NPR 2008-09-25

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is calling for the postponement 1 of Friday's scheduled debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama. McCain said today he will stop campaigning after he addresses a Global Initiative session on Thursday hosted by former President Bill Clinton. McCain also said he wants President Bush to convene 3 a bipartisan meeting of lawmakers in Washington, saying he doesn't believe the administration's proposed 700-billion-dollar rescue plan will pass in its current form. Meanwhile, speaking in Florida today, Democrat 2 Barack Obama said now more than ever he thinks the American people need to hear from the candidates on the issues. He did say it's more important than ever the partisan 4 politics be put aside and all sides try to come up with a plan to get the economy back on firm footing.

President Bush, in a little more than an hour from now, plans to address the nation on the need for a plan to buy distressed 5 mortgage-backed securities. The Senate's top Democrat today urged the president to take more of a leadership role in the financial crisis. More from NPR's David Welna.

Senate Majority Leader Harry 6 Reid declared on the Senate floor that aside from two brief statements and a press release, President Bush has remained silent on the bailout package Congress has been asked to approve. "This is not the Paulson plan, this is not the Bernanke plan, this is not the Congress plan, this is the Bush plan. It's time for him to take ownership and demonstrate leadership. He's our President. It's time for him to realize that the buck 7 stops with him." Senate Minority Leader Majuian Macarno for his part signaled reluctant support for a financial rescue. "The only reason to support this action is to save ordinary Americans from an economic disaster that they had absolutely no hand whatsoever 8 in creating." Macarno also endorsed 9 putting curbs 10 on what executives are paid at firms that benefit from a bailout. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

The National Association of Realtor says home prices and the pace of home sales fell in August, though more economists 12 think the market is nearing its bottom. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

Home prices were down nearly 10% from a year ago. The number of homes getting sold fell by 2% in August. Last year, the pace of home sales was plummeting 13, but MIT economist 11 Bill Wheaton says for a while now, that home sales number has been stabilizing 14. "If you sit and look at the last 11 months, single family home sales have been basically flat. So they are really not going anywhere. There's no trend here at all." And that's got more economists saying that the housing market could be hitting a bottom right now, at least in terms of sales. The number of home sitting unsold and glutting 15 the market fell by 7% last month, that's a good sign. But prices may continue to slide down a bit further, especially if the foreclosure crisis continues to dump more homes on the market. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 29 points today to close at 10,825. The NASDAQ ended today up 2 points to settle at 2,155. The Standard & Poor's 500, however, fell 2 points. It ended the session at 1,185.

This is NPR News in Washington.

Following the second multiple shooting incident in the country in less than a year, Finland's prime minister said he will tighten 16 that nation's gun laws. The comments follow an incident yesterday where a 22-year-old gunman opened fire at a Finnish vocational college, killing 17 10 people before turning the gun on himself. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said today it is time to consider restricting access to guns. Finland ranks among the top five nations in the world in terms of civilian 18 gun ownership with more than 1.6 million firearms in private hands.

China's space agency is getting ready for its third manned space mission scheduled to blast off as soon as tomorrow. This mission will feature the country's first space walk. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

The Shenzhou-7 spacecraft will rocket off earth with three astronauts on board. Chinese television broadcast a press conference with the three men. News agencies have also been reporting on the final preparations at the country's launch site. China has been making steady progress in space in recent years. With its first manned mission in 2003, it joined the United States and Russia as the only countries capable of launching humans into orbit. China's latest mission will feature an astronaut going on a space walk, a feat 19 that could help the country move towards its stated goal of building an orbiting space station. The astronauts are expected to spend several days in orbit before heading back home. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

German automaker Daimler confirmed today it's involved in talks with the private equity 20 firm Cerberus Capital Management about the sale of its remaining stake in US automaker Chrysler. Cerberus bought just over 80% of Chrysler in 2007 from Daimler in a 7.4-billion-dollar deal. Unclear is how much Daimler's remaining stake might be worth, though it is(was) valued at around 171 million euros in July.