NPR 2009-08-30

Senator Edward Kenney was honored today with words and music at his funeral Mass in Boston. Hundreds of mourners, Sir tenor 1 Placido Domingo and cellist 2 Yo-Yo Ma performed. And President Obama gave a eulogy 3 praising Kennedy as the greatest legislator of our time, a man whose name graces nearly one thousand laws.

 "We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office; we weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered 4 through pain and tragedy — not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country that he loved." Members of Kennedy's family offered prayers and remembrances during the service which was held in the church where the late senator had once prayed daily when his daughter Kara was being treated at a nearby hospital for lung cancer. Kennedy's son, Ted 6 Kennedy Jr., who lost a leg to cancer when he was 12, recalled his tearful frustration 7 at trying to climb an icy hill and his dad’s words of encouragement.

 “I said, I will never be able to climb up that hill. And he lifted me up in his strong gentle arms and said something I will never forget. He said, “I know you can do it. There is nothing that you can't do.” Kennedy said his father taught him that even the most profound loses are survivable. The late senator’s body is being flown to Washington where the motorcade will stop outside the US Senate building for a brief prayer and a procession through the city to Arlington National Cemetery 8, Kennedy’s final resting place, NPR's Brian Naylor is there.

 Senator Kennedy will be buried in a plot next to his brothers John and Robert. It is a site overlooks the monuments of Washington, including the Capitol dome 9. Senator Kennedy was a frequent visitor to Arlington. His burial will be presided over by Cardinal 10 Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop emeritus 11 of Washington, who worked with Senator Kennedy on inner-city Catholic school. Vice 5 president Joseph Biden is also expected to attend. Brian Naylor, NPR News, Arlington National Cemetery.

 Two bomb attacks in northern Iraq today have left more a dozen people dead and some 15 others wounded. The explosions came as thousands of Iraqis attended the burial of a Shiite political leader. NPR’s Peter Kenyon reports from Baghdad.

 The most powerful explosion in the morning struck near the town of the Shicad, south of the northern city of Mosul. Witnesses and Iraqi officials say a suicide truck bomber 12 was diverted from a checkpoint and detonated his charge in front of the nearby market. A second vehicle bomb exploded about two hours later near the town of Senjar, also in northern Iraq. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Baghdad.

 The space shuttle Discovery rocketed into skyward from the Kennedy Space Center today. Discovery's on a mission to the International Space Station.

 This is NPR News from Washington.

 Investigators in Bruswick, Georgia are looking into the deaths of seven people whose bodies were found in a mobile home this morning, two other people were injured.

 It's the eve of a hotly contested parliamentary election in Japan. And polls there indicate the political party that has held power for decades could be headed for a resounding 13 defeat. NPR' Louisa Lim reports on the final hours of the campaign.

 Both party leaders stump 14 for votes into the evening despite all the polls predicting a big win for the opposition 15 Democratic Party of Japan. Opposition challenger Yukio Hatoyama asked the crowds to make sure the election is remembered as the one that changed the history of Japan. He said he would end what he called old politics and put people in charge of policymaking instead of bureaucrats 16. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Taro 17 Aso criticized the opposition’s flip-flops on foreign policy and called into question untested party's ability to govern. But with unemployment at a postwar high and deflation deepening, many Japanese feel it's time for a change in government. Analysts 18 say this election heralds 19 the start of a true two-party system in Japan. Louisa Lim, NPR News, Tokyo.

 A wildfire raging in the mountains north of Los Angeles has forced the evacuation of 150 more families whose homes could be threatened by the flames. US Forest Service spokesman Bruce Quintelie says despite low visibility and sweltering heat, fire crews are battling the blaze aggressively. “We do have some threats to obviously homes, that is still ongoing 20 as well as commercial properties, including some high value communication sites that are on the mountain tops in the national forest.” The blaze's only about 5 percent contained.