WASHINGTON (AP) — A massive foreclosure rescue bill overwhelmingly cleared a key Senate test Tuesday, drawing broad support from Democrats and Republicans alike.

The Senate voted 83-9 to speed up work on the $300 billion mortgage aid plan, putting it on track for a final vote as early as the end of the day.

The resounding vote reflected a keen interest in both parties in claiming election-year credit for helping homeowners amid tough economic times.

Still, the measure faces a veto threat from President Bush and disputes among Democrats about key details. Those challenges will probably delay any final deal until mid-July.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian militants on Tuesday fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel, the first such attack since a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza militants took effect last week.

Israel condemned the attack as a "gross violation" of the truce, but did not say whether it would retaliate.

The barrage wounded two people and capped a day of violence that presented the truce with its first serious test.

Just before midnight, Palestinian militants fired a mortar shell into an empty area in southern Israel. And in a pre-dawn raid, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former White House spokesman told Congress on Friday that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney wanted him to say that Cheney's chief of staff wasn't involved in the leak of a CIA operative's identity, an assertion that turned out to be false.

Scott McClellan, Bush's spokesman from 2003-2006, said he had reservations about publicly clearing the name of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff at the time. Later, Libby was convicted of obstructing the investigation of the leak of Valerie Plame's CIA identity.

McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee that he doesn't know if a crime was committed. But he had harsh words for the White House, suggesting that the administration is continuing to cover up.

CHICAGO (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign announced Friday that he will campaign with former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton next week, a step toward unifying a fractured Democratic Party after a bruising primary fight.

Obama's campaign said in a brief e-mail that said the two senators and former opponents will campaign together for the first time on Friday, June 27, and more details would be forthcoming.

A day earlier, Obama and Clinton also plan to meet in Washington with some of her top contributors in an effort to calm donors who remain frustrated with Obama's presidential campaign. The former first lady will introduce Obama to her financial backers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For a quarter-century, drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills.

Then gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon this summer. Drivers and others began clamoring for federal lawmakers to do something about the record price of oil, much of it produced in foreign countries.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Hamas pledged to start a cease-fire Thursday in a bid to end a year of fighting that has killed more than 400 Palestinians and seven Israelis. The deal comes as Israel also urged Lebanon to open peace talks.

The cease-fire is expected to be followed next week by an Israeli easing of its blockade of Gaza, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said. Talks to release an Israeli soldier held by Hamas will then intensify, Regev said.

Egypt, which brokered the talks, announced a six-month agreement on Tuesday, saying it would begin Thursday at 6 a.m. Hamas confirmed the deal shortly afterward. But there was no official confirmation from Israel until Wednesday.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai has issued a warning to militants in Pakistan, saying he will send Afghan troops across the border to combat Taliban insurgents.

Karzai says Afghanistan has the right to self defense, and that when militants cross over from Pakistan and kill Afghans, Afghan forces have "the right to do the same."

Speaking at a Sunday news conference, Karzai warned Pakistan-based Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud that Afghan forces "will go after him now and hit him in his house."

He gave the same warning to Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Karzai has long pleaded for Pakistan and international forces to confront militants in Pakistan, but has never before said he would send Afghan troops across the border.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized Israeli settlement activity in exceptionally harsh language on Sunday, saying new construction projects on disputed land were having a "negative effect" on Mideast peace talks.

Rice made the comments during her latest attempt to prod Israelis and Palestinians toward a final peace deal by the end of the year.

After a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rice said the U.S. remains committed to the target date. But she said Israeli plans to build thousands of homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem were hurting the negotiating atmosphere. Last week, Israel said it would build 1,300 new apartments in east Jerusalem.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. and NATO troops aided Afghan forces with reconnaissance in a hunt Saturday for 870 inmates who escaped prison after a sophisticated Taliban assault that even NATO conceded was a success for the militants.

A roadside bomb, meanwhile, killed four U.S. Marines sent to southwestern Afghanistan to help train the country's fledgling police. The deadliest attack on American forces this year came one day after the U.S. defense secretary highlighted the fact that more American and allied troops were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq last month.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — The dark, filthy water that flooded Iowa's second-largest city finally started to recede Saturday after forcing 24,000 people to flee, but those who remained were urged to cut back on showering and flushing to save the last of their unspoiled drinking water.

A sandbagging siege saved the last of the city's four collection wells from contamination by the record flood. But officials warned that if people didn't cut back on flushing toilets, taking showers and other nonessential uses, the town would be out of potable water within three to four days.

"Water is still our primary concern," said Pat Ball, the city's utilities director. "We're still using water at a greater rate than we're producing."