NPR 2011-05-03

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

President Barack Obama, less than 24 hours after announcing the death of Osama bin 1 Laden 2, says this is a good day.

"The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden."

The president speaking at a ceremony, awarding the Medal of Honor posthumously 3 to two veterans of the Korean War. He drew on the moment to express pride in the patriotism 4 and sacrifices Americans made to get the man accused of ordering the 9/11 attacks. Bin Laden was killed in firefight with US commandos at his Pakistan compound yesterday. More details are now emerging about that covert 5 operation. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports US officials say several women and children were with the al-Qaeda leader at the time of the attack, and one woman may have been killed being used as a human shield.

Osama bin Laden was known to prefer having women and children around him, whether for company or to shield him from attack. US officials say one of his wives lived with him, and she may have been the woman who died during the shootout. A defense 6 official says one of the men killed in the raid was firing from behind the woman. Two other women were injured during the raid. The others plus the children were uninjured. The US forces who carried out the raid took bin Laden's body with them when they left, but everyone else, including the women and children, were left behind. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.

Around the globe, reactions are mixed to the death of the Saudi-born bin Laden. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson offers this picture out of Saudi Arabia.

And there certainly was some offense 7 taken at the notion that non-Muslims would kill a Muslim like bin Laden because after all he was a hero to many Saudis prior to his becoming involved or creating al-Qaeda and starting terrorist attacks.

NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson.

On Capitol Hill as elsewhere, leaders are praising the operation, but NPR's Nina Totenberg says there remain important unanswered questions.

Senate Armed Services Community Chairman Carl Levin said the biggest unanswered questions are in Pakistan.

"I think that the Pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer. Given the location, the length of time, and the apparent fact that this facility was actually built for bin Laden."

Those answers may not come in public, but Levin's statement is an indication that many in Congress want answers. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

Mixed reactions today out of parts of the Middle East on news that the US killed Osama bin Laden. Gaza's Hamas rulers are condemning 8 the US attack on Pakistani soil, calling it another example of "American oppression." However, Hamas's Palestinian rivals in control of the West Bank are congratulating the US.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was down four points at 12,807.

This is NPR News.

A steady stream of visitors is flocking to the Flight 93 Memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Scott Detrow of member station WITF in Harrisburg is on the scene.

The Flight 93 crash site is a construction zone right now. The first phase of a permanent memorial is set to open up later this year. Everly Hoover of Lansdale, Pennsylvania was one of the people drawn 9 to the site today. She said she felt different, more emotional than she has in previous visits.

"And I know it's not over, but the one who was really the mastermind behind it is dead."

Someone taped the front page of a newspaper announcing bin Laden's death to the fence surrounding the site. Another person hung a Navy Seals flag to honor the special forces team that killed the al-Qaeda leader. For NPR News, I'm Scott Detrow in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Nearly a week after tornadoes 10 tore through the Southern US, emergency teams are still searching for victims, including in Alabama, but Andrew Yeager of member station of WBHM in Birmingham says at least power is now returning to some areas for the first time since the storms hit.

Electricity is now running to hospitals and government buildings in Huntsville, Alabama, but the situation is far from normal. Streetlights still aren't working. Some restaurants and gas stations are using generators 11. Schools there won't reopen until at least Wednesday. A 120-member urban searching rescue team from Louisiana is headed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Hundreds are still missing in that town, and while Tuscaloosa's mayor says crime hasn't increased since the storm, nighttime curfew has been extended through the weekend. Four people, however in the northwestern corner of the state, have been charged with looting. They were caught stealing from homes after presenting themselves relief workers. For NPR News, I'm Andrew Yeager in Birmingham.