NPR 2008-07-26

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is criticizing his rival, Democrat 1 Barack Obama, for bad judgement on Iraq. McCain says Obama opposed last year's surge of US troops sent to Iraq which has helped quell 2 violence. McCain told an audience of Hispanic military veterans today in Denver had Obama's advice been followed, it would have been disastrous 3.  "He would rather choose to lose in Iraq in hopes of winning in Afghanistan. But had his position been adopted, we would have lost both wars."  McCain later met in the day with Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Obama is visiting France， where he met French President Nicholas Sarkozy. They held a news conference today, where Obama reiterated 4 demands by the Bush administration to Iran over its nuclear program. "Change your behavior and you'll be fully 5 integrated into the international community with all the benefits that go with that. Continue your illicit 6 nuclear program and the international community，as a whole, will ratchet up pressure with stronger and increased sanctions."  The Bush administration says Iran is using its nuclear program to build a weapon. Iran says it's for peaceful purposes.

Republicans in the Senate have blocked a bill that would limit speculation 7 in oil markets. Democrats 8 say it would help stabilize 9 high oil prices. Republicans say the problem with high prices is that many people want energy and there isn't enough to supply them. They've been calling for increased offshore 10 drilling to help boost oil supplies to the United States. Republicans also wanted to add several amendments 11 to the anti-speculation bill they say will address expensive gas prices.

Stock prices rose a bit today following some economic news that was better than expected. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

New home sales data from the Commerce Department showed that sales over the past two months were a bit stronger than many analysts 12 thought. Sales of new homes still fell 0.6 percent in June. A consumer confidence survey was also stronger than expected. So was demand for big-ticket items like cars, appliances and machinery 13. Oil prices also kept sliding lower. But there was some less encouraging news that the number of homeowners getting foreclosure notices more than doubled from a year ago. That's one of the biggest threats to the economy. Right now, hundreds of thousands of homes are being dumped on the market through foreclosure sales. That's pushing down prices, it's hurting the banking 14 and credit system, and all that makes a recession more likely. Chris Arnold, NPR News, Boston.

Carnegie Mellon professor and best-selling author Randy Pausch has died. The 47-year-old delivered a well-received speech about terminal cancer last September. It was viewed by millions on the Internet and became a best-selling book called "The Last Lecture". Pausch was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer nearly two years ago.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrials gained 21 points to end the day at 11,370. The NASDAQ Composite gained 30 points and ended at 2,310.

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President Bush has moved to widen sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his supporters. Mr. Bush's executive order bars them from operating in US financial markets. He says it's a strong message to Zimbabwe there will be consequences if a government ignores the will of its people. Mugabe recently claimed victory in a presidential run-off election that observers say wasn't free or fair but was very violent.

US government officials do not believe a mid-air explosion aboard a Qantas jumbo jet was caused by terrorism. The incident today caused a large hole in the bottom of the jet. The pilot landed safely. No one was hurt. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

Pictures of the jumbo jet show a hole the size of a small car in the bottom of the plane. The incident occurred at 29,000 feet while the plane was on its way to Melbourne, Australia from Hong Kong. The sudden loss of air pressure in the cabin forced the pilot to quickly bring the plane to a lower altitude and an emergency landing in the Philippines. A US intelligence official said the view of analysts who've seen pictures of the damaged plane is that the clean break of the fuselage suggests it was not caused by a bomb. But the incident is under investigation 15. The flight originated at Heathrow Airport in London, the site of several terrorist plots in recent years. Analysts have also noticed that a baggage container was apparently 16 ruptured 17 in the incident. Investigators 18 will want to determine how a structural 19 defect might have caused that to happen. Tom Gjelten, NPR News.

The Coast Guard has reopened part of the Mississippi River in New Orleans to limited ship traffic. It was closed Wednesday after a huge oil spill. Barge 20 and a tanker 21 collided, spilling hundreds of thousands of fuel oil into the River.