No planes will be found[fine?]flying into or out of Lougan airport overnight. Director of Aviation Ed Freney says all flights Friday morning have been cancelled.

 

“Friday morning, we don’t expect to really start up operations somewhere before noontime.”

 

Freney advises passengers to call their airlines for information about flights. Most airlines have agreed to wait/waive fees for changing reservations. Forecasters are expecting up to 14 inches of snow in Massachusetts. The city of Boston declared a snow emergence and public schools will be closed Friday. For NPR News, I’m Eibic Pjudal. 

 

Two of the major newspapers that had published information from documents released by accused National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden are saying that rather than punishment, he should be praised for his disclosures. Both the New York Times and Britain’s Guardian newspaper say the former NSA contractor \has helped to spark a global debate over civil liberties and surveillance and should be granted clemency. [Stepped in the]Snowden's activities in terms of leaking top-secret NSA documents on US surveillance practices, [there’s gonna be/he's gonna face] espionage charges in the US. Snowden is currently in Russia.

 

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are on/in Afghanistan, meeting with US and Afghan officials. NPR’s Sean Carberry reports the senators believe the two countries are getting closer to signing a security agreement. It would allow US troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond this year.

 

Senator McCain says the agreement is essential for the security of Afghanistan and the US. 

 

“We don’t want to see a repeat of what happened in Iraq, where we won the war and lost the peace because of a complete withdrawal.”

 

McCain says the differences over the bilateral security agreement(or BSA) have narrowed to the point that a deal could be signed in the coming weeks. But President Karzai says he still wants the US to stop raids on Afghan homes and to start the peace process with the Taliban before signing the BSA. 

 

“The best way to get the peace progress moving is a/the signing of the BSA.”

 

McCain says that will show the Taliban that the US is not going to abandon Afghanistan. Sean Carberry, NPR News, Kabul.

 

Fewer Americans were filing first-time claims of/for unemployment benefits last week. The Labor Department says weekly jobless claims fell by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 339,000 as companies appeared to be lying(laying) off fewer employees and boosting hiring. Before [we’re]the moving average was higher [than/that one part of frungchin]though in part a reflection of seasonal volatility around Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, the nation’s unemployment rate declined to 7% in November. The jobless figures for December are due out next week.

 

A slow start on Wall Street for the first official trading day of 2014. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 135 points to close at 16,441; the NASDAQ dropped 33 points; the S&P 500 fell 16 points. 

 

You’re listening to NPR News in Washington.

 

Authorities in Iraq say more than a dozen people are dead [upwards/afterwards/with a] - upwards of, 30/Thirty others were(who are) wounded today when a vehicle bomb exploded in a street full of shoppers. The bombing took place Thursday evening local time in a city northeast of Baghdad as people were doing [arrants/errants]errands. Authorities say an explosives-laden pickup truck blew [out of/up on/at]up on about a commercial street, destroying several shops. In the other attacks, a number of people were killed and wounded when authorities say a bomb exploded aboard a minibus in Baghdad. 

 

A Catholic Church official serving time for his handling of child sex abuse claim/claims has been released from prison. NPR’s Jeff Brady reports Monsignor William Lynn is out on bail after his conviction was overturned.

 

A Pennsylvania appeals court reversed Monsignor Lynn’s child endangerment conviction last month. Justices ruled he was improperly prosecuted under a law passed after he committed the crime. A jury convicted Lynn in 2012 after prosecutors argued that he relocated problem priests to new parishes instead of notifying police. Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams says his office will try to reinstate the conviction, but meanwhile, Lynn is free on 250,000 dollars’ bail. As part of his release, Lynn also agreed to surrender his passport and submit to an electronic monitoring. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Philadelphia. 

 

Fifty-two passengers have spent nine days aboard a trapped research vessel in the ice of Antarctica have been flown into safety. Officials came from a helicopter and the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon ferried the passengers safely in small groups, [transforming]transferring them to an Australian supply ship. Meanwhile, the ship’s 22 crewmembers(crew members) plan to stay aboard the wellstark/well-stocked vessel until it’s free/freed from the ice. A Russian-owned ship left New Zealand in November, but [it came]became trapped in ice reportedly three meters thick in some spots.