NPR 2012-02-01

 All eyes are on the Florida primary which could be a game-changer in the race for the GOP's presidential nomination 1. Polls show the field afore is led by Mitt 2 Romney and Newt Gingrich, both of whom have spent recent weeks unleashing 3 a barrage 4 of attack ads on each other. NPR's Susannah George is at a polling site outside Orlando where she says many voters are happy it'll all be over in just a few hours.

 
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 advertising 5 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, donors 6 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 gusher 7 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 endorsing 8 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 Phoenix 9, all home prices go up in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Index. Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta saw the steepest declines. Chief economist 10 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 scattered 11, 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 privately 12 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 abducted 13 29 Chinese workers who were doing road building in Sudan's South Kordofan State. The two abductions, while apparently 14 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 activists 15 will have a chance to contest any eviction 16 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.