NPR 2008-05-29

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Bush loyalists are taking the offensive today in response to a book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. In it, he claims the administration relied on, what he termed, an aggressive “political propaganda campaign” instead of the truth to sell the Iraq War. Former Bush administration spokesman Ari Fleischer said he’s taken aback by what's contained in the memoirs¹. "This comes, sort of, a complete surprise to me. I’m heartbroken in so many ways, because this is not the Scott McClellan I know. And there is just something about this book that just doesn’t make any sense to me, because Scott never once expressed any of these thoughts to me in private." The White House said President Bush doesn't plan to comment, saying he has more pressing matters than to spend time commenting on books by former staffers. Current White House Press Secretary Dana Perino issued a statement in which she said it's clear McClellan is "disgruntled about his experience at the White House”.

 More than 100 nations have reached an agreement to ban the current designs of cluster bombs. the US was not part of the negotiations². NPR's Michelle Kelemen reports.

 Activists pushing for the treaty say this is the start of a long process of stigmatizing³ the weapon that kills civilians⁴. Carol Borgerd of Human Rights Watch says it's also a diplomatic defeat for the US. "They weren’t present here in Dublin. They didn't have diplomats⁵ on the ground here, but there was a lot of active diplomacy⁶ elsewhere to try and dissuade⁷ those nations who didn't want a cluster munitions⁸ treaty from moving forward, and they failed in that. And the treaty that emerged today is a very robust⁹ one, and that's not what the United States wanted at all. " A top State Department official argued last week that the US preferred to work through the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons to regulate the use of cluster bombs. Borgerd called that a cumbersome¹⁰ body and a recipe for paralysis¹¹, which is why, she says, the US wanted to keep the issue there. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

Iran's new parliament speaker has warned that his country could set new limits on its cooperation with the UN's nuclear watchdog agency. His comments come after the agency reported Iran may be withholding¹² information needed to prove whether it tried to make nuclear weapons. Roxana Saberi reports from Teheran.

 Ali Larijani told Iran's parliament that the new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency was, what he termed, "deplorable". He said Iran recommends that the agency and the 5-plus-1 group stop, what he called, "clandestinely¹³ passing Iran's nuclear dossier between them". The 5-plus-1 group refers to the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. The Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities, which Iran says are purely¹⁴ peaceful. Larijani is Iran's former top nuclear negotiator. He was overwhelmingly elected as parliament speaker on Wednesday. The new parliament, like the last one, is dominated by conservatives, but it’s expected to be more critical of the Iranian president's foreign and economic policies. For NPR News, I'm Roxana Saberi in Teheran.

 In Wall Street, the Dow was up 45 points.

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 After offering buyouts and incentives¹⁵ to its hourly workers, No.2 domestic automaker Ford¹⁶ is also expected to now slash¹⁷ its salaried workforce¹⁸. According to published reports, the struggling automaker may cut its US salaried workforce by as much as 12%, or by roughly 2, 000 jobs. Detroit News reports some employees were told about the proposed involuntary layoffs¹⁹ during a town-hall-style meeting last week. A Ford spokesman says no final decision has been made, with the automaker expected to release more details of its latest cost-cutting initiative in July.

 Hollywood studios have tentatively reached agreement on a three-year labor²⁰ contract with one of two Hollywood actors’ unions. NPR's Kim Masters reports.

Prospects²¹ for another crippling strike grew dimmer Wednesday as the studios reached a deal with the smaller of the two actors’ unions, the American Federation²² of Television and Radio Artists. The surprising stumbling block had been the studio's wish to use clips featuring actors on the Internet without seeking permission. The agreement gives the union 90 days to work out a system for actors to give blanket permission to use clips from a series in exchange for compensation. AFTRA usually negotiates in tandem²³ with the larger actors’ union, the Screen Actors Guild²⁴, but this year, they parted company. SAG²⁵ said it would study the AFTRA deal and resume its own stalled talks with the studios. Kim Masters, NPR News.

Orders for costly²⁶ manufactured goods, things designed to last three years or more, declined by a smaller-than-expected amount in April. The government reported today the durable²⁷ goods orders were down half a percent, mostly due to a falloff in orders for automobiles²⁸ and commercial aircraft. However, excluding the volatile²⁹ transportation sector³⁰, the government says durable goods orders actually rose two and a half percent.