NPR 2012-02-01

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Everyone seems very excited to no longer hear ads on the radio and see them on television. Everyone that I've talked to today is fed up with the negative advertising⁵ and is looking forward to casting their votes and being done with all of the political bombardment.

 

That's NPR's Susannah George.

 

Well, the stakes are high and the money is certainly big, evident in the first disclosure documents out today. NPR's Peter Overby says according to the report, donors⁶ gave up long before Rick Perry dropped out of the race two weeks ago.

 

Texas Governor Perry launched his campaign back in August with a gusher⁷ of cash from conservative allies, especially in his home state. Nearly seven million dollars in the first three weeks, which turned out to be more than double what he got over the past three months. Perry's year-end report to the Federal Election Commission shows fourth quarter fundraising came to just 2.9 million dollars. He burned through 14 million dollars before giving up his White House bid and endorsing⁸ former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Reports from Gingrich and the other GOP candidates are due to be filed by midnight tonight. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

 

Despite some recent signs of recovery in housing, a report out today shows another drop in home prices in the United States. NPR's Dave Mattingly reports prices dropped in 19 of 20 major cities surveyed in November.

 

Only Phoenix⁹, all home prices go up in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Index. Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta saw the steepest declines. Chief economist¹⁰ David Crowe with the National Association of Home Builders says it's a different story in many smaller cities and towns.

 

"There is[are] recoveries going on, and they’re scattered¹¹, so they don't show up in national numbers, but they do show up in local economies, and so we're seeing some bounce back in home prices and in home purchases."

 

Home prices on average are off a third nationwide since the housing boom ended. Dave Mattingly, NPR News, Washington.

 

The Greek finance minister is calling it a pretty much done deal. He says the country is just a step away from being able to write off half of its privately¹² held debt, and he’s now working on new austerity measures.

 

At last check on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average down 61 points at 12,593; NASDAQ off six at 2,806.

 

This is NPR News.

 

More than 20 Chinese workers are being held in Egypt, according to state-run China Central Television. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Shanghai this is the second abduction of Chinese in North Africa in recent days.

 

Local tribes, many in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, seized the workers who were employed at a cement plant, according to China Central Television. Reuters said the tribes there were demanding Egypt free some of their fellow members who were jailed after a 2004 bombing of a Red Sea resort that left 31 people dead. The abductions came as another kidnapping of Chinese enters its fourth day in Sudan. And over the weekend, Sudanese rebels abducted¹³ 29 Chinese workers who were doing road building in Sudan's South Kordofan State. The two abductions, while apparently¹⁴ unrelated, underscore how far China's business interests have spread around the globe. In much of Africa, Chinese companies are known and to some degree admired for their willingness to work in tough and often dangerous conditions. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Shanghai.

 

A judge in Washington says the federal government has to notify one of the last major Occupy encampments if it intends to close a downtown park to protesters. According to the Associated Press, US District Judge James Boasberg also ruled today that the Occupy DC activists¹⁵ will have a chance to contest any eviction¹⁶ plans.

 

The US is suspected of a drone strike in southern Yemen that killed at least four people today. Officials say the strikes targeted leaders from Yemen's al-Qaeda branch. They say those killed include a man suspected of playing a role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.

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