The ACN Morning Report Wednesday March 20, 2013

GOOD MORNING! TODAY IS WEDNESDAY MARCH 20, 2013. HERE ARE TODAY'S TOP AND MOST INTERESTING HEADLINES FROM ACN:

55 Killed In Iraq On Anniversary -- Ohio Gunman Mocks Victims' Families -- Senate Dems Drop Assault Weapons -- Cyprus Uncertainty Puts EU In Jeopardy -- Pentagon Bans 60MM Mortars After Deaths -- Contingency Plans Underway For Syria

ATTACK CLAIMS 55 LIVES ON IRAQ ANNIVERSARY

Baghdad (CNN) -- At least 55 people were killed and scores more wounded when bombs exploded across Iraq on Tuesday, a stark reminder of the violence and instability that grips the country 10 years after the start of the U.S.-led war.

The attacks -- 17 car bombs, seven roadside bombs, and two shootings -- ripped mostly through Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, but also struck Sunni communities in other towns. At least 187 people were wounded.

TEENAGE GUNMAN IN OHIO MOCKS VICTIMS' FAMILY 

Thomas Lane wore a T-shirt with KILLER scrawled in black ink during his sentencing Tuesday in an Ohio courtroom for shooting and killing three students in a high school cafeteria and wounding two others last year.

Mr. Lane, 18, was sentenced to three life sentences without parole. He pleaded guilty last month to opening fire on the morning of Feb. 27, 2012, with a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic pistol at Chardon High School while waiting for a bus to attend an alternative high school.

SENATE LEADERS DROP ASSAULT WEAPONS FROM GUN SAFETY BILL

Three months after the mass shooting of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school outraged the nation, Senate Democratic leaders are dropping an assault-weapon ban from gun legislation.

While public opinion polls show most Americans support an assault-weapon ban, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday the proposal has fewer than 40 votes in the 100-member chamber. Its sponsor, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, will be given a chance to offer the measure as an amendment to gun legislation that Democrats will introduce, second-ranking Democrat Dick Durbin told reporters.

EURO ON DEFENSIVE AS CYPRUS PARLIAMENT DISREGARDS BANK TAX, MARKETS EYE BERNANKE

(Reuters) - The euro was pinned near four-month lows against the U.S. dollar in Asia on Wednesday after Cyprus' rejection of bailout terms seemed to threaten default or even expulsion from the euro zone.

The general assumption in markets is that the European Union, as so often before, will hash out a last minute deal that keeps Cyprus in the single currency.

PENTAGON BANS 60 MM MORTAR ROUNDS 

HAWTHORNE, Nev. (AP) - A mortar shell explosion killed at least seven Marines and injured several more during mountain warfare training in Nevada's high desert, prompting the Pentagon to immediately halt the use of the weapons until an investigation can determine their safety, officials said Tuesday. The explosion occurred Monday night at the Hawthorne Army Depot, a sprawling facility used by troops heading overseas, during an exercise involving the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C. Several Marines from the unit were injured in the blast, authorities said.

COMMANDER: CONTINGENCY PLANS UNDERWAY FOR SYRIA

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top U.S. military commander in Europe said Tuesday that several NATO countries are working on contingency plans for possible military action to end the two-year civil war in Syria as President Bashar Assad's regime accused U.S.-backed Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons.