NPR 2011-05-21

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for more than 90 minutes at the White House today. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports it was a tense discussion on how to begin peace negotiations 1 between Israel and the Palestinians.

President Obama believes the starting point for negotiations over Palestinian-Israeli peace should be Israel's 1967 borders. Prime Minister Netanyahu says those borders are indefensible because they do not take into account changes on the ground over the last 44 years.

"Remember that before 1967, Israel was all of nine miles wide. It was half the width of the Washington's Beltway. And these were not the boundaries of peace; they were the boundaries of repeated wars, because the attack on Israel was so attractive."

Both men acknowledged their differences and said they share the goal of peace. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, the White House.

Now that lawyers have posted a million dollars bond, allowing former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be freed from a New York jail, there still appears to be some question about where he will ultimately wind up. Respective sides will back in court today to determine where Kahn will go. Condition of his release is that he'll be placed under house arrest with an armed guard. Strauss-Kahn has been held at Rikers Island. The 62-year-old former IMF leader faces charges he sexually assaulted a maid at a New York City hotel.

Demonstrations 2 were staged across Syria today, defying official predictions that unrest is dying down. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Beirut.

Familiar grim scenes were posted to the Internet by activists 3 defying the regime's efforts to keep a lid on the continuing unrest. They showed tear gas and live ammunition 4 being fired by security forces and fleeing demonstrators, some throwing stones. The videos could not be verified. Pro-regime analysts 5 blamed the violence on armed gangs and said the fractured opposition 6 with what they called "vague demands" was responsible for the delay in starting a dialog. Demonstrators reached by phone said their demands are clear that President Bashar al-Assad must go, and political reform must be implemented 7. Peter Kenyon, NPR News.

Residents of southern Louisiana are waiting and watching to see where water flowing to the Morganza Spillway winds up. NPR's Jeff Brady says the small town of Krotz Springs has built two miles of temporary levees.

The Louisiana National Guard is patrolling the streets of Krotz Springs in sand-colored military trucks. They are also keeping curious residents off the levees. Town clerk Susann Bellow 8 says the community is prepared but also on edge.

"I think people are anxious, you know, and worried, because they don't know, just like all of us, what that outcome is gonna be."

Krotz Springs sits next to the Atchafalaya River, which is expected to crest 9 next week. Jeff Brady, NPR News, New Orleans.

On Wall Street, all the major indexes were dragged sharply lower today due to weak earnings 10 reports from a number of major retailers 11, including the GAP. At the close, Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 94 points; the NASDAQ Composite down 20; the S&P 500 was down 10 points.

You're listening to NPR News in Washington.

An administrative 12 law judge is ordering a Los Angeles-based labor 13 contractor 14 to pay more than 340,000 dollars in fines and penalties for improperly 15 treating Thai farm workers in Hawaii. Penalty announced by the US Department of Labor is just the latest blow to the company. It's also faced federal scrutiny 16 for allegations involving human trafficking. In the 146-page legal decision, the judge ordered Global Horizons to pay 152,000 dollars in back wages to farm workers and 194,000 dollars in fines.

The president of Tokyo Electric Power is resigning. The company operates the Fukushima nuclear plant and is reporting massive losses in the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami 17. Reporter John Matthews has that story from Tokyo.

Masataka Shimizu says he will be stepping down as TEPCO's president, in a practice common in Japan when taking responsibility for mismanagement or other mistakes. Shimizu, said to be replaced by a senior executive within TEPCO, has come under fire from critics for mishandling the nuclear crisis and failing to make a timely formal apology in person. Shimizu departs as TEPCO reports a record 15 billion dollars in losses this past fiscal 18 year, with the utility responsible for victim compensation payments that could reach more than 100 billion dollars. The public spotlight 19 is expected to stay on Tokyo Electric as it works to stabilize 20 its nuclear situation which it expects to resolve by January. For NPR News, I'm John Matthews, Tokyo.

Dozens of people suffered serious injuries while hundreds more banged around when a commuter 21 train crashed while coming to a station in South Africa late yesterday. Officials say the crash involving a moving train and a stationary 22 train occurred late Thursday at a rail station in Soweto. According to South Africa's railway safety regulators, 700 people total were injured.