NPR 2011-10-19

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"Democracy takes time. It will not be easy or quick. But we are filled with admiration² for what you have already accomplished³ and confident in your ability to move forward."

 

Clinton is heard on al-Jazeera. In her previously⁴ unannounced trip to Libya, Clinton also said the US hopes Libya's ousted⁵ dictator Muammar Gaddafi can be quickly captured or killed.

 

An Israeli soldier returns home to a scene of waving flags and chants of celebration after spending more than five years in captivity⁶. Linda Gradstein reports that Gilad Shalit was released today by Hamas militants⁷ in exchange for the freedom of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

 

Looking pale and thin, Gilad Shalit was reunited with his family, who had waged a ceaseless battle for his release for more than five years. After crossing into Israeli territory along the Egyptian border, Shalit was flown to a base in central Israel, where he underwent extensive medical checks after saying he did not feel well. He saluted⁸ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then embraced him. Shalit flew home in an army helicopter accompanied by an army doctor and his family. In the small town of Mitzpe Hila, hundreds of friends and neighbors cheered and cried as the 25-year-old soldier returned. His father Noam said Gilad was suffering from a few minor⁹ injuries. For NPR News, I'm Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

 

In Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian prisoners are also greeted with a hero's welcome. Today, more than 450 Palestinians were released from prison in Israel. More than 500 others are expected to be released in two months.

 

The embattled Greek government faces a 48-hour general strike tomorrow and Thursday in protest of a plan to retire 30,000 government workers and lower pay for others. More from John Psaropoulos in Athens.

 

Prime Minister George Papandreou called on Greece's private sector¹⁰ to behave patriotically¹¹ and help save the country from bankruptcy¹². The business community, he said, should stop siphoning off its profits to overseas accounts and banks should stop withholding¹³ liquidity¹⁴ from healthy enterprise. In his comments to his Socialist¹⁵ Party members of parliament, he also called on opposition¹⁶ parties to stop consciously cultivating hate, lawlessness and violence by battling the government with conspiracy¹⁷ theories. Papandreou is urging his MPs to vote for a controversial bill to cut back the costs of government. In response, he faces a 48-hour general strike in the public and private sectors¹⁸. For NPR News, I'm John Psaropoulos in Athens.

 

This is NPR.

 

Britain's Treasury¹⁹ has frozen the assets of five men linked to an alleged²⁰ Iranian-supported plot to assassinate²¹ Saudi Arabia's envoy²² to the United States. The US has taken similar action against the suspects, two of whom are charged with conspiring²³ to hire a Mexican drug cartel member to murder Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in a bomb attack. Last week, the Obama administration said the highest levels of the Iranian government had to be held accountable. Tehran's dismissing the charges as nothing more than a propaganda campaign.

 

Carl Lindner, the former billionaire CEO of Major League Baseball Cincinnati Reds, has died. Maryanne Zeleznik with member station WVXU has this appreciation²⁴.

 

Carl Lindner Jr.'s family business grew into United Dairy Farmers. Lindner was chairman of Cincinnati-based American Financial Group, a publicly traded financial holding company that had more than $17 billion in assets. In 2009, Forbes magazine estimated Lindner's personal wealth at nearly $2 billion, placing him among the 400 richest Americans. Lindner became controlling partner and chief executive officer of the Cincinnati Reds in a 1999 deal that ended Marge Schott's rocky 15-year reign²⁵ as owner. Carl Lindner Jr. was 92. For NPR News, I'm Maryanne Zeleznik in Cincinnati.

 

On Wall Street, we've been seeing a rally in the major indexes with the Dow gaining 1.5% before the close at 11,577, NASDAQ up 1.6% at 2,657.

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