Morning News Roundup (17 Apr)

• Violence continued across Iraq on Sunday. At least 37 Iraqis died in shootings, bombings and other attacks Sunday, according to police officials and news reports. Ten people were killed and 20 injured when a car bomb exploded in Mahmudiya, about 30km (20 miles) south of the capital, which has a mixed population of Sunni and Shia Muslims. Further north, in Mosul, gunmen killed seven construction workers and wounded three others. [BBC and WaPo]
  
  
• Heavy clashes erupted overnight in the Sunni Arab district of Adhamiya in Baghdad and heavy casualties were feared. It is not clear who was involved in the clashes but Sunni officials said they heard from residents that Iraqi forces had fought Sunni insurgents. [Reuters]
  
  
• Iraq's top legislator postponed the meeting of parliament scheduled for Monday, putting off "for a few days" an attempt to resolve a months-long deadlock over the formation of the country's new government. The delay coincided with a surge in sectarian killings between Iraq's Sunni Arabs and Shiite Muslims.
  
  The biggest sticking point in the political process is whether incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari will serve a new four-year term. The leading coalition of Shiite parties nominated Jafari in a close vote, but Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and even some Shiites are now demanding an alternate candidate, saying Jafari is a weak leader. [WaPo]
  
  
• 48: The number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq for the first half of April, a sharp increase from the 30 casualties last month. [via ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• A Palestinian suicide bombing has left at least six people dead and around 30 injured at a falafel restaurant in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. Hamas, which has been keeping a truce with Israel, said the attack was an act of "self-defence". But Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned it, saying it ran counter to Palestinian interests. [BBC]
  
  
• Iran said today that it would give $50 million in aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government after the United States and the European Union froze their aid. The European Union suspended its $600 million aid package and the United States a $400 million donation after Hamas's unexpected electoral victory in January. [NYTimes]
  
  
• UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has told George Bush that Britain cannot offer military support to any strike on Iran, regardless of whether the move wins the backing of the international community. "We will support the diplomatic moves, at best," a Foreign Office source told Scotland on Sunday. "But we cannot commit our own resources to a military strike." [Scotsman]
  
  
• British Prime Minister Tony Blair has canceled an upcoming U.S. visit to avoid being photographed with President Bush, claims The Huffington Post. Blair decided the photo op would be “too toxic for his image.” [via ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• An explosion has injured 31 people in a residential suburb of Istanbul. Several bombs have been planted in Istanbul recently, thought to be linked to unrest in the Kurdish south-east. [BBC]
  
  
• The WaPo reports that Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens is campaigning against Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, largely due to his grudge against her after she helped to sink oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge last fall.
  

  The problem, though, does not appear to be costing Cantwell voter support. Polls here show that the public is opposed to ANWR drilling and increasingly frustrated with Republican leadership on Capitol Hill.

  
  Cantwell is still vulnerable, with an approval rating of 51% in the latest Survay USA poll (as of March). And this column from Josh Feit over at The Stranger (Seattle's alternative weekly) worries about the influence of out-of-state hires in her campaign management, who might not have the best feel for local politics.
  
  
• Oil prices touched 70 dollars a barrel in Asian trade on concerns over tight US gasoline stocks and continued fears Washington could attack Iran's nuclear facilities. [Agence France Presse]
  
  
• It's offically tax day here in the US (typically it's April 15, but we've been given a reprieve due to its falling on a Saturday). The LATimes has a story that wonders if former Republican presidential hopeful Steve Forbes' flat tax panacea might have actually come true:
  

  Without any fanfare or philosophical debate, millionaires and middle-class Americans now pay taxes at almost the same rates.
  
  So what about the "fantastic growth waiting to burst forth"? Has leveling out federal income tax rates produced a cornucopia of financial benefits?
  
  The answer is probably yes — if you're a millionaire. And probably no — if you're almost anyone else. Flattened, and thus lower, tax rates have contributed to huge increases in the wealth of the wealthy, but so far most people haven't seen significant economic improvement.

  
  
• The hijab has received a modern update from a Dutch designer in the "capster," which can be used by Muslim women in phys-ed classes and other sporty activities. In four styles designed for tennis, skating, aerobics, and outdoor sports, van den Bremen's head coverings were sleek, safe, and - in the words of a local Islamic cleric - "Islamically correct."
  
  
• The rapid melting of Arctic sea ice appears to be separating walrus young from their mothers, leaving them likely to die at sea. The team found that water flowing from the Bering Sea to the shallower continental shelf of the Chukchi Sea off northern Alaska was six degrees warmer than it had been at the same time and place two years earlier. The breaking up of sea ice close to the shore may not only separate walruses from their young but also deny the adults a platform from which to dive for food. [WaPo]