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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Republican Sen. John W. Warner, the former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, on Monday endorsed Sen. John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination.

The five-term Virginia senator cited McCain's service in the Navy and his familiarity with military issues in a statement backing his longtime friend, who is expected to formally announce his candidacy next month.

"America's next president will be challenged by a range of diplomatic and security issues of unprecedented complexity largely due to growing, worldwide terrorist threats," Warner said in the statement, released by McCain's presidential exploratory committee. "Senator McCain's long experience with, and understanding of, our military coupled with his proven, unquestioned courage and leadership, provide him with the essential qualifications for our next president."

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Their promise to target global warming was the latest of a rush of new ideas shared this week as states push ahead on climate change and clean or alternative energy.

"Thankfully the country has reached a tipping point on this issue. I wish we had done it 20 years ago," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who last week signed into law a requirement that utilities generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and the sun by 2025. "Governors, members of Congress and others are now scrambling to be bold."

The twin challenges of global warming and energy were some of the dominant points of discussion over four days at the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association.

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WASHINGTON (AP) The State Department has been lacking a diplomatic heavyweight to handle China issues since last summer, and President Bush's choice to fill that role plans to travel to Beijing this week as part of a three-nation East Asia tour.

John Negroponte, newly installed as the State Department's No. 2 official, is scheduled to visit South Korea and Japan, in addition to China.

Negroponte, 67, began his career as an Asia hand more than 40 years ago and has worked on regional issues periodically since then, including a stint as ambassador to the Philippines. He was director of national intelligence for the past two years, and issues relating to China crossed his desk frequently, including the country's military buildup.

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WASHINGTON (AP) Fed up with federal inaction and convinced of the dangers from global warming, five governors from Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases.

Their promise to target global warming was the latest of a rush of new ideas shared this week as states push ahead on climate change and clean or alternative energy.

"Thankfully the country has reached a tipping point on this issue. I wish we had done it 20 years ago," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who last week signed into law a requirement that utilities generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and the sun by 2025. "Governors, members of Congress and others are now scrambling to be bold."

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WASHINGTON -- Fed up with federal inaction and convinced of the dangers from global warming, five governors from Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases.

Their promise to target global warming was the latest of a rush of new ideas shared this week as states push ahead on climate change and clean or alternative energy.

"Thankfully the country has reached a tipping point on this issue. I wish we had done it 20 years ago," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who last week signed into law a requirement that utilities generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and the sun by 2025. "Governors, members of Congress and others are now scrambling to be bold."

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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? An Iranian rocket launched over the weekend that soared to the edge of space was intended for research, an Iranian space official said, in comments that appeared intended to show that the program is aimed at launching satellites, not missiles.

Iran did not say what research the rocket was carrying out, but the announcement of Sunday's launch underlined the country's ambitions at a time when the United States and others fear it is trying to develop nuclear weapons and a greater ballistic missile capability.

Iran initially announced that it had launched a "space rocket" on Sunday. But the deputy head of Iran's Space Research Center, Ali Akbar Golrou, later in the day clarified that the rocket did not reach orbit level and was carrying a research package.

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In the lion's wake, the quisling rushes to Iraq's defense

Editor, The Times:

Don't get too comfortable, thinking you're "residing in reality," that because British Prime Minister Tony Blair has pulled some of Britain's troops in Basra, George Bush should pull American troops out of Iraq ["Tony Blair's war," Times editorial, Feb. 23].

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WASHINGTON — Fed up with federal inaction and convinced of the dangers from global warming, five governors from Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases.

Their promise to target global warming was the latest of a rush of new ideas shared this week as states push ahead on climate change and clean or alternative energy.

“Thankfully the country has reached a tipping point on this issue. I wish we had done it 20 years ago,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who last week signed into law a requirement that utilities generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and the sun by 2025.

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Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Monday at a national governors meeting here that Republicans need to come up with proposals on issues that resonate with voters, saying the Iraq war was only part of the party's trouble last year.

"You'd have to have your head in the sand to not see that it is a defining issue of our time - substantively and politically," Pawlenty said at a news conference.

But "I think there's a lot more going on than that underneath," he said. "My party - the Republican Party - has a great deal of work to do. We just got our tails kicked in an election that was a watershed election."

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) -- Numerous nuclear safety violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory have resulted in a record $1.1 million civil penalty against the former manager of the nuclear weapons facility, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration. The NNSA announced Monday that it has issued a notice of violation against the University of California for infractions that occurred at the northern New Mexico lab in 2005, when UC was the sole manager of the facility. Since fede...

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - Nuclear safety violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory have resulted in a record $1.1 million civil penalty against the former manager of the nuclear weapons facility, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced.

The agency said Monday it has issued a notice of violation against the University of California for infractions that occurred at the northern New Mexico lab in 2005, when UC was the sole manager of the facility.

Since federal law exempted the non-profit university from financial liability at the time of the violations, the UC will not have to pay the fine.

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LONDON -- A radical Islamic cleric accused of having links to terrorist groups has lost his appeal against deportation to Jordan, an appeals panel ruled on Monday.

The cleric, Abu Qatada, has been accused by the British government of raising funds for extremist groups and offering "spiritual advice and religious legitimacy" to Islamic extremists planning to carry out terrorist attacks.

"We have concluded that there is no real risk of persecution of the appellant were he now to be returned with the safeguards and in the circumstances which now apply to him," the Special Immigration Appeals Commission said.

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WASHINGTON Five Western governors are taking aim at global warming.The governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state have agreed to develop a regional target to lower greenhouse gases and create a market-based program aimed at helping businesses reach the still-undecided goals.New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat seeking his party's presidential nomination, says the five-state agreement should spur other states ahead. He says "You're going to see a domino e...

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WASHINGTON - The State Department has been lacking a diplomatic heavyweight to handle China issues since last summer, and President Bush's choice to fill that role plans to travel to Beijing this week as part of a three-nation East Asia tour.

John Negroponte, newly installed as the State Department's No. 2 official, is scheduled to visit South Korea and Japan, in addition to China.

Negroponte, 67, began his career as an Asia hand more than 40 years ago and has worked on regional issues periodically since then, including a stint as ambassador to the Philippines. He was director of national intelligence for the past two years, and issues relating to China crossed his desk frequently, including the country's military buildup.

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WASHINGTON - Swept into power by voters clamoring for an end to the war in Iraq, Democrats have seen their efforts falter under a reality more complicated than they found on the campaign trail.

While the public is fed up with Iraq, there is little consensus over what to do.

Internal party divisions, Republican opposition and a president who - while weakened - still appears to have the dominant voice on the war have all left Democrats flailing in search of a way to change the war's course.

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WASHINGTON - Governors from five Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases, saying their region has suffered some of the worst of global warming with recent droughts and bad fire seasons.

The governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state agreed that they would develop a regional target to lower greenhouse gases and create a program aimed at helping businesses reach the still-undecided goals.

"In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country," said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. "Western states are being particularly hard-hit by the effects of climate change."

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The United States was not the only country to respond to the horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with policies that went much too far in curtailing basic rights and civil liberties in the name of public safety. Now we see that a nation can regain its senses after calm reflection and begin to rein back such excesses, but that heartening news comes from Canada and not the United States.

Canada?s Supreme Court has struck down a law that the government used to detain foreign-born terrorism suspects indefinitely ? employing secret evidence and not filing charges ? while orders to deport them were reviewed. The law was actually passed in 1978, but was primarily employed to detain and deport foreign spies. After the 2001 attacks, the Canadian government began using it aggressively to hold terrorism suspects, claiming that it was an important tool for keeping Canada safe.

That is just the sort of argument the Bush administration used to ram the excesses of the Patriot Act and the 2006 Military Commissions Act through Congress, and offered as an excuse for other abusive policies, like President Bush?s illegal wiretapping of international calls and e-mail.

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WASHINGTON — The judge in Lewis "Scooter" Libby's perjury and obstruction trial dismissed a juror this morning after finding that the woman had had improper exposure to information about the trial "outside the courtroom."

In a victory for the defense, Judge Reggie Walton then allowed jury deliberations to continue with 11 jurors.

Theodore Wells, Libby's chief defense attorney, had asked Walton to proceed with 11 jurors. Wells noted that since beginning deliberations last Wednesday, jurors were "obviously making progress and working through the (five felony) charges facing his client."

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I reached Democratic presidential hopeful Chris Dodd last week as the Connecticut senator was doing some old-fashioned retail politicking in a Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

We spoke by phone a few hours after a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia handed down a ruling that bolstered the Bush administration's position on the issue. By a vote of 2-1, the panel ruled that the 2006 Military Commissions Act prevented detainees from challenging in court the president's decision to hold them indefinitely and without charges.

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Virginia Representative Rick Boucher believes liquid fuel derived from coal can help the U-S break its dependence on foreign oil.

And as the new chairman of a House Energy subcommittee he hopes to jump-start the process.

Boucher is renewing legislation he first introduced last year that would provide price guarantees to investors to encourage construction of coal-to-liquids conversion plants.

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n In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the Island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

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Every time I pull my Saturn up to the pumps and see higher fuel prices, it stinks.

But I’d willingly absorb an increase if it meant our country could keep more of its talented young people and valuable resources here in the U.S. of A.

Yes, barely a month after President Bush pitched a long overdue acceleration toward an American economy based on homegrown fuels instead of Middle Eastern oil, the primary ingredient in that idea — ethanol — is taking a beating for all of its shortcomings. When it comes to that product made from plants, such as corn, ethanol’s pile of pitfalls will be knee-high by this Fourth of July. Take your pick …

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The Bank of America identified a segment of the U.S. population that deals exclusively on the cash economy, pursued it and is in position to profit off illegal entry into the United States.For identification, Bank of America accepts a taxpayer identification number that illegal immigrants commonly use instead of a Social Security number.The ID number, along with name, address and date of birth, allows undocumented residents to open a bank account.

The bank then has to verify the information with another government-issued photo-ID document.But that document can be issued by any government - including Mexico's - and it can easily be forged or is available on the black market.No passport or visa is required.

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WASHINGTON — Even as the federal government is starting to crack down on companies that hire illegal immigrants, it's been helping those same workers send money home, cheap.

Dubbed Directo a Mexico, the Federal Reserve-sponsored service allows customers without Social Security numbers to wire money through the Fed system to Mexico's central bank at little cost. In September, the Fed expanded the remittance program by allowing immigrants, legal or not, to open accounts at participating banks and credit unions in the U.S. or Mexico. About 27,000 transfers are made through the program each month.

The program has attracted the attention of conservative immigration activists and members of Congress, who say financial institutions shouldn't cater to illegal immigrants.

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HAVERFORD, Pa. - It's after midnight, and the crowd at this Haverford College `80s-theme dance has reached critical mass: Several hundred students fill the on-campus hall, moving to the music and chatting with friends.

A male student approaches Justin Meyerowitz, 20, who is stationed at the front door: "You've got a girl throwing up on the steps." Meyerowitz rushes to the student, who has her head down and a garbage bag in hand - the result of too much rum earlier in the evening. He radios security officers, who arrive in two minutes and call for an ambulance.

It is another emergency handled by Meyerowitz and his crew, all students at the Main Line institution.

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On Feb. 26, 1815, exiled Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the "Communist Manifesto" in London.

In 1919 Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona.

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Today is Monday, Feb. 26, the 57th day of 2007. There are 308 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

One hundred years ago, on Feb. 26, 1907, concerns about a growing influx of foreigners, mostly Europeans, prompted Congress to create what became known as the Dillingham Commission, which examined the impact of immigrants on America. (The panel later recommended curtailing immigration from southern and eastern Europe through use of quotas, higher entry fees, literacy tests and other restrictions.)

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TEHRAN, IRAN: Iran resists widespread calls to stop nuclear program

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday his nation's nuclear program was like a train without brakes or a reverse gear. He also repeated his call for further negotiations over the issue, saying the time for "bullying" had expired.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice responded that Iran needs "a stop button."

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Facing escalating concerns about the potential vulnerability of U.S. space assets to terrorists and hostile governments, Boeing Co. for the first time is offering to install advanced antijamming technology on some future commercial satellites.

Military and spy satellites use such hardware and other techniques to help prevent disruption of their signals. Now efforts are under way to expand at least some of the same protective devices to commercial space, which includes more than 250 large satellites in high-Earth orbits. Boeing's effort to provide sophisticated antennas designed to counteract jamming is part of a broader push -- supported by both industry and the Pentagon -- to safeguard commercial fleets in orbit.

"Some of our customers are looking for technology to potentially reduce the threat" of jamming, said Craig Cooning, deputy general manager of Boeing's Space and Intelligence Systems unit, which builds commercial and government satellites. Mr. Cooning said down the road, such safeguards "could become a differentiator" in the commercial marketplace.

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Radical Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew his support for a security crackdown in Baghdad on Sunday, hours after a female suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed 40 in a student college.

Police earlier said the bomber at the Baghdad Economy and Administration College was a man. But they later said it was a women, who blew herself up in the lobby of the college after she was stopped by guards.

The move by Sadr, an anti-American cleric, is a blow for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who on Saturday had expressed optimism about the U.S.-backed offensive.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka ? With full-scale war under way once more in a country plagued by a quarter-century of nasty ethnic conflict, an ever more assertive government has found a sturdy ally in what might seem an unexpected source: hard-line Buddhist monks.

The monks have long been active in Sri Lanka?s polarized politics, but for the first time they have joined the governing coalition with their own political party. Called the Jathika Hela Urumaya, or National Heritage Party, they now hold nine seats in Sri Lanka?s 225-member Parliament.

The party sits at the extreme end of ethnic Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism here, as the government battles a separatist rebellion among its Tamil minority, which is mostly Hindu and Christian. The Buddhist monks deeply resent foreign powers and oppose any talk of a federal system to appease Tamil demands, which they fear would dilute the notion of Sri Lanka as a united nation.

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Despite economic liberalization, it's likely the communist regime will endure well into the future.

By James Mann, JAMES MANN is author in residence at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and the author of "The China Fantasy," published this month.

February 25, 2007

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The House of Representatives recently debated the Iraq war and cast a vote on a nonbinding resolution expressing opposition to President George Bush's new troop strategy. I voted against this resolution. Here's why:

The vast majority of Americans are of two minds when it comes to Iraq. We want the war to end as soon as possible, but we want to be supportive of the brave men and women who are fighting for our country in Iraq. We want our troops to come home, but we want them to return in victory, not defeat.

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Today is Saturday, Feb. 24, the 55th day of 2007. There are 310 days left in the year. Today?s Highlight in History:

On Feb. 24, 1868, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.

On this date:

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WASHINGTON - The top U.S. and Russian diplomats on Sunday tried to play down concerns about a Cold War revival set off by Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that Washington is fostering a global arms race.

But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov could not put aside disagreements about a proposed U.S. missile defense system in Europe.

Lavrov wrote in Sunday's Washington Post that Putin's recent remarks have been widely misinterpreted.

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The Cold War-era policy that worked on the Soviets may be the best way to deal with Iran.

By Ian Shapiro, IAN SHAPIRO is a professor of political science and director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. He is the author of "Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy Agai

February 25, 2007

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We're told that former President Jimmy Carter, appearing on Fox 5 news the other night to talk about the new biodiesel plant in Plains, told the reporter that he would love to debate someone about his book, but no one has asked him. Which is just one more, uh, curious comment we'd love to ask him about. We won't get that chance today when he makes two appearances related to Palestine Peace not Apartheid. He'll speak at Emory at 11 a.m., then take pre-selected questions from students. The event i...

And if you're sick of Carter or just want to make better use of your time to make the world a better place, conside attending an informational meeting for Angels 4 Angels, a team forming to walk in the Atlanta Breast Cancer 3-Day in October, at 7 p.m. at Congregation Etz Chaim in East Cobb. Call (770) 587-3266, or e-mail chartashpt@comcast.net.

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We can talk about open government all we want. Everyone can agree that all decisions in a democracy ? especially state and local decisions that do not involve national security ? should be done openly and in a way that allows the maximum amount of public participation.

We can enact laws, hold seminars, write editorials and enact more laws dictating that public meetings and public records are, indeed, public.

But if those efforts do not carry a sting, they are worth barely more than the paper they are written on.

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Since January, insurgents in Iraq have put theory into practice, blowing up mobile tanks of chlorine in Iraqi neighborhoods, with deadly results.

These examples of how shipments of widely used chemicals can easily be turned into very real weapons of mass destruction have helped to bolster advocates' efforts to tighten security on hazardous rail shipments. That could mean putting shipments under lock and key when they're parked on railroad siding tracks and perhaps even reroute some of the deadliest cargoes away from populated areas.

"If it happened in Baghdad, it's just a question of time before it happens here," said South San Francisco Fire Chief Philip White. "The questionis, what are we doing to do about it?"

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PARIS -- The discovery of the obvious is not a convincing casus belli, and the recent presentation in Baghdad of munitions of Iranian origin found in Iraq, merited comparison with Claude Rains' declaration that he was "shocked, shocked!" when told that gambling took place in Humphrey Bogart's Casablanca saloon.

Some critics of the George W. Bush administration, some specialists in Iranian arms, and some reporters have been skeptical about the Baghdad presentation, but I would think it perfectly reasonable for Iran to supply weapons to the Shia militias and insurgents in Iraq.

The United States has been trying to overthrow Iran's Islamist government since 1979. It has successfully organized U.N. Security Council sanctions against the country for its nuclear activities, and sponsors opponents of the regime, anti-regime propaganda and political warfare activities. American agents allegedly have been inside Iran promoting resistance among the Kurdish and Turkic-speaking minorities.

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My first reaction upon hearing that North Korea had agreed to take steps toward nuclear disarmament was: not again! Hadn't Pyongyang promised Jimmy Carter, during his ill-advised 1994 "peace" mission, that it would freeze its nuclear weapons program and dismantle existing nuclear facilities? Didn't North Korea break that promise? In 2000, hadn't Secretary of State Madeleine Albright toasted the "dear leader" Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang only to be disappointed later when his duplicity was again revealed? When will these people realize that communists lie?

Now comes the Bush administration's announcement of what appears - appears - to be a breakthrough. This time things might - might - be different, especially because the initial agreement does not rely solely on Kim's word or on U.S. pressure.

As outlined to me in a telephone conversation with Deputy National Security Adviser J.D. Crouch, this agreement is the result of pressure exerted by five countries -- the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea -- something critics said would never happen. Critics said that Kim would never agree to six-party talks and that the Bush administration was making a big mistake in not accepting Kim's demand for bilateral negotiations. President Bush held out and, so far, his strategy seems to be working.

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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Supreme Court struck down a controversial anti-terror law on Friday that allows foreign suspects to be detained indefinitely without trial on the basis of secret evidence.

The court ruled unanimously that the government had broken the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by issuing so-called security certificates to imprison people, pending deportation, without giving them a chance to see the government's case.

"The overarching principle of fundamental justice that applies here is this: before the state can detain people for significant periods of time, it must accord them a fair judicial process," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote on behalf of all nine judges.

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WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that those found to have been responsible for allowing substandard living conditions for soldier outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center will be "held accountable."

However, no one in the Army chain of command has so far offered to resign.

Gates spoke to reporters after visiting the medical compound, whose reputation as a premier caregiver for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan has taken a hit following a Washington Post series of reports last weekend that documented problems in soldiers' housing and in the medical bureaucracy at Walter Reed.

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WASHINGTON ? Brushing aside criticism from the White House, Senate Democrats said Friday their next challenge to President Bush's Iraq war policy would require the gradual withdrawal of U.S. combat troops beginning within 120 days.

The draft legislation also declares the war "requires principally a political solution" rather than a military one.

The provisions are included in a measure that would repeal the authority that lawmakers gave Bush in 2002, months before the invasion of Iraq, and replace it with a far more limited mission.

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ST. LOUIS - Richard Perle has been among the most influential defense and national security figures in Washington. Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board early in the Bush administration, he was assistant secretary of defense for international security policy in the Reagan administration and is now with the American Enterprise Institute. He strongly supported the decision to attack Iraq four years ago.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau reporter Philip Dine spoke with him recently about the war.

QUESTION: Some say the administration has made major strategic errors in prosecuting the war in Iraq. Do you agree?

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Canada's highest court on Friday unanimously struck down a law that allows the Canadian government to detain foreign-born terrorism suspects indefinitely using secret evidence and without charges while their deportations are being reviewed.

"The overarching principle of fundamental justice that applies here is this: Before the state can detain people for significant periods of time, it must accord them a fair judicial process," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the ruling.

The decision reflected striking differences from the current legal climate in the United States. In the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Congress stripped the federal courts of the authority to hear challenges, through petitions for writs of habeas corpus, to the open-ended confinement of foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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OTTAWA (AP) - One of Canada's most contentious anti-terrorism measures was struck down Friday by the Supreme Court, which declared it unconstitutional to detain foreign terror suspects indefinitely while the courts review their deportation orders.

The 9-0 ruling dealt a blow to the government's anti-terrorism regulations. Five Arab Muslim men have been held for years under the "security certificate" program, which the Justice Department had insisted is a key tool in the fight against global terrorism and essential to Canada's security.

The court found that the system violates the Charter of Rights and Freedom, Canada's bill of rights. It suspended the judgment from taking effect for a year, to give Parliament time to rewrite the part of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that covers the certificates.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. troops detained the eldest son of Iraq's most influential Shiite politician for nearly 12 hours Friday as he crossed back from Iran - the same route Washington believes is used to keep powerful Shiite militias flush with weapons and aid.

Even though the U.S. ambassador issued a rapid apology, the decision to hold Amar al-Hakim risks touching off a backlash from Shiite leaders at a time when their cooperation is needed most to keep a major security sweep through Baghdad from unraveling.

It also highlights the often knotty relationship between U.S. military authorities and Iraq's elected leaders, whose ties to neighboring patrons - Syria backing Sunnis, and Iran acting as big brother to majority Shiites - add fuel to sectarian rivalries and bring recriminations from Washington about alleged arms smuggling and outside interference.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) U.S. troops detained the eldest son of Iraq's most influential Shiite politician for nearly 12 hours Friday as he crossed back from Iran - the same route Washington believes is used to keep powerful Shiite militias flush with weapons and aid.

Even though the U.S. ambassador issued a rapid apology, the decision to hold Amar al-Hakim risks touching off a backlash from Shiite leaders at a time when their cooperation is needed most to keep a major security sweep through Baghdad from unraveling.

It also highlights the often knotty relationship between U.S. military authorities and Iraq's elected leaders, whose ties to neighboring patrons - Syria backing Sunnis, and Iran acting as big brother to majority Shiites - add fuel to sectarian rivalries and bring recriminations from Washington about alleged arms smuggling and outside interference.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Brushing aside criticism from the White House, Senate Democrats said Friday their next challenge to President Bush's Iraq war policy would require the gradual withdrawal of U.S. combat troops beginning within 120 days.

The draft legislation also declares the war "requires principally a political solution" rather than a military one.

The provisions are included in a measure that would repeal the authority that lawmakers gave Bush in 2002, months before the invasion of Iraq, and replace it with a far more limited mission.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The news that Mexican trucks will be allowed to haul freight deeper into the United States drew an angry reaction Friday from labor leaders, safety advocates and members of Congress.

They said Mexico has substandard trucks and low-paid drivers that will threaten national security, cost thousands of jobs and endanger motorists on the northern side of the Mexican border.

The Bush administration on Thursday announced its plan to have U.S. inspectors oversee Mexican trucking companies that carry cargo across the border.

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