NPR 2009-10-04

Finance ministers from the US and the rest of the G7 wealthiest nations meeting in Istanbul say the global economy is growing again, but the recovery remains 1 fragile, threatened in part by rising unemployment. Treasury 2 Secretary Timothy Geithner says it's too soon to back off the stimulus 3 measures enacted 4 in the US. President Obama says healthcare overhaul 5 legislation being considered in Congress will help boost employment in the US by making small business start-ups more feasible.

"Rising healthcare costs are undermining our businesses, exploding our deficits 6, and costing our nation more jobs with each passing month. So we know that reforming our health insurance system will be a critical step in rebuilding our economy, so that our entrepreneurs can pursue the American dream again."  
Mr. Obama in his weekly radio and internet address today.

Administration officials say the White House is looking at steps to provide more help for jobless Americans, including a possible further extension of unemployment benefits.

Rescue crews are reaching more remote communities in Indonesia that were covered by landslides 7 triggered by the powerful earthquake that hit there this week. The quake has been blamed for more than 700 deaths. Ann Dwane Felda reports from Padang.  
   
Rescuers got words Saturday there’s a text message that arrived from a victim trapped in the Padang Hotel, saying there’re survivors 8 under the flattened 9 building. More than a dozen international search and rescue teams are trying to reach victims throughout western Sumatra, but there is little fuel for vehicles and heavy machinery 10 that pull people from the wreckage 11. The magnitude 7.6 quake leveled hundreds of buildings in the provincial 12 capital of Padang. Power is still out here and there is little running water. At the city’s main hospital, reports are the doctors don't have water to wash their instruments and patients rely on donations of bottled water. Aid efforts are extending at the coastal 13 villages where as many as 80% of all homes were destroyed. Aid groups are distributing emergency kits 14, including tarps and serum 15. But so many roads are blocked by landslides that access is limited. For NPR News, I’m Ann Dwane Felda in Padang, Indonesia.

Voters in Ireland have overwhelmingly approved the European Union's reform treaty. NPR's Rob Gifford reports.

You can almost hear the sighs of relief in Brussels, as it was announced that Ireland have voted in favor of the Lisbon Treaty, a huge legal document described by some as an EU constitution, designed to strengthen a modernized 16 European Union. The Irish were the last of the EU's 27 nations to ratify 17 the treaty and had stunned 18 Brussels last year by rejecting it, amid fears that the treaty would force neutral Ireland to raise its business taxes, join the European army, and legalize abortion 19. Having received assurances on all these issues, the second vote also came as a relief to the embattled government of Prime Minister Brian Cowen. Observers attributed the turnaround to the unraveling of Ireland's long booming economy. Analysts 20 say voters seemed to see the EU as a source of economic stability and support in difficult times.

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The head of the UN's Nuclear Monitoring Agency has arrived in Iran to arrange an inspection 21 of that country's newly revealed uranium enrichment facility. President Obama and the leaders of Britain and France have accused Iran of keeping construction of that facility secret for years. But Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today said Mr. Obama had made, in his words, a big and historic mistake by making that accusation 22, which, Ahmadinejad said, was baseless.

Chicago teenager Derrion Albert, whose fatal beating was caught on cell-phone video, was lay to rest today as the Obama administration is preparing to launch an initiative to combat school violence. NPR's Allison Keyes has the story.

The 16-year old was beaten to death by a group of teens. Seen on a cell-phone video kicking and hitting Albert with railroad ties just blocks from a school, four teens have been charged. The video drew national attention and outrage 23. Pamela Bosley, who lost her son Terrell Bosley three years ago, told WBBM Radio the funeral was a tough place to be.

“This was the hardest thing to see another baby lying in a casket. Here we are; here gives a day. It has got to stop. “

President Obama and the first lady are Chicagoans. His administration has dispatched US Attorney General Eric Holder 24 and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to the city for meetings about school violence. But Albert’s great aunt, Rose Braxton, has said the spotlight 25 on the case isn't giving her family any comfort. Allison Keyes, NPR News.

A fire that began as a controlled burn has got out of hand in Arizona and has nearly doubled in size, thanks to gusty 26 winds. Now more than 60 homes in the northern part of the state are threatened by the flames.