NPR 2008-12-07

President-elect Barack Obama says his administration will undertake the largest public works program since the building of the interstate highway system back in the 1950s. The goal is to create millions of new jobs and bolster 1 the sagging 2 U.S. economy. "When Congress reconvenes in January, I look forward to working with them to pass a plan immediately. We need to act with the urgency this moment demands. " Mr. Obama in his weekly radio address said the program would range well beyond traditional infrastructure 4 projects and include initiatives to create new technological 5 and so-called green jobs and to upgrade computers and internet access in schools.

White House officials have been in talks with Democratic Congressional leaders all day today in an effort to agree on a plan to provide short-term emergency federal loans to U.S. automakers to keep them afloat through the first quarter of the new year. The loans are expected to total at least 15 billion dollars. David Cole, Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, a non-profit group in Michigan, says that would be money well spent considering the cost of bankruptcy 6 by one or more of the Big Three. "The cost of the impact, the negative impact are taxes, lack of Social Security payments sent to the government, the unemployment, the coverage 7, all of that is so much greater than the cost of a bridge loan.” The talks are now reported to be centered on what conditions automakers must accept to get the loans. Key Republican lawmakers have not yet said whether they’ll support the emergency loan plan.

There're reports that Pakistan put its military forces on higher alert last week after a prank 8 caller pretending to be India's foreign minister spoke 9 to Pakistan's president in a threatening manner. The call occurred two days after the start of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. NPR's Jackie Northam has the story.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper says President Asif Ali Zardari received the phone call late in the evening, November 28th, when the terror attacks were still unfolding in Mumbai. According to the reputable daily newspaper, the caller said he was Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee. And because of the heightened tension between the two nuclear-armed countries over the attacks, the standard verification procedures were bypassed. The newspaper says the man purporting 10 to be India’s foreign minister began speaking in a threatening manner which convinced many in the Pakistani government that India was preparing for war. Over the next 24 hours, Pakistan's air force was put on the highest alert, watching for any military build-up by India. The newspaper said the episode sparked intense international diplomacy 11 to ward 3 off the two countries from going to war again over a hoax 12. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Islamabad.

Hundreds of young people went on a rampage in Athens after Greek police reportedly shot and killed a 16-year-old boy who was accused of trying to hurl 13 a makeshift bomb at a police car. The rioters smashed store windows and clashed with police who dispersed 14 crowds with teargas.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Officials in China are said to be upset over French President Nicholas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama in Poland today. Eleanor Beardsley has the story.

Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama takes place on the sidelines of a gathering 15 of  Nobel Prize laureates to celebrate the 25th anniversary. A Solidarity 16 Union leader Lech Walesa’ winning the prize. Tensions between France and China are on a rise again after a fallout between the two countries this summer. Chinese consumers boycotted 17 a major French supermarket chain after an Olympic torch runner was roughed up in Paris. In an effort to repair relations this summer, Sarkozy attended the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Initially 19 he had threatened to boycott 18 the ceremony and he avoided meeting with the Dalai Lama during the spiritual leader's visit to France in August. But this time Sarkozy seems to be ignoring China's threats. For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

President Bush was in Philadelphia today. He attended the annual Army-Navy football game after giving pep talks to the teams. Earlier he received two honors from a city group, Philadelphia's Union League. Windsor Johnston, a member station WRTI reports.

Mr. Bush was presented with the league's highest honor, the gold medal, which praises government officials and members of the armed services for their outstanding service to the country. The president is the 37th recipient 20 of the award. The first was President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The Union league also unveiled its Philadelphia's portrait of the president. It's one of only three presidential portraits painted during a president's term in office. For NPR News, I'm Windsor Johnston in Philadelphia.