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

 

　　Investors are reacting to indications the Fed may curtail its stimulus efforts. At last check on Wall Street, Dow was down more than 200 points at 15,113. The major US stock indexes all down more than 1%. Earlier Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank may soon be ready to start scaling back its sweeping bond-buying program aimed at boosting the economy and the pace of job creation. NPR's Craig Windham reports Bernanke says the Fed will start reducing its monthly purchases of bonds later this year and end them by the middle of next year if the unemployment rate drops to about 7% by then.

 

　　Bernanke emphasized that the bond buying will be scaled back only if the Fed's projections hold true.

 

　　”If the incoming data support the view that the economy is able to sustain a reasonable cruising speed, we will ease the pressure on the accelerator by gradually reducing the pace of purchases.”

 

　　Bernanke says the economy's fundamentals are looking better.

 

　　”In particular the housing sector, which has been a drag on growth since the crisis, is now obviously a support to growth.”

 

　　The biggest impediment to growth of this year has been the federal spending cuts mandated by the sequester. But despite that, Bernanke says the economy is still growing at a moderate pace. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington. President Obama and the First Lady depart Berlin this hour following a week of talks at the G8 summit and later in Germany over the Syrian crisis plans to launch negotiations on a sweeping US-European Union trade deal and calls for reduced nuclear arsenals. FBI Director Robert Mueller tells Congress his agency uses drones to monitor activities on American soil. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports those drones are rarely deployed.

 

　　In what could be his last appearance in the US Senate before his retirement in September, the FBI director answered questions about the bureau's drone technology. Robert Mueller told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee the FBI owns a small number of drones and they’re used for surveillance purposes.

 

　　“Well, it’s very seldom used and generally used in a particular incident, where you need the capability.”

 

　　The FBI director said the agency's developing a policy those surveillance drones. They would spell out privacy protections for Americans. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also have drones. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

 

　　Afghan President Hamid Karzai is boycotting peace talks with the Taliban. He says he wants Afghanistan not the US to take the lead in those negotiations.

 

　　At last check on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average down 206 points; 1.3%, at 15,112; NASDAQ off 39 at 3,443; S&P 500 down 26 at 1,629. This is NPR News.

 

　　Tens of thousands of Brazilians continue to stage protests in cities across Brazil over high taxes, poor-quality public services and government corruption. The mass demonstrations exploded acorss the nation after last week's 10-cent hike in public transportation fares. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from S?o Paulo the protests now appear to be taking on a life of their own with the next big protest scheduled for tomorrow.

 

　　A lot of the concerns and a lot of the things that the protesters are asking for aren’t going to be resolved in a few days, a few weeks even a few years. Large-scale infrastructure projects, investment in health and education, these are things that take a lot of time. (until为口误) It's unclear exactly what the government can do to stop those protests now.

 

　　NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro.

 

　　Dolce & Gabbana, the famed designers behind countless red carpet looks, are facing jail time. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli says a Milan court sentenced the dual today to a year and eight months in prison for failing to declare more than a billion dollars in income to authorities.

 

　　Lawyers for the celebrity designers said they would appeal, and under Italian law the sentence will be suspended, pending a final ruling which could take some years. Prosecutors accused Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana (of) having evaded taxes on their income through a Luxembourg-based company called Gado, an acronym on their surnames, in an effort to defraud the Italian state. One prosecutor said there was solid evidence that the designers had committed sophisticated tax evasion. The Dolce & Gabbana brand, one of the top names in Milan fashion, was founded in 1985, and employs more than 3,000 people, and has 250 shops in 40 countries across the world. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

 

　　US stocks trading lower before the closing bell following news from the Fed.

 

　　This is NPR.