NPR 2011-10-16

 Occupy Wall Street fever spread around the globe today with protests throughout Europe, Asia and South Africa. Demonstrators called for greater economic equality and stricter financial regulations. In Seoul, South Korea, Jason Strother reports the protesters also voiced opposition 1 to a bilateral 2 trade deal with the US.

 
Hundreds of protesters rallied in Seoul's financial district and in front of City Hall. Borrowing slogans from the New York demonstrations 3, the activists 4 said they represent the country's 99% and denounced the greed of Korea's wealthy class. But unlike in the US, the protesters here also called for the scrapping 5 of the KORUS FTA. The trade bill was passed by Congress last week and now awaits full ratification 6 in the South Korean National Assembly. Activists say the pact 7 will destroy the agricultural industry and only benefit conglomerates 8 like Samsung and Hyundai. For NPR News, I'm Jason Strother in Seoul.
 
Back in New York, protesters continued to occupy Zuccotti Park near Wall Street. Tahar Harman said although he has a good job in real estate, he felt he had to take part.
 
"You gotta worry about your community, for one, OK? Even if I'm doing well, OK, for everybody else is doing bad. And the community's going bad. There's a crime wave. People are poor. You wanna worry about others. You want them to do well so you can do well. OK?"
 
Demonstrations are also being held today in several other US cities, including Wilmington, North Carolina, Seattle, Detroit, and in Washington DC, where NPR's Allison Keyes is following events.
 
People have been arriving for this march all morning. There are buses that have come from cities around the country. There are a lot of union representatives here. There are a lot of educational unions, teachers here. People say that they have come to send a message. People don't have any job. They wanna send a message to Congress. They wanna send a message to President Obama that something has to be done to help the regular folk out of the street 'cause they're struggling.
 
NPR's Allison Keyes in Washington.
 
Finance chiefs from the 20 largest world economies wrapped up a two-day meeting in Paris today on what to do about the escalating 9 debt crisis in the eurozone. They issued a statement that the group is committed to making sure that the International Monetary 10 Fund has the resources it needs to help stabilize 11 the world economy. Treasury 12 Secretary Timothy Geithner said the US still opposes giving more money to the IMF, but he is open to the idea. 
 
"We're prepared to continue to support an effective strategy in Europe, with the IMF. And if there's a compelling case for more IMF resources, more use of the existing resources of the IMF, alongside a more effective substantial European strategy, then we will be supportive of that."
 
Secretary Geithner also said that the US is working hard to help fix the world economy. 
 
This is NPR News from Washington.
 
In the capital of Yemen, security forces fired on tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators today. At least nine people were killed and dozens wounded. Defense 13 officials in Yemen say air strikes killed a senior al-Qaeda figure. The Yemeni Defense Ministry 14 says eight other militants 15 were killed, including the oldest son of the slain 16 American-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a US air strike last month. 
 
Suicide bombers 17 tried but failed to breach 18 the gates of a US base in the center of Afghanistan, an area considered to be the most stable part of the country. NPR's Quil Lawerence reports two NATO drivers were killed in the attacks.
 
Police officials said the group of bombers fired rocket-propelled grenades at a guard tower outside the American base in the pan-Shia valley before dawn local time. A car bomb failed to break open the gates to allow the suicide bombers to enter. The pan-Shia valley has been considered stable and pro-American since local forces helped international troops overthrow 19 the Taliban in 2001, and this is the first insurgent 20 attack there since. Senior NATO officials say that insurgent violence is trending downward for the first time in Afghanistan. But several other organizations disagreed especially with regard to civilians 21 killed in the conflict. Quil Lawerence, NPR News, Kabul.
 
A cargo 22 plane is heading to the South Pole to rescue Renee-Nicole Douceur. She's an engineer who started developing speech, memory and vision problems in August. Douceur told NBC's Today Show that has been a long seven weeks. 
 
"I mean my spirits are high, and it's just been a long ordeal 23, and it's time to leave."
 
Doctor said she may have suffered a stroke or has a brain tumor 24. 
 
I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.