NPR 2008-08-07

Government papers released in the anthrax investigation 1 paint Army scientist Bruce Ivins as a disturbed man who tried to mislead investigators 2 by submitting false samples. NPR's Allison Keyes has more.

According to the documents, the case against Ivins is detailed 3 but seems largely circumstantial. Ivins was clearly troubled, telling a co-worker that he had incredible paranoid, delusional 4 thoughts at times, and feared he might not be able to control his behavior. Ivins also sent an e-mail a few days before the 2001 anthrax attacks with language similar to that in the anthrax letters which read "we have this anthrax, death to America, death to Israel." Friends and neighbors of Ivins have said they believed the FBI had the wrong man. One of the victims of the attacks, Patrico Donald, says he was skeptical 5 of the evidence against Ivins before being briefed by the FBI today. But when Donald walked out, he says he was 99% sure they had the right guy. Allison Keyes, NPR News, Washington.

The housing finance company, Freddie Mac, says it had much steeper losses during the last quarter than expected. The loss comes weeks after the federal government announced a rescue plan for Freddie Mac and its sister company Fannie Mae. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

Freddie Mac said it lost 821 million dollars between April and June. Most of the losses were in what are called "Alt-A mortgages" which are riskier 6 than conventional mortgages. The company said there was a significant possibility it might not meet federal capital standards. That would subject it to more oversight 7 by regulators, who could restrict its investment activities. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are government-sponsored, publicly traded companies that own or guarantee nearly half of the mortgages issued in the United States. The Treasury 8 Department and the Federal Reserve recently took several steps aimed at shoring up the companies' balance sheets by making capital available to them. For example, they can now borrow from the Fed's discount window, although they haven't yet done so. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

Former Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek won't be among those heading to Beijing at least if the Chinese government has its way. China revoked 9 his visa just hours before he was set to leave for the Olympics. Cheek is president and co-founder of a group known as "Team Darfur", which has promoted peace in the war-torn region and planned to try to exert pressure on the international community (to) persuade Sudan to observe a truce 10 during the Beijing Games. Cheek said the move by China is another example officials there are trying to quell 11 any dissent 12. "My being denied a visa obviously is frustrating 13 to me, but what we're seeing is that this is really just one example of China putting pressure on athletes around the world to not be able to speak out on any sort of issues." The White House plans to protest the decision and said they hope Chinese officials change their minds.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 40 points today. The NASDAQ gained 28 points. The S&P 500 was up four points.

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Nine people are missing and feared dead, and four others were injured when their helicopter crashed last night in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The accident occurred as the helicopter was transporting firefighters who were cleaning up the remnants of a stubborn wildfire there. Meanwhile, triple-digit temperatures in northern California are providing little relief for fire crews who are battling a separate wildfire north of Sacramento. The two-day-old fire near Forbestown has reportedly more than doubled in size with wind-driven flames at one point yesterday, forcing fire crews to fall back.

Israeli officials announced today Israel will free Palestinian prisoners later this month as a goodwill 14 gesture to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The decision came after a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem.

It was the first meeting between Abbas and Olmert since Olmert announced last week that he will step down as prime minister after his party chooses a new leader next month. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev described the meeting as "productive". He said both men said they were committed to continuing negotiations 15 despite Olmert's intention to step down. Regev did not say how many of the 8,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails would be freed and whether they would include prominent Palestinians like Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. Regev said that Israel understands the importance of the prisoner issue for Palestinians. Israel last freed more than 400 Palestinian detainees in December. Five more were released today as part of Israel's prisoner exchange with Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas. For NPR News, I'm Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

Lower oil prices are pushing gas prices down. AAA says the average price of a gallon of gas fell a penny a gallon overnight to $3.86 a gallon.