Morning News Roundup (24 Apr)

• A call attributed to Osama Bin Laden for Islamic holy war in Sudan and other Muslim states has been disowned by the Sudanese government and Hamas. US intelligence believes the audio tape aired by an Arab TV channel is genuine, making it the fugitive al-Qaeda leader's first message since January.
  
  In the new remarks, bin Laden complained about Western interference in shattered Muslim regions around the world. He urged Muslims to go to the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan to fight international peacekeepers, saying their real mission was "to occupy the region and steal its oil under the cover of maintaining security there," according to a translation of the audiotape by the BBC.
  
  Hamas official spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters news agency his organisation was "interested in good relations with the West. "We call on the Western countries to reconsider their stance towards the Palestinian cause and the Muslim nation. [BBC and WaPo]
  
  
• Seven car bombs exploded across the capital Monday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, as politicians met to try to finalize a new Cabinet. Police discovered the bodies of 20 Iraqis — apparent victims of sectarian killings the United States hopes the new government can end. Three roadside bombs, five drive-by shootings and a mortar round killed 12 Iraqis in Baghdad and elsewhere, police said. [AP/Yahoo! News]
  
  
• A review of “at least six joint U.S.-Iraqi inspections of detention centers, most of them run by Iraq’s Shiite Muslim-dominated Interior Ministry,” found evidence of prisoner abuse at all of them. Some of the abuse was “severe,” including cigarette burns and missing toenails, but unlike in the past, abused detainees were not removed from the centers, “prompting concerns that they could be victims again.” [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• Philip Zelikow, counsellor at the US State Department and one of the US government’s top advisers, has rebuffed European calls for Washington to negotiate directly with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme. “The US position has been that at this time we don’t see value in having direct talks with the Iranians about, say, the nuclear issue,” he said, rejecting calls for such negotiations from Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German foreign minister, and other senior European diplomats. He also brushed aside European suggestions that a long-term understanding with Tehran might involve a promise from the US that it has no intention of attacking Iran. [Financial Times]
  
  
• The Islamist group Hamas, in control of the Palestinian Authority for less than a month, is already in deeper trouble than critics had predicted: diplomatically isolated, profoundly in debt and in a state of increasing internal disarray. Hardship is beginning to take hold among the families of tens of thousands of civil servants who have gone unpaid because of the dramatic drop in foreign aid. Angry gunmen, many from the rival Fatah faction that Hamas defeated in January parliamentary elections, roam the streets of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. [LATimes]
  
  
• British Conservative leader David Cameron (yes, Conservative) wants to cut the carbon emitted by the average car from 170g a kilometre now to 100g for new cars by 2022 and for all cars by 2030. The Tory leader said he would launch a new initiative to improve urban public transport later this week. He added that Conservative councils were "determined to make streets and public spaces safer and greener" and make it easier for people to walk and cycle. "We walk less than almost any other Western country bar Greece," he said. "And our cycling rate is 40% below the EU average." [Guardian]
  
  
• Democrats are pressing their support for embryonic stem cell research in Congressional races around the country, seeking to move back to center stage an issue they believe resonates with voters and to exploit a division between conservatives who oppose the science and other Republicans more open to it. The topic may not have the power of those frequently used by Republicans to rally their conservative base, like same-sex marriage and abortion. But it could help Democrats win voters who are pinning their hopes on the science for treatments and cures. [NYTimes]
  
  
• Pollution from Asian power plants and smoke from burning Siberian forests may be adding to poor air quality in Washington state, scientists say. Most pollution here is produced locally, but some problems like mercury in lake fish or the haze that rings Mount Rainier could have Asian connections. [AP via ENN]
  
  
• Northern China is bracing for more sandstorms in the next 24 hours, the state meteorological office said Friday, in the latest reminder that the desert is inching closer to the capital. Along with Beijing and the northern port city of Tianjin, parts of Inner Mongolia as well as Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Hebei provinces will be hit by gale-force winds and sand. [AFP via TerraDaily]
  
  
• $2.91: The national average gas price for self-serve regular. Gas prices have shot up nearly 25 cents per gallon over the past two weeks. [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]