NPR 2009-11-16

President Obama is on a 3-day tour to China, where he’s scheduled to meet with President Hu Jintao in Beijing. Energy, trade, climate change and regional security are expected to top the leaders' agenda. Before the meeting, President Obama is scheduled to hold a town hall style discussion with young people in Shanghai.

Earlier today President Obama joined Southeast Asian leaders gathered in Singapore to press the military government of Myanmar to adopt democratic reforms. NPR’s Scott Horsley reports.

President Obama became the first American leader in decades to sit in the same room with Myanmar’s military ruler. He attended a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a group the US has long boycotted 1 because of Myanmar’s presence. Deputy national security advisor 2 Ben Rhodes says the president took the opportunity to call for a political reform in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

“So privately 3 he said the exact same thing he said publicly in enumerating 4 the steps that the government of Burma must take—freeing all political prisoners, freeing Aung San Suu Kyi, ending violence against minority groups, and moving into a dialogue with democratic movements there.”

A statement from other ASEAN leaders also called for free and fair elections in Myanmar next year, but stopped short of demanding the release of political prisoners. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Singapore.

Iran condemned 5 the latest US action to seize the assets of Muslim non-profit organizations suspected of funneling 6 money to Iran. Iran’s parliament speaker called the moves disgraceful. NPR’s Peter Kenyon has more from Yemen.

In a speech broadcast on Iranian radio and covered by Iran’s official news agency, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the Obama administration’s moves to extend sanctions and seize Iranian assets abroad showed that the new US president was no better than his predecessor 7. Thursday, US prosecutors 8 sought the forfeiture 9 of more than a half billion dollars in assets from the Alavi and Assa Foundations. Prosecutors alleged 10 that the foundations which own several mosques 11 and a 36-storey high-rise on New York City’s Fifth Avenue were sending money to Bank Melli. The US Treasury 12 listed the bank owned by the Iranian government as a weapons proliferator 13. Traveling in Asia, President Obama said time was running out for diplomacy 14 regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Larijani called the recent US actions irrational 15. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Yemen.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Obama administration wants the Afghan government to do a better job of combating corruption 16 in its ranks before it gets more US aid for civilians 18.

“I’ve made it clear that we’re not gonna be providing any civilian 17 aid to Afghanistan unless we have a certification that if it goes into the Afghan government in any form, that we’re gonna have ministries 19 that we can hold accountable.”

Secretary of State Clinton speaking on ABC’s This Week.

This is NPR.

NASA is preparing for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis tomorrow afternoon. The six astronauts will deliver tens of thousands of pounds of spare parts to the International Space Station. From member station WMFE, Judith Smelser reports.

Atlantis will carry more than 27,000 pounds of replacement 20 parts that the station may need to keep its power on or to keep it from overheating or tumbling into space. The space shuttle is the only craft capable of carrying such a heavy load and the shuttle fleet is due to be retired 21 next fall. So Atlantis is the first of several flights that will be packed with spares. NASA’s Scott Higginbotham says getting so much equipment ready to fly was harder than expected.

“This processing campaign has been a very difficult, challenging race for our team. But we’re smiling today because we crossed the finish line and we survived.”

Atlantis is scheduled to be in space for 11 days. Three spacewalks are planned during the mission. For NPR News, I’m Judith Smelser in Orlando.

The American Civil Liberties Union says it will keep trying to get controversial photos of foreign detainees released to the public. The group is criticizing Defense 22 Secretary Robert Gates’s decision to block the images from public view. At issue are nearly two dozen photos showing prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress gave Gates new power to keep the photos private after the government’s arguments were rejected by federal courts.

The Serbian Orthodox leader who guided the church through the Balkan wars in the 1990s has died. Patriarch Pavle passed away this morning after he was hospitalized with heart and lung problems. He was 95 years old.

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.