NPR 2009-03-31

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack 1 Speer.

With President Obama rejecting General Motors and Chrysler's restructuring so far, Michigan lawmakers wonder how much more auto 2 industry stakeholders can be asked to sacrifice. From member Station WDET, Sarah Cwiek reports.

 President Obama says GM and Chrysler's viability 3 plans don't go far enough to justify 4 additional government aid. He gave GM 60 days to come up with a new plan and Chrysler 30 days to reach a partnership 5 agreement with Italian automaker FIAT 6. The president acknowledged that will require further painful sacrifices from union workers, bondholders and other stakeholders. But Michigan Republican Congressman 7 Thaddeus McCotter says the company's initial plans cut 50, 000 jobs and wonders how much more the industry can sacrifice. “If that plan was not enough, what is the new viability plans, goals in terms of how many people have to lose their jobs and how much the retirees have to sacrifice to have a sufficient viability plan.” McCotter says he's concerned about how retiree's pensions and benefits will fare if the automakers head into bankruptcy 8, a tool the president says he's prepared to use if they don't meet their new deadlines. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Cwiek in Detroit.

The President has signed legislation that sets to assign more than 2 million acres as protected wilderness 9. Speaking at the signing ceremony at the White House today, the president said that often the most valuable things in life for those that are already possessed 10. The law will protect land from California Sierra Nevada Mountain all the way to the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. It's been built as one of the largest expansions of wilderness protection in a quarter century.

Reports of Internet fraud are way up, that's according to the National Organization that handles such complaints. The Internet Crime Complaint Center has just released its annual report tracking online scams. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.

People who’ve been hit by an Internet scam can file a report online. The Internet Crime Complaint Center received 275, 000 of those complaints last year. That's up a third from a year before. The center referred about 75, 000 cases to law enforcement officials. For the first time, auction 11 fraud was not the most common scam. Instead, non-delivered merchandise made up about a third of the cases referred for prosecution 12. That's the kind of scam where someone sells goods on the site like Craigslist, and then the seller cashes the check without delivering the item. Early numbers for 2009 suggests this year will be even worse. Complaints from March of this year were up 50% over last March. Officials from the Internet Crime Complaint Center say crime always goes up when the economy goes down and now, more people have access to the Internet than ever before. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

Schools and businesses remain closed in Fargo, North Dakota today as residents prepare for a snow and windstorm that could cause problems for hastily erected 13 levees. So far the piles of sandbags have been holding back the swollen 14 Red River. The river has dropped just over 39 feet, less than the record high set earlier. However, it remains 15 nearly 22 feet above flood stage.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 254 points; the NASDAQ slid 43 points today; the S&P 500 was down 28 points.

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 Secretary of State, Robert Gates for the most part has ruled out US military action in the event of a North Korean rocket test expected next month, despite mounting concerns over the anticipated launch. Appearing on Fox News over the weekend, Secretary Gates said the Pentagon has pretty much decided 16 against employing its own missile interceptors to disrupt the launch that's despite repeated statements from US officials including Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, that the launch will be viewed as a provocative 17 act. North Korea has said that the launch is to put a communication satellite into orbit.

The Israeli military today said its own investigation 18 into allegations of misconduct in the recent Gaza war were purposely exaggerated by graduates of a military school. From Jerusalem, NPR's Eric Westervelt has details.

 An Israeli military school leaked accounts to Israeli newspapers which included claims that sniper shot and killed unarmed Palestinian women and children in the Gaza Strip. Today, the Israeli military's top lawyer said its ten-day investigation showed that, "Crucial components 19 of the soldiers’ description of events were based on hearsay 20". The judge Advocate General said he concluded there was not evidence to support the most serious charges including alleged 21 instances where Israeli soldiers shot civilians 23 without cause and destroyed civilian 22 property. Several groups including Physicians for Human Rights-Israel issued statements calling for an independent investigation and called the Israeli army’s speedy closing of the case, "The army’s attempt to wipe its hands off all blame for illegal activity in Gaza". Eric Westervelt NPR News, Jerusalem.

Crude oil future prices fell below 50 dollars a barrel today. The near month contract for benchmark crude was down $3.97 a barrel, to settle at $48.41 a barrel in New York.