NPR News 2013-08-01 加文本

NPR News 2013-08-01

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

The Obama administration has partially declassified a court order that authorizes and sets the rules for the NSA’s collections of US telephone information. NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports the disclosure came ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the agency’s surveillance programs.

The director of national intelligence released something called a “primary order,” which lays out the rules for the NSA phone metadata program. The order came from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and it restricts access to the information and says the metadata information can only be searched on a reasonable suspicion that there’s a link to terrorism. The document didn’t include details of what kind of evidence could link someone to terrorism, and the names of terrorist groups the program targets also appeared to have been redacted. The release of the order comes at a time when the NSA is under fire on Capitol Hill for its surveillance activities on Americans. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

Syria is allowing a UN team to inspect three sites where chemical weapons allegedly were used during the country’s two-year-old civil war. Inspectors have already gone to Damascus but have not disclosed the other two locations.

The House is expected to vote soon on bipartisan legislation that would reduce student loan rates at least in the short term. The measure was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate. NPR’s Craig Windham reports backers of the bill say it would help 11 million students and save undergraduates an average of 1,500 dollars in interest charges.

The Senate bill like a similar measure passed by the House would link student loan rates to the rate on ten-year Treasury notes. That would cut the current loan rate of 6.8% by nearly 3% for undergraduates this fall. Democratic Senator Tom Harkin says the comprised bill will lock in that rate for students.

“And that means we’ll have an interest rate for the life for the loan.”

Although rates could rise for new loans in future years as the economy improves. The bipartisan bill would cap undergraduate students loan rates at 8.25%. House Speaker John Boehner is calling on GOP lawmakers to support the measure. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington.

As lawmakers prepare to head back to their home states to face tough questions about jobs, health care and immigration, President Obama went to Capitol Hill today to give members of his party a pep talk. In closed-door sessions he told House and Senate Democrats they are on the right side of history. For their part, congressional Republicans say, the president should spend less time on the role talking about economic headway and more time in Washington working with the GOP.

The Federal Reserve says the US economy is going modestly, a downgrade from last month’s assessment. It says growth will pick up in the coming months, but the Fed may continue its stimulus measures because the economy still needs help.

Before the closing bell, Dow was off 21 at 15,500, NASDAQ up 10, S&P 500 up slightly. This is NPR News.

The Pentagon is spelling out dire consequences for the US military if the Congress fails to stop automatic spending cuts from taking effect next year. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel warned today that more sharp reductions may be ordered in the size of the Army and Marine Corps. He says the Pentagon faces more than 50 billion dollars in cuts in 2014 and 500 billion over the next decade.

A military judge is considering Bradley Manning’s punishment a day after the Army private first class was convicted on 20 espionage charges. Prosecutors argue Manning’s actions compromised national security and troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Manning’s attorneys say their client only wanted to stir up public debate about US foreign policy.

Today the federal government was to have its first-ever auction for the right to build offshore wind farms. NPR’s Elizabeth Shogren reports the bidding shows that at least some companies are hot to build offshore wind projects.

The United States doesn’t have any offshore wind farms, but the auction shows the industry still could take off. The government is taking bids on two patches of deep ocean off the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Bidding on the smaller parcel stopped at the bargain price of $94,000. But by midday, two companies had bid up the larger parcel to more than half a million and weren’t done yet. Maureen Bornholdt oversees offshore renewable energy projects for the federal Interior Department.

“When they win a lease from us today, they then basically have what I consider a dinner reservation.”

Winning companies would have four years to design a project and study its environmental effects. Elizabeth Shogren, NPR News, Washington.

US stocks sending the day mixed.

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.