WASHINGTON — A House panel on Wednesday approved subpoenas for President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove and other top White House aides, setting up a constitutional showdown over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

By voice vote, the House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law decided to compel the president's top aides to testify publicly and under oath about their roles in the firings.

The White House has refused to budge in the controversy, standing by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and insisting that the firings were appropriate. White House spokesman Tony Snow said that in offering aides to talk to the committees privately, Bush had sought to avoid the "media spectacle" that would result from public hearings with Rove and others at the witness table.

"The question they've got to ask themselves is, are you more interested in a political spectacle than getting the truth?" Snow said of the overture Tuesday that was relayed to Capitol Hill by White House counsel Fred Fielding.

Publicly, the White House held out hope there would be no impasse.

IRAN WARNS U.S., U.N.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's top leader warned Wednesday his country will pursue "illegal actions" if the U.N. Security Council insists it halt uranium enrichment, an apparent reference to nuclear activities outside international regulations.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warned the United States that Iran would fight back with "all its capacities" if attacked.

"Until today, what we have done has been in accordance with international regulations," Khamenei said. "But if they take illegal actions, we too can take illegal actions and will do so."

He did not elaborate on what the "illegal actions" could be, but Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the agreement under which the U.N. inspections are held.

Iran says it will never give up its right under the treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel. But it has offered to provide guarantees that its nuclear program won't be diverted toward weapons — as the U.S. and some of its allies fear.

DEMOCRATS SET IRAQ DEADLINE IN SENATE BILL

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Wednesday revived legislation urging President Bush to bring combat troops home from Iraq in a year, attaching it to a $122 billion measure needed to fund the war.

The move puts Democrats on track for another confrontation with President Bush over the increasingly unpopular war and congressional Republicans, who are expected to try to block the measure.

House Democratic leaders are pushing a similar measure that would require that troops leave by 2008 — a bill party officials predicted that chamber would pass on Thursday, albeit by a razor-thin margin.

"United States troops should not be policing a civil war, and the current conflict in Iraq requires principally a political solution," says a draft Senate bill circulated to members in anticipation of a Thursday committee vote.

The measure would provide nearly $97 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and billions more in domestic aid and emergency relief programs. It would require that Bush begin bringing home some troops within four months of its passage, setting a nonbinding goal of having all combat troops out of Iraq by March 31, 2008.

U.S. TROOPS MOVE INTO SUNNI DISTRICT OF BAGHDAD

BAGHDAD — Some 1,600 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers pushed into a dangerous Sunni Arab area of west Baghdad on Wednesday, searching houses in the expanding security crackdown, while at least 33 apparent victims of sectarian killings were found dumped across the capital.

The U.S. military said the armor-backed force that swept into the Ghazaliyah and Amariyah neighborhoods detained 31 people and found two weapons caches that included containers of nitric acid and chlorine, a toxic material used recently by Sunni insurgents in bomb attacks.

No casualties were reported during the first day of the operation, which included about 1,100 American soldiers and 500 Iraqi troops.

The move was certain to ease tensions with Shiite Muslims in districts to the east. They had complained bitterly of being hit by mortar shells that Sunni fighters fired from Ghazaliyah at will.

Police, meanwhile, said children had been used as decoys in a weekend car bombing in which the driver gained permission to park in a busy Shiite shopping area after he pointed out he was leaving his children in the back seat.

VA CLINICS BESET WITH MOLD, LEAKY ROOFS

WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs' vast network of 1,400 health clinics and hospitals is beset by maintenance problems such as mold, leaking roofs and even a colony of bats, an internal review says.

The investigation, ordered two weeks ago by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, is the first major review of the facilities conducted since the disclosure of squalid conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

A copy of the report was provided to The Associated Press.

Democrats newly in charge of Congress called the report the latest evidence of an outdated system unable to handle a coming influx of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Investigators earlier this month found that the VA's system for handling disability claims was strained to its limit.

"Who's been minding the store?" said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "They keep putting Band-Aids on problems, when what the agency needs is major triage."

GORE PRESSES CONGRESS TO SAVE THE PLANET

WASHINGTON — Al Gore made an emotional return to Congress Wednesday to plead with lawmakers to fight global warming with moral courage while revealing nothing about whether he'll join the 2008 presidential race.

The former vice president is a Democratic favorite for the presidential nomination even though he says he's not running. Fresh off a triumphant Hollywood appearance in which his climate-change documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," won two Oscars, Gore drew overflow crowds as he testified before House and Senate panels about a "true planetary emergency."

He said the issue should not be partisan or political, but Gore faced skeptical Republicans who questioned his personal commitment to reducing energy usage and the science behind his film.

"You're not just off a little, you're totally wrong," said Texas Rep. Joe Barton, the leading Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as he challenged Gore's conclusion that carbon dioxide emissions cause rising global temperatures. Barton and Gore's exchange grew testy at one point — Barton demanding that Gore get to the point and Gore responding that he would like time to answer without being interrupted.

"Global warming science is uneven and evolving," Barton said.

FIREFIGHTERS HEART RISK WHILE BATTLING BLAZE STUDIED

Firefighters face a far greater risk of dying of heart problems while battling a blaze than was thought, suggests a large U.S. study that offers more evidence of their need to stay in shape.

The risk of a heart-related death while putting out a fire was up to 100 times higher than the risk during down time, Harvard researchers found, even though fighting fires accounts for only a small percentage of these workers' time.

About 100 firefighters die in the line of duty each year and previous research has shown that nearly half of the deaths are due to heart disease. The vast majority — about 70 percent — of the nation's roughly 1 million firefighters are volunteers.

Experts say diet and exercise should be priorities at the firehouse.

"You may not be able to prevent all these deaths, but to the degree you can prevent some deaths by paying attention to underlying risk factors and better fitness programs, that's the goal," said Dr. Linda Rosenstock, dean of the UCLA School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study.

The study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, doesn't address whether firefighters have an overall higher risk of dying from heart disease than the general population.

PARIS HILTON AND PAL TO SERVE AS CAMP COUNSELORS

NEW YORK — On-again friends Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are taking "The Simple Life" — which shows the tabloid-ready celebutantes thrown into everyday situations with real people — to camp.

After last season's format allowed the then-feuding friends to have little to do with each other, this year's edition brings them together again.

"The Simple Life Goes to Camp," set to debut in May, has Hilton and Richie working as counselors at Camp Shawnee in the mountains near Los Angeles, E! Entertainment Television Inc. announced Wednesday. The camp will be host to five different specialty groups: Wellness Camp, Pageant Camp, Couples Camp, Survival Camp and Drama Camp.

Hilton, 26, and Richie, 25, will be expected to eat, sleep and keep the same schedule as the campers. They will be working under the direction of various experts, the network said.

"The fact that Paris and Nicole are friends again and will have to survive without their luxuries at a family run camp in the middle of nowhere takes us back full circle to the original concept that makes this show so much fun," Lisa Berger, who oversees original programming and series development, said in a statement.