NPR News 2012-10-20 加文本

NPR News 2012-10-20

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

The Transportation Security Administration says it will fire 25 employees in New Jersey. NPR's Joel Rose reports it's part of a year long investigation into improper screening of check luggage at New York Liberty International Airport.

The TSA says it discovered screening failures at the New York airport last year after installing surveillance cameras in a screening room to check for possible theft. The agency serve noticed that it intends to fire 25 employees and suspend 19 more, that's in addition to the eight employees the agency fired in June, making this the single largest disciplinary action ever taken by the TSA at a U.S. airport. Investigation began last fall after a TSA employee was accused of stealing from check luggage in a baggage screening room, that person resigned. Investigation later uncovered a range of lack screening procedures and inadequate oversight. Joel Rose NPR News, New York.

The CDC is raising the death toll from a fungal meningitis outbreak to 21 with the latest case reported by Michigan. In all, 271 people in multiple states have been infected from an outbreak that's been linked to potentially contaminated steroid injections. The New England Compound Center in Massachusetts distributed the medications before they were recalled. The compound has now subjected to federal and state investigations.   

In contrast to much scientific opinion, Italy's highest court has ruled that there is a link between a business executive's brain tumour and his intense mobile phone usage. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports the ruling could unleashed a flurry of legal claims.

The case involves  Innocenzo Marcolini, whose faces partially paralyzed after developing a brain tumour on the left side of his head. It required surgery that has sharply worsen in the quality of his life. He claimed the tumor was caused by use of mobile phone five to six hours a day over a period of 12 years, as he dealt with overseas clients as far away as China. Marcolini won his case in lower court against Italy's Workers' Compensation Authority. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that that decision was justified. It said the scientific evidence that been submitted based on studies conducted in Sweden was reliable and not financed, as some studies are by mobile phone makers. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

Disappointing earnings posted by major companies today are weighing on the markets. McDonald's led abroad declined and the Dow after it's quarterly profits missed analysts' expectations, Microsoft's quarterly profit also fell more than expected. Even though General Electric reported  a stronger profits, its revenue fell short of what analysts had been projecting. Shares dropped about 3%.

At last check, Dow was down 222 points, more than 1.5% at 13,326; NASDAQ down 2% at 3,003. This is NPR.

In the final weeks of the race, the presidential campaigns are focusing on battle ground states today. President Obama rallied votes in Northern Virginia, where he hammered away at former Governor Mitt Romney's economic plan.

It's really just a one-point plan not a five-point plan, one point. Folks at the very top, play by a different set of rules than all of you.

Let's turn, the Romney campaign continues to unleash more attacks on the president's economic policies and response to unrest in the Middle East. Florida was among the swing states, the campaign was focusing on today.

Malala Yousufzai is still not out of the woods, according to doctors in England treating the 15-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban. But as Larry Miller reports the hospital is pleased with her progress.

This is a good day for Malala, reports doctor David Rosser, Medical Director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

In fact, she is standing with some help for the first time this morning.

Next doctor Rosser says there will be two weeks of rehabilitation, then work begins on reconstructing Malala skull.

Either by reinserting the piece of bone that was removed initially or with a titanium plate.

Malala cann't speak yet, she has a tube in her throat, but doctor Rosser says she is communicating well through writing. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller, in London.

Rescuers in Lebanon raced to the site of a deadly bomb blast in eastern Beirut in search of survivors. State News Agency raised the casualty toll in today's explosion to at least eight dead and 78 wounded. It says the massive explosion during rush hour was caused by a car bomb. Authorities say Lebanon's top police intelligence official that is among those killed.

This is NPR News.