WASHINGTON — On the eve of a critical vote, House Democrats labored Thursday to lock down a majority behind a Sept. 1, 2008, date for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, the sternest test yet for a determined new majority eager to challenge President Bush.

"If it comes off it's a superb accomplishment," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., as the party's leaders cajoled liberals who want an even faster timetable and moderates fearful of tying the hands of the commander in chief and generals in the field.

Democratic aides expressed growing confidence of success when the vote is called, which could be as early as Friday. As evidence, they pointed to support from several longtime opponents of the war.

"I want this war ended today. If I thought it would help this war ending sooner by voting against the bill, I would vote against it in a heartbeat," said Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, who sponsored legislation for a troop withdrawal in 2005.

"But I don't believe that to be the case," he added of the measure, which combines funding for the war, the troop withdrawal deadline and billions of dollars in funding for politically popular programs at home ranging from farm aid to relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

EDWARDS REASSURES PUBLIC DESPITE WIFE'S CANCER

WASHINGTON — Democrat John Edwards said Thursday that his presidential campaign "goes on strongly" in the face of a repeat cancer diagnosis for his wife, Elizabeth, a somber development that thrust his White House bid into uncharted territory.

The couple revealed that Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer had spread to her bone during a news conference designed to reassure the public about the prognosis for her health and his candidacy.

"The bottom line is, her cancer is back," said John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee and former senator, at a news conference in their hometown of Chapel Hill, N.C. "We are very optimistic about this, because having been through some struggles together in the past, we know that the key is to keep your head up and keep moving and be strong."

The Edwardses suffered through the death of their teenage son, Wade, in 1996 and Mrs. Edwards' breast cancer diagnosis the day after John Kerry and John Edwards lost the 2004 election. She was treated with surgery and several months of radiation and chemotherapy.

The recurrence of the cancer presents a setback for the couple, both personally and politically.

SUBPOENAS AUTHORIZED FOR ROVE, TOP AIDES

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel, following the House's lead, authorized subpoenas Thursday for White House political adviser Karl Rove and other top aides involved in the firing of federal prosecutors.

The Senate Judiciary Committee decided by voice vote to approve the subpoenas as Republicans and Democrats sparred over whether to press a showdown with President Bush over the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys.

Democrats angrily rejected Bush's offer to grant a limited number of lawmakers private interviews with the aides with no transcript and without swearing them in. Republicans counseled restraint, but at least one, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, backed the action.

A House Judiciary subcommittee authorized subpoenas in the matter Wednesday, but none has been issued.

Democrats said the move would give them more bargaining power in negotiating with the White House to hear from Bush's closest advisers.

3 ARRESTED IN DEADLY LONDON TRANSIT BOMBINGS

LONDON — Counter-terrorist police arrested three men Thursday in the 2005 suicide attacks on the London transit system, the first major development in the investigation in months. Two of the suspects were detained as they prepared to board a flight to Pakistan.

The third man was arrested in Leeds — the northern city that was home to three of the four bombers. Police also raided five properties in the city — at least one on the same street where one of the bombers lived.

"Anybody who imagined that this had simply been treated as four lone wolves or a lone pack of wolves on July 7, 2005, is very wrong," Lord Carlile, the government's independent reviewer of terror laws, told the British Broadcasting Corp. "There is a lot of work going on."

No one has ever been charged in connection with the bombings, which were the deadliest attack on London since World War II. The four bombers and 52 commuters died in blasts on three subway trains and a double-decker bus, and more than 700 people were injured.

Thursday's arrests came after criticism of the Metropolitan Police, whose investigation had consumed enormous resources and spanned the globe with little outward sign of progress. An official account of the attacks last year concluded the plotters who inspired and prepared the bombers were still at large.

ROCKET HITS NEAR U.N. CHIEF DURING SPEECH

BAGHDAD — A rocket exploded 50 yards from the U.N. secretary-general during a news conference Thursday in Baghdad's Green Zone, causing him to cringe and duck just minutes after Iraq's prime minister said the visit showed the city was "on the road to stability."

The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported a major breakthrough in the campaign against rogue Shiite militants, saying it captured two brothers responsible for a sophisticated sneak attack that killed five American soldiers in January.

The Katyusha rocket that hit near Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was fired from a mainly Shiite area on the east bank of the Tigris River, not far from The Associated Press office. The heavily guarded Green Zone on the opposite bank is home to the U.S. Embassy, Iraq's government and the parliament.

Ban's unannounced stop in the Iraqi capital was the first visit by a U.N. secretary-general since Kofi Annan, his predecessor, came to Baghdad in November 2005. The U.N. Security Council issued a statement strongly condemning the rocket firing as an "abhorrent terrorist attack."

The U.N. presence in Iraq has been much smaller than planned since militants bombed the organization's Baghdad headquarters on Aug. 19, 2003, and killed 22 people, including the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

RELATIVE OF HOUDINI WANTS BODY EXHUMED

NEW YORK — For all his death-defying stunts, Harry Houdini couldn't escape the Grim Reaper: He died on Halloween 1926, apparently from a punch to the stomach that ruptured his appendix.

But rumors that he was murdered have persisted for decades.

Eighty-one years after Houdini's death, his great-nephew wants the escape artist's body exhumed to determine if enemies poisoned him for debunking their bogus claims of contact with the dead.

"It needs to be looked at," George Hardeen told The Associated Press. "His death shocked the entire nation, if not the world. Now, maybe it's time to take a second look."

Houdini's family scheduled a news conference for Friday to give details on the plans. Prominent New York lawyer Joseph Tacopina is helping clear any legal hurdles to the exhumation.

A team of top forensic investigators would conduct new tests on Houdini's body, said Hardeen, whose grandfather was Houdini's brother.

TINY RARE OWL SEEN IN PERUVIAN NATURE RESERVE

Tiny rare owl spotted in Peruvian nature reserve

LIMA, Peru — An extremely rare species of tiny owl has been seen in the wild for the first time, the American Bird Conservancy said Thursday. The long-whiskered owlet, one of the world's smallest owls, was discovered in 1976. Researchers have caught a few specimens in nets after dark but had not seen it in nature.

It was spotted in the wild in February by researchers monitoring a private conservation area in Peru's northern jungle.

The conservancy said in a news release that investigators encountered the owlet three times during daylight hours and recorded its calls frequently at night. The group said the sighting "is considered a holy grail of South American ornithology."

The owl is so distinct that it has been named in its own genus, "Xenoglaux," meaning "strange owl," due to the long wispy feathers around its reddish-orange eyes.

The owl inhabits the dense undergrowth of highland forests in a remote region of Peru.

LINDSAY LOHAN MOTHER SAYS SHE'S NO 'PARTY MOM'

NEW YORK — Dina Lohan says her daughter Lindsay isn't an alcoholic and that people are wrong to assume that she's a club-hopping "party mom." "Oh, the party mom, the party mom, the party mom!" Lohan says. "Whoever said that, my ex-husband or whatever, I'm not the party mom!"

"Listen to me: Lindsay would drag me, literally drag my loser butt (to a club) and say, 'I need you to know who these people are,' " Lohan, 44, says in an interview in the April issue of Harper's Bazaar, on newsstands Tuesday. "Yeah, she trusts my judgment. She's in such a whirlwind; she's in a tornado. I mean, we're talking serious earthquake, you know?"

The 20-year-old actress/tabloid target checked into the Wonderland Center in Los Angeles in January. Her publicist, Leslie Sloane, declined comment to The Associated Press on Thursday when asked for details. Sloane had confirmed in December that Lohan was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Lohan says her daughter isn't an alcoholic. "Noooo! She is just a 20-year-old who had to reel it in. And she's from an addictive personality genetically," she tells the magazine.

"Lindsay had to fall and get up," she says. "I knew it was coming. I told her, but finally she was like, 'Mommy, I had to do it myself.' "

BLACKSTONE SEEKS TO RAISE $4B IN PUBLIC OFFERING

NEW YORK — Blackstone Group LP, one of the world's biggest private equity firms, on Thursday said it seeks to raise up to $4 billion in a highly anticipated initial public offering.

The New York-based firm, known for multibillion dollar takeovers like February's $23 billion buyout of Equity Office Properties, announced its intentions to go public in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

Blackstone — founded in 1985 by former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankers Stephen Schwarzman and Pete Peterson — said the initial public offering will allow it to tap new sources of capital for buyouts. In addition, it helps extend Blackstone's brand name and gives management a way to profit from the increased value of their stakes.

The deal ends more than a week of speculation that Schwarzman planned to turn the firm into a public entity.