Reports of gunfire inside the Interior Ministry were followed by a NATO statement that two service members are dead after an individual turned his weapon on them. An official in the ministry confirmed the casualties were US army officers of high rank. American officials say they are investigating how US soldiers came to burn copies of the Muslim holy book at an American air base, but apologies from the White House and American commanders have not dampened the anger. Demonstrators clashed with police outside a UN compound in northern Afghanistan. Earlier this week, two American troops were killed by an Afghan army soldier in the east of the country. Quil Lawrence, NPR News, Kabul.

 

Pakistani intelligence officials say a US drone crashed today in North Waziristan, not far from the Afghan border. Taliban fighters claimed they shot it down. US officials denied this and declined to provide any other information. 

 

Meanwhile, Pakistani workers today began demolishing the three-story compound where Osam bin Ladan had lived for years before being killed by US commandos last May.   

 

The Red Cross and other groups are trying again today to rescue the wounded from the besieged Syrian city of Homs. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

 

Opposition activists said the initial evacuations brought women and children out of the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs. They were conflicting accounts of how many were evacuated, possibly as many as 27. French journalist Edith Bouvier and British photographer Paul Conroy remain in Baba Amr, according to activists, not wishing to be the first ones evacuated. The bodies of journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik are also still there. A Red Cross spokesman says talks with Syrian authorities are ongoing. Meanwhile, an activist in Homs said shelling of several neighborhoods in the city has resumed. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Beirut.

 

In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney is emphasizing his local roots three days ahead of Michigan's primary. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports Romney is on a snowy bus tour across the state.

 

Romney has always talked about his family on the Michigan campaign trail, lately though the references have been multiplying. In Lansing, he talked about the hospital where he was born, his father's gubernatorial campaign and his dad's inauguration on a snowy day like this one.

 

“As I recall, they'd also just changed the slogan of the state. It used to be Water Wonderland. Remember on the license plates? It said Water Wonderland. They changed it to Winter Water Wonderland. Now it was hard just to say it but to get it on a license plate proved to be impossible.”

 

Romney has seemed more relaxed on this bus trip that may reflect the fact that he has closed the wide lead Rick Santorum held a week ago. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Lansing, Michigan.

 

Santorum and Ron Paul are also campaigning in Michigan. Newt Gingrich is in California because it holds its primary until June.

 

This is NPR News.

 

With a little more than a week before a presidential election in Russia, thousands of demonstrators marched through the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's hometown today, demanding that he resign. NPR's Martha Wexler reports he’s facing an uncomfortable wave of protests.

 

An estimated 10,000 Russians marched through St. Petersburg, carrying signs with slogans like “Putin, we are your employers, and you are fired.” An opposition leader told the crowd to vote for anyone but Putin, who's already served two terms as president and one as prime minister. Anti-Putin protests broke out after parliamentary elections in December that were tainted by fraud. Tomorrow activists are planning to form a human chain around Moscow's ring road. The Kremlin has responded by mobilizing pro-Putin crowds, including tens of thousands who packed a Moscow stadium this past week, many bused in from other cities. Martha Wexler, NPR News, Moscow.

 

A court in Milan ruled today a corruption case against Silvio Berlusconi must be dismissed because the statue of limitations has expired. The former Italian prime minister was charged with paying British lawyer David Mills 600,000 dollars to lie during two trials in the 90s involving the billionaire's business dealings. Berlusconi has said that Mills was one of many lawyers who worked for him and doesn't recall ever meeting him. Berlusconi still faces several other trials in Milan.

 

Former South African President Nelson Mandela is back in the hospital. The government issued a statement that he's being treated for a long-standing stomach ailment. Mandela is 93 and has not been making public appearances for more than a year. He became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for opposing apartheid.

 

I'm Nora Raum, NPR News in Washington.