NPR 2009-02-20

On his first foreign trip since taking office, President Barack Obama met today with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The two men talked about a variety of issues ranging from the war in Afghanistan to the current state of the economy. At a news conference in Ottawa, Mr. Obama thanked his host and said there are already some areas that two nations have agreed to work on. “The Prime Minister and I discussed our respective plans to create jobs and lay a foundation for growth. The work that's being done by this government to stimulate 1 the economy on this side of the border is welcomed. And we expect that we can take actions in concert to strengthen the auto 2 industry as well.”

Mr. Obama also said he wants to begin talks to add enforceable labor 3 and environmental provisions to NAFTA. Canada, the US’s largest trading partner has been somewhat leery of changes to the deal.

FBI officials have served civil papers on Texas billionaire Allen Stanford without arresting him. Stanford was reportedly found in Virginia by special agents.  Meanwhile Banking 4 regulators in Latin America and the Caribbean have been rushing to contain a panic, following allegations that Stanford defrauded 5 clients to the tune 6 of at least nine billion dollars. Government of Venezuela today took over a bank run by Stanford after customers made a run on deposits. Stanford was reported to have been located in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area.

According to the Labor Department, the number of people filing new unemployment claims topped 600,000 last week and overall the number of people who remain in need of help reached a record high. NPR’s Kate Davison has more.

627,000, that’s how many people filed new unemployment claims last week, the same number as the week before. Though that number remained steady, it also remained at large, hovering 7 close to a 26-year high. Meanwhile, a surge of people stayed on the unemployment rolls through the first week of February breaking all previously 8 available records. Close to five million people continued to draw unemployment benefits. The new figures come a day after the Federal Reserve released its projections 9 for the year anticipating an unemployment rate around 8.5%. Fed leaders said unemployment would remain high through at least 2011. Kate Davison, NPR News, Washington.

Nine days after Israel’s national elections, majority of parliament members say Benjamin Netanyahu should be the next Prime Minister. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem.

The head of the centrist Kadima Party Tzipi Livni today told party members that Israel is heading toward an extreme right-wing government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. She said, "This is not our way and there is nothing for us in such a government,” signaling her intention to lead Kadima into opposition 10. Kadima actually won one more seat than Netanyahu’s Likud but can not put together a government. Today 65 Israeli parliament members asked President Shimon Peres to choose Netanyahu to form a government. Netanyahu would prefer a broader-based government with Kadima and the third largest party Yisrael Beiteinu. But he has said he will also govern with a narrower coalition 11. For NPR News, I’m Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

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Defense 12 Secretary Robert Gates said today the announcement by the government of Kyrgyzstan that it's voted to evict 13 the US from a key military base may not mean an immediate 14 pullout. Gates said that US would still be willing to consider paying a higher rent for the Manas airbase which is used to resupply US troops in Afghanistan. However, Robert Gates also said the base is not irreplaceable in the talks underway with other nations about getting supplies into the country.

There are continuing protests in expressions of the outrage 15 over a cartoon published Wednesday in the New York Post. About 200 activists 17 chained outside the newspaper’s Manhattan offices vowing 18 they’ll be back tomorrow. NPR’s Margot Adler reports.

The cartoon showed two police officers, one having just shot a gun killing 19 a chimpanzee, a reference to a 200-pound chimpanzee recently shot in Connecticut. But inside the cartoon bubble, one officer says to the other, “They will have to find someone else to write the next stimulus 21 bill,” clearly linking President Barack Obama to a chimp 20. Many including New York Governor David Paterson, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand say the cartoon has a racial subtext. There is a long history of racist 22 imagery equating 23 blacks with monkeys and chimps 24. The New York Post has defended the cartoon as a clear parity 25 of the political process and as stood by the work. Activist 16 Al Sharpton said at the New York City protest, “I guess they thought we were chimpanzees, they will find out we are lions.” Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.

Officials in Georgia now say last night’s bad weather which included reported tornado 26 sightings, high winds and large hail claimed at least one life and left more than a dozen others injured. Emergency official says in one county alone as many as hundreds of structures were damaged.