NPR 2010-07-21

Millions of Americans who've been out of work for more than six months are getting some relief. This afternoon, the US Senate voted 60-40 to extend unemployment benefits. NPR's Scott Horsley’s been tracking the story for us. Passage comes after heavy lobbying from the president.

That's right, Lakshmi. The president appeared in the White House Rose Garden yesterday to urge lawmakers to grant this extension. By the time he spoke 1, it was already clear the Senate would do so, but it was a chance for Mr. Obama to call out Republicans who'd blocked three earlier attempts.

And it was a new senator from West Virginia who gave Democrats 2 the winning margin 3?

Yes, Senator Carte Goodwin of West Virginia, who was sworn in today, replaced the late Robert Byrd. Along with two GOP senators from Maine, he provided Democrats the 60 votes they needed to beat back a filibuster 4.

Em, well, thanks Scott. NPR's Scott Horsley reporting on the Senate's vote today to advance long-term unemployment benefits.

President Obama's hosting British Prime Minister David Cameron who's on his first official trip to Washington since his election. One of the major issues was Iran.

"The Iranian government must fulfill 5 its international obligations. The new sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, the United States and other countries are putting unprecedented 6 pressure on the Iranian government. And I thanked David for Great Britain's efforts to ensure strong European Union sanctions in the coming days."

Cameron also pledged continued commitment in Afghanistan even as the death toll 7 among coalition 8 forces continues to rise. NATO says an Afghan soldier killed two fellow service members and two American civilians 9 at the military base in northern Afghanistan. The violence erupted as an international donor 10 conference attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was underway in Kabul.

The US and South Korea will be conducting large-scale joint 11 military exercises next week. As NPR's Rachel Martin tells us, the exercises are meant to send a message to North Korea that the alliance between the US and South Korea is stronger than ever.

Pentagon officials say the exercises will be the first in a series of stepped-up joint demonstrations 12 between the US and South Korea. They're designed as a boat show of force in the face of an increasingly aggressive North Korean regime, which is blamed for sinking a South Korean ship this past spring, killing 13 46 sailors. Secretary of Defense 14 Robert Gates has been in South Korea since Monday. He'll be joined there by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tomorrow for a conference with their South Korean counterparts. The two US leaders will pay a rare visit to the demilitarized zone or the DMZ, the 155-mile-long no man's land that divides the North and the South. The US-South Korean exercises will start Sunday and last four days. They'll include about 8,000 US and South Korean troops, warships 15, submarines and a massive US aircraft carrier.

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The US military plans to do more to help train and equip African forces, trying to stabilize 16 Somalia. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports the US has been worried about Islamist rebels in the lawless country and their increasing reach beyond Somalia's borders.

The head of US Africa Command, Army General Kip Ward 17, says the US has been helping 18 African Union forces in Somalia in several ways.

"We are working very closely with, with their logistics, their training, their transportation, information that they would use to be more effective in what they do. And we'll continue looking to ways based on what they ask us to enhance those efforts."

General Ward told the Center for Strategic and International Studies that he was looking into this even before Al-Shabaab militants 19 claimed responsibility for deadly bombings in Uganda. Talking about his overall job, he said the three-year-old Africa Command has become more well-established, that he gets fewer questions about why it exists and more requests for what else he can do to support stability in Africa. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

Supreme 20 Court nominee 21 Elena Kagan won approval today, divided Senate judiciary committee, moving her a step closer to becoming President Obama's second appointee on the high court. With support of just one Republican Lindsey Graham, the Democratic-led panel voted 13-6 to recommend that the full Senate confirm Kagan.

The head of the SEC testified on Capitol Hill today for the first time since Congress gave the agency new powers to regulate financial firms. In prepared remarks, Mary Schapiro said the SEC began modernizing its systems and reforming the ways it operates