WASHINGTON IN BRIEF

U.S. Working With Iraqis On Turnover Time Frames

U.S. and Iraqi officials are hammering out broad time frames for Iraq's steps toward self-government through 2007 -- including political reconciliation and the handover of all 18 provinces -- but there will be "no penalties" should Baghdad miss the projections, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday.

Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, who are working with Iraqi officials on the set of projections, are scheduled to hold a news conference in Baghdad today.

Rumsfeld said he expected that "in no case would there be a specific date" for achieving the goals, but instead "you might find a spread of two or three months where . . . they think they might be able to do it."

Rumsfeld said that some tasks may be achieved ahead of time, and others may be pushed back or require repeated efforts -- such as a province that had been handed over and since became more violent.

"You might take it back and go in and help out, then pass it back two or three months later," he said.

Reports Counter FCC Views On Media Merger Benefits

Consumers would get less classical, jazz and gospel music on radio but little change in local television news coverage if the government eased rules to allow more media consolidation, new studies say.

The reports released yesterday by two private groups, the Benton Foundation and the Social Science Research Council, seek to counter the Federal Communications Commission's contention that consolidation would improve programming.

They found that a radio company owning more stations in a local market typically does not offer niche formats such as classical, bluegrass and Spanish-language stations. Rather, the larger companies are more likely to offer several versions of Top 40, adult contemporary and country music.

Rice Laments Sudan's Expulsion of U.N. Envoy

The United States denounced Sudan's order to expel U.N. envoy Jan Pronk and said yesterday that international action is needed to contain worsening conflict in the country's Darfur region.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that Sudan's expulsion order Sunday was "unfortunate in the extreme."

"The situation in Darfur has been deteriorating, and the international community needs very much to be able to act there," Rice said at a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

Bush Itinerary Includes Visit to Ho Chi Minh City

President Bush will visit Ho Chi Minh City, the city once known as Saigon and the capital of U.S.-backed South Vietnam, during a trip to Vietnam next month, the White House said yesterday.

Bush will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' forum in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Nov. 18 and 19.

Former Vietnamese prime minister Phan Van Khai visited the White House in June 2005. He is the highest-ranking official from Vietnam to visit the United States since the end of the Vietnam War.

-- From Staff Reports and News Services