NPR 2009-08-13

The interest rate setting arm of the Federal Reserve has wrapped up its two-day meeting in Washington, taking no action on a key overnight bank lending rate it controls. In its end of meeting statement, the members of the Fed's Open Market Committee also signaled the economy appears to be showing signs of leveling off, though policymakers say economic activity is likely to remain weak for some time. Richard Yamarone is an economic, or economist 1 rather, of Argus Research. He says while there's some reason for optimism, the wild card remains 2 companies becoming confident enough to begin hiring again.

 "We had a considerable improvement in economic conditions, even from housing to somewhat in the automotive sector 3. But that one thorn in this handful of roses that we've had in a wave of economic indicators 4 over the last couple of weeks, the one thorn remains unemployment."

 Fed has been keeping short-term interest rates at between zero and 0.25% and indicated following today's meeting, it is prepared to continue doing that for what it termed "an extended period of time".

 On Wall Street, investors 5 seemed to applaud the Fed's actions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 120 points today. The NASDAQ was up 28 points.

 A Minnesota man accused of traveling to Somalia to join a terrorist group there pleaded guilty to lying to an FBI agent in a Minneapolis court. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports.

 Kamal Said Hassan is a small part of a broader federal investigation 6 into the disappearance 7 of more than two dozen young Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities over the past two years. Hassan traveled to Somalia to fight for a militia 8 there called al-Shabaab. When Hassan returned to the US, he apparently 9 lied to the FBI about where he'd been. He's now in US custody 10. This is the third indictment 11 in the case the FBI has called the largest terrorism investigation in this country since 9/11. US intelligence is concerned that al-Shabaab recruits could decide to return and attack here. Al-Shabaab is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations. Its leadership has ties to al-Qaeda, although intelligence officials are divided over how much sway Al Qaeda has over the group. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

 Federal government's pool of red ink grows in July as Federal outlays 12 to fight a widening recession continue to increase. Government says the July budget deficit 13 of 180.6 billion dollars, a record for the month, brings the fiscal 14 year to date budget shortfall (to) just over 1.2 trillion dollars. That is more than triple the deficit for the same period a year ago. In a separate report, the government also announced a rise in the monthly trade gap to 27 billion dollars.

 Once again recapping Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 120 points to close at 9,361. The NASDAQ was up 28 points, ending the session at 1,998. The Standard & Poor's 500 also gained ground today in light of the Federal Reserve's moves. The S&P 500 was up 11 points, ending the session at 1,005.

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 There are continued reports of heavy fighting between US Marines and members of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan as a force there seeks to gain control of the strategic Taliban-held town ahead of critical elections next week. Officials say 500 US and Afghan troops exchanged heavy fire with insurgents 15, killing 16 at least seven people.  And the ofensive, they say, is aimed at cutting off Taliban's supply lines. It's the first time NATO troops have entered the area which has been under Taliban control for several years.

 Congressman David Scott of Georgia says racism 17 has taken over the debates surrounding the overhaul 18 of health care. From Georgia Public Broadcasting, Susanna Capelouto reports.

 David Scott is a Democrat 19 who had to confront people angry over possible changes in health care at a town hall meeting. He's also African-American. And his office has received faxes with racial slurs 20 which he's turned over to the FBI. And this week a swastika was spray-painted over his name at his suburban 21 Atlanta district office. Scott blames conservative talk radio for injecting race into the health care debate. "Now when you look at Rush Limbaugh, saying, ‘Hey, we want Obama to fail’, what do you think that means for them? And they are using the American people. And they are pricking 22 their conscience with this racism. That is so much there with us.  Just...And they know how to do it." Scott says in his seven years in Congress, he's never gotten this high a level of racial threats. For NPR News, I'm Susanna Capelouto in Atlanta.

 The bodies of the five Italian tourists killed this, in this past weekend's collision between a small private plane and a sightseeing helicopter, have been flown back to Italy. The crash which occurred Saturday over the Hudson River left a total of nine people dead. The final two victims' bodies were pulled from the waters yesterday.

 I'm Jack 23 Speer, NPR News in Washington.