NPR News 2013-06-25 加文本

NPR News 2013-06-25

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider a Massachusetts law that sets up a buffer zone around clinics where abortions are performed. NPR's Kathy Lohr reports those who oppose abortion are asking the court to throw out the law.

Clinics began asking for buffer zones in the 1990s after protests and blockades closed down some facilities. Abortion opponents in Massachusetts and several other states now must stand outside buffer zones to allow patients to enter and leave clinics. That means staying some 30 or 35 feet away from exits and entrances. Those who regularly protest outside clinics in Boston and other cities say the law unfairly keeps them from engaging patients in conversations. An appeals court upheld the law, saying it protects patients and clinic employees without offending the First Amendment rights of protesters. The Supreme Court will now hear the case, which could have widespread implications across the country. Kathy Lohr, NPR News.

The Supreme Court has avoided a major ruling on the use of race in college admissions. The justices sent a Texas case back to a lower court for further scrutiny. Today's decision leaves many of the basic questions about the continued use of affirmative action in colleges unsettled.

The US Justice Department’s inspector general issued a report today, criticizing the non-profit group Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for its handling of 23 million dollars in government grants. NPR's Pam Fessler reports the group received the money from the Justice Department to provide mentoring services for disadvantaged youth.

The inspector general did not find evidence that Big Brothers Big Sisters had misused the funds, but it(he) did find that the group's accounting was so inadequate that it could not say how the money had been spent. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz reported that Big Brothers Big Sisters mixed the grants with other funds and didn't require local affiliates to document what they had done with the money. The government has frozen four million dollars in grants to the group, pending evidence that it has fixed the problems. In a response, Big Brothers Big Sisters admitted that its oversight of the grants was deficient. But it said it's taking steps to correct that. Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.

Opening statements in the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman are continuing today in a Florida courtroom. The defense says Zimmerman shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in self-defence. But prosecutor John Guy says there is no physical evidence the victim went for the shooter's gun.

“The defendant claimed that Trayvon Martin saw his gun and went for his gun, so he tested it. Well, guess why? Trayvon Martin's DNA is not on that gun.”

The six jurors and four alternates will be sequestered in order to shield them from outside influences.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 75 points at 14,723. This is NPR.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma says anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela remains hospitalized in critical condition.

“The doctors are doing everything possible to ensure his well-being and comfort.”Mandela has been in the hospital for more than two weeks, being treated for a lung infection. He's 94.

In Egypt, a Sunni Muslim mob in a village near Cairo has killed four people. Merrit Kennedy has the story.

A mob of men drags mutilated bodies down a street in an amateur video picked up by local television stations. The mob laid siege to a Shia gathering for hours before the incident. Bohud Ophen Anwor, a Shia community representative, told a private television channel that he holds President Mohamed Morsi ultimately responsible for the deaths and criticized the police for failing to stop the mob. Minorities in Egypt feel politically isolated as President Mohamed Morsi has reached out to his more conservative Islamist allies. The Muslim population in Egypt is almost entirely Sunni. There have been a number of attacks on Egypt's Coptic Christian community in the last two years. For NPR News, I'm Merrit Kennedy in Cairo.

Record-breaking floodwaters in the downtown area of Calgary are moving downstream, threatening smaller communities in southeastern Alberta. Officials told about 65,000 people who were evacuated because of the floods that they could start returning to their water-damaged homes. But officials say power outages could last for weeks or even months. The floods have closed key roads and displaced more than 100,000 people. Three people died.

I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.