Newscast for Thursday, April 2, 2009

G20 moves forward on global spending in effort to stunt recession
It was a successful day for President Obama and his first appearance on the world stage, where he obtained agreement on his priorities. World leaders emerged from the four-hour-long G20 meeting in favor of $1 trillion in global spending to stimulate the world economy. Along with tighter regulations for global financial firms, world leaders hope these efforts will stave off a deeper recession.  FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

G20 protestors take to London’s streets
London has been gripped by massive protests over the last two days – demonstrations have spread from the heart of the financial district to right outside the building where G20 leaders met. Naomi Fowler is in London.

New measure may allow banks to make up their own values on toxic assets
The Federal Accounting Standards Board has moved to grant big banks more flexibility when it comes to setting values on their toxic assets. Under the new measure, set by the federal watchdog that sets standards, banks can more easily self-determine how to use mark-to-market accounting. But investors say the new measure effectively allows banks to make up their own values and is a blow to integrity. Aura Bogado speaks with John Sakowicz, general partner at Templar Advisors, host of “The Truth about Money” on NPR-affiliate KZYX, and contributing editor at the North Bay Bohemian.

A look at alternative budgets on Capitol Hill
With the budget debate in Congress in full swing, some Democrats are following the Obama blueprint. But others are coming up with plans of their own. FSRN’s Karen Miller takes a look at a couple of the alternative budgets being proposed.

Unemployed maquila workers on the border
Mexican manufacturing jobs have been hard hit by the economic crisis. That's especially true for the textile and garment industries that send about 95% of their exports to the US market. Mexico's National Textile Industry Chamber estimates that as many as 80,000 sector workers lost their jobs in 2008 – the group predicts an equally grim outcome for the first half of this year. But layoffs that have long been affecting garment workers along the Mexican border with Texas have now sparked some creative thinking among unemployed seamstresses, labor organizers and fair trade promoters. Shannon Young traveled to Piedras Negras to find out more.