Morning News Roundup (17 May)

• Iran's president today rejected Europe's plan to offer incentives for Tehran to give up its nuclear research program, despite word from diplomats that the package would include new assistance in building a light-water nuclear reactor for civilian use.
  
  The offer to help with a light-water reactor, which could not easily be used to make weapons, is part of a new package of incentives the Europeans are assembling in one more attempt to salvage their negotiations with Iran, according to European and American diplomats. The package is also to contain threats of economic punishments if Iran does not cooperate. [NYTimes]
  
  
• Tony Blair ignited a political storm, including within his own cabinet, by endorsing a new generation of nuclear power stations last night. Mr Blair warned that failing to replace the current ageing plants would fuel global warming, endanger Britain's energy security and represent a dereliction of duty to the country. [The Guardian]
  
  
• On the occasion of President Bush's announcement he will post the National Guard along the southern U.S. border, CQ's Patrick Yoest finds this gem -- DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff pooh-poohing the idea less than six months earlier on the O'Reilly Factor. Check out the transcript at TPM Muckraker.
  
  
• President Bush plans to sign a bill today extending $70 billion in tax cuts. “It is the latest — and perhaps finest — example of the perpetual motion machine that passes for tax policy in Congress and the Bush administration: making the tax code ever more complex and easier for those with squadrons of tax lawyers to exploit.” [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• The Iraqi Civil War took the lives of another 42 persons on Tuesday. The most horrible attack was in the Shaab district of the capital. Two minibuses attacked a market. The first shot 7 persons down, then when a crowd gathered, a second minibus detonated its payload near a petroleum truck. The truck became a fireball, killing another 17 Iraqis and wounding at least 38. (Aljazeera is reporting the death toll from this attack at over 40.) [Juan Cole's Informed Comment]
  
  
• As the May 22 deadline approaches for Iraqi Prime Minister- designate Nouri al Maliki to appoint his Cabinet, senior negotiators said Tuesday that they were in the final phases of a compromise and expected an announcement to be made within 48 hours. [Knight Ridder]
  
  
• More than a decade after U.S. troops withdrew from Somalia following a disastrous military intervention, officials of Somalia's interim government and some U.S. analysts of Africa policy say the United States has returned to the African country, secretly supporting secular warlords who have been waging fierce battles against Islamic groups for control of the capital, Mogadishu.
  
  The latest clashes, last week and over the weekend, were some of the most violent in Mogadishu since the end of the American intervention in 1994, and left 150 dead and hundreds more wounded. Leaders of the interim government blamed U.S. support of the militias for provoking the clashes. [WaPo]
  
  
• “Seven members of the Congressional Black Caucus were arrested at the Embassy of Sudan on Tuesday while protesting conditions in the nation’s Darfur region.” “Enough is enough,” said Rep. John Lewis, (D-GA). “We must do all we can to stop the violence.” Click here to see video of the protest. [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• President Bush laid out all the trappings yesterday for visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard: the marching bands and troop review on the South Lawn, Australian flags along Pennsylvania Avenue, meetings in the West Wing, a black-tie dinner in the State Dining Room. Little wonder the president lavished such attention on his counterpart from Down Under. When it comes to Bush's "coalition of the willing" partners, Howard is virtually the last man standing. [WaPo]
  
  
• And this is how he treats his friends; via Australia's Daily Telegraph:
  

  "He may not be the prettiest person on the block, but when he tells you something you can take it to the bank," Mr Bush told a White House press conference.
  
  Earlier, asked if there were any differences between himself and the Prime Minister he said: "Yes. He doesn't have any hair."

• Ron Howard's adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, which debuts at Cannes Film Festival, fails to live up to the hype that surrounded Dan Brown's novel. His fondness for historic flashbacks and other gimmicks to tell the story border on patronising.
  
  For those familiar with the book, it poses its own problems. While the plot worked its magic on the pages, it does not transfer well to the screen - here, it is long and it is dull. [BBC]
  
  
• Ah, to be in Paris in the spring... the greening of the chestnut trees, the cooling breeze of the Seine, and the frenzy of a Champions League final! Yes, it's Mrs. F's nightmare. Tonight (or this afternoon here on the Left Coast), England's Arsenal will take on Barcelona in the Super Bowl equivalent of European football. Should be quite a game, though I doubt it'll equal last year's once-in-a-lifetime amazing comeback from Liverpool. Check in with updates from the BBC.
  
  
• FotF Kat has a line on an interesting job opportunity...