NPR 2010-11-11

British police say a mail bomb intercepted 1 last month at an English airport could have exploded in flight over the US East Coast. Scotland Yard says in a statement that the bomb could have gone off on Friday, October 29th, if it had not been found and removed from a cargo 2 plane. Police say forensic 3 evidence shows the bomb was sent from Yemen. British and US officials say terrorists hid bombs inside printer parts and addressed them to locations in Chicago.

Palestinians are requesting an urgent UN Security Council meeting to address the issue of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank in East Jerusalem. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from Jerusalem that the move is a response to Israel's announcement this week that it's approved building 1,300 new Jewish housing units in Arab East Jerusalem.

Despite American and Palestinian condemnation 4 of the plans for the new housing in East Jerusalem, Israel is defending the move. A statement by the prime minister's office released today said that Israel will continue to build in what it considers its capital city, and that Jerusalem is not a settlement. In response, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has requested that the Security Council become involved, demanding an urgent session be convened 5. Peace talks are at a standstill. Palestinians say they won't return to the negotiating table until Israel stops Jewish building on lands they want for a future state. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tomorrow to discuss moving the negotiations 6 forward. Those talks are expected to be tense. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Jerusalem.

The Pew Environment Group says the US should pay close attention to the prospect 7 of oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean off the Alaska Coast. Oil companies want to explore there, but in a new report out today, Pew says the safety and environmental challenges in the Arctic are even more daunting 8 than in the Gulf 9 of Mexico, which was the site of the giant Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Marilyn Heiman directs Pew's US Arctic Program and she joins us now. Thanks.

"Hi.""The Deepwater Horizon spill revealed some big challenges in responding to a well blowout. What do you believe makes the situation in the Arctic even more challenging?""Well, the Arctic Ocean in Alaska is extremely remote. The closest Coast Guard station is a thousand miles away. And, you know, the ocean has moving sea ice, subzero temperatures, brutal 10 storms, um, seas reaching 30 feet at times."“And with this very hostile weather briefly 11, what do you think needs to happen, if underwater Arctic drilling is approved?”

"Well, we believe there's still much to do to ensure that there's enough equipment and trained personnel to be available to respond to a worst-case spill in these conditions."Thank you very much. That’s Marilyn Heiman of the Pew Environment Group.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

President Obama is focusing on jobs and trade ahead of the G20 economic summit in South Korea that starts tomorrow. He appears to refer to China when he calls on countries to let their currency values adjust naturally in world markets.

"You're seeing some countries run up very big surpluses and intervening significantly in the currency markets to maintain their advantage when it comes to their currency."Some countries are now objecting to US plans to pour more money into its economy to spur job growth. They say that will artificially lower the value of the dollar and make their exports to the US more expensive.

The government says the number of Americans without health insurance is now nearly 47 million. That's up about 7% from 2006 in a new study.

Tina Fey, the star of NBC's "30 Rock" series, is the winner of this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports, Fey is the only the third woman to win the prestigious 12 award.

In a speech at the Kennedy Center, Tina Fey expressed her gratitude 13.

"I would be a liar 14 and an idiot if I didn't thank Sarah Palin for helping 15 get me here tonight. My partial resemblance and her crazy voice are the two luckiest things that have ever happened to me."Fey is the youngest person to receive the Mark Twain Prize. She is 40 years old and she is the third woman after Lily Tomlin and Whoopi Goldberg. Still, the former head writer for "Saturday Night Live" and the creator of the show "30 Rock" joked that she wasn't worthy 16, that her win came only because of Betty White’s disqualification for steroid use. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.