NPR News 2010-12-03 加文本

NPR News 2010-12-03

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The US House is expected to vote this hour on whether to extend expiring tax cuts for everyone, including the wealthy. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports the issue's been generating heated debate.

Democrats say they want to keep lower tax rates from middle- and lower-income workers especially. Those same tax rates would apply to a certain amount of income for wealthy people, but the Democrats do not want to lower tax rates or keep low tax rates from much more money that the wealthy people make. They want to instead allow that revenue to come into the federal government to pay for programs and in fact help fill the deficit hole.

NPR's Andrea Seabrook on Capitol Hill.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is in favor of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Admiral Mike Mullen sought to make that case on Capitol Hill today.

"The report indicates that one of the factors distressing to those who oppose repeal are fears that new policies will not be implemented fairly, evenly and dispassionately. Let me be clear: nothing will change about our standards of conduct."

But Arizona Senator and military veteran John McCain expressed doubts today that the repeal likely would not cause widespread disruptions in the military as a new Pentagon study suggests.

NATO says that three international service members have been killed in Afghanistan in the past two days. More from NPR's Corey Flintoff.

NATO says two service members were killed today—one in a fight with insurgents in the south and the other by a roadside bomb in the eastern Afghanistan. A home-made bomb killed another service member in the south yesterday. NATO doesn't give details about the nationalities of service members killed in Afghanistan, leaving that to the individual countries involved. Fifty-five international troops were killed in Afghanistan in November. Meanwhile, Afghan and NATO troops are still trying to learn the fate of seven Afghan mine clearance workers, who were captured Wednesday by insurgents in Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Kabul.

The White House is pressing Congress to extend unemployment insurance to about two million out-of-work Americans. Their coverage is due to expire this month.

Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel of New York confronts his fellow lawmakers today to hear his punishment for violating House ethics rules. A bipartisan panel had recommended censure which comes up for a vote in the full House shortly. Rangel is expected to argue that he does not deserve censure because he's not corrupt, but the House Ethics Committee determined the censure is justified because it ruled Rangle was guilty of fundraising and financial misconduct.

On Wall Street, the Dow was up 100 points at 11,355; NASDAQ Composite Index up 26 at 2,576.

This is NPR News.

NASA's out with new information that's challenging conventional ideas about where life can exist. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports scientists have discovered a bacterium that can survive on a diet of arsenic.

One of the truisms of science is that life isn't possible without six elements, one of which is phosphorus, but a young scientist at NASA wondered whether that truism was really true. She thought arsenic, which is chemically very similar to phosphorus, might work as a substitute. So, she and other researchers began studying tiny organisms taken from the mud of Mono Lake in California. That mud contains a lot of arsenic. And they found at least one bacterium that was able to adapt to a diet that includes lots of arsenic, but no phosphorus. What's more, the bacterium appeared to be using arsenic instead of phosphorus in its DNA. Scientists say that suggests organisms could exist in places on Earth or elsewhere in the universe that were previously thought incapable of sustaining life. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

President Obama appears to be making headway in his push to get Senate ratification of a nuclear treaty with Russia. Leading Republican Lamar Alexander said today that he is "wide open" to supporting the treaty if the administration addresses his concerns about modernizing the remaining US nuclear arsenal.

Iraq's Interior Ministry's been calling for the death penalty of 39 imprisoned al-Qaeda-linked suspects before they have gone on trial for allegedly plotting to attack targets in Baghdad. Minister Jawad al-Bolani announced today that he is confident the men will be found guilty.

Dow's now up 98 points.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.