News From NPR

It's been a week since the Boston Marathon bombing, and people are still wondering why they happened. Media sources have suggested possible motivations, like the suspects turning to radical Islam. Host Michel Martin gets perspective on how young Muslims are reacting to this case, and how Islamic extremists are spotted. She hears from AbdelRahman Murphy, a youth director at a Tennessee mosque; and Mohamed Elibiary, who works with radicalized Muslim youth.

Freshman Sen. Rand Paul insists that he won't decide until next year whether a 2016 presidential run is in his future.

But comments the Kentucky Tea Party Republican made this week at a newsmaker breakfast about a run — "we're considering it" — as well as upcoming speaking engagements in early caucus and primary states Iowa and New Hampshire suggest serious consideration.

Reaching the victims of Saturday's strong earthquake in China's Sichuan province remains difficult because of aftershocks and landslides.

According to Voice of America:

There was a 0.6 percent dip in sales of existing homes in March from February, the National Association of Realtors reports, because the supply of homes for sale has tightened as the number of would-be buyers rises.

Its data suggest that sales ran at a 4.92 million annual rate last month, falling from a "downwardly revised" pace of 4.95 million the month before.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One of the most startling aspects of Friday's bombing investigation was the shutdown of most of a major metropolitan area. That's rarely, if ever, happened in quite this way. The people around Boston affected Juliette Kayyem, who will talk with us about what this means. She's a former top Homeland Security official from Massachusetts and for the Obama administration. She is now a columnist for the Boston Globe, and her family was locked down on Friday in the Boston area. Welcome to the program, Juliette.