NPR 2010-09-20

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A huge misunderstanding. That's how Sarah Shourd explains her experience being held on espionage¹ charges in an Iranian prison. She was released last week after 13 months of detention² and arrived back home in the US today. She's especially worried about her two companions that are still being held.

"Shane and Josh do not deserve to be in prison one day longer than I was. We committed no crime, and we are not spies."

Shourd says the three were hiking in a popular tourist area in Iraq's Kurdistan region and had no idea they were so close to Iraq's border with Iran. Iranian officials accused them of intentionally³ straying into Iranian territory.

BP's busted⁴ oil well in the Gulf⁵ of Mexico has been declared effectively killed. Eileen Fleming of member station WWNO reports the government point man on the response says it no longer poses a threat.

National Incident Commander Thad Allen says pressure testing shows the well is now dead after cement was pumped into the bottom of the well about three miles under the surface. The news comes five months after the well exploded, killing⁶ 11 workers and triggering an oil spill that polluted the Gulf with more than four million barrels of crude. Many in Gulf Coast communities are worried that the government could consider the crisis over. Oil continues washing the shore in Louisiana and researchers have found oil on the bottom of the gulf and in the water column. Allen says the government has committed to an aggressive cleanup. For NPR News, I'm Eileen Fleming.

Police in the Indian capital of New Delhi have launched an intense search for two men who reportedly opened fire on a group of foreign tourists at one of the city's best-known sites. As Vir Singh reports, two Taiwanese men were injured in the attack.

Police say the attackers drove up to the 17th-century mosque⁷, the Jama Masjid, in the crowded older part of the city on a motorbike. According to eyewitnesses⁸, the men were wearing helmets and raincoats when they opened fire indiscriminately, then escaped into one of the many alleys⁹ adjoining the mosque. The incident comes weeks after extra police and security forces have been deployed¹⁰ in many parts of New Delhi ahead of the Commonwealth¹¹ Games, which are due to begin early next month. The games have already been hit by corruption¹² charges and by delays. The city's top elected official has asked people not to panic as police investigate the attack. For NPR News, I'm Vir Singh in New Delhi.

The huge search in Southern California for members of a cult-like group is over. Authorities say the 13 who were missing have been found alive and well in a park after officials received a tip. The five adults and eight children were first reported missing by their families who worried they might try to commit mass suicide. The group apparently¹³ left behind evidence that they were awaiting the rapture¹⁴ or some other world-changing event.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Hurricane force winds are already being felt in Bermuda, where Hurricane Igor is expected to arrive later today. The storm is not as strong as it once was, but still packs a punch with winds of 85 miles an hour. Authorities are afraid it could still be one of the worst hurricanes that ever hit the island. Residents have boarded up their homes; the roads are deserted¹⁵.

Hundreds of Armenian Christians¹⁶ gathered at a 10th-century church in southeast Turkey today for the first religious service in nearly a century. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Akdamar Island.

The 10th-century Church of the Holy Cross has been converted into a museum, but the Turkish government approved this reading of the divine liturgy¹⁷ as a step toward healing relations with neighboring Armenia. There appears to be no imminent¹⁸ solution to a nearly century-old dispute over whether the World War I mass killings¹⁹ of Armenians by Ottoman Turks should be called genocide. Much of the world says 'yes'; Turkey says 'no'. Critics in Armenia protested that today's service is little more than a publicity²⁰ stunt²¹, but those who traveled to this remote historic stone church said this is a positive step, however small, and should be celebrated²². Turkey says it would like to see this service become an annual event. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Akdamar Island in southeastern Turkey.

Pope Benedict is wrapping up his four-day trip to Britain. Today, he expressed shame and horror over the wartime suffering caused by his German homeland during World War II and said he was moved to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the prolonged air bombing campaign against Britain which killed tens of thousands of civilians²³.

I'm Nancy Lyons, NPR News in Washington.