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From NPR news in Washington, I'm Carl Kasell.

Commuters in Northern California are facing a traffic nightmare this morning. A gasoline tanker truck crashed early yesterday near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It burst into flames and the intense heat caused the steel in part of the freeway to melt and a stretch of road collapsed. State transportation officials say about 80,000 commuters pass through the damaged interchanges daily, but the ripple effect could impact about 280,000 that use the Bay Bridge. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency. He's calling on commuters to plan ahead. "Make sure the use carpools and the use public transportation and the use this area as little as possible." Schwarzenegger has authorized funding, so the ferries, buses and the rail system can carry commuters free of charge today. It could be months before the road is repaired.


President Bush this week plans to veto the war spending bill passed by Congress. Yesterday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated the Bush administration's position on the legislation and ruled out one possible compromise with democratic lawmakers. NPR's Allison Keyes reports.
Rice says not only will Mr. Bush veto a bill that sets a deadline for troops to begin leaving Iraq, he also won't support a version that penalizes Iraq for not meeting benchmarks of progress. But she told ABC's This Week Iraq is responsible for its future. “The United States is paying in blood and treasure. Iraqis -- the Iraqi leadership is being told and I think they understand that the kind of Iraq that there is going to be is up to them. We can't give them a united Iraq." But democratic Congressman John Murtha says democrats are trying to put some teeth into benchmarks that both the President and Iraqis have already agreed to. Democratic lawmakers have said they want to find a way to link US support to Iraq's performance. Allison Keyes, NPR news Washington.


Rebels in Ethiopia have freed 7 Chinese's oil workers kidnapped in a raid last week. The case is highlighted the dangers China faces in prospecting for mineral resources in Africa. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing.
A Red Cross spokesman in Ethiopia confirmed the worker's release. The Ogaden Nation Liberation Front said it had removed the Chinese men for their own safety during a raid on a Chinese-run oil field last Tuesday. 65 Ethiopians and 9 Chinese workers died in that raid. The rebels claimed that they were killed when munitions blew up during a battle with Ethiopian troops guarding the oil field. The Ogaden Nation Liberation Front is fighting for independence for ethnic Somalis in eastern Ethiopia and has warned foreign investors to stay clear of the region. Analysts say that as a last comer to the oil importing business, China has little choice but to look for oil where other countries won't go. Anthony Kuhn, NPR news Beijing.

Japanese financial markets are closed today for a national holiday. They will reopen tomorrow.

This is NPR news.

Queen Elizabeth II of Britain is said to visit the United States this week. It'll be her first trip to the US in 16 years. She'll up commemorate a milestone in Jamestown. Larry Miller has a report from London.
When the Queen visits Jamestown Virginia on Thursday, it will be the mark 400 years since it was established as the first permanent English settlement in the new world. Buckingham Palace says she will meet Native Americans and African Americans to recognize that they formed part of the early history of America. However some Virginia State lawmakers want her to go further and express regret for the suffering of Native Americans and African slaves. This is not for likely. The Queen and her husband Prince Philip will also meet survivors of the Virginia Tech shootings and she will refer to the tragedy in her speech to the Virginia General Assembly. She will also attend the Kentucky Derby and the NASA's Goddard Space Fight Center in Maryland. For NPR news, I'm Larry Miller in London.


Officials in Georgia are reporting that about 70% of the largest wild fire in the state history is contained. The fire in Southeastern Georgia has burned over 100 square miles as far as in swampland. A few families have not been allowed to return to their homes on the opposite side of US one from the main blaze. That is an area where smaller spot fires started during the weekend. Firefighters are patrolling a 16-mile stretch of the highway which remains closed. So far the main body of the wild fire has now spread east across the highway into miles of tinder dry forest. Officials are warming that the fire could continue to burn for at least another week.

I'm Carl Kasell, NPR news in Washington.