NPR 2010-05-03

New York City police are searching for a white man in his 40s who may have been behind a failed car bombing in Times Square last night. They're poring over hundreds of hours of video surveillance from the area. The device was found in a Nissan Pathfinder with a license 1 plate from a truck found in a junk yard. Police Commissioner 2 Raymond Kelly says so far, there is no evidence of a Taliban connection.

"Although a Taliban bomb maker 3 has claimed on the Internet that the car bomb was placed in Times Square to avenge 4 the deaths of Mujahideen fighters, we have no evidence to support this claim. Another claim of responsibility emailed to a local news organization is being investigated."

Authorities say the bomb began to detonate last night but never exploded.

President Obama's spending the day on the front lines of an oil spill clean-up that's shaping up to be a bigger environmental threat than BP initially 5 thought. The company's chairman says BP's safety record did not play a role in the drilling rig explosion that triggered that spill. Near Venice, Louisiana, NPR's Cheryl Corley has details.

There's been little success stopping the flow from BP's ruptured 6 well on the floor of the sea near the Louisiana coast. And BP Chairman Lamar McKay says it's uncertain how much oil has been released despite estimates of 5,000 barrels a day. During an appearance on ABC('s) "This Week", McKay said the accident did not happen because of lead safety measures. He blamed it on a failed piece of equipment, a blowout preventer which apparently 7 malfunctioned 8. McKay says BP is throwing every resource the company has at trying to plug a well that's a mile beneath the sea.

"As you can imagine, this is like doing open-heart surgery at 5,000 feet in the dark with robot-controlled submarines."

McKay says a containment 9 dome 10 that could be placed over the well is expected to be deployed 11 in six to eight days, but it's uncertain when that will become operational. Cheryl Corley, NPR News.

Top officials in the Obama administration continue their attacks on Arizona's new immigration law, but a proponent 12 is warning of disinformation. More from NPR's Allison Keyes.

Former Arizona Governor and now Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says she thinks the law "certainly could invite profiling" and she thinks it's the wrong way to go. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells NBC's "Meet the Press" the law definitely invites racial profiling.

"I don't think there's any doubt about that because clearly, as I understand the way the law is being explained. If you're a legal resident, you still have to carry papers. Well, how is a law enforcement official supposed to know?"

But former Arizona Republican Congressman 13 J.D. Hayworth, a current candidate for the US Senate, says the law's designed to enforce federal law. Hayworth calls allegations of the law as racist 14 in nature overblown rhetoric 15 that's meant to move this from a question of enforcement to one of ethnicity.

This is NPR.

The Associated Press reports Tennessee's governor is confirming seven deaths from this weekend's storms. The extent of flood damage is still unknown. The flood's already forced evacuation of hundreds of homes and western Tennessee was expecting several more inches of rain today.

Under the weight of heavy debt, Greece is announcing sharp pay cuts and tax hikes. In Athens, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli explains new austerity measures are key to Greece getting an unprecedented 16 multi-billion-euro rescue package from the European Union and the International Monetary 17 Fund.

In a somber 18 setting, Prime Minister George Papandreou addressed the nation on live TV. Visibly tired after weeks of pounding by the markets and rating agencies, Papandreou called on Greeks to make great sacrifices in order to avoid bankruptcy 19. Later, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou detailed 20 some of the new austerity measures. He said savings 21 of nearly $40 billion through 2012 would be achieved through public sector 22 wage and pension cuts, higher taxes and streamlining government. Civil servants and pensioners 23' annual bonuses will be capped. Taxes on alcohol, tobacco and gasoline will be raised and the top bracket sales tax will rise to 23%. Trade union leaders harshly criticized the new measures and then call for a general strike on Wednesday in protest. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Athens.

More reports today of violence out of Afghanistan. Authorities say there was a bomb attack on a minivan south of the capital. The Associated Press reports at least seven people were killed in the roadside blast in a Taliban stronghold. More than a dozen people are said to be injured.