NPR 2012-03-09

 The US House has overwhelmingly passed a jobs bill. It contains a collection of six measures to help small businesses. NPR's Sonari Glinton reports the legislation drew rare bipartisan support.

 
It's called the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act or JOBS Act. It's a collection of bills that had been supported already. They streamline 1 regulations, make it easier for startups to raise money and less expensive for them to go public. The idea is to spur small businesses and job growth. The president backs the plan, which is spearheaded by House Republicans. House Democrats 2 criticized the package as falling short of the jobs legislation the president proposed in September. Meanwhile, the Senate is expected to take up its own separate jobs bill next week. Sonari Glinton, NPR News, the Capitol.
 
Greece is just about an hour way from finding out whether it has enough investor 3 support to slash 4 the equivalent of 140 billion dollars off its debt. The deadline is fast approaching for private creditors 5 to swap 6 their Greek bonds for new ones worth much less. Greek officials say that so far participation 7 has surpassed 75%. The swap is a crucial part of Greece's second international bailout. The BBC's economic correspondent Andrew Walker explains what could happen if the whole thing falls through.
 
The consequences of that would be that it has a big bond repayment 8 due of 14 billion euro on the 20th of March. If they didn't get this sorted out, which is a condition for the next bailout that has already been agreed with the eurozone countries, then we would be looking at either a disruptive default on that big repayment or the eurozone countries having to dig even deeper into their own pockets to find additional support for Greece. And that particularly in countries like Germany would be extraordinarily 9 difficult. 
 
The BBC's Andrew Walker.
 
Earth is getting hit by one of the strongest solar storms [slip] in years. So far though, it's been weaker than predicted. The geomagnetic storm surging from the sun has not severely 10 affected 11 satellite and power grids 12. Jeffery Hughes with Boston University Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling said earlier that the storm was likely to disrupt some airline flights.
 
“As radiation in space is significantly elevated, my guess is that a number of polar flights from this country to China or places like that will be canceled today because of communication blackouts.”
 
While speaking of, it has caused some communications problems in the polar regions. The solar storm [slip] is likely to create a Northern Lights effect over a large portion of the Northern US.
 
At last check on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average up 66 points at 12,904, up more than 0.5%; NASDAQ up more than 1% now, it's at 2,968; and the S&P 500 climbing 12, it's at 1,365.
 
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It’ll likely be years before airline passengers get a break on air fares. NPR's Dave Mattingly says that's the view of the Federal Aviation Administration.
 
Airline passengers are expected to fly nearly twice as many as miles over the next 20 years. But the FAA says air fares will likely remain high, perhaps for another decade. An FAA analysis says it could be that long before there’s growing competition in the airline industry. The short term suggests more mergers 13 and consolidation 14. Last month, a half dozen airlines including Delta 15, Southwest and United raised fares for many medium and long-haul flights. The reason, costlier 16 jet fuel. Dave Mattingly, NPR News, Washington.
 
A study published in the online journal Injury Prevention finds an increase in Army suicides. Details from NPR's Alix Spiegel.
 
Researchers from the US Army Public Health Command found suicides among US Army personnel nearly doubled between 2004 and 2008. To do the study, the researchers collected records about Army suicides dating back to 1977. They found that between 1977 and 2003 suicide rates among soldiers were fairly stable, had even dropped a bit. But after 2004, there was the sharp increase. The authors write that an analysis of historical trends suggested 25% to 50% of the suicides that happened in 2008 might be related to the military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Alix Spiegel, NPR News, Washington.
 
At last check on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average up 65 points at 12,903 in trading of two billion shares; NASDAQ up more than 30 at 2,967.
 
I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.