NPR 2011-07-30

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Lakshmi Singh.

        President Obama says the looming 1 debt crisis is a burden to Congress could easily lift if it just chooses to do so. NPR’s Ari Shapiro reports the President, the Senate to make a statement of the White House this morning after a night won House Republicans could not put together to vote on the bill.

        The President says the 2 parties are not miles apart as he put out plenty of ways out of this mass, but the deadline is only 4 days off.

        “If we don’t come to an agreement, we could lose our country’s triple-A credit rating, not because we didn’t have the capacity to pay our bills. We do. But because we didn’t have a triple-A political system to match.”

        As the President spoke 2 House and Senate leaders work down competing bills, the parties will continue working through the weekend. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, the White House.

        Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell accuses Democrats 3 of trying to build up opposition 4 to the House Republican plan to win his words, keep the crisis alive.

        “Speaker Boehner’s been doing the hard work of governing, working day and night to put together a bill that can actually pass the House of Representatives and end this crisis now. And he should be commended for his efforts. What about here in the Senate? Well the contrast couldn’t be starker 5.”

        House speaker Boehner reworked his plan in an attempt to win over Conservatives if he could plan the proposal did make deep enough cuts. The main change is a provisional ties in additionally increased the debt ceiling of Congressional approval of balanced budget manmade constitution. The House is expected to vote on the revised plan tonight.

        Bells tore for Bano Rashid, then 18-year-old Muslim girl killed in last week’s massacre 6 in Norway. Rashid’s funeral was the first of those to be held for the 77 people killed when the self-confessed attacker Ander Behring Breivik opened fire at the youth camp. Earlier he had bombed Oslo’s government district. The government says it is investigating police’s response to the terrorist attack.

        The man suspected planning to attack soldiers from Fort Hood 7, Texas has made his first court appearance. The member station KUT in Austin, Matt Largey has details.

        Private First Class Naser Abdo appeared in federal court in Waco charged with the possession of an unregistered firearm. The 21-year-old Abdo was arrested Wednesday at a motel near Fort Hood where authorities found bomb-making components 8 and instructions. They complained unsealed in court today said Abdo had enough materials to build 2 bombs and he admitted he plans to blow them at a restaurant popular with Fort Hood soldiers. As he left the courtroom, Abdo shouted the name of the army psychiatrist 9 accused of killing 10 30 people and shooting rampage in Fort Hood in 2009. Abdo who’s been AWOL from his post at Fort Campbell, Kentucky is being held without bound if convicted he faces up to 10 years in prison. For NPR News, I’m Matt Largey in Austin.

        Before the close the Dow was down 96 points. This is NPR.

        More heavy fighting is reported out of Somalia’s capital after what the authorities called a threat to emergency relief aid. Airlift into the trouble in the poor African nation. NPR’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports the Somalia soldiers backed by African Union peacekeepers clashed with Islamist militants 11.

        The African peacekeepers say they seized territory in Mogadishu under the control of al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab insurgents 12 after they apparently 13 threaten to displace people’s camps in the Somalia capital. The African Union and the fragile western-backed transitional government say the military strike willing to prove security and allow aid agencies to deliver food to people who fled drought, famine and conflict in other parts of Somalia. The fighting on Thursday came a day after the first airlift into Mogadishu by the UN World Food Program. Al-Shabab has banned the WFP from its zones saying it promotes a western agenda. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Nairobi.

        Thousands of anti-government protestors in Syria are urging those who’ve been standing 14 on the sidelines of the 4-month uprising in that country to break their silence just fired continuing government crackdown. Today, crowds had rallies across the country. Activists 15 accused government troops of firing a lot of emission 16 and tear gas to them. They said at least 4 people were killed but that figure was not independently verified.

        Weaker than expected economic growth in the 2nd quarter in the U.S. as well as the ongoing 17 debt impasse 18 are certainly infecting the U.S. Before the close, Dow Jones Industrial’s down 97 points at 12,143 in trading of 3.4 billion shares; NASDAQ down 10 at 2,756.

        This is NPR.