NPR 2009-07-26

President Obama says small businesses need some help in offering health insurance benefits to employees. He cites a new White House study showing an up to 18% disparity between what small and large businesses have to pay for similar employee plans. NPR’s Scott Horsley has more.

 The White House says President Obama will continue the campaign for a health care overhaul 1 throughout the month of August even after lawmakers leave Washington to their home districts. In his weekly address this morning, Mr. Obama highlighted the heavy toll 2 that health care costs take on small businesses. "Because they lack the bargaining power that large businesses have and face higher administrative 3 costs per person, small businesses pay up to 18% more for the very same health insurance plans, costs that eat into  their profits and get passed onto their employees." Mr. Obama says proposals now in Congress would help to subsidize small businesses that offer health insurance and promote a more competitive insurance market. All but the smallest firms would be required to provide workers with health coverage 4, or else, pay a penalty. Scott Horsley NPR News, Washington.

 The president of the National Organization for Women spoke 5

in Kansas today about rebuilding the women’s rights movement across the US. The group’s meeting is taking place nearly two months after the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a physician who provided abortion 6 services in Wichita. NPR’s Kathy Lohr reports.

 Newly elected NOW President Terry O'Neill says after the murder of Dr. Tiller, Kansas is crucially important to the pro-choice movement. Tiller’s family decided 7 to close the Wichita clinic, one of the few places in the country that provide late abortions 8. O’Neill says it’s time for people to speak out in support of women’s health care including abortion. "I have become convinced that right now in this country what we are seeing is a truly remarkable 9 combination of optimism and outrage 10. There is no better combination for creating change in community after community. " O’Neill says the optimism stems from the election of a pro-choice president; she says the outrage is over restrictions 11 that prevent women from getting abortions. Kathy Lohr NPR News, Wichita, Kansas.

Taliban suicide bombers 12 attacked a provincial 13 capital in Afghanistan today. Only one of the militants 14 was able to trigger a blast that wounded two policemen. The attacks came less than a month before Afghanistan’s presidential election. US envoy 16 Richard Holbrooke met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his two main opponents today in Kabul. Holbrooke says the election comes at a challenging time there. "Only the second election in their history and the first truly contested election is a difficult thing to hold under any circumstances. To hold it in the middle of a war is extraordinary." Holbrooke says he’s especially concerned about women in Afghanistan being allowed access to polling places.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Protesters in dozens of cities around the world staged for rallies today to call on Iran’s government to halt its crackdown on opposition 17 supporters. One of the rallies was in Tokyo. In Teheran, police and pro-government militia 18 attacked protesters.

Forest fires sweeping 19 across southern Europe this week have killed at least eight people. The worst blazes have been in Spain. Jerome Socolovsky has more from Madrid.

Soldiers have been sent to some of the worst blazes in the eastern provinces of Teruel in Castile-Leon and in Almeria in the south. Many homes were evacuated 20 as fire swept into residential 15 areas. Government officials are touring the devastation 21 while regional lawmakers pay tribute to the firefighters who died in the line of duty. The government has declared a maximum fire alert around the country, highway signs warn of steep fines for throwing cigarette butts 22 out of vehicles. In Italy, ten water-dropping planes are aiding in the effort on the island of Sardinia. In Greece, fire brigades have brought two forests fires north of Athens under control. For NPR News, I’m Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid.

An American Airlines jetliner en route from Boston to San Juan Puerto Rico returned to Boston and made an emergency landing today after the smell of smoke was detected in one of the plane’s bathrooms. Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner says mechanics are still not sure what caused that smell. "At this time we don’t have a diagnosis 23 of what caused the smell, but inside any sort of aircraft cabinet, sort of very confined space. It’s only a sort of smell like a burned out light bulb that is gonna smell pretty strong." Wagner says none of the 185 people aboard the flight were injured; all were put on other flights to their destination.