NPR 2011-10-15

 A federal appeals court is putting new restrictions 1 on which parts of Alabama's strict new immigration law can't be enforced. NPR's Debbie Elliot reports on a mixed ruling today from the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

 
The appeals court is temporarily blocking two provisions of Alabama's law: one that makes it a crime to be illegally present in the state and another that require schools to record the immigration status of new students. But a three-judge panel left intact other parts of the law considered to be the toughest to the nation. That means police can detain suspects on a reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally. The Justice Department and civil rights groups had asked the 11th Circuit to block the law while they challenged its constitutionality that after a Birmingham federal judge left much of the law intact. Debbie Elliot, NPR News.
 
President Obama is in a Detroit suburb this afternoon, touring a GM plant with South Korea's president and applauding energy-efficient cars.
 
"Plants like this are churning out groundbreaking fuel efficient cars like the Chevy Sonic, the only one of its kind that's made and sold in the United States of America."
 
GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is promising 2 to expand US energy production if elected to office, and he says that will create more than a million jobs. He’s drawing a distinction between his proposals and President Obama's policies.
 
"The president would kill domestic jobs through these aggressive regulations, while I would create 1.2 million American jobs through safe and aggressive energy exploration right here at home."
 
Perry spoke 3 today at a steel mill near Pittsburg. 
 
Greece's parliament is discussing a bill that would retire 30,000 people from the public sector 4 and reduce pay for many of those who remain. From Athens, John Psaropoulos reports the austerity measures are part of a program to bring the Greek budget into the Black next year.
 
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos called tax evasion 5 a national crime now amounting to 42 billion euros in lost income to the state. He appealed to the patriotism 6 of the Greeks in honestly declaring their income. But at the same time, the government is using new weapons to home in on large tax evaders. It recently declassified 7 banking 8 transactions, and the minister today revealed some of the results for 2009 income. Fewer than 9,000 individuals remitted 9 4.9 billion euros to bank accounts overseas, he said. Almost half of them declared an income of less than 20,000 euros that year. The government has assembled a new task force to audit 10 1,000 biggest companies and is retaining private sector services to help it track down large tax evaders. For NPR News, I'm John Psaropoulos in Athens.
 
On Wall Street, stocks buoyed 11 today by world retail 12 sales were up more than expected in September. The Dow was up 127; NASDAQ up 37; S&P up 16.
 
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Lawmakers are holding a hearing today on whether the Energy Department broke the law when it agreed to restructure Solyndra's debt back in February. The maker 13 of solar panels eventually closed its doors in August. The Obama administration restructured a half-billion-dollar loan so that private investors 14 moved ahead of taxpayers 15 for repayment 16 on part of the loan in case of a default. Administration officials say without the infusion 17 of cash, Solyndra would have faced immediate 18 bankruptcy 19, putting 1,000 people out of work.
 
A cave in South Africa has yielded what may be the oldest evidence of paint-making. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports on a 100,000-year-old paint shop.
 
The Blombos Cave in South Africa was home to early humans for millennia 20 and has turned up lots of ancient artifacts. A team of scientists now say they found tools with ochre in them inside the cave. Ochre is an iron oxide 21 material dug from the earth and is used as a pigment 22. The discovery reported in the journal Science includes abalone shells containing ground pigment as well as stones used as grinding tools. The scientists note that the recipe for making the paint was complex and represents higher-order thinking and planning. Decorating people or objects with paint also suggest these people used markings as symbols perhaps to identify friend from foe 23. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
 
There's a new Apple in town, a faster iPhone with an improved camera went on sale today. Eager shoppers camped out in front of some Apple stores to be the first to buy one. A man in Manhattan says the event is like a remembrance to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who died last week. Some joke the new model 4S means “for Steve.”