NPR 2010-05-17

Some of the oil spilled in the Gulf 1 of Mexico is starting to be diverted from a blown-out well a mile underwater and onto a tanker 2 on the surface, just how much remains 3 to be seen. From New Orleans, Eileen Fleming of member station WWNO says BP engineers manage to hook up a tube to start collecting the crude after suffering yet another setback 4.

The first insertion tube was knocked out because of robots that were taking photographs of this and sending images up of how this operation was going. They crashed into each other. They hit the contraption. And that stopped things yesterday. Now overnight, they're able to re-hook it up. So we're waiting for BP to tell us how much oil they are actually capturing, how the system is working, and they plan to do with the top hat, if anything that's sitting on the seabed next to the broken well.

Eileen Fleming reporting from New Orleans.

A crackdown on anti-government protesters in Bangkok is underway. Thailand's government has rejected a plea from demonstrators for UN-mediated talks. Street clashes between government troops and so-called red-shirts have killed at least 30 people in last four days. The BBC's Chris Hogg reports that many of the demonstrators are besieged 5 in a camp in central Bangkok.

What the army seems to be doing is that they seem to be doing the live firing as a way of harrying 6 the protesters and stopping them from being able to build a new permanent structure, new barricades 7, and there's still some distance away from the protesters. But by firing these rounds, it stops them being able to operate effectively and perhaps to build up a new encampment.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Bangkok.

German bank officials are increasingly worried Greece may not be able to pay back billions of dollars in debt. The concerns come after another volatile 8 week for global stock and currency markets. Thomas Marzahl reports from Berlin about some of the latest takes on the situation.

The chief economist 9 of Germany's DekaBank says it would "be very difficult for Athens to repay its debt in an orderly fashion". Ulrich Kater told German business daily Handelsblatt that Greece probably needed years of austerity, but that would hamper 10 its prospects 12 for economic growth and undermine its competitiveness. Kater is the latest official to speak out over the debt crisis that has seen the euro fall to its lowest level in a year and a half, and stock markets take a beating. Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Deutsche Bank, last Thursday publicly raised the prospect 11 of a Greek default. Less than a week ago, the EU and the IMF agreed on a nearly one-trillion-dollar emergency loan package for ailing 13 European economies, but the measures seem to have so far failed to impress investors 14. For NPR News, I'm Thomas Marzahl in Berlin.

Parts of Puerto Rico are reeling from a 5.8-magnitude earthquake. It struck overnight, centered about 67 miles from the capital San Juan. There were no immediate 15 reports of injuries, but some homes have been damaged in northern and western Puerto Rico. The quake also caused a rockslide on a highway.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

There're no arrests made, but a Canadian fighter jet had to scramble 16 to escort a passenger plane to Vancouver's International Airport. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, sources say a bomb threat on the plane turned out to be a false alarm.

Cathay Pacific flight 839 was en route from Hong Kong to Vancouver when the threat was made. Sources have told local media outlets 17 that two threats were called in from a pay phone in Vancouver from someone who said there was a bomb on an outgoing Hong Kong-Vancouver Cathay Pacific flight. Canadian authorities immediately scrambled 18 CF-18s to escort the plane to Vancouver Airport. The plane landed without incident. Luggage and passengers were thoroughly 19 screened. So too were passengers waiting in Vancouver to board the same Cathay Pacific plane back to Hong Kong. Police say the threat was taken very seriously, but investigators 20 found nothing of concern on board. Passengers on flight 839 were not told about the security threat during the flight, but some of them noticed the fighter jets, one reported to be scared because a CF-18 was flying very close to the jetliner. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk.

"What do you get when you do 100,000 hours of community service?" For George Washington University's graduating class, an appearance by First Lady Michelle Obama. She agreed to be their speaker after putting the challenge to students, faculty 21 and staff. On the grounds of the National Mall, Mrs. Obama got a warm reception and left with an honorary doctor of public service degree.

"Dr. Obama. I like that. I think I'll have everybody at home start calling me that."

There're about 5,000 graduates and their families in attendance on the National Mall.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.