NPR 2009-11-09

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

". . . sing with me. How great is our God. . . " This church service in Fort Hood 1, Texas is more emotional than usual this Sunday. People are mourning the 13 people who died during a shooting rampage three days ago. Nearly 30 others were wounded in that attack. Colonel John Rossi, deputy commander of Fort Hood says the alleged 2 gunman, Major Nidal Hasan, is still in intensive care. "Major Hasan remains 3 in critical but stable condition at Brook 4 Army Medical Center. He's in ICU in stable condition.” The military is investigating the circumstances leading up to the attack. NPR's Jennifer Ludden says Army Chief of Staff George Casey found himself on the defensive 5 as he made the round of Sunday Morning Talks Shows.

Shooting suspect Major Nidal Hasan opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was said to be distressed 6 about his own impending 7 deployment 8. General Casey told CNN 'It's a fair question' whether Hasan should have been counseling fellow soldiers. But he said the army has done much to relieve soldiers strain. It's added 40,000 recruits, shortened deployments and increased time between them. He told ABC's 'This Week' another effort launches tomorrow. "We just implemented 9 a program called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which is designed to give our soldiers, civilians 10 and family members the resilience skills they need to make it through these tough times.”  When asked about reports that Hasan had tried to get out of the army, Casey said he couldn't comment on anything that might suggest a motive 11 for the shootings. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

President Obama again thanked the US House today for passing landmark 12 health care overhaul 13 legislation. At the Rose Garden he urged the Senate to follow suit. But Senate Republicans are vowing 14 to block its passage. The vote was close in the House where only one Republican voted in favor. That vote in the House was 220 to 215.

President Obama reacted to another milestone 15 today. Iraq's parliament approved a long-delayed election law that enables a national vote to be held early next year. The vote comes after days of intensive bargaining among Iraq's ethnic 16 and political factions 17. From Baghdad, NPR's Corey Flintoff reports.

The major sticking point to passing this law was the question of how to apportion 18 votes in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk. The city is at the hub of vast oil reserves in Iraq's North and it's claimed by Arabs, Kurds, and members of the Turkmen minority. The lawmakers agreed to use voting rolls based on a census 19 conducted this year. But there's provision for challenging the results if that appears that the ethnic makeup 20 of the city has been unfairly manipulated. The head of Iraq's Independent Election Commission said that even though the passage of the law was delayed, there is still time to hold a vote before the constitutionally mandated 21 deadline in January. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Baghdad.

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Hurricane Ida has grown into a Category 2 storm with top winds near 100 miles per hour. It's churning across the Yucatan. The National Hurricane Center's Jack 22 Beven says Ida could hit the Northern Gulf 23 Coast by Tuesday. "We do have a hurricane watch for portions of Louisiana and Mississippi Coast from Grand Isle 24, Louisiana eastward 25 to the Louisiana, Mississippi border. This does not include the city of New Orleans. They are not in the watch of the present time. " Ida earlier hit El Salvador where at least 91 people were killed.

The UN Refugee Agency is stepping up assistance to thousands of Pakistanis displaced by military operations against the Taliban. In South Waziristan, we have more on this from Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the conflict zone. Some are in camps but most are staying with family and friends. UN Refugee spokesman Andrej Mahecic says the UNHCR would distribute some 35, 000 tents, worth six million dollars to the displaced.  "The aid will allow the displaced people to pitch tents in the grounds of households which are hosting them, and alleviate 26 overcrowding. Since September, UNHCR has been distributing relief items such as kitchen sets, jerry cans, quilts, sleeping mats to displaced people from South Waziristan. " So far about 175, 000 people have received assistance. Mahecic says UNHCR's relief effort has been interrupted on several occasions because of problems with security. But he adds, local partners continued the distributions. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Schlein in Geneva.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.