-NATION/WORLD Car bomb strikes at embassy, wounds 13 BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Suicide car bombers struck in Baghdad for the third time in a week yesterday, this time outside the Turkish Embassy in yet another blow against those who would help the U.S. occupation. Wit- nesses said the driver and a bystander were killed, and hospitals said at least 13 were wounded. In the southern city of Karbala, meanwhile, gunmen of rival Shiite Muslim factions clashed and witnesses said several people were killed or injured. It appeared to be part of a power struggle between forces of the firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and followers of religious leaders who take a more moderate stand toward the U.S. occupation. Just who is behind the car bombings in the capital - including two killing 18 other people in Baghdad in recent days - remained a mystery, although Iraqis converging on the scene yester- day began chanting pro-Saddam Hus- sein slogans. "This is the act of those who want to turn Iraq into a terror paradise," said Turkish Ambassador Osman Paksut, whose government has offered peace- keeping troops to reinforce the U.S. military presence here, a move strongly opposed by Iraqis. Much of the blast was absorbed by concrete barriers outside the embassy, U.S. officials said. The bomber might have caught U.S. troops if he had struck last weekend, when they were deployed outside the mission in north- west Baghdad, apparently because of a threat. "About three days ago, we received indications that there might be increased danger on the Turkish Embassy," said Col. Peter Mansoor of the U.S. 1st Armored Division. "We revved up security measures based on those indications." He said the FBI and Iraqi police were investigating. Similar investiga- tions of seven other vehicle bombings, killing more than 140 people across Iraq beginning in August, have made no known breakthroughs. Countries negotiate with U.S. on Iraq UNITED NATIONS (AP) - France, Russia and Germany urged the United States yesterday to add a timetable for the transfer of power to Iraqis to its new U.N. resolution, but Washington called for a quick vote and a U.S. official cau- tioned against major changes. - In an apparent effort to reach a com- promise on the draft Washington circu- lated Monday, the three countries dropped their demand for a handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi provisional government within months. Instead, their proposed amend- ments to the U.S. draft would give Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council a role in estab- lishing the timetable, along with the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council. The three countries submitted the amendments at the first council meeting to discuss the revised reso- lution following a meeting among French President Jacques Chirac, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, diplomats said. During yesterday's closed-door discussion, diplomats said it was clear that if the Bush administration accepted the amendments, the Unit- ed States would get the support of 14 of the 15 Security Council mem- bers, with only Syria's vote in doubt. If the United States makes no changes, the resolution is likely to get just the minimum nine "yes" votes needed for adoption, the diplomats said, speaking on condi- tion of anonymity. 6 ( 9 - - --te . NEWS IN BRIEF High court agrees to hear 'Pledge' case The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to decide whether it's unconstitutional for children in public schools to pledge their allegiance to "one nation under God." The Pledge of Allegiance case pushes the court into an emotional argument over religion, patriotism and schools. Activists on both sides of the church-state divide immediately predicted one of the most significant, and wrenching, rulings in the court's modern history. Generations of schoolchildren have begun each day by standing, hand on heart, to recite the oath that begins, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America." Sometime next year, the high court will hear the case of a California atheist who objects to the pledge his 9-year-old daughter's teacher leads daily. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with Michael Newdow last year, and the ruling set off a national uproar. Democrats and Republicans in Congress criticized the decision and quickly passed a law affirming references to God in the pledge and the national motto, "In God We Trust." President Bush, who signed the measure, called the appeals court decision ridiculous. The ruling is on hold pending the court challenge. Newdow, a doctor and lawyer representing himself in the case, was pleased the court agreed to hear the appeal. GOBI DESERT, China China becomes 3rd country to enter orbit China launched its first manned space mission today, becoming the third coun- try in history to send a person into orbit - four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States. With a column of smoke, the Shenzhou 5 craft cut across a bright, azure north- west China sky at exactly 9 a.m. Wednesday (9 p.m. Tuesday EDT) and went into orbit 10 minutes later. The official Xinhua News Agency immediately confirmed the launch and said the astronaut was air force Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, 38. "China's first manned spacecraft, the Shenzhou 5, blasted off," Xinhua said. China Central Television's Channel One, the government's flagship station, cut into its programming to announce the launch. The station later showed Shenzhou streaking into the sky and disappearing, its tracer billowing behind it. Minutes after the launch, a CCTV announcer said that Shenzhou 5 and Yang had "entered orbit at 9:10." Xinhua said Yang was "reading a flight manual in the capsule of the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft and looked composed and at ease." "I feel good," Yang radioed back from space after a half-hour in flight, accord- ing to Xinhua. VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. Washington sniper pleads innocence John Allen Muhammad entered innocent pleas yesterday as the death-penalty trial of the sniper sus- pect got under way a year after a series of deadly shootings terrified the Washington area. Muhammad, 42, pleaded innocent to capital murder and firearms charges. He initially remained silent when asked a routine question by Circuit Judge LeRoy Millette Jr., but later answered after whis- pering with an attorney. Muhammad told Millette he under- stood the charges and that he was ready for the trial. "I'm prepared for it, yes "he said. The case, which is expected to last up to six weeks, was moved some 200 miles out of metropolitan Washington to this southeastern Virginia city after defense lawyers argued that every northern Virginia resident could be considered a victim because the shoot- ings made them afraid. CHICAGO Life expectancy linked to cholesterol particles One reason some people live into their 90s and beyond may be a genetic variation that makes the cholesterol particles in their blood really big. "Supersize it" is not usually associat- ed with good health, but evidence increasingly is showing that bigger is indeed better when it comes to the lipoprotein particles that carry choles- terol through the bloodstream. Smaller particles, it is believed, can more easily embed themselves in the blood vessel walls, contributing to the fatty buildups that lead to heart attacks and strokes. A study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association sug- gests that the tendency to have large cho- lesterol particles can be inborn. LOS ANGELES Calif. labor disputes frustrate citizens Train and bus mechanics for the nation's third-largest mass-transit system walked off the job yesterday, stranding hundreds of thousands of Southern California commuters already burdened by a supermarket strike and sporadic sickouts by sher- iff's deputies. The labor disputes snarled traffic, inconvenienced grocery shoppers and threatened to disrupt the opera- tion of county jails and courts. "I'm just stranded," said com- muter David Strattling, 59, who made it to Union Station on one of the buses not affected by the strike before realizing he could not go any farther. 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