The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Iraqi prime minister meeting Iranian leaders

TEHRAN, Iran — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in Tehran Saturday for talks that are expected to focus on a proposed U.S.-Iraq security agreement that Iran fears will keep the American military in neighboring Iraq for years.

The deal, which the Iraqis and Americans hope to finish by midsummer, would establish a long-term security relationship between Iraq and the United States. But critics say it will allow the U.S. to set up military bases across Iraq and allow it to use the country as a launching pad for military attacks in the region.

Washington and Baghdad are also negotiating a parallel agreement to provide a legal basis for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

The talks on the security plan are secret, and neither Baghdad nor Tehran has confirmed it would be addressed in al-Maliki’s meetings. But ahead of the two-day visit, the prime minister’s party sought to calm worries by insisting that the deal would not allow foreign troops to use Iraq as a ground to invade another country, a clear reference to Iranian fears of a U.S. attack.

Baghdad car bombings leave at least 6 dead

BAGHDAD—A suicide car bomb and another car packed with explosives targeted Iraqi police patrols Saturday on opposite sides of Baghdad, killing at least six people, police said.

The suicide attacker rammed into a police patrol mid-afternoon in Nisoor Square on the capital’s west side, killing a civilian and a policeman, police said. Another five people were wounded.

The other explosion took place nearly simultaneously across town at a crowded bus stop where passengers were lining up to catch rides to eastern Shiite neighborhoods, though police said the target was the passing convoy of a top Iraqi police general.

Four people were killed and 18 wounded, Brig. Gen. Nazar Majeed among them, said an officer on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media. Three of the dead were policemen, he said.

Leaders of No. 2 union OK Hollywood contract

LOS ANGELES—Leaders of Hollywood’s second-largest actors union approved a new contract with studios that grants actors more money for Internet work — an issue that sparked a crippling writers’ strike this year.

The board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved the three-year deal late Friday, and it will go to the union’s 70,000 members for ratification this month, the union said Saturday.

The deal covers only a handful of prime-time TV shows, including HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the CBS drama “Rules of Engagement” and ABC’s “Cashmere Mafia.”

The 120,000-member Screen Actors Guild, which is the larger and more combative of Hollywood’s two actor unions, continues to negotiate with the studios. It still has the power to shut down Hollywood film production.

Shuttle astronauts prepare robot arm

HOUSTON—Astronauts debuted the international space station’s newest piece of equipment Saturday during a successful but very limited test.

Space shuttle Discovery crew members Akihiko Hoshide and Karen Nyberg moved two of the six joints on the Japanese Kibo lab’s robotic arm for the first time, maneuvering them very slightly with a series of commands.

“The very first maneuver was completed successfully,” Hoshide told Japanese flight controllers near Tokyo.

Full deployment of the 33-foot arm will be done after Discovery leaves the station next week. However, it won’t be used for any actual work until after the launch into orbit next year of the billion-dollar lab’s third and final section — a “porch” for exterior experiments — and a second, smaller robotic arm.

The initial deployment of the robotic arm provides room for astronauts Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan Jr. to finish some final outfitting of the lab on Sunday during their third and final spacewalk of the current shuttle mission.

Salmonella illnesses now in 16 states

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Salmonella food poisoning first linked to uncooked tomatoes has spread to 16 states, federal health officials said Saturday.

Investigations by the Texas and New Mexico Departments of Health and the U.S. Indian Health Service have tied 56 cases in Texas and 55 in New Mexico to raw, uncooked, tomatoes.

An additional 50 people have been sickened by the same Salmonella “Saintpaul” infection in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

House budget chairman promotes Democratic plan

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The chairman of the House Budget Committee said Saturday that a 2009 spending blueprint passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress will restore funding for health care, energy and education while leading to a balanced budget by 2012.

Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., said the budget plan rejected proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and would broaden the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The plan would also add nearly $5 billion to the Veterans Affairs health care system in 2009, he said.

In his party’s weekly radio address, Spratt promised the bill would address skyrocketing fuel prices by spending more on home energy assistance for low-income families. “As for funding for alternative fuels, renewable energies and other energy initiatives, our budget provides $7.7 billion,” he said.

The House approved the $3.1 trillion budget plan Thursday; senators passed the measure Wednesday. The nonbinding measure does not go to President Bush but instead sets guidelines for future action by Congress.

Assailants attack home of Kosovo’s prime minister

PRISTINA, Kosovo—Armed assailants trying to break into the home of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci exchanged fire with guards, but the leader was away and his family was not hurt, police said Saturday.

Police later said they had arrested a 19-year-old ethnic Albanian man suspected in the shooting. They said they found the suspect, who is known to authorities, after a tip-off from his father.