NPR 2012-02-13

 Members of the Arab League are meeting in Cairo today to discuss the next step in dealing 1 with Syria. The group has been at the forefront of efforts to stop the bloody 2 crackdown on anti-government protests that began last March. President Bashar al-Assad had agreed to an Arab League peace plan and the League sent observers into Syria to monitor compliance 3. But the League withdrew its observers last month when the killings 4 continued. Today, the League is considering reviving the mission, adding United Nations monitors and whether to expel Syrian ambassadors from Arab capitals. The leader of al-Qaeda is voicing support for the protesters. BBC's Jim Muir listened to his massage 5 posted on the Internet.

 
In an eight-minute video message addressed to the "Lions of Syria", the al-Qaeda leader urged them to depend on their own efforts and sacrifices, and not on what he called the failed states of the Arab League, the West or Turkey. He called on militants 6 in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to rise up and support what he called their brothers in Syria. They had the right, he said, to use any means they thought fit to get rid of a cancerous regime that was oppressing Muslims. It's the clearest sign yet of involvement by al-Qaeda in the uprising in Syria as it takes on increasingly an aspect of armed insurgency 7 as well as popular protest.
 
The BBC's Jim Muir reporting.
 
The Greek parliament is said to vote today on painful spending cuts in exchange for billions in new bailout loans. Joanna Kakissis reports from Athens the lawmakers are expected to approve the bailout.
 
Austerity measures have driven up the unemployment rate to more than 20%, but Prime Minister Lucas Papademos says a messy default would mean far more people out of work. There would be no money for salaries, pensions, schools or hospitals. Imports such as fuel and most supermarket goods would become prohibitively expensive. The chaos 8 would lead to an exit from the eurozone.
 
"Greece would go from being a nation in the core of the eurozone to a weak country on the fringe of Europe."
 
Papademos said in a televised speech. The bailout is worth about 172 billion dollars. Greece, it needs the loans and a separate debt swap 9 deal to avoid bankruptcy 10 next month. For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Athens.
 
The austerity measures are not popular. Thousands of people gathered outside the parliament today to protest. Some threw bottles and rocks at police who responded with tear gas and stun 11 grenades.
 
Rescuers are digging through snow in Kosovo, searching for a villager missing after an avalanche 12 yesterday. Several houses are buried under 33 feet of snow in a remote mountain village in the southern part of the country. At least nine people are confirmed dead.
 
This is NPR News from Washington.
 
Producers of tonight's Grammy Awards say they are planning a tribute to a long-time star who died yesterday. NPR's Mandalit del Barco has more.
 
The Grammy Awards telecast is reportedly to include a short memorial to Whitney Houston, a performance by one of her disciples 13 Jennifer Hudson. The six-time Grammy winner was found dead just hours before a pre-Grammy party, and news of her death has shaken many in the music business. At this year's awards ceremony, British singer Adele Adkins is expected to take home many of the top awards. She plans to perform for the first time since her vocal 14 chords were operated on. And some musicians say they'll picket 15 and march outside the awards ceremony to protest the elimination 16 of 31 music categories, including Latin jazz, zydeco, Hawaiian and some blues 17 and jazz genres 18. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News, Los Angeles.
 
Mitt 19 Romney's campaign to be the Republican presidential nominee 20 received two boosts this weekend. He won a straw poll held by conservatives meeting in Washington, and he won Maine's straw poll with 39% of the vote. Ron Paul came in second with 36%. The next contest will be in Arizona and Michigan at the end of the Month.
 
Tomorrow morning, President Obama sends Congress his ideas for a federal budget for 2013. Already, some Republicans say they won't like it. That doesn't do enough to trim entitlement programs such as Medicare. The blueprint 21 reportedly calls for spending more to fix highways and modernize 22 schools. It also reportedly includes a provision that would require households that make more than a million dollars a year pay at least 30% of their income in taxes.
 
I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.