NPR 2011-12-05

 Russian state television reports that exit polls show the party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is picking up less than half the vote in parliamentary elections. Opposition 1 parties and election monitors claim even this figure is inflated 2. They charge ballot 3 stuffing. Putin and his United Russia party have dominated Russian politics for more than a decade. A strong showing at the polls today would have boosted Putin's efforts to return to the presidency 4 next year.

 
Results from the first round of voting in Egypt's parliamentary elections confirm that Islamist parties captured the majority of the votes. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from Cairo.
 
According to the High Electoral Commission, 61% of all the votes cast went to Islamist parties. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party took in some 36% of the votes and the hard-line fundamentalist party Nour, which means light, took some 24%. The overwhelming boost for religious parties has left Christians 5 and liberal groups here concerned that the new parliament could be used to push an Islamist agenda. Liberal parties fared badly in this round of the vote even though those affiliated 6 to them were heavily involved in Egypt's revolution in January and February when the Hosni Mubarak regime was toppled. It's unlikely they will fare any better in the next two rounds of voting, which take place in rural conservative areas. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Cairo.
 
Media reports in Iran claim the military there has shot down an unmanned U.S. reconnaissance plane that had violated Iranian airspace. A Pentagon spokesman in Afghanistan says U.S. operators had lost control of a plane last week and they're trying to determine its status.
 
President Obama called the president of Pakistan today to offer condolences over the Pakistani soldiers killed in a NATO air strike last week. The White House says the president called the deaths regrettable but said they were not the result of a deliberate attack.
 
Vice 7 President Joe Biden is in Greece to meet with coalition 8 government leaders during a crucial week for the eurozone. Joanna Kakissis reports from Athens.
 
Biden is set to meet tomorrow with Lucas Papademos, the former central banker, appointed prime minister last month. Papademos is trying to hold together a fractious three-party coalition that's supposed to save Greece from defaulting on its massive debt but politicians are fighting with each other as they try to position themselves for snap elections expected as early as February. Biden is expected to offer support for Papademos's efforts to keep Greece in the eurozone mainly through unpopular austerity measures. He and Greek leaders are also set to discuss Turkey's controversial oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean 9. For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Athens.
 
Italy's new government today approved an emergency austerity package. Prime Minister Mario Monti says the measures include spending cuts and increased efforts to get people to pay their taxes. He's to outline the specifics to parliament tomorrow.
 
This is NPR News from Washington.
 
Utility officials in California say there are still tens of thousands of people without electricity after powerful windstorms last week. Unusually strong winds began Wednesday, bringing down trees and power lines. More wind is expected to begin tomorrow and persist into Tuesday.
 
The Observer newspaper in Britain celebrates its 220th birthday with today's issue. Larry Miller 10 reports it's the world's oldest Sunday paper.
 
The Observer buries the story on page 21 with the headline Happy Birthday to Us. First published in 1791, it says it was born in the age of enlightenment of Thomas Paine, a free trade and bloody 11 revolution. It was initially 12 a four pager published by a young Irish man. He went quickly in debt and he had to sell it. But the Observer says it wasn't until the mid-1900 that it found its liberal soul. Meanwhile the British Library has uploaded 65 million articles from the last 300 years. Searching is free but it costs to view a page. The digitizing is a 10-year project. When complete, there will be 40 million web pages with 650 million articles. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.
 
German authorities say bomb experts successfully defused a World War II-era British bomb in the western city of Koblenz today. The bomb was spotted 13 in the Rhine River after water levels had dropped after a prolonged lack of rain. The 1.8-ton bomb had been left behind from World War II. The discovery prompted authorities to move 45,000 people out of the city. This is nothing new the city was heavily bombed during World War II. A German news agency says 28 smaller bombs have been found since 1999.
 
I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.