NPR 2011-07-15

The FBI will investigate allegations that Rupert Murdock's News Corp. hacked 1 into the private phone accounts of 9/11 terrorism victims. A law enforcement source tells NPR the inquiry 2 is at an early stage, and investigators 3 are not making any predictions about the outcome. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports the investigation 4 follows calls from several members of Congress.

Congressman 5 Peter King, a Republican from New York, has been asking the FBI to take a close look at News Corp. King says he was disgusted by reports that people tied to the media giant may have accessed the phones of people who died in the September 11th attacks. Several other lawmakers from both political parties have turned up the heat on News Corp. in recent days. The FBI inquiry's operating out of the Southern District of New York, and it will be supervised by prosecutors 6 there, according to the law enforcement source. The investigation is much more advanced in London, where a seventh person has been arrested in connection with the hacking 7 scandal. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

Debt talks resume this hour at the White House. The country's leadership is no close to a solution, and restraint is starting to show. Verbal attacks have intensified 8, with Democrats 9 and Republicans accusing each other of blocking a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avoid defaulting within weeks. White House spokesman Jay Carney says President Obama is not at all interested in a short-term hike in the government's borrowing limit.

"He will not turn this into a tollbooth situation because we are not a third-world country that approaches the brink 11 of default every three or four months."

For the first time, Carney indicated that the administration may try to find some other way to increase the debt limit if there's no bipartisan agreement. Today, he said: "The president views Friday as an important moment where we can make an assessment 12 about whether we are moving toward a significant agreement or not."

As the back-and-forth continues over deficit-reduction talks, members of Congress are weighing in from outside the negotiations 13. Edger Treiguts of Georgia Public Broadcasting spoke 10 to one US senator.

Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson says away from the theatrics of the discussion, there's hard work going on behind the scenes, and he says an ultimate agreement doesn't have to come from just one side.

"I don't discount anybody's thoughts or contributions at the table. They may not all be accepted. They may some be rejected, but I think everybody ought to be putting their best ideas on the table, and let's find the combination that works."

Isakson says Congress should consider a two-year budget process in some of the appropriation 14 of spending annually 15. It's legislation he's co-sponsored with New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen. For NPR News, I'm Edgar Treiguts in Atlanta.

Roger Clemens' perjury 16 trial has been thrown out today. A judge in Washington said there was no way to assure the famed baseball pitcher 17 would be treated fairly after the prosecution 18 showed the jury evidence that the court had deemed out of bounds.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was down 54 points at 12,437.

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John Edwards' trial is tentatively set for October. The former presidential candidate is charged with six felony counts of misusing 19 campaign funds. The prosecution argues Edwards, also a former US senator, accepted excessive contributions to hide his extramarital affair. Edwards has pleaded not guilty.

The popular digital music service Spotfy is finally available in the United States. But as NPR's Joel Rose tells us, it's not clear if the European company can succeed on this side of the Atlantic.

Spotfy started in Sweden. It built a loyal following in Europe by giving listeners access to 15 million songs. Users can listen for free on their computers, although they have to put up with some ads. But they have to pay a monthly fee to skip the ads or listen from their phones and mobile devices. Spotfy had been talking about the US launch for more than a year, but negotiations with the major record labels prevented that from happening until now. In the meantime, Amazon, Apple and Google all launched their own cloud music offerings. That's in addition to Rhapsody, MOG, Napster and other established music-streaming services. But Spotfy officials insist their superior design and bigger music library will make the service stand out from the cloud. Joel Rose, NPR News.

The earliest surviving Jane Austen manuscript for a novel has been sold for nearly a million pounds or 1.6 million dollars. A draft for "The Watsons" went up for bid in London today. It tripled what the auction 20 house thought it would fetch. None of the original manuscripts for Austen's six published novels including "Pride and Prejudice" survived.

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 54 points at 12,437.