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NPR-Standard English
090703
The Williams sisters have faced one another in the Wimbledon Tennis Finals three times and they will square off Saturday again the fourth of July in an all American Williams final. In London, Larry Miller looks how the pair did in the semi-finals today. The two Williams matches couldn't have been more different. Two-time Wimbledon winner Serena lost her first set so far in the tournament to the Russian Elena Dementieva and was facing match point in the second set before coming back to win that and a hard-fought third set that went 8-6. A few minutes later, her sister and defending champion Venus walked on Wimbledon center court outclassing and quickly dispatching the world NO.1 Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0, setting up a Saturday sisterly final. Venus is going for her third straight Lady's grass court title. Head to head, Serena has beaten Venus twice losing once. Regardless of who wins, they’ll deposit $2.1 million into the family bank account from the combined prize money.?
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090710
Chinese state-run media is reporting an earthquake in southwestern China. The quake, with a reported magnitude of 6.0, was felt in Yunnan Province area with reports of more than 300 injuries and damage to perhaps tens of thousands of homes. Initial quake was reported to have been followed by at least eight aftershocks. Rescue officials are sending tents and blankets to the region. The quake appeared to have been centered in the mountainous region on China's southern border with Thailand and Myanmar.?
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090712
Tonight's scheduled launch of the space shuttle Endeavor was scrubbed after at least 11 lightning strikes were observed near the launch pad. NASA engineers want to make sure no critical systems were damaged. Pat Duggins of member station WMFE reports.
NASA is checking space shuttle Endeavor and its solid rocket boosters from lightning damage. The shuttle contains sensitive electronics and the boosters use explosive charges to safely push the rocket free of the shuttle after lift-off. NASA's Mike Moses says technicians will spend the coming hours trying to make sure the shuttle is ready to go. "We're gonna go and make sure that all the critical systems can be either checked physically or cleared through analysis. So before we launch, we will know 100% that even the stuff is not powered, we're confident it's good." Seven astronauts are waiting to begin NASA's latest mission to the International Space Station. The crew will deliver and install the final section of Japan's Kibo laboratory. For NPR News, I'm Pat Duggins in Orlando.
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090713 ?
Gasoline prices have registered their most significant decline since last December over the past few weeks. Prices at the pump have dropped about 10 cents a gallon to a national average of $2.56 for self-service regular.??Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg says the decline was expected because crude oil prices have been falling. "Crude oil fell twice as much as gasoline did, about half the cut went to motorists, and about 25% each went to refiners and retailers." Lundberg says she expects gas prices to drop even further in the coming weeks. Gasoline prices are about $1.55 lower now than they were at this time last summer. The highest gasoline prices in the most recent survey were in Honolulu, the lowest were in Wichita, Kansas.
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090714
The World Health Organization says the flu viruses needed to produce vaccine for the current pandemic are not growing well and that may slow the delivery of needed vaccine. NPR's Richard Knox has more.
Until now the WHO and countries around the world had hoped the new H1N1 virus would grow in eggs as well as seasonal flu viruses. But WHO experts say the pandemic virus is growing only 25% to 50% as fast as ordinary viruses. So labs around the world are going back to square one. They're isolating the new flu viruses from infected people and creating new hybrid viruses in the hope they'll grow well. If they are lucky, they will have an answer this month. If a fast growing vaccine virus can be produced, the first doses of vaccine would still come off the production lines in the fall. But it would take months longer to produce the billions of doses needed in the coming flu season. And there might be none available at all for the poorest countries. Richard Knox, NPR News.
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