NPR 2011-04-14

President Obama is pitching a plan to slash 1 the federal budget deficit 2 by about $4 trillion over 12 years. NPR's Brian Naylor says the proposal the president outlined in a speech at George Washington University today relies on a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes.

The president calls for cutting spending on everything from defense 3 to health care and for tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans. He says it's a progressive vision for the country.

"If we believe that government can make a difference in people's lives, we have the obligation to prove that it works — by making government smarter, and leaner, and more effective."

Mr. Obama says the GOP plan up for a vote this week would end Medicare as we know it. Republicans, meanwhile, quickly ruled out the president's call to raise taxes. Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington.

The Federal Reserve finds the economy is still improving, with employers hiring more people, factories producing more and consumers willing to up their spending. But a new federal report also reveals that high energy prices are weighing on businesses to hike their prices. And even though people are willing to spend a little more, the Fed says the Americans are not making more money. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says that as a result, inflation is likely to remain in check this year.

Representatives from NATO and Arab and African nations have met in the Persian Gulf 4 state of Qatar in an effort to resolve the situation in Libya. As NPR's Jackie Northam explains, one discussion in particular took up much of the meeting.

Ministers at the meeting in Doha agreed that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his regime have lost all legitimacy 5, but there were disagreements amongst the 21 nations attending the meeting about whether to arm rebels. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that would go against the UN resolution authorizing 6 NATO action in Libya. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini indicated that part of resolution was open to interpretation 7 and suggested it wasn't robust 8 enough.

"Either we make it possible for these people to defend themselves, or we withdraw from our obligation to support defending the population of Libya."

The contact group also issued a communiqué saying among other things that a trust fund of sorts would be set up for opposition 9 groups in Libya. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.

US warplanes are still conducting air strikes inside Libya, even though NATO is now in charge of enforcing the no-fly zone. Today, the Pentagon said that nearly a dozen fighter jets have been assigned to the military alliance. Libyan rebels have been looking for more NATO support against Muammar Gaddafi's forces, but they've complained in recent days that NATO's bombing operations have actually mistaken rebels for government forces and forced opposition fighters to retreat.

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was up seven points to 12,271.

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An airport in Japan closed after last month's deadly earthquake and tsunami 10 is open again. From Tokyo, NPR's Greg Dixon reports flights have resumed in Sendai.

Sendai Airport received its first passenger flight in more than a month today. The airport's runways and terminal building were flooded by the massive tsunami on March 11th, and Japan's famed bullet train service is expected to resume in another section in the quake-and-tsunami-hit region tomorrow. The train's operator says it suffered damage in about 1,200 places on its Tohoku line. Full service is expected to resume by the end of the month. Greg Dixon, NPR News, Tokyo.

In the US, more than 40% of offenders 11 released from prison are back behind bars within three years of their release, according to a study out today. NPR's Laura Sullivan reports that offenders are returning to prison despite billions spent on programs to keep them from committing new crimes.

The study by the nonprofit Pew Center on the States found very little improvement in recidivism 12 rates since the last time they looked at the numbers three years ago. This is despite correctional spending that halves $50 billion every year. Researchers say the report is a wake-up call to states that you can't lower crime rates simply by building more prisons. The report notes that many of the new crimes that send offenders back to prison are parole violations 13. The report finds that states could save millions of dollars by diverting parole violators to programs instead. Overall, some states fare better than others. Wyoming and Oregon had the lowest recidivism rates, while Minnesota, Alaska and California had the highest. Laura Sulliven, NPR News, Washington.

US stocks turned higher today, with the Dow up seven to 12,271 and NASDAQ gaining 17 to hit 2,762.

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