NPR 2010-06-08

It has been an especially bloody 1 day for American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Five American soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan, at least two other Americans died in a separate attack today. The alliance is suffering a loss of three other troops from other countries in what may have been the deadliest day this year for international forces so far.

Eleven thousand barrels of oil - that's how much BP says it captured from the runaway 2 well on Sunday, but there is still lots of oil spewing into the Gulf 3 of Mexico. We have more on this from NPR's Richard Harris.

The oil collection system installed last week improved a little bit between Saturday and Sunday, though it doesn't seem to have the capacity to collect as much oil as is spewing from the broken well. The ship that's processing the oil and gas at the surface can handle 15,000 barrels a day, and BP is now preparing to put in place a second ship that can handle another 5,000 barrels. Still experts say that the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf could easily exceed 20,000 barrels a day, so the government says BP is now starting to move a rig from the North Sea over to the Gulf of Mexico in order to handle the flow of oil from the broken well. Admiral Thad Allen says it could take a couple of weeks to get that in position. Richard Harris, NPR News.

Eurasian and Middle East leaders have been attending a security summit in Turkey while Israel was represented by a lower rank diplomat 4. Israel is facing more diplomatic fire for its confrontation 5 with a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last week in which nine people were killed.

Veteran White House journalist Helen Thomas is retiring and has apologized after a firestorm of criticism over recent remarks about Israel. NPR's David Folkenflik reports on Thomas's controversial departure following a trailblazing career.

Helen Thomas is just shy of her 90th birthday, and she has covered every American president since John F. Kennedy. The increasingly acerbic 6 reporter became an opinion columnist 7 for Hearst Newspapers when she left the atrophying 8 United Press International wire service in 2000. At a recent Jewish heritage celebration at the White House, Thomas, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, told an interviewer that Israeli should "get the hell out of Palestine."

"Where is their home?"

"Poland, Germany."

So the Jews, you think Jews should go back to Poland and Germany.

The vast majority of Polish and German Jews were killed in the Holocaust 9, and an outrage 10 at video of her remarks led her speaking agent to drop her in widespread criticism. On Monday, both White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and the White House Correspondents' Association condemned 11 her too. By midday, Hearst announced Thomas's retirement 12. David Folkenflik, NPR News.

World stock markets rattled 13 again today by the ongoing 14 European debt crisis, and it's certainly affecting US stocks. At last check, Dow was down more than 100 at 9,816.

This is NPR.

In a few days, a nurses strike could turn into the largest of its kind in the US. More than 24,000 nurses in Minnesota and California are preparing to hold a one-day walkout this Thursday after contract talks broke down.

A new study measures the severity of mental disorders 16 such as PTSD and depression among soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's published in the Archives of General Psychiatry 17. NPR's Alix Spiegel reports.

According to the study, between 8% and 14% of service members who have been to Iraq and Afghanistan returned seriously disabled by mental health problems like posttraumatic stress disorder 15 and depression. Between 23% and 31% returned with some impairment, that is, they are struggling but essentially 18 still able to function. To do the study, psychiatrists 19 from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research collected over 18,000 anonymous 20 surveys from service members. The surveys were taken at both three months and 12 months after they returned from service abroad. Alix Spiegel, NPR News, Washington.

New diplomatic tension looms 21 over Poland's investigation 22 into April's plane crash in which the Polish president and 95 other people were killed in Russia. Authorities in Warsaw say credit cards belonging to a member of the Polish delegation 23 were stolen from the crash site and that Russia was questioning four soldiers. However, Moscow denies there was a theft or that service members were in custody 24.

Again investors 25 are increasingly worried that Europe's debt crisis could be reaching Hungary, and that together with a new four-year-low for the euro has really hit stock markets. Last check, the Dow was down 116 points.