NPR 2010-01-04

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham.

The United States and Britain have shut down their embassies in Yemen in light of what President Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor 1 John Brennan called "alive and active threat of Al-Qaeda attacks in Yemen's capital". Brennan noted 2 that the Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda was apparently 3 behind the attempted bomb attack against a US jetliner that was thwarted 5 on Christmas Day. NPR's Jeff Brady has more.

Brennan said Yemen is not a new front in the fight against terrorism. But speaking on the NBC's Meet the Press, he did not rule out US military action in that country. "There are several hundred al-Qaeda members right now inside of Yemen, and the fight is being taken to them. Events during last month demonstrated the Yemeni government resolve, and there are a number of operatives and leaders of al-Qaeda in Yemen that are no longer with us today because of those actions." Brennan also addressed concerns that the attempted attack could result in more invasive searches at airports. He expressed the belief that a balance could be struck between respecting individuals' privacy and security. Jeff Brady, NPR News.

Some lawmakers say the US should reconsider sending any Guantanamo detainees back to Yemen, given the heightened concern about al-Qaeda activity in that country. GOP Congressman 6 Peter Hoekstra of Michigan. "The core group of al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula is formed by former Gitmo detainees. These are people that were held in Gitmo, have been returned and have now gone back to the battlefield." And the head of the House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee Jane Harman of California voiced similar concerns about returning any detainees to Yemen." I believe the prison should close, but I also believe we should review again where we are going to send the detainees. I think it is a bad time to send the 90 or so Yemenis back to Yemen." Harman said she still supports President Obama's decision to close down the Guantanamo facility. Both Harman and Hoekstra were on ABC's This Week.

The British government says it will install full-body scanners at airport security checkpoints for flights headed to the US. Security experts say that such scanners are likely to have detected the explosives that a man carried onto a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas. Larry Miller 7 has more.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he’s given an approval for full-body scanners to be introduced at UK airports. The privately-owned British Airports Authority says it will install the machine as soon as practical at Heathrow, the country's main airport and Europe's busiest. Brown says passengers will see a gradual introduction of the scanners and hand luggage will be checked for traces of explosives. He also indicated passengers in transit 8 between flights would undergo these checks. It's not yet clear if the scanners will be used on just US-bound flights or for all destinations. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.

At least four people were killed by avalanches 10 in Switzerland today. One avalanche 9 shed a group of skiers when rescuers came to help them, they were hit by a second avalanche.

This is NPR News from Washington.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says stronger regulation is the best way to keep financial speculation 11 from running rampant 12 and plunging 13 the US economy into a new crisis. In a speech to the American Economic Association in Atlanta today, Bernanke did not rule out raising interest rates though to help keep new speculative 14 investment bubbles from forming. Some critics blame the Fed for a feeding the speculative boom in housing by holding interest rates too low for too long after the recession of 2001.

When lawmakers return to Washington, one of the issues they will face is financial regulatory reform. While the nation's financial system has stabilized 15, some economists 17 say significant problems remain. Daniel Karson has the story.

Last year, millions of people's finance has buckled 18 under the weight of a recession. So consumer spending is likely to remain frugal 19. Economists say 2010 should get better. They expect the economy to grow anywhere from 2% to 4%, but that's not close to the 6% to 7% growth following the recessions in the 70s and 80s. Troubles in the banking 20 system are far from over according to University of Maryland Economist 16 Peter Morici.

'They will have a lot of problems with commercial real estate loans, shopping centers failures so forth 21. So it's going to be a halting recovery and one that doesn't really take off.'

And the housing sector 22 isn’t out of the woods either. Economists expect up to 200,000 foreclosures a month and housing prices to drop as much as 10% thanks to a glut 23 in inventory 24. For NPR News, I'm Daniel Karson in Washington.

NFL Commissioner 25 Roger Goodell says the league will review policy regarding late-season games where teams might be tempted 4 to rest their starters for the playoff says the Indianapolis Colts they’ve been in the last two weeks.

I'm Craig Windham, NPR News in Washington.