Morning News Roundup (25 Apr)

• At least 23 people, mainly Egyptians, were killed in a triple bombing in the Red Sea resort of Dahab. The town has grown from a Bedouin village along with the influx of tourists in Sinai, but remains a small, low-key resort popular with Western backpackers, budget Israeli tourists and scuba divers. Officials remained unsure whether Dahab was hit by suicide bombers, or if the bombs were detonated with timers. [BBC]
  
  
• President Bush, under pressure to do something about gasoline prices that are expected to stay high through the summer, asked his Energy and Justice departments to open inquiries into whether the price of gasoline has been illegally manipulated. It's unclear what impact, if any, Bush's investigation would have on prices that are near or at $3 a gallon or more. [WaPo]
  
  Energy experts agree that almost everything that the president and Congress can do to increase gasoline supplies or trim demand would take years to implement. The few short-term options they have would do little to prevent the price of gasoline from reaching a national average of about $3.25 a gallon this summer. The primary causes of the escalating prices include the rapidly rising demand for oil in China and India, instability in oil-rich Nigeria, financial speculation about a possible military confrontation with Iran, and U.S. refining capacity's failure to keep up with demand. [WaPo]
  
  
• Petrol prices in the UK could soon top £1 a litre if oil costs keep rising, the head of BP has told the BBC. The average cost of a litre of unleaded petrol in the UK has recently moved above 95.5 pence. [BBC] If you're trying to calculations in your head, 1 gallon is equal to 3.785 liters, and £1 is currently equal to $1.79 US; thus, a gallon of gas in the UK would be $6.78 at the £1-per-liter price.
  
  
• At least 29 Iraqis were reported killed in sectarian violence in or near the capital. Seven car bombs, most of them targeting police patrols, killed at least 14 Iraqis and injured 139 on Monday, police and hospital officials said. Iraqi police also recovered 15 bodies in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad. The victims are believed to be recruiters for the country's security forces. The explosions, mostly set off by remote control, demonstrated the insurgency's ability to penetrate the layers of defenses established inside and outside the capital. [LATimes]
  
  
• A former Iranian ambassador and Islamic Republic insider has provided intriguing details to Asia Times Online about US covert operations inside Iran aimed at destabilizing the country and toppling the regime - or preparing for an American attack. "The Iranian government knows and is aware of such infiltration. It means that the Iranian government has identified them [the covert operatives] but for some reason does not want to show [this]," said the former diplomat on condition of anonymity. [Asia Times]
  
  
• The Pentagon plans to release nearly a third of those held at the prison for terrorism suspects here because they pose no threat to U.S. security, an official of the war crimes tribunal said Monday. [LATimes]
  
  
• President Bush declared that it's ''unrealistic" for lawmakers to undertake any legislative proposal that includes the mass deportation of the millions of foreigners living illegally in the United States.Hoping to spur Congress to make sweeping changes this year that would shut down the ''underground industry" of illegal labor, Bush praised a stalled Senate proposal that would allow most undocumented immigrants to stay in the country legally and work toward citizenship. [Boston Globe]
  
  
• Athens police have fired teargas during a clash with anti-war demonstrators protesting against a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. [BBC]
  
  
• There he goes again: 700 Club host Pat Robertson warned his viewers that "we are not listening" to what Islam "says," just as we did not listen to "what Adolf Hitler said in Mein Kampf." Robertson claimed that we are ignoring the threats by "not only the radical Muslims but Islam in general," because "it is not politically correct to believe that any religious group would do what they claim they are going to do." [Media Matters]
  
  
• The White House press office is about to become more fair and balanced. CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux reported last night that “Fox anchor Tony Snow is likely to accept the job as White House press secretary, succeeding Scott McClellan.” Malveaux added that Snow would announce his move “perhaps as early as within the next few days.” [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• A leading U.S. government storm researcher said Monday that the record hurricane season last year can be attributed to global warming. "The hurricanes we are seeing are indeed a direct result of climate change and it's no longer something we'll see in the future, it's happening now," said Greg Holland, a division director at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. His conclusion will be debated throughout the week-long conference, as other researchers present opposing papers that say changing wind and temperature conditions in the tropics are due to natural events, not the accumulation of carbon dioxide emissions clouding the Earth. [Reuters via ENN]