NPR 2009-04-02

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack 1 Speer.

As street protests in London's financial district dispersed 2 this evening, the G-20 leaders and their wives gathered as dinner guests of Queen Elizabeth. Tomorrow they'll attempt to agree on a response to the global financial crisis. NPR's John Ydstie reports from London.

At the top of the agenda for this G-20 Summit is reforming and re-regulating the global financial system to prevent future crises. The leaders of France and Germany among others see that is a rollback of the light touch regulating that characterized American and British capitalism 3. After meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, President Obama acknowledged the US bears some responsibility. "The United States certainly, um, has some accounting 4 to do with respect of a regulatory system that was inadequate 5.” But the president said he's more interested in fixing the problem than in pointing fingers. Among the likely fixes are regulation of hedge funds and exotic financial products and coordinated 6 oversight 7 of large global firms. John Ydstie NPR News, London.

In Afghanistan, militants 8 attacked a government building in the southern city of Kandahar, killing 9 at least seven civilians 10 and three policemen and wounding 17 others. There was no immediate 11 claim of responsibility. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Kabul.

Officials say the multi-pronged attack at the provincial 12 council office was carried out by at least four militants wearing explosives and carrying guns. Council member Hamid Wali Karzai who was in the building at the time says the attackers had on Afghan Army uniforms. Karzai is the Afghan president's brother. The first bomber 13 detonated at the gate, while the others ran inside the building and began firing. At least one of the attackers was killed by police, while at least one more blew himself up. Karzai says he was uninjured, but there're three other council members (who) were wounded in the attack. Meanwhile in neighboring Helmand province, officials say Afghan and coalition 14 forces killed 31 Taliban militants in a fierce fight near the Kajaki Dam. The US-funded dam provides power to much of southern Afghanistan. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Kabul.

Construction spending declined for a fifth straight month in February as the weaker economy led to a downturn in both public and private building projects. Commerce Department reported today construction activity fell 0.9%. David Crowe's an economist 15 with the National Association of Home builders and says residential 16 building remains 17 especially hard hit. "It was particularly, er, large decline in the single family component 18 which has also been what we have seen in housing starts data confirming that builders are building fewer and fewer homes." Economist David Crowe.

On Wall Street today, the first trading day of the second quarter saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 152 points. The NASDAQ gained 23 points. The S&P 500 rose 13 points.

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The major automakers are weighing with their March sales numbers today and not surprisingly, they showed continue declines. General Motors says its March sales slid more than 45% compared with a year ago; Ford 19 saw its sales fall 41%; while Chrysler saw a 39% sales drop. The weaker sales numbers through the Domestic Big Three comes as GM and Chrysler are both under the gun to come up with restructuring plans that government deems viable 20 on the case of Chrysler, in order to obtain additional government help. The ongoing 21 recession coupled with fear of job losses left consumers unwilling 22 to buy new cars.

Senate Republicans have boycotted 23 a confirmation 24 hearing for president Obama's first judicial 25 nominee 26. They complained they have not had enough time to study his record. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.

David Hamilton is a federal judge in Illinois. President Obama nominated him to the appeals court for the region. He's widely viewed as a centrist and both the Republican and the Democratic senator from Indiana support him. At Hamilton's confirmation hearing, Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania explained why no other committee Republicans were there, "There has been grossly insufficient 27 time to prepare." Specter said this is especially concerning because Judge Hamilton is the first nominee and there are many more to come, then Specter left. This is the latest standoff in an escalating 28 fight over confirmations 29. At the last minute, Democrats 30 moved the hearing to a cramped 31 room with no means of recording 32 the proceedings 33. They said it was to make it easier for senators to attend votes. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Washington.

The measure of the health of nation's manufacturing sector 34 shrank for a 14th straight months. The Institute for Supply Management says its manufacturing index was at 36.3 last month. Any number below 50 denotes contraction 35 in manufacturing.