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Employers add 144,000 new jobs in August, just below what had been predicted by economists but an improvement on lackluster growth in June and July. The monthly unemployment report, released Friday, also showed the unemployment rate dipping to 5.4 percent. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

The Bush administration reports the pace of the U.S. economic recovery slowed in the second fiscal quarter, to an annual rate of 3 percent. That's down from a revised 4.5 percent growth rate in the first three months of the fiscal year. In a separate statement, the Bush administration said the federal deficit will grow to a record $445 billion. NPR's John Ydstie reports.

A U.S. soldier dies in an attack in Iraq, and a pro-Saddam riot breaks out in one district of Baghdad. In Tikrit, U.S. troops seal off the village where the ousted leader was born, as reports emerge that Hussein may be coordinating attacks against occupying forces. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Gunmen pretending to seek emergency medical care kill an American soldier in western Iraq. The death marks the 29th U.S. military fatality in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to hostilities on May 1. U.S. officials report an increase in coordinated attacks carried out by men they describe as trained military professionals. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.

NPR's Christopher Joyce in Baghdad reports the U.S. civil administration in Iraq has again postponed plans to establish an interim Iraqi authority to help govern the country. A conference to create the authority had been expected in June, but the top U.S. official in Baghdad, Paul Bremer, told reporters it will not be held before mid-July at the earliest.

Lt. General David McKiernan, the top commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, pledges to "aggressively target" crime in Baghdad and restore order to the city. Military officials deny a New York Times report suggesting U.S. forces now have permission to shoot looters, including children, on sight. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

The Senate Armed Services Committee holds hearings on prison abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, leveling sharp criticism at the CIA. Army reports that the CIA brought dozens of "ghost" detainees to the prison led senators from both parties to call the practice "unacceptable." NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

U.S. officials closely monitor what they call worrisome new data on North Korea's nuclear activities after a large unexplained explosion was reported over North Korea Thursday. Experts seek to determine whether North Korea is preparing to test a nuclear weapon. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

Rocket-propelled grenades fired at a hotel and nearby store in downtown Baghdad cause structural damage but no reported injuries. Earlier, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a car bomb outside a popular hotel killed at least four people and left several others wounded. The blast came less than 24 hours after a massive car bomb attack in Baghdad. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.

Students at charter schools are faring worse academically than students at public schools, according to the American Federation of Teachers. An AFT report based on Education Department data says charter schools fall short of solving many problems in educating lower-income children. Hear report co-author Bella Rosenberg, Chester Finn of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and NPR's Michele Norris.