NPR 2011-12-06

 President Obama is delivering a stern warning to Congress to extend the payroll 1 tax cut before it expires at year's end, saying failure to do so would mean average families will see their taxes increased by $1,000. At the White House today Mr. Obama suggested a double standard among Republicans who are opposed to the payroll extension but want to protect Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

 
"How can you fight tooth and nail to protect high-end tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and yet barely lift a finger to prevent taxes going up for 160 million Americans who really need the help?"
 
Some Republicans have said they support an extension but they remain divided on how to pay for it. The president is also pressing lawmakers to extend unemployment insurance, saying failure to do so would be "a terrible mistake". The unemployment rate is still high at 8.6% although it dropped last month - one big reason, many Americans stopped looking for work so they were no longer included in the unemployment tally 2.
 
The country's top aviation official Randy Babbitt is temporarily off the job, placed on leave after he was arrested for drunk driving over the weekend. According to a police statement the head of the Federal Aviation Administration was pulled over Saturday night in northern Virginia for driving on the wrong side of the road. The future of Babbitt's employment remains 3 unknown.
 
The U.S. is pledging to stand with Greece as it weathers its debt crisis that's threatening the eurozone. Joanna Kakissis reports from Athens that visiting Vice 4 President Joe Biden says it is crucial for the U.S. that Greece stick to financial reforms and recover.
 
Biden met with Lucas Papademos, the former European Central banker appointed premier 5 last month. Biden told Papademos that the U.S. is standing 6 with Greece in solidarity 7 as its government imposes austerity in exchange for billions in international bailout loans. President Obama has said the eurozone crisis is the biggest threat to the recovery of the U.S. economy. Last week the U.S. joined a global effort by central banks to help the eurozone. Papademos is presiding over a fractious three-party coalition 8 government tasked with carrying out financial reforms. He says he will do whatever it takes to keep Greece solvent 9 and in the eurozone. For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Athens.
 
All the fate of the euro dominates high-level talks this week which began with a face-to-face meeting between two of the region's largest economies, Germany and France. Chancellor 10 Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy were in Paris, where they were expected to discuss tougher financial oversight 11 among other measures to contain the debt contagion 12 and save the euro.
 
At last check on Wall Street the Dow was up 74 points at 12,093; NASDAQ gaining 30, it's at 2,657.
 
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Syria is accepting a plan to allow monitors into the country after missing an Arab League deadline. NPR's Deborah Amos reports from Beirut that Arab League ministers have threatened to impose additional economic sanctions.
 
A spokesman at Syria's Foreign Ministry 13 confirmed the agreement after the Arab League extended the deadline on Sunday. Arab ministers have formulated 14 a plan to end the violence in Syria: the first step, sending 500 monitors to restive 15 cities where death tolls 16 rose dramatically in November. The conditions of Syria's acceptance have not been made public yet. On Sunday the head of the Arab League committee engaged in brinkmanship diplomacy 17 threatening to support U.N. action against Syria. And over the weekend a defiant 18 Syrian regime conducted wargames, including the test firing of missiles. Deborah Amos, NPR News, Beirut.
 
Pakistan's prime minister says his country wants to rebuild ties with the United States despite the latest dispute involving deadly air strikes along the Pakistan-Afghan border in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed. Today Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani told the Associated Press that he believes a new relationship is not only doable but won't take long to achieve.
 
A global think tank finds incomes of the world's wealthiest 10% grow faster than those of the poorest 10%. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is out with a report that proposes developed countries high taxes to create jobs and help narrow the income disparity.
 
I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.