Greece 'Teeters;' NATO Admits 'Weapons Systems Failure'

By Mark Memmott

Published June 20, 2011 at 8:15 AM EDT

Good morning.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, as we reported earlier, today blamed "saboteurs" for the violence in his country — even though human rights groups and protesters say it is government forces who have been responsible for most of the deaths in recent weeks.

And we've also posted about the wildfires in Arizona. Winds whipped the flames on Sunday and forced more evacuations, but calmer weather today is expected to give firefighters a break.

Other stories making headlines include:

-- "Greece Teeters As Europe Delays Bailout Decision": "Greece faced power outages on Monday as employees at the main power utility began 48-hour rolling strikes to protest the company's privatization, part of austerity plans needed to avoid a national debt default. ... Greece's new finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, was meeting his colleagues from the eurozone in Luxembourg for a second day. Talks overnight did not produce a final agreement on the next installment of rescue loans or on a broader, second bailout. ... The country's embattled prime minister, George Papandreou, was also heading to Brussels. ... On Tuesday, Papandreou faces a vital confidence vote in the new government he announced on Friday." ( The Associated Press)

Related report on NPR's Newscast:Planet Money's Adam Davidson told newscaster Paul Brown this morning that the financial markets aren't so much concerned with what happens to Greece, but to whether other nations might also be in danger of defaulting on their debts.

-- NATO Says "Weapons Systems Failure" Led To Civilian Casualties In Libya: "NATO has admitted [that] 'a weapons systems failure' may have led to civilian casualties in Sunday morning's air strike in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The alliance said the intended target was a missile site, but 'it appears that one weapon' did not hit it. ... Sunday's attack, in one of the capital's poorer neighbourhoods, happened shortly after midnight, Libyan officials say. They say that nine people were killed, including two babies, and another 18 people injured. It is not possible to verify this claim independently." ( BBC News)

But on the positive side of the news:

-- Rory McIlroy Fills A Void Created By "Tiger Woods' ... Unplayable Lies": Young golfer Rory McIlroy's impressive win in the U.S. Open over the weekend "was transcendent," our colleague Todd Holzman writes. "For some of us, it filled a void that has been empty since Tiger Woods' recent series of unplayable lies."

From a related piece at ESPN.com:"with the first majors victory of his career, McIlroy officially became The Next Tiger Woods."