food often has more calories than advertised Dieters can't believe everything they read: The food at many popular chain restaurants and in the freezer section of the supermarket may contain a lot more calories than advertised. A study of 10 chain restaurants, including Wendy's and Ruby Tues- day, found that the num- ber of calories in 29 meals or other menu items was an average of 18 percent higher than listed. And frozen supermar- ket meals from Lean Cui- sine, Weight Watchers, Healthy Choice and South Beach Living had 8 percent more calories than the labels said, according to the study, published in this month's Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The researchers and other experts aren't accusing restaurants and food companies of trying to deceive customers. They said most of the dis- crepancies can be explained by variations in ingredients, portion sizes and testing methods. For example, the teenager behind the counter might have put too much may- onnaise on one sandwich. Still, ''if every time you eat out, you get a couple of hundred calo- ries or more than you think, that can add up really easily,'' said lead researcher Susan Roberts, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University. ''There's a big drumbeat for people putting calo- ries on menus, but that's only useful if the calories are right.'' Va. Civil War dispute ends in courtroom stalemate S TA NA R D S V I L L E , Va. (AP) — A judge in Virginia says it's a draw between two Union and Confederate Civil War re-enactors who got into a tussle on the battle- field. A judge found each man not guilty of assault on Wednesday after they pressed charges against each other over the dispute last September. The men were play- ing cavalry officers in a re-enactment of the Bat- tle of Stanardsville. The Confederate re-enactor claims his Union coun- terpart knocked his hat off. The Confederate was accused of responding by firing a blank round from his revolver. There was no bullet, but the powder charge injured the Union re-enactor. Both men were on horseback and both said their actions were acci- dental. 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