NPR NEWS 2008-02-03

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

Rebel forces in Chad say they've entered the outskirts 1 of the capital after heavy fighting with government troops. A French news agency says the sound of intense gunfire can be heard from the city center. It's being reported that the former colonial power France has requested its nationals gather at three secure locations in the Chadian capital. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports.

In just a matter of days, Chadian rebels have made a lightning dash from the east near the border with Darfur to the capital N'Djamena. Eyewitnesses 2 reported being able to see rebels infiltrating 3 the city. A coalition 4 of rebels has vowed 5 to overthrow 6 Chadian President Idriss Deby, accusing him of mismanagement and squandering 7 the nation's oil wealth. But there's a suspicion that the rebels backed by neighboring Sudan were sent to prevent the planned deployment 8 of European peacekeepers to Chad and Central African Republic's volatile 9 border with Darfur, a move which Khartoum opposes. Chad and Sudan regularly trade accusations 10 that each is harboring and financing the other's rebels. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Nairobi.

After-school programs are bracing 11 for a potential budget cuts when the Federal Budget is released on Monday. Meanwhile, the Education Department is trying to boost the funding for a controversial reading program. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

In his State of Union address, the president ask Congress to fund 800 million dollars in scholarships so families could enroll 12 their children in after-school programs, including those run by faith-based groups. After-school advocates fear that plan would take federal grants away from their programs and give the money to recruit the families in the form of vouchers 13. These groups say that would make it impossible to run high quality programs because they could not count on steady funding. The budget is also expected to call on Congress to bestow 14 more than 600 million dollars in funding to Reading-First, the special program for young children. Congress slashed 15 the program's budget last year in response to charges that Reading-First is mismanaged and rived with conflicts of interest. Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.

Bad weather in the western United States has closed interstate highways. Recent storms have dumped heavy snow and rain in Northern California. Two Amtrak trains going through the Donner Pass have gotten stuck. Some 400 people have been forced to wait while crews clear the track. Karina Romero was spokeswoman for Amtrak. She says some passengers will spend the night aboard the train. 'It's gonna be overnight, a number of hours. I can't give an exact time. We will still wait for equipment to arrive on the scene to clear up the incident site.' No injuries have been reported.

Authorities in San Francisco are warning the public to avoid water in one reach of San Francisco Bay. More than two and a half million gallons of partially 16 treated sewage spilled into Richardson Bay this week, an arm of the larger bay. The sewage is actually from a Marin County Water Treatment Plan. Authorities blamed operator error.

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As many as 99 people are believed to have died in two suicide bombings yesterday in Baghdad. Police say two female suicide bombers 17 were wearing explosive vests then went off in two crowded markets in the capital. Iraq's Prime Minister says security will be improved. The bombings have been denounced by the Iraqi government and by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The unpredictable stock market rallied Friday to close out a strongly positive week in which the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the second time in eight days. Steve Beckner of Market News International reports.

A Labor 18 Department report that jobs fell for the first time in four and a half years last month did not seem to bode 19 well for Wall Street. But recession worries were partially assuaged 20 by a stronger-than-expected purchasing managers survey in manufacturing and an uptaking consumer sentiment. Investors 21 also drew encouragement from Microsoft's huge buyout bid for Yahoo and hopes for a bailout of strained bond and insurance firms. With three stocks rising for everyone that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose almost three quarters of a percent, while the NASDAQ COMPOSITE rose nearly a four-percent, and the Standard & Poor's 500 climbed close to one and a quarter percent. For the week, the Dow was up 4.4, the S&P 4.9, and the NASDAQ 3.8 percent. For NPR News, I'm Steve Beckner.

The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on a proposed economic stimulus 22 package. One version has already passed the House Representatives and has the support of the President Bush. Some Democratic leaders want to expand some of the package benefits, such as making unemployment benefits last longer for jobless Americans.

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