NPR 2008-03-07

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.

NATO foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels, preparing for next month's head of state's summit in Bucharest, Romania. The shortage of international troops in Afghanistan remains 1 a key concern, with Canada threatening to pull out without reinforcements. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she's hopeful those needs will be met. Teri Schultz reports from Brussels.

Flying in from the Middle East, Rice said progress has been made on getting further allied 2 commitments for troops in Afghanistan, where the US and Britain currently provide the vast majority of soldiers and don't limit their areas of operation. It's been a bitter dispute in the alliance with some members taking offense 3 to US demands for more help. But today, NATO will also focus on its peacekeeping mission in the newly-independent Kosovo, where Secretary General Jaap de Hoop 4 Scheffer says that while the situation there is still volatile 5, he's encouraged by what hasn't happened. "We have seen no inter-ethnic violence, no mass flows of refugees, no organized attacks on patrimonial 6 sites. This is positive." Also on the agenda: the question of membership for NATO hopefuls-Albania, Croatia and Montenegro, another divisive issue. For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz in Brussels.

New York City police blocked off a portion of Times Square following a small explosion this morning that damaged a US military recruiting center. Witnesses staying at a hotel in the area say they heard a big bang and could feel the building shake. They say a large plume 7 of smoke was visible after the explosion. At one point, subway trains passed through Times Square without stopping but normal service with delays has since resumed.

Oil prices are back in record territory above 105 dollars a barrel in overseas trading today after settling at another all-time high yesterday. Steve Beckner of Market News International reports.

Oil has left the once-unimaginable 100-dollar level in the dust amid supply concerns, strong world demand and the weakness of the US dollar. The latest upsurge came after OPEC oil ministers decided 8 not to increase output and the US Energy Information Administration reported an unexpected drop in oil inventories 9. OPEC member Venezuela's sabre-rattling against neighbouring Colombia further fuelled speculation 10 in oil futures 11. Adding to market jitters 12, the dollar ,in which oil is priced, remained under downward pressure against other currencies. US light sweet crude jumped five dollars to close at a record $104.52 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded even higher. Rising crude costs are pushing up gasoline prices, creating another drag on the sluggish 13 US economy. For NPR News, I'm Steve Beckner.

The Pakistan's commercial capital suffered a major power outage today. Officials in Karachi say it affected 14 the entire city of more than 15 million people. The outage involves Karachi's distribution network for the government-run water and power development authority. The Reuters News Agency reports that power has started to come back on.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

The Senate Budget Committee plans a vote today on a three-trillion-dollar budget plan for fiscal 15 2009. The House Budget Committee passed a similar plan early this morning. NPR's Paul Brown has more.

The Democratic proposal passed the House committee on a party-line vote. The plan would allow President Bush's tax cuts to expire as scheduled and would thus return the nation to budget surpluses by 2012. The House plan would also increase funding for domestic programs in excess of inflation adjustments, providing additional real support for those programs. But President Bush quickly responded that he will veto any spending increases that would appear in government agency budgets. The president was largely victorious 17 over the Democratic-led Congress in budget battles last year, and Democrats 18 have indicated they won't send him more spending bills than they must this year, hoping they can deal with his successor, and hoping that successor will be a Democrat 16. Paul Brown, NPR News, Washington.

The Army is about to release a report, saying that while US troop morale 19 improved in Iraq last year, soldiers in Afghanistan suffered more depression as violence there worsened. The Associated Press says the report is drawn 20 from the work of a team of mental health experts who traveled to the war zones last fall.

A new effort is being made to guard against unsafe products coming in to the United States. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission says inspectors 21 will be deployed 22 full-time 23 at US ports to screen toys and other imports for potential safety hazards. The move comes in the wake of a series of recalls involving a variety of imported goods last year.

In Japan stocks, the benchmark Nikkei average rose 1.9 percent today, ending at 13,215.

I'm Giles Snyder. NPR News from Washington.