NPR News 2013-07-31 加文本

NPR News 2013-07-31

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

A military judge has convicted Private First Class Bradley Manning on all but two of all criminal charges against him for giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrete group WikiLeaks, which posted them online. But NPR’s Craig Windham reports the former Army intelligence analyst was acquitted of the most serious charge against him -- aiding the enemy, which carried a potential life sentence.

Manning could still face a maximum sentence of up to 136 years behind bars. The judge’s ruling on the “aiding the enemy” charge is a setback for the Obama administration, which was hoping that a guilty verdict on that count would discourage others from leaking government secrets. But civil libertarians and press freedom advocates were worried the charge could put a damper on investigative journalism about national security. The 25-year-old Manning stood quietly in his dress uniform and showed no emotion as the military judge read her verdict. The sentencing phase of the trial could last for weeks, and any appeals could take years. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington.

WikiLeaks is calling the espionage convictions “dangerous national security extremism.” Michael Ratner, attorney for WikiLeaks founder in exile Julian Assange spoke to NPR moments ago about what Manning’s conviction could mean.

“The espionage convictions are very serious. The idea that you’re trying or charging people who are whistleblowers with espionage is to mean a misuse of the espionage statute.”

But again, the Obama administration says Assange is not a whistleblower. Ratner says Assange has been given a green light to remain at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for as long as he needs. He’s been holed up there to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning in a sex-crime investigation.

In other news, Secretary of State John Kerry says Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet again in the coming weeks. NPR’s Michele Kelemen reports they launched a peace process with a goal of reaching a deal in nine months.

Kerry says it’s taken a lot of work just to get to this point, and he knows there are plenty of, as he puts it, passionate skeptics.

“So while I understand the skepticism, I don’t share it, and I don’t think we have time for it. I firmly believe the leaders, the negotiators and citizens invested in this efforts can make peace for one simple reason: because they must.”

He says there’s no other way out but a two-state solution and time is running out. Kerry stood alongside Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, who went earlier in the day to the White House to see President Obama. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.

The death toll in Syria’s civil war is still climbing with at least ten more people reportedly killed in a late-night mortar round attack in Homs. Activists say dozens of people were wounded. The attack in Dablan came hours after government forces seized control of another district in Homs.

Before the close, Dow was down sharply. This is NPR.

Spanish authorities have confirmed the driver of the train that derailed and killed 79 people was on the phone. They say the train may have reached its highest 119 mph moments before the crash.

In Switzerland, rescuers have recovered the body of 24-year-old driver of one of the two regional trains that slammed into each other yesterday. At least 26 people were injured.

A group of cancer specialists says the disease is often being overtreated. NPR’s Richard Knox says the issue is whether many patients are getting aggressive treatment when their disease might never cause a problem.

Most people think cancer is nearly always lethal if not treated. But Dr. Laura Esserman, a San Francisco surgeon, says there is a wide variety of cancers.

“There are some they can’t grow a little bit [inaudible], some that’s in progress slowly and some very very aggressive. You could have any one of these things. But if you don't recognize that’s possible, you’re for sure gonna get overtreated.”

She's part of a National Cancer Institute group that looked at whether many cancers might not need to be treated. Its work is summarized in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The group says many cancers of the breast, lung, prostate and thyroid are overdiagnosed. It calls on researchers to figure out which ones can safely be watched and which need early aggressive treatment. Richard Knox, NPR News.

Two stars of the Real Housewives of New Jersey are out on bail, half a million dollars each. Teresa Giudice and her husband Joe faced 39 counts of fraud. If convicted, the husband could be deported to Italy since he is not a US citizen.

Well, before the closing bell, Dow was off slightly a point at 15,521.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.