NPR 2009-6-22

Iranian police made a show of force on the streets of the capital Tehran today and opposition 1 supporters largely stayed away after more than a week of protests over June 12th disputed presidential election. Reuters News Service reports the opposition's leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is urging his supporters through his website to continue to demonstrate against alleged 2 vote rigging, but to show restraint.

A Paris-based media watchdog says Iranian authorities have arrested 23 journalists and bloggers since post-election protests began more than a week ago. Eleanor Beardsley has details.

Reporters Without Borders which defends journalists' rights throughout the world said reporters are a priority target for Iran's leadership. Among those arrested was a head of the Association of Iranian Journalists. Reporters Without Borders released a list of 23 Iranian journalists, editors and bloggers arrested since June 14th and says it has lost contact with several others believed detained or in hiding. A spokesman for the group said each arrest has been verified by its network of reporters and activists 3 in Iran. No foreign journalists were on the list. However, authorities have banned foreign media from reporting from the streets of Tehran and allowed only phone interviews and information from official sources such as state TV. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

President Obama met with his foreign policy advisors 4 today to review the situation in Iran and his administration's reaction to it. Mr. Obama has denounced Iran's crackdown on the protesters. Republican senator Richard Lugar told CNN the president's measured response is helping 5 the US build allegiances with other countries.

"The Iranian leadership, at least, and this is a mistake again on their part. By blaming all of these countries, it has added allies to the United States in our diplomatic effort."

But other Republicans are calling on the administration to take a more forceful stand against Iran's crackdown. Senator John McCain said today Mr. Obama should strengthen his rhetoric 6 and called Iran's election a corrupt 7, flawed sham 8.

Thousands of people in Michigan are dealing 9 with power outages and flooding waters in the aftermath of severe weather conditions this weekend. From member station WDET in Detroit, Quinn Klinefelter reports.

Strong thunderstorms and several tornadoes 10 tore through the western part of Michigan. At least three tornadoes touched down in that area late Friday, blowing the roof off one home, severely 11 damaging several others. Meteorologist Mark Waltson with the National Weather Service says flooding waters forced a thousand people attending a concert at the Ionia County fairgrounds to abandon their cars and seek shelter.

The fairgrounds are under water by anywhere from over a couple of feet or less. Kansas also faced high winds and possible tornadoes that left a string of downed power lines and trees. For NPR News, I'm Quinn Klinefelter in Detroit.

This is NPR.

Two American troops at the main US military base in Afghanistan were killed today in a rocket attack. Six other Americans including two civilians 12 were injured. US military officials say four rockets were fired at the enormous Bagram Airbase early this morning and three landed within the compound.

The governments of Australia and New Zealand have announced their first ever joint 13 whale research expedition in the Antarctic. The project is part of an effort to pressure Japan to give up its whale research program which kills hundreds of whales in the region each year. From Sydney, Stuart Cohen has more.

Japan's whale research program has been a sore spot for Australia for years. Japan uses a loophole in the international ban on commercial whaling to conduct its research. But environmentalists say it's just a cover-up since most of the whales killed end upon the dinner table in Japan. Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says the expedition will show the same research can be done without killing 14 whales.

"It does make the point that you don't actually have to engage in the killing of whales to engage in serious and sensible scientific research about whales. And we continue to argue very strongly to Japan that they should cease their whaling in the Great Southern Oceans."

Smith says Australia may bring legal action against Japan to force them to stop their hunts. This comes just ahead of a meeting of the International Whaling Commission set to start on Monday in Portugal. For NPR News, I'm Stuart Cohen in Sydney.

NASA engineers say they may have uncovered the source of the fuel leak in space shuttle Endeavor that forced the space agency to scrub two launch attempts last week. Technicians think a misaligned fuel pipe connecting the external tank is causing the leak.

I'm Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.