NPR 2012-04-05

 US stocks are retreating partly on news of Spain's weak bond auction 1, which's stoking new fears of European debt crisis. Last week, Spain announced tax hikes and deep spending cuts. The price of gold has fallen to its lowest level since January. At last glance on Wall Street, the Dow was down 120 points, nearly 1%, at 13,079.

 
The STOCK Act is formally law. President Obama signed legislation today that bars members of Congress, the president and thousands of federal workers from profiting off non-public information learned on the job.
 
“We should limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries that they have the power to impact. We should make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for Congress can't lobby Congress, and vice 2 versa.”
 
Provisions of the law will be enforced, beginning this summer. 
 
About 2,000 people are losing their jobs at Yahoo. The Internet company says it has to make cuts in order to effectively position the company in better financial standing 3. But the broader job market in the US appears brighter. A payroll 4 processing group says companies have been hiring more people in recent months. The monthly jobs report comes out on Friday.  
 
Dallas-Fort Worth is cleaning up today after getting hit by as many as a dozen tornados 5 yesterday afternoon. We have the details from NPR's Wade 6 Goodwyn.
 
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings called it a miracle that no one was killed.
 
“The Dallas-Fort Worth area really dodged 7 a bullet. I mean, we've got hundreds and hundreds of homes destroyed, but amazingly no fatalities 8.”
 
There was widespread damage. The suburbs Forney and Lancaster got it worse, with roofs ripped off and the leafless trees that signal (slip) dangerous twisters come through. More than 500 flights have been canceled at DFW today as planes are inspected for hail damage. The most inconvenient 9 group, school children, who arrived home to complain they had spent four hours cooped up in bathrooms and hallways, bored stiff after the initial excitement. Wade Goodwyn, NPR News, Dallas.
 
There is word that Syrian troops are starting to pull out of some of the calmer areas of the military's year-old conflict with rebels. NPR's Grant Clark reports that President Bashar al-Assad is publicly reaffirming his commitment to a UN-backed deadline for Syrian forces to withdraw from towns and cities in less than a week.
 
The official who asked not to be named told the Associated Press soldiers were returning to their bases in calm areas and pulling back to the outskirts 10 of ten cities. But opposition 11 activists 12 deny any sign of a military withdrawal 13 or retreat. Shelling is reportedly continuing in the cities of Homs, Hama and Edlib, where activists say they have noticed there's some scaling down of checkpoints as in the port city of Latakia. 
 
That's NPR's Grant Clark reporting.
 
Dow was down 120 points. 
 
This is NPR News.
 
Now that Mitt 14 Romney is closer to clinching 15 the GOP presidential nomination 16 after his latest primary victories, his campaign is launching a joint 17 fundraising effort with the Republican National Committee (slip) in preparation for the big November vote. Details from NPR's Peter Overby.
 
The GOP effort lets donors 18 write a single check for the Romney campaign committee, the national committee and several party committees in battleground states. The total — as much as 75,800 dollars or 15 times the legal limit for Romney's committee alone. The money chase this year is so relentless 19. The RNC couldn't wait till the primaries were over. A Romney spokeswomen said donors are ready to mobilize for November and understand they need to get started now. This joint fundraising is completely unrelated to the independent super PAC supporting Romney. The biggest contribution it's gotten so far is three million dollars. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.
 
The suspect in the shooting rampage at a religious school in Oakland, California this week is expected to make his first court appearance within hours. One Goh is accused in the deaths of seven people. The 43-year-old South Korean native is being held without bail 20. 
 
The Associated Press has been reporting the Greece's track and field federation 21 has suspended all sports operations after Greece made deep cuts in state funding as part of its broad austerity measures. The suspension comes just one month before Greece holds the Olympic flame lighting 22 ceremony in Ancient Olympia for the 2012 London Games. 
 
US stocks seeing losses today, with the Dow off 120 points; NASDAQ down 51; and the S&P 500 down 14 points.
 
I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.