NPR News 2012-09-04 加文本

NPR News 2012-09-04

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

On the eve of the Democratic national convention, the Obama campaign has tried to make the case that the country's economy is better off today than it was nearly four years ago. In his speech to the United auto Workers Union in Toledo, Ohio earlier today, the president touted the success of the auto industry bailout that most Republicans opposed. And now he says the American Auto industry has come roaring back. 

This notion that we should have let the auto industry die and that we should pursue anti-worker policies. In the hopes that unions like yours will unravel. It's part of the same old 'you're on your own', 'top-down' philosophy that says we should just leave everybody to fend for themselves. On Thursday night, I'm going to offer you what I believe is a better path forward.

But critics say, the president's message is a tough sell with millions of people still out of work.

Carter Wrenn, a Republican strategist says it's baffling of the Democrats chose to hold their national convention in Charlotte, where the unemployment rate is higher than the national average.

I had no idea why they picked Charlotte, and I really don't think it matters. I think they, you know, are not going to get any more votes in North Carolina, from having the convention in Charlotte than if that they had it in Nashville.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney released a statement in which he said Labor Day  marks another day of worrying for many Americans concerned about their jobs. He has said that the president may not have caused a financial crisis in recent years, but he should bear the blame for failing to turn the economy around.

In Louisiana more than 100,000 customers are reported to still be without electricity after Hurricane Isaac. The Associated Press reporting  that people in nine hard-hit parishes in Louisiana can apply for grants to get temporary housing and repair their homes. The grants are applied through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The power outage as it says are spread across Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas with Louisiana bearing the brunt. And flooding remains a serious problem throughout South Louisiana.

Three large fires continued to burn in Idaho. But Scott Graf of Boise State Public Radio reports residents of one evacuated town have been allowed to return to their homes.

Once residents left and the conditions were just right. Fire crews then conducted controlled burns to cut down on available fuel between the fire and the town. The operation worked and smoke from the fire has since subsided. So over the weekend, police told residents they could go home. That fire is one of three long burning fires in Idaho right now.Evacuation orders are still in place for some areas near the Idaho-Montana border. The Mustang complex fire there have burned 215,000 acres since it started nearly five weeks ago. For NPR News, I'm Scott Graf in Boise, Idaho.

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Israel's government says it is satisfied with a largely peaceful evacuation of the Migron outpost. Details from Sheera Frenkel.

Israel's government praised settlers in Migron for evacuating their settlement peacefully and without major incidents. More than 50 Israeli families quietly left the Migron outpost Sunday after Israel's Supreme Court ruled that their homes had been illegally built on Palestinian land. A compromise reached between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and settler leaders, will see  most of the families move to a nearby settlement, where the Israeli government has built them temporary residences. For NPR News, I'm Sheera Frenkel.

Public school teachers in Kenya are staying home today to protest low wages. NPR's John Burnett reports from Nairobi they are defying a court order that says a strike is unconstitutional.

Kenyan Public School students rolled on campus in the sun and others stayed home when their teachers didn't show up today. Union organisers say some 280,000 teachers stayed away from classrooms. They are calling attention to a pay hike, they say is 15 years overdue. The Kenya National Union of Teachers is asking for a 300% salary increase. In Kenya, primary school education is officially free, and secondary school is supposed to be subsidized. In practise though, teachers are so poorly paid that parents have to kick in some or all of their salaries. A union official today the Daily Nation newspaper, we can't teach on an empty stomach. John Burnett, NPR News, Nairobi.

Nato is reporting that one of its service members has been killed in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan. But the nationality of that service member is unknown.

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