The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Gates threatens cuts war funding not passed
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that unless Congress passes funding for the Iraq war within days, he will direct the Army and Marine Corps to begin developing plans to lay off employees and terminate contracts early next year.

Gates, who met with members of Congress on Wednesday, said that he does not have the money or the flexibility to move funding around to adequately cover the costs of the continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a result, he said that he is faced with the undesirable task of preparing to cease operations at Army bases by mid-February, and lay off about 100,000 defense department employees and an equal number of civilian contractors. A month later, he said, similar moves would have to be made by the Marines.

House Democrats said Thursday that the Pentagon may have to forgo a war spending bill this year because the lawmakers won’t bankroll Iraq any further without tying the money to troop withdrawals.

U.S. drops forcing diplomats to Iraq
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The State Department is dropping plans to force diplomats to serve in Iraq because volunteers have filled all 48 vacant positions at the Baghdad Embassy and outlying provinces, The Associated Press has learned.

The department will announce it no longer needs to move to “directed assignments” for Iraq once personnel panels give a formal OK to foreign service officers who signed up for the remaining three open jobs, U.S. officials said Thursday. Those three diplomats have already won tentative approval, they said.

The announcement could come as early as Friday, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn’t been announced.

Broadway talks to resume this weekend
NEW YORK—With the lucrative Thanksgiving week looming, striking Broadway stagehands and theater producers say they will start talking again on Saturday.

Local 1 and the League of American Theatres and Producers say they will resume negotiations “at an undisclosed place and time.” “No comment from either organization will be issued until further notice,” both sides said in a joint statement.

Bhutto urges alliance to supplant Musharraf
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan?— Benazir Bhutto urged fellow opposition leaders Thursday to join her in an alliance that could govern until elections, but Pakistan’s embattled military leader gave no sign he might hand over power and named his own interim prime minister.

The proposal came on the eve of a visit by a top U.S. envoy who was coming to press President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule and free thousands of people detained for political activism and demonstrating.

Analysts were waiting for Musharraf’s announcement Friday of a caretaker Cabinet to oversee parliamentary elections promised by Jan. 9. A lack of any members friendly to the opposition would intensify doubts about the fairness of the ballot and further fuel discontent.

Dinosaur discovered with vacuum-shaped mouth
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A dinosaur with a strange jaw designed to hoover-up food grazed in what is now the Sahara Desert 110 million years ago.

Remains of the creature that “flabbergasted” paleontologist Paul Sereno went on display Thursday at the headquarters of the National Geographic Society, where they will remain until March.

Sereno and colleagues recovered, assembled and named the creature, Nigersaurus taqueti, that he said seems to break all the rules, yet still existed.

“The biggest eureka moment was when I was sitting at the desk with this jaw,” he said. “I was sitting down just looking at it and saw a groove and ... realized that all the teeth were up front.” It’s not normally a good idea to have all the teeth in the front of the jaw, hundreds in this case.

Sure, “it’s great for nipping,” Sereno said, “but that’s not where you want do your food processing.”

Thousands race away as cyclone approaches
BARISAL, Bangladesh—Ten of thousands of coastal villagers took shelter inland Thursday as a cyclone rapidly approached Bangladesh’s southwestern shores, spawning cold drizzles, strong winds and high waves, a weather official said.

Tropical cyclone Sidr was expected to make landfall late Thursday along the Khulna-Barisal coast, said Shahjahan Alam, an official at the Meteorological Department in the capital, Dhaka.

The coastal area borders eastern India and is famous for the mangrove forests of Sundarbans, a world heritage site that is home to rare Royal Bengal tigers.

CDC: New bug has killed 10
ATLANTA?--A mutated version of a common cold virus has caused 10 deaths in the last 18 months, U.S. health officials said Thursday.

Adenoviruses usually cause respiratory infections that aren’t considered lethal. But a new variant has caused at least 140 illnesses in New York, Oregon, Washington and Texas, according to a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

re are no good antiviral medications for adenoviruses. Patients usually are treated with aspirin, liquids and bed rest.

CDC officials don’t consider the mutation to be a cause for alarm for most people, and they’re not recommending any new precautions for the general public. “It’s an uncommon infection,” said Dr. Larry Anderson, a CDC epidemiologist.