The president rejected a quick troop withdrawal, even as Iraq's prime minister said his country�s forces would be ready to take over substantial security responsibility by June next year.

"I know, but I had a better year than Hoover."
-- Reported reply when a reporter objected that the salary Ruth was demanding ($80,000) was more than that of President Herbert Hoover's ($75,000).

Another provision had proposed that a new United Nations observer force be sent into the area to monitor a cease-fire, but it was substituted with language suggested by France that called for the creation of “an international mechanism for the protection of civilians.”

Mr. Bolton said the United States considered this “a promise which is unwise and unnecessary and which, at any rate, raises false hopes.”

The resolution that was voted on requested that Secretary General Kofi Annan establish a fact-finding mission to investigate Wednesday’s attack and report back within 30 days and called for the resumption of international efforts to achieve peace by the so-called quartet ��" the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States.

Lebanon’s political stability, and the success or failure of the sitting government, is not just consequential for this country of four million. It is part of a broader contest between the United States, which backs the government coalition, and Iran and Syria, which support Hezbollah.

One of the crucial decisions coming up, and one that cannot be addressed by an interim government, is whether to approve a law to participate in an international tribunal on the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister. The investigation into the killing has implicated Syrian officials. And on Friday, the United Nations Security Council presented Lebanon with a draft proposal for a framework of a tribunal to pursue the case.

Under a new federal policy, children born in the United States to illegal immigrants with low incomes will no longer be automatically entitled to health insurance through Medicaid, Bush administration officials said Thursday.

California has objected to the new policy. S. Kimberly Belshé, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said: �By virtue of being born in the United States, a child is a U.S. citizen. What more proof does the federal government need?�

The clause was inserted by the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee over the objections of Democratic counterparts during a closed-door conference, and it has generated surprise and some outrage among lawmakers who say they had no idea it was in the final legislation.

While Mr. Bush has said repeatedly that the two parties� approaches to Iraq should be a major issue in November, he acknowledged Wednesday that ultimately one person should be held responsible for progress in the war. "The ultimate accountability," Mr. Bush said, "rests with me."

Judge Throws Out Kenneth Lay's Conviction
HOUSTON, Oct. 17 A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the fraud and conspiracy conviction of Kenneth L. Lay, the former Enron executive, who died of heart failure in July while on vacation in Colorado.