NPR 2009-02-17

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Tokyo, the first stop on a weeklong swing through Asia. She said she decided¹ to go there first because Asia is an indispensable region. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Secretary Clinton says she plans to reach out to regional powers in Asia to help solve the global financial crisis, climate change and nuclear proliferation. "By strengthening our historic Asian alliances, starting right here in Japan, and forging new partnerships² with emerging nations, we can begin together to build networks around the world to help us solve problems that none of us can solve alone." How to deal with North Korea will be key on her agenda here. Secretary Clinton plans to meet families of Japanese citizens who were abducted³ by North Korea decades ago - an unresolved issue that's one of the factors stalling multilateral disarmament talks with Pyongyang. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Tokyo.

Investigators⁴ trying to determine what caused last week's crash of a Continental⁵ commuter⁶ plane near Buffalo⁷ are hoping to get a closer look at the plane's engines. Steve Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board said a crane's been used to pull the engines from wreckage⁸ of the jet in a house it crashed into. He says it still remains⁹ mysterious what caused Continental Flight 3047 to crash as it was coming in for a landing. All 49 people aboard the plane were killed last Thursday night. One of the men on the ground also died. The turbo prop¹⁰ was flying in fog and snow and went down some six miles from Buffalo Airport.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi today rejected suggestions US has become protectionist. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome.

While leading a congressional delegation¹¹ on a visit to the Italian parliament, Speaker Pelosi defended the United States against accusations¹² of protectionism. "Somewhere in the mix of things, ur, someone has decided that America has become, is becoming, more protectionist. President Obama is not a protectionist president." Pelosi said many American workers had lost their jobs because of the global downturn, but added that the United States appreciates the value of global trade as a motor for economic growth. Last week, the US Congress adopted a 787-billion-dollar stimulus¹³ plan that would require public infrastructure¹⁴ projects to use US steeling goods - a "Buy American" clause that worries some trading partners in Europe and China. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

Negotiators of automaker General Motors and its largest labor¹⁵ union are facing a Tuesday deadline for submitting a survival plan to the US government. One of the issues two sides still have to determine is how GM will fund a trust for retiree health care. Separately, GM's board is set to be looking at a revised restructuring plan that has to be turned in tomorrow as well.

Wall Street's closed through for the holiday today. However, overseas markets for the most part reported continued losses: Japan's Nikkei fell four tenths of a percent; Stocks were lower in Britain as well.

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Officials in the Czech Republic are saying at least 43 people were injured today, several of them seriously, in a head-on collision between two trains near a railway station. Officials with the Czech Rail authority said the crash occurred when one of the trains went through a red signal not far from the station, colliding head-on with an approaching train. DV reports from the scene show the engine of the smaller train suffered heavy damage. The accident occurred in an area some 200 miles east of the capital Prague.

A new installment¹⁶ of Friday the 13th, the debut¹⁷ is at the top of the weekend North American box office, the horror film earning an estimated 42.2 million dollars, making it the biggest opening on record for the genre¹⁸. NPR's Trina Williams has more.

Friday the 13th's huge take also pushed Hollywood to its best President's Day weekend and figures for today have yet to be counted. This is the 12th installment of the 1980 original. "People don't mess around here. They're gone for good. Outsiders come; they don't know where to walk. They bring trouble. You just won't be left alone and so does he." "So does who? " The big opening boded¹⁹ well for some other horror film classics in the pipeline²⁰ including "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Last weekend's top movie "He's Just Not That Into You" fell to second on the chart. It was followed by spy thriller²¹ "Taken". Opening in fourth place was "Confessions²² of a Shopaholic", while "Coralline" dropped to number five, "The International" debuted²³ in seventh place. Trina Williams, NPR News.

It's not just homeowners who are having foreclosure problems. It also seems one of the Atlantic City's biggest resorts has fallen behind on its payment. Resorts Atlantic City acknowledges that it doesn't make long payments since October as trying to avert²⁴ foreclosure by arguing its lenders lacked a casino license²⁵ and a result can't operate the facility.