The Iraqi Cabinet on Tuesday authorized Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to reopen talks with the United States on a security pact that would allow U.S. troops to stay in Iraq for three more years after their U.N. mandate expires on Dec. 31.

With a week to go before the American presidential elections, the Iraqi decision could delay the key agreement that provides the legal basis for the U.S. to operate in Iraq past the end of the year.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said members of the Cabinet proposed unspecified "essential" amendments and gave them to al-Maliki to offer to American negotiators.

Parliament must approve the agreement and al-Maliki is reluctant to submit the draft unless he is confident it will pass by an overwhelming majority.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the Bush administration hasn't seen the Iraqis amendments yet, so "it's not possible to say at this point" whether U.S. officials would be willing to re-open talks. But officials have said previously that the agreement represented Washington's last offer, and that its success now rests with the complex Iraqi political system — a signal that the White House would likely be unwilling to engage in additional negotiations.

California may need a $7 billion emergency loan from the Federal government for day-to-day operations and to pay teachers' salaries, nursing homes, law enforcement and every other State-funded service this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned in a letter sent Thursday to the U.S. Treasury secretary.

The California governor's letter, published in Friday's Los Angeles Times, was written on the eve of an expected vote in the U.S. House on the Federal bailout of the financial system.

"The federal rescue package is not a bailout of Wall Street tycoons - it is a lifeboat for millions of Americans whose life savings, businesses, retirement plans and jobs are at stake," Schwarzenegger said.

California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer issued a statement a day earlier saying because of the national financial crisis, California "has been locked out of credit markets for the past 10 days."

"Absent a clear resolution to this financial crisis that restores confidence and liquidity to the credit markets, California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the Federal Treasury for short-term financing," Schwarzenegger wrote.

California's governor warned that a number of states are facing the same cash flow crunch this month, but his state is "so large that our short-term cash flow needs exceed the entire budget of some states."

Schwarzenegger said his state would attempt to sell "$7 billion in Revenue Anticipation Notes for short term cash flow purposes in a matter of days."

Lockyer said that unless the national economic crisis subsides and California can secure private short-term loans "the State's cash reserves would be exhausted near the end of October."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is trying to "obscure his true party preference" by listing himself on the November ballot as a member of the "G.O.P. Party," and Secretary of State Sam Reed will allow it unless enjoined, a voter says in King County Court. Jeff Smith says that listing Rossi as a member of a "nonexistent party" will foster "public confusion." Rossi is running against Gov. Christine Gregoire, who defeated him by 129 votes in 2004, after two recounts.

Smith, a Washington voter, says Rossi always has identified himself as a Republican, declared himself a candidate for the Republican Party, and was nominated by the Republicans.

"Allowing Rossi to obscure his true party preference and affiliation directly violates the law, would mislead a substantial portion of the voting public and would breed cynicism and mistrust in our public institutions and, indeed, in our electoral process," the complaint states.

"This lawsuit seeks an order declaring that such a 'party preference' is improper under Washington law and directing defendant Reed to prepare and to distribute an amended certified list of gubernatorial candidates that, in accordance with the law, accurately identifies Rossi's part preference as the Washington State Republican Party."

Smith is represented by Kevin Hamilton with Perkins Coie.

Secretary of State Reed is a Republican.