NPR 2010-06-24

The top US commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal is out. President Obama made the announcement after hearing about disparaging 1 remarks the general and his aides made about members of the national security team.

"We need to remember what this is all about. Our nation is at war. We face a very tough fight in Afghanistan."

McChrystal’s been replaced by General David Petraeus. We have more on this from NPR's Jackie Northam.

President Obama announced his decision to replace McChrystal following a one-on-one meeting with him earlier in the morning. Mr Obama said he had respect for McChrystal and was sad with the decision, but the president was also angry about an article for Rolling Stone magazine in which McChrystal and his aides made critical remarks about Mr Obama and his national security team. Now, General Petraeus will be in charge of a war which has recently lost momentum 2. He's well-respected amongst the Obama administration, and his appointment means that there will be continuity to the operation in Afghanistan. Petraeus may also have the ability to knit together the frayed 3 relations between military officials in Afghanistan and their civilian 4 counterparts. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.

Americans across the world are celebrating a stunning 5 victory in the World Cup in South Africa.

"There it is, the moment, deep, deep into the match to give the USA surely a place in the last 16. It is brilliant... "

Landon Donovan scores a single goal against Algeria on a rebound 6 45 seconds into four minutes of injury time.

"I'm just, I'm shocked and I'm so proud of our guys, man, unbelievable."

The US advances to the second round.

The Federal Reserve says the European debt crisis is affecting US economic growth. Fed officials made the comment this afternoon at the end of a two-day meeting where they voted to keep interest rates where they are. More from NPR's Jim Zarroli.

The decision to keep interest rates at their historically low levels was widely expected. So instead investors 7 were focused on the Fed's statement. It said the recovery is proceeding 8 and the economy is gradually improving. Businesses are spending significantly more on equipment and software, and household spending is constrained 9 by modest income growth and high unemployment. For the first time, Fed officials alluded 10 to the debt crisis in Europe. They said financial conditions have become less supportive of economic growth, reflecting developments abroad. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.

New-home sales take an unexpected nosedive, falling 33% in May after the homebuyer tax credits went away. Economist 11 Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial attributes the falloff to high unemployment.

"At the end of the day, it's all about job, it's about people qualifying for mortgage with income, with income that's accountable."

The Commerce Department's report follows news of an unexpected drop in existing-home sales.

Last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up six points at 10,299, NASDAQ down eight at 2,254.

This is NPR.

CNN has named two new hosts to take over its 8:00 pm slot on week nights - former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and a syndicated columnist 12 Kathleen Parker. As NPR's David Folkenflik reports the show represents the channel's latest effort to capture prime time viewers.

The show's premise 13 sounds like an echo of the touchstone ideological 14 debate program "Crossfire 15" banished 16 just a few years ago by Jonathan Klein, the president of CNN's American network. Kathleen Parker is a conservative columnist who won this year's Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Eliot Spitzer was a crusading Democratic state attorney general who became a bare-knuckled political brawler 17 during his brief stint 18 as governor. Klein now promises viewers what he calls a lively roundup of all the best ideas, an implied contrast to the prime time conservatism of Fox News and liberalism of MSNBC. Interestingly, CNN's announcement omitted all reference to the episode that gave Spitzer national infamy 19, his resignation as governor amid the disclosure he'd been a client of a tony prostitution ring. David Folkenflik, NPR News, New York.

An international attempt at limiting whale hunting is at an impasse 20 that enables Japan, Iceland, Norway more time to keep hunting, perhaps hundreds of mammals a year. The three whaling nations offered to limit their catch, but they are against ending whale hunting altogether. Collapsed 21 talks raise fresh doubts about the effectiveness of the International Whaling Commission, a group charges with keeping whales from going extinct.

Canadians and Americans were reporting being shaken at midday from a 5.5-magnitude earthquake today felt in Toronto and some US states. No immediate reports of injuries