WASHINGTON — The White House and Congress failed to strike a deal Friday after exchanging competing offers on an Iraq war spending bill that Democrats said should set a date for U.S. troops to leave.

"Timelines for withdrawal are just not the right way to go, and that cannot be the basis for funding our troops," said Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff, after a nearly 90-minute meeting on Capitol Hill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they offered to grant Bush the authority to waive the deadlines. They said they also suggested they would drop billions of dollars in proposed domestic spending that Bush opposed, in exchange for his acceptance of identifying a withdrawal date.

The offer marked the Democrats' first major concessions in a weekslong battle with the White House on war funding.

"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters. "I really did expect that the president would accept some accountability for what we're trying to accomplish here."

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Caution urged against revisions that could derail immigration deal

WASHINGTON — The fragile coalition that produced this week's immigration deal risks being picked apart by forces across the political spectrum as the measure begins moving through Congress.

Lawmakers want to revise key elements, such as letting millions of illegal immigrants stay in the U.S., favoring skills and education over families and setting out the terms of a new temporary worker program.

Any one of the changes has the potential to sink the whole measure, which was unveiled with fanfare Thursday but was still being drafted late Friday.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who helped negotiate the compromise, called it "very well-balanced," and cautioned against revisions that could upset the framework.

"You take something out and you're creating a problem throughout the system — you may think that you're only tweaking one part," Gutierrez said in an interview. "We've got to be very careful as to what is proposed to change."

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Israeli planes pound Hamas, while Fatah and Hamas gunmen exchange weapons fire

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes pummeled Hamas targets Friday in a stepped-up campaign against militants firing rockets into southern Israel, while Palestinian factions battled with automatic weapons and grenades at a Gaza university.

Street battles between Fatah and Hamas remained less intense than the heavy fighting that terrorized Gaza City two days earlier, but a truce agreement late Thursday enjoyed no more success than previous cease-fires declared this week.

With the political leaders of the factions seemingly not in control of their gunmen, Hamas militiamen raised the internal strife to an ominous new level by widening their targets beyond armed rivals and seizing aides to two Fatah officials.

The infighting that began Sunday has killed more than 50 Palestinians and wounded dozens, while the death toll from Israeli attacks rose to 20 as airstrikes killed eight people Friday.

Israeli missiles came screeching down at least five times in retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks that have panicked people in southern Israel. At least 13 more militant rockets fell, wounding four Israelis in the battered town of Sderot.

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5 more U.S. soldiers reported killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military announced Friday that five more American soldiers were killed in fighting in south Baghdad and Diyala province, as Iraqi officials reported fighting in the insurgent stronghold of Baqouba. The U.S. military denied the Iraqi report.

Three of the Americans were killed Friday when a roadside bomb destroyed their vehicle in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, the military said. Two others were killed and nine U.S. soldiers were wounded during separate attacks Thursday in southern Baghdad.

Their deaths raised to at least 3,408 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press tally. At least 58 U.S. troops have been killed this month.

In Baqouba, capital of Diyala, police and witnesses said fighting erupted about 7 a.m. when insurgents attacked U.S. and Iraqi military positions in the city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Minister, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said Iraqi units "backed by multinational forces and U.S. helicopters stormed the terrorist dens" in Baqouba, where fighting has escalated in recent weeks.

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Mosque explosion, subsequent clashes kill 13, wound dozens in southern India

HYDERABAD, India — A bomb ripped through a historic mosque Friday in south India, and 13 people were killed — 11 in the blast and two in subsequent clashes between angry Muslim worshippers and security forces, police said.

Minutes after the blast at the 17th century Mecca Masjid, worshippers who were angered by what they said was a lack of police protection began chanting "God is great!" Some hurled stones at police, who dispersed them with baton charges and tear gas.

While the situation at the mosque was quickly brought under control, Muslims later clashed with security forces in at least three parts of Hyderabad, said Mohammed Abdul Basit, police chief of Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located.

Police fired live ammunition and tear gas to quell the riots, killing two people, he said.

The bombing, which killed 11 people and wounded 35, and clashes raised fears of wider Hindu-Muslim violence in the city, long been plagued by communal tensions — and occasional spasms of inter-religious bloodletting.

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Anne Heche's husband says actress is a bad mother, wants joint custody of son

LOS ANGELES — Anne Heche's divorcing husband wants at least $33,000 a month in support and joint custody of the couple's 5-year-old son, saying the 37-year-old actress is a bad mother.

In Superior Court filings this month, Coleman Laffoon says Heche has refused to allow their son, Homer, to be enrolled in a private kindergarten in Southern California and has said she wants the boy to move to Vancouver, Canada, where she spends part of the year filming her ABC-TV show, "Men in Trees."

In Vancouver, Heche leaves their son with a series of different nannies or her assistant in her trailer while filming, Laffoon said.

Heche's "anger toward me has clouded her ability to think rationally about what is in Homer's best interest," said Laffoon, who wants Heche ordered to sign their son's school paperwork.