NPR 2012-07-26

 Heady? gunfire from opposition 1 fighters in the Syrian city Aleppo was collected by the Turkish agency Anadolu as fighting enters its 5th day. Opposition activists 2 say fighting raged through the night and many neighborhoods. Syria's commercial hub is about 40 miles from neighboring Turkey which announced today was closing its border with the country due to the unrest. The move cuts off an important import route for supplies for the Syrian state. 

 
Mitt 3 Romney's campaign is denying a controversial anonymous 4 quote that appealed in a London newspaper this morning. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports the controversy 5 popped up just as the candidate arrived in London for the Olympics. 
 
London's Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted an anonymous Romney advisor 6 saying we're part of an Anglo Saxon heritage. And he feels that the special relationship is special. That prompted accusations 7 of racism 8. In a statement vice 9 president Biden said the line is beneath a presidential campaign. Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod called it's stunningly 10 offensive. Romney press secretary Andrea Saul denied the quote. She said it does not reflect the view of Governor Romney or anyone in his campaign. Romney has promised not attack President Obama while travelling abroad this week. His campaign has announced 6 photo ops in London, but no speeches or news conferences. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington. 
 
Senate leaders have begun debating rival democratic and republican plans for extending broad tax cuts next year that are set to expire in January. Democrats 11 want to limit? the tax extension to households making less than a quarter million dollars a year. Republicans want to extend the tax cut for everyone. The first vote is expected to come at 4pm eastern time. 
 
A government safety panel says the oil spill on the Gulf 12 of Mexico 2 years ago was due in part to a lack of focus on big safety issues. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports the panel blames both the British Petroleum 13 and federal regulators for poor oversight 14. 
 
 
The investigation 15 found that BP and its business partners as well as government regulators focused mostly on avoiding personal injuries and lost work time on the oil rake?. The US chemical safety board says the rake operator should have paid more attention to what they call process safety, like checking safety equipment and automatic shut off systems, such as the one at the well head that failed to prevent the BP oil spill. The lack of a big picture of view, they report, meant BP wasn't prepared for a large scale catastrophic event. The safety board says this safety blind spot is similar to the situation at BP's Texas City refinery 16 which blew up in 2005 and killed 15 people. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.
 
At a last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 100 points at 12'717. 
 
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Same sex marriage may soon be legalized in Scotland. Law makers 17 say legislation has decking? from the major Scottish political parties. When enacted 19, Scotland could become the first country in the UK to allow same sex marriages. The UK government has conducted a public consultation 20 on legalizing marriages and has the support from Prime Minister David Cameron. 
 
Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called on her country which is also known as Burma to enact 18 legislation protecting the rights of minorities. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from /ji karda/, that was Suu Kyi's first speech in parliament since winning her seat in April bi-elections.
 
Speaking from the back of parliament’s main hall Suu Kyi said that to become a democratic union Myanmar must have equal rights legislation. She said that this is about more than just preserving ethnic 21 language and customs but also addressing poverty and ongoing 22 armed conflict. Suu Kyi and her fellow opposition law makers are vastly outnumbered by representatives of the ruling party and military. As a dissident, she spoke 23 boldly to Burmese authorities. As a parliamentarian she has spoken cautiously on the ethnic issue to avoid antagonizing both the government and her constituents 24. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Jikarda.
 
Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is making her first trip abroad since being shot in the head last year. She's touring a particle physics laboratory in Switzerland. Her husband astronaut Mark Kelly is being honored for his installation of a 2 billion dollar cosmic ray detector 25 for the Geneva based European Center for Nuclear Research on the International Space Station. 
 
I'm Windsor, NPR News in Washington.