World and Nation

Close aide says Pope's health is declining

VATICAN CITY -- In remarks published Tuesday, a close aide of Pope John Paul II said that the pontiff is "in a bad way," confirming the pope's visible struggle with declining health. Vatican officials played down the statement, saying that the pontiff's health had not worsened suddenly and that his busy October schedule of public appearances remains unchanged.

The German weekly Bunte quoted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as saying, "We should pray for the pope." One of Ratzinger's assistants, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, confirmed Ratzinger's words, but said the comments were not meant to sound an alarm.

Ratzinger made his remarks on Sept. 22, when a group of German brewers requested a private audience with John Paul, Gaenswein said. Ratzinger, who is German, explained to the brewers that an audience would not be possible given the need for the pope to conserve his energy.

-- Daniel Williams, The Washington Post

Iraqis call U.S. goal on constitution impossible

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqis involved in the effort to write a new constitution said Monday that completing the document in six months, the goal set by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell last week, will be impossible to meet because of differences over how to select the drafters and more profound disagreements over the role of Islamic law and the basic contours of a new political system.

A committee of lawyers, scholars and religious figures that was supposed to propose a way to select delegates to a constitutional convention has not been able to agree on a preferred method, according to members of the country's Governing Council and others familiar with the process. The committee is scheduled to present a report to the council on Tuesday that will outline several options instead of endorsing a single approach, the members said.

By shifting the decision to the 24-member Governing Council, which could choose to debate the issue or kick it back to the committee, the members said the selection process has effectively been delayed for weeks, if not months.

-- Rajiv Chandrasekaran, The Washington Post

Battle reflects resentment of U.S.

KHALIDIYAH, Iraq -- Guerrilla fighters ambushed two U.S. convoys in the troubled Euphrates River region west of Baghdad on Monday, sparking one of the heaviest engagements yet in an area of deep resentment against the U.S.-led occupation -- an eight-hour battle in which the Americans unleashed heavy weapons and helicopters.

At least one U.S. soldier was killed and two were injured, according to a military spokesman in Baghdad, the capital. There was no information on Iraqi casualties, but witnesses and news reports said that at least a dozen Iraqis were taken prisoner.

As part of an escalating pattern of raids and guerrilla attacks in the so-called Sunni triangle north and west of Baghdad, U.S. troops and American-trained Iraqi police also detained 92 people and seized a large weapons cache in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. There are daily attacks on U.S. soldiers in the Sunni triangle, and supporters of Saddam are believed to be operating in the region.

-- Alissa J. Rubin and Laura King,

Los Angeles Times

Justice Dept. opens leak probe

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has begun a full criminal investigation into allegations that Bush administration officials leaked the name of a covert CIA operative, leaving open the possibility a special counsel will be appointed when more facts are learned.

The expanding probe, which promptly shifted to a full investigation after an initial review, set its focus on the White House, which was directed to preserve all relevant records and files. White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, in a memo to all White House staff Tuesday, said the Justice Department informed Bush aides on Monday evening that it was probing "possible unauthorized disclosures concerning the identity of an undercover CIA employee.

Speaking about the probe for the first time Tuesday afternoon in Chicago, Bush called the investigation "a good thing" and said he has told his administration "to be fully cooperative" with the probe. "There's just too many leaks, and if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," the president said. "If the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of. And so I welcome the investigation."

-- Dana Milbank and Susan Schmidt,

The Washington Post

Authorities arrest translator from Guantanamo Base

WASHINGTON -- Authorities arrested a third person from the U.S. Naval Base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a translator charged Tuesday with lying about carrying allegedly classified material in an Army garment bag seized after he arrived at Boston Logan Airport from Egypt.

The translator, 31-year-old Ahmed Fathy Mehalba, appeared in U.S. District Court in Boston on Tuesday and was formally charged with making false statements to federal agents after attempting to clear an airport security checkpoint Monday.

Prosecutors allege that he was carrying 132 compact discs, at least one of which reportedly held secret information about operations at Camp Delta, the Cuban prison where 660 al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners are detained.

Mehalba's arrest marks the third time in 10 days that authorities have announced that an official at the heavily fortified prison has been detained -- actions that have raised questions about the security of the facility. The arrests have given rise to speculation that there could have been a spy ring operating at the base. However, there is no evidence that the three men are linked.

-- Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times

Supreme Court to hear Miranda rights case

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to review the issue, raised in a Los Angeles-area carjacking case, of whether juveniles must be warned of their Miranda rights before they are questioned at a police station.

The court also dealt a setback to a West Los Angeles woman who is suing the Austrian government seeking to recover six paintings of Gustav Klimt that she says were seized from her uncle by the Nazis in 1939.

In the case of the paintings by Klimt, an Austrian artist who died in 1918, judges in California had cleared Maria Altmann's suit to go forward in Los Angeles. But the Supreme Court said it would hear the Austrian government's claim that it has a "sovereign immunity" that shields it from foreign lawsuits.

The paintings, estimated to be worth $150 million, are on display in the government-run Austrian Gallery in Vienna. Klimt's works are considered significant examples of the Art Nouveau style, which was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

-- David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times