NPR News 2013-10-07 加文本

NPR News 2013-10-07

From NPR News inWashington, I’m Barbara Klein.

US special forces have carried out a counter-terrorism operation in Somalia against the leader of the Islamist group al-Shabab, but the Defense Department is giving no further details. An official tells NPR the operation was aimed at capturing the terrorist leader.

Meanwhile, most of the Pentagon civilian workers who were furloughed last week will soon be back on the job. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says he can recall them based on an interpretation of the Pay Our Military Act that Congress passed just before the shutdown.

Meanwhile, NPR’s Larry Abramson reports Lockheed Martin says it may have to furlough 3,000 workers next week because of the shutdown.

Lockheed says that 3,000 employees have been identified for furlough on Monday because the shutdown has made it impossible to work. That's either because the government facilities where they work are close or because government inspectors are not on the job. Lockheed says those workers have been told to use vacation leave, so they can be paid during their furlough. The Aerospace Industries Association says other companies are planning similar furloughs because the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency is not being funded and cannot approve government work. Larry Abramson, NPR News.

Both the House and Senate were in session today. The House approved a bill to provide back pay to the federal workers on furlough. The Senate is expected to follow suit. But the budget stalemate is heading into a sixth day, and its effects are rippling far beyond US shores. Teri Schultz reports US landmarks throughout Europe are closed, outraging a lot of tourists.

Thousands of tourists come every year to historic American sites in Europe, including Normandy with its numerous D-day memorials and Belgium's Flanders Field World War I Cemetery, but visitors who traveled long distances to see these hallowed grounds are finding the gates locked, the information booths unstaffed and signs that blame at all on the Washington impasse. The American Battle Monument Commission manages two dozen overseas military cemeteries and 26 other memorials to the more than 200,000 Americans who lost their lives fighting abroad. But the commission has no option but to close the sites until as it says on its website: “A new funding measure is passed by Congress and signed by the President.” It says it regrets any inconvenience these temporary actions may cause. For NPR News, I’m Teri Schultz in Brussels.

Tropical Storm Karen is no longer expected to strengthen into a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center says the system is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression tomorrow. A tropical storm warning is in effect from Grand Isle, Louisiana to the Mississippi border. Still, Mark Butler in Florida's Panhandle says he’s not taking any chances.

“Oh, you hear from Ivan, Dennis, Katrina, so...at any storm that hits in the gulf. We take them all seriously.”

The National Weather Service says a combination of storm surge and a tide will bring flooding to normally dry areas near the coast.

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The Obama administration...