NPR 2011-02-05

Cairo's Tahrir Square pulsates 1 with the chants of tens of thousands, as NPR's Corey Flintoff reports, all hoping this is the day President Hosni Mubarak resigns.

The mood in the square was determined 2 and almost jubilant with many protesters convinced that they are on the verge 3 of victory. Twenty-nine-year-old musician Ahmed Nazmi says promises of reform from Mubarak and other top officials ring hollow.

"I just cannot believe that they were never reliable. They are giving us like hopes, it's gonna happen it's gonna happen, and it never happens. That's the whole story."

Other protesters say it's too late for the president to simply step down. They want him tried for brutality 4 and corruption 5. Mubarak has said he wants to serve out the remaining seven months of his term to ensure stability. Corey Flintoff, NPR New, Cairo.

Egypt's ruling party's appealing on state media for its supporters not to enter confrontations 6 with others. The party denies it played a role in this week's attacks against anti-Mubarak protesters and international journalists in Cairo.

We are expecting here shortly from astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Earlier, NASA said Kelly was planning on flying shuttle Endeavor's final mission in April. Meanwhile, his wife will continue rehabilitation 7 in Houston with the brain injury she sustained in the Tucson shooting rampage last month.

We are coming off a disappointing month for job growth. Today, the Labor 8 Department released a monthly jobs report that revealed the economy generated 36,000 jobs, not as much as analysts 9 had hoped. NPR's John Ydstie says part of the reason for last month's tepid 10 gain was really lousy weather.

Rough winter weather probably played a role in the loss of 32,000 construction jobs in January. It also may have interrupted the hiring process in other sectors 11. However, upward revisions of job growth for November and December suggest the January number doesn't reflect the recent trend which shows around 100,000 jobs being added to company payrolls 12 each month. But while the job creation number was disappointing, January's unemployment rates surprised economists 13 by improving dramatically. It fell almost 0.5 point to 9%. The two numbers often send contradictory 14 signals because they are derived 15 from two different surveys, one of businesses, the other of households. It's the second month in a row the unemployment rate has dropped sharply. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

And this comes a day after US retailers 16 posted pretty strong gains, strong revenue numbers, the strongest they say in several weeks. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 19 points at 12,081 in trading of just over two billion shares; NASDAQ Composite Index up 13 at 2,767.

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With the Sunday evening Super Bowl almost here, the icy North Texas game site was hit with a fresh 4 to 5 inches of snow. Bill Zeeble with member station KERA in Dallas reports fans driving or flying in face new headaches.

Not only are game-bound fans from the North dealing 17 with snow and ice at home, but Dallas airports are also struggling with new snowfall. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport canceled hundreds of flights Friday. And Dallas Love Field closed down Friday morning. Although many fans and celebrities 18 are already in North Texas for Sunday's game in nearby Arlington, thousands have yet to make the trip. An ice storm that struck here earlier this week is a typical for North Texas. More unusual have been the consistently below freezing temperatures that left ice on many streets and forced school closures most of the week. A number of Super Bowl events [are] not canceled but forced inside. Game day temperatures are expected to rise above freezing. For NPR News, I'm Bill Zeeble in Dallas.

A Somali man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for trying to attack a Danish cartoonist who drew a controversial image of Islam's prophet Muhammad several years ago. The defendant 19 was accused of breaking into Kurt Westergaard's house more than a year ago. The cartoonist escaped injury. Westergaard's caricatures of the prophet Muhammad were published more than five years ago though they are still evoking 20 outcries from much in the Muslim world.

Roman Catholic Church leaders say Cuba will free two prominent political prisoners. An agreement was announced by Catholic spokesman Orlando Marquez today, saying detainee Angel Moya will be permitted to stay in Cuba while fellow inmate 21 Guido Sigler has indicated a desire to go to the US.