NPR News 2010-06-20 加文本

NPR News 2010-06-20

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Raum.

BP's Tony Hayward is the object of more outrage today after the Associated Press reported the CEO took today off. Instead of overseeing efforts to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Hayward watched a yachting race in England, which included his own 52-foot sailboat named Bob. BP officials say it was the first time that Hayward had taken a break since April 20th when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 workers. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told ABC Hayward has gotten his life back. BP today restarted one of the systems that has been capturing oil in the Gulf. An equipment's failure had shut it down for about ten hours.

The Chinese central bank said today it will allow its currency exchange rate to be more flexible. That would mean instead of being pegged to the dollar, the yuan could appreciate in value. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.

Without offering many details, the People's Bank of China said overtime it would allow its currency to appreciate relative to the dollar. That is something President Obama's administration has supported. A stronger yuan would make Chinese products more expensive relative to American-made goods, which would improve the market for domestically made products. But the bank's statement, which comes a week before the G20 and G8 summits on economic issues, is by no means a certainty. On Friday, a Chinese vice foreign minister said the value of the Chinese currency was not up for international discussion. And five years ago, China issued a similar statement, saying it would allow its currency value to rise, but then a few years later, repegged it to the dollar. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

A new report from the United Nations says security in Afghanistan worsened over the first four months of this year. It shows that roadside bombings nearly doubled during that time. NPR's Corey Flintoff reports from Helmand province in Afghanistan.

The report from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon only covers the first quarter of this year before many of the additional troops ordered by President Obama had arrived. Still, it paints a disturbing picture. It says roadside bomb attacks were up by more than 94%, compared to the same period last year. Suicide attacks occurred at a rate of about three per week with half of them in the southern part of the country. The report also says that insurgents increased their attacks on Afghan government officials, with assassinations rising by 45%. Figures are not yet available for May and June, but US military officials say the number of Taliban attacks could be expected to rise during the summer fighting season. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake is in Kyrgyzstan to meet with officials on the ethnic unrest there that has killed as many as 2,000 people. He urged there be an international investigation to determine the reasons for the violence, and he urged them to make it safe for hundreds of thousands of refugees to come home.

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In the Midwest, there are tens of thousands of people still without electricity after severe thunderstorms yesterday. About 50,000 of them are in Michigan alone. Tim Petrosky is a spokesman for the local utility. He says it may take a while to restore power to everyone.

"Throughout the night, we had almost 100,000 customers without service. We've been working throughout the night, and we will continue to work through today, tomorrow and even until Monday to restore service to those customers."

Power outages were also reported in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. One death was reported after a tree fell on a car near Dexter, Michigan.

At least 88 people are dead in southern China after flash floods triggered by more than a week of exceptionally heavy rain. Another 48 people are missing. Officials say nearly 1.5 million people have fled their homes. The BBC's Vivien Marsh reports widespread damage in nine provinces.

Television pictures from the southern provinces of Fujian and Guangdong showed rescuers wading through raging brown water. People elsewhere waited for help, stranded on the rooftops of submerged buildings. In Fujian alone, landslides killed 25 people. China's second largest waterway, the Pearl River, which runs through the southern manufacturing region, has surged past warning marks. Several of the provinces that are now under water only recently suffered their worst drought in a century.

The BBC's Vivien Marsh reporting.

Police in Turin, Italy have confiscated some 70,000 balls of mozzarella after consumers noticed that when they opened the packages, the cheese turned blue. The mozzarella was actually made in Germany for an Italian company.

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.