Museum may challenge King project for donations

WASHINGTON -- After a disappointing year of raising money, the project to build a National Mall memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. now has a looming rival for donors' dollars, although organizers insist there are plenty of generous people willing to give to both the King project and a proposed National Museum of African American History and Culture. This year could be the last in which the King project does not face the prospect of going head-to-head with the black history museum for dollars. At least one company has agreed to help fund both the museum and memorial. In 2002, Columbus, Ga.-based insurer AFLAC Inc. was the first major donor to the black history museum, giving $1 million to the presidential commission then studying possible sites.

Experts not surprised by Calif. chimp attack

HAVILAH, Calif. -- Chimpanzees come across to the public as little darlings, often in diapers and always willing to hold hands. But they're really aggressors, primate experts say, more than capable of carrying out attacks as violent as one that left a man fighting for his life. Generally weighing between 120 and 150 pounds with strength much greater than man, chimps in the wild are known to kill chimps from neighboring groups, hunt other primates and even attack humans. On Friday, authorities continued to investigate how two chimps at an animal sanctuary escaped from their cage and mauled St. James Davis, 62. They were shot to death during Thursday's attack by the son-in-law of the sanctuary's owners, Virginia and Ralph Brauer.

Chinese premier: Taiwan will never be independent

BEIJING -- Premier Wen Jiabao opened China's national legislative session Saturday vowing never to allow Taiwanese independence. The planned passage of an anti-secession bill -- effectively a warning to Taiwan against declaring formal independence -- has overshadowed the annual meeting of the National People's Congress. Wen gave few details of the planned law, saying only that it "reflects the strong determination of the Chinese people to ... never allow secessionist forces working for Taiwan independence to separate Taiwan from China." Taiwanese leaders say the proposed law could offer a pretext for a military attack on the island.

Iran warns against U.N. Security Council sanctions

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran said Saturday it will never agree to permanently stop making nuclear fuel and warned that any attempt to haul it before the Security Council for possible sanctions would lead to more instability in the Middle East. Any effort by Washington to bring Tehran's suspended uranium enrichment program under Security Council scrutiny is a dangerous path, warned Hasan Rowhani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator. Rowhani said referring Iran to the Security Council would only make things worse. "Americans and Europeans will be the first to lose in that case," he told more than 50 nuclear scientists and experts attending the Tehran conference. "It will cause problems for regional energy and for the European economy. And it will cause additional problems for America."