Morning News Roundup (15 May)

• As the White House prepared to announce deployment of National Guard troops along the nation's southern border to stanch the flood of illegal immigrants, President Bush tried to reassure the president of Mexico on Sunday that the move was temporary and did not amount to militarization of the border. Bush is expected to detail plans to secure the border in a nationally televised address today on the politically volatile topic of immigration. [LATimes]
  
  
• Senator Chuck Hagel, sponsor of compromise immigration legislation that the Senate is scheduled to discuss this week, expressed skepticism. About 75 percent of the National Guard's equipment is in Iraq, and some Guard troops have already endured up to four tours of duty in that war zone, Hagel said. Patrolling a domestic border is ''not the role of our National Guard," he said on ABC's ''This Week." [BoGlo]
  
  
• Sunday was “Iraq’s deadliest day in weeks,” but the country’s parliament was less concerned with the violence and more concerned with the minutiae of legislative rules. One piece of important debate over “governing” on Sunday: insisting that lawmakers must be dubbed “representatives,” not merely “members” of parliament. [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• Insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter south of Iraq's capital Sunday killing two U.S. soldiers, the military announced Monday. Two Marines were also killed in combat Sunday west of Baghdad. [WaPo]
  
  
• Ten days ago in Abuja, Nigeria, the Sudanese government and the main rebel group in Darfur signed a peace agreement to end three years of fighting. A ceasefire was supposed to come into force 72 hours later. The deal, brokered by the African Union and international mediators, was hailed as a breakthrough - a significant step towards peace and ending the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
  
  But little has changed on the ground in Darfur. African Union observers continue to chronicle tales of death and destruction. Rebel fighters and government soldiers eye each other nervously across the frontlines. Bandits attack with impunity. Defenceless civilians are as fearful of attack as ever. [Guardian]
  
  
• Laura Bush is offering some election-year advice to Republicans: Don't use a proposed constitutional amendment against gay marriage as a campaign tool. ''I certainly don't know what conversations have gone on between Karl and anybody up on the Hill," she said on Fox. ''But you know, what I can say is look, amending the Constitution with this amendment, this piece of legislation, is a bad piece of legislation. It is writing discrimination into the Constitution, and, as I say, it is fundamentally wrong." [BoGlo]
  
  
• But before you get all weepy in gratitude that someone in the White House is coming to their senses... Laura Bush said on Sunday she does not believe opinion polls showing her husband's approval ratings at record low levels. "As I travel around the United States, I see a lot of appreciation for him. A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Stay the course'." [Reuters/Yahoo!]
  
  
• A $2 million budget cut sought by the White House would reduce the 35-year-old EPA Library Network's budget by 80 percent and force many of its 10 regional libraries to close, according to the advocates and internal agency documents. That, in turn, would dramatically reduce access to certain EPA reports, guidance and technical documents that are used by the agency's scientific and enforcement staff as well as private businesses and citizens. [WaPo]
  
  
• The Christian Aid charity warns that 184 million people in Africa alone could die as a result of climate change before the end of the century. The group’s report warns that climate-induced floods, famine, drought and conflict could reverse recent gains in reducing poverty. [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• If you missed it (as I did), here are some highlights via YouTube of the fantastic English FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham United, which went to penalty kicks after the game was tied up in the dying seconds of regular time by Liverpool's Steven Gerrard (and subsequently deadlocked in extra time). In other football (aka, soccer) news, Chelsea announced that they've signed Germany's national team captain, midfielder Michael Ballack, which should add some pressure to a midfield that already sports one of the best players in the English game, Frank Lampard.