NPR 2012-03-22

 The gunman accused of killing 1 seven people in the Toulouse area, France this week and last reportedly is still holed up in his apartment building. The place is surrounded, and police say they are ready to storm that building, but the suspect is said to be heavily armed. The gunman is a self-declared jihadist who has decried 2 the deaths of Palestinian children. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority is condemning 3 the gunman's alleged 4 actions, as NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from Jerusalem.

 
In a statement, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that the extremists must stop using the Palestinian cause to justify 5 their acts of violence. "It's time for these criminals to stop marketing 6 their terrorist acts in the name of the Palestinian people and to stop pretending to stand up for the rights of Palestinian children who only ask for a decent life." The statement continues, "this terrorist crime is condemned 7 in the strongest terms by the Palestinian people and their children." The slain 8 father, his two sons and another young girl were laid to rest here in Jerusalem today in front of a crowd of thousands who cried and prayed. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Jerusalem.
 
Those victims were killed [slip] in the multiple shootings at a Jewish school in Toulouse on Monday. Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in Montalban today to pay his respects to funerals of three paratroopers who were murdered in last week's attack.
 
"I have come to bow before the coffins 9 of these murdered soldiers. I've come to say to their families, to their close ones, to their brothers in arms to express the support and the tribute of the nation."
 
Sarkozy is heard through an interpreter on France 24.
 
Some analysts 10 say homeowners may be seeing their best year since the recession for selling. As NPR's Dave Mattingly tells us, the National Association of Realtors says the US housing sector’s coming off its best winter in years.
 
Existing home sales fell nearly 1% last month. But combined with December and January, this is the strongest winter home buying season in five years. Walter Maloney with National Association of Realtors says the improving job market and record-low interest rates are unleashing 11 some of that pent-up buyer demand. 
 
"We are looking for sales this year to be up about 7%."
 
Still, the number of first-time homebuyers dropped last month, and economists 12 caution the industry is still years away from full recovery. Dave Mattingly, NPR News, Washington.
 
At last glance on Wall Street, the Dow was down 23 points at 13,147 in trading of just over two billion shares; NASDAQ Composite Index gaining ground, up 13 points; it's at 3,087; and the S&P 500 up slightly at 1,406.
 
This is NPR News.
 
The United Nations Security Council has agreed on a statement supporting a peace effort in Syria. NPR's Kelly McEvers reports the vote comes as activists 13 say at least 25 people have been killed by government shelling in the city of Homs.
 
Activists in the Homs' neighborhood of Khaldiyeh say shelling by government troops has intensified 14 in the past two days. Khaldiyeh is a neighborhood where families from other neighborhoods fled in recent weeks. Hundreds of people have died in Homs so far this year, especially during a nearly month-long siege on the neighborhood of Baba Amr. Rebel fighters later retreated from the area. The statement passed by the Security Council says Syria will face "steps" if a UN peace plan is rejected. The plan calls for a ceasefire, dialogue between the government and the opposition 15 and access for humanitarian 16 aid. Russia and China vetoed earlier and more binding 17 resolutions on Syria at the council. Kelly McEvers, NPR News, Beirut.
 
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he backs a House Republican budget proposal that would reduce deficits 18 partly through cuts and benefit programs. However, he also says the spending cuts included in it should be accelerated. Santorum says he would be more aggressive in achieving budget savings 19, doing away with cost-of-living increases in federal grants to states for Medicaid and food stamps.
 
The Broncos is trading away quarterback Tim Tebow to the New York Jets just a day after Denver finalized 20 a deal to bring on Payton Minning, formerly 21 of the Colts. Tebow not only led the Broncos to the playoffs last season; his propensity 22 for getting down on one knee and praying inspired people around the world to post online photos, doing the same no matter what anyone else was doing came to be known as "Tebowing."
 
This is NPR.