NPR 2008-05-03

Turkish warplanes launched overnight air raids against suspected Kurdish separatist targets in the mountains of northern Iraq. NPR’s Ivan Watson has this report from Baghdad.

 Shortly before midnight on Thursday, Turkish warplanes began bombing the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq. For years, Kurdish PKK rebels have operated out of camps on these remote peaks located along Iraq’s border with Iran. The Turkish bombing rounds came just hours after a meeting between a high-ranking Turkish diplomat 1 and leaders of the regional government in semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. It was the first meeting of its kind between the Turks and the Iraqi Kurds since the US invasion of Iraq. Turkey has repeatedly accused the Iraqi Kurds of supporting PKK rebels which the Turks call “terrorists”. It has also threatened to go to war with the autonomous-minded Iraqi Kurds if they declare independence from Baghdad. Ivan Watson, NPR News, Baghdad.

 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in London, and there she has expressed some fresh concerns over Iran’s nuclear intentions. Larry Miller 2 has more from London.

 Secretary Rice says she continues to doubt Iran’s nuclear program is designed for civil purposes. Rice is in London for meetings with other members of the UN Security Council to discuss the next round of sanctions that may be imposed on Teheran. She says Iran’s insistence 3 that it be allowed to enrich uranium is at cross purposes with the goal of developing a civil nuclear program, adding one has to wonder what’s going on here. So far, the incentives 4 offered to Iran to drop its nuclear program haven’t achieved that objective. Rice says some of her Security Council colleagues might want to sweeten the incentives further. She says she’ll look again at the package, which she describes as “already generous”. For NPR News, I’m Larry Miller, in London.

 Unemployment figures for April are due out this morning as are data on factory orders for March. And against yesterday’s backdrop of higher prices for energy and basic goods, President Bush is scheduled to talk about the economy today in St. Louis. He’s to tour a minority-owned technology company that, the White House says, has benefited from tax breaks in the new economic stimulus 5 package passed by Congress. Rebates 6 are going out to individuals under that program and Mr. Bush says they will help to get the economy going in the right direction. But many economists 7 say the higher prices for fuel, food and other items as reported yesterday by the government may eat up the rebates without much effect.

 Congress is still working to come up with an Iraq war spending bill that President Bush will sign. Senate Majority Leader Harry 8 Reid says negotiators are trying to finish a bill by Memorial Day. But he says the Pentagon can pay for wars into June if need be. The president is asking for 108 billion dollars.

 Wall Street’s stock futures 9 are mixed this morning. This is NPR News.

 After its troubled journey around the world, the Olympic torch relay has been welcomed by tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong. It’s the first stop on Chinese soil for the torch. NPR’s Louisa Lim has this report from Hong Kong.

 Waving Chinese flags and dressed in red to show their patriotism 10, tens of thousands of Hong Kong people came out to welcome the Olympic Flame. But the torch’s journey was not without some tension. Crowds heckled and jostled activists 11, some of whom had to be taken away by police for their own safety. Hong Kong is generally a city tolerant to protestors. But this time, the authorities had barred several activists from entering. Actress Mia Farrow was allowed into the city where she gave a talk accusing China of underwriting human rights abuses in Sudan. She wants Beijing to use its influence on Khartoum to stop the violence in the Darfur region. Louisa Lim, NPR News, Hong Kong.

 Envoys 12 of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, are headed to China tomorrow for talks with government officials. These are the first such talks since peaceful protests and violent riots rocked Tibet and Tibetan areas of China Proper/proper beginning last month. A message at the Dalai Lama’s website says the envoys would raise with the Chinese government the Dalai Lama’s concerns about the situation in Tibet and make suggestions for solving the Tibet issue. The two sides have held six rounds of talks since 2002, but the Dalai Lama says very few substantial results have been achieved.

 And Israeli police were due to question Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today on suspicion of corruption 13. He’s never been charged in any cases.