NPR News 2010-05-10 加文本

NPR News 2010-05-10

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

The Pakistani Taliban allegedly is claiming responsibility for the attempted bombing in Times Square. In a one-minute video released by the privately-run SITE Intelligence Group, the speaker says last weekend's attack was retaliation for the death of Pakistani Taliban Chief Baitullah Mehsud and the recent deaths of top al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders. The tape's authenticity could not be independently verified. But hours ago, Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed the Pakistani Taliban's involvement. NPR's Allison Keyes has more on that.

US Attorney General Eric Holder says the Pakistani Taliban was intimately involved in the failed bombing, telling ABC's "This Week".

"We've now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack. We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it, and that he was working at their direction."

The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, is a US citizen born in Pakistan, accused of planting a car bomb in Times Square that malfunctioned. The president's counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, says the militant Pakistani group Shahzad allegedly worked with has close ties with al-Qaeda. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells CBS 60 Minutes the administration expects more cooperation from Pakistan in fighting terrorism. And there will be consequent as if the attack on US soil is traced back to Pakistan. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.

The State Department confirms the first round of indirect talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials has been completed. Middle East envoy George Mitchell has left the region after conducting talks described as wide-reaching and serious.

Fear that Greece's debt troubles could undermine global economic recovery is driving European Union finance ministers to find a way to protect the euro and have a mechanism in place by the time markets open in the morning. Teri Schultz is covering an emergency session in Brussels.

Finance officials were assigned to this job early Saturday morning when their heads of state agreed that a stabilization mechanism is needed immediately to prevent other fragile eurozone economies from needing a bailout like Greece. It's not clear how they're going to do that. Only that they must, says Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado who's chairing the session.

"We are going to defend the euro. We have to give more stability to our currency."

One possibility is setting up a European version of the International Monetary Fund which could then loan money to eurozone governments. However, all 27 EU members would have to agree to such a mechanism and Britain, which does not use the euro, has already signaled it doesn't like the idea. For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz in Brussels.

A Russian announcer is introducing British troops as they march in the Victory Day parade in Moscow, commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. American troops also took part. The first time foreign troops join the celebration.

This is NPR News.

Judicial authorities in China's capital have disbarred two civil rights lawyers in a case closely watched by that country's legal community. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing that the pair apparently anger the government by defending a member of an outlawed spiritual group.

A notice on the Web site of the Beijing Municipal Justice Bureau says that attorneys Tang Jitian and Liu Wei's licenses to practice law have been revoked for disrupting order in court and interfering with proper litigation procedure. Tang and Liu both intend to appeal the ruling. Last April in Sichuan Province, the two lawyers defended a member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group but later walked out of the courtroom in protest after being repeatedly interrupted by the judge. In the past year, Chinese judicial authorities have refused to renew the licenses of dozens of civil rights lawyers who had defended clients in politically sensitive cases. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.

There is a renewed sense of urgency surrounding the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as balls of tar continue to wash upon Alabama's beaches, suspected of being from that spill. After a failed attempt yesterday at securing a big metal chamber over the damaged well that's gushing oil, BP engineers are considering whether to try again.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition has failed to retain its majority in a state vote, according to an exit poll. This means Merkel will have to count on opposition parties to support her social programs.

The Philippines is holding its first automated vote count in its presidential and local elections this week. It's raising concerns over possible fraud. A software glitch in optical scanning machines was detected days ago.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.