NPR 2010-05-13

Congressional investigators 1 say three previously 2 undisclosed defects in a critical safety device may have contributed to the massive oil spill in the Gulf 3 of Mexico. The rig was owned by Transocean and leased by energy company BP. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

The problems are in the blowout preventer, a stack of hydraulic 4 rams 6 and seals that sit on the wellhead deep undersea. The device failed to function when a blowout killed 11 workers on the rig, sank the rig itself and caused the still worsening oil spill. At a hearing today, Democratic Congressman 7 Bart Stupak of Michigan said the blowout preventer seemed to be leaking hydraulic fluid from a loose fitting. He said the unit had been modified. A piece of testing equipment had been installed in place of a ram 5 that could have reduced the oil flow and he said the control pod had a dead battery. That would have disabled an emergency backup called a "deadman switch". Peter Overby, NPR News,Washington.

Meanwhile, BP says the new container it's dropped into the Gulf of Mexico has reached the ocean floor, but it's not on top of the gushing 8 pipeline 9. BP says engineers are double-checking that the contraption works. It's intended to sit atop the gushing well and funnel 10 leaking oil straight up to the surface. BP hopes that will make it easier to collect the pipes in a larger dome 11 that were clogged 12 with ice. This time engineers will try to warm up the smaller dome so it will work properly.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited President Obama today at the White House. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports the two men presented a united front at a press conference.

A few weeks ago, Presidents Obama and Karzai were publicly criticizing each other. On this visit, the tone has been completely different. President Obama called the friction 13 between the two men "overstated".

"I'm very comfortable with the strong efforts that President Karzai has made thus far."

And President Karzai returned the assurances.

"The bottom line is that we are much more strongly related to each other today than we ever were before."

Neither man openly discussed the corruption 14 that has dogged to the Karzai government. Karzai said his country will work with the US to make sure American resources going to Afghanistan are spent well and with care. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, the White House.

Officials in Libya say terrorism did not cause the plane crash today in Tripoli. The airbus was coming in for a landing when it went down. More than 100 people are believed dead. One person survived the accident - a Dutch child. Officials in the Netherlands say there were 61 Dutch passengers aboard the flight. There's no word on what may have caused the crash. The weather was good. Air traffic controllers in Europe say ash from Iceland's volcano probably had no role in the incident.

On Wall Street just before the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 150 points. It was at 10,898.

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The share prices of investment bank Morgan Stanley fell about 2.5% in trading today. The Wall Street Journal reports federal prosecutors 15 are investigating the firm. They want to learn whether Morgan Stanley traders misled investors 16 about complicated deals involving derivatives 17. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

The report said the investigation 18 is at an early stage. It involves pools of mortgage-related assets that Morgan Stanley bundled into packages that were then sold by other firms to investors. At the same time, the Journal said Morgan Stanley was also betting against the same investments. The packages were named after Presidents Jackson and Buchanan and traders called them the "Dead Presidents" deals. The allegations are similar to those made against Goldman Sachs by the Securities and Exchange Commission recently. Neither the SEC nor the Justice Department would comment on the report and Morgan Stanley said it had received no indication of any investigation from US officials. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

The federal government says the trade deficit 19 got larger in March. The Commerce Department says it expanded to more than $40 billion. That's a 2.5% increase and the largest monthly gap since December, 2008. American exports increased more than 3%, but Americans imported more expensive items, particularly crude oil. The cost of oil also went up.

Representatives for the Republican National Committee have chosen Tampa as the site for the GOP's 2012 presidential convention. The Florida city beat competitors Salt Lake City and Phoenix 20. The full Republican National Committee must ratify 21 the decision later this year. It's not expected to change.