CAIRO – A U.S.-born, al-Qaida-linked cleric warned the American people that President Barack Obama will mire U.S. forces in Yemen just as Afghanistan, in a message appearing Monday on militant websites.

The 13-minute audio message, in English, comes just days after the U.S. Treasury department put Anwar al-Awlaki on its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

“If George W. Bush is remembered as being the president who got America stuck in Afghanistan and Iraq, it’s looking like Obama wants to be remembered as the president who got America stuck in Yemen,” he said.

The message appeared with Arabic subtitles over still photos of al-Awlaki and accused Fort Hood shooter, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hassan, and the accused would-be Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Al-Awlaki, who is on the run in Yemen, is believed to have had contacts with the accused bomber in the Christmas Day attempt to bomb a U.S. airliner.

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NEW ORLEANS – In a nail-biting day across the Gulf Coast, engineers struggled to make sense of puzzling pressure readings from the bottom of the sea Friday to determine whether BP’s capped oil well was holding tight. Halfway through a critical 48-hour window, the signs were promising but far from conclusive.

Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said on an evening conference call that engineers had found no indication that the well has started leaking underground.

“No news is good news, I guess that’s how I’d say it,” Wells said.

Engineers are keeping watch over the well for a two-day period in a scientific, round-the-clock vigil to see if the well’s temporary cap is strong enough to hold back the oil, or if there are leaks either in the well itself or the sea floor. One mysterious development was that the pressure readings were not rising as high as expected, said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man on the crisis.

Allen said two possible reasons were being debated by scientists: The reservoir that is the source of the oil could be running lower three months into the spill. Or there could be an undiscovered leak somewhere down in the well. Allen ordered further study but remained confident.

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DENVER – Federal land managers say artist Christo’s plan to drape fabric over several miles of the Arkansas River in Colorado would have a significant impact on recreation and traffic, with an estimated 350,000 people expected to flock to the area to view it.

The Bureau of Land Management released its draft environmental study Friday on Christo’s “Over the River” project, adding that the “unprecedented” effort could have a moderate to significant impact on bighorn sheep and historical sites.

Steve Coffin, a Denver-based spokesman for the project, said any impact would be temporary.

Christo wants to use a system of anchors, frames and cables to suspend 5.9 miles of fabric across eight spots along a 42-mile stretch of the river. The BLM studied seven versions of the project, including a scaled-down effort.

Coffin said the alternatives were not developed in consultation with Christo and that the artist would push for the full project. He said Christo has already comprised and scaled down what originally was seen as a 10.4-mile project.

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TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada proposed new regulations on credit rating agencies on Friday to boost investor confidence and prevent conflicts of interests that critics say may have contributed to the global credit crisis.

The new rules on agencies that assign risk ratings to corporate debt issues are part of a pledge made by Canada and the other G20 economies to overhaul financial regulation.

At the heart of the proposals is a requirement that credit rating agencies apply to become so-called “designated rating organizations, or DROs.”

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the umbrella organization for the country’s 13 provincial and territorial watchdogs, would then require designated agencies to establish policies and procedures to manage conflicts of interest.

The new regulations will give Canadian watchdogs the authority for the first time to review and demand changes to the way agencies operate.

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