Standard & Poor's downgraded the US's credit rating from AAA to AA+ late Friday. So this was the first day the market could respond. The Dow was down as much as 600 points for part of the afternoon. The first time the index fell below 11,000 since November. Bank of America stock fell more than 18% in heavy trading. The NASDAQ fell and so did S&P 500. Gold passed 1,700 dollars an ounce — a record high. Treasury prices rose. This despite Standard & Poor's assessment that they were a riskier investment than the debt of Canada and France. The reaction in the US markets was not all based on the action of Standard & Poor's. Most analysts said it was part of a globe sell-off based on worries about the debt problems in the eurozone as well as US economic problems. Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.

 

Meanwhile, speaking from the White House, President Obama today slammed the rating agency's downgrade of the US credit, saying despite it, the United States is and always has been a AAA country.

 

"That doesn't mean we don't have a problem. The fact is, we didn't need a rating agency to tell us that we need a balanced, long-term approach to deficit reduction. That was true last week. That was true last year. That was true the day I took office."

 

Mr. Obama also made a plea to Congress to take action to create new jobs.

 

The State Department says it is encouraged that Arab countries are doing more to pressure Syria to end a brutal crackdown on protesters. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that several countries have withdrawn their ambassadors to Damascus.

 

State Department spokesman Mark Toner says the US is heartened by recent statements from the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council. He says they have shown that the international community is repulsed by the brutal action of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

 

"The message is becoming clearer and clearer to Assad that he has fewer and fewer friends."

 

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have recalled their ambassadors. Toner says the Obama administration wants to keep its ambassador there for now so that the envoy can continue to bear witness to what's going on in Syria. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

 

The Obama administration is giving school districts a break from the stringent testing mandates of the No Child Left Behind law. As long as they pursue other reform efforts, Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the president authorized him to grant the waivers because Congress failed to act. Critics have called the benchmarks unrealistic.

 

On Wall Street, three preliminary closing numbers: the Dow down 633 points; the NASDAQ down 161 points at 2,370; the S&P 500 down 73 points.

 

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The former head of the National Institutes of Health and the head of the Red Cross during the 9/11 attacks on the United States has died. Dr. Bernadine Healy died this weekend in Ohio. She suffered from brain cancer, but the cause of her death hasn't been announced. She was 67.

 

Philadelphia police are stepping up patrols, and the city is tightening its curfew after a series of mob attacks by large groups of teenagers in recent weeks. From member station WHYY in Philadelphia, Elizabeth Fiedler reports Philadelphia's mayor announced plans to prevent and punish future mobs.

 

Mayor Michael Nutter is temporarily tightening the city's curfew till nine o'clock p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays for those under 18 years old in targeted enforcement zones. He says curfew breakers risk serious fines.

 

"If you assault a fellow Philadelphian, a visitor or anyone else in the city, you're going to jail. The full force of the Philadelphia justice system will come down on your shoulders, and unfortunately your life will be forever changed."

 

Nutter called the mob participants ignorant reckless fools who seem not to grasp the consequences of their actions. One woman's leg was broken in an attack. She said she's just glad none of her friends who were kicked in the head suffer permanent brain damage. For NPR News, I'm Elizabeth Fiedler in Philadelphia.

 

Artifacts discovered in an ancient drainage tunnel under the city of Jerusalem are left over from a war that took place 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists say the items include a Roman sword and a sheath. That sword dates to around 70 A.D., when Rome put down a Jewish revolt.

 

Oil prices plunged to the lowest level of the year today down $5.57 to $81.31 a barrel in New York. 

 

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