NPR 2010-04-21

The British government will reopen the country’s airports tomorrow. They have been closed because of the huge cloud of volcanic 1 ash from Iceland has drifted over much of Europe, disrupting tens of thousands of flights. Scientists say the eruption 2 of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland seems to be easing. That’s good news for hundreds of thousands of airline passengers stranded 3 around the world.

Vice 4 President Joe Biden says the U.S. economy is clearly on the mend, even though slow job growth continues to be a challenge. NPR’s Scott Horsley reports.

Vice President Biden echoed the views of many economists 5 who say the U.S. is slowly turning the corner out of recession. But in a speech at the Brookings Institution, Biden said that’s not good enough. He notes that even before the recession middle-class incomes were stagnating 6. For the recovery to be worth its name, he said, gains must be broadly shared with the middle class.

“If the next expansion fails to lift the middle class, if it bubbles and bursts, if it gives a high five to Wall Street while stiff-arming Main Street, then it will be an expansion that we will not be proud of.”

Biden called for an overhaul 7 of financial regulations, continued investment in clean energy and steps to rein 8 in the federal deficit 9. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

General Motors is expected to announce it’ll pay back U.S. and Canadian loans this month worth nearly six billion dollars and that’s two months ahead of schedule. Michigan Radio’s Tracy Samilton reports.

The money comes from $6.7 billion in U.S. Treasury 10 and Canadian loans that GM has held in a rainy day fund since its bankruptcy 11. Legally, GM doesn’t have to pay the money back for several years. John Wolkonowicz is an analyst 12 with IHS Global Insight. He says paying back the loans early could do more than help repair GM’s image.

“I think it’s important for the Obama administration in suggesting to the American public that what it did for General Motors, which was highly criticized, was the right thing to do.”

Taxpayers 13 invested another $43 billion in GM, but that was converted into stock. Wolkonowicz thinks getting all that money back would require waving until the year 2013 or 2014 to sell the stock. For NPR News, I’m Tracy Samilton in Ann Arbor 14.

Banking 15 corporation Goldman Sachs is reporting a gigantic first-quarter profit of $3.4 billion. But the stunning 16 profit report comes as British authorities open a fraud investigation 17 into a Goldman Sachs’ subsidiary. The case also comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission announces its own fraud investigation. U.S. regulators allege 18 the bank sold dangerous investments backed by bad mortgages. Some of the buyers were allegedly in Britain.

On Wall Street just before the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 30 points at 11,122. The NASDAQ was up 20 points; it was at 2,500.

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A new study says diets high in the kind of sugar that’s found in many processed foods raise the risk of heart disease and Americans are eating more sugar than ever. NPR’s April Fulton has more.

Figuring out how much added sugar is in your diet is complicated. Food labels can be tricky 19 and there are conflicting guidelines on how much sugar is okay. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people who consumed the lowest amounts of added sugar that’s under seven teaspoons 20 a day have the healthiest cholesterol 21 levels. The study found that adults who consumed the most added sugar were also most at risk for the cholesterol problems that can lead to heart disease. They were, on average, younger African American and have lower incomes. The average American consumes about 21 teaspoons of added sugar a day, according to the study, almost double what we were consuming just 30 years ago. April Fulton, NPR News.

The National Football League is contributing money to a study of brain injuries. The NFL is giving Boston University School of Medicine one million dollars to look at repetitive brain trauma 22 in athletes, especially in football players. Researchers are examining how frequent blows to the head may lead to a degenerative brain illness that may be linked with dementia.

The ousted 23 president of Kyrgyzstan is now in Belarus. The Belarusian president says his country has welcomed former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Opposition 24 leaders and troops forced Bakiyev out of power earlier this month. There’re now reports of more fighting in Kyrgyzstan between ethnic 25 groups and the country’s situation appears to be increasingly unstable 26.