General Motors is recalling nearly a half million Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn sedans in the US, Canada and Mexico. NPR's Dave Mattingly reports they may have a problem with the transmission.

 

The defect is with the transmission cable. GM says it can break, leaving the driver to believe the car is in park when it's actually in gear. When that happens, the vehicle can roll unexpectedly. The recall involves 2007 through 2010 Chevi Malibus, Pontiac G6s and some Saturns, all with four-speed automatic transmissions. GM says it knows of four crashes but no deaths or injuries. Dealers will fix the problem at no cost to owners. Dave Mattingly, NPR News, Washington.

 

Obama administration officials are saying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has decided to remove an Iranian militant group from the US terrorist list, a move likely to anger Iran. Mujahadin-e Khalq or MEK helped Islamic clerics overthrow the Shah of Iran, but then fought against the Iranian regime along with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. The group has been sponsoring a high-profile campaign to be taken off the US terror list.

 

Demonstrators took to the streets across Pakistan today, protesting an anti-Islam video that was produced in the US after the country's prime minister declared this a day of support for Islam's Prophet Muhammad. From Islamabad, NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

 

Security has been tightened to all of Pakistan's major cities. The government cut cell phone service first in this morning in an effort to prevent a terrorist attack. Cell phones are often used to detonate bombs. Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf used the public holiday to denounce a video which denigrates the Prophet Muhammad. And the American Ambassador Richard Hoagland was summoned to the Foreign Office, where Pakistan's government launched a strong protest over the video. On Thursday the major television network ran paid advertisements put out by the US embassy, which show both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying the US respects all religions, and that the US government had nothing to do with the video. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Islamabad.

 

An hour before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was up 15, the NASDAQ up seven. This is NPR.

 

As Apple's iPhone5 hits stores in several counties today, there's another embarrassment for the struggling maker of the Blackberry smartphone. Dan Karpenchuk reports an outage has left users in several parts of the world without service for several hours today.

 

The loss of service hit customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Canadian maker Research In Motion announced the interruption imposed things on Facebook and Tweeter. It later issued a statement to the media apologizing for the problem which it now says has been fixed. Many of the world's 70 million Blackberry users were affected. The outage couldn't have come at a worse time. The new iPhone from Apple has put even more competitive pressure on the Blackberry. Research In Motion has already lost a large portion of market share to Apple and to Google's Android system because of delays in launching its new smartphone products. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

 

Wal-Mart says it will no longer sell Amazon's Kindle eReaders and tablets. And the retail giant is severing ties with amazon.com altogether because of online competition. Kindle owners can use their device to shop around for the best prices on millions of items through Amazon, potentially putting Wal-Mart at a disadvantage as it tries to catch up to Amazon in online sales.

 

The French-owned Universal Music Group is a step closer to buying the troubled British music company EMI. The European Union has approved the sale over the objections of rivals who argue the Universal will be able to squeeze out competition. The combined group would include top-selling recording artists, including Jay-Z and Kanye West as well as the Beatles catalogue. The deal worth nearly two billion dollars still needs US approval. If it goes through, it would give Universal 40% of the US market.