NPR 2012-02-16

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"We were not gonna allow the Democrats³ to continue to play political games and raise taxes on working Americans."

 

But President Obama says it's the Republican leadership that's been dragging its feet. On Capitol Hill, NPR's Sonari Glinton says details of the plan are still sketchy⁴.

 

At this stance, the tentative deal would mean adding the cost of the payroll tax cut to the deficit⁵, though an extension of unemployment insurance benefits would be paid for with some combination of cuts and fees. So far, those are all the details most lawmakers know for sure. Representative John Larson, the Democrat² from Connecticut, says he's optimistic, but he still has to wait and see.

 

"As the Irish say, it's a long way to Tipperary. Things have had the ability to change around here rather rapidly when it appears that a deal has been struck."

 

So far, both sides have to sign off on a plan in a conference, though Republican leaders say they want to get a vote before week's end. Sonari Glinton, NPR News, the Capitol.

 

President Obama stumping⁶ for in-sourcing support in Wisconsin this hour. He's visiting a Milwaukee plant set up as an example of how  companies can bring jobs back to the US and build up the country's crucial manufacturing sector⁷. The president was greeted at the airport earlier today by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who faces a Democratic recall effort for attempting to stem union rights.

 

Syrian activists⁸ are capturing images of an inferno⁹ in Homs, Syria where troops have struck oil and gas pipelines¹⁰ in its campaign against rebels. The city has been entrenched¹¹ in battles for nearly two weeks. The Syrian president is offering to hold a referendum on a new constitution that allows for parties other than his ruling Baath party. The White House dismissed it as "laughable". And as Jessica Gallaher reports from Moscow, Russia's foreign minister says he will hold talks on reworking a UN Security Council resolution on Syria.

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says he'll meet with his French counterpart in Austria on Thursday. Lavrov says he will discuss the reworked resolution by France's foreign minister intended to overcome Russia's resistance to an Arab and Western-backed Security Council resolution that called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to cede¹² power. Russia and China vetoed the resolution. Moscow has consistently maintained that dialogue with both the opposition¹³ and the Syrian government is necessary to end the violence there. For NPR News, I'm Jessica Gallaher in Moscow.

 

At last check on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average down 65 points at 12,814; NASDAQ gaining five points, it's at 2,937; and the S&P 500 down slightly at 1,349.

 

This is NPR News.

 

Iran reportedly striking back against the European oil embargo¹⁴ that protests Tehran's nuclear program. State media say the Islamic republic is choking off supplies to France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, further underscoring Tehran's defiance¹⁵ against the West's embargo. The country's reporting progress in its nuclear development. A local news agency says Iran has begun using new advanced centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment site. The US and its allies believe Iran wants to make nuclear weapons.

 

The Mormon church has issued a second apology for a member's posthumous¹⁶ baptism of the parents of the late Simon Wiesenthal, an advocate for victims of the Holocaust¹⁷. NPR's Howard Berkes reports that the controversy¹⁸ has now touched the presidential campaign of Mitt¹⁹ Romney.

 

The new statement from the Mormon church adds to the apology with an explanation of a second incident involving Holocaust survivor²⁰ and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and his father and grandfather. Their names were discovered in Mormon genealogical records used to select the dead for posthumous baptisms. Wiesel told the Huffington Post that Mormon and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney should denounce the practice. Romney's campaign has not responded. Mormons are only supposed to conduct the Baptisms for direct ancestors. The church says Wiesel and his relatives were not actually slated²¹ for the Mormon ritual which is a basic tenet of the faith. Howard Berkes, NPR News, Salt Lake City.

 

US stocks mixed at last check with investors²² still watching what happens with the bailout situation in Greece. At last check, Dow off 65 points, or about 0.5%, it's at 12,814.

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

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