NPR 2009-09-26

Leaders of the US, Britain and France are demanding an immediate 1 investigation 2 of Iran’s nuclear program after announcing the discovery of a secret uranium enrichment facility. More from NPR’s Scott Horsley.

 US officials say Iran has been building the underground nuclear facility for years without notifying international atomic watchdogs. President Obama says that underscores Iran’s failure to live up to international law. He also challenged the Iranian government’s claim that it’s merely enriching uranium to fuel nuclear power plants. “The size and configuration 3 of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program. Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow.” The US and its allies are demanding that Iran come clean about its nuclear program or face additional sanctions. Officials call next week’s meeting between Iran and six other nations “a critical test of Iran’s nuclear ambitions”. Scott Horsley, NPR News, at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.

 Leaders at the G20 pledged to develop goals aimed at fixing some of the problems they say help to exacerbate 4 the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. G20 participants say they’ll formulate 5 objectives that each country can pursue an area such as bringing down trade imbalances or dealing 6 with budget deficits 7. That would include peer reviews conducted by other nations or would apparently 8 stop short of instituting penalties for those countries that fail to reach their goals.

 Colorado man accused of plotting to detonate explosive devices in the US is being moved to New York from Denver. NPR’s Jeff Brady reports from outside the courthouse.

 Najibullah Zazi was indicted 9 by a grand jury in New York earlier this week on charges he planned to detonate a weapon of mass destruction. His attorney in Colorado tried to argue today in a Denver courtroom that Zazi was not a flight risk nor a danger to the public and that he should be released from federal custody 10. The judge dismissed those arguments and agreed with prosecutors 11 that plenty of hard evidence exists that Zazi had instructions for making a bomb and has purchased the supplies to do that. He ordered that Zazi will remain in federal custody. Zazi showed no emotion and he didn't appear to have any reaction to today’s proceedings 12. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Denver.

 Government reports said orders for costly 13 manufactured goods, items designed to last three years or more fell 2.4% in August. The unexpected decline in durable 14 goods orders follows a gain of 4.8% in July. Latest numbers are causing concern on the part of some economists 15 who worry the up-and-down pattern in terms of goods orders shows the businesses are not confident enough in economic recovery to invest heavily in new equipment. Orders for commercial aircraft and parts generally, one of the most volatile 16 sectors 17 fell by some 42% last month after nearly doubling in July.

 On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 42 points to end the week at 9665. The NASDAQ lost 16 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell six points today.

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 The Pentagon’s top military officer has flown to Europe for his meeting with the top military commander in Afghanistan. According to defense 18 officials, Chairman of the Joint 19 Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, is spending half a day meeting with General Stanley McChrystal at Ramstein airbase in Germany. US commanders from NATO and the Mideast are also attending. The officials who spoke 20 on the condition of anonymity 21 said that Mullen has received McChrystal’s assessment 22 of how many troops he thinks are needed to defeat the insurgency 23 in Afghanistan. The meeting is reportedly to give Mullen a better understanding of why McChrystal feels a further boost in US forces there is justified 24.

 The corruption 25 trial of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began today and was then suspended until February. Olmert says he is confident he will be acquitted 26. Linda Gradstein reports.

 Today’s hearing focused mainly on technical issues, such as transferring the prosecutors’ investigation materials to the defense. Olmert was indicted on a series of corruption charges including accepting tens of thousands of dollars in cash from US businessman Morris Talansky and double-billing Israeli charities for troops taken abroad on their behalf. Olmert accused the attorney general of what he called “an almost inhuman 27 campaign of mudslinging” and said he paid a price during that period. Olmert was forced to resign after the indictment 28 was announced. In court today, Olmert was cheerful and said he is sure he will be found innocent. For NPR News, I’m Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

 Giant consumer products maker 29 Unilever said today it has agreed to buy the soap and personal care businesses of Sara Lee Corporation in a deal valued at nearly 1.9 billion dollars. Under the agreement, Unilever will purchase Sara Lee’s worldwide body care products business as well as its European detergent 30 arm.