NPR 2008-08-18

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Russia's president says Russian forces will begin withdrawing in Georgia tomorrow back to positions held before fighting broke out last week. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates says he expects some stalling. But he says such tactics could further damage Russia's relationships with the US and other nations. "The longer they take to get out and to observe the cease-fire that's been declared and the arrangements that have been worked out, I think the greater those consequences will be.” Gates was on ABC's This Week. He said no decision has been made yet about whether to block Russia from joining the World Trade Organization or removing it from the Group of Eight Major Industrialized Nations. NPR's Ivan Watson says work crews in Georgia spent today scrambling² to repair a vital railway that leads to the country's capital.

I'm walking on the large concrete and steel train bridge, which was sabotaged⁴ on Saturday by a huge explosion which blew out a 20-foot span at the bridge over a river. In a flash, that helped a blockade of the Georgian capital because on the parallel east-west highway nearby, Russian soldiers are standing⁵ there. They're blocking vehicular traffic completely. Moscow has denied any responsibility for this explosion as act of sabotage³, but the timing⁶ is very suspicious.

NPR's Ivan Watson in Georgia.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been talking up his economic proposals today and criticizing his GOP rival for opposing tax credits for entrepreneurs trying to develop renewable energy sources. Obama was speaking at an event in Reno, Nevada, as Willy Obright of member station KXJC reports.

Obama told 250 supporters that rival Senator John McCain's economic policies represent more of the same, and that his own plan is sound. "I've got news for John McCain. My plan's not gonna bring about economic disaster. We already have economic disaster from John McCain's President George W. Bush. " Before this appearance, Obama met with oil baron⁷ T. Boone Pickens to discuss strategies for developing alternative energy. Many Nevadans favor renewable energy because the state may host a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas. For NPR News, I'm Willy Obright in Reno, Nevada.

Tropical Storm Fay is on a track that will take it into the Florida Keys by early Tuesday. Forecasters say Fay could be at hurricane strength by then. Tourists have been ordered to leave the Keys. Residents have been told to keep a close watch on the storm. Craig Fugate is Florida's emergency management director. "These storms don't have to be this deadly, if people will just use some commonsense⁸, stay inside and follow those local directions and those evacuation orders.” Fugate said shelters have been open/ to handle any evacuation from the Keys.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Constantina Tomescu, a 38-year-old mother from Romania, easily won the gold medal in the Olympic marathon in Beijing. But the real race was for the silver. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Beijing.

Tomescu took the lead midway through the race and never gave it up. She won it about two hours and twenty-six minutes. That was twenty seconds ahead of the next finisher, Catherine Ndereba of Kenya. Ndereba was in second place on the final lap in the Bird's Nest, then China's Zhou Chunxiu pulled ahead, but Zhou made her move too soon. Ndereba passed Zhou later and held on to win silver by one one hundredth of a second. World record holder⁹ Paula Radcliffe had to stop toward the end of the race to stretch her calf¹⁰. Radcliffe who’s recovering from a stress fracture finished 23rd. She said it was better to be here than watching the race back home in England. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Beijing.

An earthen dam that had been weakened by heavy rains in Arizona last night gave way today near the Grand Canyon¹¹. That dam-break flooded a tribal¹² village as well as a number of campgrounds in the canyon. Sherry Collins is the county's emergency management director. "We're conducting, um, precautionary evacuations of the residents and campers in the campground. They are right now in Supai village area. " Collins says about 400 members of the Havasupai tribe were evacuated¹³, along with dozens of campers as well as some river runners. Helicopters from the National Guard, the National Park Service, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety were used to airlift people out of the canyon. Most of the evacuees¹⁴ were taken to a Red Cross shelter.