NPR News 2011-05-12 加文本

NPR News 2011-05-12

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

A burgeoning Mississippi River is forcing residents in the poverty-stricken delta to run for higher ground. Teresa Welsh, a mother of three, says she's trying to keep it together, knowing full well. Her home will go underwater before the river crests in that area later this month.

"I guess we'll just lose all of our stuff, but it's stuff. It's my stuff, and that sucks, but it's just, uh, God will take care of us, see what we have, see what we feel, but I still wanna cry."

Mississippi Public Radio's Daniel Cherry is near Vicksburg, site of a key Civil War battle. He says the neighborhood he entered is devoid of people.

A hundred yards off the highway, the last people that I saw, they had a record coming out, towed their car away and they're gone, and other than that, I mean, every house is three feet of water.

Daniel Cherry reporting.

NPR's Debbie Elliott gives us a broad look at just how many people are being affected.

Already Mississippi officials say about 1,000 homes have are now under water. Most of those homes are on the waterside of the levee. You know, the Mississippi Delta has this big, long levee that stretches basically from Memphis down to Vicksburg .That will protect, they think, most cities and towns from the floodwaters. However, some people have their homes on the outside of that levee or on the waterside of that levee on the Mississippi side, and that's where the big flooding problem is right now.

NPR's Debbie Elliott.

In Louisiana, the governor says residents along the Morganza Spillway need to get ready to evacuate if the Army Corps Engineers decides to open it up to spare the Baton Rouge area. That means other areas will be inundated with high waters. In Memphis, Tennessee, the water remains high in low-lying neighborhoods. NPR's David Schaper reports that officials there are urging residents to wait for floodwaters to fully recede before checking on their homes.

Eric Williams is still shocked by what he sees out his mother's back door, a yard of water, four feet deep, extending beyond the fence, and as far as he can see.

"I've never seen a flood like this in my life. I mean, I've been around the world, you know, in military, and this is probably the worst flooding I've ever seen. "

Williams has seen fish, turtles and even snakes swim by the house, and he paneled a jumbo back to check on a neighbor's house, where the water reached into the second floor.

"They've built a four-foot retaining wall for just in case it flooded, and they say it would never reach past that until we gone well past that."

Now, officials warn that putrid standing waters could be contaminated and should be avoided. David Schaper, NPR News, Memphis.

Verdict is guilty for Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam, delivering a victiory in one of the government's most sweeping probes into insider trading. Today, a federal jury found him guilty on all 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud.

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 130 points at 12,630; NASDAQ also down 27.

This is NPR.

Syria is out of the race to join the UN Human Rights Council. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports American diplomats welcome this news after lobbying behind the scenes to keep Syria off the UN body.

Kuwait is replacing Syria as a candidate for the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The deal was worked out by the Asia regional group at the United Nations. The US, which has accused Syria of barbarism and a crackdown on dissent, said it was pleased that Syria withdrew. As one official put it, its candidacy was clearly inapproriate. Human Rights Watch issued a statement saying Syria needs to do more than keep its head low to avoid further condemnation. The advocary group called on Syria to end its brutal crackdown on protesters. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

In defiance of the Pentagon, members of the House Armed Services Commitee have authorized further development on an alternate jet engine. Here's NPR's David Welna.

The GOP-controlled Armed Services Commitee may be giving a new lease on life to the embattled second jet engine that General Electric and Rolls-Royce have been developing for that F35 Joint Strike Fighter. In February, at the behest of the Pentagon, the House voted against providing 450 million dollars this year for the development of that engine. Its makers now say they'll continue working on it at no cost to the government, but because all work done so far belongs to the Pentagon, lawmakers on the panel voted to give developers full access to the jet engine. They also voted to let it compete for a final contract should cost for the principal jet engine developer Pratt & Whitney go over budget. The measure is part of a larger annual defense bill that both the House and Senate have yet to consider. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.