NPR 2011-09-30

 The US economy is growing a little more than earlier estimates show. But as NPR's Paul Brown told us the rate of growth is still very small.

 
 
The Commerce Department says the gross domestic product to grow at 1.3% annual rate in the second quarter. It's a raty economist Johnson calls **,but he says things are moving in the right direction and still more patience is needed on the part of investors and policy makers.
 
 
It's a great deal of impatience,now I don't think anybody realizes how long it takes to sort of eliminate or work off,the accesses there were built during the,we called the mainly of  2004, 2005. It takes a very long time to work through those accesses.  Johnson says some increase and economic demand and employment over the next two years as the real estate market reaches balance and people pay off debts and start to spend again. Paul Brown NPR news, Washington.
 
 
Starting next year,Bank of America customers will have to pay a five-dollar monthly fee to use their debit cards for purchases. That's on top of other monthly fees linked to people's basic accounts. BOA is the latest in a string of institutions charging higher fees to help cover money. The banks say they are loosing under new regulation that goes into effect October 1st. Banks are going to be limited in the amount they can charge merchants whenever customers swipe the debit cards.
 
 
Now as many Americans unable to borrow money,you are still looking for work,the housing market is seeing another declining contract side on home sales. Even low interest rates,not seeing in decades are making much of the debt. And this week those rates were down even further,Freddie Mac says 30-year fixed rate mortgages fell to 4.01% and 50-year loans hit 3.28%. 
 
 
Federal agency have(应该是has) arrested more than three dozen people at a Boeing plant in Philadelphia after a long-term investigation of prescription drug abuse. The Justice Department says several employees at the plant have been charged with illegal distribution of  Oxycodone and Xanax. NPR's  Carrie Johnson reports the Boeing officials flagged the problem for non-enforcement.
 
 
The top prosecutor in Philadelphia says he focuses not only on the people selling illegal prescription drugs,but also the employees at the Boeing plant who use them. Because US attorney  Zane Memeger,says those workers played a critical role in making airplanes used by the US military. Authorities had put undercover agents on the case who purchased the drugs are sold others ** pills not the real thing. Boeing had no immediate comment on the arrests. Carrie Johnson,NPR news,Washington.
 
 
At last check on Wall Street,Dow Jones Industrial Average down 12 points at 10,999. NASDAQ down 54  at 2438. S&P 500 down  10 points. This is NPR.
 
 
The State Department says no embassy employees in Syria were hurt  today when a mob attacked ambassador  Robert Ford's convoy. Ford,an outspoken critic of Syria's President was meeting the leading opposition figure of that country,when the crowd pelted stones,tomatoes and eggs at the convoy and tried to raid the building. Spokesman Mark Toner decried the attack.
 
 
Intimidation by pro-government mobs is just not civilized behavior. It's an inexcusable  assault that reflects the tolerance on the part of the regime and its supporters.
 
 
Syrian security showed up about an hour after the attack.
 
 
Kazakhstan's President is preparing to sign a controversial law involving religious freedoms. As Jessica Gallaher reports from Moscow,many believe the law will weaken them.
 
 
Earlier today,Kazakhstan's upper chamber of parliament voted in favor of the new law proposed by the country's president. It will ban religious ceremonies and all state institutions 
and require missionaries and religious groups to re-register with the government. Both Muslim and Christian groups in the Muslim  central Asian state have criticized the proposed law,which targets unregistered minority religious groups,including Muslims not affiliated with the State Muslim oversight body. The government claims the novel attempt a wave of what it calls religious extremism. For NPR news,I'm Jessica Gallaher,in Moscow.
 
 
Several injuries are reported from a blast at a hotel in the commercial section of Pakistan's capital. Local authorities in Islamabad say an initial investigation indicates the explosion was caused by a gas leak.
 
 
Dow was down more than 30 points,at 10,976.