NPR News 2013-04-10 加文本

NPR News 2013-04-10

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

The Lone Star Community College campus in Cypress, Texas is a crime scene this hour, following a stabbing attack that left 14 people, two of them critically. Sheriff Adrian Garcia recounts the 911 call that sent various law enforcement officials racing to the Houston area school this morning.

At 11:12 am, we received a call at our 911 call center. The call was described as male on the loose stabbing people.

The suspect in custody is described as a white male student about 21 years old, Lone Star's Cy-Fair Campus is expected to resume normal operations tomorrow. The attack came three months after a shooting on another Lone Star campus where two people were wounded.

The fight for tighter gun control continues with vice President Joe Biden's meeting with a group of law enforcement officers at the White House today. NPR's Scott Horsley reports Biden urged the group to lobby reluctant lawmakers.

Vice President Biden says it's time for lawmakers to vote yea or nay on a series of gun control bills, including one that would require background checks for all future gun purchases. Some Republican senators are promising to block such a vote. Biden says he wishes those senators could have listened in when he met the families of children killed at Sandy Hook elementary school.

People say what I am going to say to NRA, I got some questions for it. What are you going to say to those parents? Look them in the eye and tell them you concluded there's nothing you can do?

Biden who led the administration's gun violence task force, insisted the proposed laws would not compromise second amendment rights. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

Alluding to possible military action on the peninsula North Korea is warning foreign companies and tourists to evacuate South Korea. But analysts say Pyongyang has issued similar threats in previous years, believing that the more North Korea's fear, the less likely it will be attacked.

The Syrian government is rejecting a UN probe into allegations of chemical weapons used in Syria. NPR's Susannah George reports the investigation was drafted after both the Syrian government and opposition forced treated blame for an alleged chemical weapons attack last month.

The UN team poised to enter Syria this week, is now standing down, waiting in nearby Cyprus for word of the next move. The Syrian Foreign Ministry quoted by pro-government state TV, says it called off the probe after the UN asked for additional investigations and that constitutes a violation of Syrian sovereignty. There have been three alleged chemical weapons attacks in Aleppo, Damascus and Homs. The Syrian government only requested UN investigation into the Aleppo attack. Susannah George, NPR News, Beirut.

Before the closing bell, Dow was up 60 points.

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A new study says much of the money the federal government gives to needy college students through Pell grants is wasted. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports an expert panel wants to overhaul the program.

A blue-ribbon panel convened by the college board wants the 48-year-old Pell Grant program to focus on students who actually stay in school and graduate, because right now, too many drop out. A new analysis shows that of the 9.4 million students who rely on Pell Grants averaging about $3,700 per award, only a fraction earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Too many aren't ready for college or they drop out because they have to work. Among all the recipients, 25 years and older, only 3% earn a degree. This age group now makes up nearly half of all Pell Grant recipients, most have been laid off. They get little or no guidance about what to study and they tend to enroll in schools with high dropout rates. Experts say this is wasteful. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

U.S. authorities are trying to get back two Florida boys a 4-year-old and 2-year-old, who were illegally wasted away to Cuba by their parents. Even though, they'd lost custody of the kids. The boys' maternal grandparents were granted permanent custody last week. The U.S. and Cuba have no extradition agreement. Washington is looking to Cuba for cooperation in a case drawing parallels to Elian Gonzalez case over a decade ago that thrust a 5-year-old into an international custody battle.

Consumer demand appears to be stronger than wholesalers had anticipated. The Commerce Department says in February, wholesalers scaled back their stockpile 0.3%, while sales surged 1.7%.

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