From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

 

　　President Obama says the days when North Korea could create a crisis and win concessions from the international community are over. NPR's Craig Windham reports Obama was speaking at a joint news conference at the White House with South Korea's visiting President Park Geun-hye.

 

　　Speaking through an interpreter, Park said she and President Obama see eye to eye on North Korea.

 

　　The president and I reaffirm that we will by no means tolerate North Korea's threats and provocations and that such actions would only deepen North Korea's isolation.

 

　　Although Obama says the U.S. and South Korea remain open to the possibility of North Korea choosing a more peaceful path.

 

　　So far at least, we haven't seen actions on the part of the North Koreans that would indicate they're prepared to move in a different direction.

 

　　So the president says the U.S. will maintain a deterrent to counter any threat from North Korea. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington.

 

　　The administration is pledging swift changes in the way, it addresses sexual assault in the military after the Pentagon found the number of people violated in the past year, may be as high as 26,000. The report comes days after the airforce's head of sexual assault prevention was arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman.

 

　　Cleveland authorities say they are working to understand why and how three women were held captive in a Cleveland house for roughly a decade. Bryant Ball of member station WCPN reports three brothers have been arrested.

 

　　Ariel Castro owned the house on Cleveland's west side. He and his two brothers were taken into custody last night after Amanda Berry who had been held captive for ten years in the house, escaped with the help of a neighbor and called police. The other two women, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, were found in the house along the six-year-old that authorities believed to be Berry's girl. At today's press conference, Steven Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Cleveland operations, praised the women.

 

　　These three young ladies have provided us with the ultimate definition of survival and perseverance. The healing can now begin.

 

　　All three women were released today from a local hospital. For NPR News, I'm Bryant Ball in Cleveland.

 

　　The U.S. and Russia reportedly have agreed to hold a joint international conference on the Syrian crisis. State Secretary John Kerry in Moscow where he's been urging the government to toughen its stance against the Syrian government. Russia is one of the Assad regime's most powerful allies.

 

　　Outraged hundreds of garment workers who survived the building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, weeks ago are demanding financial compensation for their ordeal. More than 600 people were killed when the Rana Plaza building caved in. The tragedy is renewing  questions over safety oversight in that country and heightening scrutiny over global retailers who do business in Bangladesh.

 

　　Before the closing bell, Dow was up 87 points at 15,056.

 

　　You are listening to NPR News.

 

　　People seem to have scaled back their use of credit cards. The Federal Reserve says consumer borrowing rose by $8 billion from February to March, the smallest increase in months.

 

　　Mexican authorities are reporting dozens of deaths and injuries from a gas tanker explosion in the suburb of Mexico city this morning. They say the tanker truck lost control hit a medium and exploded on the highway in a residential area. People rushed at the scene of burning cars and damaged homes to help victims. Officials say they fear the death toll which reached 20 will rise in the coming hours.

 

　　Ray Harryhausen, the visual effects pioneer, who stopped action models, brought dinosaurs, skeletons, Cyclops and giant apes to life on screen has died. He was 92 years old. NPR's Bob Mondello has this appreciation.

 

　　It was seen the movie King Kong when he was 13 that started Ray Harryhausen sculpted miniatures and he was working on icon sequel Mighty Joe Young years later that made him a master of Stop-Motion Animation. Other monster movies put actors in rubber suits . Harryhausen made creatures no human could inhabit for such films as 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and It Came from Beneath the Sea. His art was eventually eclipsed by computer effects. But his work fired the imagination of such filmmakers who were also once 13-year-old, as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Bob Mondello, NPR News.

 

　　At last check on Wall Street, Dow was up 87 points at 15,056.

 

　　I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, in Washington.