NPR 2010-02-22

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

NATO is confirming the death of another soldier in Afghanistan, bringing the number of fatalities 1 to 13 since an anti-Taliban offensive was launched in Marjah, Afghanistan over a week ago. General David Petraeus, Commander of US Central Command, tells NBC meanwhile that the current campaign to secure Marjah is only the beginning.

"I don’t use words like optimist 2 or pessimist 3. I use realist and the reality is that it's hard, but we’re there for a very, very important reason and we can’t forget that."

Petraeus on NBC’s "Meet the Press".

Someone threw a home-made bomb at a synagogue in Cairo today. No one was hurt. As NPR’s Peter Kenyon reports, Egypt’s Interior Ministry 4 is hunting down the suspect.

Police reports to the incident say an unidentified man entered a hotel located on the fourth floor of the building across from the synagogue and threw a suitcase out the window. The bomb was described by police as four containers of gasoline and a vial of sulfuric acid meant to detonate the device. The case caught fire but failed to explode. The Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue, a late 19th-century building that once dominated the broad boulevard it sits on, is the largest in Egypt and still conducts limited services for the country’s small, elderly Jewish population. Despite the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, relations between the neighboring states have never been warm. In Egyptian political circles, being known as a normalizer or supporter of normal relations with Israel is considered an insult. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Cairo.

Israel is touting 5 a major resource in its defense 6. A Heron TP drone, unmanned aircraft designed for surveillance, but with the ability to jam enemy communications. Today, the Israeli military unveiled a fleet of these drones at a time when Israel faces threats from Iran which has called for the Jewish state’s destruction.

In Vancouver, surprise finished the men’s 1,500-meter speed skating event. Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands won over the favorite American Shani Davis yesterday. Coming up today, American skier 7 Bode 8 Miller 9 races again. He already has the most career medals of any American downhill skier and has two more shots at gold. From Whistler, north of Vancouver, NPR’s Dianna Douglas has a preview.

Bode Miller will race in the giant slalom today, speeding around gates on the extremely steep Whistler Creekside course. He took bronze in the downhill race on Monday and then two days ago took the silver in the super-G. Despite having won multiple world championships, Bode Miller still hasn’t earned him an Olympic gold medal. The US Ski Team has dominated the medal stand at these Winter Games. They’ve earned seven medals in five races, the most ever for the US with five races still to come. Norway and Austria are the only other countries with multiple medals in downhill skiing so far with two each. Dianna Douglas, NPR News, Whistler.

This is NPR News.

Ukraine may finally have a new president this week. Viktor Yanukovich is set to be inaugurated on Thursday. His opponent in the February 7th presidential election, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has ended her court battle challenging the results of that vote.

In the US, a new congressional report finds that drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline knew about ties between a diabetes 10 drug and heart attacks years before it was disclosed to the public. Glaxo's now under mounting pressure to pull Avandia from the market.

The Obama administration has a plan to rescue the Great Lakes, a source of drinking water to some 30 million people. Environmental Protection Agency’s chief Lisa Jackson has announced a five-year blueprint 11 to head off environmental threats to the lakes, as NPR’s Carol Van Dam reports.

The 2.2-billion-dollar Environmental Protection Agency plan provides relief for communities surrounding the Great Lakes worried about the invasion of Asian carp, another foreign species that have already overrun parts of the Mississippi River System and they're on the verge 12 of entering Lake Michigan. Along with the zero-tolerance policy toward more invasive species, the government will clean up the region’s five most heavily polluted sites and restore wetlands. The Great Lakes contain 20% of the world’s fresh water, but contaminated water caused by run-off from city pollution and farms has led to algae 13 blooms so thick that beaches have been closed. The plan also strives to save species like the lake sturgeon, prehistoric 14 endangered fish that can grow as long as eight feet. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle calls the plan "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make huge progress". Carol Van Dam, NPR News, Washington.

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.