NPR 2012-02-18

 Congress is backing President Obama's request to extend the payroll 1 tax cut and unemployment insurance which would affect tens of millions of Americans. The legislation approved today also averts 2 a scheduled cut to doctors who treat Medicare patients. But as NPR's Julie Rovner tells us, doctors are not very happy with the final product.

 
Without the action by Congress, doctors who treat Medicare and military patient in the TRICARE program would have been subject to a cut of 27.4% starting March 1st. That won't happen now, but the relief is only temporary, and if Congress doesn't act again, the reimbursement 3 cut starting next January will be even bigger in the neighborhood of 32%. Doctors are frustrated 4 that lawmakers have continued to address this ongoing 5 problem with Medicare's reimbursement system by delaying an ultimate solution. And with every delay, the price tag to fix it has gone up. It's now over 300 billion dollars. Few think a solution will be reached until there's a bigger deal on the overall federal budget. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.
 
The Syrian government is undeterred by a UN vote that condemns 6 the regime's crackdown. Evident on the streets of Homs today. Sound from amateur video purported 7 to show a man shouting as a mosque 8 is targeted by troops. The recording 9 could not be independently verified, but reports from members of the international media who've managed to cross into Syria are reaffirming anti-government activists 10' claims of continued bombardment in Homs. In Egypt, thousands of people are expressing solidarity 11 with Syrian Revolutionary. In Cairo, heart of the uprising that toppled the Mubarak government, crowds rallied outside the Syrian embassy today.
 
Our world of journalism 12 is mourning the loss of New York Times war correspondent Anthony Shadid. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist died in eastern Syria from an apparent asthma 13 attack. From member station KOSU, Michael Cross reports the Oklahoma City native had an impact on all those who knew him.
 
Anthony Shadid never lost contact with his high school freshman 14 English teacher Lynne Roller, who says she was impressed with his writing skills even then. Lynne now works for the Oklahoma City National Memorial, and says when she first got word of his death, she felt the tragic 15 loss of his life.
 
"But I also thought about the fact that he died pursuing his life's passion and his life's work and doing the work that he thought was important."
 
Shadid visited the National Memorial last year, soon after he was captured and released along with three colleagues while reporting on the Libyan uprising. For NPR News, I'm Michael Cross in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
 
Meanwhile, tributes continue to pour in for Shadid.
 
From Washington, this is NPR News.
 
Italian police have seized some six trillion dollars of fake American treasury 16 bonds in Switzerland. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports arrest warrants have been issued against eight people charged with international fraud.
 
The operation is being coordinated 17 by police in the southern city of Potenza. It was carried out by Italian and Swiss authorities following a year-long investigation 18. The fake securities, nominally 19 worth more than a third of the US national debt and more than twice Italy's, were seized in January from a Swiss company where they were held in three large trunks. The suspects are accused of counterfeiting 20 bonds, credit card forgery 21 and loansharking in various Italian regions. Swiss authorities involved in the investigation said they had handed over the findings in July last year. In 2009, Italian financial police seized more than 700 billion dollars in fake US bearer bonds in the Italian town of Chiasso on the Swiss border. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.
 
A five-mile stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana was closed because of an oil spill caused by a barge 22 collision early this morning. Took place about 50 miles upriver from New Orleans. US Coast Guard says no one was hurt. The leak is contained. However, the Coast Guard is still trying to determine how much oil has spilled.
 
More expensive food, gas and clothing are among the main factors behind January's increase in the Labor 23 Department's Consumer Price Index. Rose 0.2%, following a flat reading in December. The reading was the same on core prices which excludes the volatile 24 energy and food categories.
 
US stocks mixed, Dow up 43 points, NASDAQ off nine.
 
I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.