News roundup 04.25.2006

Bush's approval rating

CNN:

In the telephone poll of 1,012 adult Americans carried out Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, 32 percent of respondents said they approve of Bush's performance, 60 percent said they disapprove and 8 percent said they do not know.

The cost of gas and energy

The Washington Post: "Bush Orders Probe Into Gas Pricing"

The Boston Globe: "GOP leaders urge probe of gas prices"

A.P.:

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has decided to temporarily halt deposits to the nation's strategic petroleum reserve to make more oil available for consumer needs and relieve pressure on pump prices, a senior administration official said Tuesday.

The Boston Globe:

CARACAS -- Leftist President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said yesterday he would greatly expand the discounted home heating oil program he started last year for needy people in Massachusetts and other northeastern states.

The long war in Iraq

Borzou Daragahi in the Los Angeles Times:

BAGHDAD — The U.S. ambassador here on Monday urged war-weary Americans to dig in for the long haul: a years-long effort to transform Iraq and the surrounding region, now one of the world's major trouble spots.

"We must perhaps reluctantly accept that we have to help this region become a normal region, the way we helped Europe and Asia in another era," Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "Now it's this area from Pakistan to Morocco that we should focus on."

The Washington Post:

KIRKUK, Iraq -- Hundreds of Shiite Muslim militiamen have deployed in recent weeks to this restive city -- widely considered the most likely flash point for an Iraqi civil war -- vowing to fight any attempt to shift control over Kirkuk to the Kurdish-governed north, according to U.S. commanders and diplomats, local police and politicians.

The New York Times: "Rebuilding of Iraqi Pipeline as Disaster Waiting to Happen"

The Hill:

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he wants to divide his panel’s inquiry into the Bush administration’s handling of Iraq-related intelligence into two parts, a move that would push off its most politically controversial elements to a later time.

The inquiry has dragged on for more than two years, a slow pace that prompted Democrats to force the Senate into an extraordinary closed-door session in November. Republicans then promised to speed up the probe.

The Iranian nuclear "crisis"

Bloomberg News: "Iran, Russia Donate to Palestinians After Cuts by Europe, U.S."

A.P.:

TEHRAN -- Iran's hard-line president said yesterday he is thinking about withdrawing from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty if the UN atomic agency tries to prevent his country from enriching uranium.

The Guardian:

Iran will withdraw from all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency if the UN security council imposes sanctions, Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator warned today.

Immigration

The New York Times: "In Immigration Remarks, Bush Hints He Favors Senate Plan"

The Washington Post:

IRVINE, Calif., April 24 -- Under pressure from Republicans to play a bigger role in the immigration debate, President Bush will begin meeting key lawmakers Tuesday to help forge a bipartisan agreement by Memorial Day to offer some undocumented workers a path to citizenship.

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Bush came to Orange County, a flash point for tensions in the national debate on the issue, as Congress geared up for another effort to overhaul immigration laws. Although Bush insisted that any immigration bill should include a guest-worker program, he resisted calls for more direct presidential involvement in trying to reach a legislative compromise.

CNN:

(CNN) -- More than three-quarters of Americans favor allowing illegal immigrants who have spent many years in the United States to apply for citizenship, according to a poll conducted for CNN by Opinion Research Corp.