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From The Associated Press

U.S. diplomats warned of compulsory Iraq duty

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats they may be forced to serve in Iraq next year and says it will soon start identifying prime candidates for jobs at the Baghdad Embassy and outlying provinces, according to a cable obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

A similar call-up notice last year caused an uproar among foreign service officers, some of whom objected to compulsory work in a war zone, although in the end, the State Department found enough volunteers to fill the jobs.

Now, the State Department anticipates another staffing crisis.

As a result, the unclassified April 8 cable says, “the prime candidate exercise will be repeated” next year, meaning the State Department will begin identifying U.S. diplomats qualified to serve in Iraq and who could be forced to work there if they don’t volunteer.

Bombings kill nearly 60 in Sunni areas of Iraq

BAGHDAD—Bombings blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq tore through market areas in Baghdad and outside the capital on Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people and shattering weeks of relative calm in Sunni-dominated areas.

The bloodshed, in four cities as far north as Mosul and as far west as Ramadi, struck directly at U.S. claims that the Sunni insurgency is waning and being replaced by Shiite militia violence as a major threat.

The deadliest blasts took place in Baqouba and Ramadi, two cities where the U.S. military has claimed varying degrees of success in getting Sunnis to turn against al-Qaida.

Bush to pitch climate change strategy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Bush plans to outline on Wednesday the way he thinks the United States can stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and issue a challenge to lawmakers on climate change legislation.

In a Rose Garden speech, Bush will lay out a strategy rather than a specific proposal for “long-term” and “realistic” goals for curbing emissions, White House press secretary Dana Perino said Tuesday. She did not disclose details of his announcement and would not say whether the president would propose any kind of mandatory cap on greenhouse gases.

The speech will precede a meeting Thursday and Friday in Paris of the world’s largest carbon polluters. Representatives from more than a dozen countries are expected to attend the meeting, the third in a series of talks that Bush organized last year.

Sen. Arlen Specter diagnosed with cancer

WASHINGTON, D.C. ?—Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter’s cancer has returned.

The Republican says in a statement that he has been diagnosed with an early recurrence of Hodgkin’s disease, which is a cancer of the lymph system.

Specter underwent treatment for the same type of cancer in 2005, and was later given a clean bill of health.

The statement says the cancer was revealed in a medical scan, but he has no symptoms.

Delta, Northwest face merger challenges

New York—Delta and Northwest executives want to smoothly complete their deal to create the world’s largest airline by the end of the year. But investors reacted negatively Tuesday, amid word there are no plans for further domestic flight cuts as well as the challenges of integrating companies with contrasting cultures, planes and labor relations.

The two airlines have very Investors already appeared nervous, punishing the stocks of both airlines Tuesday and shaving $400 million off the value to Northwest shareholders if the agreement to be acquired by Delta were to close now. Oil prices hit yet another record Tuesday, nearing $114 a barrel, and investors were disappointed that the deal may not yield as much in cost savings or higher revenue as Wall Street expected.

Arizona says ELL funding satisfies orders

PHOENIX—Gov. Janet Napolitano is going on record as saying that new state funding for instruction of students learning English should satisfy court orders and avoid threatened fines against the state.

Under a March order by a federal judge, daily fines starting at $2 million were to have been imposed if the Legislature didn’t approve additional funding for English Language Learning programs by Tuesday’s deadline.

A court filing Tuesday on behalf of the state says the defendants are assuming that Napolitano’s decision Monday to let the funding take effect without her signatures “resolves the issue of fines.”

However, a lawyer for plaintiffs who challenged the adequacy of ELL programs and their funding says he’ll argue that the $40.6 million appropriation isn’t enough.