NPR 2011-08-23

 Even though much of the Libyan capital appears to be under rebel control now, there are still pockets of resistance from people fighting to protect leader Muammar Gaddafi. Other areas are said to be relatively 1 quiet. But people across the city are applauding the rebels' latest big push toward toppling the regime, and that sentiment's echoed abroad. Anti-Gaddafi protesters outside the Libyan embassy in Turkey chanting as they burned the post of the embattled Libyan leader. Now President Obama says the Gaddafi regime is coming to an end. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports the president issued a statement from Martha's Vineyard today defending his decision to intervene in Libya last spring.

 
President Obama noted 2 that this moment was reached without a single American troop being hurt on the ground. He said NATO countries have spent months setting the stage for the transition that it is now unfolding in Libya. 
 
"Over the last several days, the situation in Libya has reached a tipping point as the opposition 3 increased its coordination 4 from east to west, took town after town, and the people of Tripoli rose up to claim their freedom."
 
He says this is not over yet. Fighting continues in some parts of the country, and the president called on Muammar Gaddafi to explicitly 5 relinquish 6 power and call off his troops. He says the UN is working to ensure that Libya transitions peacefully to democracy once the fighting is over. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.
 
And President Obama has said the Libyans' revolution is their own, offering US aid, but not US troops.
 
Syria is the topic today at an emergency session of the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports the US wants to see the council open a formal inquiry 7 into potential war crimes.
 
UN High Commissioner 8 for Human Rights Navi Pillay opened a special session on Syria by accusing the Syrian military of excessive force to quell 9 peaceful demonstrations 10 in the country. She says the death toll 11 is rising.
 
"As of today, over 2,200 people have been killed since mass protests began in mid-March, with more than 350 people reportedly killed across Syria since the beginning of Ramadan."
 
Syria's ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council accuses Pillay of spreading lies. But US diplomats 12 see a growing consensus 13 in the Geneva-based council to condemn 14 Syrian action, including among Arab members. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington. 
 
The public got its first look today at the memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. The 30-foot-tall sculpture of the civil rights leader sits on the National Mall between memorials honoring Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.
 
At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 37 points at 10,855.
 
This is NPR.
 
The National Hurricane Center is warning residents in the southeastern US to prepare for a possible major hurricane making landfall by the end of the week. NPR's Greg Allen reports from Miami the latest forecast showed Hurricane Irene strengthening into a Category 3 hurricane.
 
A Category 3 hurricane would bring winds up to 130 mph with potential to cause devastating 15 damage to roofs and older buildings. Irene knocked out power to a million people in flooded areas in Puerto Rico when it passed that island early today. Dennis Feltgen of the National Hurricane Center says latest information shows the storm tracking north of the Dominican Republic, skirting the north coasts of Haiti and Cuba before hitting warm waters in the Bahamas.
 
"It's moving into one environment of very warm water, very low wind shear 16, an ideal environment for strengthening to occur, and that's going to allow it to become a major hurricane here in a couple of days."
 
Current projections 17 show Irene making landfall somewhere on the Southeastern US coast early Saturday. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
 
Casey Anthony is reported to be back in Florida, where she was acquitted 18 last month of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee. Anthony was ordered to return to  Orlando to serve a year of probation 19 for check fraud. She had been out of public sight partly for security reasons after her controversial acquittal.
 
The number of people at risk of foreclosure is still growing, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The group says that during the second quarter, 8.4% of homeowners they tracked had missed at least one mortgage payment.
 
Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was up 37 points at 10,855.
 
I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.