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growth and job creation.
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. hiring was likely sluggish in July for a fourth straight month, held back by slower economic growth and an uncertain outlook.
• Analysts forecast that employers added 100,000 jobs last month, according to a survey by FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 8.2 percent for the third straight month.
• The Labor Department will report on July hiring and unemployment trends at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Friday.
• Hiring was robust at the start of the year, but then slowed sharply in the spring and early summer. Employers added an average of 75,000 jobs per month from April through June, a third of the average monthly gains from January through March.
• That's not enough new jobs to keep up with population growth, let alone satisfy the 12.7 million Americans who are unemployed and looking for work.
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• UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- With the U.N. Security Council deadlocked over the Syrian crisis, the General Assembly prepared Friday to denounce Syria for unleashing tanks, artillery, helicopters and warplanes on the people of Aleppo and Damascus, and demand that the Assad regime keep its chemical and biological weapons warehoused and under strict control.
• The Assembly was overshadowed by the resignation of former U.N. chief Kofi Annan on Thursday as the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria after his peace proposals failed.
• The anti-Syria resolution was expected to easily pass in the 193-member General Assembly after its Arab sponsors de-fanged two key provisions in the original draft -- a demand that President Bashar Assad resign, and a call for other nations to place sanctions on Syria over its civil war.

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