NPR 2010-05-04

Law enforcement officials who are investigating car bombing attempt in New York City tell NPR they believe the evidence is starting to point to an international plot. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports.

Two people close to the case say they believe that several people were behind the attempted Times Square car bombing and they appeared to have received some guidance from abroad. The officials declined to be more specific and cautioned that it's still very early in the investigation 1 to draw any definitive 2 conclusions. That said, they say so far, the evidence seems to rule out the work of right-wing extremists. Investigators 3 are following a number of leads. They've spoken to the person who the SUV was registered to. And now, they're looking for the man who actually was driving the car on Saturday night. They're also asking that the two men caught on videotape near the site of the attack come forward. Officials say they aren't suspects, but they'd like to interview them anyway. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News, New York.

The White House says the US delegation 4 at a nuclear conference at the United Nations walked out of a speech today given by Iran's president. The White House says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks were full of wild accusations 5. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns Iran is only trying to distract attention away from its own behavior. Iran is again rejecting charges from the United States and other countries Iran's developing a nuclear weapon.

Energy company BP is offering some assurance the corporation will compensate 6 fishermen and others whose livelihood 7 is damaged by the growing oil spill in the Gulf 8 of Mexico. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

The Obama administration is vowing 9 to make certain that BP pays not only for the costs of cleaning up the oil flowing from a damaged deepwater well but also those who lose income because of the spill. The president met Sunday with fishermen and local officials in Louisiana and talked about setting up an efficient process for handling claims. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says compensation is called for under federal law.

"BP is the responsible party, right? So if local fishermen can't fish, that's an economic loss that BP's going to have to pay."

Over the weekend, the government closed a large swath of the Gulf to fishing for at least ten days. BP has so far been unable to seal off the well. It's expected to take another week or so to install a system for capturing the spilled oil and pumping it to the surface. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

At least 21 people have died in the South over the past few days from bad weather. Tornadoes 10, flooding, torrential rain and hail had pelted 11 Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. The Cumberland River is above flood stage in Nashville and Tennessee officials worry more people will be killed as water flows into the city. Residents are being asked to boil water because one treatment plant is flooded and shut down.

On Wall Street before the close, the Dow Jones industrials were up 144 points at 11,153.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

Among the several types of antidepressants available to patients, no one drug is more likely to be linked to suicidal thoughts and actions than another. NPR's Joanne Silberner has more.

A few years ago, questions were raised about a possible link between suicides and a group of antidepressants called SSRIs, drugs like Prozac and Zoloft. The US Food and Drug Administration told doctors and patients to be alert for suicidal thoughts with any kind of antidepressant, not just SSRIs. Now, Canadian researchers have analyzed 12 the records of 288,000 people on antidepressants. Less than 0.3% of them attempted or completed suicide. The findings published in the Archives of General Psychiatry 13 back up the FDA decision. No one class of drugs is more likely to lead to suicidal thoughts and actions than another and no single SSRI is riskier 14 than another. The analysis did not address the question of whether or to what degree antidepressants are related to suicide. Joanne Silberner, NPR News.

The Greek workers will strike tomorrow to protest cuts in government spending. Greek officials agreed to impose significant cuts in wages, pensions and other spending to win loans from the European Union and the International Monetary 15 Fund. Greece faces bankruptcy 16. Greek unions say they don't want to bear the brunt for decisions made by the government.

Thailand's prime minister says he'll set national elections for mid-November, but Prime Minister Abhisit says this can only happen if anti-government protestors accept a plan of national reconciliation 17 and if peace returns to Thailand. Protestors have paralyzed the Thai capital, Bangkok, for weeks, demanding the prime minister step down.