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In a video marking the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, al Qaeda’s top leader in Afghanistan vows more “large-scale” attacks against the United States and its allies. In another segment, the personal adviser to Taliban leader Mullah Omar says al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is alive and well. Al Qaeda leaders featured on the video promise more violence against their enemies. “We inform the forces of the Cross and their apostate agents that the Mujahedeen’s policy in the coming stage, God permitting, is going to be more major, large-scale attacks like the Kandahar prison operation, the...

(IsraelNN.com) A Nigerian group threatened to break off negotiations for the release of kidnapped Israeli businessman on Thursday night, using the excuse that Israel National News had referred to its members as "terrorists" in a story published earlier Thursday. The group, the "Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta" (MEND), denied responsibility for kidnapping the 60-year-old Israeli businessman who was working in Nigeria but offered assistance in negotiations for his release. According to a report in Reuters, MEND, which is comprised of indigenous gunmen, said Thursday evening that the Israeli hostage "has been located and seems to be a...

An unidentified Chinese man has been threatening to jump from the seventh floor of the Senate Hart Office Building's inner atrium since around 5:45 p.m., according to U.S. Capitol Police. Police negotiators are conversing with the man through a Chinese translator and are attempting to coax him off of the shallow ledge on the outside of the glass wall overlooking the office building’s atrium. “We don’t know very much right now,” said Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer. “We don’t know what his issue is or what office he visited. The police are trying to calm the situation and see...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened Sunday to send Afghan troops across the border to fight militants in Pakistan, a forceful warning to insurgents and the Pakistani government that his country is fed up with cross-border attacks. Karzai said Afghanistan has the right to self defense, and because militants cross over from Pakistan "to come and kill Afghan and kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to do the same." Speaking at a Sunday news conference, Karzai warned Pakistan-based Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud that Afghan forces would target him on his home turf. Mehsud is suspected...

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his veto power to eliminate the obscure Electricity Oversight Board, he put at risk $3 billion in state funds – money due the state from settlements with power merchants who victimized California during the electricity crisis. The governor’s 2007 action removing the EOB also means oversight over the state’s electricity grid is likely to be placed under the control of the PUC, which would entail a significant expansion of the authority of the Public Utilities Commission. This maneuvering comes amid an intensifying power clash between the Legislature and the Public Utilities Commission, led by president...

WELLINGTON, Utah - Along Utah's Nine Mile Canyon lies what some call the longest art gallery in the world — thousands of prehistoric rock carvings and paintings of bighorn sheep and other wildlife, hunters wielding spears, and warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat. But now, a dramatic increase in natural gas drilling is proposed on the plateau above the canyon, and preservationists fear trucks will kick up dust that will cover over the images. And they worry that one possible solution — a chemical dust suppressant — could make things worse by corroding the rock. "They're irreplaceable," said Steve Tanner, a...

JERUSALEM - The scandal enveloping Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could force him from power and throw Israel's fractious political system into turmoil. If Olmert exits and his government falls, polls indicate that hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party are well-positioned to take power. That would likely have serious implications for the government's efforts to negotiate peace deals with the Palestinians and with Syria. On Wednesday, one of Olmert's key coalition partners, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, said Olmert had to step aside, and he threatened to topple the coalition and go to new elections if he doesn't. Barak's ultimatum left...

NEW YORK - A $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit over YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the Internet, owner Google Inc. said. The company's lawyers made the claim in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as Google responded to Viacom Inc.'s latest lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to "an explosion of copyright infringement" by YouTube and others. The back-and-forth between the companies has intensified since Viacom brought its lawsuit last year, saying it was owed damages for the...

In a grilling of oil executives by a House panel yesterday, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., threatened to nationalize the industry if it didn't do something about the rising prices at the pump. A report by Fox News, captured in a clip posted on YouTube.com, showed Waters challenging the president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, to guarantee the prices consumers pay will go down if the oil companies are allowed to drill wherever they want off of U.S. shores.

Sister Cristina Angelini has been called the heart and soul of Shreveport's Renzi Center, an early child development center run by the Catholic church. But the federal government might be getting ready to tear that heart out. In a country where there are millions of illegal aliens -- and a shortage of Catholic sisters -- the feds are threatening to make her leave and return to her native Italy. Exactly why, the government couldn't tell KTBS News today. It might be a bureaucratic mixup. Sister Cristina got a letter from the government last week, telling her she must leave the...

State wildlife officials have told city planners that an approved development slated to be built on Bakersfield's northeast bluffs threatens an endangered cactus. The California Department of Fish and Game says a planned housing subdivision known as The Canyons would wipe out about 100 Bakersfield cactus plants, a species found only around the city. The agency said the cactus could not recover from the loss. If the project goes forward, the agency has threatened to void a 1994 agreement with the city allowing developers to destroy some endangered species in exchange for fees to conserve habitat elsewhere.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an "economic war" if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets. Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the nationalization of a multibillion dollar oil project by Chavez's government. A British court has issued an injunction "freezing" as much as $12 billion in assets. "If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we're going...

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi warned on Tuesday that he would turn his back on Africa if the continent's leaders again reject his proposals for closer unity at a summit in Addis Ababa later this week. "If unity is not achieved, then Libya will turn its back on Africa and reorient its foreign policy in other directions -- Euro-Mediterrannean or Arabo-Mediterranean," he told a news conference on the eve of his departure for Thursday's African Union summit. Kadhafi said Libya was also prepared to move its investments in African countries, which he said totalled more than five billion...

WASHINGTON - A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or March, government officials said Saturday. The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret. "Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, when asked about the situation after it was disclosed by other officials. "Numerous satellites over the years have come...

LONDON - Climate change is warming Britain's waters, eroding its coastline, harming its marine wildlife and increasing the likelihood of devastating storms and floods, the government said in a report published Wednesday. The "Marine Climate Change Impacts" report, drawn up by coalition of government bodies and researchers, said 2006 was the warmest year ever recorded for Britain's waters, and seven of the 10 warmest years have been in the last decade. Milder sea temperatures have already adversely affected plankton — small water-going micro-organisms that form the foundation of the ocean's ecosystem. In the North Sea, the population of the previously...

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez said on Friday he will cut oil sales to the United States if the American government interferes in Sunday's referendum aimed at allowing him to run for reelection indefinitely. Chavez told supports at a rally that the state oil company will halt sales to the United States on Monday if Washington interferes with the vote on the proposed constitutional reform. The Venezuelan leader and Cuba ally also said he had ordered the military to protect oil fields and refineries in case of political violence. The reform would also give him direct control...

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that Democrats won't approve more money for the Iraq war this year unless President Bush agrees to begin bringing troops home. By the end of the week, the House and Senate planned to vote on a $50 billion measure for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would require Bush to initiate troop withdrawals immediately with the goal of ending combat by December 2008. If Bush vetoes the bill, "then the president won't get his $50 billion," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2007 – The regime in Iran actively supports terrorism and is directly involved in efforts to disrupt U.S. and allied efforts to stabilize Iraq, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said during a speech yesterday. The Quds Force, a branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, is trying to establish a terrorist organization within Iraq that’s dedicated to destabilizing the Iraqi government, Cheney told members of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy at a gathering in Leesburg, Va. “Operating largely in the shadows, Iran attempts to hide its hands through the use of militants who target and...

China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Last Updated: 6:00pm BST 07/08/2007 The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation. Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced...

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Taliban will keep kidnapping foreigners in Afghanistan, a purported spokesman for the group said Monday, adding that the Afghan and U.S. presidents were responsible for the fate of 21 South Korean hostages. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said the lives of the hostages rest in the hands of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Bush, who are holding two days of talks at Camp David, Md. "Karzai and Bush will have responsibility for whatever happens to the hostages," Ahmadi said. An Afghan doctor who runs a private clinic said he had...

CAIRO, Egypt - An American member of al-Qaida threatened foreign diplomats and embassies across the Islamic world in a new video Sunday, saying they would targeted as "spy dens." The 1 hour, 17 minute video also featured a computer-animated recreation of a March 2006 suicide attack that killed U.S. diplomat David Foy in Karachi, Pakistan, and testimony from a man who claimed to be the bomber. "We shall continue to target you, at home and abroad, just as you target us, at home and abroad, and these spy dens and military command and control centers from which you plotted your...

HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro said Saturday that consumerism in the United States, the perennial enemy of his communist government, is threatening humanity's very existence. Castro used the latest of his «Reflections of the Commander in Chief» columns to lambast American capitalism, quoting a former Russian defense official who says the world must stand up to the United States and its money-grubbing ways. «Commercial advertising and consumerism are incompatible with the survival of the species,» Castro wrote in the essay titled «Hard and Obvious Realities» and published in Cuba's two leading state-controlled newspapers. Castro turns 81 on Aug. 13 and...

CAIRO, Egypt - The leader of an al-Qaida umbrella group in Iraq threatened to wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shiites in Iraq within two months, according to an audiotape released Sunday. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who leads the group Islamic State in Iraq, said his Sunni fighters have been preparing for four years to wage a battle against Shiite-dominated Iran. "We are giving the Persians, and especially the rulers of Iran, a two month period to end all kinds of support for the Iraqi Shiite government and to stop direct and indirect intervention ... otherwise a severe war...

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday his government will nationalize Venezuela's privately owned hospitals and clinics if they fail to reduce health care costs. "If the owners of the private clinics don't want to obey the laws, then the private clinics will be nationalized," Chavez said in a nationally televised speech. "They will become part of the public health service." Venezuela has a two-tiered health system in which wealthier, insured patients often can afford prompter, better treatment at private hospitals. "This is the evil of capitalism," Chavez said of the health care costs at private clinics. "We have...

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israel threatened on Monday to hit Hamas political leaders unless rocket fire from the Gaza Strip subsides, as four militants were killed in a new air raid on the lawless territory. In the latest Israeli strike, four gunmen from the radical Islamic Jihad group were killed in a car in the northern town of Jabaliya, medics and the army said. Israel will kill exiled Hamas political supremo Khaled Meshaal "at the first opportunity" and could also target prime minister Ismail Haniya, warned Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, a member of the powerful security cabinet. Meshaal, who...

Blair threatens force over Darfur Julian Borger Tuesday March 27, 2007 Guardian Unlimited )UK) African Union soldiers on patrol in the town of Muhujariya in south Darfur. Photograph: Khaled el Fiqi/EPA Tony Blair is pushing the United Nations to declare a no-fly zone over Darfur, enforced if necessary by the bombing of Sudanese military airfields used for raids on the province, the Guardian has learned. The controversial initiative comes as a classified new report by a UN panel of experts alleges Sudan has violated UN resolutions by moving arms into Darfur, conducting overflights and disguising its military planes as UN...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Zimbabwe's national security minister has told the country's last remaining white farmers that they will be jailed if they refuse to abide by a deadline that passed over the weekend for them to leave their farms, according to a newspaper report on Monday. The official Chronicle newspaper quoted the minister Didymus Mutasa as saying police would be "unleashed" to deal with white farmers who ignored the eviction notice. "Those farmers who do not comply with the orders to vacate the land will be dealt with severely," said the minister, known to be close to President Robert...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to ship thousands of California inmates to prisons in other states to reduce overcrowding is faltering because few prisoners - some intimidated by powerful gangs -- have volunteered to move. Well entrenched prison gangs worried about losing numbers, and control, have ordered inmates not to cooperate with corrections officials looking for volunteers to go to prisons in states like Tennessee and Arizona, according to sources familiar with the prison system. Rumors are also spreading throughout the state's 33 prisons that federal judges are poised to take over the jam-packed system and release thousands of...

TOCCOA, Ga. — About 15 volunteer firefighters and four fire trucks were needed Monday to protect a Stephens County mountaintop crammed with electronic communications equipment. The cause of the Currahee Mountain fire is not yet known, but firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze in about an hour. None of the communications equipment, such as cell phone towers, was damaged. The terrain does not lend itself to camping or hiking, said Vernon Wilkinson, chief of the Tates Creek Volunteer Fire Department. It’s suspicious “unless you believe in spontaneous combustion,” he said. The fire, which was on federal land, is not...

NEW YORK - As the giant Snoopy and Big Bird balloons began to inflate Wednesday, forecasts for powerful wind gusts threatened to keep them grounded during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade instead of floating through the corridors of Manhattan. City guidelines, established after a woman was seriously injured by a wayward balloon in 1997, call for the event's trademark inflatable characters to be grounded if winds reach 23 mph and gusts exceed 34 mph. The National Weather Service said wind gusts could reach 35 mph Thursday, and rain and temperatures in the 40s were forecast. Seven newly installed wind-measuring devices...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2006 -- Terrorism is a common threat shared by the United States and Asian nations, President Bush said yesterday during his weekly radio address to the nation while on a trip to Asia. The primary focus of Bush’s trip to Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam is to increase American business and trade involvement in Asia, and to explore mutual efforts to pursue energy alternatives to fossil fuels and to combat disease. The president attended the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, hosted this year in Vietnam. Besides economics, “Asia is important to America because we face common...

Fighting in Darfur 'threatens 3m lives' By David Blair, Africa Correspondent (Filed: 07/09/2006) Three million lives will be at risk in Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur if renewed fighting sabotages the international relief effort, Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, said yesterday. Kofi Annan says that the imminent withdrawal of the African Union soldiers puts the international relief operation in jeopardy The warning came as the African Union, an alliance of 53 countries on the continent, confirmed it will withdraw its mission from the area. Sudan's regime has told the union to remove its 5,000 soldiers and 2,000 civilian staff...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's leftist presidential candidate threatened to disrupt the swearing in of his ruling party rival Saturday, a day after lawmakers blocked the outgoing president from delivering his state-of-the-nation speech to Congress in an escalating crisis over the July 2 election. Leftist legislators yelling for a recount of votes surrounded the congressional podium on Friday, leaving President Vicente Fox, wearing his presidential sash, standing at the door of the chambers with no choice but to hand in his annual, written report and leave. Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will never recognize a victory by...

Iran threatens to use 'oil weapon' in nuclear standoff · Energy crisis would leave people 'shivering in cold'· UN deadline looms for Tehran to accept deal Simon Tisdall in Tehran Monday August 7, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Iran warned Britain and the US yesterday that the international community could face a new oil crisis if the United Nations security council imposes sanctions on Tehran over its alleged attempt to acquire a nuclear weapons-making capability. Speaking in Tehran, Ali Larijani, the country's chief nuclear negotiator and head of the supreme national security council, said Iran would be reluctant to cut its...

Wildfire Threatens Phoenix Power Lines Monday July 24, 2006 12:31 AM SUNFLOWER, Ariz. (AP) - A fire burning in a national forest threatened two transmission lines that send electricity to metropolitan Phoenix, officials said Sunday. Three planes dropped retardant on the fire, which was burning about 5 square miles but wasn't threatening buildings, said Emily Garber, a spokeswoman for the Tonto National Forest. It was about two miles from the power lines, two of many that bring power into the Phoenix area. Arizona Public Service, one of two major utilities serving the metro area, can use contingency plans to import...

Olmert threatens 'long war' to free Israeli soldier held in Gaza By Harry de Quetteville in Jerusalem (Filed: 10/07/2006) Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert insisted yesterday that a military operation in Gaza to free a captive soldier and end Palestinian rocket attacks could go on indefinitely. The remains of a car hit by an Israeli rocket He said the operation was not "on a timetable". "We're talking about a long war," he said, as the army's southern region commander threatened to pound Palestinian militants for "months". Gen Yoav Galant said: "They will think twice about launching attacks when they see...

Israel threatens revenge kidnap of Hamas leader (Filed: 27/06/2006) Israel has warned it could kidnap ministers in the Hamas-led Palestinian government, including the group's leader Khaled Meshaal, following the abduction of an Israeli soldier. Khaled Meshaal could be targeted by Israel Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Israel's infrastructure minister, told Israeli army radio:"If we start with kidnappings, Israel has no problem entering the Gaza Strip and kidnapping half the Palestinian government. "They have to understand one thing, that nobody is immune, including Khaled Meshaal. Nobody is immune." The minister also ruled out negotiating with the kidnappers. Corporal Gilad Shalit, 20, was captured after...

EU privacy ruling threatens chaos on flights to US By David Rennie in Brussels and David Millward, Transport Correspondent (Filed: 31/05/2006) Millions of tourists and business travellers planning to fly to the United States were left in legal limbo yesterday after the European Union's highest court struck down an agreement on sharing the personal details of passengers with US authorities. Acknowledging the potentially devastating effects of its ruling, the European Court of Justice gave EU and American officials until Oct 1 to come up with a new deal. The Passenger Name Records (PNR) agreement governs 34 pieces of personal information...

STEELTON, Pa. - If Pennsylvania is a barometer, an endangered species list could be taking shape for incumbents in this fall's elections as increasing voter anger spreads across the political landscape. Unhappy voters tick off a list of offenses — some national, others local — in a swing state critical to deciding what party controls Congress for President Bush's last two years and to shaping the presidential race in 2008. Rising gas prices and the continuing bloodshed in Iraq have stoked the Pennsylvania discontent to levels not seen since 1994 when Republicans pushed out Democrats to seize control of the...

Treasure dig threatens Bosphorus rail link By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Istanbul The port has been uncovered at the site designated for a railway hub It's been called the project of the century: a mission to connect two continents with a $2.6bn rail-tunnel running deep beneath the Bosphorus Straits. The idea of linking the two sides of Istanbul underwater was first dreamt of by Sultan Abdul Mecit 150 years ago. See how the tunnel will cross the Bosphorus Now that Ottoman dream is finally being realised. But the modern version of that vision has hit a historical stumbling block. Istanbul...

The River Danube has risen to its highest level since 1895 in Romania, as flooding across the Balkans continues to worsen. Tributaries swollen by snowmelt have increased the volume of the Danube to more than twice its normal April level. The Romanian authorities have begun flooding farmland to ease the pressure. Serbia has declared a state of emergency in several areas, evacuating hundreds of people as the waters reached the roofs of their houses. The emergency follows devastating floods in the Balkans last year, which left dozens of people dead and farmland and infrastructure damaged or destroyed. "We must not...

About 100 homes were being evacuated Wednesday morning as a small earthen dam in Calaveras County weakened by an overnight thunderstorm threatened to break. Showers and thunderstorms dumped up to four inches of rain over the past 24 hours around the La Contenta golf course near Valley Springs, said Angus Barkhuff, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. A 12-foot-high dam at the golf course was weakened by the storms and crews from the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department began evacuating nearby homes threatened by the dam overnight. If the dam fails, water will drain into a smaller pond...

Soil health crisis threatens Africa's food supply 12:16 31 March 2006 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Population pressures combined with limited access to fertilisers threaten the future of farming in Africa, a new study warns. The report highlights the continent’s “soil health crisis”, revealing that three-quarters of its farmlands are severely degraded. The politicians and researchers behind the report stress that urgent changes are necessary to improve food security in the continent, particularly in sub-Saharan countries. Agriculture is the main source of income for two-thirds of Africa’s population, according to the document from the International Center for Soil Fertility and...

Melting Ice Threatens Sea-Level Rise By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The Earth is already shaking beneath melting ice as rising temperatures threaten to shrink polar glaciers and raise sea levels around the world. By the end of this century, Arctic readings could rise to levels not seen in 130,000 years — when the oceans were several feet higher than now, according to new research appearing in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Even now, giant glaciers lubricated by melting water have begun causing earthquakes in Greenland as they lurch toward the ocean, other...

Computer codes row threatens £12bn jet order By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 15/03/2006) Britain threatened the United States yesterday that it will cancel its £12 billion order for the new Joint Strike Fighter unless America agrees to give the Armed Forces full access to the warplane's critical computer codes. Lord Drayson, Minister for Defence Procurement, issued the blunt warning as he arrived in Washington to address members of Congress. Without full access to computer software the JSF could be ‘switched off’ The bad-tempered row not only threatens the 150-aircraft programme, but also the intimate Anglo-American military partnership. Without full...

Iran Threatens To Use Oil As Weapon In Nuclear Row March 11, 2006 -- Iran's interior minister, Hojatoleslam Mustafa Pur-Mohammadi, has made a veiled threat to disrupt world oil supplies if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The Iranian state news agency IRNA quotes the minister as saying that, if the nuclear case is politicized, the international community would be harmed more than Iran. He noted that Iran is rich in energy resources, and has control of "the most sensitive energy route of the world" -- a reference to the Straits of Hormuz in...

Pentagon promotes 'long war' strategy as violence threatens withdrawal By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 25/02/2006) The Pentagon is aggressively promoting a new strategy for the "long war" against terrorism in which combat units will play second fiddle to diplomats, aid workers and civil servants. When US-led forces swept through Iraq three years ago confidence in the armed forces' ability was sky high and the expectation was that they would establish a bridgehead in the region for the foreseeable future. Now, however, commanders can barely hide their desire to pull every last soldier out of Iraq, away from the bloody...

LONDON (Reuters) - The dominance of English as the world's top language -- until recently an advantage to both Britain and the United States -- is now beginning to undermine the competitiveness of both nations, according to a major research report. The report commissioned by the British Council says monolingual English graduates "face a bleak economic future" as multilingual competitors flood into the workforce from all corners of the globe. A massive increase in the number of people learning English is under way and likely to peak at around 2 billion in the next decade, according to the report entitled...

A grab for power could crush Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to rebuild California's infrastructure even before voters can have their say in the June election. As legislative hearings begin in Sacramento on the details of the governor's $222 billion building scheme, controversy is brewing over who will decide how the megabond money is spent. Republican and Democrat lawmakers, as well as local government officials are alarmed by the plan to give state bureaucrats the most say over the spending of billions of dollars in transportation funds from the bond measure and other sources. As a result of a 1997 bipartisan...

VIENNA, Austria - Iran upped the ante Monday in its nuclear standoff, warning that it will immediately begin developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council. The message, delivered by Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's senior envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, reflected Tehran's defiance in the face of growing international pressure over its nuclear program. Enrichment can be used in electricity production but it is also a pathway to making nuclear weapons. Negotiations intensified ahead of a Feb. 2 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board to decide on referral. Iran's top nuclear...