NPR News 2011-12-24 加文本

NPR News 2011-12-24

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Barbara Klein.

The payroll tax cut is now extended for two months. Congress approved it today earlier, and President Obama has signed it to law. As NPR’s Brian Naylor reports, some 116 million Americans will continue getting a break on their taxes, and unemployment benefits will continue through February.

The president signed the measure hours after it was approved by the House and Senate in voice votes. Republicans in House initially resisted the two-month extension but retreated after sharp criticism including from other Republicans. The extension is seen as a political victory for President Obama who called it good news but said more needs to be done.

“This continues to be a make-or-break moment for the middle class in this country. And we’re going to have to roll up our sleeves together, Democrats and Republicans. Let's make sure that the economy is growing and to make sure that more jobs are created.”

Before leaving for Hawaii, where he’ll spend Christmas with his family, Mr. Obama also signed a trillion-dollar spending bill Congress approved to fund government programs until next October. Brian Naylor, NPR News, the White House.

More people bought new homes last month. The Commerce Department says sales rose 1.6%, but sales are still well below what they need to be to sustain a healthy housing market. Wells Fargo securities economist Mark Vitner says builders face a credit squeeze.

“The builders just can't get a whole lot of credit right now until get up step house, and they face off an awful lot of competition from foreclosures, and it's even hit so much more house if you buy a foreclose.”

But Vitner says progress is being made in selling off the glut of foreclosed homes.

The US commander in Afghanistan says he’s already met his goal to send 10,000 of the so-called surge troops home in 2011. As NPR’s Rachel Martin reports, it’s part of President Obama’s plan to remove all US combat troops from the country by 2014.

The last of those 100,000 troops left Afghanistan earlier this week. Most of them from a Marine Corps unit operating in the southern part of country. This past summer, President Obama announced that all of the 33,000 extra surge troops sent to Afghanistan would be home by September of 2012. General John Allen, the commander in Afghanistan, has until March to come up with a plan to draw down those remaining 23,000 surge forces. President Obama has ordered all 19,000 US troops still in Afghanistan to leave the country by 2014. Rachel Martin, NPR News, Washington.

The Syrian government is blaming al-Qaeda for two massive suicide car bombings in Damascus today. At least 40 people are dead. They are the first suicide bombings in the country since the anti-government uprising began in March.

In the latest look at Wall Street, the Dow is up 87 points at 12,256; the NASDAQ is up 14 at 2,613.

This is NPR.

Ukraine's leading opposition figure has lost her appeal of a seven-year jail term. The White House says the sentence is politically motivated. As Peter Van Dyk reports, both the US and European Union have been pressing Ukraine to release the former prime minister

The appeals court upheld Yulia Tymoshenko’s conviction for abuse of office .The court says she exceeded her authority as prime minister in signing a gas deal with Russia in 2009. She boycotted the appeal hearings, calling the court biased and has filed the case with the European Court of Human Right. President Viktor Yanukovych, who narrowly beat Tymoshenk in a bitterly divisive election last year, says the deal was bad for Ukraine. The country struggles to pay for the gas it gets from Russia, and Yanukovych has made getting a discount, a key part of his foreign policy. The Tymoshenk case has damaged Ukraine’s relations with European Union, which this week put off signing bilateral agreements that  would take trade and political ties to a new level. For NPR News, I’m Peter Van Dyk in Moscow.

In the Czech Republic, a day of remembrance and mourning. Czech citizens as well as international leaders past and present gathered in Prague for the funeral of former Czech President Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright who led the peaceful revolution that brought an end to communist rule in the country. Among the mourners, British Prime Minister David Cameron who said Europe owes Havel a profound debt.

The Soyuz spacecraft is now docked at the International Space Station after two days of travel. Its three-member crew, a Russian, an American and a Dutchman, will join the three astronauts aboard the space station until March.

I'm Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.