NPR 2012-02-15

 Hu Jintao's heir apparent in China Xi Jinping is on his first high-level visit to the White House, where President Obama raised a number of disputes looming 1 over US-China relations.

 
 
"On critical issues like human rights, we will continue to emphasize what we believe is the importance of recognizing the aspirations 2 and rights of all people."
 
 
Vice 3 President Joe Biden told Mr. Xi that human rights is a fundamental aspect of US foreign policy. He also reiterated 4 that the US disagrees with China’s decision to join Russia in vetoing a UN resolution condemning 5 Syria’s crackdown on political dissent 6.
 
 
Meanwhile, shelling continues in Homs, Syria. Activists 7 are accusing Syrian snipers of firing on residents trying to leave their homes in search of basic supplies. The region has been under constant siege for days, but the Syrian government accuses gangs of fomenting 8 violence in that country.
 
 
Back in the US, Treasure Secretary Timothy Geithner’s defending President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill. NPR’s John Ydstie reports Geithner urged quick adoption 10 of two elements of the budget.
 
 
Geithner told lawmakers that the president’s budget contains substantial support for economic growth and job creation, and he said by the end of the month, Congress must extend the proposed payroll 11 tax cut and emergency unemployment insurance. If it fails to do so, said Geithner, 160 million Americans will immediately pay more in payroll taxes.
 
 
“And the five million people looking for work will lose or be denied in unemployment insurance benefits over the rest of the year.”
 
 
There are signs Republicans in Congress will go along with continuing the payroll tax cut. The extension of emergency unemployment benefits is less likely. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
 
 
Federal authorities say they have recovered more than four billion dollars in health care fraud judgements last year. That’s a record high. NPR’s Giles Snyder reports officials credit new tools for cracking down on deceitful Medicare claims.
 
 
Authorities are crediting new tools for uncovering fraudulent Medicare claims, boosting the money recovered in fraud judgements by about 50% from 2009. They tell the Associated Press that government agencies are doing a better job of screening providers before they get in the system, have strengthened enrollment 12 requirements and subjected higher risk providers to fingerprint 13 and criminal background checks. Authorities say teams operating in fraud hot spots around the country charged more than 320 defendants 14 who collectively billed the Medicare program out of more than a billion dollars last year. Attorney General Eric Holder 15 and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius are expected to team up for the announcement. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.
 
 
At last glance on Wall Street, Dow was down 45 points at 12,829; NASDAQ off 12 points; S&P 500 down six.
 
 
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Gas prices have hit record highs in France. NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports the issue is seeping 16 into the presidential race in that country.
 
 
A liter of unleaded gasoline costs as much as 1.62 euros. That translates into more than eight dollars a gallon. Prices are up because of problems with two of France’s main oil suplliers. Nigeria is racked by civil unrest, and European Union sanctions bar France from importing oil from Iran. A lower euro has also raised the price of gasoline because crude oil prices are denominated in dollars. Front-running socialist 17 candidate Francois Hollande suggested a temporary freeze on pump prices, but President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party immediately shot that idea down, calling it passé. The head of Total, France’s largest oil company, said he could not exclude prices going as high as two euros a liter or more than ten dollars a gallon.Total says the only way to bring prices down is to find more sources of oil. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
 
 
It’s a similar scene in the US, gas prices also steadily 18 rising last month. According to the Commerce Department, prices hit their highest level in ten months.
 
 
Three new polls show Republican Rick Santorum neck and neck with rival Mitt 9 Romney in the race for GOP’s presidential nomination 19. Santorum is coming off a three-state sweep last week as he paints himself as the only true conservative to face President Obama in November.
 
 
Explosions in the Thai capital today are blamed on an Iranian suspected bomber 20. Bankok police say that man has been seriously wounded from an explosive that went off prematurely 21. But shortly before a bomb reportedly exploded at a house he was renting and later on a nearby road. Israel is calling it an attempted terrorist attack by Iran.