NPR 2011-03-01

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The UN General Assembly plans to vote on a unanimous call from the Human Rights Council to suspend Libya's membership as pressure mounts for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the body today in Geneva, where she warned members that Gaddafi's departure alone won't be enough to protect Libya. She said Libya would need protection from what she called anti-democratic forces. NPR's Michele Kelemen raised the issue of a post-Gaddafi Libya with Secretary Clinton.

The Libyan government, such as it is, was really built around him. What are you worried about in a post-Gaddafi government or a post-Gaddafi scene?

"Well, we're worried that there isn't any institutional support for what comes next. Unfortunately, he did a quite thorough job in destroying and discrediting 1 all the institutions that one would expect to see in a state. Look at the difference between Egypt and Libya. The military in Egypt played a very constructive 2 role in navigating 3 through the protests. It is still managing a government. Gaddafi made sure he didn't have a strong military that had any respect of the people. So we are very conscious of the uncertainty 4 that lies beyond Gaddafi."

Secretary Clinton in an interview with NPR's Michele Kelemen in Geneva.

Rebels in eastern Libya are getting a boost from France. The French government says it's flying in two planeloads of medical aid to Benghazi, which is under the control of an opposition 5 trying to oust 6 Gaddafi. France says the aid is part of a broader effort to avoid an influx 7 of Libyan refugees across the Mediterranean 8. It's also calling on the European Union to collectively respond to the risk of uncontrolled migration 9 from North Africa to Europe.

There's a federal criminal indictment 10 now in that mine disaster in West Virginia last year in which 29 mine workers died. NPR's Howard Berkes reports that the charges involve a Massey Energy security chief and alleged 11 attempts to obstruct 12 a federal criminal investigation 13.

The indictment unsealed in West Virginia today accuses the security chief of the Upper Big Branch mine of lying to federal investigators 14 and facilitating the destruction of evidence. Sixty-year-old Hughie Stover allegedly told an FBI agent that security guards at the Massey Energy mine did not warn mine workers when federal mine safety inspectors 15 arrived. In fact, the indictment says, Stover himself instructed his guards to issue the warnings, which give miners the chance to fix or mask violations 16 before citations 17 can be written. Stover is also charged with causing the disposal of thousands of pages of security documents and intending to impede 18 the investigation. This is the first indictment in the Upper Big Branch probe. Howard Berkes, NPR News.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 34 points at 12,168.

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Consumer Reports says Ford 19 cars and trucks are making more quality and reliability 20 gains against their rivals from overseas. The magazine says General Motor's vehicles are also improving while Chrysler has a few good new products and many older unreliable ones in its fleet. As NPR's Paul Brown reports, the nonprofit Consumers Union testing group says Toyota continues to slide.

Consumer Reports auto 21 testing director David Champion says Ford is improving noticeably.

"Ford has come up with a number of good products that we have tested and have performed very well. And over the last sort of five to eight years, their reliability has steadily 22 improved till they're getting close to where Toyota is."

Champion says Toyota, which has struggled with massive recalls, is still a very good carmaker, but its reliability and quality are not as good as they were. Overall, Toyota now gets a third-place rating behind Honda and Subaru. The Consumer Reports' pickup 24 Top Family Sedan this year comes from yet another Japanese maker 23. It's the Nissan Altima. Champion says most German cars are below average in reliability. He calls the new Volkswagen Jetta disappointing. Paul Brown, NPR News.

Wildfires burning in West Texas and the Panhandle could move south. They've swept 121,000 acres so far. Authorities say several dozen homes near Amarillo were destroyed. The fires are threatening several other communities. Texas Forest Service spokesman Lewis Kearney says critical areas today stretch from Austin to San Antonio to Houston because of warm temperatures, dry conditions and low humidity. Heavy smoke from the fires was an apparent factor in at least one highway death.