Morning Edition on KCCU

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

European finance ministers have asked Spain if it might need a few bucks to tide it over - in particular, $125 billion to prop up failing banks. The Spanish government is expected to announce today how much of that sum it will need.

Shoring up banks is one step Spain is taking to prevent economic collapse. Another step is to slash more than $50 billion dollars in spending.

Lauren Frayer reports from Madrid on Spain's new budget, unveiled last night.

PNC Bank says its website is the latest victim of a denial of service attack. Users who tried to access the bank's websites had trouble loading the pages, or couldn't get into their accounts. But officials say the accounts were not compromised.

Rebels trying to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad are making slow but steady gains in securing an incrementally larger safe zone in the north. They've captured a third major border crossing between Syria and Turkey. The rebels are trying to restore services to a recently liberated town.

Undecided voters in Ohio got a lot of attention this week from President Obama and GOP rival Mitt Romney. Coal may be the key to many swing voters in the Buckeye State, which remains a top coal producer.

It's an issue weighing on coal miner Rick Carpenter's mind at the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival in southeastern Ohio.

"Save coal — fire Obama. Yeah, I've got one of those signs in my yard," he says.