NPR 2011-01-16

People in Tunisia are trying to figure out the next step now that the president has gone after a month of anti-government protests. Eleanor Beardsley is in Tunis. She says people don't know what to expect.

The mood is very tense and very uncertain. It's very anxious. People know that something huge happened yesterday, and they know that they brought it on, but they're not quite sure what it means. I think a lot of people feel there's gonna be more bloodshed before it's all over yet, and I talked to people. And they were hesitant to talk too much, and while they were happy, they were still very nervous. And some people expressed doubt that things would go well because they said Tunisia doesn't really have experience with democracy, and they're worried about another strongman coming in and trying to take control. So, there's a lot of fear right now about how people play out, I think, in the next days and weeks here, but what people really want to see are open, free and fair elections than not fake elections they say that they've had for the last 25 years.

Eleanor Beardsley in Tunis. The speaker of the parliament was sworn in today as an interim 1 president. He's asked the prime minister to form a coalition 2 government.

Iraqi officials say an Iraqi soldier opened fire on US troops at a US base in the northern city of Mosul today. Two US soldiers were killed and one other was wounded. Two Iraqi soldiers were taken into custody 3.

The Obama administration has ended the "virtual fence" project along the US-Mexico border. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates reports.

The so-called "virtual fence" project built and run by the Boeing company was actually a system of sensors 4, video cameras and radar 5. Its purpose was the electronic patrolling of huge stretches of the US border with Mexico to stem the streams of illegal immigrants, drugs and firearms coming into the country through border states. On Friday, the Obama administration officially killed the project, which had been plagued with controversy 6 and cost overruns. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said security measures tailored to individual sections of the border will be more effective. Today, the "virtual fence" has covered only 53 miles of the 323-mile-long Arizona-Mexico border at the cost of one billion dollars. Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.

A supermarket opened in Tucson, Arizona today for the first time since shootings in the parking lot last Saturday that killed six people and wounded 13 others. Safeway spokeswoman Cathy Kloos says the employees are doing okay.

"We've had counselors 7 available for our employees since Saturday round the clock whatever the employees need. And today, we've actually brought in additional military people to help out customers who might need something."

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in the shootings, is said by her doctors to be making some progress, but is still listed in critical condition.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Workers at Fiat 8's auto 9 plant in Turin, Italy have approved a plan aimed at boosting productivity in exchange for measures to curb 10 absenteeism and to restrict strikes. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports the plan has sharply divided workers who approved it by only 54 percent.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne had warned he would shift production abroad if the deal was not approved. It overhauls 11 decades of labor 12 relations by moving away from the national contract and making new demands on the workers to ensure greater competitiveness and productivity. Fiat will now go ahead with a joint 13 venture with Chrysler to produce Jeep SUVs and Alfa Romeo cars at Turin's Mirafiori plant. The powerful metalworkers' union opposed the Marchionne plan, saying it undermines workers' hard-earned rights and worsens working conditions. The union has called the strike for January 28th and may take legal action against the plan it says it's unconstitutional. Voting broke down between assembly line workers who overwhelmingly opposed the plan and white-collar employees who approved it. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Turin.

A federal judge in California says he expects the first lawsuit 14 regarding sudden acceleration 15 in Toyotas will go to trial in 2013. Judge James Selna is presiding over the class action litigation consolidated 16 in Orange County. The plaintiffs claim that problems in the car's throttle 17 control system cause unexpected acceleration. Toyota says that there's no evidence that a design defect was to blame. The car company blames sticky gas pedals, faulty floor mats and driver error.