NPR 2009-10-29

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan today after a massive car bomb ripped through a crowded market in Peshawar, killing 1 at least 90 people. And she was quick to condemn 2 the attack.

"These attacks on innocent people are cowardly. They are not courageous 3. They are cowardly."

Mrs. Clinton was in Pakistan to show US support for the government's offensive against insurgents 4 near the Afghan border. Peshawar attack was the latest in a series that has stricken the country since the army began the assault on Taliban strongholds some two weeks ago.

A trucking contractor 5 from Kansas City says he used an AK-47 to hold off a group of attackers at a guest house in the Afghan capital of Kabul today, long enough so that some people could escape, though officials say attackers were still able to kill 11 people, including five UN workers. The guest house was being used by more than two dozen UN staff, most of whom are serving as advisors 6 for next month's runoff election there. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack in which the gunmen were apparently 7 dressed in police uniforms.

The seesaw 8 nature of the economic recovery is showing up in the sales of new homes. Sales fell unexpectedly last month. NPR's Giles Snyder reports.

The Commerce Department says new home sales fell 3.6% in September to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 402,000. It was the sector 9’s first drop in six months and was driven by a nearly 11% decline in the western US and a 10% drop in the south. Despite a showing that many economists 10 had expected it to be better, the number of new homes left on the market at the end of the month shrank to its smallest in years, and the median sales price rose to nearly $205,000, after the $199,900 median in August. Trends in the housing market have been influenced by low mortgage rates, more affordably priced homes and a tax credit for first-time home buyers that expires at the end of the month. Congress is considering extending it. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.

After months of negotiations 11, House Democrats 12 may finally be ready to unveil a health care bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to be planning a formal announcement tomorrow morning with the measure reaching the House floor sometime next week. In the Senate, meanwhile, Democratic leaders are trying to round up support for a bill with a modified public option.

The Defense 13 measure that President Barack Obama signed today will expand current hate crime laws to include violence based on sexual orientation 14 and other factors. After years of failing to get that expansion approved, Democrats this time attached it to a must-pass defense policy bill that was over the objections of many Republicans.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 119 points to end the session at 9,762. That was a decline of more than 1%. The NASDAQ dropped 56 points to close at 2,059. The S&P 500 fell 20 points today.

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According to a trustee overseeing the liquidation 15 of the assets of Bernard Madoff, just over half a billion dollars has now been paid out to victims of the jailed financier. In a briefing today, trustee Irving Picard said so far investigators 16 have confirmed losses of around 21 billion dollars in some 2,300 customer accounts. Money being paid out in restitution 17 is coming from the Securities Investor 18 Protection Corporation, created by Congress and funded by the securities industry. Earlier this year, the 71-year-old Madoff pleaded guilty to running a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

Orders for so-called big-ticket items - those are things designed to last three years or more - were up in December. The government reports the largest jump in demand for machinery 19 in a year and a half helped to offset 20 weakness in orders for commercial aircraft and autos. Commerce Department says orders for durable 21 goods were up 1% last month, roughly in line with analysts 22' expectations. Even excluding the volatile 23 transportation sector, orders were up by a larger-than-expected 0.9%.

Sixty-five years after his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean, the remains 24 of Air Force Sergeant 25 Robert Stinson have been returned to California. The then 24-year-old flight engineer was aboard a B-24J Liberator 26 bomber 27. It was shot down over a group of islands in the South Pacific. Divers 28 from a nonprofit group found the wreckage 29 in 2004, and family members were alerted earlier this year the DNA 30 of Stinson's two surviving brothers was a match with some bone fragments found at the crash site. Stinson will be buried Friday at Riverside National Cemetery 31.

Crude oil futures 32 prices ended the session lower today. Oil was down more than $2 a barrel or roughly 2% to close at $77.46 a barrel in New York.