TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Lebanese troops blasted a Palestinian refugee camp with artillery and tank fire again Monday, seeking to destroy a militant group with al-Qaida ties. The barrage smashed buildings and sent plumes of black smoke towering over the crowded camp on the Mediterranean.

The fierce, two-day battle has killed nearly 50 combatants and an unknown number of civilians, raising fears that Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war could spread in a country with an uneasy balancing act among various sects and factions.

Refugees in the Nahr el-Bared camp, on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli, hid in their homes as fighting raged, and Palestinian officials in the camp said nine civilians were killed Monday. Reports from the camp could not be confirmed because officials and reporters could not get inside.

"There are many wounded. We're under siege. There is a shortage of bread, medicine and electricity. There are children under the rubble" of damaged buildings, Sana Abu Faraj, a resident of the camp, told Al-Jazeera television by cell phone.

All day, automatic gunfire and explosions rocked the camp — which is more like a small town, with more than 31,000 people living in two- or three-story white buildings on densely packed narrow streets alongside mosques, schools and businesses. Raging fires sent large clouds of black smoke into the sky, and shells could be seen thudding into some of the taller buildings.

DEMOCRATS DRAFT WAR-FUNDING BILL

WASHINGTON — In grudging concessions to President Bush, Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of billions of dollars in spending on domestic programs, officials said Monday.

The legislation would include the first federal minimum wage increase in more than a decade, a top priority for the Democrats who took control of Congress in January, the officials added.

While details remain subject to change, the measure is designed to close the books by Friday on a bruising veto fight between Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the war. It would provide funds for military operations in Iraq through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Democrats in both houses are expected to seek other opportunities later this year to challenge Bush's handling of the unpopular conflict.

IRAQ PREPS FOR SUDDEN U.S. PULLOUT

BAGHDAD — Iraq's military is drawing up plans to cope with any quick U.S. military pullout, the defense minister said Monday, as a senior American official warned that the Bush administration may reconsider its support if Iraqi leaders don't make major reforms by fall.

The U.S. official did not say what actions could be taken by the White House, but his comments reflected the administration's need to show results in Iraq — as an answer to pressure by the Democrats in Congress seeking to set timetables on the U.S. military presence.

Several mortar shells hit the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, one striking the Iraqi parliament building but causing no casualties — the latest in near daily barrages on the nerve center of the U.S. mission and Iraqi government that underline the country's tenuous security.

At least 58 Iraqis were killed by attacks or found dead across Iraq, including seven people ambushed on a bus northeast of Baghdad, police said. The dead included 24 men whose bullet-riddled bodies were found across Baghdad, apparent victims of sectarian death squads.

British troops clashed with Shiite Muslim gunmen in the southern city of Basra. Britain's military said one British soldier and a civilian driver were killed when a supply convoy was attacked in the center of the city, Iraq's second biggest.

CRITICS TAKE AIM AT IMMIGRATION PLAN

WASHINGTON — Key senators and the White House are eager to push their bipartisan immigration deal through the Senate by Memorial Day, but as the Senate opened debate on the issue Monday, hope for that deadline was slipping.

Critics of the measure denounced its key elements, including its quick grant of legal status to millions of unlawful immigrants, and said they would seek to revise it.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said it was "unthinkable" that the Senate would complete the measure this week, issuing a thinly veiled filibuster threat should proponents try to speed it through.

"I'm prepared to use whatever tactics are appropriate to resist that," Sessions told reporters, before he took to the Senate floor to launch an afternoon-long speech outlining his worries about the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he had reservations about the bipartisan agreement, calling it a "starting point" for reshaping immigration policy.

IDAHO GUNMAN TALKED OF SUICIDE, MURDER

MOSCOW, Idaho — A gunman suspected of killing three people and himself said during a court-ordered mental evaluation that if he committed suicide, he would try to take a large number of people with him, police said Monday.

Three months after that conversation with a psychiatrist, authorities say, Jason Hamilton shot and killed his wife at her home, then toted two assault rifles to a parking lot and fired a barrage of bullets into an emergency dispatch center across from a courthouse.

A police officer rushing to the scene late Saturday was killed, and a deputy and a civilian who tried to help were wounded. Investigators said Hamilton, 36, also killed sexton Paul Bauer, 62, in an office of the nearby First Presbyterian Church early Sunday.

Officers who stormed the church hours later found a rifle and ammunition next to Hamilton's body in the sanctuary.

Hamilton had a history of violence, and a judge ordered him evaluated after he tried to kill himself, Assistant Police Chief David Duke said. Hamilton told the psychiatrist of his suicidal and homicidal thoughts during the conversation at a Lewiston hospital in February, Duke said. It wasn't clear if the psychiatrist's report was sent to a judge or what other court action was taken, if any.

SHARPTON DINES WITH MORMON ELDER

SALT LAKE CITY — The Rev. Al Sharpton toured Mormon facilities Monday and dined privately with a church elder after drawing criticism two weeks ago for remarks about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

"He's simply here to learn more about us," church spokesman Mike Otterson said of Sharpton's visit. "We want him to know what the church does, what its work is."

Sharpton made the trip after generating criticism during a debate with an atheist author when he said: "As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation."

Sharpton, a Pentecostal minister who urged the firing of Don Imus after the radio host's racially insensitive remarks, said his words were taken out of context. But he immediately called elders of the 12.5 million-member church to apologize.

Monday, on a live broadcast of his radio show from a church-owned broadcast center in Salt Lake City, Sharpton said he respects Mormons as Christians and believers. He called any perceived friction between himself and the church a "fabricated controversy."

'SICKO' SPAWNS MICHAEL MOORE FRENZY

CANNES, France — In Cannes, Michael Moore is a rock star — mobbed by fans, assailed by cameras and forced to wolf down a plate of pasta between his latest interview and his next live TV appearance.

Moore's documentary "Sicko" — a ferocious attack on the U.S. health care industry — is the talk of the film festival, and he is hot property. Moore caught his breath Monday to tell The Associated Press about the urgent need to reform America's health system, and why he thinks the Bush administration is out to get him.

"It's a government that's funded by the pharmaceutical companies and the health insurers, so I'm not surprised they're coming after me," said Moore, who is being investigated by the U.S. Treasury Department for traveling to Cuba for one of the segments in his film.

"I'm surprised they're doing it so soon. I didn't think they'd want to draw attention to the movie this early on."

Hurriedly eating spaghetti near the end of another whirlwind day, Moore said he was informed he was under investigation just days before the film's premiere on Saturday. He was given 20 days to respond to questions about the trip, which he took accompanied by a group of sick Americans that included Sept. 11 rescue workers, to Cuba seeking treatment.

STOCKS FINISH MIXED

NEW YORK — Wall Street reached another milestone during a muted session Monday, when the Standard & Poor's 500 index briefly passed its record close of 1,527.46 for the first time in more than seven years.

The S&P 500, considered by market professionals the best indicator of stock performance, surpassed the mark shortly after noon following news of a fresh spate of takeover deals. The broad market index has lagged the Dow Jones industrial average in recovering from Wall Street's prolonged slump earlier this decade.

The S&P 500 rose as high as 1,529.87, then edged back to 1,525.10, up 2.35, or 0.15 percent, as cautious investors locked in some profits after weeks of gains. The index's advance was driven by buying in non-technology sectors such as energy, materials, industrials and financials, S&P data showed. It is still well below its all-time trading high of 1,552.87 set on March 24, 2000, the same day the index reached its record close.

Reassuring Wall Street Monday that acquisition activity will keep up its record pace this year, General Electric Co. said it is selling its plastics division to Saudi Arabia's largest industrial company, Saudi Basic Industries Corp., for $11.6 billion.