NPR 2009-02-24

Meeting with his economic advisors 1 and others at the White House today, President Barack Obama said even with the economic challenges facing the nation, he plans to cut the nation’s budget deficit 2 by half by the end of his first term in office. President said that with the budget deficit forecast to soar to $1.3 trillion this year, he would reinstate a rule that the government pay as it goes rather than racking up more debt. “In recent years, we've strayed from this rule and the results speak for themselves. The pay-go approach is based on a very simple concept: You don't spend what you don’t have. So if we want to spend, we’ll need to find somewhere else to cut."  President said the country cannot continue to sustain such high budget shortfalls, pledging to get rid of programs that don’t work. He also said he’ll end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs out of the U.S.

Ford 3 has reached a tentative deal with the United Auto 4 Workers Union on how the automaker will fund a trust that pays retiree health care expenses. The agreement if ratified 5 could set the stage for similar deals with GM and Chrysler. Those two companies must have the issue settled by the end of March as a condition of their federal loans. Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton reports.

In its last contract, the UAW agreed to accept cash payments from all three Detroit automakers to cover the cost of retiree health care, but the companies don’t have enough money to make the payments now. Ford does not face the same federally imposed deadline to reach a deal as GM and Chrysler because it didn’t accept taxpayer-funded loans. But Ford reached a tentative agreement with the union first. The automaker will pay the UAW half in cash and half in stock. The company will consider each payment when it is due and use its discretion 6 in deciding if cash or stock makes sense at the time. It’s expected the UAW will try to use the Ford agreement as a template for similar deals with Chrysler and GM, neither of which have the same cash reserves as Ford. For NPR News, I’m Tracy Samilton in Ann Arbor 7.

Egyptian authorities say police are questioning several people in connection with yesterday’s bomb attack at a popular Cairo market. A teenage girl was killed in the blast. 21 others were wounded. NPR’s Peter Kenyon reports.

The explosion, the first bomb attack in Cairo in four years shook the Egyptian government which relies heavily on tourist revenue for its current economic growth. The victims were mostly foreigners, many of them French teenagers nearing the end of their Egyptian vacation. Analyst 8 Ahmad Gah says it remains 9 to be seen if this attack was a protest against Egypt’s handling of the Gaza conflict. But no matter what the motive 10, he believes the government will react harshly to this attack on a vital source of revenue. “So I think that the action of the Egyptian regime would be very tough. And they will not listen for anybody.” Popular tourist sites in Egyptian capital were flooded with an even heavier presence of security forces in the wake of the attack. Peter Kenyon. NPR News, Cairo.

On Wall Street, the lack of investor 11 confidence sent the Dow down 250 points, its lowest level since 1997.

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The U.S is reportedly to be poised 12 to offer more than $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after Israel’s recent invasion and help strengthen the West Bank Palestinian Authority. That is according to a US official who said today such an expenditure 13 will need the approval of Congress something that could prove difficult given the sour US economy. The money will go through the UN and not to the militant 14 groups Hamas which currently controls Gaza. US officials say the announcement could come from Secretary of State Clinton who’s scheduled to make an announcement next week at a donors 15' conference in Egypt.

In Colombia a growing scandal is rocking President Alvaro Uribe’s administration, the secret wiretapping of government opponents, judges and journalists. NPR’s Juan Forero reports from Bogotá.

The newsmagazine Semana touched off a fire storm after reporting the Colombia’s intelligence agency had been illegally wiretapping dozens of prominent Colombians. Many are opponents of Uribe's government or judges who’ve been investigating ties between right-wing death squads 16 and the administration’s closest allies. That’s brought heat down on Uribe since the DAS intelligence agency is answerable to him. DAS director Felipe Munoz has promised a housecleaning, and the agency’s deputy director of intelligence was forced to resign. Prosecutors 17 meanwhile searched DAS headquarters. The agency has been mired 18 in scandal. A former director Jorge Noguera remains in jail for conspiring 19 with death squads to kill trade union activists 20. Juan Forero, NPR News, Bogotá.

A late season winter storm has dumped wet heavy snow across much of the Northeast. It’s left more than 140,000 homes and businesses without power and also forced cancellation 21 of schools. Several towns in Maine got two feet more of snow today.