NEW CASTLE, Ind. — Inmates staged a two-hour riot at a medium-security men's prison Tuesday, injuring two staff members and setting fires in a courtyard.

Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman Java Ahmed said more than one cell house was involved in the disturbance at the New Castle Correctional Facility, about 43 miles east of Indianapolis.

Corrections officials sent emergency squads and county and state police to the prison. New Castle Mayor Tom Nipp said the entire city police force was also activated.

Helicopter pictures showed officers in riot gear standing outside the prison fence and at least two fires burning in the courtyard.

Authorities later secured the prison perimeter and confirmed that no inmates escaped, although some were still out of their cells, Indiana State Police Sgt. Rod Russell said.

CHENEY, DEMOCRATIC LEADER EXCHANGE HARSH WORDS

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democratic leader Harry Reid on Tuesday of personally pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes at home — a charge Reid dismissed as President Bush's "attack dog" lashing out.

The particularly harsh exchange came just hours after Bush said he would veto the latest war spending bill taking shape in Congress, which includes a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq.

"Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics," Cheney told reporters at the Capitol after attending the weekly Republican policy lunch. "Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election."

"It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage," Cheney said.

Cheney said he felt compelled to make a statement in front of cameras to express his personal frustration with Reid, D-Nev., after the Senate majority leader told reporters last week the war was lost. Cheney's remarks also showed the high stakes involved for the White House in trying to stave off Democratic efforts to end the war.

AL-QAIDA-LINKED GROUP CLAIMS NEW METHODS IN BOMBING

BAGHDAD — An al-Qaida-linked group claimed Tuesday that it used "new methods" in staging a double suicide bombing with dump trucks that blasted a paratrooper outpost in volatile Diyala province, killing nine Americans from the 82nd Airborne Division and wounding 20.

The attack underscored the ability of guerrillas of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency to wage war in Iraq four years after the U.S.-led invasion, and it came in a region that has seen violence escalate since U.S. and Iraqi troops launched the security crackdown in Baghdad.

The first truck hit outlying concrete barriers surrounding the outpost at Sadah and exploded after soldiers opened fire. A second truck rammed into the wrecked vehicles, dragging it and other rubble before it exploded 30 yards from the building housing the post's troops, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, U.S. military spokesman in north Iraq.

According to a senior Pentagon official, at least some of the casualties may have been caused by two walls of the former two-story schoolhouse collapsing from Monday's blast. The official said 15 of the wounded soldiers had returned to duty.

All the casualties were in the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, which has been conducting operations in largely impoverished villages in the area as part of a security push to tame insurgent activity in Diyala.

WORLD POWERS MAY LET IRAN KEEP PARTIAL ATOMIC PROGRAM

ANKARA, Turkey — The United States and other world powers may be ready to allow Iran to keep some of its uranium enrichment program intact instead of demanding its complete dismantling, foreign government officials said Tuesday.

Officials said some willingness to compromise might advance talks Wednesday in the Turkish capital between top Iranian envoy Ali Larijani and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief.

Recognizing that Iran would never accept a complete freeze, the powers are considering "a new definition of enrichment," one diplomat said. Under the proposal, Iran would could keep some of its program intact without actually producing enriched uranium.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack denied that the United States was "considering any proposals that would allow the Iranians to retain any enrichment-related activities."

But another U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity suggested there was potentially more flexibility in Washington's position than previously.

LOOPHOLE ALLOWING VaTECH GUNMAN TO BUY WEAPONS MAY BE CLOSED

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's governor said Tuesday he may be able to single-handedly close the loophole that allowed a mentally ill Seung-Hui Cho to buy the guns he used to kill 32 people at Virginia Tech.

Federal law bars the sale of guns to people who have been judged mentally defective. But it is up to states to report their legal proceedings to the federal government for inclusion in the database used to do background checks on prospective gun buyers.

In Cho's case, a special justice ordered outpatient psychiatric counseling for him in 2005 after determining he was a danger to himself. But because Cho was never committed to a mental hospital, that order was never entered in the database.

Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said in a radio interview that he may be able to tighten that reporting requirement by issuing an executive order.

"This is the magnet we're all really focusing on. This grabbed our attention," Kaine said later in the day in an interview with The Associated Press.

CAR BROKER WHO BILKED NICOLAS CAGE SENTENCED

PHILADELPHIA — A classic-car broker who swindled actor Nicolas Cage and other clients before he was caught in Spain was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison and $1.8 million in restitution.

Peter Brotman, 47, of Oaks, sold collectibles such as a 1964 Rolls-Royce, a 1988 Aston Martin and a 1954 Jaguar on consignment, then kept the money or used it to pay off earlier debts.

Cage, identified in the 14-count indictment as "N.C.," lost $300,000 in April 2004 when Brotman didn't send him the full proceeds from the sale of three Ferraris and a Cobra.

"The guy was extremely knowledgeable in the classic-car industry," Assistant U.S. Attorney Floyd J. Miller said after the sentencing hearing. "It's a very insular community of mostly wealthy people. They have these auctions at Pebble Beach, Monte Carlo, other places where the rich and famous meet."