NPR 2008-07-10

Israel reacted with caution today to news Iran tested several missiles during military exercises including larger long-range rockets Iran says are capable of reaching the Jewish state from Jerusalem. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

In Jerusalem, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev reacted cautiously, saying Israel seeks neither hostility 1 nor conflict with Iran. But he added we can't ignore Iran's nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile programs, he said, which must be of concern to the entire international community. Iran says its nuclear program is for power generation, not weaponry. Iran's missile test today, according to state-run media, included firing of Shahab-3 missiles, which have a range of more than 1,200 miles, carry a one-ton conventional warhead and are capable of reaching Israel and American bases in Iraq. Israel, last month, reportedly carried out a large-scale military exercise over the Mediterranean 2 involving more than 100 aircraft,  that was widely seen as a show of force, and a training run for any long-range airstrike mission. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Jerusalem.

Government announced today it is reopening a much disputed 35-billion-dollar contract for new air-refueling tankers 4. The announcement comes after the Government Accountability Office announced that it’d found significant errors in the initial awarding of the contract to a team led by Northrop Grumman. Defense 5 Secretary Robert Gates says the decision to put some aspects of the contract up for re-bid would benefit all sides. "Industry, the Congress and the American people all must have confidence in the integrity of this acquisitions process. I believe the revised process will result in the best tanker 3 for the Air Force at the best price for the American taxpayer 6.” The GAO, in its evaluation 7, determined 8 Chicago-based Boeing might have won the contract had mistakes not been made. The Pentagon will now oversee 9 the project instead of the Air Force.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey's Justice Department oversight 10 hearing. Senate Democrats 11 complain Mukasey (may) has not done enough to restore the department's credibility and independence. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.

Democrats had hoped that Attorney General Mukasey would aggressively pull the Justice Department back from the scandals of last few years. And so far, Democrats said, they've been disappointed. Joseph Biden of Delaware asked whether Mukasey was aware of politicization at the department. “What did you, the Attorney General, find?” “What I found were enormously dedicated 12 people who were very committed to my succeeding.” “That's not my question. Did you find that some of those enormously dedicated people engaged in politicizing the administration of Justice? That was my question.” “No. Otherwise, I would not characterize them as enormously dedicated.” “Well, that's amazing. So, you disagree with the IG report?” The Inspector 14 General reported that political appointees at the Justice Department made hiring decisions based on partisanship 15 instead of people's qualifications. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 236 points to close at 11,147. The S&P was down 29 points.

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The number of people sickened in the Salmonella outbreak has now passed 1,000, making it the worst to hit the country in years. Government food inspectors 16 had initially 17 focused their investigation 18 on tomatoes. However, they now say they're also looking to see whether certain types of hot peppers may be involved. Federal health officials say now it appears some people may have gotten sick after eating raw jalapeno peppers. The Food and Drug Administration earlier this week announced it was broadening its testing of foods,  trying to find the source of the outbreak.

The Screen Actors Guild 19 is pondering its next move after members of a smaller union ratified 20 a contract with the Hollywood studios. NPR's Kim Masters has more.

The Screen Actors Guild had tried to convince actors to vote against the deal reached by the American Federation 21 of Television and Radio Artists. But AFTRA got support from 62 percent of those voting. That margin 22 was a bit tighter than expected, but still leaves SAG 13 in a difficult situation. The vote demonstrated that SAG would probably fail if it tried to get its members to authorize 23 a strike. SAG is set to respond to the studios’ latest proposal on Thursday. The studios are urging officials in Los Angeles to pressure SAG to accept their offer. Film production slowed sharply as the SAG negotiations 24 dragged on. And the studios said a de facto strike is causing dislocation to the local economy. Kim Masters, NPR News.

New York's iconic Chrysler Building has a new owner. The majority stake in the building has been sold to the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. According to a source close to the deal, Prudential Financial sold its 75 percent stake in the building to the sovereign fund yesterday. It's believed the fund paid around 800 million dollars for the Prudential's stake. Tishman Speyer, which manages and controls the building, held the other 25 percent. It's not clear whether that group also sold its share in the building.