NPR 2008-06-12

Pakistan has launched what it is terming "a strong protest" with the US over an attack by US forces at the Afghan-Pakistan border, which claimed the lives of 11 Pakistani soldiers. The deaths came as US Special Forces were apparently 1 battling militants 2 in that area. The Pentagon has defended the attack. Reporter Graham Usher 3 in Islamabad says the Pakistani government claims the US should have been aware its forces were in the area at a border outpost.

 “What they are saying is that the US Special Forces must have known there is a, that there was an army border post there, there is regular coordination 4 between the Pakistan, Afghan and NATO forces. So, there is outrage 5, really, on the Pakistani side that the US simply ignored its border post, or suggested even that they had permission to fire missiles in and around it.”

 Pakistan summoned the US ambassador to the Foreign Ministry 6 over the incident. The US says it is still trying to determine if Pakistani forces were killed in the assault.

 Barack Obama has accepted Jim Johnson’s decision to leave his post heading Obama’s vice 7 presidential search committee follows reports in the Wall Street Journal that Johnson got favorable treatment from a mortgage lending company. More from NPR’s David Greene.

 Johnson is a longtime Washington insider. He helped Walter Mondale and John Kerry pick their running mates, and he was leading the vetting 9 process for Obama. Johnson is the former CEO of mortgage lender Fannie Mae. And on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Johnson obtained loans at below-market rates from another mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. On Tuesday, Obama said he wasn’t about to hire a vetter to vet 8 the vetter. But a day later, Obama has accepted Johnson’s resignation. Obama said in a statement he’s grateful for Johnson’s work, but the candidate said Johnson, (quote), “didn’t want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering 10 information about my vice presidential nominee”. David Greene, NPR News, Washington.

 More rain is falling today in already drenched 11 areas of the Midwest, worsening the flooding. In Iowa, residents continued to pile up sandbags to hold back flood waters. NPR’s David Schaper reports.

 With rain falling again in Iowa, water began pouring up and out of the storm sewers 12 in downtown Des Moines around noontime, flooding downtown streets and some businesses. In Cedar 13 Falls, northeast of Des Moines, volunteers have been working all day and all night to fill and pile up sandbags in an effort to keep the Cedar River from flooding the town. There are evacuation orders downstream on the Cedar River in the towns of Waterloo and Waverly, where a section of highway is completely submerged. A 200-mile section of the Mississippi River, north of St. Louis, has been closed to barge 14 and shipping 15 traffic because of high water in the worst flooding along the Mississippi in 15 years. David Schaper, NPR News.
 

Giant InBev NV, a company that has grown from a collection of Flemish-owned brands to become the top beer maker 16 in Latin-America, has made a more-than-46-billion-dollar offer for Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser. Anheuser says its board will evaluate the offer.

On Wall Street, the Dow fell more than 200 points. This is NPR.

US health officials say they are continuing to receive reports from people falling ill from eating salmonella-tainted tomatoes, and that there are now at least 167 reported cases in a total of 17 states. Representatives from the Food and Drug Administration along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today they are continuing to try to find the source of the salmonella outbreak, which appears to have hit New Mexico and Texas the hardest. Officials say the outbreak is considered ongoing 17 as reports of people becoming ill continue to come (in). And officials say it is safe to eat tomatoes grown in either Florida or California, since those states have now been ruled out as sources of the outbreak.

NASA’s Phoenix 18 Lander had a bit of luck last night: the clumpy Martian soil that had been causing trouble loosened up. NPR’s David Kestenbaum reports.

The Phoenix Lander is trying to study a part of Mars that has not gotten close-up attention before----the region near the planet’s icy North Pole. And NASA’s first attempt to analyze 19 the soil there hit a snag. The dirt behaved strangely: it clumped 20 together. When the Lander tried to sift 21 out small particles for analysis, they would not sift. NASA has been periodically ordering the Lander to shake the soil. And after the 7th try on Tuesday night, enough tiny bits of dirt came loose to fill the analyzer, scientists cheered and clapped. Some now speculate that maybe ice had been holding the soil together in clumps 22, and that the moisture evaporated over the days, letting it break up. One instrument is now ready to bake and analyze the soil. Among other things, researchers will look for organic molecules 23, the type that might be helpful for life. David Kestenbaum, NPR News.

Crude oil futures 24 rose more than five dollars a barrel in New York today.