Many Saudi women and their supporters had urged King Abdullah to allow them to vote in municipal elections being held this coming Thursday. The government earlier had said that would happen, but then in recent months refused to allow women to register as candidates or voters. Officials explained that for women to take part, separate polling stations for men and women are needed to adhere to Saudi Arabia’s strict Islamic code that calls for segregation of the sexes in public. On Sunday, the king in a televised speech to his advisory council, said women will be able to run as candidates and cast ballots in the next municipal elections scheduled for 2015. He also pledged to appoint women to his advisory council. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Dubai. 

 

In Yemen, violence continues for a sixth day between opposition groups and forces loyal to the president. Tom Finn is a freelance reporter in the capital Sanaa. He talked to people at the hospital there, who said soldiers fired at unarmed protesters. 

 

“They said that a group of 10 soldiers just opened fire on them without any warning from about 10 meters away. Now about 18 people were shot. I saw one man with a bullet lodged in his neck; another man with a bullet in his thigh. And two people were in critical condition, bleeding profusely and had to be transferred to another hospital.”

 

Tom Finn in Sanaa.  

 

President Abdullah al-Saleh spoke to the nation today for the first time since he returned to Yemen. He had spent months in Saudi Arabia recovering from an assassination attempt. He said he’s committed to transferring power through elections, but did not say he’d step down. 

 

Libyan forces attacking Sirte, one of the last major strongholds ofpro-Gaddafi supporters, are renewing their assault on the city after having regrouped overnight. The BBC’s Alastair Leithead reports they’ve made significant gains this weekend. 

 

After days of stalemate, the pro-Gaddafi lines of defense gave way here on the eastern edge of Sirte. And the NTC troops have been surging towards the city center. There was some resistance from the remnants of Colonel Gaddafi’s army, but the overwhelming firepower and momentum has(have) been with the advancing forces. There was confidence among commanders that Sirte would soon fall. There is already fighting in the city itself to the west and the tanks, field guns and supplies from this site continue to push forward, more effectively surrounding the city. 

 

The BBC’s Alastair Leithead reporting

 

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer arrived in New York today after spending the past two years in prison in Iran. They’d been accused of spying. They say they were hiking in Iraq when they were arrested. Iran released them last week under a million-dollar bail deal. 

 

This is NPR News from Washington.

 

Diana Nyad has given up her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. Her team says the 62-year-old swimmer decided she couldn’t continue after being attacked by a man o’war. She was told another sting could be life-threatening. Her team says she completed at least 67 miles of the 103-mile passage. Nyad had made the same attempt last month, but she had to stop then after 29 hours after suffering an asthma attack. 

 

Many parents may be wondering what to do with savings for their child’s education. NPR’s Paul Brown reports investment advisers say people should have a long-term plan that can withstand market gyrations. 

 

“If you are wondering whether you should pull college savings out of stocks or bonds,” adviser Dan Keady of TIAA-CREF says, “think about where you are in the saving process.” Are your kids near college age as his are? He says this is where he is now with his college savings. 

 

“The vast, vast majority of money that I’m going to need in either two years or four years is in very, very low risk investments.”

 

But what if your kids are much younger? Keady says you have years to work on saving and you may wanna have some of the money in stocks because they have the most potential for appreciation. He and others say that with time on your side, the sharp ups and downs will smooth out for a solid gain. 

 

Paul Brown, NPR News. 

 

There are texting and talking on their cellphones in Los Angeles again. AT&T says a hardware failure caused problems for about 900 cellular towers in the county. Service went down at about three o’clock yesterday afternoon. It was restored for most people sometime this morning. The utility says it’s unclear how many wireless subscribers were affected. 

 

I’m Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.