Good morning.
As we've already reported, an Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet with about 90 people on board crashed off the coast of Lebanon today, shortly after taking off from Beirut. Lebanon's president says sabotage is not suspected. There was bad weather in the area at the time of the crash.
We've also already posted about the second annual letter from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates about the work that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation does and his view that innovation, science and technology can make the difference "between a bleak future and a bright one" for the world's poor.
Gates is to be a guest today on NPR's Talk of the Nation. Click here to find out when the show airs in your state and click here to find an NPR station near you that broadcasts the show. To call the show, dial (in the U.S.) 1-800-989-8255. You can submit questions here.
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
— Morning Edition — Many Haitians Are "Disappointed With Preval, Long For Aristide". "Nearly two weeks after the deadly earthquake, the Haitian government continues to struggle. Many officials died in the Jan. 12 quake and government buildings were destroyed. Some Haitians don't believe President Rene Preval can pull them out of the chaos they're in. They would like to see ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide return to office." NPR's Tamara Keith reports:
Related story by the Associated Press — "Urgent Need For Tent Cities" In Haiti.
Related story by the Associated Press — "150,000 Quake Victims Buried, Haiti Says".
An Argentine soldier helps out at a makeshift hospital in Port-au-Prince.
An Argentine soldier helps out at a makeshift hospital in Port-au-Prince.
— Financial Times — Gen. McChrystal "Sees Taliban Role": "General Stanley McChrystal, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, has raised the prospect that his troop surge will lead to a negotiated peace with the Taliban. ... By using the reinforcements to create an arc of secure territory stretching from the Taliban's southern heartlands to Kabul, Gen McChrystal aims to weaken the insurgency to the point where its leaders would accept some form of settlement with Afghanistan's government."
— Morning Edition — "Bomb Plot Suspect Tied To Alleged U.K. Terrorists". "British and U.S. intelligence authorities have linked the young Nigerian at the center of the alleged Christmas Day attack on Northwest Flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to two men accused of ties to major terrorist plots in the United Kingdom, NPR has learned." Dina Temple-Raston reports:
— The Washington Post — "Populist Ire Softens Ahead Of Bernanke Confirmation Vote": "The outlook for Ben S. Bernanke's confirmation to a second term as Federal Reserve chairman brightened over the weekend, as the Obama administration and key senators expressed confidence in his prospects."
Related story by Politico — "Geithner Warns Of Bernanke Fallout" If Confirmation Fails.
— Los Angeles Times — "Still A Disorganized 'Tea Party' ": The conservative "Tea Party" movement, "is far from a well-disciplined army. Its pivot from protesting to politics has been fraught with internal disputes, turf wars and lawsuits. It has continued to struggle with its relationship to the Republican Party, which would very much like to harness the movement's energy without being subsumed by it."
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