NPR 2012-03-07

 The Obama administration is out with new initiatives to help struggling homeowners. Under the plan outlined at the White House today, borrowers with FHA-insured mortgages will be able to refinance at half the fee currently charges. The president also says service members and veterans who have been wrongfully foreclosed upon that is will get additional compensation for their losses, on top of that announcing a settlement with major banks a few weeks ago. 

 
President Obama was also peppered with questions about escalating 1 tensions in the Middle East on the issue of Iran. The president says the world has a window of opportunity to convince Iran to suspend its nuclear work and any ambitions of building a weapon. But he’s not ruling out military action.
 
“My policy is not containment 2. My policy is to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon. Because if they get a nuclear weapon, that could trigger an arms race in the region. It would undermine our non-proliferation goals. It could potentially fall into the hands of terrorists.”
 
When asked to respond to calls for US-led air strikes on Syria, where a military crackdown on dissent 3 is believed to have killed thousands in the last year, President Obama says unilateral military action would be a mistake. He says the situation in Syria is more complicated than it was in Libya, where the US and allies helped rebels oust 4 Muammar Gaddafi last year.
 
The Obama reelection campaign is watching the outcome of this Super Tuesday primaries, where voting is underway in ten states and could determine who runs against the incumbent 5 in November. Newt Gingrich campaigns in Georgia and Alabama, while Mitt 6 Romney and Rick Santorum have focused on Ohio. NPR's Kathy Lohr reports Gingrich says it is the South that will keep him in the GOP race. 
 
Polls show Gingrich is far ahead in Georgia which he represented in Congress for 20 years. But it’s Romney and Santorum, who are battling it out in Ohio. Gingrich has now won a primary since South Carolina back in January. The former speaker predicts he’ll win his home state easily, and he’s already looking ahead to Alabama, visiting space camp in Huntsville, even though that state doesn't hold its primary until next week. Santorum hopes to win support in Oklahoma and Tennessee, places where Gingrich says he has the advantage as the non-Romney candidate. Kathy Lohr, NPR News, Atlanta.
 
Republicans who want to run for office in one South Carolina county may have to sign a pledge to not commit adultery or watch pornography if one local group gets its way. Bobby Smith, chairman of the Laurens County Republicans, says it's an attempt to encourage good values in the party's candidates. But the so-called purity pledge is unlikely to get the state GOP's endorsement 7, which says it would be illegal to prevent candidates who refuse to sign that pledge from getting on the ballot 8.
 
At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was down 196 at 12,766.
 
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The FBI is offering a one-million-dollar reward for information leading to the safe return of one of its retired 9 agents. Robert Levinson disappeared five years ago this week on Kish Island, Iran. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports authorities are worried about his health.
 
Levinson worked at the FBI for 22 years. Before he retired, he worked as a private detective. It was that job that sent him to Iran in March, 2007 where he went missing. US government officials believe he may be a hostage held by a group in Afghanistan or Pakistan. So they are launching a new reward campaign and putting out leaflets and billboards 10 across Southwest Asia. FBI Director Robert Mueller told Levinson's wife Christine that agents share her heartache and they are working every day to bring her husband home. Authorities released  a video of Levinson in 2010. But since then, there have been no public hints of his well-being 11 and no demands for a ransom 12. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
 
At least 37 people have been killed, dozens trapped by an avalanche 13 that's buried a village in Afghanistan. More from NPR's Ahmad Shafi.
 
Local authorities say the avalanche has destroyed more than 190 homes in the village of Dasty in Shekay district in Badakhshan province. Officials say they still fear scores of people remain trapped in the avalanche. Local authorities are asking the US-led NATO coalition 14 to send aid and helicopters. The area remains 15 closed by land because of the heavy snow. Badakhshan province lies in the northeastern corner of Afghanistan. The geography is dominated by the Hindu Kush Mountains that rise to more than 20,000 feet. Many areas of the province are only accessible by air. 
 
That's Ahmad Shafi reporting.