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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California will impose broad caps on its greenhouse-gas emissions under a landmark plan that marks a clear break with the federal government and which backers hope will become a national model. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who helped assemble the plan, called Wednesday's agreement "an example for other states and nations to follow as the fight against climate change continues." The plan came after weeks of difficult negotiations and was sent to the state Senate, which approved it late Wednesday with a 23-14 vote. If approved by the Democratically-controlled Assembly, which is expected, the bill would then go...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein unveiled a package of legislation aimed at combating global warming, calling it the "greatest environmental challenge facing this planet." The California Democrat's plan would require automakers to boost fuel economy, increase use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar and force companies to lower emissions of the "greenhouse gases" blamed for warming the planet. If action isn't taken, Feinstein said, global temperatures could rise by as much as 9 degrees, leading to massive extinction of species, rising ocean levels and an increasing number of devastating storms, floods and wildfires. "Working together, I believe we can...

TORONTO - Canada unveiled on Friday anti-terrorism measures aimed at bolstering security at the country's airports, railway systems and marine ports in the next few months. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government also would spend more than $224 million to beef up the country's ability to detect potential terrorist attacks as part of the $1.3 billion approved in the federal budget for security. "This is how the fight against terrorism will be won ... plugging the holes, filling the gaps," Harper told a news conference at a Toronto airport cargo bay. " Some in Washington have criticized Canada's immigration...

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans unveiled revised immigration legislation Wednesday night that would clear the way for legal status and eventual citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million men, women and children living in the United States unlawfully. Majority Leader Bill Frist outlined the proposal after efforts at a bipartisan compromise faltered earlier in the day and the Senate teetered between accomplishment and gridlock on the most sweeping immigration bill in two decades. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid pledged to review the GOP proposal overnight to see whether "it could be something we could all support." The prospects appeared uncertain,...

JERUSALEM - Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a sweeping vision for Israel's future in interviews published Friday, saying he will dismantle most West Bank settlements, fortify remaining settlement blocs and set the nation's borders by 2010. The blueprint presented by Olmert, the frontrunner in March 28 elections, is the most detailed proposal for Israel's borders ever presented to voters by an Israeli leader, and it represents a major electoral gamble. Previous candidates for prime minister remained intentionally vague about their plans for the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War, for fear of alienating the public....

Sarkozy unveils new laws to expel foreign workers By Henry Samuel in Paris (Filed: 07/02/2006) Nicolas Sarkozy, France's interior minister and presidential hopeful, has unveiled tougher rules on immigration, making it easier to expel foreign workers or those refusing to integrate. The proposals included in a draft law, which Mr Sarkozy will present to the cabinet on Thursday, aim to change the very nature of immigration into France. Mr Sarkozy: hard-line "We no longer want immigration that is inflicted [on us]," he said. "We want selected immigration. The system of integration the French way no longer works," he told Le...

LONDON - The British government Wednesday unveiled sweeping anti-terrorism legislation designed to crack down on Islamic extremism, raising concerns from Muslim leaders, opposition parties and legal experts about the potential for infringing on civil liberties. In the wake of the July attacks on London's transit system, the government wants the power to detain terror suspects for three months without charge, outlaw attending terrorist training camps in Britain or abroad and make it an offense to glorify or encourage terrorism. "The terrorist threat facing the U.K. is real and significant and the government is determined to do all it can to...

LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday unveiled a memorial to women who served in World War II, part of the nation's commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe and the Pacific. The memorial, located in Whitehall near the national memorial to war dead, recognizes the sacrifices both of women in uniform and those who worked on the home front. Among those women was the queen, then Princess Elizabeth, who qualified as a driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. "I hope that future generations who pass this way will ask themselves: 'what sort of...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced the creation of a fund to promote democratric institutions and practices around the world - an idea first proposed by the United States. President Bush suggested the creation of a fund in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in September. He said it would help countries lay the foundations of democracy by instituting the rule of law, independent courts, a free press, political parties and trade unions. "For quite some time we have believed that democratic countries with similar priorities on human rights and the rule of law should act...

The United Nations unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul the organisation, including the Security Council, in what would be the biggest UN reform since its founding in 1945. After bitter divisions over the war in Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered a high-level panel last year to come up with the blueprint and help the United Nations adapt to the 21st century. The panel's report released Tuesday proposed more than 100 recommendations, including some -- an expansion of the Security Council and a definition of terrorism -- that have eluded UN diplomats for years. "What is needed is a...

BOSTON - A conservative anti-tax group unveiled a $1 million advertising campaign Monday that paints Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) as a waffler, picking up where President Bush (news - web sites) left off last week when his campaign pulled down its ads. The Club for Growth's launch is much smaller than what Bush had been spending. However, the group's ads will give Republicans somewhat of a presence on the air in certain areas during a week in which Kerry news dominates the airwaves. Bush's campaign went dark this week, with the campaign opting to save money for...

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled the design of California's new quarter Monday, which shows conservationist John Muir, a California condor and Yosemite National Park's Half Dome mountain on the coin's tails side.</p> <p>The quarter commemorates California's Sept. 9, 1850, entry into the United States, and is the 31st 25-cent coin to be unveiled as part of a 10-year, 50-state quarters program conducted by the U.S. Mint. States reveal their quarters in honor of the order in which they ratified the U.S. Constitution and joined the union.</p>

The Israel Defense Forces is equipping its forces with a new range of spy drones small enough to fit in a soldier's backpack, including one that weighs less than a can of soda, the army said Thursday The Israel Air Force has frequently used larger unmanned spy planes to track and target Palestinian militants during airstrikes. The new mini-drones would also give army forces in the field on-the-spot access to aerial intelligence. The small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) and the futuristic looking micro UAV's were displayed Thursday at a conference held by the army's Ground Force Command on low intensity...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) will unleash his first negative ads against John Kerry (news - web sites) on Thursday, accusing the Democrat of seeking to raise taxes by $900 billion and wanting to "delay defending America," the Associated Press has learned. "John Kerry: Wrong on taxes. Wrong on defense," says a female announcer in a new 30-second ad that will begin airing in battleground states. A second ad, also premiering Thursday, tells voters they face choices on the economy, health care and the war on terrorism. "We can go forward with confidence, resolve and hope. Or...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush sent Congress a $2.4 trillion election-year budget on Monday featuring big increases for defense and homeland security but also a record $521 billion deficit.</p> <p>To battle the soaring deficits, Bush proposed squeezing scores of government programs and sought outright spending cuts in seven of 16 Cabinet-level agencies. The Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency were targeted for the biggest reductions.</p>

BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil's president carried out a sweeping Cabinet overhaul Friday to make room for a new coalition partner as he pushes his legislative agenda. By reserving two seats in the 32-member Cabinet for the powerful Brazilian (news - web sites) Democratic Movement, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a commitment from that party to support him in Congress. Silva needed extra help to pass his 2004 legislative program, which includes a renewed emphasis on fighting poverty and ambitious reforms of electoral, court and labor laws. Until now the president's seven-party coalition, led by Silva's Workers' Party, had...

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) unveiled his first state, including cuts to education and healthcare spending in a bid to curb the largest state's multi-billion-dollar deficit. AFP/Getty Images Photo   The former actor-turned-politician said he had been forced to make radical spending cuts in the face of a projected 12-14 billion dollar budget shortfall for 2004. Aides say Schwarzenegger's plan will balance the state's precarious finances. "Over the past five years the politicians have made a mess of the California budget, and now it's time to clean it up," Schwarzenegger said in a...

Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) launched the first television ads of his reelection effort yesterday, with a spot touting his support for ethanol, the corn-based fuel additive that is big business in his home state. "Tom Daschle is close to passing new energy legislation that would triple ethanol production in South Dakota," the announcer in the ad says. "Daschle's legislation could mean as many as 10,000 new jobs," said one of the corn growers testifying in the spot on the senator's behalf. "That's very important to the state." It's also very important to Daschle's reelection, which is expected...

<p>WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -Comparing the workers' compensation system to an old car in need of an overhaul, Gov. Gray Davis endorsed legislation Thursday that he said would shave at least $1.5 billion off the skyrocketing cost of treating injured workers.</p>

<p>If you live in the ``pink'' or ``red'' zones, you could be in trouble, scientists and government officials warned in San Jose today as they unveiled a new earthquake shaking map for the state of California.</p> <p>For the Bay Area as well as most of Southern California, the map colors are very, very warm. In fact, nearly all of coastal California from north of Eureka to the Mexican border, where more than 70 percent of the state's population lives, is red. So are the southern inland deserts.</p>