Morning News Roundup (20 Apr)

• Happy April 20! What, you don't know of the specialness of this day, 4/20? Here's a hint: it's a great day to pull out your old Doobie Brothers records. Check out this NPR commentary from yesterday, or read of on its urban legend at Snopes.com. Now, where's my copy of Minute by Minute...
  
  
• Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has asked the main Shia coalition to confirm his candidacy in a bid to break the deadlock over a new government. The hope is that the UIA will pick a new nominee acceptable to all parties, so that the government formation can go ahead swiftly - or it could renominate Mr Jaafari. [BBC]
  
  Sunni and Kurdish parties blamed the incumbent for worsening the tensions -- with Sunnis refusing to back al-Jaafari because his government allegedly allowed Shiite militias to infiltrate the Iraqi police and carry out reprisal killings against Sunnis. Kurds also believed al-Jaafari had broken promises to support their claims in the oil-rich area of Kirkuk. The Kurds want to incorporate the area into their three-province self-governing region. [WaPo]
  
  
• The cost of the war in U.S. fatalities has declined this year, but the cost in treasure continues to rise, from $48 billion in 2003 to $59 billion in 2004 to $81 billion in 2005 to an anticipated $94 billion in 2006, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The U.S. government is now spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, up from $8.2 billion a year ago. [WaPo]
  
  
• Leaders of the demonstrations that drew hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the streets last week announced Wednesday that they were planning voter registration and citizenship drives across the country in an effort to transform the immigrant community into a powerful, organized political force. But there is division in the ranks over whether immigrants should demonstrate their economic strength by staying away from their jobs, schools and local shops on May 1 in what organizers are calling the Great American Boycott of 2006. [NYTimes]
  
  
• But there's growing support for the boycott in Mexico: Millions of people throughout Mexico are threatening to turn their backs on US products and businesses on May 1 as part of a protest that is being dubbed “the great American boycott”. Fernando Amezcua, a high-ranking official at the Mexican Union of Electricians (SME), says his organisation will raise the issue at its general assembly on Monday with the idea of urging its 60,000 members to participate in the protest. [Financial Times; hat tip to Tom Paine]
  
  
• Talks among diplomats from the world's major industrialized countries ended in Moscow yesterday with no agreement on how to end the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said that most of the countries that took part in the talks -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany on Tuesday, the Group of Eight industrialized countries yesterday -- favored imposing sanctions on Iran if it doesn't stop its nuclear program. [Boston Globe]
  
  
• Finally, FotF Glenn Fleishman complains about the current quality of car thieves.