NPR 2009-03-16

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham.

The chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors 1 Christina Romer says the US is fighting an economic war that has not yet been won but she says the US economy is fundamentally solid. "The fundamentals are sound in the sense that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we have good technology, we know that... that temporarily we are in a mess." Romer told NBC's "Meet the Press" that for now the nation is in very, very difficult times.

The administration is sharply criticizing the payment by insurance giant American International Group of 165 million dollars in bonuses after receiving more than 170 billion dollars in taxpayer 2 bailout money. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell says he has a problem with the conclusion by AIG and Treasury 3 Department attorneys that most of the bonuses are contractual obligations. "The message here, I'm afraid, to any business out there that's thinking about taking government money is 'Let's enter into a bunch of contracts real quick and we'll have the taxpayers 4 pay bonuses to our employees.' This is an outrage 5." McConnell was on ABC's "This Week".

So far so good at the Kennedy Space Center where the space shuttle Discovery has been fueled for this evening's scheduled launch on a mission to the International Space Station. At this point last week, NASA engineers were seeing signs of a hydrogen gas leak that prompted them to cancel a launch attempt. But NASA spokesman George Diller says not so today. "There is no indication of leakage 6 at all. It appears that the system is tight and that we'll be able to press on." Discovery will deliver a final set of solar panels and some critical parts for the space station's water recycling system.

The president of Madagascar has defied an ultimatum 7 to resign despite growing opposition 8 to his government. After the deadline issued by his political rival passed, he emerged from the presidential palace to say he has no intention of stepping down. More from NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton.

Parts of the armed forces are refusing to take orders from the government of embattled President Marc Ravalomanana, prompting concern that the political standoff in Madagascar may lead to military intervention 9. Hundreds of Ravalomanana's supporters are defending the presidency 10 compound after threats by the opposition leader Andry Rajoelina to march on the palace if his rival does not quit. Rajoelina has declared himself president and says he will name his own government. Meanwhile his supporters have occupied the prime minister's offices. Analysts 11 predict that opposition protesters have little appetite for a violent confrontation 12 in Madagascar, though they are turning up the pressure on a president they claim has failed to tackle poverty and corruption 13. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Johannesburg.

A roadside bomb explosion killed four American soldiers in eastern Afghanistan today. In a separate attack, a suicide bomber 14 targeted a NATO convoy 15 but instead killed two bystanders.

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Iran's foreign minister has reportedly made an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia as tensions rise between the Islamic Republic and the Arab world. Dale Gavlak has more.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held talks with the Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal. Just two weeks ago, al-Faisal called for a unified 16 Arab strategy to deal with what he termed "the Iranian challenge". Moderate Arab states are worried about Iran's nuclear program and its growing influence in Iraq. Its support of  Islamist movements Hamas and Hezbollah also concern US allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Egypt has accused Iran of manipulating Arab states to increase its influence in the region. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the US would like to see Syria, Iran's closest Arab ally, weaned away from Teheran's control. For NPR News, I'm Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan.

The OPEC oil cartel has decided 17 not to lower its current production targets, but instead will push member nations that are not complying with previous pledges to cut production to do so. That will result in reduced output of about 840,000 barrels a day. OPEC Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri says the decision was a compromise aimed at shoring up oil prices while not aggravating 18 the global economic downturn. "Taking into consideration what's going on in the world economy, everything we try to talk about, everything is negative, you know, everyday we receive negative information, so we just try to balance the situation out." El-Badri says if oil prices do not stabilize 19 by May when the OPEC ministers meet next, they will consider production cuts.
 
I'm Craig Windham, NPR News in Washington.