National and World News from NPR

A U.S. soldier is in custody after he allegedly killed 16 Afghan villagers Sunday. The incident is one more blow to an already fragile relationship between the United States and Afghanistan. There are also questions of what the incident will do to the U.S.strategy in Afghanistan.

Japan is far from back to normal, after an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster devastated the northeastern part of the country a year ago. U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos talks to Steve Inskeep about his latest visit to the hard-hit region of Tohoku.

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In this country, many American kids are preparing for standardized tests. They're among the rites of spring and they cause a lot of stress. One Indiana school tries to manage that stress by obsessing over the test a little less. Rather than teaching every single thing on the test, they just teach how to take one. Here's Kyle Stokes of NPR member station WFIU.

KYLE STOKES, BYLINE: Quick - name the literary genres you learned about in school.

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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

This ranks among the more dismaying moments in a decade-long war. Americans have worked for years to position themselves as protectors of Afghans against murderous insurgents, and then yesterday a U.S. Army sergeant surrendered after a shooting rampage that left well over a dozen people dead. The list of those killed includes women and children, and the motive for the suspect remains unclear.

China is buying more abroad than it sells. February marked the largest trade deficit for China in at least a decade. Imports outpaced exports by $31.5 billion.

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And we're also reporting on violence on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The attacks stretched the weekend into today. Israeli airstrikes killed three more people today in Gaza - that Palestinian-held area - bringing the total to 21.

As Israelis have been bombing, Palestinians have been firing rockets into Israel. And NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro is following this story.

And Lourdes, what's the latest?

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For all the difficult relations the United States has with Iran, the two countries share many ties, including millions of Iranian-Americans. Ryan Seacrest and Bravo make them the focus of a new reality show called "The Shahs of Sunset." It examines the lavish lifestyles of some in Southern California's Iranian-American community. Amy Walters reports.

No need to be stingy with spices. Research from Penn State finds heavily spiced meals — think chicken curry with lots of turmeric, or desserts rich in cinnamon and cloves — may do the heart good.

"Elevated triglycerides are a risk factor for heart disease," explains researcher Sheila West.

Her study found that a spicy meal helps cut levels of triglycerides, a type of fat, in the blood — even when the meal is rich in oily sauces and high in fat.

Here's another good reason to lose weight: It might benefit your friends, family and co-workers. Such altruism might be just the final "nudge" some of us need.

Researchers are finding that the friends and family of obese and overweight individuals who lose weight lost weight themselves, and sometimes a lot of it. Dr. John Morton, who directs Bariatric Surgery at Stanford Hospital & Clinics, calls obesity a "family disease."