From NPR news in Washington, I’m Lakshmi Singh.

Five states are holding republican primaries today. Mitt Romney is expecting victories in all of them. That will get him that much closer to the number of delegates needed to clinch(达成) the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. But as NPR’s Ari Shapiro explains, Romney will be a no-show in today’s primary voting states. Instead he’ll watch results tonight from New Hampshire.

There’s no suspense in tonight’s results. This is the first primary contest since Rick Santorum ended his presidential campaign, clearing the way for Mitt Romney to take the nomination. Today voters will cast their ballots in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Romney has spent good amount of time campaigning in Pennsylvania over the last few weeks, that’s because it’s likely to be an important swing state in the general election. He’ll deliver speech tonight in Manchester, New Hampshire, looking ahead to the contest against President Obama in the fall. New Hampshire is where Romney formally announced his presidential campaign. This state was also his first win during this year’s primary and caucus season. Ari Shapiro, NPR news.

President Obama may have been taking a campaign, swiped(尖刻的评论) his likely republican challenger Mitt Romney when he addressed students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill today. He told the crowd that he and the first lady totally related to their struggles to pay off their federal student loans.

"Michele and I’ve been in your shoes. I guess that we didn’t come from wealthy families so when we graduated from college law school, we had amount of it. When we married, we got poor together.”

The President is urging congress to extend the 2007 law that has slashed student loan interest rates to 3.4%. He says if the law expires this July, the rates will double.

James Murdoch, the former chairman of News International has appeared before British inquiry today to talk about how much he may have known about phone hacking on his watch of the now defunct(死去的) paper. Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, resigned as chairman in February. His father is scheduled to appear before the panel tomorrow.

The UN observers, sent to monitor Syria ceasefire, say they’re not fool. Members have said they are aware that cities they visit go quiet, but once they leave, the violence resumes. The spokesman for envoy, Kofi Anna also says satellite images reconfirm Syria has not withdrawn all of its heavy weapons from populated areas as promised.

Ford Motor Company is shutting its junk status for the first time since 2005, Fitch Ratings has restored Ford’s credit rating new investment grade. The spokesman says the automaker’s assets will be released as collateral once it gets a nod from a second ratings agency. Ford’s credit rating suffered when the company mortgaged its asset to borrow enough money to avoid bankruptcy.

At last check on Wall Street. Dow was up 65 points; Nasdaq off 14. You’re listening to NPR news.

A report out today on home prices in the US shows it’s still a buyers’ market. NPR’s Dave Mattingly reports latest S&P/Case-Shiller index shows the six consecutive monthly declines in home prices.

The index tracks home prices in 20 major cities across the US. For the month of February, prices dropped in sixteen of them. The biggest declines were in Atlanta, Chicago and Cleveland. And compared to the same month last year, home prices went down in 15 cities. Sellers did catch a break in Miami, Phoenix and San Diego, cities where home prices rose during the month. NPR’s Dave Mattingly reporting.

The nation’s largest life insurer is making good on money it owes to beneficiaries. MetLife has agreed to pay nearly 500 million dollars in a settlement that as NPR’s John Schneider explains involves more than 30 states.

The states are working together into an investigation into insurance company’s alleged misuse of social security death record. Regulators say MetLife should’ve been more aggressive about tracking down beneficiaries. California is one of the lead states. John Chiang is the state controller. “But they were fine to aggressively do the right thing, they would check the Death Master File, identify those people who are entitled to be insurance postage, return the money earlier.”

Another state official says the MetLife settlement and earlier agreements with John Hancock in potential could force the hands of other companies. MetLife says it’s working with regulators and that it will pay about 188 million dollars this year, but the remainder over the next 17 years. John Schneider, NPR news, Washington.

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR news in Washington.