WASHINGTON — President Bush cast a quiet veto today against a politically attractive expansion of children's health insurance, triggering a struggle with the Democratic-controlled Congress certain to reverberate into the 2008 elections.

"Congress will fight hard to override President Bush's heartless veto," vowed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Republican leaders expressed confidence they have enough votes to make the veto stick in the House, and not a single senior Democrat disputed them. A two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress is required to override a veto.

Bush vetoed the bill in private, absent the television cameras and other media coverage that normally attend even routine presidential actions. The measure called for adding an estimated 4 million mostly lower-income children to a program that currently covers 6.6 million. Funds for the expansion would come from higher tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent increase on a pack of cigarettes.

"Poor kids first," Bush said later in explaining his decision, reflecting a concern that some of the bill's benefits would go to families at higher incomes. "Secondly, I believe in private medicine, not the federal government running the healthcare system," he added in remarks to an audience in Lancaster, Pa.

CONGRESS WANTS TO EXTEND CRIMINAL JURISDICTION TO SECURITY CONTRACTORS

WASHINGTON — Congress is moving to close a loophole in the law that has left private security contractors in Iraq like Blackwater immune to criminal prosecution, despite warnings by the White House that expanding the law could cause new problems.

The House was expected to pass legislation today by Rep. David Price, D-N.C., that would extend criminal jurisdiction of U.S. courts to any federal contractor working alongside military operations. Senate Democratic leaders said they planned to follow suit as soon as possible and send the measure to President Bush.

The legislation comes amid a string of allegations involving Blackwater USA employees hired by the State Department to protect diplomatic personnel in Iraq. In one case, a drunk Blackwater employee left a Christmas eve party in Baghdad and fatally shot the guard of one of Iraq's vice presidents. The contractor was fired, fined and returned home to the United States, but no charges have been filed.

More recently, Blackwater guards were involved in a Sept. 16 shootout that left 11 Iraqis dead. The FBI is currently investigating the incident.

But whether charges can be brought against any of the contractors is unclear, with federal officials citing murky laws governing the conduct of U.S. personnel abroad not hired directly by the military. The current law, called the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, covers personnel supporting the mission of Defense Department operations overseas.

BUSH SAYS TALKS WITH IRAN ARE POSSIBLE

LANCASTER, Pa. — President Bush warned today of a nuclear-armed Iran but did not rule out that the United States would negotiate with its provocative leader if he gives up his suspected nuclear weapons ambitions.

Bush said it's important for the United States to stay engaged in neighboring Iraq to convince the Iranians that the U.S. is committed to democratic reform in the region. "There would be nothing worse for world peace than if the Iranians believed that the United States did not have the will and commitment to help young democracies survive," Bush told businessmen and women where he took questions after a talk on government spending.

"If we left before the job was done, there would be chaos," Bush said about withdrawing U.S. troops prematurely from Iraq. "Chaos would embolden not only the extremists and radicals that would like to do us harm, but it would also embolden Iran. What you don't want is to have a nuclear arms race taking place in the Middle East."

He denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his remarks about destroying Israel.

"In Iran, we're dealing with a country where the leader has said that he wants to destroy Israel," Bush said. "My belief is that the United States will defend our ally Israel. This is a leader who has made very provocative statements. And, we have made it clear, however, that in spite of that, we are willing to sit down with him, so long as he suspends his program."

AP POLL: BLACKS SPLIT BETWEEN CLINTON, OBAMA IN DEMOCRATIC RACE

WASHINGTON — Blacks are split down the middle over Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the presidential race, seeing both as on their side, a new poll says.

At the same time, blacks and whites have starkly different perceptions of Obama's credentials, the Associated Press-Ipsos poll said today. Blacks are significantly more satisfied than whites that the youthful Illinois senator has sufficient experience to be president.

Many blacks seem torn between the two. Obama would be the first black president, while the New York senator and former first lady, along with her husband, is widely popular among blacks.

"I'm a black person, but that's not the only thing I like about him," said Raymond Monroe, 63, a retired production supervisor from Abilene, Texas, who backs Obama but says he might shift. "He's young and has new ideas, but she's pretty sharp, too. Instead of good old boys all the time, I think we need a change."

Blacks make up about a tenth of voters overall. They are reliably loyal Democrats, voting nearly nine-to-one for the party's candidates in the 2004 and 2006 elections. And while blacks are few in New Hampshire and Iowa, they make up about half the Democratic primary voters in South Carolina, another early voting state.

SAN DIEGO LANDSLIDE DESTROYS HOME, FORCES EVACUATIONS

SAN DIEGO — A landslide swept away a chunk of an upscale hilltop neighborhood today, destroying a home, damaging five others and opening up a 50-yard chasm in a four-lane road.

Forty-six homes in the La Jolla neighborhood were evacuated but no one was hurt in the collapse, which occurred the morning after city officials warned residents of four homes not to sleep in them because the land might give way.

The collapse shortly before 9 a.m. toppled power lines and left a 15-foot-deep ravine of crumpled pavement. Orange traffic cones and sections of big concrete pipes sat in the fissure slashing across the wide boulevard.

Holli Weld was walking her son to preschool when the street collapsed.

"It was sinking as I was walking by," she said. "The street was sinking before our eyes."

STUDIES FIND 'VIRTUAL COLONOSCOPY' JUST AS GOOD AS REGULAR EXAM

NEW YORK — Having an X-ray to look for signs of colon cancer may soon be an option for those who dread the traditional scope exam. Two of the largest studies yet of "virtual colonoscopy" show the experimental technique works just as well at spotting potentially cancerous growths as the more invasive method. It's also quicker and cheaper.

The X-rays can help sort out who really needs the full exam and removal of suspicious growths, called polyps. In one study, only 8 percent of patients had to have followup traditional colonoscopies, which are done under sedation and carry a small risk of puncturing the bowel.

But what some people consider the most unpleasant part can't be avoided: drinking laxatives to purge the bowel so growths can be seen.

Still, proponents hope that the newer test will lure those who have balked at getting conventional screening.

"This is ready for prime time," said Dr. Perry Pickhardt, one of the researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School who are reporting the results of their study in tomorrow's New England Journal of Medicine.

K-FED APPEARS AT FAMILY LAW COURT HEARING

LOS ANGELES — Kevin Federline appeared in family law court today for a hearing following a decision earlier this week that temporarily gave him custody of his two sons with Britney Spears.

Spears, 25, was not present when Federline, 29, stood and was sworn in by a court clerk. The hearing before Commissioner Scott M. Gordan began behind closed doors. Attorneys for both sides were present.

Flanked by bodyguards, Federline arrived in a blue suit and wearing a black patch over his right eye, covered by a pair of sunglasses. He spoke with his lawyers before the hearing got under way.

Spears and Federline previously had shared custody of the boys.