NPR News 2013-08-04 加文本

NPR News 2013-08-04

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman.

The State Department has closed 21 embassies and consulates around the world. The New York Times reports this is based on intercepted communications between senior al-Qaeda members. Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey says the threat now was more specific than in previous times.

Zimbabwe's Election Commission has declared President Bobert Mugabe, the winner of Wednesday's disputed election, with 61% of the vote. From the capital, Harare, NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports his main opposition challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, is contesting the results. He claims he's won and is calling for a fresh election.

Outgoing Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, says Zimbabwe's elections have been stolen by President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, which's officially won and outcried majority in parliament as well as victory for the veteran leader. Tsvangirai angrily told a news conference that his movement for democratic change is preparing a formal legal challenge to the outcome of the vote.

We did not lose this election, it is the imaginary of ZANU-PF that they have won it.

As he painted a grim and gloomy picture for the future of Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai warned that Zimbabwe has been plunged back into a constitutional and political crisis. His opposition party will not be participating in what he described as fraudulent institutions. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Harare.

Time Warner Cable customers in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas are still without CBS programming as the two sides continue to fight over how much the cable company will pay to carry the network. NPR's Dan Bobkoff has more.

It's getting nasty. Now Time Warner has cut off CBS-owned channels including Showtime and Flix. CBS retaliated by blocking Time Internet customers from watching its shows on its website. And both sides have taken the fight public, with ads like this one from CBS.

Say no to Time Warner Cable.

It's only been in recent years that over the air broadcast channels have demanded fees from cable providers. Even though the channels are free with an antenna. CBS argues that less popular channels get far more in fees from Time Warner. But the cable company says CBS's demands are out of sight and will lead to higher cable bills. Negotiations are ongoing. Dan Bobkoff, NPR News, New York.

Five spectators were hurt today as they watched workers implode an old steam power plant in Bakersfield, California. Lieutenant Scott Tunnicliffe of Bakersfield Police Department says the spectators were standing where they have been told to, so they could see the buildings come down.

The buildings that were being imploded were kind of an icon of the area. The small power plants had been here for almost 40 years.

But Tunnicliffe says the safety zone wasn't far enough away. The injuries were severe, including one person who lost a leg.

The Boston Global newspaper is going to get a new owner. It's the principal owner of the Boston Red Socks baseball team, John Henry.

You are listening to NPR News from Washington.

The massive explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant a few months ago is prompting a federal response. As NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reports President Obama is ordering top administration officials to figure out how to make the nation's chemical plants safer.

Public health groups and security specialists have been pressing the government for years to crack down on the chemicals industry. They want the government to require industry executives to do everything they can to redesign their plants, so the plants use smaller amounts of dangerous chemicals. It called inherently safer design and the chemicals industry has managed to block most of those efforts. But President Obama's executive order suggests his administration will revive the idea. He's told APA and Homeland Security and other agencies to come up with new rules and guidelines that will reduce the risk of catastrophic chemical incidents in the future. The executive order does not give them a deadline. Daniel Zwerdling, NPR News.

The Food and Drug Administration has traced the cause of a stomach illness outbreak to a farm in Mexico. Hundreds of people have gotten sick from eating salad chain restaurants in Iowa and Nebraska. The FDA is also trying to learn whether other reported illnesses in 14 states are also linked to the same farm.

Workers in China have laid the last beam on the tallest building in that country. The Shanghai tower measures 2,073 feet, making it the second tallest building in the world behind one in Dubai. That one is more than 2,700 feet tall. But it may not keep that title. Workers in the southern Chinese city of Changsha are constructing a building that would be 40 feet taller than the Dubai tower.

I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News.