WASHINGTON — Former federal judge Michael Mukasey, a tough-on-terrorism jurist with an independent streak, was tapped by President Bush on Monday to take over as attorney general and lead a Justice Department accused of being too close to White House politics.

Mukasey, the former chief U.S. district judge in the Manhattan courthouse just blocks from ground zero, will likely face a relatively smooth confirmation by a Democratic-led Senate that has demanded new Justice Department leadership for months. He replaces Alberto Gonzales, a Texan who announced his departure three weeks ago amid investigations that began with the firing of U.S. attorneys and mushroomed into doubts about his credibility.

Appointed to the bench in 1987 by President Reagan, Mukasey also worked for four years as a trial prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in New York's southern district — one of the Justice Department's busiest and highest-profile offices in the country.

"The department faces challenges vastly different from those it faced when I was an assistant U.S. attorney 35 years ago," Mukasey, 66, said as he stood next to Bush on the White House lawn. "But the principles that guide the department remain the same: to pursue justice by enforcing the law with unswerving fidelity to the Constitution."

Mukasey said that, if confirmed, he hopes to give Justice employees "the support and the leadership they deserve."

Apparent audiotape released of sports memorabilia dispute involving O.J. Simpson in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — An apparent audiotape of O.J. Simpson's standoff with men he accused of stealing his memorabilia begins with the ex-NFL star demanding, "Don't let nobody out of here." "Think you can steal my s--- and sell it?" the voice identified as Simpson's said.

Simpson was arrested Sunday and booked on charges connected with what police described as a robbery at a Las Vegas hotel. In the audiotape released Monday by the celebrity news Web site TMZ.com, a man believed to be Simpson is heard shouting questions while other men yell orders to the people in the room.

The recording was made by Thomas Riccio, co-owner of the auction house Universal Rarities, according to TMZ. Simpson has said Riccio called him several weeks ago to tell him collectors were selling some of his items.

Riccio did not immediately return a call for comment Monday, but he told TMZ he believed Simpson was planning to confront Alfred Beardsley, who was allegedly planning to auction off the memorabilia.

Another collector in the hotel room, Bruce Fromong, said the meeting was set up as if the men were customers, but when they arrived, it was clear something else was going on.

Democrats poised to delay funding for Iraq war to plan out next move

WASHINGTON — Democrats are poised to delay money for the Iraq war by several weeks, giving them time to calculate their next move and see if Republican support for President Bush's policies deteriorate.

The funding delay would likely cause only a minor disruption for the Defense Department. But it will escalate an already heated standoff between the Democratic-controlled Congress and Bush, who says at least 130,000 troops are needed in Iraq through next summer.

"Just because this administration wears blinders, we cannot afford the limitations of their shortsighted world view," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a Vietnam veteran and prominent war critic.

Democrats are in a tough spot. Still lacking enough votes in the Senate to pass legislation ordering troops home by spring, they would have to soften their approach if they want to attract more Republicans. But doing so would rile much of the party's rank-and-file, elected on anti-war platforms and eager to cut off money for combat.

"There's a lot of anger out there," Murtha told reporters Monday at the National Press Club. "A lot of people are very unhappy with the Democrats because we haven't been able to get anything done."

Iraq orders U.S. government's security firm out of the country in wake of killing

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government Monday ordered Blackwater USA, the security firm that protects U.S. diplomats, to stop work and leave the country after the fatal shooting of eight Iraqi civilians following a car bomb attack against a State Department convoy.

The order by the Interior Ministry, if carried out, would deal a severe blow to U.S. government operations in Iraq by stripping diplomats, engineers, reconstruction officials and others of their security protection.

The presence of so many visible, aggressive Western security contractors has angered many Iraqis, who consider them a mercenary force that runs roughshod over people in their own country.

Sunday's shooting was the latest in a series of incidents in which Blackwater and other foreign contractors have been accused of shooting to death an unknown number of Iraqi citizens. None has faced charges or prosecution.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki late Monday and the two agreed to conduct a "fair and transparent investigation" and hold any wrongdoers accountable, said Yassin Majid, an adviser to the prime minister. Rice was expected to visit the Mideast on Tuesday.

Clinton unveils universal healthcare plan; says proposal not government-run

DES MOINES, Iowa — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton called for universal health care on Monday, plunging back into the bruising political battle she famously waged and lost as first lady on an issue that looms large in the 2008 presidential race.

"This is not government-run," the party's front-runner said of her plan to extend coverage to an estimated 47 million Americans who now go without.

Her declaration was a clear message to Republicans, the insurance industry, businesses and millions of voters who nervously recall what sank her effort at health care reform 13 years ago in her husband's first term — fear of a big-government takeover.

In unveiling her plan, she called for a requirement for businesses to obtain insurance for employees, and said the wealthy should pay higher taxes to help defray the cost for those less able to pay for it. She put the government's cost at $110 billion a year.

Mindful of the lessons of her failed attempt, Clinton said that under her new plan anyone who is content with their health coverage can keep what they have. She insisted no new government bureaucracy would be created even as it seeks to cover tens of millions uninsured.

HEALTHBEAT: Diabetics turn to days-long sensors to monitor their illness around the clock

WASHINGTON — Diabetes care is undergoing a transformation: Thousands of patients are switching from a few finger-pricks a day to track their disease to new sensors that keep guard around the clock.

The last six months brought boosts to the technology, as federal health officials approved children's use of a sensor that works for three days in a row — and cleared the longest-lasting version yet, a seven-day model, for adults.

The ultimate goal is to create an "artificial pancreas," pairing such sensors with implanted pumps that would automatically dispense insulin to make a diabetic's blood sugar better resemble a healthy person's.

That's still years away. For now, the hope is that these under-the-skin sensors will empower the most vulnerable patients — those who require insulin injections — to make changes that better control their disease. Perhaps more important, they come with alarms that can sound in time to avoid dangerously high or low blood-sugar levels.

"It really catches problems before they're problems," says Katie Clark of Grandville, Mich. She bought a sensor for her 7-year-old daughter, and no longer has to wake up in the middle of the night to spot-check whether Ellie's OK.

'Aquanauts' begin 9-day mission at undersea lab to study changes along coral reef in Florida

KEY LARGO, Fla. — A nine-day mission that began Monday in the world's only permanent working undersea laboratory is like living in a fishbowl in more ways than one: Anyone with an Internet connection can watch the researchers work and hang out 60 feet below the surface.

Six "aquanauts" studying changes along a coral reef will work, sleep and eat at Aquarius Reef Base, on the Atlantic Ocean floor about nine miles southeast of Key Largo in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It's the first time students and others will get such an extensive real-time view of the underwater life surrounding the 21-year-old lab.

The team, hoping to raise interest in science and the oceans, is bringing its research to students with undersea classroom sessions and to the public through live Internet video. Feeds are coming from inside and outside Aquarius, and from divers wearing helmets mounted with cameras and audio equipment.

"It would be ideal if all the students we are going to reach on this mission could actually be here, but the truth is most of them will never get that opportunity," said Ellen Prager, chief scientist for Aquarius. "So the best we can do is have them connect and be virtually there."

Researchers will study sponge biology and coral reefs — fertile marine habitats that are threatened around the world by disease, rising ocean temperatures and human factors such as pollution and overfishing.

Ed Burns talks about wooing wife Christy Turlington, his film career, in magazine interview

NEW YORK — Ed Burns says it took hard work to woo Christy Turlington. "Friends of ours had tried to fix us up — we both live in New York, we're both pretty low-key, both heterosexual — but she was like, `Uh, not really interested,'" the 39-year-old actor-director tells Best Life magazine in its October issue. "That did not deter me. I just wanted to get her to laugh."

How long did it take to build up the nerve to kiss her?

"Probably within five minutes of meeting her," Burns says. "Which hurt my chances. It took her a long time to come around. But I got her good and drunk, if I remember correctly, which never hurts."

Turlington and Burns wed in 2003. They have two children.