Job picture deteriorates sharply in month
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. employment picture eroded sharply in November with unemployment jumping from 6.5 percent to 6.7 percent, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday.
Nonfarm jobs employment dropped a precipitous 533,000 jobs in the month in a report that included revised figures for September and October, when the department said 320,000 and 403,000 jobs were lost, respectively.
November's decline was worst monthly drop since 602,000 jobs were lost in December 1974.
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, 1.9 million U.S. jobs have disappeared, the department said.
The report said employment in "all major industries" declined in the month.
The employment picture includes 10.3 million U.S. workers listed as unemployed.
Unemployment rates rose for adult men to 6.5 percent and for adult women to 5.5 percent.
Among whites, 6.1 percent are unemployed, while the unemployment rate for blacks rose to 11.2 percent. Unemployment for Hispanics was "little changed" in the month at 8.6 percent. The unemployment rate for Asians rose to 4.8 percent, the Labor Department reported.
Construction lost 82,000 jobs in November. Manufacturing lost an additional 85,000.
Employment in transportation equipment "edged up" by 27,000 the report said, owing to machinists ending a strike at Boeing.
U.S. automakers make final appeal for aid
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. carmakers got one more chance to ask lawmakers for federal aid, saying the $34 billion they're seeking is less than the cost if they were to fail.
Chief executive officers from Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC were on Capitol Hill for a second round of hearings on their request for government aid, appearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. They testified Thursday before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.
Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli, seeking about $4 billion, told the committee he recognized "this is a significant amount of public money" but is "considerably less" than the cost to the U.S. economy if the automaker failed.
The United Auto Workers supports a federal bridge loan, said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, saying the union believes GM and Chrysler "would be forced to liquidate" if they didn't receive the funds.
The union also supports attaching conditions regarding restructuring and accountability to any funding the government would provide, he said.
"For such restructuring plans succeed," Gettelfinger said, "we recognize that all stake-holders ... must come to the table and share in the sacrifices."
The union earlier this week announced concessions it would enact to help reduce the red ink. Automakers also put together business model restructuring plans that covered areas such as management, executive compensation and future production as requested by lawmakers in November.
In his opening remarks, committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said, "For us to do nothing ... in the midst of the worst credit crisis and unemployment situation in the last 70 years would be a disaster."
Sources: Spies confirm Syrian nuke effort
DAMASCUS, Syria, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Samples from the Orontes River in Syria taken by Western agents indicate the country has resumed a nuclear program, sources allege.
Unidentified intelligence sources alleged the agents' findings that were presented last month to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna indicated Syria is actively involved in plutonium production, DEBKAfile said Friday.
The Orontes samples were taken near a suspected nuclear research base in Syria that is thought to host plutonium reprocessing efforts, the sources alleged.
The sources told DEBKAfile the samples were taken by foreign nuclear technicians on three different dates in the two months leading up to the Nov. 27-28 IAEA meeting.
The sampling came after Syria refused to give U.N. officials access to three suspected nuclear research sites.
The last Syrian nuclear program ended in September 2007 when Israel destroyed a suspected nuclear reactor in Al Kibar, DEBKAfile said.
The Israeli intelligence Web site said Syria and North Korea allegedly renewed a nuclear cooperation accord in October, meaning North Korea would supply Syria with nuclear materials and research.
Robbers stage big jewelry hit in 57 secs
PARIS, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Well-prepared gunmen, who knew just where to look, robbed an exclusive Paris jewelry store of nearly $89 million in merchandise in 57 seconds, police said.
The Thursday night heist was described by investigators as one of Europe's biggest thefts of its kind.
As many as four masked men, two of them dressed as women, stormed the exclusive Harry Winston jewelers in a high-speed raid detectives called "terrifyingly efficient."
While two robbers ordered staff members to fill a sack with precious gems and watches from the window display cases, another marched the manager to the store's hidden safe.
Within just 57 seconds, the men had vanished on motorbikes, police said.
Investigators said the robbers knew all the store staff names and where the most valuable jewels were kept.
New tapes show frustrated LBJ
NEW YORK, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Audio tapes from the last months of Lyndon Johnson's presidency four decades ago depict a leader struggling with Vietnam and the 1968 election, CBS News says.
The Vietnam War had divided Americans, the tapes said, and Democrats wanted their convention platform to call for a halt to U.S. bombing. Johnson said, "No way."
"I'm telling 'em what our position is as commander-in-chief that I'm not about to stop this bombing unless they arrest me and take my power away from me," he said on the tapes, which were released Thursday.
Johnson got his way, but the convention in Chicago was a disaster, wracked by demonstrations and violence. He listened without comment as his attorney general, Ramsey Clark, blamed the police.
Johnson sympathized with Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, the tapes reveal.
The tapes also reveal that Johnson urged Hubert Humphrey, picked by the Democratic Party to succeed him, to choose a Japanese-American running mate, Sen. Daniel Inoyue of Hawaii. Humphrey said no.
The morning after the close election, Humphrey called to apologize for losing. "I'm sorry I let you down a little," he said.
Johnson replied: "No you didn't, no you didn't, it's on a lot of other folks but not you. It's our own people in the party that created all the problems."
