NPR 2009-11-15

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Barbara Klein.

President Obama is in Singapore for a series of meetings with leaders from Asia, including the military government of Myanmar, which the US has long tried to isolate 1. NPR’s Scott Horsley reports.

President Obama won’t take part in formal diplomatic talks with Myanmar’s Prime Minister Thein Sein, but they’ll both be attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Administration officials say they didn’t want to boycott 2 the meeting just because Myanmar or Burma would be represented there. And, anyway, President Obama says US efforts to ignore the Burmese ruler have not worked.

”Despite years of good intentions, neither sanctions by the United States nor engagement by others succeeded in improving the lives of the Burmese people. So we are now communicating directly with the leadership to make it clear that existing sanctions will remain until there are concrete steps toward democratic reform.”

Mr. Obama will also be holding private talks with the leaders in Singapore, Russia and Indonesia, the country where he spent part of his youth. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Singapore.

In his weekly pre-recorded address today, President Obama called on Congress to postpone 3 investigations 4 into the shootings at Fort Hood 5 in Texas in order to allow federal law enforcement and military authorities to complete their probes first.

The Pakistani city of Peshawar was hit again today by a suspected suicide bomber 6. At least ten people were killed. Yesterday a massive truck bomb killed at least ten.

Google’s controversial plans to establish a digital book library have been revised because of concerns that it would create a monopoly. NPR’s Wendy Kaufman has details.

In 2005, authors and publishers sued Google for scanning their books and making them searchable online. Three years later, Google, the authors and publishers proposed a settlement. Google could include the scanned books in its search engine and sell access to them; in exchange, the company would pay 125 million dollars and share some of the revenue with authors and publishers. That deal was sharply criticized by many countries along with Amazon and Microsoft and other members of the Open Book Alliance, who said it was overly broad and anti-competitive. Late Friday night, Google, authors and publishers submitted a scaled-back plan to the court overseeing the matter. The Open Book Alliance immediately blasted it as a mere 7 sleight 8 of hand. Whether the revised plan will be approved by the court remains 9 unclear. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.

The European Union reports the recession in the 16-nation Euro zone is officially over with 0.4% growth in the third quarter of the year. That’s up from a 0.2% decline in the previous quarter. Analysts 10 attribute the growth to French and German exports and billions of euros spent in government stimulus 11 money. But the weak dollar could cut exports in the final three months of the year.

This is NPR News.

The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization is on a hunger strike for 24 hours to show solidarity 12 with the world’s one billion hungry people. Meanwhile, the World Food Program launched a campaign today to raise money for the hungry from individuals rather than just governments.

Some of financial conman Bernard Madoff’s belongings 13 are being auctioned 14 off today in Manhattan as the disgraced financier sits in a North Carolina prison, serving a 150-year prison sentence. His sentence also forced Madoff to forfeit 15 many of his belongings. Some 200 items are on the block today including dishes, pens and furs. Authorities hoped to get at least a half million dollars for Madoff’s defrauded 16 investors 17 who lost tens of billions of dollars in his huge Ponzi scheme.

With the country’s newspaper industry facing a combination of recessionary pressures and declining subscriptions 18 and also advertising 19 revenue, the state of New Hampshire is stepping in to help a struggling local newspaper secure financing. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Josh Rogers has the story.

The state’s guarantee of a 250,000-dollar line of credit for the Eagle Times of Claremont is still in controversy 20 in New Hampshire. Critics say the deal compromises the paper’s independence. But Devert Pigment 21 Tali is state official who sat on the panel that okayed the transaction says the only goal was to save jobs.

”Over 90 people have been laid off and the state has not given the newspaper any money.”

The Eagle Times, which has a circulation of 7,000 closed abruptly 22 in July. Two months later the 175-year-old paper was bought out of bankruptcy 23 by the Pennsylvania-based Sample News Group. For NPR News, I’m Josh Rogers in Concord 24, New Hampshire.

And I’m Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.