Morning News Roundup (01 Mar)

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is expected to report soon that emissions from humankind is the only explanation for major changes on Earth. [BBC]
  

  The BBC has learnt the report will state that greenhouse gas emissions are the only explanation for changing patterns of weather across the globe.
  
  It will say rising concentrations of gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere must be the cause of simultaneous freak patterns in sea ice, glaciers, droughts, floods, ecosystems, ocean acidification and wildlife migrations.

• Ethnic cleansing is on the rise in Iraq with sectarian killings and growing displacement of families. [WaPo]
  
  
• And it keeps getting better for the BushCo Dumpling Gang; via the WaPo:
  

  Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appeared to suggest yesterday that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance operations may extend beyond the outlines that the president acknowledged in mid-December.
  [...]
  But in yesterday's letter, Gonzales, citing that quote, wrote: "I did not and could not address . . . any other classified intelligence activities." Using the administration's term for the recently disclosed operation, he continued, "I was confining my remarks to the Terrorist Surveillance Program as described by the President, the legality of which was the subject" of the Feb. 6 hearing.

• President Bush made a surprise five-hour visit to Afghanistan today to meet with President Hamid Karzai. Mr. Bush said he remained confident that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, would be captured. [NYTimes]
  
  
• Perhaps. But it seems President Bush has benefitted in the past from bin Laden being free [UPI]:
  

  U.S. President George Bush says Osama bin Laden's taped diatribe against him days before the 2004 election inadvertently helped him win, a new book says (Strategery by Bill Sammon).
  [...]
  "I thought it was going to help," Bush told the author. "I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn't want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush."

• Finally, I would have assumed this came from The Onion, but it was indeed written and distributed by the Associated Press and distributed by HappyNews.com:
  

  Condoleezza Rice shows gym routine on TV
  Besides being the Bush administration's go-to official for working out diplomatic misunderstandings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also happy to let the world know she's working out at the gym.
  
  Rice's exercise routine, including weights and a calorie-burning workout, will be featured in a three-day segment on Washington's NBC television affiliate, WRC, starting Wednesday morning.
  
  ''She's an active, active secretary of state,'' said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
  
  Asked whether the news feature signals a more muscular U.S. diplomacy, Ereli responded: ''Muscular and agile.''