Now the US housing sector still remains weak, but President Obama says he is looking to change that. He is in Nevada, where he will release more details of a program to tackle the country's mortgage debt crisis against a backdrop of a state that's among the hardest-hit in foreclosures. We have the latest from NPR's Mara Liasson. 

 

This is the administration's latest effort to help homeowners whose houses are under water, worth less than their mortgages. Under the new plan, the costs of refinancing would go down for people who are current in their mortgage payments and whose mortgages are federally guaranteed. The president is unveiling the program in Las Vegas, ground zero for the mortgage debt crisis. One in every 118 homes in Nevada received a foreclosure notice in September. But White House officials are not saying how many mortgages they think will be refinanced under the new program. The original Home Aaffordable Refinance Program or HARP hasn't produced the number of refinancing that was originally expected. The administration said it hoped that four million Americans would take advantage of it, but less than a million did. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House. 

 

Oil prices have jumped more than 4%, the highest level in more than two months. Analysts say investors are now trading with the expectation that western economies will keep growing albeit slowly. 

 

In Libya, the gruesome display of Muammar Gaddafi's body in Misrata has been shut down. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports.

 

It's still not clear what will happen to Gaddafi's remains, but the public will no longer get to ogle the slain dictator's corpse, which is now in an advanced state of decomposition. The head of Libya's transitional government says a committee has been formed to determine where Gaddafi will be buried. According to reports, Libya's religious authority has declared that Gaddafi was not a Muslim and therefore he's not entitled to an Islamic burial. The options under consideration, he could be given to his relatives or buried in the city of Misrata in an unmarked grave. The treatment of Gaddafi's corpse has caused controversy. The revolutionary fighters though who have had control of the body had defended their showcasing of Gaddafi to the public, saying many people were killed at his behest and the families have a right to see what happened to him. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Tripoli. 

 

From Washington, this is NPR News. 

 

The Syrian ambassador to the US has been recalled after Washington decided to pull its envoy out of Damascus over growing security concerns. The State Department said earlier today that Robert Ford returned to the US over the weekend after the US received what it called credible threats against the ambassador's personal safety in Syria. 

 

The FBI says 56 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty last year, and more than 53,000 more were assaulted during that time. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports the figures show the dangers of working in law enforcement. 

 

FBI officials study the number of police killings every year in the hopes they can improve training for law enforcement officers all over the country. Last year, 56 officers were killed in the line of duty by suspects and 72 more died in car accidents and other episodes. The Justice Department is working with police departments and union leaders to try to reduce the number of fatalities. The FBI says the average age of the law enforcement officers who died was 38 years old. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington. 

 

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has formally entered as a candidate in New Hampshire's Republican presidential primary. He submitted paperwork this morning to run in a state where he did not fare very well in 2008. Romney joked that this time he hopes it sticks. The New Hampshire GOP contest is scheduled to be held January 10th. 

 

Before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was up 105 points or nearly 1% at 11,914, and the NASDAQ was up more than 2% at 2,699.