NPR 2008-10-26

Asian and European leaders have wrapped up a meeting in Beijing at which they agreed on ways to address the global financial crisis. They planned to present their ideas at a summit to be hosted by the United States next month. NPR's Louisa Lim reports.

Speaking at the end of a meeting of 43 Asian and European leaders, China's Premier 1 said countries must draw lessons from the financial crisis. “We need financial innovation, ” Wen Jiabao said,” but we need financial oversight 2 even more.” He also said global coordination 3 is necessary and the measures taken to date have not been sufficient. The leaders called for new rules guiding the global economy, and a leading role for the International Monetary 4 Fund in aiding crisis-stricken countries. China now says it will play an active role in a crisis summit to be held in Washington D.C. next month. Louisa Lim, NPR News, Shanghai.

President Bush agreed that it's essential for approaches for defusing the crisis to be coordinated 5. "While the specific solutions pursued by every country may not be the same, agreeing on a common set of principles will be an essential step towards preventing similar crisis in the future." Mr. Bush speaking in his weekly radio address today.
Governments have so far pledged about four trillion dollars to bolster 6 banks and to unfreeze credit markets.

Both Democrat 7 Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have each told voters in key states that their policies would be best for middle-class Americans struggling to deal with the financial crisis. Obama spoke 8 to a rally in Reno, Nevada. "If we really want to rebuild this economy from the bottom up, what we need, we need an immediate 9 rescue plan for the middle-class. That's what I want to do as president, give all of you some help. "And in Albuquerque, New Mexico, McCain said he understands the issues affecting the south-western states and all Americans who were trying to realize the American dream." American didn't become the greatest nation on earth, by giving our money to the government to spread the wealth around in this country. We believe in spreading opportunities for those who need jobs and those who create them, and that's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. "

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is attempting to set a Guinness world record today for most campaign speeches in a day. He is planning to speak to a total of 21 communities in Massachusetts for 315 minutes, each speech must be at least 10 minutes long.

Police in Chicago have asked for the FBI's help in finding the seven-year-old nephew of Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson. So far, there has been no sign of the little boy despite a massive search. The boy has been missing since Hudson's mother and brother were found dead yesterday in Chicago and autopsy 10 has shown that each was killed from, by multiple gunshot wounds.

This is NPR News from Washington.

The Transportation Department says Americans curtailed 11 their driving sharply in August even as gas prices started to fall. NPR's Tamara Keith reports.

 In August 2008, Americans drove 15 billion fewer miles than they did the year before. That's the largest one-month drop ever in vehicle miles traveled. High gas prices inspired all kinds of changes, more people used public transportation, rode their bikes, walked and carpooled. And some people even traded in their gas, gasoline trucks and SUVs for minivans and economy cars. The downward trend in driving began last November, and really took off in the spring. From January to August of this year, Americans drove 67 billion fewer miles than they did in the same period the year before. Tamara Keith NPR News, Washington.

Violence in the capital of Afghanistan has claimed the lives of two foreign employees and an Afghan working for a worldwide delivery company. The BBC's Martin Patience reports from Kabul.

It's not clear what caused the shooting in a busy street outside the office of an international courier firm. There have been reports that there was an argument which led to the attack in which two foreigners and an Afghan died. The Briton and South African both worked for the courier company, DHL. The attack came on the same days the family of the murdered British aid worker Gayle Williams arrived in the capital. These killings 12 this week will raise fears amongst  international staff in the city that they're being targeted. The BBC's Martin Patience.

Tzipi Livni, the designated successor to the outgoing Israeli prime minister, has reportedly abandoned her effort to form a new governing coalition 13.