NPR 2008-04-28

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Continental¹ Airlines says it has called off its merger² talks with United Airlines and will instead remain an independent air carrier. United had hoped to reach an agreement with Continental by late this week. But Continental's board of directors decided³ today to abandon the effort after United announced worse-than-expected quarterly earnings⁴ in part because of rising cost for jet fuel. Analysts⁵ say United may now push to complete a merger with US Airways⁶.

 Civil rights advocates in New York City are urging reforms following the acquittal of three police officers involved in the killing⁷ of an unarmed man, Sean Bell in 2006. The recommendations include a proposal to have a special prosecutor⁸ investigate such incidents in the future. NPR's Allison Keyes has the story.

 At police headquarters in New York today, civil rights attorney Norman Siegel talked about the need for an independent body to probe cases where civilians⁹ are hurt or killed by police. "We need to create a statewide permanent special prosecutor for corruption¹⁰ and brutality¹¹." In Harlem today, Bell's fiancé, Rev¹². Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders called for the Justice Department to enforce laws against police brutality and prosecute¹³ those who violate them. The Justice Department has said it will conduct an independent review of the evidence in this case. Allison Keyes, NPR News.

 The latest clashes over the Olympic torch took place in Seoul, South Korea today. Chinese students there confronted anti-Chinese demonstrators, as NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing.

 Flag-waving Chinese students greatly outnumbered South Korean protestors at the start of a 14-mile torch relay route through the city. It began at a park that was one of the facilities for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Thousands of officers kept order, including riot police with shields and batons¹⁴. Still, some fights broke out between groups of demonstrators. Police arrested a few protestors, including North Koreans protesting China's treatment of North Korean refugees in China. No disruptions are expected when the torch goes through Pyongyang. But it may face more controversy¹⁵ during upcoming stops in Hong Kong and Hanoi later this week. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.

 Thousands of people gathered at Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark today to honor Army reservist Matt Maupin whose remains¹⁶ were recently recovered in Iraq nearly four years after he was captured by militants¹⁷. Among the speakers was Maupin's brother-in-law, Carl Cottrell. "You were strong both mentally and physically¹⁸. God cannot have chosen a better soldier than you to bear what you must have borne. "At a private ceremony for Maupin's relatives, the Army awarded him a number of medals including the Bronze Star. Another mass grave has been located in Iraq. Authorities say soldiers have unearthed¹⁹ 50 bodies in an orchard²⁰ near Baquba.

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 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he will not debate rival Hillary Clinton again before the May 6th primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. Clinton had proposed a Lincoln-Douglas style debate in which the candidates question each other without a moderator. Clinton is campaigning today in North Carolina.

 The space shuttle Discovery has been rolled out of the giant Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in preparation for its upcoming launch on a mission to the International Space Station. Pat Duggins of member station WMFE reports from Orlando.

 The move is slow and delicate. Engineers will tow the space plane to the box-shaped Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB, that's where its twin solid rocket boosters are bolted to the 150-foot-tall external fuel tank. Discovery starts the trip, rolling on its own landing gear. Once in the VAB, a crane will lift the shuttle up off the ground, so technicians can retract²¹ Discovery's tyres and lock the three landing gear doors shut. The next time they pop open will be seconds before the planned landing at mission’s end. Once that's done, the shuttle will be hoisted²² nose up and attached to the external tank. After that, the launch deck will be rolled to the pad to await the arrival of Discovery's payload. That's a schoolbus-sized laboratory module²³ built by Japan. The shuttle's crew will install the compartment²⁴ on the International Space Station. For NPR News, I'm Pat Duggins, in Orlando.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling a wildfire that's spreading out of control through dense²⁵ brush in Southern California toward a suburban²⁶ area near Pasadena. The blaze has forced the evacuation of more than 1, 000 people from homes in the foothills.

 A truck jammed with up to 60 illegal immigrants crashed and rolled over in a remote area of Arizona early this morning. Four people were killed and more than two dozen others were injured. Many of the survivors²⁷ fled into the desert.