NPR 2010-01-21

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman.

A huge aftershock rocked Port-au-Prince, Haiti today. Frightened people ran  screamingly into the streets. NPR's Carrie Kahn is in the Haitian capital and says people won't be able to take refuge in damaged buildings.

People are living in precarious 1 situations near precarious buildings. We are high up on a hill here, there is a vista 2, and there is just one house that I keep looking at which is on a 45-degree angle, it's gonna go, and these aftershocks are really making a terrible situation even more tense for people.

NPR's Carrie Kahn in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The White House says it shares some of the blame for the result in yesterday's special election in Massachusetts. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says President Obama was startled to learn the Democratic Senator candidate Martha Coakley lost to Republican competitor Scott Brown.

"President didn't expect, I would certainly put myself in that category, not expecting to lose that Senate race. There is no doubt. We are frustrated 3 by that."

That's because it could make it more difficult for the White House to get healthcare overhaul 4 legislation passed, the key theme of President Obama's. The Democratic leader of the Senate, Harry 5 Reid, says his chamber 6 will now wait to take a vote on healthcare overhaul legislation until the new Senator-elect from Massachusetts is seated.

The Justice Department's Inspector 7 General has reviewed for years the FBI illegally obtained thousands of phone records including reporters' phone numbers. The report says the practice ended during the Bush administration. NPR's Ari Shapiro has more.

Exigent letters are tool the FBI uses to get phone records in an emergency. This nearly 300-page report says in thousands of cases, the FBI used the letters to get records when there was no emergency. And there were other informal tools the FBI used to get records illegally. Phone companies provided records when FBI agents requested them by email, Post-it notes and phone calls. The Inspector General called the scope and variety of the violations 8 "startling". At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Chairman Patrick Leahy called for accountability.

"If one of us did something like this, we'd have to answer to it. This was authorized 9 at high levels within the FBI (and) continued for years."

FBI Director Robert Mueller testified at the hearing that the bureau has reformed its internal controls to fix the problems. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

The president's nominee 10 to head the Transportation Security Administration has pulled his name from consideration. Erroll Southers says he doesn't want to be a distraction 11. South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint blocked Southers's nomination 12 saying he did not want TSA workers to be able to bargain for a labor 13 contract under Southers. But Southers also misled Senators over an incident that occurred 20 years ago. He'd investigated the boyfriend of his estranged 14 wife at the time and admitted later he'd given incorrect information about the incident.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrials down 136 points at 10,589.

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Authorities in Southern California are telling hundreds of people to leave their homes because of the threat of flooding and mudslides. Sheriff's deputies in Los Angeles County are warning people they could be evacuated 15 for several days. The National Weather Service says a powerful new storm is headed for the region with a great deal of rain and powerful wind.

The parent company of American Airlines says it lost more than 400 million dollars at the end of 2009. It's the first of several major US carriers expected to report large losses. Bill Zeeble of member station KERA in Dallas has more.

American lost 415 million dollars in the final quarter of last year, worse than analysts 16 predicted. But when considering some one-time expenses, the company lost 344 million dollars or a dollar three a share, slightly better than 2008's numbers. AMR Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey blamed the loss on the worst recession in decades which he said severely 17 hurt travel demand. He said the recession replaced last year's fuel crisis. For all of 2009, the world's second largest airline lost a billion and a half dollars compared to more than two billion a year earlier. The company said it's doing what it can to streamline 18 operations and make more money. It's reduced routes, cut its fleet, now charges for food and snacks and just raised rates on checked baggage fees. For NPR News, I am Bill Zeeble in Dallas.

The British government has stopped direct flights between Britain and Yemen. Prime Minister Gordon Brown says Yemen is a safe haven 19 for terrorists who threatened world security. Brown told British lawmakers today that airport security in Britain will now get stricter and Britain is widening its watchlist of one million names.

I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.