NPR 2011-10-22

 President Obama is calling all American troops home from Iraq before year's end, closing a long and deeply divisive chapter in US history.

 
"After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."
 
Washington and Baghdad have been unable to reach an agreement on training and special operations that would have left several thousand troops in Iraq. There are nearly 40,000 Americans still stationed in Iraq. More than 4,400 members of the US military have been killed in that country since 2003.
 
Transitional authorities in Libya say they are postponing 1 the burial of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi until they can figure out where he will be buried. It'll likely be a secret location. Jubilant anti-Gaddafi fighters have been taking journalists to see Gaddafi's body, which has been stored in a supermarket freezer in Misrata. The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse is in the city. He says the body of Gaddafi's son, Moatassem Gaddafi, also is being displayed.
 
There are scores of mostly women spectators flocking to a refrigerated container that holds the body of Moatassem Gaddafi. I've had a look myself. It's definitely him. Some people are standing 2 on crates 3 to get a better view, craning their necks. The body itself has two very obvious gunshot wounds, one in the neck and one in the chest. The questions that are now being raised internationally about how Colonel Gaddafi and his son met their ends matter little to these people here.
 
That's the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse reporting from Misrata. Gaddafi and his son were killed in Sirte yesterday when it was overrun by revolutionary forces.
 
In the US, Labor 4 Department's look at employment trends shows how the job numbers tally 5 up at the state level. Danielle Karson reports it shows a mix of gains and setbacks last month.
 
Job losses went up in 25 states last month, while 24 added more jobs. Nevada is still struggling with the highest jobless rate, almost 13%, followed by California with 12. Florida posted the biggest job gains with more than 23,000 new hires. The gains and losses at the state level suggest the labor market is hanging by a thread. Heidi Shierholz is an economist 6 with the Economic Policy Institute.
 
"They are consistent with what we are seeing at the national level, which is, in most states, we are not seeing the kind of job growth we need to start digging out of this thing."
 
Shierholz says the country needs to add at least 100,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth. For NPR News, I'm Danielle Karson in Washington.
 
Investors 7 are bolstered 8 by strong earnings 9 reports today by several major companies. The Dow's up 267 points.
 
This is NPR.
 
The Obama administration is stepping up its pressure on Pakistan to take stronger measures against insurgent 10 activity on its soil. For the second time in two days, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned militants 12 in Pakistan are still destabilizing neighboring Afghanistan. She also acknowledged that the US has tried to arrange peace talks with the Haqqani militant 11 network.
 
Hertz Rent-a-Car has fired more than two dozen Muslim employees for failing to clock out during their prayer breaks. As NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports, the Teamsters Union says it's about religious discrimination; the company says it's about fairness.
 
The employees are Somali Muslims who drive Hertz vans at Seattle's Airport for gas and servicing. They say in the past they have been able to take breaks five to ten minutes or so without clocking out. But Hertz came to believe the Muslims had been abusing the situation. Three weeks ago, Hertz changed the policy. It said employees must clock in and out for all breaks, for rest, meals and religious observation. The employees and the local union say if anyone was taking advantage, the company should deal with that individual, not make a blanket policy. A union spokesman says that the company does not require people taking smoking breaks to clock in and out. The union is fighting determinations. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News.
 
We continue to see gains today in US stocks. Dow Jones Industrial Average up 267 points or more than 2% before the close at 11,809 in trading of about three billion shares; NASDAQ gaining 1.5%; it's at 2,637; S&P 500 up nearly 2%.