WASHINGTON — In a striking reach across party lines, the White House and key lawmakers agreed today to reshape the nation's immigration laws and give millions of illegal immigrants legal status. At the same time, borders would be tightened.

The compromise brought liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans together with top members of President Bush's team on an issue that carries heavy potential risks and rewards for all involved.

The Senate will wade into an emotional and wide-ranging debate on the issue next week that promises to test the unlikely coalition that produced the deal. Almost instantly, the plan brought vehement criticism from both sides of the immigration issue, including liberals who called it unfair and unworkable and conservatives who branded it an overly permissive "amnesty."

The proposal constitutes a far-reaching change in the immigration system that would admit future arrivals seeking to put down roots in the U.S. based on their skills, education levels and job experience, limiting the importance of family ties. A new class of guest workers would be allowed in temporarily, but only after borders were fortified and measures were in place to ensure the rules were followed.

Bush said the proposal would "help enforce our borders but equally importantly, it'll treat people with respect."

New blows for Gonzales: Dems seek no-confidence vote; 5th GOP senator urges resignation

WASHINGTON — Support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sank further today as Democrats proposed a no-confidence vote, a fifth GOP senator called for his resignation and yet another Republican predicted he won't survive a congressional investigation.

The White House shrugged off the no-confidence idea as merely symbolic, and President Bush continued to stand by his embattled friend.

By any measure, the news was not good for Gonzales. Democrats proposed two versions of a nonbinding resolution expressing what senators of both parties have said for weeks: that Gonzales has become too weakened to run the Justice Department.

One version lumps Gonzales in with another scandal-tarred ally, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.

"Be it the World Bank or the Department of Justice, the way to maintain the integrity of an institution is to have leaders of integrity at the top," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. "The time has come to move beyond these leaders in the best interests of these two institutions."

Bush and Blair, friends on the world stage, salute each other at White House farewell

WASHINGTON — To the last, neither George Bush nor Tony Blair wavered.

The British prime minister allowed not a single regret about the war alliance that cost him his popularity and perhaps his job. The U.S. president, losing his best friend on the world stage, bristled at suggestions Blair should already be out the door.

"Trying to do a tap dance on his political grave, aren't you?" Bush said today at Blair's side in the White House Rose Garden, admonishing British reporters looking beyond Blair's tenure six weeks before he leaves office. "You don't understand how effective Blair is, I guess."

Bush's reluctance to see the British leader go is understandable. For Bush, Blair has been a steadfast friend for over six years, an articulate and impassioned defender of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The British prime minister has been a presence in Bush's presidency like no other leader.

Senate leaders meet with Bush administration staff to negotiate deal on war funding

WASHINGTON — Senate leaders met with President Bush's chief of staff in the Capitol today in search of a compromise bill to fund the Iraq war, eager to avoid a second veto showdown.

"We'll work through something we can all live with," the president told reporters at the White House.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that was his goal, adding that Democrats would not give the White House "a blank check." Bush "has to deal with us," he said.

Bush vetoed an earlier measure, objecting to a proposed timetable for a troop withdrawal as well as several billion dollars Democrats inserted for their favored domestic programs.

House Democrats failed to override his veto, then countered with a replacement bill to finance the war in two 60-day installments. Bush vowed to veto that bill, as well.

Saga of missing 4-year-old girl in Portugal prompting fear, debate among parents

PRAIA DA LUZ, Portugal — The disappearance of 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, the British girl who vanished from her hotel room in Portugal while her parents dined 50 yards away, has captivated hearts and triggered debate around the world.

Were her parents negligent to leave Madeleine and her 2-year-old twin siblings alone, even for a brief time? Or should they have been able to expect a certain level of safety in this family-friendly southern resort town?

The questions cut to the heart of a universal vulnerability that terrifies parents everywhere. Yet answers differ widely — revealing cultural differences within Europe and across the Atlantic.

In Portugal and much of the rest of southern Europe, where parents often take their young children along with them to smoky bars, many have accused the McCanns of neglect, despite the fact that they were at a poolside restaurant just seconds away from the room and say they checked on their sleeping children every half hour. The resort offers baby-sitting services, but the McCanns apparently chose not to use them that evening.

"You shouldn't leave (young children) alone," said Francisco Vieira, a 77-year-old father of two grown children who works as a parking lot attendant near the beach in Praia da Luz.

Scientists use humpback recordings in attempt to lure whales out of Calif. port

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Biologists tried today to use recorded siren songs of humpback whales to lure an injured female and her wounded calf from a shipping channel and back toward the Pacific Ocean 90 miles away.

When the researchers played the underwater recordings from an 87-foot Coast Guard cutter, the whales swam away from the sound rather than toward it.

Hours later, the whales were still swimming at the Port of Sacramento, where they have been since Tuesday. Scientists then decided to move the sound equipment to a 25-foot Coast Guard vessel, believing the noise from the larger ship's generator may have interfered with the whale sounds.

It could take weeks to get the whales back where they belong, scientists said. Still, hundreds of people lined the river banks to watch the progress today.

The procedure worked in 1985 with a humpback nicknamed Humphrey that wandered nearly a month in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta before heading to the ocean.

Hilton won't appeal jail term for violating probation in alcohol-related reckless driving case

LOS ANGELES — Paris Hilton won't appeal the 45-day jail term she was sentenced to earlier this month for violating probation, according to court documents filed today.

A lawyer for the 26-year-old socialite notified Los Angeles County Superior Court that she is abandoning her appeal, said court spokeswoman Katherine Roberts.

Hilton was ordered to report to jail by June 5 for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. She initially called the sentence unfair, and lawyers representing her filed a notice to appeal.

She has since changed legal teams and is now represented by Richard Hutton, a lawyer specializing in defending drunken driving cases. Hutton and a spokesman for Hilton didn't immediately return calls for comment today.

Hilton is likely to spend about 23 days in a "special needs housing unit" at the Century Regional Detention Center in suburban Lynwood, said Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

The shorter sentence reflects an expectation that she is well behaved behind bars.

Stocks fall, putting big rally on hold after mixed bag of data; Dow briefly passes 13,500

NEW YORK — Wall Street retreated modestly in wobbly trading today, putting its buying spree on hold to mull over mixed economic data. The Dow Jones industrial average briefly surpassed 13,500 for the first time, then pulled back.

Investors refrained from making any big moves after data today showed strength in some areas of the economy, particularly employment, but weakness in others — giving little indication about whether the Federal Reserve will lean toward an interest rate cut later in the year.

Robust economic data today included the Labor Department's report that jobless claims fell last week for the fifth straight week, and the Philadelphia Fed's May manufacturing index, which showed a stronger-than-anticipated increase. But the Conference Board forecasted slower economic growth, with its April index of leading economic indicators declining more than expected.

Ultimately, it was a fairly directionless day on Wall Street, with investors uninspired by today's data and more eager to hear about Friday's consumer sentiment report from the University of Michigan, said John O'Donoghue, co-head of equities at Cowen & Co.

"The market's kind of on this monotonous grind higher, and you'll have days where you have a pause in the marketplace," O'Donoghue said. "But it doesn't seem like we're going to have a correction anytime soon."

Carlos Delgado's 2-run single caps 5-run rally in the 9th as the Mets stun the Cubs 6-5

NEW YORK — The New York Mets spent most of the afternoon resting up for the Subway Series. Then in one sudden burst, they went rushing into their biggest rivalry.

Carlos Delgado's two-run single capped a five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning and set off a wild celebration at home plate, and the Mets startled the Chicago Cubs 6-5 today.

"This is going to give us great momentum going into the weekend," Delgado said.

Manager Willie Randolph started a makeshift lineup because the Mets' rain-delayed, 8-1 win last night ended at 12:53 a.m. David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes were among those scheduled to have a day off.

Instead, Wright and Beltran contributed as pinch-hitters and the Mets, boosted by key hits from Carlos Gomez, Ruben Gotay and David Newhan, pulled off their biggest ninth-inning comeback since 1999.