WASHINGTON

Attack on Libyan consulate was terrorist act, U.S. says

The lethal attack on the U.S. Consulate in eastern Libya was “a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists” linked to al-Qaida and did not stem from a spontaneous riot as first believed, a spokesman for the director of national intelligence said Friday.

Shawn Turner said the U.S. intelligence community had revised its initial assessment that the Sept. 11 attack, which killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, grew out of a protest similar to one in Cairo that day in reaction to a video that denigrated the prophet Muhammad.

A U.S. intelligence official said the statement was an attempt to address criticism about the Obama administration’s changing characterizations of the incident. After first asserting that the attack evolved out of a protest, administration officials this week began acknowledging that U.S. intelligence subsequently had discovered evidence that extremists had been planning to strike the consulate in Benghazi.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

Law signed to create first state retirement program

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday that would create the nation’s first state-run retirement savings program for private-sector workers, over the objection of critics who said it creates a new liability for taxpayers.

The bill would establish the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program for more than 6 million lower-income, private-sector workers whose employers do not offer retirement plans.

MEXICO CITY

Mayan calendar experts say end of world isn’t this year

As the clock winds down to Dec. 21, experts on the Mayan calendar have been racing against time to convince the public the Mayas didn’t predict an apocalypse this year.

Some experts are now saying the Mayas may indeed have made prophecies, just not about the end of the world.

Archaeologists, anthropologists and other experts are meeting in the southern Mexico city of Merida to discuss the implications of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which is made up of 394-year periods called baktuns. Experts estimate the system starts counting at 3,114 B.C., and will have run through 13 baktuns around Dec. 21.

TORONTO

Meatpacking plant linked to contaminated beef closed

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday that it has temporarily shut a meatpacking plant linked to contaminated beef products that have been distributed across Canada and the United States.

Brian Evans, special adviser to the president of the inspection agency, said that XL Foods has had its operating license temporarily suspended. The agency said an XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alberta won’t resume operations until it has taken the steps necessary to ensure its products are free of E. coli bacteria.

— From news service reports