NPR 2011-05-18

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Barbara Klein.

The Mississippi River at Natchez is now closed to shipping 1 traffic. The Coast Guard made the move to avoid putting more stress on the swollen 2 river's levees, but it also closes off the major artery 3 for transporting grain from the Midwest to the Gulf 4 of Mexico. Meanwhile, residents of Vicksburg, Mississippi are struggling to keep floodwaters at bay, but NPR's Carrie Kahn tells us not everyone is succeeding.

I'm sitting right in front of a corn and wheat field that looks like a beautiful lake right off the road here, and I was just talking with a farmer. This is—he had 150 acres here; they're just filled with water. We saw a boat go by, and there are geese sitting on top of this field right now. He's lost everything.

NPR's Carrie Kahn in Vicksburg.

President Obama is intensifying 5 Middle East diplomacy 6 as he prepares to deliver a major policy speech on the region Thursday. Today, he hosted Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, the two not only talked about the major changes sweeping 7 the Middle East, they also talked about something that hasn't changed: the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

President Obama says the Israeli-Palestinian problem has been nagging 8 the region for many years. King Abdullah calls it the area's "core issue." Mr. Obama says it's particularly important to address it now, at a time when neighboring countries, like Egypt and Syria, are experiencing extraordinary changes.

"It's more vital than ever that both Israelis and Palestinians find a way to get back to the table and begin negotiating a process whereby they can create two states that are living side by side in peace and security."

The president's said to deliver a major speech on the Middle East on Thursday and meet with Israel's prime minister the following day. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

Pakistan's military says NATO helicopters violated Pakistani airspace early this morning, and the country's lodging 9 what it calls a "strong protest." Pakistan charges NATO aircraft crossed the border from Afghanistan into an area believed to be a haven 10 for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.

US industrial output slipped last month. The Federal Reserve says manufacturing production was down 0.4% from March, but much of it is blamed on Japan's reduced output of auto 11 parts because of the earthquakes and tsunami 12 in March, and National Association of Manufacturers Chief Economist 13 Chad Moutray says the supply disruption won't last.

"And we continue to move into May and June. You'll see the supply issues start to work themselves out. I think you—that if the auto manufacturers themselves are already starting to increase some production, even the Japanese automakers."

Excluding the drop in auto manufacturing, factory production rose 0.2% in April.

On Wall Street just before the close, the Dow was down 77 points at 12,470; the NASDAQ was off one at 2,781.

This is NPR.

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admits he fathered a child with a member of his household staff. The child is now more than ten years old. Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver announced last week they'd separated after 25 years of marriage. The former governor says he told Shriver about the child after he left office earlier this year.

The head of the International Monetary 14 Fund is spending another day in jail at Rikers Island and facing mounting pressure to step down. Dominique Strauss-Kahn is remanded in custody 15 after being arrested for attempted rape 16. Finance ministers in Austria and Spain are calling on him to consider the welfare of the IMF. The 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn denies the charges.

Former Minnesota Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew is dead at age 74. He had esophageal cancer and died today at his Arizona home. As NPR's Paul Brown reports, Killebrew hit homers on and off the field.

Harmon Killebrew's 573 career home runs rank him 11th in Major League Baseball. He was nicknamed "Killer 17" and "Hammerin' Harmon" for his powerful hitting with the Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royal, but the nicknames didn't extend to his behavior on or off the field. He was known as a good-humored articulate gentleman. He said in an interview that until he was recruited as a teenager, he never intended to play Major League ball.

"I had to make a decision there where which way to go. Like Yogi Berra said, when you come to a fork in the road, take it. So I took the road that I wanted to play baseball."

And that road led Harmon Killebrew to become an 11-time all-star. Paul Brown, NPR News.