World briefs

The United States had hoped to present the resolution to the council on Tuesday. But despite an urgent phone campaign waged by President Bush, it was evident that America and its allies had not yet picked up the nine votes they needed for a majority.

But even nine votes wouldn't be enough. French President Jacques Chirac declared that his country would veto any resolution that opened the way to war. The Russians also said they would vote against the proposal as it was currently worded.

Behind the scenes, diplomats were discussing compromises, including extending the deadline and adding a list of tests -- or "benchmarks," as they are called -- that the Iraqis must pass to prove their disarmament and cooperation.

Court revisiting landmark ruling

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is revisiting its landmark 1966 ruling that led to the familiar refrain, "You have the right to remain silent." Justices said Monday they would consider an appeal by a man who claims he was duped into talking to officers. John J. Fellers' case gives the high court a chance to clarify when officers must recite "Miranda rights" to suspects they've come to arrest.

Fellers provides an unlikely test case. He wrote his appeal without the help of an attorney, filing as a "pauper" without having to pay court costs. The Supreme Court receives thousands of such appeals a year, but only rarely agrees to hear one. The justices will likely appoint an attorney to argue Fellers' case next fall. The Bush administration had urged justices to reject the case.

Sharp jump seen in drug-resistant pneumonia germs in the U.S.

WASHINGTON -- The United States is seeing a jump in drug-resistant germs and, researchers warn, strains of a dangerous form of strep that can overcome two common antibiotics are expected to multiply.

Overuse of antibiotics may be involved, they said.

By the summer of 2004 as many as 40 percent of the strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae could be resistant to both penicillin and erythromycin. That form of strep causes thousands of cases of meningitis, sinusitis, ear infections and pneumonia every year.

Researchers based at the Harvard School of Public Health studied reports from sites in eight states, measuring how common the drug resistance was in 1996 and how it increased by 1999.

Penicillin resistance rose from 21.7 percent of strep strains in 1996 to 26.6 percent in 1999, and for erythromycin it increased from 10.8 percent to 20.2 percent, the team reports in a paper posted in Monday's online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

Soaring gas costs crimping lifestyles

LOS ANGELES -- With gasoline prices climbing to near-record levels, some Americans are cutting back sharply back on nonessential driving or trading in their gas guzzlers.

The average price for gas, including all grades and taxes, reached about $1.75 a gallon Friday, the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide reported. The survey's record is $1.77, recorded in May 2001.

Californians are paying the nation's highest prices, with the average reaching nearly $2.06 a gallon on Friday, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California. The nation's highest price for self-serve regular was in San Francisco, at $2.10, the Lundberg survey found.

The effects of the high prices extend beyond the car owners, said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

For poorer people, "it probably means fewer trips to the mall, fewer trips out for the family to eat," Kyser said. "So this is going to ripple out through the economy."<