NPR 2010-03-14

A series of explosions including suicide blasts is blamed in at least 27 deaths in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar today. Authorities say more than 50 people are wounded. The biggest attack was on a prison. Officials believe insurgents 1 may have been trying to free fellow militants 2. Another explosion occurred near the residence of President Hamid Karzai’s half brother Ahmad Wali Karzai; he heads Kandahar’s provincial 3 council.

There’s still no word on who’s behind today’s suicide attack in northwest Pakistan where at least 11 people were killed. The blast was the second major strike in Pakistan in less than 24 hours.

The latest tally 4 of votes in Iraq’s parliamentary elections shows Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki leading in the crucial province of Baghdad. NPR’s Quil Lawrence reports the results are still preliminary, with less than 30% of the votes counted.

Baghdad is Iraq's most populated province and a key battleground between the three leading electoral slates 5. Despite high-profile bombings here over the past six months, it appears that Prime Minister Maliki’s claim of improved security has won over residents of the capital, though it will still take days, if not weeks, to certify 6 the results. Difficulty with the computer system have put Iraq’s election results at least a few days behind schedule. Several candidates charged series of irregularities in last Sunday’s nationwide poll, but international observers say the problems are not severe enough to affect the outcome. Maliki is expected to get the most individual votes, but it’s unlikely he'll win an outright 7 majority. And political party horse-trading may still turn Maliki out of office in favor of a compromised candidate in the months to come. Quil Lawrence, NPR News, Baghdad.

Thousands of anti-government protesters in Thailand, many of them wearing red shirts in support of the former prime minister were flocking to the capital. They’re demanding new elections in that country.

In the US, the storm that’s drenching 8 much of the Mid-Atlantic threatens flooding in several major cities. Mary Karmis Jordan reports Philadelphians are among those exasperated 9 with a difficult winter.

Ask those who live in the Delaware Valley about the latest weather event and you might hear: Thank heaven, it’s not snowing. But the heavy rain and high wind forecasts for today are not to be treated lightly. Meteorologists are calling for totals of two to four inches of rain, some spots possibly seeing five inches. Those of us who finally got to clear trees and branches downed by February snows will probably be out there again next week. Winds today will be gusty 10, especially down the Jersey 11 shore. And the grounds are saturated 12, meaning, according to the experts, vulnerable trees might topple, power outages are being reported and there have been some delays and cancelations at Philadelphia International Airport, but there are also flights that are on time. The system begins the clear-up locally overnight and then the clean-up begins again. For NPR News, I’m Mary Karmis Jordan in Philadelphia.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

President Obama’s weekly address tackles reform in education. He’s proposing a redo of the No Child Left Behind law which was passed during the Bush administration. The president talks about the need to make American students more competitive with young people abroad. He’s expected to send a blueprint 13 to Congress on Monday. This is that president also tries to push through other major initiatives on jobs, financial regulatory reform and healthcare.

The US has no plans to Americanize the conflict in Somalia. Those words this week from a top US diplomat 14 who denies that the US is helping 15 Somalia’s government fight a group on a US terrorism blacklist. We have more on this from NPR’s Michele Kelemen.

While the US supports Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government or TFG, Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson says the US is not directly helping it fight the al-Shabab militia 16.

"We do not have any American US military advisors 17 on the ground. We’re not planning coordinating 18 any of the TFG’s military operations."

Carson says the US has provided about $185 million to support African Union peacekeepers in Somalia. And the US remains 19 a major supplier of food aid, though the UN agency that handles that has had to suspend much of it for security reasons. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

The Vatican today is defending Pope Benedict XVI against claims that he tried to hide abuses by the clergy 20 in Germany. Today, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio that attempts to link Benedict to an alleged 21 cover-up have failed.

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.