USA

A handful of senators of both the Democratic and Republican parties negotiated a deal Monday to avert a procedural and constitutional showdown over the judicial filibuster. The agreement, crafted over the past several weeks, opened the way for yes-or-no votes on several of President Bush's long-delayed, controversial judicial picks. The 14 signers hold enough leverage to stop future filibusters. Priscilla Owen, currently a Texas Supreme Court justice up for consideration as an appellate court justice in New Orleans, was expected to receive a simple majority vote needed for confirmation as early as Tuesday. She's been waiting more than four years for such a vote.

Pfc. Lynndie England, who is seen in some of the most notorious photographs of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, on Tuesday surrendered her right to challenge the seven charges, moving her one step closer to a new military trial. Her defense attorney would not provide details as to why he decided not to go forward with the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding in Fort Hood, Texas. The decision on England's charges goes to the base's commanding general, who'll decide whether she'll face any or all of the charges.

A detention hearing for Ronald Grecula, of Bangor, Pa., who's been charged with trying to build a bomb and sell it to an affiliate of Al Qaeda, is scheduled Thursday in Houston. Grecula, who reportedly is angry at the government over losing custody of his children, did not enter a plea Monday. If convicted of trying to assist foreign terrorists, he faces up to 15 years in prison .

The names of four members of the Canadian military killed in an accidental American bombing in Afghanistan three years ago were added Monday to a memorial at Fort Campbell, Ky., for slain members of the 101st Airborne Division. The Canadians were fighting alongside American forces outside Kandahar when a US pilot mistook their live-ammunition exercises for hostile fire and dropped a 500-pound bomb.

Lionel Tate, who gained notoriety as a 12-year-old murderer, was expected in court Tuesday in Pembroke Park, Fla., to face multiple criminal charges while serving probation. On Monday, he was arrested after pulling a gun on a pizza deliveryman at a friend's apartment and beating up the friend, investigators said. Tate, now 18, was convicted in 1999 and sent to prison for life. He won a new trial on appeal and went free in January 2004 under a deal that placed him under house arrest for a year, then 10 years of probation.