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It's 10:00 Universal Time. And here's the news from the Voice of America.

I'm Bill Thompson from the VOA news center in Washington.

Coalition forces in Iraq have detained ten suspected terrorists and have discovered a weapons cache in separate operations. The U.S. military says the operations were carried out today in center Baghdad, and in areas near the city of Fallujah in western al-Anbar province. Also today, Iraqi police say two bombs exploded near the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, wounding at least four people.

U.S. House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a military funding bill that will defy President Bush by setting a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. VOA's Dan Robinson has more from Washington.

The measure that goes to the president, probably by week's end, would set a goal of a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops to begin no later than October 1st of this year, with a goal of removing all combat forces from Iraq by April 1st of 2008. The Democratic plan would largely limit U.S. troops to training Iraqi security forces, protecting remaining U.S. troops and conducting targeted counter-terrorism operations.

President Bush met Monday at the White House with the commander of the Iraq war, General David Petraeus, and he repeated his contention that setting a withdrawal timetable would be disastrous for both nations.

'An artificial timetable of withdrawal would say to an enemy, just wait them out. It would say to the Iraqis, do not do hard things necessary to achieve our objectives and it would be discouraging for our troops.'

Without enough support to override a veto, Democrats will have to recraft the measure to make it acceptable for the president, and ensure that funds can move the military forces on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dan Robinson, VOA news, capital Hill.

Washington is imposing sanctions on 14 foreign entities as part of a // effort to stop the transfer of // weapons to and from Iran and Syria. The sanctions targeted people, companies and government agencies, including Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and Syria's navy and air force.

Palestinian militants say they have fired dozens of rockets and mortar shells at Israel. The Israeli military says at least one rocket landed inside Israel, but caused no damage or injuries. The statesman from the armed wing of Hamas said it fired up to 30 rockets and fifty mortar shells to avenge Israel's killing of 6 Palestinians last week.

Wednesday will be a day of mourning in Russia for former President, Boris Yeltsin, who died yesterday at the age of 76. Mr. Yeltsin has suffered major heart problems.

A top State Department official is accusing Eritrea of supporting insurgents in Somalia. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer says Eritrea is funding, arming and training insurgents, apparently trying to frustrate Ethiopia, because of their on-going border dispute.

'I do not believe that Eritrea has taken an position of supporting extremists as a sort of ideological orientation, or a common interest with extremist elements across the region. I think that they are also supporting rebels in Darfur for the same reason.'

Meanwhile, the top U.S. officials accused Sudan of engaging in a deliberate campaign of intimidation against humanitarian aid workers in Darfur. Deputy U.S. Secretary of State John Negroponte say Sudanese authorities have denied aid workers' visas, and have created other obstacles to working in the Um Dukhun area.

An American journalist and author whose writing about the Vietnam War won the Pulitzer Prize has been killed in automobile accident. David Halberstam was 73 when he died at an accident of the state of California. Mr. Halberstam covered the Vietnam War for the New York Times newspaper and his stories frequently questioned the official version of the war effort in the 1960s. His work angered Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson whom he felt were deceiving the American public about the war.

'I think, in very venue, there is an element of truth. And governments often try and cover it up because it goes against policy as in Vietnam. I think Vietnam did make a generation of us angry. It was a titanic struggle in democracy in which the government was lying and ordinary people were telling the truth.'

David Halberstam was, perhaps, best known for his 1972 book, 'The Best and the Brightest' which was a critical account of America’s entanglement in Vietnam.

The chief economist of the International Energy Agency has told a US newspaper that China will overtake the United States this year as the world’s biggest source of green-house gases. Earlier estimates have suggested China will surpass the US by 2010. In interview of the Wall Street Journal the head of the IEA says Beijing’s refusal to limit gases will allow China to increase its missions newly unchecked.

I’m Bill Thompson, VOA News. More news on the internet at voanews.com.