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10A Daily News – Saturday, May 5, 2012 WORLD BRIEFING 115,000 jobs WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job growth slumped in April for a second straight month. It suggested an economy that is growing steadily but still sluggishly, which could tighten the presi- dential race. US hiring slowed in April to just ployment rate wasn't nec- essarily a healthy sign for the job market. The rate fell from 8.2 percent in March to 8.1 percent in April. But that was main- ly because more people gave up looking for work. People who aren't looking for jobs aren't counted as unemployed. The 115,000 jobs added in April were fewer than the 154,000 jobs added in March, a number the government revised up from its earlier esti- mate of 120,000. It also marked a sharp decline from December through February, when the econ- omy averaged 252,000 jobs per month. A drop in the unem- adults working or looking for work has fallen to its lowest level in more than 30 years. Many have become discouraged about their prospects. US, China forge deal to The percentage of of what he wanted: a chance to live with his family in safety and to get a formal legal education. It would also allow Wash- ington and Beijing to put aside a rancorous human rights dispute to focus on managing their rivalry for global influence. China's Foreign Ministry said Chen can apply for travel permits to study abroad. The State Depart- ment said an American university — later identi- fied as New York Univer- sity — has offered a fel- lowship for Chen with provisions for his family. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. expects Beijing to process the travel permits quickly, and once done, visas would be issued. ''I don't think this is empty talk here. I think they mean this is a way out, and it's a dignified way out. It's a good way out for the Chinese gov- ernment and our govern- ment and for Chen and his family,'' said Jerome Cohen, an NYU law pro- fessor who met Chen nearly a decade ago, advised him during the negotiations and arranged the fellowship. As part of the deal, was settled, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a guarded assessment. In a sign that not all With a series of quickly choreographed steps, the U.S. and China outlined a tentative deal Friday to send a blind legal activist to America for study and potentially bring a face- saving end to a delicate diplomatic crisis. end standoff BEIJING (AP) — kept, promise to give Chen Guangcheng much The arrangements, if revival dim The economy isn't cooperating with Presi- dent Barack Obama's re- election schedule. For the third year in a Hopes for an economic row, an early spurt of growth has started to fade in the spring. Obama planned back- to-back political rallies Saturday in Ohio and Vir- ginia, his first official ones of the campaign. They are battleground states he won in 2008 but where he is more closely challenged this year. Jobs are a key issue in both. The economy added 115,000 jobs in April, not even enough to keep up with population growth. The jobless rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent, but mainly because peo- ple left the workforce. Look back to 1984, when President Ronald Reagan was seeking a second term. As now, the nation was emerging from deep recession. But the job growth for April 1984 was a solid 363,000, the unemployment rate 7.7 percent, down from a peak of 10.8 percent. Recovery momentum helped propel Reagan to a landslide over Democrat Walter Mondale. than women CHICAGO (AP) — Men rarely get breast can- cer, but those who do often don't survive as long as women, largely because they don't even realize they can get it and are slow to recognize the warning signs, researchers say. On average, women with breast cancer lived two years longer than men in the biggest study yet of the disease in males. The study found that Men with breast cancer fare worse men's breast tumors were larger at diagnosis, more advanced and more likely to have spread to other parts of the body. Men were also diagnosed later in life; in the study, they were 63 on average, ver- sus 59 for women. Many men have no idea that they can get breast cancer, and some doctors are in the dark, too, dismissing symptoms that would be an automat- ic red flag in women, said study leader Dr. Jon Greif, a breast cancer sur- geon in Oakland, Calif. The American Cancer Society estimates 1 in 1,000 men will get breast cancer, versus 1 in 8 women. By comparison, 1 in 6 men will get prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men. protests BEIRUT (AP) — Syri- an forces fired on thou- sands of protesters Friday in Aleppo, killing a teenager, after a raid on dormitories at the city's main university killed four students and enflamed tensions in a key bastion of support for the regime. Syrian forces kill teen in Aleppo activist said the protests were the largest the city has seen since the start of the uprising against Presi- dent Bashar Assad in March 2011. Aleppo is a major economic hub that has remained largely loyal to Assad over the course of the 14-month uprising. ''The people are incensed by what hap- pened at the university,'' said the activist, Mohammed Saeed. ''Everyone wants to express solidarity with those students.'' An Aleppo-based wealthy heiress who provid- ed secret payments to a close aide of John Edwards has testified that the former presidential candidate con- ceded that the money had been given for his benefit. Alex Forger said Friday that Edwards' then-lawyer Wade Smith told him in the fall of 2008 that the former candidate agreed that the $725,000 given by wealthy heiress Rachel ''Bunny'' Mellon had been provided for his benefit. It wasn't clear from Forger's testimony at Edwards' criminal trial when Edwards learned about the secret payments to his aide Andrew Young. Some of Mellon's Adam Yauch of the Beastie money was used to hide Edwards' pregnant mis- tress. Whether Edwards had knowledge of the money is a key question in his prose- cution on charges related to campaign finance corrup- tion. Saeed said security forces were out in full force, firing live ammuni- tion to disperse protesters and arresting people ran- domly. ''With our blood, we sacrifice for you stu- dents!'' people shouted. fallen leaders MADRID (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy is widely expect- ed to be kicked out of office in elections Sunday. If he goes, he'll be in good company: Almost every crisis-hit European country that has held an election since disaster struck in 2009 has thrown out its leader. Here's a look at coun- tries where political cadav- ers litter the landscape. — SPAIN: A burst real Europe's crisis a path strewn with estate bubble also deflates faith in a Socialist govern- ment, which is nonethe- less reluctant to admit Spain has problems. Blips of good economic news are seized upon as ''green shoots'' pointing to recov- ery. Wrong. Stimulus measures are enacted, then crushing austerity. Unemployment soars. The Socialists of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero are wiped off the map in November 2011 elections; Mariano Rajoy's conserv- atives take over. — ITALY: Berlusconi, the long-serv- ing Teflon leader accused of everything from bed- ding escorts to serial cor- ruption, finally bites the dust in November 2011. He resigns to cheers and jeers as investors lose confidence in his ability to spur economic growth and rein in debt. It's the end of a political era. Mario Monti, a former European Commissioner, is named to replace him and lead a technical gov- ernment until elections in 2013. Silvio Brown leads the Labour Party to defeat in the May 2010 election; Conserva- tive Party leader David Cameron becomes leader of a coalition government. Brown had been finance chief for a decade before succeeding Tony Blair in 2007. Brown had boasted endlessly of ending the cycle of boom and bust — but as prime minister he presided mostly over bust. — BRITAIN: Gordon Adam Yauch, the gravelly voiced rapper who made the Beastie Boys one of the seminal groups in hip- hop, has died. He was 47. Yauch, also known as MCA, died Friday morn- ing in New York after a nearly three-year battle with cancer, his represen- tatives confirmed Friday. He had been diagnosed with a cancerous salivary gland in 2009. Boys dies NEW YORK (AP) — expressed hope that it was ''very treatable,'' but his illness forced the group to cancel shows and delayed the release of their 2011 album, ''Hot Sauce Com- mittee, Pt. 2.'' He hadn't performed in public since 2009 and was absent when the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month. Yauch was an integral, founding member to the ever-weaving trio: three Jewish kids from New York who found wide- spread respect in a hip- hop world with few credi- ble white performers. At the time, Yauch wife in Texas HOUSTON (AP) — The wife of an Army officer serving in Afghanistan wit- nessed her husband's death as the two video chatted via Skype, his family said Fri- day. Army nurse dies while chatting with ney has denied Edwards knew Young had gotten the money from Mellon or that it was being spent on the mistress. Edwards' current attor- in 6 months NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil plunged to its lowest level in nearly six months Friday, falling below $100 per barrel for the first time since February. A drop in gasoline prices can't be far behind. It's a welcome trend for motorists, with the summer driving season just around the corner. And it eases some pressure on the U.S. economy, which has shown only agonizingly slow growth in the nearly three years since the Great Reces- sion ended. Jobs report sends oil to lowest price The circumstances of Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark's death were not immediately available. The Pentagon said it was under investiga- tion, and his brother-in-law said he didn't have details. ''We are entrusting the military with investigating and with finding out what happened to Capt. Clark,'' Bradley Taber-Thomas told The Associated Press. Clark, a 43-year-old Army chief nurse, grew up in Michigan and lived previ- ously in Spencerport, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester and his wife's hometown. He joined the Army in 2006 and was stationed in Hawaii before he was assigned to the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. He deployed to Afghanistan in March. A statement from the family released by Taber- Thomas said Clark died Monday while talking to his wife during one of their reg- ular Skype sessions. Lawyer for wealthy heiress says Edwards Oil fell $4.05, or 4 per- cent, to $98.49, after a weak U.S. jobs report offered the latest evidence that the global economy is weaken- ing, possibly reducing demand for oil. At the same time, there is mounting evi- dence that world oil sup- plies are growing. ''The jobs report was the coup de grace,'' said Judith Dwarkin, chief energy economist at ITG Invest- ment Research. ''But it's hard to see how prices could have stayed on the boil given ample supplies and continued economic uncer- tainty.'' For the week, oil fell more than $6 and is now about $12 below its Febru- ary high. U.S. gasoline prices have fallen to $3.80 per gallon from a peak of $3.94 in early April. Now they could go as low as $3.50 per gallon by July 4, according to Tom Kloza, Chief Oil Analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. Tony Wei, a mechanical engineer from Piscataway, NJ., will welcome lower prices. He travels 100 miles every day to and from his job in Morris County, N.J. He's also planning a 500- mile trip to Canada and a 400-mile trip to southwest Virginia this summer in his Honda Accord. ''Definitely, I'm going to notice it,'' he said. ''I buy so much gas.'' was for him GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The lawyer for a knew money market is the reverse of just a few months ago. Then, world oil demand looked to be rising quickly at the same time that world supplies were threatened by a host of small production outages and the potential for drasti- cally reduced production from Iran, the world's third- biggest exporter. Those developments raised the prospect that world supplies would be at their most tenuous just as the summer driving season arrived in the developed world. The price of U.S. benchmark oil rose to about $110. The price for international oil used to make most of the gasoline in the U.S. spiked even higher, to $128 per barrel. The picture of the oil