NPR NEWS 2008-02-09

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.

In Pakistan, British investigators 1 have released their findings on the assassination 2 of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. A Scotland Yard team found that Bhutto was killed for the impact of a suicide bomb rather than by a gunshot wound to the head. NPR's Jackie Northam reports from Islamabad.

In their report, Scotland Yard investigators say that Bhutto was thrown back by the blast from a suicide bomb and hit her head on the four inch metal lip that surrounds the escape patch similar to a sunroof on top of the armoured vehicle she was traveling in. The report says Bhutto suffered major trauma 3 to the right side of her head and that no gunshot wounds to her head appeared in any of the X-rays taken at the hospital shortly after she was attacked. The report finds that the attack on Bhutto was a work of one man. Pakistani authorities believe two people were involved. The Scotland Yard detectives indicated their investigation 4 was complicated because the crime scene had been cleaned and opened to traffic long before they arrived in Pakistan and no autopsy 5 was performed on Bhutto. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Islamabad.

French police are reportedly widening their investigation into the trading scandal of the French bank Societe Generale. The French newspaper Le Monde is reporting that police are questioning a second trader about his relationship with Jerome Kerviel. Meanwhile a hearing is scheduled in the case for today. The Paris Prosecutor's office is appealing a decision to free Kerviel under judicial 7 supervision 8.

The gunman who killed 5 people during a city council meeting in Kirkwood Missouri last night apparently 9 had a history of conflict with local officials. Kirkwood's resident Justin Strife 10 says the gunman disrupted an earlier meeting with the trade about Mayor Mike Swoboda. 'He sat down and wanted meeting, and just ranting 11 and raving 12 about Swoboda and sat down, I mean, just sat down in front of the podium wouldn't move had to be physically 13 in move, there's a lawsuit 14 about that said is infringing 15 upon his first Amendment 16 right of freedom of speech.' Mike Swoboda is in critical condition and the gunman killed five people including 2 police officers but other policemen then killed him.

On Capitol Hill, the House has agreed to create legislation that would address the soaring cost of attending college. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

It's simplified the Federal Financial Aid Application Process. It requires that the U.S. Education Department helps students and families compare the cost of attending different colleges. It calls on schools to explain why the prices are raising so much. It forces schools to disclose relationships with lenders to minimize conflicts of interests. The bill also adds more money to pare grants which will now be awarded year round. It sets aside more federal aid for veterans. And in one of its most controversial provisions, it penalized 17 states that cut aid to needy 18 students. The Senate has approved a similar bill but in unusual release U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the legislation ultimately undermines the checks and balances in the nation's higher education system. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

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A spokesman says President Bush will sign the economic stimulus 19 bill passed by congress yesterday. He'll sign that bill sometime next week. That means rebate 20 checks averaging anywhere should, rebate checks should start reaching many Americans by the summer. Congress gave final approval to the bill last night after Senate Democrats 21 back to waive 22 from a proposal to extend jobless benefits. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush will be traveling to Tennessee this morning to get a firsthand to look at some of the damage from the deadly storms that swept through 5 southern states earlier this week.

Officials in Georgia have not released an official cause of huge explosion at a sugar refinery 23 near Savannah. But they say volatile 24 sugar dust may be to blame. Six people are still missing and fires of the refinery are still burning this morning.

A team of scientists is reporting that some insects have evolved the ability to survive while feeding on corn and cotton that has been genetically 25 engineered to poison them. It may be the first case of insects becoming resistant 26 to the crops. NPR's Dan Charles reports.

More than a decade ago, several companies inserted a new gene 6 isolated 27 from insect-killing bacteria into cotton and corn. It kills some caterpillars 28. Scientists predicted that insects would evolve resistance to the poison called BT and researchers at the University of Arizona say now it's happened. They report in the journal Nature Biotechnology that some boll worms collected from cotton fields in Arkansas and Mississippi now are much less susceptible 29. But the scientists at the University of Arkansas who actually collected those boll worms are convinced. They say those hardy 30 insects may have been living in cotton fields all long. Scientists just happen to find them now. Dan Charles, NPR news, Washington.

And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.