NPR 2011-06-10

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The top staff of Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign have resigned en masse. As NPR's Mara Liasson reports, their departure raises the question of whether the Gingrich campaign, rocky from the start, can go on.

Gingrich's entire staff in Iowa, his national consultants 1 and his long-time aide Rick Tyler have resigned. This occurred just as Gingrich came back from a controversial vacation in the Greek islands with his wife Callista. The Greek cruise was seen as yet another political problem for the former House speaker, who had raised eyebrows 2 when it was discovered he had once had a charge account at Tiffany's with a balance of over 250,000 dollars. Gingrich's former aides in Iowa complained that he wasn't doing what was necessary to get his campaign off the ground. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.

Defense 3 Secretary nominee 4 Leon Panetta says he thinks US troops should stay in Iraq past the end of the year if Baghdad asks. He called for a careful drawdown of troops from Afghanistan scheduled to start next month and for US allies to stay the course against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"I think there are some signs that if we continue the pressure, if we stick with it, that ultimately Gaddafi will step down."

The CIA director addressing the Senate Arms Services Committee today. He is seeking Senate confirmation 5 to succeed Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Abu Dhabi is hosting a meeting on a post-civil war Libya. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is there.

Clinton said she's aware that people close to Gaddafi have been making overtures 6 to negotiate his departure, but she says there's still no clear path forward. She says momentum 7 is building against him.

"We have very good reason to believe that time is on our side so long as we sustain the pressure."

She was speaking after a meeting of the so-called contact group on Libya. Clinton said there's growing support for the rebel government, the Transitional National Council. A new funding mechanism 8 was launched to help get aid and loans to the TNC. Italy, Turkey, Kuwait and Qatar were among the countries promising 9 hundreds of millions of dollars after the council agreed that a future Libyan government would pay back any loans. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Abu Dhabi.

President Obama is promising federal help to Arizona, saying as much in a phone call to government Jan Brewer 10, whose state is enduring its second largest ever wildfire. The Wallow blaze in eastern Arizona's White Mountains is 525 square miles, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate 11. Robbie Roberdu is staying at a Red Cross shelter for people with special needs, worrying whether her home will survive this fire.

"I had just bought my first trailer and my very own home, and it's still parked over and swing our villa 12, and I've been worried about being left homeless if are burned."

Fire officials say there's no immediate 13 threat to power lines affecting three states.

Dow was up 75.

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The US trade deficit 14 is narrowing. In April, the gap shrank by 6.7%, bolstered 15 by higher exports, but continued trouble in the jobs market. Jobless claims rose last week to 427,000. More from NPR's Yuki Noguchi.

Analysts 16 expected the Labor 17 Department's jobless claims numbers to decline slightly. Instead they ticked up. The fact that jobless claims for unemployment insurance keep registering above 400,000 reinforces that the labor market remains 18 stagnant 19 and weak. People are still losing their jobs, but the Labor Department's report last week indicated businesses are also reluctant to hire in large enough numbers to get people back to work. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

Some 275,000 nonprofit groups have lost their tax-exempt status for failing to file required forms with the Internal Revenue Service. Tax experts say most of the groups are defunct 20 as NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

The IRS has been warning nonprofits for several years that it would revoke 21 their tax-exempt status unless they filed a newly required tax form. The move is in part an effort to clean out the agency's files, which include the names of many nonprofits that no longer exist, but the National Council of Nonprofits worries that some volunteer-run groups might be affected 22 because they were unaware 23 of the new requirement. The IRS says that legitimate 24 organizations can apply to get their tax-exempt status reinstated. Some names on the list appear to reflect changes in tax-exempt operations. The Georgetown University Alumni Association, for example, is listed under a tax ID number that it does use now for fundraising. Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.

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