31+DEC

 **** __Spy Agencies Failed to Collate Clues on Terror__ **** By MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC LIPTON The National Security Agency intercepted discussions of a plot by leaders of Al Qaeda in Yemen, but spy agencies did not combine the intercepts with other information.

****NEWS ANALYSIS**** **** __Shadow of 9/11 Is Cast Again__ **** By SCOTT SHANE Terrorism experts followed the Detroit story with dismay.

**** __Company’s Record on Beef Treatment Questioned__ **** By MICHAEL MOSS E. coli and salmonella have been found dozens of times in meat processed with a novel ammonia treatment.  **** __A Mideast Bond, Stitched of Pain and Healing__ **** By ETHAN BRONNER The friendship between two children in a hospital — a Palestinian and an Israeli — has drawn their parents into a kinship that defies national struggle.

**** __Afghan Suicide Bomber Killed C.I.A. Operatives__ **** By ALISSA J. RUBIN and MARK MAZZETTI A suicide bomber killed at least eight American civilians, most of them C.I.A. officers, at a remote base in Afghanistan.

**** __In Cuba, Hopeful Tenor Toward Obama Is Ebbing__ **** By MARC LACEY President Obama’s election was celebrated by Cuba’s diverse population but he is now being portrayed by the nation’s leaders as an imperialistic, warmongering Cuba hater. **** __Airlines Struggle Anew With Flier Frustrations__ **** By MICHELINE MAYNARD Executives are trying to minimize the impact of the bombing attempt on consumers’ travel plans.

**** __Jet Plot Shows Growing Ability of Qaeda Affiliates__ **** By ERIC SCHMITT The thwarted attack underscores how the Obama administration must now defend the United States from attacks conceived in multiple havens abroad.

**** __Army History Finds Early Missteps in Afghanistan__ **** By JAMES DAO U.S. forces, hamstrung by inadequate resources, missed opportunities to stabilize Afghanistan during the early years of the war, an unpublished Army history found. **** __Heart-Stopping Fall, Breathtaking Rally__ **** By VIKAS BAJAJ Stock markets will ring out one of their most volatile periods in history Thursday, after a rally that replenished half the losses from the financial crisis.

**** __YouTube’s Quest to Suggest More__ **** By MIGUEL HELFT Engineers are fine-tuning the site to get visitors to stay longer and treat it more like regular old television.

**** __At McDonald’s, a Retirement Stirs Questions__ **** By WILLIAM NEUMAN Ralph Alvarez’s departure is the second time in a little more than three years that the company’s No. 2 executive has left suddenly.