NPR News 2011-11-21 加文本

NPR News 2011-11-21

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Schiavone.

Time is short, basically one day, and the goal is considerable - $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions - as the congressional super committee meets through the weekend. But as NPR's Tamara Keith reports, the prospects of a deal appear dim.

Let the finger pointing begin. Several committee members hit the airwaves to say the super committee is on the verge of failure, though none would concede defeat just yet. Democrats insist the problem is Republicans' steadfast unwillingness to raise taxes on the wealthy. While Republicans, including Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, say Democrats aren't willing to make serious cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. He appeared on the CBS' show "Face the Nation".

"On the other side, there was an insistence that we have a $1 trillion tax increase. There was an unwillingness to cut any kind of spending at all unless there was a huge tax increase."

The committee has until Wednesday to vote on a deal but by law it has to make any plan public 48 hours in advance, which makes the practical deadline Monday night. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Washington.

In Cairo's Tahrir Sqaure, at least three people have died as protesters and police clashed. It's the second day of demonstrations as protesters call on the military government to quickly announce elections for a civilian government.

In Libya, the son of the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi is still in the hands of the rebels who captured him in the western mountain town of Zintan. The rebels are signaling they are not willing to surrender Saif al-Islam Gaddafi despite calls from the International Criminal Court to try Saif in The Hague, Netherlands, for crimes against humanity. Libya's new government is saying that he will be tried at home. The new leaders have also announced the capture of late Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence minister.

The chancellor of the University of California at Davis says it was chilling to see videos of campus police using pepper spray on peaceful student protesters. John Myers of member station KQED reports the incident Friday came at the end of a week-long Occupy protest at the school.

Several videos posted on YouTube show UC Davis campus police pepper spraying a group of students sitting on a sidewalk, arms locked together.

"Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!"

Ten protesters were arrested Friday after a dispute about continued overnight camping on the quad of UC Davis, which is a few miles west of Sacramento. UC Davis chancellor Linda Katehi says she'll convene a task force to examine what happened and how to improve campus protest policies. The student protest followed similar events in other California colleges and universities, Occupy-style events that focus in part on rising tuition in the wake of the state's financial problems. For NPR News, I'm John Myers in Sacramento.

This is NPR News.

The NASCAR season is over today. Scott Graf of member WFAE in Charlotte tells us the stakes are high for two drivers.

The NASCAR season started nine months ago in Daytona. It will end tonight in Miami. After 35 races just three points separate leader Carl Edwards from second-placed Tony Stewart, it's one of NASCAR's most competitive points battles ever. This is the first season since 2005 that driver Jimmie Johnson won't win the title. He wanted uNPRecedented five straight trophies but he's been eliminated from contention this year. If Edwards wins, it'll be his first ever title. Stewart won two when driving for former NFL coach Joe Gibbs. Now Stewart owns his own team and a title for him would be the first by an owner driver since 1992. For NPR News, I'm Scott Graf in Charlotte.

A public inquiry into media ethics will be televised in Britain this week. The hearings emerge from the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. Public outrage climaxed when it was revealed that the tabloid had broken into the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in its search for scoops. Film star Hugh Grant and Harry Porter author J. K. Rowling are among those expected to testify.

An Australian journalist is reporting he found a 120-page security booklet during President Obama's visit on a street near Parliament House in Canberra. Now Australia's attorney general is investigating the booklet contained details on Mr. Obama's itinerary there, security convoy and cell phone numbers of senior U.S. and Australian officials.

I'm Louise Schiavone, NPR News, Washington.