NPR 2010-10-03

There's been another setback 1 to US-sponsored peace talks in the Middle East. After a three-hour meeting, senior Palestinian leaders have decided 2 that unless Israel halts Jewish construction in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians will withdraw from the negotiations 3. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from Jerusalem.

This isn't a final decision. So far, the Palestinian leadership headed by President Mahmoud Abbas have not definitively 4 said they will withdraw from the talks. But today's announcement from the Palestine Liberation Organization and members of the Abbas’s Fatah party is another indication that the talks may collapse 5 only a month after they began. The United States has been trying to stop that from happening, with US Middle East envoy 6 George Mitchell engaged here in furious shuttle diplomacy 7. Palestinians want Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a settlement freeze that expired last week. So far, the Israeli leader has been unwilling 8 to do so amid fears that his largely right-wing pro-settler coalition 9 will collapse. The Palestinians say they can't negotiate for peace while land they want for a future state is illegally annexed 10. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Jerusalem.

US drone missile attacks continue in northwest Pakistan. Intelligence officials say a pair of strikes this morning killed at least 16 suspected militants 11. Tensions have been building between the US and Pakistan over recent NATO border incursions and Pakistan has cut off a NATO supply line along the border in retaliation 12.

Last month, Glenn Beck held his “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington. Now, organized labor 13, civil rights and other groups are trying to energize 14 supporters with a rally at the Lincoln Memorial. NPR's Allison Keyes is in the middle of the crowd.

There are a lot of organizations here. I'm looking at people wearing SEIU. That’s a union. The CWA Union is here. There are military folks here. There are teachers here. A lot of the people said that they came partly because they wanted to show that there's a coalition. They say this is the real America, not the people that have been showing up at the Tea Party and Republican rallies that have been being held across the nation. And they say that they gather strength from being here with so many people from different organizations because they're reminding each other that this is the coalition, they say, that got President Obama elected and this is the same coalition. They say that they're going to keep Democrats 15 in power in the House and Senate in the midterm election.

Organizers call today's event the One Nation Working Together rally.

President Obama says investing in clean energy is essential for the nation's economic security and will create jobs. In his weekly address, Mr. Obama says Republicans are trying to scrap 16 incentives 17 for such projects. He says he wants to spur innovation and help make our economy more competitive.

In the GOP response, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took aim at government spending and accused the Democrats of maxing out the national credit card on a failed stimulus 19 bill and a government-run health care bill.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Despite a pending 18 legal case from the European Union over discriminatory behavior, France has intensified 20 its campaign against the Roma. It started a new policy of fingerprinting 21 deportees. Frank Browning has more.

French authorities say they will immediately begin fingerprinting any residents here who have received more than 300 euros in public support after they have been expelled from France. Officials say that some 15,000 immigrants received payments last year after being expelled, costing France nine million euros. By fingerprinting the deportees, the government says it can prevent them from returning to collect child aid payments. Human rights groups say that fingerprinting raises new concerns about targeted minorities. For NPR News, I'm Frank Browning.

There was a moment of silence today before the Rutgers football game against Tulane. It was a tribute to Rutgers freshman 22 Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide last week after a video of a sexual encounter he had with a man was posted online by fellow students. It's an issue that hits close to home for Judy Shepard. Her son Matthew was tortured and killed in 1998 after being targeted for being gay. Mrs. Shepard talked with NPR's Scott Simon on today's Weekend Edition.

"Bullying 23 has become a phenomena 24 that we did not face, or at least I didn’t, in my youth. And now we have the advent 25 of the Internet and cyber-bullying and text messaging, and those things which are, which give a feel of anonymity 26 that you would do things that you would never do to someone's face."

Judy Shepard co-founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation which promotes tolerance 27. She was interviewed by NPR's Scott Simon on today's Weekend Edition.