NPR 2010-12-05

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Raum.

In the Senate today, Republicans blocked two Democratic proposals for extending the expiring Bush-era tax cuts. NPR's David Welna reports the measures ran into a wall of Republican opposition 1.

Democratic proposals capping income eligible 2 for tax-cut extensions at a quarter million dollars or at a million dollars, each fell seven votes shy of the 60 needed to proceed. At the White House, President Obama called on lawmakers to compromise.

"Today's votes cannot be the end of the discussion. It is absolutely essential -- to our hardworking middle-class families and to our economy -- to make sure that their taxes don't go up on January 1st."

GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell predicts Republicans would get what they want: an extension of all the tax cuts.

"I'm relatively 3 confident that the end of this process will lead us to, I think, a very sensible decision not to raise taxes on anybody."

David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

On another topic, the president said today a new trade agreement with South Korea will increase US exports by billions of dollars each year and support at least 70,000 US jobs. The pact 4 was reached yesterday after a week of negotiations 5. US automakers will be allowed to export 25,000 cars to South Korea. South Korea would also be required to eliminate its ten percent tariff 6 on US trucks. The pact must be ratified 7 by legislatures of both countries.

Firefighters from around the world are battling the worst forest fire in Israel's history. The blaze began Thursday north of the city of Haifa. At least 41 people were killed. Most of them (were) prison guards who were on a bus on the way to evacuate 8 a prison. About 17,000 people have been told to leave their homes. Police officials say their initial investigation 9 suggests the fire was started by negligence 10 rather than by arson 11.

The Internet payment service provider PayPal has shut down the account that Wikileaks was using to collect donations. NPR's Allison Keyes reports PayPal claims Wikileaks is misusing 12 its service.

PayPal posted a blog notice yesterday, saying the Wikileaks' account has been permanently 13 restricted due to what the company said was a violation 14 of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy. PayPal said its service cannot be used for "any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity". Today, attempts to donate money to Wikileaks via PayPal bring up the message reading "This recipient 15 is currently unable to receive money." PayPal was one of several ways to donate to Wikileaks, including online transfers via credit card. Wikileaks has a message on the front page of its website, asking supporters to "keep us at the forefront of anti-censorship" with a link to its donations page. Allison Keyes, NPR News.

This is NPR News from Washington.

In Ivory Coast, both the incumbent 16 and the challenger took the oath of office to be president today. The US and the United Nations have said the challenger won the election and have urged the incumbent to concede.

Kenya is asking the FBI to help investigate two separate grenade attacks in Nairobi that left three police officers dead. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports Kenyan police are trying to determine if yesterday's attacks were linked and were acts of terrorism.

The first attack came during morning rush hour in Eastleigh, a Somali suburb of Nairobi. An assailant threw a grenade into a police Land Rover, killing 17 one officer and wounding another. The second attack came later in a separate suburb. Officers pulled over two men on a motorcycle who then opened fire on them and threw a grenade. The site of the first attack, Eastleigh, is a shadowing neighborhood of Somali exiles that Kenyan police and the FBI are watching. Some in Eastleigh are sympathetic to al-Shabab, a violent Islamist group trying to overthrow 18 the US-backed government in neighboring Somalia. The FBI also helped investigate a bombing last summer in Uganda which al-Shabab claimed credit for. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Nairobi.

The president of the Philippines says reporters are ruining his love life. Benigno Aquino III is a bachelor. He broke up with his girlfriend in October. Since then, he's been linked to several women. The Philippine Star had a front-page picture of him with a stockbroker 19 said to be his new romantic interest. According to the Associated Press, Aquino says that he'll spend Christmas without a date because women are afraid to go out with him. They don't want to end up in the newspaper.