NPR 2010-01-28

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From NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.

President Obama heads to Congress tonight for his first State of the Union address. The economy will dominate but the speech also comes during a difficult time politically for the president. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

The president will look back at what's been a difficult year for the nation as it struggles economically while two wars continue. Polls show the public's greatest worries are jobs and the economy. The president's support is slipping as he has wrestled¹ with health care legislation. He'll cite progress, though not as much as he wanted. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

"I don't doubt that at times he'll be feisty. I don't doubt that at times he's gonna believe that while Washington may not want to make progress in certain ways that Washington has to be pushed to make that progress."

Mr. Obama will speak at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Don Gonyea, NPR News, the White House.

The uncle of a Colorado airport driver charged in a terror plot against New York City has apparently² been indicted³. The Associated Press says Naqib Jaji was arraigned⁴ on a single felony charge in a sealed proceeding⁵ in Brooklyn two weeks ago. Jaji is the uncle of Najibullah Zazi, who was charged in September with plotting to attack New York City with homemade bombs. Two other New Yorkers have been charged in the case as well.

The Federal Reserve's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee has left alone short-term interest rates and has given no hint of any near-term rate hikes. Steve Beckner of Market News International reports.

Fed policymakers left the federal funds rate between 0 and 0.25%, where that overnight money market rate has been for 13 months. And in the rate announcement, they again said it will likely stay exceptionally low for an extended period. There was one change - the vote was not unanimous this time. Kansas City's Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig, one of this year's policy voters, dissented⁶, not in favor of higher rates but against signaling that rates would stay low for an extended period, given improved economic and financial conditions. Explaining the majority of decision, the Fed said the economy is strengthened, but said consumer spending remains⁷ "constrained," that firms "remain reluctant" to hire, and that inflation is apt to stay "subdued⁸ for some time." For NPR News, I'm Steve Beckner in Washington.

Sales of new homes unexpectedly fell last month. Economists⁹ had expected a slight increase but the Commerce Department says sales were down 7.6 percent from November.

In San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has settled speculation¹⁰ about the company's latest creation. It's a tablet-style device called the iPad. The device has a touch screen and it's designed for all sorts of media from video games to electronic books. Steve Jobs says the iPad is more intimate than a laptop, but tablet computers aren't anything new and consumer appetite for such a device is unproven.

Stocks have turned positive today. The Dow was up 9 points, and the NASDAQ, Apple shares are leading. The NASDAQ has gained 7 points. This is NPR.

Russia’s pledging to help rebuild war-torn Afghanistan. That promise came from Russia's envoy¹¹ to NATO. He spoke¹² as officials from dozens of countries converged¹³ in London for tomorrow's international conference on Afghanistan's future. NPR's David Greene reports.

Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin said Russia is ready to help rebuild some Soviet¹⁴-era infrastructure¹⁵ that remains in Afghanistan. That includes hydro-power stations, also pipe lines for gas and oil. But Rogozin was speaking to the Reuters news agency, and he did add a major caveat¹⁶. He said if Russia makes such improvements, the international community would have to foot the bill. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was planning to attend Thursday's international conference on Afghanistan and the Russian envoy said Lavrov might bring up the topic of Russian assistance. Back in the 1980s, the Soviet Union fought its own prolonged war in Afghanistan, and during the present war, Russia has refused to send troops to fight alongside NATO forces. But Russia has promised to assist in stabilizing¹⁷ the country in other ways. David Greene, NPR News, Moscow.

Global leaders are already in London. They've been talking about how to stabilize¹⁸ Yemen. In a joint¹⁹ news conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the foreign ministers of Yemen and Britain said that they have agreed to work together to battle militant²⁰ groups that threaten security in the region.

The prolific²¹ author Louis Auchincloss has died. The author's grandson says Auchincloss died yesterday, a week after suffering a stroke. He was 92. Auchincloss wrote dozens of books and was a four-time fiction finalist for the National Book Award. "The Embezzler²²" and "The House of Five Talents" are among his nominated novels.

I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.