NPR 2010-04-16

President Obama is pledging 100% commitment to the future of NASA including a manned mission to Mars and back by the mid-2030s, but the president says it’ll mean a significant departure from the old way of doing business. At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today, the president promoted more private companies in space exploration. He also talked jobs at NASA where positions are likely to dry up when the shuttle program is retired 1 later this year.

“We’re gonna modernize 2 the Kennedy Space Center, creating jobs as we upgrade launch facilities. And there’s potential for even more jobs as companies in Florida and across America compete to be part of a new space transportation industry.”

The president says his plan will add more than 2,500 jobs along the Space Coast in the next two years. But any enthusiasm over the president’s plan may be tempered by the latest numbers out of the Labor 3 Department today; it finds new unemployment claims jumped last week by 24,000. NPR’s Frank Langfitt reports that’s due in part to a backlog 4 from the Easter holiday.

First-time claims rose to 484,000 last week, but overall, claims have been fallen for nearly a year. And last month, the labor market saw its first significant growth since the beginning of the recession. In March, the economy added nearly 160,000 jobs. Addressing Congress Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke predicted the economy would continue a moderate recovery in the coming months, but Bernanke added it would take a long time to make up the 8.5 million jobs that were destroyed by the recession. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.

Ash cloud from a volcanic 5 eruption 6 in Iceland is causing serious trouble for air travel across Northern Europe. A large swath of airspace is closed; hundreds of flights are canceled; thousands of travelers are affected 7.

In his most direct reaction to the sex abuse scandal in weeks, Pope Benedict says the Roman Catholic Church must do penance 8 for its sins. We have the latest from NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli.

During Mass, the pope said: “we Christians 9 have often avoided the word ‘repent 10’ as too tough.” He added: “but now under attack from the world, which has been telling us about our sins, we realize it’s necessary to repent, in other words, recognize what is wrong in our lives.” It was the most direct papal reference to the crisis since Benedict’s March 20th letter to Irish faithful, but he also hit back at church critics describing them as in the thrall 11 of a conformist dictatorship. The pope’s handling of the sex abuse scandal has angered large sectors 12 of the Catholic world. Today, dissident theologian Hans Kung said Benedict’s conservative policies are a failure. And the theologian urged the world bishops 13 to push for reforms even in defiance 14 of the pope. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News.

At last check, Dow’s up 22 points.

This is NPR News.

A compound used by foreign workers in southern Afghanistan has come under attack by suicide bomber 15. The nighttime blast in Kandahar killed at least six people, including foreigners and Afghan soldiers. Authorities say the attack came hours after a car bomb exploded outside a hotel in Kandahar, causing several casualties.

A senior official from Zimbabwe is in Washington this week, trying to persuade the State Department and Congress to ease sanctions on his country. NPR’s Michele Kelemen reports.

The U.S. sanctions on Zimbabwe are targeted against the longtime ruler Robert Mugabe and his cronies. Still, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara says the financial punishment is hurting Zimbabwe more broadly.

“When you have sanctions against individuals in a country, in particular those in government, you are damaging the brand of the country, you are damaging the reputation of the country. Investors 16 will not bring their money into a country where individuals are operating under sanction.”

He says the sanctions may have worked to pressure Mugabe to share power with the opposition 17, but the U.S. should now give this compromise arrangement flawed as it is a chance to succeed. The U.S. has given no indication though that it’s ready to ease pressure on Mugabe. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

The State Department says it has not been notified about reported plans for Russia to suspend adoptions 18 to the United States. Earlier today, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry 19 talked about keeping U.S. families from adopting Russian children after an American woman sent her adopted child back to Moscow alone last week. In a letter, the woman says she didn’t know the child had allegedly severe mental development problems.