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It’s 10:00 Universal Time. Here is the news from the Voice of America. I’m Carmen English from the VOA News Center in Washington.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to meet with Iraqi leaders today in Baghdad. Gates is expected to urge top Iraqi officials to work harder to reconcile differences between the Shiite and Sunni communities and pass legislation on sharing oil revenues among Sunni, Shiite and Kurds. Gates told reporters in Iraq Thursday that he realizes the legislation will be difficult to pass, but it is necessary. The US Defense Secretary arrived in Iraq Thursday on an unannounced visit after stops in other countries in the region. He met with US commanders in the western city of Fallujah. Meanwhile, President Bush says pulling US troops out of Iraq / would put Americans a great risk of another terrorist attack. VOA White House correspondent Scott Stearns opposition Democrats reports have approved a legislation that includes a timetable for a troop withdrawal, because they say that will make the Iraqi government more accountival for / security.

Mr. Bush says leaving Iraq before the government there can handle its own security would embolden radicals and extremists like confirming, what he says, is their sense that the United States is incapable of long-term commitments. “It will confirm / they think will solve /, that’s what they think. It is risky to have an enemy that attacks us before to not attack the United States seriously.”

Senate majority leader Henry Reed said Democrats will not backdown on their demands for a troop withdrawal. “We / position where… we believe we’re doing a right thing for the people of this country, majority of Congress and military.” A public opinion poll by the newspaper USA Today says 57% of Americans favor a timetable for troop withdrawal. Democrats say President Bush is trying to politicize the issue like accusing them of not supporting the troops. President Bush says Democrats is trying to score political points. He wanted them to send him their bill as soon as possible, so he can veto it and get legislators back to work on the spending bill without a deadline for US withdrawal from Iraq. Scott Stearns, VOA News at the White House.

The governor of the US State of Virginia has formed an independent penal to investigate Monday’s deadly shooting rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech. Governor Tim Kaine announced the penal’s creation Thursday. He said the penal will prove all aspects of the shootings including the response time of police and emergency medical responses through the tragedy. It will also look over whether school officials and authorites could have done more to help the gunman. Cho Seung-Hui once a day became aware of his mental health problems. Cho has briefly committed to a private mental health facility in December 2005 after he was investigated for allegedly stalking two female students.

In other news this hour, embattled US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Thursday faces renewed calls to resign / his handling the firing of federal prosecutors. VOA's D. T. has more.

Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded answers from Attorney General Gonzales about the firing of the federal prosecutors which has caused a political firestorm in Washington. Senator P. of a Democratic Chairman of the Committee, "The Department of Justice is experiencing a crisis of leadership, perhaps on rival." The committee is investigating whether the federal persecutors were dismissed to influence the prosecution of corruption cases, but the aim of helping Republicans as some Democratic critics have alleged and whether Gonzales misled Congress about his role in the matter. While acknowledging, in his words, that reasonable people might disagree with the decision to fire the prosecutors, Gonzales defended the move, saying nothing improper was done. "My decision to ask for the resignations of these US attorneys has justified and should stand." The attorney general acknowledged that some of his passed statements about the prosecutor dismissal have been imprecise, and he apologized for causing any confusion. D T., VOA news, Capitol Hill.

Japanese share process closed higher today in the dollar has strengthening against the Japanese Yen. Tokyo’s Nikkei Index rose 81 points. And Hong Kong the / increased by one dollar and fifteen cents.

In Washington, I'm Carmen English, VOA news.