NPR 2011-03-08

The president will resume military trials at the controversial Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba. We have the latest on this from NPR's Mara Liasson.

President Obama issued an executive order that begins the process of indefinitely holding detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison who have not been charged or convicted. He also plans to issue another order, rescinding 1 his suspension of the filing of new charges in the military tribunals there. In a statement, the president said the new Guantanamo Bay policies including military trials will help "bring terrorists to justice". The president had hoped to close the prison at Guantanamo and try the terrorists held there in American civilian 2 court, but he hasn't been able to fulfill 3 that promise. Congress barred the White House from bringing terrorism suspects onto American soil, and it's been harder than the White House thought to send the detainees to other countries. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House.

NATO is still debating whether a no-fly zone would be useful for Libya, side of the uprising against leader Muammar Gaddafi. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports the US ambassador there says NATO is doing more surveillance flights.

US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder says the alliance is stepping up AWACS flights over Libya.

"They have been operating about ten hours a day, and they're gonna increase that to 24 hours a day."

Speaking at a conference call, Daalder says NATO is also considering setting up a command and control structure to coordinate 4 relief efforts, and it may use some of its vessels 5 to help deliver humanitarian 6 aid or evacuate 7 people. The ambassador says the alliance is studying options for a no-fly zone, but he raises questions about its utility, pointing out that there has been a decrease in air activity in recent days. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

More protests in Baghdad today with people demanding better government services and an end to corruption 8. NPR's Mike Shuster reports it was the third such demonstration 9 in the past two weeks.

The demonstration was small, but it was clear the protesters have the attention of the government. Riot police and other security forces were deployed 10 around the Baghdad's central Tahrir Square and easily outnumbered the protesters. Security troops bristled 11 with heavy machine guns, many mounted on Humvees and pickup 12 trucks. In contrast to earlier demonstrations 13, this time the police let the protest occur without any intervention 14. At the same time, the US embassy here in Baghdad released a statement condemning 15 a series of attacks on journalists. Recently, there were two attacks on radio and television stations in Kurdistan in Iraq's north. A journalism 16 center in Baghdad and several journalists in Basra in the south were also targeted. Mike Shuster, NPR News, Baghdad.

US stocks still sliding, at last check the Dow was down nearly 100 points or nearly 1% at 12,072 in trading of just over three billion shares; the NASDAQ Composite Index down 46 points or more than 1.5% at 2,738; S&P 500 down 13.

This is NPR.

Oil prices are still climbing with worries mounting over how the unrest in Libya will affect crude exports in general. Phil Flynn, a senior analyst 17 with PFGBEST Research, says drivers can expect to see prices at the pump continue to climb.

"We could be talking about $4 a gallon very shortly, and in some of the worst-case scenarios 18, you could be even talking as high as $5 a gallon."

Earlier today, oil prices topped $105 a barrel.

Emergency workers in the southwest Louisiana town of Rayne are going house to house, assessing damage after a tornado 19 barreled through the town over the weekend. Kate Archer 20 Kent of Red River Radio reports that many residents are living in the town's civic 21 buildings.

Lifelong Rayne resident Loreda Borsz manages a truck stop there. She says her town is used to severe weather because it's in a hurricane corridor and life carries on.

"We have a couple of employees here who lost their homes, and they're just, they here at work. This is what they have to do. They have received a lot of assistance from Red Cross and Salvation 22 Army."

Rayne's police chief says about 150 homes were damaged or destroyed, and one woman was killed as she tried to shield her child from the fierce winds. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal visited the town Sunday and said federal emergency management officials are expected to arrive midweek. For NPR News, I'm Kate Archer Kent in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Residents are still dealing 23 with near-blizzard conditions in northern Vermont and upstate New York. Authorities say more than 50,000 people lost electricity. The region also saw schools and state offices close for the day.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.