The CNN Wire: Sunday, July 8

Editor's Note: The CNN Wire is a running log of the latest news from CNN World Headquarters, reported by CNN's correspondents and producers, and The CNN Wire editors. "Posted" times are Eastern Time.

Gates prepares war report as Congress faces new Iraq debate

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The debate over Iraq returns to the halls of Congress this week as the Senate takes up a Pentagon spending bill and the Pentagon rushes to finish an interim report on the progress of the war.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has put off a trip to Latin America to get the report finished, the Pentagon announced Sunday. The Washington Post reported Sunday that U.S. officials consider Iraq "unlikely" to meet the standards and would point to "alternative evidence of progress" in the July 15 report.

Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, called the Post report "totally untrue." But Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that there was "no conceivable way" the Iraqis would be able to take those steps before September. (Posted 10:47 p.m.)

Peace activist Sheehan eyes Pelosi challenge

(CNN) -- Despite swearing off her public role earlier this year, peace activist Cindy Sheehan would run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as an independent in 2008 unless the speaker moves to impeach President Bush, a spokeswoman said Sunday.

Sheehan, a northern California resident whose son died in Iraq, is taking part in a protest caravan from President Bush's home in Crawford, Texas, to Washington. Spokeswoman Tiffany Burns told CNN that Sheehan would challenge the speaker, who has held her San Francisco-area seat since 198, unless Pelosi introduces articles of impeachment before the caravan reaches Washington on July 23.

Pelosi said in November that calls for impeaching Bush were "off the table," but pledged Congress would push for an end to the 4-year-old war under Democratic control. Her spokesman, Brendan Daly, said Sunday night that "July will be a month of action in Congress to end the war."

Sheehan's August 2005 vigil outside Bush's Crawford home made her one of the most prominent figures among opponents of the war. But she announced she was giving up her activism in May, disillusioned by the failure of congressional Democrats to end the war by then and exhausted by the personal, financial and emotional toll of her campaign. (Posted 9:52 p.m.)

Police: Kidnappers release British toddler without ransom

(CNN) -- Nigerian kidnappers have released a 3-year-old British girl they held for four days without a ransom being paid, Nigerian police sources close to the investigation said Sunday.

Police told CNN Margaret Hill is well and is being taken home.

"I am grateful to the Nigerian authorities for all their help, and I hope the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement issued late Sunday.

Gunmen snatched the toddler on Thursday, smashing the windows of the car that was carrying her to school in the southern city of Port Harcourt, according to local police. No cash ransom had been demanded, but the kidnappers threatened to kill the girl her unless her father, Mike Hill -- a British national and longtime resident of Nigeria -- agreed to take her place. (Posted 6:33 p.m.)

Utah wildfire spreads dramatically, scorches 280,000-plus acres

FILLMORE, Utah (CNN) -- The Milford Flat fire in western Utah grew to more than 282,000 acres Sunday, an official with the state's Bureau of Land Management told CNN.

"I don't know what to compare it to," said Susan Marzec. Earlier in the day, the fire was reported at about 160,000 acres. Officials were struggling to get the fire contained -- just one of about a dozen large fires that have popped up over the last two days throughout the western United States.

Lightning triggered the Milford Flat fire on Friday, and the blistering heat and extra-dry conditions aren't helping firefighters quell the flames. Two people died in a vehicle accident caused by smoke after the fire bgan, Karen Feary of Richfield Fire Dispatch told CNN Sunday.

Authorities closed a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 15 and a portion of Interstate 70 in Richfield, then later re-opened it. (Posted 5:15 p.m.)

Fugitive child molester and former rabbi extradited to U.S.

NEWARK, N.J. (CNN) -- An 11-month manhunt for a convicted child molester ended early Sunday morning at Newark Liberty International Airport when officers from the U.S. Marshals service took Rabbi Alan Horowitz into custody after a 15-hour flight from India.

Horowitz, convicted in 1991 of 34 counts of child molestation in Schenectady, N.Y. The 60-year-old fugitive had served 13 years of a 10- to 20-year sentence when he was released on parole in 2004, and he fled the United States shortly after a meeting with his parole officer in June 2006, the Marshals Service said.

Horowitz was arrested on May 22 at a seaside resort in Mahabalipuram, India, according to parole officer Robert Georgia. (Posted 4:05 p.m.)

Gunmen kill 3 Chinese workers

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Gunmen shot and killed three Chinese workers Sunday evening on a road near the northwest city of Peshawar, an Islamabad police official told CNN.

A fourth Chinese worker was critically injured in the attack, the official said. Officials did not immediately know why the workers were targeted.

Peshawar is about 100 miles northwest of Islamabad. (Posted 2 p.m.)

Suicide car bomber kills U.S. soldier, wounds 3 others, outside Baghdad

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A suicide car bomber struck a U.S. military patrol west of the Iraqi capital on Sunday, killing a U.S. soldier and wounding three others, , according to a U.S. military news release.

The attack on the troops assigned to Multi-National Division-Baghdad occurred during combat operations. The release did not give the exact location of the attack.

The death brings July's death toll for U.S. troops in Iraq to 29. In the 4-year-old conflict, 3,607 U.S. troops have been killed, according to a CNN count. (Posted 1:50 p.m.)

Al-Rubaie: Iraqi lawmakers to cut short summer recess

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Iraqi lawmakers have cut their planned two-month recess in half and will be working six-day weeks for the rest of this month to try to pass key provisions by September, Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.

"I believe by September, we will be able to report a very good progress," al-Rubaie said.

The lawmakers will still take the entire month of August off, he said.

The long break has rankled some U.S. officials, who have been pressuring the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to step up reconciliation efforts amid a joint U.S.-Iraqi campaign to pacify Baghdad and its surrounding provinces.

Speaking later on the same program, Sen. Richard Lugar said it was "inconceivable" that Iraqi lawmakers would take a month off before a key U.S. military assessment in September.

"Here is a country in the middle of a war, United States troops ... fighting to save Iraqis and some of these parliamentarians ... take a month off," the Indiana Republican told CNN's "Late Edition."

"It makes absolutely no sense." (Posted, 1:32 p.m.)

Wildfire scorches stretch of eastern Utah

(CNN) -- Fire officials in Richfield, Utah said Sunday they don't know when they will be able to contain a blazing wildfire that has already scorched about 160,000 acres in the state's western area.

The National Interagency Fire Center said the Milford Flat fire is just one of about a dozen large fires that have popped up over the last two days throughout the western United States.

Authorities closed a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 15 and a portion of Interstate 70 in Richfield, then later re-opened it. They have also warned that homes, bridges, rail lines and a large geothermal power plant about 14 miles northeast of Milford in Beaver County are at risk.

Two people died in a vehicle accident after the fire began Friday, before the highway was closed, Karen Feary of Richfield Fire Dispatch told CNN Sunday.

Lightning triggered the fire on Friday, authorities said, and the blistering heat and extra-dry conditions aren't helping firefighters quell the flames. (Posted 1:12 p.m.)

Iraqi security adviser warns of 'hurricane' if government dissolved

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A no-confidence vote against Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government would result in a "hurricane in Iraq," Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.

"Maliki is an honest, determined, decisive nationalist -- Iraqi nationalist -- who is not influenced by any external, regional, or international forces," al-Rubaie said. "His government has done a huge achievement in the way of security, in the way of economics and in the way of politics."

While there are factions -- including many extremist elements -- that "are not happy with the government," al-Rubaie said "it will be extremely difficult... nearly impossible to form a new government after Maliki."

"The country will be going through very extreme uncertainties if this government is brought down." (Posted 12:17 p.m.)

27 dead, 45 wounded in Sunday attacks in and around Baghdad

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Attackers targeting Iraqi police and civilians in and around Baghdad on Sunday killed 27 people and wounded 45 others, Iraqi officials said.

Sunday's deadliest attack happened about 20 miles (30 km) west of Baghdad when a bomb hit a truck carrying Iraqi army recruits, killing 15 and wounding 25 others -- most of them recruits -- an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

The recruits were heading from Falluja to Baghdad at around 11:30 a.m. when they were hit by the explosion in the town of Haswa, the official said.

Police are investigating whether the truck driver, who was critically wounded, may have been involved in the attack.

The rest of the casualties were the result of bombings in Baghdad. (Posted 11 a.m.)

Israel approves freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners to boost ties between the Jewish state and Fatah party leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, an Israeli official told CNN.

A committee will now work to draw up a list of prisoner names, which will then be posted on a government Web site to allow 48 hours for the releases to be challenged in petitions to the high court, the official said.

None of those prisoners have "blood on their hands," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting.

--From CNN's Shira Medding (Posted 6:54 a.m.)

Violent attacks across Iraq kill at least 162 civilians in 48-hours

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- At least 162 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the past 48-hours in bomb attacks targeting heavily-trafficked commercial areas around Iraq, Iraqi officials said Sunday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said coalition forces picked up 10 suspected terrorists during raids targeting car bombing networks across the capital Sunday. (Posted 6:44 a.m.)

Pakistani army commander killed in mosque stand-off

ISLAMABAD (CNN) -- A Pakistani army commander was shot and killed by Islamic radicals Sunday during an operation where troops blasted holes in a besieged mosque's perimeter walls, escalating an already tense stand-off between troops and the radical Islamists hiding inside.

Lt. Col. Haroon-ul-Islam was killed and three other officers were wounded during the operation to free women and children holed up inside the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, army sources told CNN.

The sounds of sporadic gunfire and heavy explosions punctuated the night air early Sunday, but troops have held back from an all-out assault on the mosque. They're opting instead to demolish parts of the mosque's perimeter to allow people barricaded inside to escape. Many are women and children who authorities fear are being held as human shields. (Posted 6:01 a.m.)

Northern Iraqi market blast death toll hits 150

The death toll in the Saturday suicide bombing at a marketplace in northern Iraq now stands at 150, a government official told CNN on Sunday.

A truck laden with two tons of explosives detonated in an outdoor market in Amerli. The truck resembled an Iraqi military truck, according to an official at the Joint Coordination Center in Tuz Khurmatu.

Amerli is a village predominately populated by Shiite Turkmens and Kurds. It is located about 100 miles north of Baghdad in Salaheddin province, near the city of Tuz Khurmatu.

Around 250 were wounded and at least 12 houses were badly damaged from the bombing. (Posted 5:16 a.m.)

U.S. Embassy announces death of staff members in Iraq

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker issued a statement Sunday announcing that two Iraqi citizens working at the embassy were killed "at the hands of violent extremists" after they were kidnapped in May.

The statement said the Iraqi government would "relentlessly pursue those responsible."

Crocker said both employees -- described as "our friends and our colleagues" -- represented the "silent majority of Iraqis working to build a peaceful and prosperous future" there.

"They are the true Iraq," he said. (Posted 5:16 a.m.)

Wildfires scorch thousands of acres in eastern Utah

(CNN) -- Utah fire officials Sunday said they didn't know when they could contain a blazing wildfire that's already scorched about 160,000 acres in the state's western area -- just one of a dozen large fires the National Interagency Fire Center said popped up "pretty much overnight" throughout western America.

Authorities closed a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 15, as well as a portion of Interstate 70 in Richfield. They have also warned people homes, bridges, rail lines and a large geothermal power plant about 14 miles northeast of Milford in Beaver County are at risk.

Lightning in the area triggered the fire Friday, authorities said, and the blistering heat and extra-dry conditions aren't helping firefighters quell the flames.

"This heat wave and a light snow pack has really dried out everything," National Interagency Fire Center spokeswoman Rose Davis said of the arid vegetation fueling the fires' growth. (Posted 3:38 a.m.)

Restaurant deck collapses, hurting 9

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A restaurant deck collapsed at a southern New Jersey marina Saturday evening, but none of the diners were seriously injured, according state police and medical officials.

Nine people were treated scrapes and bruises at the Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May, according to hospital spokesman Tom Piratzky. T

he accident happened at the Two Mile Landing restaurant near Lower Township, New Jersey when a deck partially extending over the water collapsed, New Jersey State Police Sgt. Steve Jones said. Several staff and customers were on the deck at the time of the collapse, Jones said.

--CNN's Chris Browne in New York contributed to this report. (Posted 11:20 p.m.) E-mail to a friend