NPR 2008-04-16

A series of bombings across Iraq has left dozens of people dead and well over 100 injured. NPR's JJ Sutherland reports from Baghdad.

 A huge blast ripped through the capital of Diyala province. A car bomber 1 hit a market in the city of Baqubah. At least 40 people died there, buses and cars were destroyed, at least 10 shops were caught up in the explosion. In Ramadi, a suicide bomber walked into a restaurant popular with police shouted "God is great" and then his vest failed to detonate. He was arrested, but a second bomber came in 30 minutes later and his explosives worked, 13 people were killed. In Mosul, two car bombs left an unknown number of people dead. On Monday almost 20 people died in the northern city, the result of 7 separate explosions. In the capital a bomb killed 1 person. The spate 2 of bombings across the country is a departure from recent months which has shown a fairly steady downward trended violence across the country. JJ Sutherland, NPR News, Baghdad.

 Witnesses are reporting dozens of fatalities 3 at the scene of a crash involving a Congolese jetliner. The plane which apparently 4 never was able to take off careened off the runway into a bustling 5 market area where then burst into flames. Anna Ridot(人名) is with the aid group World Vision, she says basically the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 was in pieces. "The nose of the plane was one side at the shop, and the tail was sticking up. The other side, the middle was just completely burnt out. " It's not clear how many people aboard the plane were killed, at least one of the plane's pilots was said to have survived the crash.

 Presumptive Republican presidential nominee 6 John McCain gave his most wide-ranging speech on the economy today in Pennsylvania including a call for a gas tax holiday. Mark Nootbaar of member station WDUQ in Pittsburgh has more.

 Senator McCain says the federal gas tax of nearly 18.5 cents should be eliminated from Memorial Day to Labor 7 Day. "The effect will be an immediate 8 economic stimulus 9 taking a few dollars off the price of a tank of gas, every time a family, a farmer, or trucker stops to fill up. Over the same period our government should suspend the purchase of oil for the Strategic Petroleum 10 Reserve, which has also contributed to the rising price of oil. " That stimulus would come before McCain could take control of the White House. He has other ideas to implement 11 if elected. He would work for a new unemployment system focus on retraining workers, offer taxpayers 12 an alternative simpler income tax system, provide home loans for those facing foreclosures and make the Bush tax cuts permanent. For NPR News, I'm Mark Nootbaar, Pittsburgh.

 Pope Benedict XVI is in the US. Benedict, on his first official papal visit to the country, arrived today to a chorus of cheers from a group of Catholic students. He was greeted by President Bush along with his wife Laura Bush and daughter Jenna. The Pope will go to the White House tomorrow.

 On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 60 points today to close at 12,362.

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Following Delta 13's announcement last night that it is requiring Northwest Airlines for 3 billion dollars, Rival Continental 14 said today it is now reviewing its strategic alternatives. The combination of Atlanta-based Delta and Minnesota-based Northwest is expected to create the world's largest airline with upwards 15 of 75,000 employees and nearly 800 airplanes. Among the possible partners for Continental, according to analysts 16, it could be United Airlines. Still any Airline mergers 17 would need the approval of the federal regulators and also have to be approved by the Airline's work forces.

 A federal jury has convicted a woman on charges her upscale escort service in Washington D. C. was actually a prostitution business. NPR's Libby Lewis reports.

 Deborah Jean Palfrey got a lot of people's attention here when she threatened to sell her high-end clientele list to help pay her legal bills. She became known locally as the D. C. Madam. The D. C. escort service she ran out of her California home charged 250 dollars an hour. Palfrey's lawyer listed as potential witnesses: Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, his name was linked to Palfrey's business by way of phone records; and Randall Tobias, he resigned as the Deputy Secretary of State after he acknowledged to use Palfrev's business for massages 18. Neither of them was called to testify. The jury convicted Palfrev on charges of money laundering 19, racketeering and using the mail for illegal purposes. Libby Lewis, NPR News, Washington.

Labor Department reported today its Producer Price Index, a key wholesale 20 inflation gauge 21, shot up by bigger than expected 1.1% in March. That was almost twice the gain most analysts had expected.