NPR News 2013-03-20 加文本

NPR News 2013-03-20

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

Cyprus is going back to the drawing board after it scrapped a bailout measure that sent shock waves to world markets this week. In Nicosia, John Psaropoulos reports lawmakers have voted down a bill to impose a hefty levy on bank deposits in order to receive an international loan.

Cyprus is still technically able to borrow from financial markets, around the world, so it is giving itself a little bit more legislative time, because it has financial time. John Psaropoulos reporting.

U.S. stocks edging up with the Dow gaining four, it's at 14,456, but the NASDAQ and S&P 500 still down slightly.

The Marine Corps is notifying the families of the seven marines killed during a training exercise at a Nevada facility last night. Officials say several others were also wounded when a mortar shell exploded. Several of the victims were from the II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

The State Department says it has no reason to believe Syrian government charges that rebels have used chemical weapons, but NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that Washington is looking into similar rebel charges against the government.

The U.S. is brushing off the Syrian government allegations as yet another attempt by the regime to discredit the opposition in the country. State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland says there is no evidence that the rebels even have a chemical weapons capability. But the Syrian government does have such weapons and Nuland says the U.S. is worried about Syrian intentions.

We've been concerned that the regime in failing to achieve its military objectives even by the most barbaric conventional means may get desperate enough to use these weapons.

The Obama Administration calls that a red line. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

Shiite communities across Iraqi capital are reeling from several explosions carried out the day before the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion. Officials say at least 60 people were killed. 

An 18-year-old man spending the rest of his life behind bars for murdering three high school teens and wounding three others last year in Chardon, Ohio. Nick Castele of member station WCPN describes a judge threw the book at T.J. Lane he says lacked remorse.

T.J. Lane wore a white T-shirt in the courtroom with the word killer written on it. When given the chance to speak, Lane made an obscene remark to the families of the victims and showed them his middle finger. Crystal King whose brother Russell was killed in the shooting, said Lane robbed parents everywhere of their sense of safety.

He took the lives of three young men who were doing what they were supposed to do. Go to school, a place your children are supposed to be safe.

Lane's lawyers had been preparing an insanity defense. But last month, Lane changed his plea to guilty. Lane was charged as an adult, he wasn't eligible for the death penalty because he committed the murders when he was 17. For NPR News, I'm Nick Castele in Cleveland.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

Pope Francis is urging the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics to take care of one another, especially the poorest and weakest among them. He also appealed for better stewardship of the environment during his installation mass at the Vatican. As many as 200,000 people attended today's ceremony at the Vatican and many more watched on giant television screens, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the pontiff's homeland. Francis succeeds Benedict XVI who earlier this year made the historic decision to resign his papacy.

The Supreme Court has ruled that textbooks and other goods made abroad can be resold in the United States without violating copyright law. The ruling is a major victory for importers and online retailers. As NPR's Joel Rose reports.

The case concerned a Thai graduate student who took textbooks bought overseas and resold them on eBay in the U.S. at a profit. The textbook publisher sued the student for copyright infringement and won in lower courts. But the student's lawyers argued that his business should be protected by what's called the first-sale doctrine, which is what allows libraries and retailers or anyone else to lend or resell books and other works that they've bought legally and the Supreme Court agreed. Writing for the majority Justice Stephen Breyer, made clear that the first-sale doctrine does apply, even if something is made or bought overseas. That's a defeat for publishers and other U.S. copyright holders. They say they need stronger copyright protections to fight piracy in developing countries. Joel Rose, NPR News, New York.  

The housing recovery is getting yet another boost. The Commerce Department says builders broke ground on homes last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 917,000, second fastest pace in more than four years.

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