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From NPR news in Washington, I'm Paul Brown.

A suicide truck bomber took down part of a major bridge in Baghdad today plunging cars into the Tigris River killing at least 8 people and injuring more than two dozen. The blast happened before rush hour on the bridge linking a predominantly Sunni neighborhood with a mostly Shiite neighborhood. Active duty army units in Iraq and Afghanistan and those heading there will spend more time on those missions than they anticipated. Their tours of duty are being extended past the normal 12 months. NPR's Tom Bowman reports on the change announced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday.
Secretary Gates made public what many were predicting--the tough on-going missions in Iraq and Afghanistan will require longer stays for US soldiers. “Effective immediately active army units now in the central command there have responsibility. And those headed there will deploy for not more than 15 months and will return home to home station for not less than 12 months." Up until now the Pentagon extended soldiers depending on the security situation often for 3 or 4 months, sometimes at the last minute. That was hard on both soldiers and their families. The extended tours are mainly needed for a new security plan which calls for an increase of about 29,000 US troops, mostly to secure Baghdad. Gates says that increased troop level in Iraq could last in to next spring. Tom Bowman NPR news, the Pentagon.


Today a federal prisoner will testify before the Senate Finance Committee about how easy it was for him to fraudulently obtain tax refunds through identity theft. The testimony comes despite an extraordinary effort by the Bush administration to stop it. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.
Following a procedure that goes back to the founding of the Republic, Chief Judge Thomas Hogan routinely signed an order earlier this month telling the federal government to produce the prisoner for a Congressional testimony. But the Bush Administration aimed the move thought to be unprecedented, thought to crash the order containing that the Courts had no power to order the prisoner transferred. Judge Hogan however overruled the objection and declared that the executive branch does not have the power to thwart Congressional oversight by denying the availability of needed witnesses who are in federal custody. The Justice Department said it would not appeal and today the prisoner testifies about his schemes to use identity theft to file for fraudulent tax refunds. Nina Totenberg NPR news, Washington.


Charges of rape and sexual assault against 3 former Duke University lacrosse players have been dropped. The North Carolina Attorney General says the men are innocent, that the woman accusing them contradicted herself repeatedly and that the local district attorney overreached.


MSNBC has cancelled its TV simulcast of shock jock Don Imus' morning radio show, and CBS which distributes the show has suspended Imus for two weeks after derogatory racial remarks.


This is NPR news.

Massachusetts is expected to approve a plan today requiring almost every citizen to buy health insurance. But under a deal struck with critic some will be exempted. NPR's Richard Knox reports.
Under the compromised obit, 60,000 people in a population of 6.3 million will be required to buy health insurance beginning July 1st. Low income citizens were threatening revolt of the State required people to buy coverage they couldn't afford. Officials agreed to raise subsidies for the poorest and exempt 20% of the uninsured from the requirement. Reverend Hurmon Hamilton, an advocate for the poor called the compromise a national model. “Everybody is watching Massachusetts. You have to find way to get as many people insured as possible without doing harm to those who are the most vulnerable." Now the State must persuade 260,000 uninsured people that they can’t afford to sign up for a new ray of new health plans. Richard Knox NPR news, Boston.


The satirical novelist Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday in New York City at age of 84. He had suffered brain injuries after a fall at his home there weeks ago. Vonnegut captured the absurdity of war and darkly humorous works, such as Slaughterhouse-Five. The title comes from an underground meat locker where Vonnegut and other POWs huddled during the fire bombing of Dresden Germany during World WarⅡ. In a 2003 interview with NPR, Vonnegut described the experience. “What I saw. What I have to report made war look so ugly. You know, the truth can be really powerful stuff you don’t expecting." Slaughterhouse-Five was published in 1969 during the Vietnam War and became an instant best-seller. It since became an anti-war classic.

I'm Paul Brown, NPR news in Washington.

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