NPR 2009-07-02

Thousands of helicopter-borne US marines have launched a massive assault in southern Afghanistan's Helmand River valley, a Taliban stronghold and the main source of their cash crop poppies that produce heroin 2. NPR's Tom Bowman joins us now.

"Tom, what can we describe the situation there as being like?"

"Well, 4,000 marines swept in during the dawn hours to capture strategic points along the Helmand River valley. Eventually they'll set up combat outposts and remain to hold the ground. Officers I talk with say it's the biggest Marine 1 combat operation since the battle of Fallujah in Iraq five years ago. Hundreds of British and Afghan troops are also taking part in the operation. Brigade General Larry Nicholson commends the marines. He told his marines several weeks ago they would ride the Taliban forces and not let them go, either kill or capture them."

"Tom, this operation is said to involve as many as 4,000 troops from the second Marine Expeditionary Brigade?"

"That's right. And they came in by helicopters and by vehicles. And essentially 3 they'll just capture key points along the Helmand River valley, and again that's a key Talibian stronghold, and then they'll just stay there for weeks and eventually set up combat outposts there. And what's different now was they have sufficient forces to actually hold the ground, that's something they haven't been able to do before."

"Did we know this operation was coming?"

"Yes, we did. It's been in the planning stages for weeks, I was out at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province a few weeks back. They were doing their combat drills getting ready to go and now it's finally happened."

"All right. Thank you very much. NPR's Tom Bowman joining us live. Once again, to recap, a marine expeditionary force has launched a major operation in Afghanistan’s lower Helmand River valley."

President Obama is again rejecting the idea of the so-called single-payer health care system, saying instead he will favor a plan that preserves private insurers while adding a government-run option. The President's comments came at a town hall meeting in Virginia today.

An industry report out on manufacturing shows that sector 4 is still shrinking in June but at a slower pace than it was earlier this year. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.

The data suggest a slow recovery is under way. The Institute for Supply Management said seven out of / 18 manufacturing categories reported growth last month. Those included petroleum 5 and coal products, printing and wood products. The industries that are still contracting include apparel, furniture and computer and electronics. The institute's index measuring manufacturing activity overall is at its highest level since August of last year. Separate surveys around the world suggest manufacturing in China and Britain are also recovering. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 57 points to end the session at 8,504. The NASDAQ gained 10 points today closing at 1,845. The Standard & Poor's 500 was up four points today closing at 923.

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French officials said the 14-year-old girl who is the only known survivor 6 of the crash of the Yemeni jetliner en route to the island nation of Comoros is now headed back home to Paris. The girl who managed to cling to a piece of wreckage 7 from the jetliner that went down in the waters of the Indian Ocean for some 13 hours, suffered a broken collar bone and bumps and bruises 8, but otherwise appeared in relatively 9 good shape. The Airbus 310 was carrying 153 people when it crashed early Tuesday north of that island nation.

Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden, a familiar face in movies, television and commercials has died in Los Angeles. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates reports.

Malden's craggy face and twice-broken nose showed up in more than 50 movies. He won an Oscar for repeating his stage role as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire. He also played a priest in On The Waterfront, the warden 10 in The Birdman of Alcatraz and General Omar Bradley in Patton. Born Mladen Sekulovic in 1912, Malden didn't speak much English until his family moved from his father's Serbian neighborhood in Chicago to Gary, Indiana, when he was five.  His broken nose later made him a memorable 11 character actor. Malden turned to television in the early 1970s to co-star with Michael Douglas in a successful crime series The Streets of San Francisco. But he will probably be most remembered for this phrase uttered in commercials. "American Express Travelers Cheques. Don't leave home without them." Malden died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97. Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.

It seems even specialty 12 companies like Crabtree & Evelyn which sells lotions 13 and soaps are not immune from the current economic downturn. The Woodstock, Connecticut-based company today filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 14 protection.

I'm Jack 15 Speer, NPR News in Washington.