NPR 2010-10-09

More people are still losing jobs faster than they're finding them. This morning, the Labor 1 Department released its September employment report. Ninety-five thousand jobs went away last month and kept the unemployment rate stuck at 9.6 percent. It was discouraging news to President Obama just weeks away from a tough midterm election for his Democratic Party. While touring a small business outside Washington DC today, the president reacted to the latest economic news and said that the small business sectors 2 are so vital to job growth.

“Small businesses like this one are the bricks and blocks of our entire economy. And over the past two years, my administration has been doing everything we can to help encourage more success stories like this — because it is small businesses that will power our growth and put our people back to work.”

Stocks have been dancing around the 11,000 mark for much of the day. With investors 3 confident, the Federal Reserve will take additional steps to protect economic recovery. At last check, the Dow was up 55 points at 11,003, NASDAQ up 18 to 2,402, and the S&P 500 gaining seven points at 1,165.

The world’s most prominent peace activists 5 are hailing this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, jailed Chinese political activist 4 Liu Xiaobo. The academy describes Liu as the foremost symbol of the struggle for human rights in China. He’s serving  an 11-year prison sentence on subversion 6 charges. His wife Liu Xia told the BBC through an interpreter that her husband is committed to a lifelong struggle for human dignity.

“He says that for the last 20 years he’s had a responsibility and duty and he’ll carry on regardless of whether or not the government allows him to speak. Liu Xiaobo believes we might never achieve our dreams, but we have to continue striving in order to earn our dignity.”

China, meanwhile, is accusing the Nobel committee of awarding a criminal.

Chilean rescuers could be hours away from completing drilling of an escape shaft 7 to reach 33 miners who've been trapped underground for more than two months. Mining Minister Laurence Golborne.

“We should break (in the next) within the next 24 hours.”

Golborne spearheading the rescue effort.

Two Hamas militants 8 have been killed in an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Hebron. More from NPR’s Lourdes Garcia-Navarro.

In the early hours of the morning, Israeli soldiers surrounded the house in Hebron where the suspects were hold up. According to the army, the two men were high-level Hamas operatives. The IDF also said they refused to surrender and attacked the soldiers. The IDF in return retaliated 9, killing 10 the two men. Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement, threatening to avenge 11 the deaths. Hamas has confirmed that the two militants were high-level members of their armed wing. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Jerusalem.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

The White House is losing another senior aide, National Security Adviser 12 General James Jones. He's resigning after spending nearly two years in that position. Today, he credited President Obama with bringing the country a long way in the last two years. Jones’ deputy Tom Donilon will take over as national security adviser.

A fifth person, make that, a seventh person has died as the result of the spill of red toxic 13 sludge from a Hungarian aluminum 14 factory. More remain in serious condition. The Hungarian government says it has prevented most of the pollution from reaching the Danube River. But as Larry Miller 15 reports from London, the EU is taking a wait-and-see approach.

The European Commission’s environmental spokesman says there’s still the risk the sludge could spill into the Danube and through to neighboring countries. Joe Hennon says there’s great concern and EU experts are heading for Hungary to advise on decontamination and containment 16. While Hungary’s prime minister insists the situation is under control, Hennon says the EU is only cautiously optimistic.

“But I don’t think anybody should be safe to take it, sitting back and taking anything for granted and I don’t think anybody will.”

Hennon says under European regulations, the aluminum factory must pay spill-related costs with the Hungarian government ultimately responsible. The volume of the sludge is almost as much as the oil that spilled into the Gulf 17. For NPR News, I’m Larry Miller in London.

California is a big step closer to ending its record 100-day run without a budget. State lawmakers have approved legislation aimed at closing a 19-billion-dollar deficit 18 in that state. The bill is now headed to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature.