The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

U.S., Iraqi troops battle Shiite militia

BAGHDAD—Iraq’s leaders faced their gravest challenge in months Tuesday as Shiite militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled for control of the southern oil capital, fought U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad and unleashed rockets on the Green Zone.

Armed Mahdi Army militiamen appeared on some Baghdad streets for the first time in more than six months, as al-Sadr’s followers announced a nationwide campaign of strikes and demonstrations to protest a government crackdown on their movement. Merchants shuttered their shops in commercial districts in several Baghdad neighborhoods.

U.S. and Iraqi troops backed by helicopters fought Shiite militiamen in Baghdad’s Sadr City district after the local office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party came under attack, the U.S. said. Residents of the area reported intermittent explosions and gunfire in the area late Tuesday.

New punishment cut from sanctions law

PHOENIX—Two key proposals changing Arizona’s employer sanctions law won’t contain a new punishment that had drawn criticism from business groups and stalled progress of the measures. The punishment was intended to encourage businesses to follow the law’s requirement for them to check the employment eligibility of workers through a federal database.

One idea for getting businesses to follow the requirement was preventing employers who don’t use the database from deducting employee salaries as business expenses. Instead, a state Senate committee created a proposed incentive Tuesday: prohibiting businesses from getting government contracts if they fail to use the database.

Abortion bills on way to Gov. Napolitano

PHOENIX—Two bills on abortion — one on parental consent for minors and the other on late-term procedures — are headed to Gov. Janet Napolitano, who has a track record of vetoing measures that would restrict abortion rights.

Napolitano spokeswoman Jeanine L’Ecuyer said she didn’t know what action Napolitano will take on the two bills. Each cleared the Senate Tuesday after previously being approved by the House.

Also Tuesday, abortion opponents opened a new front as the House approved a bill to prohibit nurse practitioners from performing the procedures. The House’s 32-28 vote sent the bill (HB2269) to the Senate.

Detroit mayor, former aide arraigned in perjury case

DETROIT—Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former top aide pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges they lied under oath about having an affair.

The mayor and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty appeared for separate hearings in the scandal that is threatening to prematurely end Kilpatrick’s second term.

District Court Magistrate Steve Lockhart entered not guilty pleas for each of them on charges of perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. Both were released on personal bonds.

The two are accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a top police official.

Chunk of Antarctic ice shelf collapses

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday.

Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years.

This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan.

The rest of the Wilkins ice shelf, which is about the size of Connecticut, is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice. Scientists worry that it too may collapse. Larger, more dramatic ice collapses occurred in 2002 and 1995.