NPR 2009-06-07

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham.

Thousands of people gathered at an American cemetery 1, overlooking Omaha beach in Normandy, France today to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day. President Obama paid tribute to the courage of the thousands of Allied 2 soldiers who struggled to shore that day under heavy enemy fire. He said the bravery of those troops serves as a model for facing the challenges of the present day.

"For as we face down the hardships and struggles of our time, and arrive at that hour for which we were born, we cannot help but draw strength from those moments in history when the best among us were somehow able to swallow their fears and secure a beachhead on an unforgiving shore."

Mr. Obama was joined at the ceremony by the leaders of France, Britain and Canada as well as a number of D-Day veterans, as Eleanor Beardsley reports.

There is a strong realization 3 here that this will be one of the last years where veterans who took part in the liberation of Normandy will be around to participate in commemorations. Mallefalse Menwise is a member of the town council of Saint Laurent sur Mer, the village overlooking Omaha beach. She says the town planned a big celebration this year.

"For us, it's very important in Normandy, and especially on Omaha beach to have the honor to welcome our liberators. We have a very very special friendship since many many many years."

Menwise says this may be one of the last times the American veterans come over for celebrations in the town. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Saint Laurent sur Mer, Normandy.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has ordered an investigation 4 into a fire at a day-care center yesterday that killed at least 35 children. More than 40 others, most of them children, are hospitalized, many in critical condition. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Mexico City.

Firefighters smashed through the cement walls of the ABC day care Hermosillo Sonora, trying desperately 5 to reach children trapped in the clouds of thick, black smoke. Officials say there were roughly 100 kids inside, ranging from infants to five-year-olds when the blaze engulfed 6 the building. Workers at the facility initially 7 were only able to rescue a few of the children. Parents rushed to the scene and scoured 8 local hospitals, searching for information about their sons and daughters. Officials are checking whether the fire may have started in the tire warehouse 9 next door. President Felipe Calderon has ordered the Mexican Attorney General to open an investigation into the blaze. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Mexico City.

Hundreds of people attended funeral services in Wichita, Kansas today for Dr. George Tiller, a physician who performed abortions 11, who was shot to death in a Lutheran church where he was serving as an usher 12 last Sunday. Speakers at the service called Tiller a passionate 13 and generous man. A 51-year-old abortion 10 opponent is being charged in the shooting.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Two male bodies have been found in the Atlantic Ocean near the area where an Air France jetliner disappeared from air traffic control radar 14 screens last Sunday night. Searchers also found a suitcase and a blue seat with the serial 15 number matching that of the Airbus jet. But the BBC's Gary Duffy says officials in Brazil, where the plane took off, are not jumping to conclusions.

"The discovery of bodies, will, I think be seen by the authorities here as a grim confirmation 16 that they have come across the site where the plane may have come down, but obviously we'll want more detail and more confirmation there was this, as you say, this confusion earlier in the weekend. A cargo 17 pallet was recovered from the water and was thought initially to have come from the plane, and then this turned out to be incorrect, but so this is why I think when referring to the debris 18, they say they've got an identifiable serial number, but they'll wait until they hear from Air France for certain." The BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo.

There's been no official word yet from North Korea about the trial of two American journalists believed to have gone on trial this week. The proceeding 19 is carried behind closed doors. From Seoul, Doualy Xaykaothao has the story.

Both had been detained mid-March from the China-North Korean border while reporting on the trafficking of North Korean women into China. North Korea in previous reports accused the women of illegally entering the North with unspecified hostile acts. Family members of the two journalists have given an indirect, public apology to the North this past week, saying the girls left the US with no intention of travelling into North Korea. For NPR News, I'm Doualy Xaykaothao in Seoul.

The family of actor David Carradine is asking the FBI to help investigate his death. His body was found hanging in a hotel room in Bangkok this week.