NPR 2011-02-01

Opposition 1 against Egypt's long-ruling President Hosni Mubarak appears to be growing. Tens of thousands of people are staging a seventh day of demonstrations 3 across the country. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro is in Cairo where she says a large cross-section of demonstrators is collectively defying government orders.

We've seen a whole desperate group of people here in the square today. We've seen numbers of the banned Muslim Brotherhood 4. They are participating in the march. We've seen young activists 5. We've seen older members of faculty 6 of universities, dentists, doctors, laborers 7. This is, there's a real cross-section of society here that has converged 8 on the square from different backgrounds. The one unifying 9 idea is that they want Hosni Mubarak out.

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Cairo. With a massive national demonstration 2 possibly involving millions of people expected sometime Tuesday or Wednesday, thousands of foreigners are getting out. The State Department says that so far about 2,400 Americans have requested help to leave the country. The situation at Egypt's airports is described as chaotic 10 with many tourists trying to escape further unrest. Reporter Joanna Kakissis is monitoring developments in Athens, where she says hundreds of foreigners have been arriving from Egypt in a scramble 11 to get home.

After hours of delay, the first flight from Cairo arrived just before 3 p.m. Marsel Samuel was one of the passengers. She lives in New York City and arrived in Egypt on Wednesday for what would've been a week-long tour of the pyramids and the Red Sea. This visit was special for her. She was born in Cairo.

"Fifty-three years, I waited to go visit to where I was born. Forget it. I left in a turmoil 13 in Cairo and I come back. It's peaceful. It's beautiful. And 24 hours later, we are in another problem. So I'm not the happy camper. I didn't feel safe."

She says she and her husband Samuel had no idea the country would explode like it did.

"My husband is American."

"And so many years, she's been ..."

Toning optimistic ...

Chrysler has not turned a quarterly profit since leaving bankruptcy 14. But for most of 2010, the company saw its losses get smaller, that is until the fourth quarter when Chrysler's losses doubled. Leaders of the company say much of the loss came from increased advertising 15 costs. In its bid for a comeback, Chrysler lost 11 new models. It also lost money as it retooled 16 factories to switch from older models to newer ones. Chrysler officials say with those costs out of the way, the company could make as much as half a billion dollars this year. And that, they say, would set the stage for a stock offering which could allow the company to pay back the more than 12 billion dollars it borrowed from tax payers. Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Detroit.

The Dow's up 40 points at 11,864.

This is NPR.

Niger is voting for a new president after a year under military rule. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports the junta 17 leaders in the Sahara Desert nation promised to hold an election after they ousted 18 a democratically elected president who became widely unpopular in Niger.

Long lines outside polling stations in Niger indicate that voting is going smoothly 19 amid tight security. Ten candidates are running for president, campaigning on platforms including economic and political reform and poverty reduction. Niger has made recent headlines after the abduction and murder of two Frenchmen linked to al-Qaeda's northwest African affiliate 20. The White House will be closely watching the elections in Niger after criticizing last year's military coup 21. In its war against terror, the US has made it clear it needs the continued cooperation of regional partners in the lawless and poorly policed Saharan region, straddling the Sahara Desert and beyond. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Abidjan.

Consumer spending is still moving higher. Last month's spending increased 0.7% in the US, more than what the Commerce Department had expected.

The five-time Oscar-winning composer who wrote scores for a long string of movies including the Bond films has died. John Barry was 77 years old. The English-born composer, born John Barry Prendergast, won two Oscars for Born Free in 1966 and a third a couple years later for The Lion in Winter. He earned a fourth statuette in the mid 12 80s for his music in Out of Africa and another for Dances With Wolves in 1990. Relatives say Barry died yesterday in New York. Cause of death was not officially disclosed.