NPR 2012-06-14

 Syrian state television is reporting the troops have retaken control of rebellious 1 mountain village in Al-Hafa after more than a week of heavy shelling there. Rebels had withdrawn 2 from Al-Hafa overnight after intense fighting and in nearby villages. Al-Hafa is critical to Syrian forces because it’s about 20 miles away from President Bashar al-Assad’s hometown. Meanwhile activists 3 were reporting dozens more casualties today.

 
 
As new reports of torturing, killings 4 of children emerge from Syria, White House Spokesman Jay Carney is warning the ongoing 5 violence could lead to civil war.
We will be in a situation or we’re likely to be in a situation where Syria is experiencing a sectarian(宗派的) civil war that could spill beyond its borders, that could destabilize the region, that could involve other countries.
But some believe Syria is also ready in the group of civil. That include former Secretary of State Collin Powell, who also told CBS today that he did not believe the US military should directly intervene.
 
 
A Pennsylvania jury is hearing more testimony 6 today from alleged 7 victims in the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Meanwhile court papers suggest that a top Penn administrator 8 kept a secret file of allegations against Sandusky. Details form NPR’s Joel Rose.
Former Penn State vice 9 president Gary Schultz and athletic 10 director Tim Curley are charged with perjury 11 and failure to report suspected child abuse. According a document file this week by prosecutors 12 in Pennsylvania, Schultz kept a running file on allegations of inappropriate conduct by Sandusky that, prosecutors say, would directly contradict Schultz’s testimony before a grand jury. Schultz’s lawyer denies that he kept any secret files on Sandusky. Schultz retired 13 a few days after the allegations against Sandusky became public. Tim Curley is on administrative 14 leave from Penn State. Both men deny the charges against them. Joel Rose, NPR news, Philadelphia.
 
 
Corporate 15 giants are rushing to stake their claims on new prime internet real estate. That don’t just include .com or .org, now they’re applying for other * suffixes 16 such as .blog or .blogger, .sex. Nearly 2,000 companies, about a half from North America applied 17 for dozens of available domains 18. The idea is to stimulate 19 competition by giving companies more control over their presence on the web however critics warn the new suffixes are unlikely to gain momentum 20.
 
 
The sliding gasoline prices in sales figures into its largest declining wholesale 21 prices nearly 3 years. The Labor 22 Department says the producer price index had fallen 1% in May after pulling back 0.2% a month earlier.
 
 
At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was down 70 points, more than 0.5% at 12,504 with NASDAQ off more than 0.5% at 2,825.
 
 
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Crews battling an out-of-control wild fire in Northern Colorado are up against more hot weather and gusty 23 winds today. The High Park fire has now scorched(烧焦) 72 square miles of tinder dry forests, west of the city of Fort Collin. Kirk Siegler of member station KUNC reports from one of the fire’s command posts, northwest of the city.
A thousand firefighters are battling this blaze which is now one of the top priorities in the country. In the skies, there's been a steady parade of choppers and planes dropping water and fire retardant on the blaze. Bill Hahnenberg is the fire incident commander.
We're trying to do two things, set priorities to protect structures and at the same time construct fire line so this thing does not continue to grow.
The fire has destroyed scores of homes, and Bill Hahnenberg says it’s still too dangerous for firefighters to even protect structures in some areas. For NPR news, I’m Kirk Siegler, in Fort Collins, Colorado.
 
 
Spain’s Prime Minister has been criticized for flying to Poland for a soccer game just hours after his country’s bailout. As Lauren Frayer reports from Madrid, the Spanish leader is now trying to deflect 24 that and he is blaming his predecessors 25 for Spain’s banking 26 mess.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says the previous socialist 27 government here should’ve acted three years ago. Spain doesn’t have the 100 billion Euros and can’t issue public debt, Rajoy told parliament, referring to the amount of bailout money on offer from Europe. In 2009, it could have, he said, but since we had the best financial system in the world he said sarcastically(讽刺地), now we’re three years behind. Spain had to resort to an EU bailout for its banks weighed down by own paid property loans. European officials push to have the deal in place before Greek elections this weekend. For NPR news, I’m Lauren Frayer, in Madrid.