美国国家电台 NPR 2012-09-29

 The presidential candidates are gearing up for their first debate in Denver next week, although the economy has topped their agendas. They have also been focusing more on foreign policy recently. President Obama spoke 1 by telephone today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And NPR's Scott Horsley reports Netanyahu also spoke with the president's Republican rival Mitt 2 Romney. 

 
President Obama decided 3 not to meet one-on-one with Netanyahu or any other world leaders during this week's United Nations gathering 4 in New York. But on the phone, the two men agreed on their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu welcomed Mr. Obama's U.N. speech in which he said United States would do what's necessary to prevent that from happening. Mr. Obama in turn reaffirmed this country's unshakable commitment to Israel's security. The president and Netanyahu are often described as having a frosty relationship. Though the administration insists the two men talk regularly. An ads argued that cooperation between the U.S. and Israel has never been closer. Scott Horsley. NPR News, Washington.
 
New intel. suggest Syria has moved some chemical weapons capability 5 to a more secure site. Defense 6 Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters at the Pentagon today that there has been some limited movement, but he added Syria's main chemical weapon sites remain intact under government control. 
 
President Obama is preventing a Chinese company from moving ahead with four wind farm in Oregon citing national security risks. The White House did not say what risk the rolls corporation pose but the wind turbines were being built near a naval 7  weapon system's training site.
 
Higher gas prices likely figure into the latest spike 8 in consumer spending in the United States, the Commerce Department saying today went up by 0.5%. But NPR's Dave Mattingly tells us people save less as incomes barely rose. 
 
Americans spent more last month, but that was mainly because of higher gasoline prices, they jumped almost 50 cents a gallon in August, costing people more to fill up. And with inflation eating up the small increase and incomes. ClearView Economics President, Ken 9 Mayland describes the numbers as awful.
 
We've taken a stepdown based on these results, we are flirting 10 with zero growth or maybe even something slightly negative, the economy, pretty much contracted in August. Households saved less to pay for more expensive essentials. Dave Mattingly, NPR News, Washington.
 
Bank of America is agreeing to pay more than two billion dollars to settle a class action lawsuit 11 over its takeover of Merrill Lynch. Investors 12 accused BOA of misleading them about both company's financial health. Bank of America denies any wrongdoing.
 
Before the close on Wall Street, Dow was off 50 points at 13,437. 
 
This is NPR News.
 
Civil rights groups in France are sounding the alarm over the latest treatment over Roma migrants that they say could set a dangerous precedent 13 at a time of rising anti-immigrant tensions in Europe. A group of residents in a poor neighborhood in southern France evicted 14 Roma squatters whom they accused in a series of robberies. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that the citizens didn't wait for the police or courts and acted on their own.
 
The residents of a working class largely immigrant neighborhood of Marseille. They said the Roma had been stealing. Officials say the explosion was planned because the police were notified in advance. The Marseille say residents even burned the camp after the 35 Roma departed. A Roma advocate group said Roma are victims of stereotypes 15 as soon as they tried to set up camps somewhere people accuse them of stealing. Officials say the confrontation 16 is a worrying sign of rising tensions in an increasingly desperate economic climate. Successive French governments have been stumped 17 by how to deal with a huge influx 18 of Roma from eastern Europe since E.U. borders were opened seven years ago. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
 
In California, Jury is recommending the death sentence for an arsonist 19 convicted of murder for setting a wildfire nearly a decade ago that led the deaths of five men who suffered heart attacks. A judge will make the final decision and how to punish Rickie Lee Fowler.
 
Federal Health officials are rolling out a national awareness 20 campaign about bogus online pharmacies 21. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner 22 Doctor Margaret Hamburg says they are more prevenient than many people might think, "little bit less than 3%, I think, were in fact, legitimate 23 online pharmacies that consumers could count on." She says phony pharmacies are likely to sell counterfeit 24 drugs that could harm customers.