NPR 2008-10-04

The House passed a reworked version of the government's financial bailout plan early this afternoon. Speaking outside the White House today, President Bush applauded the action. NPR's Yuki Noguchi has more.

President Bush thanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders for helping 1 craft the bill. "Taken together, these steps represent decisive action to ease the credit crunch 2 that is now threatening our economy. With a smoother flow of credit, more businesses will be able to stock their shelves and meet their payrolls 3; more families will be able to get loans for cars and homes and college education." The president seemed to acknowledge the majority in his own party who still voted against the measure. "I believe government intervention 4 should occur only when necessary. In this situation, action is clearly necessary." And he also asked for patience. The impact of the bill, he said, won't be felt immediately. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

A day after his debate with Republican rival Sarah Palin, Democratic vice 5 presidential candidate Joe Biden was back in his home state of Delaware today to say goodbye to his son as he prepares to deploy 6 to Iraq. Biden told soldiers outside the state Capitol that his heart is "full of love and pride". He takes comfort in knowing his son junior is among the best prepared group of citizen-soldiers the US has ever put in harm's way. Palin, for her part, has a 19-year-old son who went to Iraq earlier this month.

Last night's vice presidential debate also set a record of sorts and now appears to have been the most watched vice presidential debate in history, drawing almost 70 million viewers. That's according to Nielsen Media Research. By way of comparison, the first of three scheduled presidential debates between Barack Obama and John McCain drew just 52.4 million viewers.

The job market shrank last month by nearly 160,000 jobs. September marked the ninth straight month of decline. And economists 8 say it's one more piece of evidence the economy is in recession. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.

The last time the economy lost this many jobs was more than five years ago when the country was emerging from the last recession. The biggest drops last month came in the usual troubled sectors 9. Construction and manufacturing lost more than 80,000 jobs combined and once healthier as like retail 10 trade are now reeling. Analysts 11 predict the nation's credit problem will claim even more jobs. John Silver is an economist 7 with Wachovia. "I would say that over the next three to six months, the average job loss will probably be 120,000 to 140,000 a month. So it's just the credit availability, credit crunch problem has really accelerated here." While the number of jobs fell in September, the unemployment rate actually stayed the same at 6.1%. But analysts don't expect that to last. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 157 points. For the week, the Dow lost 7%. The S&P 500 fell 15 points. The NASDAQ lost 29 points.

This is NPR.

Officials in Pakistan are saying at least 12 people were killed as a result of two suspected US missile strikes. The air strikes in villages near the border with Afghanistan were aimed at militants 12. US forces have increased cross-border operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan's border zone with Afghanistan. Missiles believed to have been fired from unmanned US drones were reported to have been launched just before dusk. Pakistan has said the attacks by the US, while killing 13 Taliban leaders, also often bring civilian 14 casualties, something they say has fanned extremist actions.
 
World powers are gathering 15 momentum 16 to fight piracy 17 off the coast of Somalia. The capture of a Ukrainian ship laden 18 with weapons last week has prompted coordinated 19 action. NPR's Gwen Tompkins reports.

In the Indian Ocean north of Mogadishu, US warships 21 are surrounding the MV Faina and her treasure of tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition 22. Somali pirates are demanding 20 million dollars for the vessel 23. But a Russian warship 20 is expected. And western powers appeared newly motivated to curb 24 piracy off the long Somali coastline. The European Community is coordinating 25 a multinational 26 effort to patrol the area and a proposed United Nations resolution is calling on even more nations to supply military planes and ships. What's more, regional exports believed the weapons aboard the hijacked 27 ship will en route to Southern Sudan, which, if true, undermines a landmark 28 peace deal that ended Sudan's long civil war. So the Somali pirates may have prompted an even bigger international incident than even they expected. Gwen Tompkins, NPR News, Nairobi.

Crude oil futures 29 ended the session lower. The contract for benchmark grade crude fell nine cents a barrel to close at $93.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.