NPR 2011-07-21

President Obama is holding separate meetings today with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders, as NPR's Mara Liasson reports, to see if there can be a solution to the impasse 1 over the debt ceiling.

The two meetings at the White House will discuss two different vehicles for resolving the standoff over the debt ceiling and the deficit 2. A fallback measure that would give the president authority to raise the debt ceiling without a majority vote in Congress and a bigger deficit-reduction plan unveiled yesterday by a bipartisan group in the Senate. The president has embraced the broad outlines of that plan from the so-called Gang of Six because it includes tax hikes and cuts in domestic spending and entitlements. Many in Congress are enthusiastic about the approach, but conservatives don't want to agree the tax hikes, and liberals don't want to cut entitlements. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House.

The Associated Press is reporting a Republican-backed bill to keep the Federal Aviation Administration running through at least mid 3-September has the backing of the GOP-majority House. It'll eliminate subsidies 4 for airline service to 13 world communities. But in the Senate, Democrats 5 say they won't allow the bill to pass with the subsidies provision. The FAA's operating authority expires midnight Friday. If there's no deal, the FAA could be forced to shut down. But its more than 15,000 air traffic controllers would be required to keep working.

Taxi drivers in Greece scuffle with police as they protest planned licensing 6 reform. It's the latest challenge to a government that's implementing 7 unpopular cutbacks in response to its debt crisis. European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels tomorrow to contain the fallout from Greece's growing financial troubles. As John Psaropoulos reports from Athens, markets are already lending to Spain and Italy at rising rates.

Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou tells Bloomberg that this summit will be a "make or break" moment for Greece. European leaders will discuss a second bailout package worth 170 billion dollars that Greece solely 8 needs to stay solvent 9 through 2014, but "serious disagreements" remain. Germany wants investors 10 to participate by keeping their money in Greek bonds for several more years rather than cashing out now on taxpayers 11' bags. Others suggest that taxpayers buy up the bonds at the 50% discount they now trade for. And Greece wants the European Central Bank to issue a bond for the whole eurozone like the Federal Reserve. From NPR News, I'm John Psaropoulos in Athens.

The army psychiatrist 12 accused in the 2009 Fort Hood 13 shootings in Texas has been arraigned 14. Major Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The Associated Press reports that just before the lead attorney on Hasan's defense 15 team is taking [a] leave of absence, he didn't say why.

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The high heat and humidity in the Midwest is heading to southern New England. Bradley Campbell with member station WRNI in Providence 16 reports the region's residents are bracing 17 for their first major heat wave of the summer.

New Englanders are busting 18 out their Bermuda shorts and Topsiders in preparation for the heat. Temperatures are expected in the mid 90s tomorrow Friday, but forecasters predict the heat index could make it feel more like 105 degrees. Meteorologist Alan Dunham from the National Weather Service says this would make life uncomfortable for most every New Englander.

"This is it. This will be the hottest that's been in the summer. But with those heat indexes getting up over 100, so, yea, this will be the worst we've had this summer."

Dunham says a frontal system will drop down over the weekend. And while it won't reduce the heat, it will lower the dew point level, making it easier to breathe. For NPR News, I'm Bradley Campbell in Providence.

Ford 19 Motor Company is recalling more than 20,000 pickup 20 trucks and SUVs because of its defective 21 switch that can cause brake lights, taillights and a turn signal to fail. The automaker's also recalling more than 6,000 of the switches that were shipped to dealers 22 as replacement 23 parts.

This year's on pace to becoming the worst for home sales since the housing meltdown in the US. The National Association of Realtors says sales fell last month 0.8% to an annual rate of 4.77 million homes. That is still far below the six million homes that need to be sold in order to sustain a healthy housing market in this country.

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 15 points at 12,572; NASDAQ off 12 points at 2,814.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.