NPR News 2012-10-11 加文本

NPR News 2012-10-11

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up affirmative action today. The justices are considering the case of a young white woman who argued she was denied admission to a University of Texas' program because of her race. Her supporters say considering race at all is unlawful. But the university says the program that fills about 1/4 of its incoming classes uses ethnicity as only one of many factors to achieve a level of diversity called for by law. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports the makeup of this supreme court has changed since it last ruled on affirmative action in 2003.

The court's 5:4 decision upholding affirmative action nine years ago was written by Sandra Day O'Connor, but she has now retired and been replaced by Justice Samuel Alito, a dedicated foe of affirmative action. And by reaching out to take this case from the University of Texas, the court would seem to be signaling that a new energized conservative majority is prepared to reverse or cut back previous decisions dating back to 1978, decisions that allowed state colleges and universities to consider race as one of many factors in college admission. NPR's Nina Totenberg.

A GOP-led House Committee is probing allegations that security failures left the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya exposed to a terrorist attack. In the immediate aftermath of violence that left four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens died last month. The administration suggested the violence was triggered by anti-Islamic inflammatory materials on the Internet. But Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood who headed up a military team in Tripoli gave a different account today in his exchange with Republican lawmaker Raúl Labrador.

It was instantly recognizable to me as a terrorist attack. Instantly recognizable, yes, and why is that? Mainly because of my prior knowledge there, I almost expected the attack to come. We were the last flag flying. It was a matter of time.

Wood says security was a struggle at the consulate and higher-ups knew it, but State Department officials maintained they did not sure change security.

More cases in the meningitis outbreak, six states reporting additional cases of a rare type of it, linked to contaminated steroid drug used to treat back pain. More from NPR's Richard Knox.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cases of drug-related meningitis have gone up by 18 since Tuesday. As states do intensive case finding. That brings the total to 137. One additional death in Florida, brings that total to 12. Officials say 13,000 Americans received fungus contaminated injections from Massachusetts pharmacy since last May. The incubation period for this type of meningitis is 28 days. So thousands of patients are out of danger. Says Jay Campbell, Director of North Carolina's Pharmacy Board.

There is going to be a number of those patients, so your safe were beyond the window of time in weeks, if they were going to contract fungal meningitis they would have done it.

This is NPR.

Pakistan's government says it's determined to track down the Taliban militants who shot a 15-year-old school girl for speaking out against them. From Islamabad, NPR's Philip Reeves says the attack on Malala Yousafzai has caused an outpouring of emotion in Pakistan.

Messages of condemnation and goodwill have been pouring in from at home and abroad. Malala knows nothing of this as she is lying unconscious in a military hospital. She was shot to the head yesterday on her way from school. The Pakistani Taliban says they did it. Malala became a national icon in Pakistan for being a child blogger who wrote about the Taliban when they closed down the schools in her home city in Swat Valley. And later publicly campaigned for the rights of girls to be educated. Schools in her home city, Mingora, closed again today. This time is a protest of the attack. That's NPR's Philip Reeves reporting.

The wife of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney continues to see her visibility increased on the campaign trail. And Romney made an apparent appeal to women voters in an appearance on a morning television.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the U.S. has created a disproportionate number of teams being used to train Afghan forces and called on NATO today to pick up more of the lead. Speaking to NATO ministers in Brussels, Panetta urged them to help fill the shortfall of military training teams in Afghanistan and give those commitments by later next month.

Before the close on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average down 129 points at 13,345; NASDAQ off 13 points at 3,052.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, in Washington.