NPR News 2012-09-12 加文本

NPR News 2012-09-12

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Nora Raum.

Poignant public and private moments are marking the remembrances on this 11th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. NPR’s Craig Windham reports President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were among those who gathered for a ceremony at the Pentagon.

A military band played as the president placed a wreath on the memorial garden. He said as painful as this day is, the nation is now stronger.

“Osama bin Laden will never threaten us again. Our country is safer and our people are resilient.”

At Ground Zero in New York, a bagpiper played and relatives read the names of those killed there.

“My fiancée, firefighter, Joseph Jay Ogrun, I love and miss you so very much.”

And in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Vice President Biden told family members that as their pain recedes, he hopes they find comfort in recalling the smile, the laugh and the touch of their loved ones. Craig Windham, NPR News.

The anniversary prompted a break in the presidential campaign. Both candidates stopped their negative commercials for today and neither attended campaign rallies. Republican Mitt Romney spoke to the National Guard Convention in Reno, Nevada, whose members were deployed after the September 11th.

“These, then, were purposeful attacks. These were terrorist attacks. These were evil and cowardly and heinous attacks.”

Earlier Romney issued a statement that those who would attack the US should know that Americans are united and the determination to stand tall for peace and freedom.

Protesters scaled the walls of the US embassy in Cairo today and took down an American flag. The State Department says it’s working to restore order and to get the situation under control. Merrit Kennedy in Cairo reports.

This is in reaction to an amateur American film that mocks Prophet Mohamoud. The protesters are combination of Islamists and hardcore soccer fans, chanting against the United States and lighting up flares. The American embassy is a heavily securitized complex, just a block away from Tahiri Square, the center of the uprising last year. But in recent weeks security around the embassy appeared to have decreased. This is the first time that protesters have breached its walls, although there were occasional demonstrations outside and a constant sit-in of hardcore Islamists for months. The Egyptian military moved in to secure the embassy, according to state media. For NPR News, I’m Merrit Kennedy in Cairo.

Officials in Pakistan say a fire broke out in a shoe factory in the eastern part of the country today. They say at least 23 people were killed.

Negotiations are underway in Chicago, designed to end the teachers strike now in its second day. Twenty-nine thousand employees are off the job, affecting some 350,000 students. The main issues include pay raises, job security and classroom conditions.

On Wall Street, the Dow was up 74 points; the NASDAQ is up a fraction at 3,103.

This is NPR News.

Moody’s Investors Service said today it will most likely reduce the credit rating of the United States, if there’s no deal on the federal budget. Unless Congress reaches an agreement about 1.2 trillion dollars in spending cuts and tax increases, will automatically go into effect on January 2nd. Moody says if there is no deal, it’s likely to drop the nation’s credit rating from AAA, the highest rating.

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman is heading back to prison today. NPR’s Debbie Elliott reports he’s due to finish out a sentence on a bribery conviction.

Siegelman was convicted in 2006 of giving former HealthSouth chief Richard Scrushy a seat on a medical regulatory board in exchange for a 500,000-dollar political contribution. The one-time Democratic governor of Alabama served nine months before being released to appeal. But when the US Supreme Court declined to take up his case, a federal judge ordered Siegelman to report to a Louisiana federal prison today to begin a 6.5-year sentence. Scrushy was also convicted in a corruption case and recently completed a five-year prison sentence. Siegelman and his supporters claimed he was the victim of a political prosecution pursued by a Republican US attorney. He traveled to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte last week to try to build support for a presidential pardon. Debbie Elliott, NPR News.

Post-tropical storm Leslie moved out to sea this afternoon after hitting Newfoundland with strong winds and heavy rains. The storm blew off roofs and brought down power lines. Utility officials say thousands of homes and businesses lost power. All flights were canceled at the main airport.

I’m Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.