The latest news on Presidential Power, Rally Against Greenhouse Gases, Muslim Americans, Housing & Homelessness, Prisons, Gordon Brown in U.S., Missile Defense & Iran, Clinton-Iran, Sudan-Darfur, Afghanistan, Mexico, Guinea-Bissau, and Select Op-eds. | Sojourners

The latest news on Presidential Power, Rally Against Greenhouse Gases, Muslim Americans, Housing & Homelessness, Prisons, Gordon Brown in U.S., Missile Defense & Iran, Clinton-Iran, Sudan-Darfur, Afghanistan, Mexico, Guinea-Bissau, and Select Op-eds.

Sign up to receive our daily news summary via e-mail »

Presidential power. Memos gave Bush overriding powers "The Obama administration Monday made public a series of long-secret Bush administration legal memos that set out an extraordinarily broad interpretation of presidential power for use in the war on terrorism." In Legal Memos, Clearer View of Power Bush Sought "The secret legal opinions issued by Bush administration lawyers after the Sept. 11 attacks included assertions that the president could use the nation's military within the United States to combat terrorism suspects and to conduct raids without obtaining search warrants." CIA Destroyed 92 Interrogation Tapes, Probe Says "The CIA got rid of 92 videotapes depicting the harsh interrogations and confinement of 'high value' al-Qaeda suspects, government lawyers disclosed yesterday."

Rally against greenhouse gases. In snowy capital, thousands rally at Capitol power plant for climate change legislation "Several thousand demonstrators on Monday urged Congress to pass legislation to reduce greenhouse gases, and they targeted the government's own Capitol power plant as a symbol of the problem." In snowy D.C., thousands protest against coal power "Out of the thousands who swept the nation's capitol to push for environmental policy changes on Monday, a group from Kentucky's Appalachian region - an area known for crushing poverty in the shadows of the state's coal mines - stood front and center." Pro-green activists turn up the heat on Congress "Thousands of demonstrators braved a late-winter snowstorm Monday to call attention to global warming and urge Congress to impose tougher limits on greenhouse gases."

Muslim Americans. Muslim American prosperity is tinged with alienation, survey finds "A study of Muslim Americans released Monday presents a portrait of an often misunderstood community -- one that is integrated socio-economically but culturally alienated; that succeeds in the workforce but struggles to find contentment." Survey: U.S. Muslim women liberated "American Muslims include some of the world's most liberated Islamic women and the largest percentage of young people of any religious community in the country, according to a new report issued Monday by the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies."

Housing & homelessness. Spurred into action by homeless children "Stunned by a sharp rise in homeless children over the last two years, Boston officials today will announce a $200 million plan they hope will cut the city's number of homeless families in half by 2012." Florida county, hit hard by foreclosures, may declare itself a disaster area to free up aid "Just five years ago, Port St. Lucie was America's fastest-growing large city. Then the foreclosure crisis slammed it like a hurricane. Today it sits in one of the hardest-hit counties in the nation."

Prisons. Prison Spending Outpaces All but Medicaid "One in every 31 adults is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study." Probation, parole numbers surge past 5 million, reports finds "The number of people on parole and probation across the United States has surged past 5 million, according to a new report which says financially struggling states can save money in the long run by investing in better supervision of these offenders."

Gordon Brown in U.S. Brown arrives in U.S. to meet Obama "Gordon Brown arrived in Washington early this morning, for a two day visit which he hopes will bring a decisive end to the Blair-Bush era and herald a special relationship that places economic harmony ahead of military cooperation." In Turbulent Time for Britain's Premier, a Hope to Bolster U.S. Ties "He will be the first European government leader to visit the White House since Mr. Obama took office, and he said in a weekend newspaper article that he aimed to give new momentum to the 'special relationship' between Britain and the United States." British Prime Minister to Press for Financial Overhaul in Meeting With Obama "British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrives in Washington this week to press a 'global new deal' that he hopes will shore up his sagging poll numbers at home and solidify his place as the international leader of efforts to surmount the deepening financial crisis."

Missile defense & Iran. Obama Offered Deal to Russia in Secret Letter "President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia's president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons." Obama Makes Overtures to Russia on Missile Defense "President Obama has sent a letter to his Russian counterpart that raises the prospect of the United States halting development of its missile defense program in Eastern Europe if Russia helps resolve the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program." Barack Obama 'offers to abandon missile defense shield' "The United States has reportedly offered to abandon plans to site a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe if Russia helps to prevent Iran obtaining nuclear weapons."

Clinton-Iran. Clinton Not Optimistic About Iran-U.S. Thaw "Expressing doubts about one of the Obama administration's most important diplomatic initiatives, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told an Arab foreign minister on Monday that she did not expect Iran to respond positively to an American offer of direct negotiations." Clinton Pessimistic on Iran Outreach "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday expressed doubts in a private meeting with an Arab counterpart that the Obama administration's outreach to Iran would be successful." Clinton says U.S. diplomacy unlikely to end Iran nuclear program "The Obama administration has already concluded that a diplomatic overture to Iran, one of the central promises of the president's election campaign, is unlikely to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions."

Sudan-Darfur. International court expected to rule this week on arrest warrant for Sudanese president "If, as many expect, the judges of the International Criminal Court issue a warrant this week for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, it will mark a significant moment in the court's brief history: The first time it has charged a sitting head of state with a war crime." Bashir defiant over warrant threat "Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has struck a defiant tone as judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) prepare to decide whether to issue a warrant for his arrest." Darfuris flee on eve of Bashir case "Six years after the start of Darfur's messy conflict and days before Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is expected to be charged with war crimes, the steady stream of people arriving at the region's aid camps is a reminder of the scale of humanitarian crisis in Darfur."

Afghanistan. Militants' sudden unity threatens Obama's Afghanistan strategy "A new alliance of Pakistani extremist groups - united after rival warlords vowed to renew the fight against international troops - threatens to escalate the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan just as thousands more U.S. soldiers are to be deployed to the region." Nato awaits Obama's plea for troops "Military options for sending more British troops to Afghanistan are being studied across Whitehall in preparation for an appeal by President Obama for every Nato member to deploy additional manpower and firepower there." Idea of Afghan Women's Rights Starts Taking Hold "Since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, a more egalitarian notion of women's rights has begun to take hold, founded in the country's new Constitution and promoted by the newly created Ministry of Women's Affairs and a small community of women's advocates."

Mexico. 100,000 foot soldiers in cartels "The U.S. Defense Department thinks Mexico's two most deadly drug cartels together have fielded more than 100,000 foot soldiers - an army that rivals Mexico's armed forces and threatens to turn the country into a narco-state." Mexico sending more forces to Ciudad Juarez "The Mexican government will deploy 1,000 more federal police officers as part of a wider effort to restore order in Ciudad Juarez, the nation's most violent city, officials said Monday."

Guinea-Bissau. Guinea-Bissau president assassinated "Military leaders in Guinea-Bissau pledged to restore order and democracy in the tiny West African nation Monday after the assassination of President Joao Bernardo Vieira by soldiers, just hours after the army chief was killed in a bombing." Emergency summit in Guinea-Bissau "Regional leaders are visiting the West African state of Guinea-Bissau in an effort to defuse the crisis following the assassination of the president."

Opinion/Commentary. The special relationship is going global (Gordon Brown, Sunday Times of London) "Historians will look back and say this was no ordinary time but a defining moment: an unprecedented period of global change, and a time when one chapter ended and another began." Will Africa Let Sudan Off the Hook? (Desmond Tutu, New York Times) "The expected issuance of an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan by the International Criminal Court tomorrow presents a stark choice for African leaders - are they on the side of justice or on the side of injustice? Are they on the side of the victim or the oppressor?" Put Peace Before Justice (Franklin Graham, New York Times) "Tomorrow the court is expected to announce its decision to issue an arrest warrant for the president, the first time it has sought the detention of a sitting head of state. Yet arresting Mr. Bashir now will likely only create further chaos in Sudan, which in recent years has been convulsed by separate conflicts in the south and in the Darfur region in the west."