NPR 2009-01-25

President Obama says his administration's 825-billion-dollar economic recovery plan is aimed to doing far more than pulling the nation out of recession and creating jobs. "This is not just a short-term program to boost employment. It's one that will invest in our most important priorities like energy and education; health care and a new infrastructure 1 that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century." Mr. Obama speaking in his first weekly radio and Internet address as president, he met with his economic team at the White House today.

House Republican leader John Boehner says GOP lawmakers want to see more fast-acting tax relief and not slow-moving government spending programs. "The trillion-dollar spending plan authored by Congressional Democrats 2 is chock-full of government programs and projects -- most of which won't provide immediate 3 relief to our ailing 4 economy, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office." Boehner gave the Republicans' weekly address today.

China's Central Bank has given a pointed 5 response to comments by Mr. Obama's choice to be Treasury 6 Secretary who has said that China is manipulating its currency to give its exports an advantage. NPR's Anthony Kuhn has more from Beijing.

Vice 7 Governor of the People's Bank of China Su Ning said the Treasury Secretary nominee 8 Tim Geithner's comments to the Senate Finance Committee about currency manipulation were misleading as to the causes of the current financial crisis. Su added that government should be taking a critical look at themselves rather than engaging in trade protectionism. The official China Daily newspaper said Geithner's comments marked a shift away from the Bush administration, which refused to officially label China a currency manipulator. State media also reported that Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi spoke 9 to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by phone on Friday and told her that Washington and Beijing should show consideration for each other's core interests. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.

Four children were killed today when a municipal gymnasium collapsed 10 near Barcelona during a severe winter storm. Five other people were killed elsewhere in Spain and in France. Jerome Socolovsky has more from Madrid.

The children belonged to a baseball team for preteens in the Barcelona suburb of Sant Boi de Llobregat. Because of the weather, around 20 kids went inside the gym to practice. Then a gust 11 of wind tore the corrugated 12 metal roof from its anchors and the entire cinder 13 block structure collapsed. This eyewitness 14 told Spanish television that he and other neighborhood residents started pulling children from the rubble 15 before emergency services arrived. Wind gusts 16 of up to 122 miles per hour have battered 17 much of Spain and southern France. Large trees were uprooted 18, roofs of houses blew off and brick walls disintegrated 19. More than a million homes were left without power in both countries. For NPR News, I'm Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Kay Yow has died. Yow coached the North Carolina State University for more than 30 years and led the US Women's Olympic Basketball Team to a 1988 gold medal. NPR's Adam Hochberg has the story.

Kay Yow won more than 700 games in her college coaching career, and continued to lead her team at North Carolina State even as she fought a high-profile 20-year battle against breast cancer. Yow was diagnosed with the disease in 1987 and later established a charitable fund to raise money for cancer research. She missed only a handful of games over the years as she underwent medical treatments. Yow's teams won five Conference Championships and four Conference Tournament titles. She coached gold medal winning teams in the Olympics and the Goodwill 20 games. Earlier this month, Yow stepped down as North Carolina State's coach for the season because of her declining health. The university said she died peacefully this morning. She was 66. Adam Hochberg, NPR News, Chapel 21 Hill, North Carolina.

The pilot who safely landed a crippled US Airways 22 jetliner in New York's Hudson River has been given a hero's welcome in his hometown of Danville, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Sully” Sullenberger has said little publicly about that experience until today. "Circumstance determined 23 that it was this experienced crew that was scheduled to fly that particular flight on that particular day. But I know I can speak for the entire crew when I tell you we were simply doing the jobs we were trained to do. Thank you." Sullenberger and his wife were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd and an honor guard. They just returned from attending President Obama's inauguration 24.