NPR 2008-04-13

A UN peacekeeper was killed in Port-au-Prince this afternoon, hours after Haitian lawmakers ousted 1 Prime Minister Jacques-Édouard Alexis, following days of deadly violence over soaring food prices. President Rene Preval said he'd immediately move to replace Alexis who came to office two years ago. Preval also said he'd cut the price of rice. Meanwhile, here in Washington today, the head of the International Monetary 2 Fund warned if food prices continue spiraling out of control, hundreds of thousands of people in developing countries might starve. Dominique Strauss-Khan also said the problem could create trade imbalances that begin to affect major advanced economies. 

 Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has dismissed remarks by the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown about the situation in his country. Brown expressed concern about reports of post-election violence in Britain’s former colony. Zimbabwe is still awaiting the results of the presidential ballot 3 two weeks after the vote. From the capital Harare, NPR’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton filed this report.

 Zimbabwe’s main opposition 4 party has accused President Robert Mugabe’s government of unleashing 5 a campaign of violence and fear to intimidate 6 the nation. Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown said such reports were worrisome, and warned that the world was losing patience with President Mugabe. “It’s appalling 7 if there is intimidation 8 and violence. It is completely unacceptable and the whole eyes of the world are upon Zimbabwe now.” A defiant 9 Robert Mugabe, who accuses western governments including the former colonial power of meddling 10 in Zimbabwe’s affairs, shrugged 11 off(固定词组，等于dismiss) the British prime minister’s comments. “If Brown is the world, sure, he will lose patience.(奸笑) But  I know Brown is a little tiny dot, eh, on this planet. Thank you!” (好奸诈。。）Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Harare.

 The head of the Immigration Enforcement Agency hopes a new program will be able to deport 12 hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants serving time in jails. Often in the past, such inmates 13 have fallen through the cracks and simply been released when their sentences are up. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports.

 Homeland Security already has joined programs in some jails and prisons, but Assistant Secretary Julie Myers says she hopes to expand them nationwide. This would give all jails and prisons access to an immigration database. It would deploy 14 immigration officers to more jails and expand a system of interviewing inmates subject to deportation 15 via video conferencing. Myers estimates it would take three and a half years to remove some 400,000 illegal immigrant inmates. Congress has appropriated 200 million dollars, but the total cost is estimated at two to three billion a year. Local law enforcement has long complained that when it does identify illegal immigrants, the overwhelmed federal agency is slow to respond. Homeland Security Agency says its new plan will focus only on the worst offenders 16. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

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 Iranian media report what might have been a bomb exploded in a mosque 17 filled with hundreds of worshippers in the southwest part of the country today. The blast killed at least nine people and wounded more than 100 others. State television reports ambulances rushed to the scene in the ancient city of Shiraz. One hospital official says the death toll 18 is expected to rise because some were critically wounded.

 Victims of last year's Southern California wildfires have banded together to sue a major utility. One hundred and twenty six families say San Diego Gas & Electric is at fault for some of the fires. From member station KPBS in San Diego, Andrew Phelps has this story.

 Power lines downed by Santa Ana winds ignited the Rice, Guejito and Witch fires last October. Those fires killed two people and destroyed more than 1200 homes. The lawsuit 19 says SDG&E was negligent 20 that the utility could have built the power lines farther apart to prevent sparking. SDG&E serves 3.5 million customers in San Diego and Orange counties. A spokeswoman would not discuss particulars of the case, but she says the utility is not necessarily liable just because its power lines started the fires. The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages. An attorney says the families’ losses could reach 50 million dollars. For NPR News, I am Andrew Phelps, in San Diego.

 Senator Barack Obama is admitting his remarks over what he called "bitter" working class voters in small towns across America could have been worded better. He told the Winston-Salem North Carolina Journal that if he offended anyone, he deeply regrets that. Senator Hillary Clinton called Obama’s remarks "elitist and arrogant 21". She hopes to woo voters in Pennsylvania who were Obama supporters.