NPR 2009-11-13

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The army has filed formal charges against Major Nidal Hasan with the shooting deaths at Fort Hood 1 last week. He faces 13 counts of premeditated murder. From Fort Hood, Texas, NPR’s Jeff Brady reports.

Hasan is suspected of killing 2 12 soldiers and a civilian 3 at a processing center for soldiers about to be deployed 4. Investigators 5 say their work is continuing. There’re still coming a large crime scene for evidence and some of the injured witnesses still haven’t been interviewed. Chris Grey with the army’s criminal investigation 6 division says he’s not ready to release many of the details for fear of hampering 7 the prosecution 8 of the case.

"We do know that the suspect was not at the readiness center for any scheduled appointments or command-directed activity."

Hasan’s attorney John Galligan says the accused gunman was served with the charges by his Unit Commander at a hospital in San Antonio where he’s recovering from four gunshot wounds. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Fort Hood, Texas.

President Obama is ordering a review of how US Intelligence Agency’s handled information they may have had on Hasan. Earlier NPR learned that Hasan’s supervisor 9 has questioned his mental stability. Colleagues also deny claims that Hasan was harassed 10 because he is Muslim.

Colorado authorities have filed criminal charges against Richard and Mayumi Heene for staging a hoax 11 when they reported their child had floated away in a helium balloon. The couple is expected to plead guilty tomorrow. Richard Heene is accused of attempting to influence a public servant, a felony. His wife is charged with false reporting to authorities. Both are expected to appear in court tomorrow.

There’s been a dramatic increase in the number of people who’ve died from the new H1N1 swine flu. It’s not that the flu has suddenly become more deadly. The estimates are just more precise. NPR’s Joanne Silberner has more.

Last week the pediatric death count was 129 between late April and mid-October. This week the estimate is 540 deaths according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new estimate comes from the same numbers, tallies 12 by select doctors and hospitals. But it takes into account that not all flu deaths are identified as such. Sometimes the flu test isn’t done or it’s wrong or the death is attributed to a different infection that came after the flu. The total flu death estimate for adults between 18 and 64 is 2,900, and among people 65 and older, there have been 440 deaths. The total count of how many people have been infected by the new virus is now 22 million, which includes eight million children under the age of 18. Joanne Silberner, NPR News, Atlanta.

On Wall Street, the Dow was down 94 points at 10,197 and the NASDAQ was down 18 at last check at 2,149.

This is NPR.

The White House plans to host a job summit next month to figure out how to create more positions and start driving down the unemployment rate which topped 10% last month. Today President Obama said he was encouraged by the latest Labor 13 Department report showing fewer new claims filed last week, but he said that with millions of people still out of work, the loss of jobs remains 14 one of his administration’s biggest challenges.

President Obama heads to Japan today, part of a week-long trip that also includes stops in China, Singapore and South Korea.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev once again painted a bleak 15 picture of Russia’s economy and repeated his recent calls for modernization 16 in his annual state-of-the-nation address. But as NPR’s Anne Garrels reports, he was short on specifics.

President Medvedev attacked huge state corporations created by his predecessor 17, then-President Vladimir Putin, calling their competitiveness shamefully 18 low. He demanded they reform into commercial companies or disappear. He ordered the government led by now-Prime Minister Putin to reduce its massive share of the economy. Medvedev said Russia’s dependence 19 on oil, gas and metals must end with the country transformed into a smart economy with high-tech 20 investments. Warning one million Russians are (at) risk of losing their jobs, he said the country must quickly modernize 21. He called for more government transparency and promised to strengthen democratic institutions. But analysts 22 and opposition 23 parties said his speech are repetition of past pronouncements-lacked concrete proposals. Anne Garrels, NPR News.

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.