The United States is accepting help from 12 countries and international organizations in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The State Department said in a statement Tuesday that the U.S. is working out the particulars of the help that's been accepted.

The identities of all 12 countries and international organizations were not immediately announced. One country was cited in the State Department statement -- Japan, which is providing two high-speed skimmers and fire containment boom.

More than 30 countries and international organizations have offered to help with the spill. The State Department hasn't indicated why some offers have been accepted and others have not.

WASHINGTON -- A Senate panel on Tuesday backed Gen. David Petraeus to lead U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan even as he warned that that the U.S. will "need to provide assistance for a long time to come."

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted to confirm Petraeus to replace the ousted Gen. Stanley McChrystal. A full Senate confirmation is expected this week.

At Tuesday's hearing, Petraeus noted that President Obama's reminder in recent days that July 2011 will mark the beginning of a process to withdraw troops -- not the date when the U.S. heads for the exit doors and turn out the lights.

At the G-20 summit last weekend, world leaders agreed that it will take a number of years before Afghan forces can assume most security tasks on their own.

"The commitment to Afghanistan is necessarily, therefore, an enduring one, and neither the Taliban nor our Afghan and Pakistani partners should doubt that," Petraeus said Tuesday.

Republicans and Democrats sparred over the wisdom of the July 2011 deadline to begin bringing forces home. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the committee, said the date was based on outdated assumptions about the war's progress.

"If the president would say that success in Afghanistan is our only withdrawal plan -- whether we reach it before July 2011, or afterward -- he would make the war more winnable and hasten the day when our troops can come home with honor, which is what we all want," said McCain.

Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the 2011 date "imparts a necessary sense of urgency to Afghan leaders about the need to take on principal responsibility for their country's security."

Republicans say they want assurances that troops will only leave next year if security has improved. Obama has said troops will begin to leave, but the pace and size of the withdrawal will depend upon conditions.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, sharply questioned Petraeus about whether he agreed with suggestions by Vice President Joe Biden that the pullout would not be based on conditions. According to reports, Biden has said that large number of troops will start pulling out of Afghanistan in July 2011, adding "you can bet on it."

Petraeus, who is hosting Biden for dinner Tuesday night at his headquarters in Florida, said that he was only aware of Biden having expressed support for the president's policy.

The answer didn't seem to satisfy an animated Graham.

"Somebody needs to get it straight without doubt what the hell we're going to do in Afghanistan," Graham said.

Petraeus also promised to "look very hard" at the rules of engagement governing troops in Afghanistan, if confirmed as the war's next top commander.

McChrystal was criticized by some for putting too many limits on firepower to protect the lives of civilians.

Petraeus said he sees it as a "moral imperative to bring all assets to bear" to protect U.S. and Afghan troops. He said "those on the ground must have all the support they need when they are in a tough situation."

That suggests some tweaks to the restrictive rules may be in the offing. Petraeus also endorsed the overall war strategy that prizes protecting people over attacking the enemy.

It's possible Petraeus could be confirmed as early as Tuesday because Congress is already intimately familiar with Petraeus and his record, according to a Senate GOP leadership aide.

Two years ago, he was promoted to head Central Command, a job that overseas all Middle East military operations, and from 2007 to late 2008 he served as the commanding general of Multinational Forces in Iraq. 

He's famously credited for executing a successful counterinsurgency campaign and reversing the tide of the war there. 

Shortly before McChrystal resigned his post, he described the U.S. offensive in Marjah, considered a model for future conflicts in southern Afghanistan, as a "bleeding ulcer." He also recently announced that an upcoming offensive in Kandahar had to be delayed because it was lacking the necessary support from local leadership. These pieces of negative news came at the same time the Pentagon moves closer to completing a 30,000 troop build-up in the region.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The widow of a Florida police officer gunned down after making a traffic stop early Tuesday has given birth to their first child just hours after he passed away, CBS News reported.

Officer Jeff Kocab was called to the scene as backup after fellow Tampa police officer Dave Curtis stopped a car about 2:15am Tuesday because the license tag wasn't visible.

Tampa police said the passenger in the vehicle, Dontae Rashawn Morris, 24, had a minor warrant for arrest and opened fire on the two officers.

The driver of the car, Cortnee Nicole Brantley, 22, was located at the Bristol Bay Apartments complex, Tuesday along with the vehicle involved in the incident, a 1994 red Toyota Camry.
Police Chief Jane Castor announced in a morning news conference that Officer Kocab, 31, died shortly after he was brought to Tampa General Hospital (TGH).

Officer Curtis, also 31, was put on life support and pronounced dead about 8:30am.
Officer Kocab had only been with Tampa police for 14 months and previously worked for the Plant City Police Department.

Officer Curtis was with the department for almost four years and leaves behind a wife and four boys between the ages of eight months and nine years old, Mayor Pam Iorio said.

A $30,000 reward has been offered in connection with the arrest of Morris -- $5,000 by Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay and $25,000 by the FBI.

MyFOXtampabay.com reported Morris has been officially named as the man suspected of killing both officers, and should be considered armed and dangerous.

Former "Melrose Place" actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer was charged in a drunk driving accident that killed a New Jersey woman, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

Locane-Bovenizer, who played Sandy Louise Harling on "Melrose Place," was driving a 2007 Chevy Tahoe on Sunday night when she slammed into the passenger side of a vehicle, instantly killing noted art historian Helene Seeman, 60, authorities said.

The driver, Seeman’s husband Fred, 60, was transported in a Medevac helicopter and remained incapacitated with serious injuries.

The couple were struck as they turned into their driveway in Princeton, N.J. Their youngest son, Curtis, 17, was with his mother when she died.

"My mother was incredible. She had a pure spirit, and her heart was always in the right place," the Seemans' oldest son Ford, 23, told the paper. "She wouldn't want me to harbor any resentment. I feel like a part of my soul is now missing."

Prior to the fatal crash, Locane-Bovenizer, 39, rear-ended another vehicle at an intersection a few miles away, before driving off, according to Somerset County Acting Prosecutor A. Peter DeMarco Jr.

The hit-and-run victim followed mom-of-two Locane-Bovenizer, who was reportedly "swerving and knocked down several mailboxes."

At the crime scene, police said they noticed the smell of alcohol on the actress' breath and reported her eyes were glassy and red-rimmed and her speech was slurred.

Locane-Bovenizer, whose husband is a wine expert, admitted to imbibing several glasses of wine before getting behind the wheel, authorities said.

She appeared before the superior court Monday afternoon for her arraignment. Bail was set at $50,000.

She is charged with vehicular homicide, second-degree and third-degree assault by auto. She faces five to 10 years in state prison.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan told her confirmation panel Tuesday that the landmark decision extending gun rights to all 50 states is "binding precedent," despite a senator's suggestion that the 5-4 ruling was on shaky ground. 

As questioning of the nominee got underway on the second day of Kagan's hearing, Sen. Dianne Feinstein pressed her on the high court's Monday decision affirming the right to bear arms everywhere in the country and a similar 5-4 decision two years ago. Citing the plague of gang violence in her state, the California Democrat said "metropolitan states" have different problems than rural states and suggested the court's decision is challengeable. 

"Why is a 5-4 decision -- in two quick cases -- why does it throw out literally decades of precedent?" Feinstein asked. 

Kagan, in a to-the-point response, said a judge is obligated to respect prior decisions. 

"Senator Feinstein, because the court decided them as they did -- and once the court has decided a case, it is binding precedent," Kagan answered. 

The nominee said that unless the circumstances that led to a decision change or some other significant grounds can be found to challenge, "the operating presumption of our legal system is that a judge respects precedent. ... You assume that it's right and that it's valid going forward." 

Kagan gave a similar response when grilled by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, about a recent campaign finance decision which President Obama and other Democratic officials have criticized. Kagan called the decision "settled law." 

Such answers could help to assuage Republicans' concerns that Kagan would advance her political views, which they claim to be liberal, on the high court. Little is known, however, about her personal views as she has never held a judicial post. She worked in the Clinton administration but on Tuesday dismissed some of her writings there as "talking points" for the White House and not her personal views. She is the solicitor general, but made clear it was her job to advocate on behalf of the federal government. 

Kagan briefly addressed the issue of abortion Tuesday under questioning by Feinstein. Asked whether the health of the mother must be protected in any statute restricting abortion, Kagan said "women's life and women's health have to be protected" in abortion regulation based on past decisions of the court including Roe v. Wade. 

The start of the hearing, though, was consumed by one instance in which Kagan did appear to express her personal views -- her decision as Harvard Law School dean to temporarily restrict military recruiter access on campus. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, pressed her on the issue. 

In response, Kagan insisted the Pentagon's recruiters had access to Harvard Law School students "every single day I was dean," adding that she believes military service is the most important way anyone can serve the country. 

She has said she acted because the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bars openly gay men and women from serving, was a violation of the university's anti-discrimination rules. As an alternative, she encouraged a campus veterans group to facilitate the Pentagon's recruitment of students. 

Sessions disputed Kagan's version of events, saying that for one recruiting season "you gave them (the Pentagon) the runaround. ... You've continued to persist with this view that somehow there was a loophole in the statute that Harvard didn't have to comply with." 

Kagan gave no ground, countering that "military recruiting went up that year, not down," when Pentagon's representatives worked through the veterans office on campus. 

She also sidestepped when Sessions, citing a characterization by a senior White House official, sought to label her as a "legal progressive." 

"I honestly don't know what that label means," she said. "I've served in two Democratic administrations. ... You can tell something about me and my political views from that." 

Sessions said afterward that he was "disappointed" in Kagan's responses.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

When Sean Harrington entered his freshman year at Arlington High School, he noticed something peculiar: There were no American flags in the classrooms, and no one recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 

So Harrington enlisted the aid of his fellow students, and now, three years later, they have succeeded in getting flags installed in the classrooms. But the pledge still will not be recited.

The Arlington, Mass., school committee has rejected the 17-year-old's request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, because some educators are concerned that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite it, according to a report in the Arlington Patch.

Harrington had presented school officials with a petition signed by 700 people, along with letters of support from lawmakers including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. 

But the request to have the pledge recited failed when the committee's vote ended in a 3-3 tie.

"I was really heartbroken," Harrington told FOX News Radio. "It's hard to think that something so traditional in American society was turned down."

His fight has received quite a bit of support from the community. "When I was going to school, it was an honor and a privilege to pledge allegiance to the flag," Francis De Guglielmo, 55, told the Patch. He called the ban an "absolute travesty" and a "disgrace."

Harrington, who will be a senior in the fall, said he will continue to fight. "I'm not a person who quits and I don't back down. It's a very righteous cause and needs to be followed through until the end."

Some committee members voiced concerns about forcing people to do something that might violate their beliefs – including religious beliefs. Among the no-votes was committee member Leba Heigham.

"Patriotism is a very personal thing for all of us, but I do not think it is in the school committee's best interest to mandate that any of our employees recite the pledge," she told the Patch.

Harrington said the recitation would have been strictly voluntary.

"If we can't find one teacher who is willing to say the pledge, then the system we have is cracked," he told FOX News Radio, noting that a number of teachers signed his petition.

He said the school's ban on the pledge sends the wrong message. "It tells me that we've basically cast aside what our country is founded on," he said. "It's saying that we don't really care, and it's sad."

Arlington's superintendent of schools did not return a call for comment.

A California congressman known for edgy sarcasm mocked an opponent of illegal immigration during a town hall meeting last week, asking, "Who are you going to kill today?" before the constituent, a self-identified Minuteman, posed his question. 

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., no stranger to controversy, mocked the idea that the borders are not secure when asked about the federal government's lack of activity on border security.

"We can't get enough Minutemen armed. We'd like to get all the Minutemen armed so they can stop shooting people here," Stark said.

Eventually, members of the audience urged Stark to offer a serious answer.

"If you knew anything about our borders, you would know that's not the case. Our borders are quite secure, thank you," Stark said, drawing jeers.

Stark resumed his hostile act, asking the Minuteman what he would do to secure the border.

"I would send about about 25,000 troops for one thing and build a wall down so vehicles could not pass," the Minuteman said.

"How high and long would it be?" Stark asked.

"As high and as long as it takes," the Minuteman said, elicting cheers.

Stark said he would start a ladder company with the Minuteman if he designed the wall and doesn't shoot the people coming over.

"But I've got to know how high the wall is and I'll sell a whole lot of ladders for people who want to come," Stark said.

"This is a very serious matter and you're sitting there making fun of it," the Minuteman responded.

"I don't have to make fun of you sir, you do a fine job all by yourself," Stark said.

Stark made the comments last week at a town hall audience that included Steve Kemp, a member of the Golden State Minutemen, a group that opposes illegal immigrants. Kemp recorded the confrontation.

A spokesman for Stark did not return voicemail messages left at his office or on his cell phone. He also didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

The clash came as the national spotlight focuses on Arizona's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigrants and the protests it is drawing across the country, including a legal challenge from the federal government.

Immigration is shaping up to be among the critical election-year issues as Republicans try to regain control of both chambers in Congress riding a wave of anti-Washington sentiment.

Stark, a liberal Democrat, is expected to easily win re-election against a lightly regarded opponent, political newcomer Justin Jelincic, who describes himself as a conservative Democrat.

Stark earned his primary challenge after he slammed a constituent who voiced his opposition to Obama's health care plan last summer at a town hall meeting.

"Mr. Congressman, don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining," the constituent told Stark, referring to what he called the smoke and mirrors of the president's plan.

"I wouldn't dignify you be peeing on your leg," Stark fired back. "It wouldn't be worth wasting the urine."

In March, Stark seized control of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee for one day after Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., stepped aside due to an ethics probe. But Stark was quickly pushed aside in favor of Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., after many Democrats privately complained that Stark was too volatile to lead such an important committee.

Stark is known for making inflammatory comments.

In 2007, Stark accused President Bush of sending troops to Iraq "to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

He also once called former Colorado Republican Rep. Scott McInnis a "fruitcake."

Anna Chapman has the face of an angel. A stylish redhead with model looks and a master's degree in economics, the 28-year-old lived the New York high-life, renting a $2,100-a-month apartment and hobnobbing with Manhattan's social elite. 

She also was a "practiced deceiver" who worked as an agent for the Russian government, attempting to secretly transmit information from her laptop computer to a Russian government computer, according to U.S. federal prosecutors.

Chapman, along with 10 others, was charged Monday with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. attorney general, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon conviction. 

According to two criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in New York, Chapman allegedly met with an FBI official posing as a Russian agent on June 26 to receive, and later deliver, a fraudulent passport to an unnamed individual who she believed was also a Russian agent.

"Are you ready for this step?" the undercover agent asked her inside a New York coffee shop

"S---, of course," Chapman allegedly replied. 

Upon receiving the fraudulent passport, investigators followed Chapman to Brooklyn, where she was allegedly seen discarding a Verizon cell phone registered under the name Irine Kutsov," residing at "99 Fake Street."

Chapman was arrested a day later while turning over the fraudulent passport to police -- a detail her attorney, Robert M. Baum, said shows she is not the experienced so-called spy that prosecutors claim her to be. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz told Judge Ronald Ellis in a Manhattan federal court Monday that Chapman used  "ad hoc" wireless networks to communicate with Russian officials.

Farbiarz said she acted as an "unregistered agent" since January 2010, communicating with a Russian agent every Wednesday from "various locations in New York City" using her laptop computer. 

Chapman lists herself on her LinkedIn profile as the current CEO of a Russian-speaking real estate search engine called Domdot.ru. A search by FoxNews.com yielded no information showing Anna Chapman had a professional real estate license. 

"Love launching innovative high-tech start-ups and building passionate teams to bring value into market!" she writes on her profile, detailing her work experience and credentials. Chapman describes her company as a "true vertical search engine in the field of residential real estate."

"We are not a real estate agency," she writes. "We just gather all the information about property market in one source, so you can compare objects of the whole market and go to the resource that has the necessary information." 

Helen Tretyakova, a marketing assistant at KIT Fortis Investments, a Russian-based asset management company, confirmed to FoxNews.com in an e-mail Tuesday that Chapman once worked for the company in Moscow -- though she did not provide dates. Chapman claimed to have worked as a vice president for the company from 2007 to 2008.

Prior to her job in Moscow, Chapman, who holds a master's degree in economics from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, says she was employed by a London-based hedge fund from 2005 to 2007. She also claims that she worked as a "slave" for Barclay's Bank in London from 2004 to 2005. 

Chapman, who is reportedly divorced from her British husband and has no children, also lived a lavish lifestyle in a high-rise apartment building in Manhattan's financial district, where rentals cost upwards of $2,100 per month.

A neighbor of Chapman's, who spoke to FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity, described her as a "nice girl" who kept to herself and had little interaction with the other residents on her floor.

Chapman, who provides few details about herself on her Facebook profile, posted a dozen photographs of herself along with several "wall postings" in Russian. 

Some of her postings, however, are written in English, and offer a twist of irony in the alleged spy ring bust that the Russian government has angrily rejected as a return to the Cold War era .   

"When you speak the truth, you don't have to remember it," Chapman wrote on her Facebook wall on January 19. 

Alex Roshuk, an immigration lawyer and Facebook friend of Chapman's, described the woman as a "virtual" acquaintance with similar interests but said he never met her.

"I never met her," Roshuk told FoxNews.com, saying the young woman "friended" him on Facebook just last week. 

The "interests" on Chapman's Facebook page include "Alma De Agave Tequila, New York Entrepreneur Week, Do It In Person, AMBAR, MostProperties.com and School of Academic and Professional Blogging." Her list of friends on the social network are people mostly in Russia and includes several Russian-based corporate and business executives. 

Another Facebook acquaintance, Alexander Sasha Galitsky, a managing partner for a Moscow-based Almaz Capital Partners, told FoxNews.com that he did not know Chapman personally. 

"She tried to raise capital for her online real estate business," he said in an e-mail Tuesday. "After this she tried to speak about some other initiative like online poker, but this is out of our policy." 

Chapman, who is being held without bail, is scheduled to appear in court on July 27.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report 

MOSCOW -- Russia's Foreign Ministry says the arrest of 10 alleged Russian spies in the United States is throwback to Cold War.

The ministry said in a statement Tuesday the U.S. actions are unfounded and pursued "unseemly" goals. It voiced regret that the arrests came even though President Barack Obama has moved to "reset" U.S. relations wth Russia.

The FBI has arrested 10 people who allegedly spied for Russia for up to a decade -- posing as civilians while trying to infiltrate U.S. policymaking circles. An 11th defendant -- a man accused of delivering money to the agents -- remains at large.

Medvedev met with Obama at the White House last week after the Russian leader visited high-tech firms in California's Silicon Valley. The two presidents made a jaunt for cheeseburgers to Ray's Hell Burger in Virginia, exchanged jokes and walked together in the park in a show of easy camaraderie underlining that efforts to "reset" ties have taken deep root.

The series of arrests of purported deep cover agents followed a multiyear FBI investigation.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov told The Associated Press that the information given by U.S. authorities looks "contradictory." He wouldn't comment further. The main Russian spy agency, the Foreign Intelligence Service, refused to comment on the arrests.

Alexander Torshin, a deputy speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house, sought to downplay the arrests and said they are unlikely to derail efforts to improve Russian-U.S. ties.

"It's not a return to the Cold War, and I'm sure that this incident won't develop into a large-scale spy scandal," Torshin said, according to the state RIA Novosti news agency.

He said agreements reached during Medvedev's visit to the United States last week signaled that relations between Moscow and Washington have reached a new higher level.

But another senior lawmaker, a deputy chairman of the security affairs committee in the lower house of parliament, Vladimir Kolesnikov, told RIA Novosti the arrests signaled that some quarters in the U.S. government oppose warmer ties with Russia.

"Regrettably, there are people in America burdened by the legacy of the Cold War, the legacy of double standards," he said. "And they react improperly to the warming of relations spearheaded by the presidents. It's a blow to President Obama."

Kolesnikov, a former deputy chief prosecutor general, said "U.S. secret agents are continuing to work" in Russia and suggested that Russia could respond tit-for-tat.

"Previously we have quietly evicted some of them," he said. "Now I think we should more actively apply criminal legislation against them."

Kolesnikov is not believed to have close ties to the Kremlin or knowledge of the government's plans.

KALISPELL, Mont.

KALISPELL, Mont. — Authorities were searching Monday for a single-engine airplane carrying four people, including two Montana newspaper reporters, that took off the day before and did not return.

The 1968 Piper airplane departed from Kalispell City Airport on Sunday afternoon with Sonny Kless, the Missoula man who rented the plane, another Missoula man and two reporters for the Daily Inter Lake newspaper of Kalispell — Melissa Weaver and Erika Hoefer.

Weaver's roommate contacted the Flathead County Sheriff's Office and other agencies on Monday morning when Weaver had not returned or left a message.

Rick Weaver, publisher of the Daily Inter Lake, said the reporters were going on a sightseeing trip to Glacier National Park about 30 miles northeast of Kalispell.

"They were on their day off and just having fun," said Weaver, who is not related to Melissa Weaver. "We're just hoping for the absolute best. We hope that they're found, and everybody's OK."

Sheriff Mike Meehan told the newspaper that investigators believe the group was in the area of the park, but that was not confirmed.

Hoefer last updated her Facebook page about 10 minutes after taking off with a message reading, "We're flying to the park and we're later going to a barbecue," Meehan said.

Glacier National Park spokeswoman Amy Vanderbilt said there was no indication that the plane entered the park and that park officials were standing by to assist with the search.

Kless last made radio contact with the tower at Glacier Park International Airport at 2:11 p.m., about 40 minutes after takeoff, reporting that the plane was east of Kalispell, traveling north.

At least one text message was exchanged between Weaver and Hoefer's cell phones about an hour after that last contact, and a sheriff's detective was pursuing a subpoena to access that message from a server.

A state airplane checked wilderness airstrips after noon, Sgt. Ernie Freebury told the Daily Inter Lake. The Montana Civil Air Patrol joined the search along with a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter.

The search area is very large and while the plane has a transponder on board, it's an old one, Meehan said. "You would have to fly almost directly over it to make contact, and that's a hindrance."

Authorities expanded their search Monday afternoon to include Lake County to the south and Sanders County to the southwest, sheriff's officials in those two counties said.

Freebury said officials also were analyzing radar data from Salt Lake City and cell-phone tower information.

The tail number on the airplane was registered to Joel Woodruff of Stevensville. A message left at a number listed for Woodruff was not immediately returned Monday evening.

Melissa Weaver, 23, is a police and courts reporter for the Daily Inter Lake. Her parents live in Billings and were headed to Kalispell, Rick Weaver said.

Hoefer, 27, is a business reporter for the newspaper who also writes for the Flathead Business Journal. She is from Beloit, Wis.

Both reporters began working for the newspaper at the end of last year.

The fourth person on board has not been identified.

(This version corrects year of aircraft, name of border agency.)