NPR 2008-04-01

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From NPR News in Washington, I am Jack¹ Speer.

 It's being described as an important first step by some while others like the head of Senate  Banking² Committee Connecticut lawmaker Chris Dodd are calling it a "wild pitch". It's not even close to the strike zone. What both sides are talking about is a more than 200-page blueprint⁴ unveiled today that will revamp US financial system that dates back to the Civil War. Peter Morici is an economist⁵ and professor at University of Maryland. He says retooling⁶ of the current system is definitely in order. "Several different regulatory bodies ah... regulate the same kinds of practices, so there is a lot of confusion, overlapping⁷ authority and also gaps. The idea is to rationalize the process. " Peter Morici also says the measure, which still must be approved by Congress, would have done little to avert⁸ the current mortgage crisis, in industry which is largely regulated at the state level. The plan would give the Federal Reserve more power to protect the overall financial system.

 A Guantanamo detainee has been charged with murder and supporting terrorism in connection with the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Tanzania. The Pentagon says it would seek the death penalty if Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is found guilty. NPR’s Jackie Northam reports.

 Ghailani, a Tanzanian citizen, is one of 14 so-called high-value detainees being held at a US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Pentagon says that Ghailani provided explosives and detonators used in the attack on the US embassy in Dar es Salaam⁹, Tanzania nearly a decade ago. Eleven people died in that bombing; another 85 were wounded. The charge sheet says that Ghailani shuttled the bomb maker³ in that attack from Tanzania to Kenya and that he met with suspects in the bombing of the US embassy in Kenya which killed 213 people. The attacks on the two embassies occurred almost simultaneously¹⁰. The charge sheet also says Ghailani and several other bombers¹¹ flew from Nairobi to Pakistan. He was arrested there in the summer of 2004. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.

 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed the US is working hard to see a Palestinian state established by the end of the year. She ended three days of Mideast shuttle diplomacy¹² with talks in the Jordanian capital with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Dale Gavlak reports from Amman.

 Rice said concessions¹³ won from both Israel and the Palestinians to reach a peace deal were just a start, a positive follow-up to last November’s conference in Annapolis, Marryland. But she warned about unilateral actions like settlement building that could jeopardize¹⁴ the process. “Nothing that is undertaken under any guise¹⁵ from the point of the United States can prejudge a final status outcome and that has been our position and continues to be.” The Israeli “Pease Now” group released a report today saying that Israel approved the construction of almost 1700 homes in the West Bank since renewing peace talks with Palestinians in Annapolis. From NPR News, I am Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan.

 On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 46 points to close at 12,262. This is NPR.

 There is a new proposal being put forth¹⁶ as part of an effort to get Michigan’s delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention. Michigan’s congressmen today proposing the delegates be divided between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama based partly on the state’s January primary result, and partly on the popular vote in all of the nation’s presidential primaries. Congressman¹⁷ Bart Stupak saying so far the idea has received a positive reception. Stupak says a do-over vote is pretty much a dead deal now. He said he hopes party leaders will support his idea.

South Carolina today received an extension in the deadline for federal law requiring secure driver’s licences. That means residents of the only one state, Maine, face possibility their driver’s licences can’t be used for boarding airplanes and entering federal buildings. NPR’s Pam Fessler reports.

 States were required by March 31st to either comply with the federal Real ID law or to seek an extension, otherwise their residents would face consequences starting May 11th. Forty-nine states have received extensions although several say they have no plans to implement¹⁸ the new federal driver’s licence law. In a letter to Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford complained that Real ID is an unfunded federal mandate¹⁹. But he asked that the state's residents not be penalized²⁰ because South Carolina has already taken steps to improve the security of its driver’s licences, including requiring applicants²¹ to verify their citizenship²² status. The Homeland Security Department gave South Carolina an extension, but it is yet to respond to a similar request from the State of Maine. Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.

 And I'm Jack Speer, NPR News, in Washington.