NPR 2010-03-20

Congress’s top Democrats 1 will head to the White House tomorrow, the eve of a crucial healthcare vote. As NPR’s Audie Cornish reports, the fight for votes is coming down to the wire.

House Democrats need 216 votes in order to approve the health overhaul 2 bill. Over the last few days, Democrats who have been wavering have announced here and there whether they support the legislation, while some anti-abortion 3 Democrats are still raising concerns about the abortion language in the bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says there will be no more changes to the legislation and the speaker says she is confident that health overhaul will pass.

“We’re, again, one day closer to passing historic legislation which will make history, of course, but progress for the American people.”

Meanwhile, Republican Minority leader John Boehner says the American people do not want the healthcare bill, and that it will haunt Democrats come November during midterm elections. Audie Cornish, NPR News, the Capitol.

The Middle East Quartet is criticizing Israel for expanding settlements in East Jerusalem despite warnings that the project would undermine peace talks with the Palestinians. The group including the US, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia released a statement today after meeting in Moscow, said everyone needs to focus on peace negotiations 4 that would include a final deal on creating an independent Palestinian state within two years. Meanwhile, more violence is reported out of the Middle East. Some Palestinians clashing with Israeli army in the West Bank town of Hebron today.

Overland flooding is already cutting off rural homes in Minnesota and North Dakota where the Red River is expected to crest 5 on Sunday. We have this update from Minnesota Public Radio’s Rupa Shenoy.

National Guard troops are working with city crews in Fargo, Moorhead to guard earthen levees and sandbag dikes put in place over the last few days. Police say they’ve had to chase national media crews off the fragile structures. As temperatures dip to freezing, officials are warning flooded roads may become icy sheets, but they also hope the lower temperatures slow the rush of melting snow and ice. Meanwhile, city and county officials from Minnesota and North Dakota have approved a 1.3-billion-dollar Flood-Diversion Plan. The plan calls for a 35-mile long channel that would route part of the Red River around Fargo during a flood. It will take a decade to complete the project. For NPR News, I’m Rupa Shenoy.

British Airways 6 employees are expected to go on strike within hours and that could affect thousands of travelers. The cabin crews will be off the job for three days. They decided 7 to walk out after labor 8 talks over pay and working conditions collapse 9.

After eight winning sessions, that streak 10 comes to a halt today. The Dow was down 40 points at 10,739.

This is NPR.

After months of bickering 11 that threatens to bring down Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition 12 government, there’re some possible signs of progress. South African President Jacob Zuma, the chief mediator 13 in the dispute, says rival political leaders have agreed on measures to move forward with political reforms demanded by Western donors 14. Vicky O’Hara has the story.

Zuma helped broker 15 a power-sharing agreement last year between Zimbabwe’s two political rivals—President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, but Zimbabwe has made little progress toward the reforms promised under that agreement. So this week, Zuma was back in Harare, trying to move the process forward. International aid groups, meanwhile, are pleading with donors to provide more food aid to Zimbabwe’s impoverished 16 people. Zuma says the two rivals now have agreed on measures that will allow political and media reforms to proceed. He says Mugabe and Tsvangirai are supposed to report back to him on progress by the end of the month. One positive sign is that after three months of inaction, a commission charged with media reforms says it’s held its first meeting. For NPR News, I’m Vicky O’Hara in Johannesburg.

As many as 200 people may be dead from a landslide 17 in Sierra Leone today. According to various reports, authorities are saying the people were killed when a trench 18 collapsed 19 at an unsanctioned gold mine.

The sex abuse scandal surrounding the Roman Catholic Church appears to be expanding in Munich, Pope Benedict XVI’s former diocese. A sex abuse task force says it’s now investigating 120 cases of abuse, most of them involving a monastery 20 boarding school.

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.