NPR 2009-04-27

The acting 1 head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Richard Besser, says there have been 20 confirmed cases of swine flu so far in the US. All 20 people have recovered and only 1 required hospitalization. "It looks to be the same virus as it is causing the situation in Mexico. And given the reports out of Mexico, I would expect that over time, we're gonna see more severe disease in this country. " Besser says CDC investigators 2 are hard at work tracking the spread of the virus in the US.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has declared a public health emergency which she called standard operating procedure given the uncertainty 3 of the situation. "We are leaning forward. We are preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged that the outbreak is serious. "We are taking the proper precautions to address anything that happens. It's not a time to panic, then I think that's important to understand. It's also important to understand that the President is being kept aware every few hours of the developments that are going on. " Gibbs was on NBC’s Meet the Press

The World Bank is giving Mexico more than 200 million dollars in loans to help deal with this swine flu outbreak there. Hundreds of Mexicans have been sickened by the virus and at least 20 people have died. Canada has confirmed 6 cases of this swine flu. Dan Karpenchuk has more.

Nova Scotia's Chief Public Health officer Dr. Robert Strang says the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg has confirmed that 4 young people are recovering from mild cases of this swine flu. The students between the ages of 12 and 18 are all from the same high school and had recently travelled to Mexico's Yokotan Peninsula. Strang says no one needed to be hospitalized and there have been no severe cases such as those seen in Mexico. He also said that the Canadians, who had fallen ill with this swine flu, have so far only had very mild symptoms. And British Colombia Center for Disease Control confirmed 2 cases in people who had also recently returned from Mexico. Health officials say it's likely to be just a matter of time before more cases appear in Canada. They say 600, 000 people a year travel between Canada and Mexico. For NPR news, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Lebanon today meeting with officials there. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Secretary Clinton came to Beirut as it prepares for parliamentary elections in June. She said that she wanted to show support for Lebanon's independence and send a message that people here should be allowed to vote in these elections without outside interference. One of her aides said that the Lebanon is one of the places that the US needs to reassure 4 that the US diplomatic overture 5 to Iran and Syria won't come at Lebanon's expense. The Secretary is making an appointed visit in the place where former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in 2005. That was an attack they galvanized the popular movement that forced Syrian troops out of Lebanon.

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Iraq's Prime Minister is demanding that the US hand over to face trial the officers responsible for a raid against alleged 6 militants 7 in a southern Shiite city. At least one bystander was killed. The military says it properly notified Iraq in advance of the raid.

Pakistan's military says it has launched a new offensive against Taliban militants in the country's northwest province in an area that borders the militant 8 field, Swat valley. From Islamabad, NPR's Julie McCarthy has the story.

The army issued a statement, saying it started operations early Sunday morning against what it called militant hideouts in the district known as Lower Dir. The military said the attack by Pakistan's frontier core which was reported to include helicopter gunships, killed 30 militants including an important local commander. One Pakistani security member died in the clash. The army says it was launched after the provincial 9 government in a restive 10 area asked for help. It was not possible to immediately verify the details in the remote dangerous area but Lower Dir has been known to be a crossing for militants coming from Pakistan's tribal 11 frontier. Losing Dir to extremists will be a significant loss not only for Pakistan but also the United States. Lower Dir borders Afghanistan where the US is deploying 12 thousands more troops to shore up its protracted 13 war against Al-Qaeda and its associates. Julie McCarthy, NPR News, Islamabad.

Gasoline prices have mainly held steady over the past 2 weeks, up less than a penny a gallon to a national average of $2.05 a gallon for regular. Industry analyst 14 Trilby Lundberg says the recession has helped prevent the kind of spike 15 in prices at the pump seen in last spring and summer. Gas prices are about $1. 42 a gallon lower now than they were at this time last year.