NPR 2008-04-18

Pope Benedict XVI has met privately 1 with victims of clergy 2 sex abuse. The Vatican confirming the closed-door meeting followed today's open-air Mass at Washington's new nationals baseball stadium. The pontiff is said to have told the small group of victims he would pray for them and their families. Speaking to tens of thousands of worshipers of the Mass, the Pope again raised the issue of clergy sex abuse scandal, saying words are inadequate 3 to detail the suffering of the victims. "No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted 4 by such abuse; it is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention. " Pope is also meeting with Catholic educators and with representatives of other religious faiths today. Tomorrow the pontiff travels to New York where he will address the United Nations General Assembly.

 President Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have met at the White House today where they discussed a variety of topics including terrorism, the global economy and the threat posed by Iran. On that subject both men agreed Iran has not been telling the truth about its nuclear program. President Bush said anyone who believes Tehran's nuclear enrichment program would not be utilized 5 for military purposes is naive 6. Brown pledged to extend sanctions against Iran wherever possible. "I make no apology for saying that we will extend sanctions where possible on Iran. Iran is in breach 7 of a Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran has not told the truth to the international community about what its plans are. " Brown is making a second trip to the US since becoming prime minister. He and his wife Sarah will be at the White House for a private dinner tonight.

The American Civil Liberties Union went to a court today to force the Defense 8 Department to release all records relating to deaths and suicide attempts at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

 There have been five deaths at Guantanamo, four of them apparent suicides and 41 more reported suicide attempts. In 2006, the camp commander Admiral Harry 9 Harris disparaged 10 the suicides as "Not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical 11 warfare 12 against us. " And today the Defense Department has refused to release documents about the deaths including suicide notes. Nearly a year after first filing a Freedom of Information Act request, the ACLU today filed a suit seeking to force release of the material. The lawsuit 13 comes the same day that the government under pressure from the ACLU did release documents relating to interrogation tactics in Afghanistan. An investigation 14 followed the death of an Afghan detainee after 18 days in custody 15. The investigation concluded that detainees had been assaulted, that there had been misconduct, but the detainees had not been abused. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

 On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained a point to close at 12, 620 today; the NASDAQ was down 8 points; the S&P 500 gained a fraction to close at 1365.

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A suicide bombing in a mosque 16 in southwest Afghanistan is reported to have claimed the lives of at least 16 people today. According to the provincial 17 governor, the bomber 18 attacked a group of men who were preparing for evening prayers in a bazaar 19. He says the district police chief and a border reserve police commander were among the dead. Dozens of others were reportedly wounded in the assault. Officials say they expect the death toll 20 may rise.

More than 3, 500 present and former students of Connecticut State University system had their personal information exposed in a data theft. State officials say it took the contractor 21 involved nearly a month to report the theft of the laptop containing the information. From member station WNPR Harriet Jones reports.

 The laptop belonged to an employee of a company that provides software to the university system. It was stolen in mid-March, but university officials weren't notified until April 9th. It contained the names and social security numbers of thousands of students as well as other personal information. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says he wants the company to provide two years of credit monitoring for all affected 22 students as well as insurance for any victim of identity theft. "This information is like cash; it literately 23 is a highly valuable asset and we should provide same safeguard and potential penalty for deterring 24 any careless or incautious use of this information. " There has been no indication as yet that any of the information has been used illegally. For NPR News, I am Harriet Jones in Harvard.

A forward-looking gauge 25 of economic activity was up slightly. The Conference Board says its index of leading economic indicators 26 rose a tenth of a percent. The index is designed to predict the direction of the economy 3 to 6 months down the road.