NPR 2010-08-06

Senate lawmakers have confirmed US Solicitor 1 General Elena Kagan to the US Supreme 2 Court. NPR's Audie Cornish reports the vote was 63-37.

Elena Kagan is the first female solicitor general, and now she'll be one of three women sitting on the United States Supreme Court. Over the last week, Republicans raised questions about what her position is likely to be on gunowners' rights, abortion 3 and her lack of judicial 4 experience. Democrats 5, such as Senator Chris Dodd, dismissed those concerns.

"And Solicitor General Kagan's impressive list of career accomplishments 6 and extensive base of legal knowledge will, I believe, hopefully put those unfounded doubts over her experience to rest."

But there was no effort to filibuster 7 the nominee 8, and more than enough Republicans crossed party lines to approve her confirmation 9. Audie Cornish, NPR News, the Capitol.

Police are on the scene of a deadly crash involving dozens of high school students in Gray Summit, Missouri, west of St. Louis. Two school buses carrying members of a high school band, a tractor-trailer and a pickup 10 truck were involved. Corporal Jeff Wilson with Missouri State Highway Patrol says two people died.

"They have, we believe, one fatality 11 in the GMC pickup and one fatality in the first bus."

The Associated Press reports the fatality on the bus was a girl. Dozens of other students were taken to the hospital. Most of the injuries are not life-threatening though.

BP has finished pumping cement into its blown-out well in the Gulf 12 of Mexico, according to the federal official who oversees 13 the effort. NPR's Richard Harris reports the job didn't take long.

National Incident Commander Thad Allen told NPR that BP was moving along with the next steps.

"Well, we basically have the cement in the well right now. A very interesting procedure's going on. It's called 'squeezing'. And then what they do is they put some fluid into the well above the cement, and then they put mud behind it, and then they compress it."

Compressing the cement helps push it into nooks and crannies and helps the curing process. Once the cement is cured, BP can then continue drilling its relief well, which has about 100 feet to go. BP can pump in more cement through the relief well. Richard Harris, NPR News.

The Justice Department is charging 14 people in the US with providing support for the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabab. Attorney General Eric Holder 14 says the charges reflect a disturbing trend in this country of youth being recruited.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell testifying in the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor recalls getting 'dirty stones' from unidentified men back in 1997, but says she had no idea if they come from Taylor. Campbell was subpoenaed 15 to appear in The Hague where prosecutors 16 say Taylor received rough diamonds in exchange for supporting rebels in Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war.

On Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average down five points at 10,675, NASDAQ down 11 at 2,293, S&P 500 down one at 1,126.

This is NPR.

The Pentagon is demanding that the online whistle-blower Wikileaks return some 15,000 classified documents on the Afghanistan war. We have the latest from NPR's Tom Bowman.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters the website should do the right thing and return thousands of documents. Morrell said the Pentagon is pursuing other options if the website fails to comply, although he declined to answer a question about possible legal action. Last month, Wikileaks released some 91,000 government documents about Afghanistan, spanning 2004 to 2009 and detailing problems with the progress of the war. Top Pentagon officials harshly criticized that release, saying the documents included the names of Afghans who were helping 17 US and allied 18 troops. Officials said those Afghans could face reprisals 19 from the Taliban. Wikileaks says it wants help from the Pentagon in removing names of Afghan sources in any future document releases. Tom Bowman, NPR News, the Pentagon.

A suicide bomber 20 strikes a convoy 21 of NATO and Afghan security forces in northern Afghanistan today, killing 22 seven police officers and wounding nearly a dozen. The Associated Press reports that NATO is acknowledging Afghan civilian 23 deaths today as well during fighting between coalition 24 forces and the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan.

About half a million people living along a swollen 25 river in southern Pakistan are being evacuated 26. Many more are still stranded 27 in the northwestern region after a recent monsoon 28 blocked roads and cut communication lines. US Army helicopters are helping Pakistan conduct relief missions in remote villages of Swat Valley. About 1,600 people have died over the past week.