The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Snow clobbers Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin
A large, fast-moving snowstorm closed sections of major highways on the Plains on Saturday, grounded flights in Chicago and dumped more than a foot of snow on the Upper Midwest.

Seven deaths were blamed on the weather, all in traffic accidents on slippery Wisconsin roads.

Airlines canceled 230 arrivals and departures at Chicago's O'Hare International and 40 at Midway in anticipation of snow, sleet and freezing rain, said Wendy Abrams, Chicago's aviation department spokeswoman.

Interstate 70, a major cross-country route, was closed for about 200 miles in both directions from just east of Denver to Colby, Kan., because of blowing snow and slippery pavement, according to Colorado and Kansas highway officials.

A stretch of about 60 miles of I-80 was closed in both directions in western Nebraska, from Sidney to the Wyoming line, as snow was driven by wind gusting to 52 mph.

Westbound traffic was barred from more than 270 miles of I-80, from North Platte to the Wyoming line, more than half the length of the state.

Terror threat very high in Britain, report says
LONDON — The threat of homegrown terrorists attacking Britain is greater now than any time since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, a British Sunday newspaper reported, citing a leaked intelligence document.

More than 2,000 British-based Islamic terrorists are believed to be plotting attacks, according to a government threat assessment prepared this month, which The Sunday Telegraph said it had seen.

The newspaper said the document was being circulated between the Home Office, defense ministry, M15 intelligence agency and Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch.

White House conducts drill on bombing
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Dozens of high-level officials joined in a White House drill Saturday to see how the government would respond if several cities were attacked simultaneously by bombs similar to those commonly used against U.S. troops in Iraq.

White House homeland security adviser Fran Townsend presided over the three-hour exercise that brought the government's highest level homeland security officials to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House.

All Cabinet agencies were represented by their secretaries or other high-ranking officials, with a total of about 90 participants, said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman.

Stanzel said the drill revealed gaps where the government needs to work to improve its response, but also showed progress.

President Bush went on a bike ride not far from the White House, and did not take part in the test.

Abbas fails to gain relief from sanctions
PARIS— Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ended his European tour Saturday without persuading any country to end crippling economic sanctions based on his power-sharing deal with the rival Islamic militant Hamas.

The bright spot in his trip was a promise Saturday from French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to work with a government that includes Hamas and Abbas' more moderate Fatah party.

But Douste-Blazy made no commitments on resuming aid frozen since Hamas won parliamentary elections a year ago.

Europe's governments remained firm: Any new Palestinian government must recognize Israel's right to exist before direct international aid can resume.

Truck bomb kills 39 mosque worshippers
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A suicide truck bomber sent a deadly storm of metal, stone and jagged plaster through worshippers leaving a Sunni mosque Saturday, killing at least 39.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. But it carried the hallmarks of an increasingly bloody struggle for control of Anbar province—a hotbed of anti-U.S. guerrillas since the uprising in Fallujah in 2004 that galvanized the insurgency.

Iran says U.S. not in a position to act
TEHRAN, Iran —Iran's foreign minister said Saturday the United States was in no position for another war, and maintained that negotiations— not threats—were the only way to resolve the standoff over its nuclear activities.

Manouchehr Mottaki was responding to Vice President Dick Cheney, who renewed Washington's warning to Iran earlier Saturday that "all options" were on the table if Tehran continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment.

Mottaki said the U.S. could not afford to settle its differences with Iran by launching a third war after Afghanistan and Iraq.

Zookeeper dies from jaguar mauling
DENVER — A zookeeper died Saturday after a 140-pound jaguar mauled her in its enclosure, and the big cat was fatally shot when it approached emergency workers treating the injured woman, the zoo said.

The jaguar, a 6-year-old male named Jorge, was shot by a zoo employee and the public was never at risk, the zoo said. The big cat had been at the zoo for nearly two years.