NPR 2009-09-18

The Obama Administration announced today a major change in its missile defense 1 plans for Europe and cancelled the deployment 2 of a controversial system in two countries there. NPR’s JJ Sutherland reports.

In 2006, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proposed a missile defense system with missiles based in Poland and a radar 3 based in the Czech Republic. Both plans were heatedly opposed by Russia, which saw them as a threat. The US maintained they were important to defend against missiles from Iran. Now says Gates the situation has changed.

"Our intelligence now assesses that the threat of potential Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities 4 has been slower to develop than was estimated in 2006."

Instead, the threat is from shorter-range Iranian missiles and now Gates says the US can rely on smaller sea- and land-based missiles instead of the original plan. JJ Sutherland, NPR News.

Following the suicide car bombing in Kabul that killed six Italian soldiers as well as a number of civilians 5, Italy’s Premier 6 is saying that international forces should leave Afghanistan. Premier Silvio Berlusconi said today that while no firm timetables being talked about, it would, in his words, be best for everybody to get out soon. Meantime an explosion of a car bomb blew an Italian armored vehicle across two lanes of traffic. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast, the deadliest attack on Italian forces in the country to date. The powerful bomb blast shattered windows and buildings half a mile away and shook offices and homes.

The nation’s housing market is continuing to show some improvement. The Commerce Department reports the number of housing units getting built rose 1.5% in August. More from NPR’s Chris Arnold.

Apartments and condo buildings saw a pretty big monthly increase while single family home starts saw a slight decrease. But overall, the number of housing units getting built is continuing to rise up slowly off the bottom.

"The housing market has hit bottoms. I mean we are still in the basement, but maybe we've moved out of the subbasement."

Stuart Hoffman is chief economist 7 of PNC Financial Services Group. He says that people are buying more homes again.

"They spend money to move into home. Far from a boom, anything but that, but that's gonna turn housing from a big drag on the economy to a small plus for recovery in the coming year."

Hoffman expects prices nationally will keep inching lower until the spring of next year, but he says that prices have already stabilized 8 in some markets. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

Federal Trade Commission is considering a crackdown on companies in exchange for an upfront fee promised to help modify a troubled homeowner’s mortgage. According to officials with the government agencies, scammers who want to take advantage of borrowers in danger of losing their homes often charge such fees. In some cases, thousands of dollars are rarely helping 9 those in need. The FTC says such fees already prohibited in 20 states are "a real red flag".

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell seven points today. The Dow closed at 9,783. The NASDAQ lost six points.

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European Union is out with new calls for the US, China and other major economic powers to work toward reducing emissions 10. The call came today at the Summit of EU government leaders meeting in Brussels. The Sweden’s Prime Minister saying it’s time for the world to start moving on action when it comes to making deep reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. Sweden currently holds the EU presidency 11 and said today that international negotiations 12 on the new global climate change pact 13 are "going too slowly".

Nominees 14 for the 10th annual Latin Grammies were announced today in Los Angeles. This year, a Caribbean hip-pop group pulled in the most nominations 15 with five. NPR’s Felix Contreras has more.

The Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 earned five nominations including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Urban Album and Best Alternative Song.

Calle 13 won five awards at last year’s Latin Grammies and they are becoming a crossover success with fans and critics. In a further reflection of Latin music’s crossover appeal, hip-pop duo Wisiny Yandel also from Puerto Rica, was nominated for Best Urban Song for their collaboration 16 with rapper 50Cent. This year’s Album of the Year category boasts nominees from Puerto Rico, Columbia, Nicaragua, Brazil and Argentina. Latin Grammy winners will be announced on November 5th. Felix Contreras, NPR News.

The number of people signing up for first time jobless benefits shrank last week. The Labor 17 Department says first time claims for unemployment insurance fell by 12,000. However, the overall number of people claiming jobless benefits continues to rise up 129,000 to a seasonally 18 adjusted 6.2 million.