NPR 2010-09-27

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US officials are meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators this weekend, hoping to salvage¹ the just resumed peace talks. One complication is that in two hours, a partial moratorium² on new Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank will expire. Sheera Frenkel is in the northern part of the West Bank. She says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that he’d walk away from the talks if there’s no extension, but later told an Arab newspaper he wouldn’t withdraw right away.

Abbas is in contradiction because of course the Palestinians have taken the line, a very hard line, against settlements and said that if there’s settlement construction, they don’t want to take part in peace talks. They stated this repeatedly, including on the days that they stood on the White House lawn and then launched direct peace talks with Israelis. They said, you know, it’s clear it could be that if Israel(’s) building of settlements comes September 26, they would withdraw from peace talks. Now, they find themselves under intense pressure both from American and from their European partners, their European diplomats³ that is, to continue with peace talks.

Sheera Frenkel in the northern part of the West Bank.

The top Republican in the House says he wants Congress to settle whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts sooner rather than later. NPR’s Giles Snyder reports.

House Republican Leader John Boehner says Congress has an opportunity to put the issue to rest this week.

“And to adjourn⁴ without dealing⁵ with this means that in their minds the elections are more important than the jobs for the American people, and it’s just politics as usual.”

Boehner was speaking on Fox News Sunday. It’s not clear when the House will take up the issue, but on the Senate side, Majority Leader Harry⁶ Reid has postponed⁷ the vote until a lame-duck session scheduled to convene⁸ November 15th. The cuts due to expire at the end of the year are a big issue heading into the November 2nd elections. President Obama wants to let the taxes rise for the wealthiest Americans. Republicans want all the cuts extended. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.

BP’s chief investigator⁹ into April’s oil rig explosion acknowledged today his work had limitations. Mark Bly told the National Academy of Engineering Committee his team only looked at the immediate¹⁰ cause of the disaster and did not interview employees from other companies. Members of the panel noted¹¹ that the BP investigators¹² didn’t examine whether organizational flaws could have contributed; have they concentrated on decisions made on the rig, not by the managers on shore.

Bishop¹³ Eddie Long addressed his congregation near Atlanta this morning for the first time since four lawsuits¹⁴ were filed, claiming he allured¹⁵ young men into sexual relationships.

“I have never in my life portrayed¹⁶ myself as a perfect man, but I am not the man that’s being portrayed on the television.”

Long did not address the allegations directly, but he promised that he would fight them.

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What’s left of tropical depression Matthew is drenching¹⁷ parts of Central America. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say the storm could trigger flash floods and mudslides. In Guatemala, officials are worried about people in low-lying areas, who’re refusing to go to shelters. They say people are afraid looters will steal their possessions if they leave their homes.

France is considering legalizing so-called “shooting galleries” medically supervise clinics for drug addicts¹⁸. Frank Browning reports.

So-called “legalized shooting galleries” exist in a number of countries including Spain, Switzerland and some Nordic nations. Supervised drug injection centers have won wide support across the French political spectrum¹⁹, where it’s regarded not as a moral issue about a health and public security question. However, French Prime Minister François Fillon has been a vocal²⁰ opponent of such centers, saying they’re neither wise nor timely in France. Drug addiction²¹ in France has risen steadily²² in recent years. Canadian medical specialists in Vancouver have also reported that a similar experiment there was effective in helping²³ addicts break their habits and avoid infection with HIV and other diseases. For NPR News, I’m Frank Browning.

A company called Liquid Comics is coming up with a new comic book in November, featuring a new superhero called “Silver Scorpion”. He’s a Muslim boy in a wheelchair. The storyline is the boy lost his legs in a landmine²⁴ accident and then finds that he has the power to control metal with his mind. The idea came from a group of young disabled Americans and Syrians, brought together by a non-profit organization. It’ll be distributed in both English and Arabic.