BRIEFLY.

Sunni cleric calls for end to violence

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A leading Sunni cleric called for religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against violence as Iraq endured a third consecutive day of sectarian killings - the worst, a suicide car bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed at least 12 worshippers as they left Friday prayers.

The bombing in Tuz Khormato, where a young Saudi man was later arrested wearing a bomb belt on his way to a second mosque, was the latest suicide attack following al-Qaida in Iraq's declaration of all-out war on Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority.

Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror group said it was taking revenge for a joint Iraqi-U.S. offensive against its stronghold in Tal Afar, a city near the Syrian border.

With more than 20 people killed Friday, the death toll over the past three days surpassed 200, with more than 600 wounded.

- Daily News

Rancher irked by Christo river wrap

COTOPAXI, Colo. - The artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude - most recently known for their ``Gates'' installation in New York's Central Park - now want to stretch gigantic, billowing panels of loosely woven, aluminum-coated translucent cloth across a portion of the Arkansas River as it courses through southern Colorado.

They call the proposed project ``Over the River,'' because, they say, the name perfectly captures the ``genesis'' of their vision.

Rancher Denzell Goodwin, who has run cattle along the banks of the Arkansas for 60 years and is a man who does not waste words, has an even shorter name for the planned art extravaganza: ``that thing.''

Goodwin, who lives with his cattle along the river near the town of Howard, said two things worry him about the project.

``First of all it'll cause unbelievable traffic and we just don't need it around here. The other problem with that thing is the bighorn sheep and the deer and the elk. They come down to the river every night to drink. You got those ... those sheets hanging over the river flapping around, it's going to upset all those animals. Gonna confuse them. That's about all that thing is gonna do.''

- The Denver Post

Chavez says U.S. planning invasion

WASHINGTON - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday he has documentary evidence that the United States plans to invade his country.

Chavez, interviewed on ABC's ``Nightline,'' said the plan is called ``Balboa'' and involves aircraft carriers and planes. A transcript of the interview was made available by ``Nightline.''

He said U.S. soldiers recently went to Curacao, an island off Venezuela's northwest coast. He described as a ``lie'' the official U.S. explanation that they visited Curacao for rest and recreation.

``They were doing movements. They were doing maneuvers,'' Chavez said, speaking through a translator.

He added: ``We are coming up with the counter-Balboa plan. That is to say if the government of the United States attempts to commit the foolhardy enterprise of attacking us, it would be embarked on a 100-year war. We are prepared.''

- Associated Press