here s a rundown of some of the stories we are working on. more americans are now working. that s right. unemployment reaches an almost three-year low. you ll find out where and why. then each republican candidate has his own ideas for creating and saving jobs. in just a few minutes president obama unveiling a brand new government agency and the man he picked to run it. it s going to be live here on cnn. encouraging news about the job market, economy. the late eggs jobs market out shows hiring picked up in december. the labor department says that employers added 200,000 jobs. december, the sixth month in a row where we saw 100,000 jobs or more added. the unemployment rate ticking down just slightly 8.5%. joining us to talk about the numbers, what they mean, danny boston, professor of economics at georgia tech. my favorite economist. one of my favorite. no, my favorite. there you go. i m moving up in the world. we ve got some good news here, do we not?
similar bombings two weeks ago on al qaeda. the opposition accuses the government of staging the blasts to back up a claim that it s fighting terrorists. iran planning more war games. state-run media report another round of military drills are going to take place next month in the straight of hormuz. the most recent exercises ended just this week. tensions now have been rising over this strategic critical waterway. iran threatened recently to block the strait if new sanctions harm iranian oil exports. the government also threatens to take action if u.s. air craft carrier goes through the strait. italy s mount etna roaring back to life. ireporter joseph posten caught all of it on video. he said it started rumbling yesterday morning. once he saw the huge ash cloud he pulled out the camera and his eruption reportedly poses no danger to villagers. so far no flights have been canceled because of that big ash cloud. well, new orleans. city leaders there say teenagers not welc
stood by his call for more negotiations. let s extend the payroll tax credit for a year. all we re asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do. less than two weeks before the iowa caucuses republican ron paul, now the new leader of the pack. in a new poll 28% say paul is their man compared to 25% who back newt gingrich. paul is holding a town meeting. that is happening in iowa this hour. more on the surge in the state later, our political ticker. turkish police detain dozens of people in an alleged ter or plot. many of them, journalists. journalists held this demonstration in istanbul. it was just hours after the police roundup. now they say free press is under attack, but the government says those detained were suspected members of the press and propaganda wing of a banned separatist group. some american troops who just returned home from iraq have just learned now that they may
that it is on the right track. merkel reaffirmed her confidence. we expect to hear from president obama about the drop in the jobless rate just minutes from now. the president is also going to be outlining a plan to upgrade buildings, make them more energy efficient. the administration says it will create tens of thousands of construction jobs. the president speaking about 11:10 eastern. we ll take you there live. senators trying to figure out a compromise today to extend the payroll tax cut in 2012. here s what happened. a senate blocked both democratic and republican plans last night. what s the big hang up? how to pay for an extension. without one the white house says the typical middle class family will pay 1500 more next year. herman cain will sit down with his wife. another woman, ginger white, claims she had a 13-year affair with cain something he adamantly denies. he now admits that he gave money to white but he never told his wife. my wife did not know about it
the world. we cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence development at all levels of society. it is worth noting that the yemeni recipient is the first arab woman to receive the nobel peace prize. well, no formal ceremony by u.s. troops in afghanistan today to mark the tenth anniversary of the war. the conflict is the longest in u.s. history. more than 2,700 coalition forces have been killed over the decade. 1,780 of them, americans. pakistan may charge a doctor with high treason because he helped the united states guess osama bin laden. the doctor, as you may recall, set up a bogus vaccination program for the cia. agents wanted to get dna samples from people living in bin laden s compound, which you see right there. the u.s. has repeatedly been pressing pakistan to free this doctor. let s check it out. her smile, a mile wide. congresswoman gabrielle giffords helped honor her husband at his