NPR News 2013-07-26 加文本

NPR News 2013-07-26

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

The State Department confirms that one American is among the 80 killed in a train derailment in northern Spain. That's now described as one of Europe's worst rail disasters. More than 100 people including five Americans were injured last night when eight-carriage train came off the tracks near pilgrimage center of Santiago de Compostela. People there and across the nation are now mourning on the day when Santiago was supposed to celebrating one of Europe's biggest Christian festivals. The BBC's Tom Burridge is at the crash site where he says cranes have been spending the last several hours removing mangled metal.

One by one the damaged carriages of the wrecked train have been lifted from the tracks, as an investigation is carried out to establish the cause of the crash. The train driver is quoted by one Spanish newspaper as saying that he was driving too fast. But Spain's National Train company have not commented on that claim. They have though ruled out to technical fault with the train. The BBC's Tom Burridge reporting from the crash site.

The White House has issued a statement expressing condolences to the victims' families and pledged support should Spanish authorities requested.

The Obama administration is also keeping a close eye on the growing unrest in Tunisia where opposition party leader Mohamed Brahmi was assassinated this morning. Hours later, protestors trying to storm a local government office in Sfax, police moved in with tear gas, today's attack is renewing fears of political instability in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring. NPR's Craig Windham reports the U.S. is urging Tunisia to take swift action.

State Department spokeswoman  Marie Harf notes that this is the second assassination of a key opposition figure in Tunisia this year.

There is no justification for such outrages and cowardly acts in a democratic Tunisia. Harf called on Tunisian authorities to track down those responsible for the killing.

We urge the Tunisian government to immediately conduct a transparent and professional investigation to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice in a timely manner.

Harf urged all Tunisians to express themselves peacefully. She added that violence is not appropriate response to the killing and will only lead to more violence. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington.

President Obama is back on the road to build support for initiatives, he has long argued with speed of economic recovery. In Jacksonville Florida, today Obama again blamed congressional Republicans for blocking progress.

But I am not going to let gridlock or inaction or indifference to the plight of families get in the way of this country. So where I can act on my own, I am going to act on my own. I won't wait for Congress.

But Republican leaders say the president's not offering any new ideas for reducing deficits or putting millions of Americans back to work.

Before the closing bell, Dow was up 14 points at 15,556.

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Five people are charged in what's being described as the largest case of computer hacking ever prosecuted in the United States. In New Jersey, officials announced indictment of four Russians and Ukrainian national who were accused of operating a network that managed to breach the computer systems of more than a dozen major corporations in the U.S. and overseas. Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey says the hackers allegedly stole and sold at least 160 million credit and debit card numbers.

Losses of at least $300 million, and that by the way is our conservative estimate of the losses, the amount we've been able to confirm so far and suffered by only three of the victim companies.

Among the firm's breached VISA, , Dow Jones J.C. Penney and JetBlue.

A big drop in the polls for New York mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner following new sexting revelations. NPR's Dan Bobkoff reports an NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll out today shows Weiner 9 points behind the frontrunner.

Weiner had been the improbable frontrunner in the race for New York mayor. Up five points over City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, but that was before he admitted to communicating sexually with women long after resigning from Congress for that very reason. With Weiner again embroiled in scandal, Quinn now leads Weiner 25% to 16% among Democratic voters. And as old boss in the House, Nancy Pelosi spoke out, calling the behavior of men like him reprehensible.

It's so disrespectful of women and what's really stunning about it is they don't even realize it.

Meanwhile, Weiner admitted that he may have communicated with as many as three women since leaving Congress. He vows to stay in the race. Dan Bobkoff, NPR News, New York.

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