NPR 2011-03-29

Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Tripoli is under heavy bombardment, the biggest attack in the capital since western operations began last week. NPR’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro tells us it comes after several nights of quiet.

There were several large explosions here in Tripoli with airstrikes hitting locations here we’re not exactly certain where and then anti-aircraft gunfire rattling 1 into the air, this after several nights of relative quiet here and no airstrikes in Tripoli. We’re also here in it and there are airstrikes now in the town of Sirte. This is Gaddafi’s stronghold. It is well reinforced, and it is what keeps the rebels from advancing into the west. So it is a very key location, and we hear the rebels are massing at the edge of Sirte and the coalition 2 aircraft are now bombing the city.

NPR’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Tripoli.

NATO says it will take command of all military operations in Libya from the US-led force, including ground operations, to protect civilians 3. NATO ambassadors reached agreement today on a plan that expands the mission they previously 4 agreed on to enforce the UN arms embargo 5 and ‘no-fly’ zone.

In Yemen, Islamist militants 6 are clashing with government forces in a southern town as the political stalemate between anti-government activists 7 and President Ali Abdullah Saleh continues unresolved. Islamist militants seized a weapons factory in the town of Jar by Abyan province seen as a stronghold of al-Qaida and the Arabian Peninsula. Western officials are concerned that Yemen’s political turmoil 8 may create a vacuum that al-Qaeda will fill.

Japanese officials are apologizing for reports early today that radioactivity at its damaged Fukushima nuclear plant was 10 million times higher than normal. Tokyo Electric Power Company says the reading was inaccurate 9. Still, it has slowed work to cool the overheated reactors 10 when emergency workers left the scene. Meanwhile, NPR’s Jason Beaubien is in northeast Japan and says the tunami’s devastation 11 has left many Japanese citizens unsure about where they are going to live.

Certainly, people are concerned that they may never be able to return to some of the towns closest to the nuclear plant. Other people still seem to be optimistic. Some people even told me that they hope in 10 or 15 days to be able to move to some of the towns that are 20-mile-away zone. It’s very much a mixed response on that. One thing that is interesting is that both the people themselves and local officials are trying to move people into shelters and keeping them as communities, keeping neighborhoods together, keeping towns together so that all the people from one town are all together in one shelter. So, that is helping 13 people, I think, feel like they’d still got a sense of community.

NPR’s Jason Beaubien in Japan.

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British union leaders are condemning 14 violence by some protesters during yesterday’s rally in London. Tens of thousands of mostly peaceful demonstrators protested deep cuts in government programs. But as Larry Miller 15 reports from the British capital, police fought running skirmishes throughout much of the day and into this morning.

Into the middle of the night, police in riot gear fought with around 500 protesters at Trafalgar Square. Their objective was to contain the violence to prevent it spreading further into London’s western amphitheater and tourist center. Earlier in the day, small groups of protesters attacked stores, banks and the upmarket Ritz Hotel. Painted small bombs were thrown, windows were smashed. Scotland Yard commander Bob Broadhurst told Sky News police are also attacked. “We have had quite a lot of horrible things around police officers, including light balls with a minor 16 rint hem 12, petrol bombs. There were more than 200 arrests.” For NPR news, I’m Larry Miller in London.

Potential Republican contenders for the 2012 presidential race are laying some groundwork. At an Iowa forum 17 last night, Mississippi governor Haley Barbour accused the Obama administration of being out of touch with the vast majority of Americans. “This administration too often thinks that we’re too stupid to take care of ourselves, that we’re not up to, that we need somebody from Washington to tell us what kind of health insurance policy that we have, to tell us  how to do everything that we do.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the next presidential election will move the country back to the center of right.