Friday,  October 5, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 80 • 27 of 34 •  Other Editions

(Continued from page 26)

reset the presidential campaign as the government releases new unemployment data providing the latest update on the nation's economy.
• Obama, seeking to rebound from a subpar debate performance, is accusing Romney of being dishonest about how his policies would affect the tax bills of middle-class families and the Medicare benefits of retirees -- a squabble that has even injected Big Bird into the race.
• "I just want to make sure I've got this straight: He'll get rid of regulations on Wall Street, but he's going to crack down on 'Sesame Street'?" Obama said Thursday in Madison, Wis., referring to Romney's statement in the debate that he would cut a federal subsidy for PBS, which airs "Sesame Street." ''Thank goodness somebody's finally cracking down on Big Bird."
• Nearly a month before Election Day, both campaigns are seeking to move on from the first presidential debate to gain any possible advantage in a tight election. Romney emerged from Wednesday's debate energized, while Obama said the televised encounter showed areas where his Republican rival was not being candid with voters.
• Both campaigns faced another potential turning point with the release of Friday's government report on unemployment for September. Joblessness was measured at 8.1 percent in August and economists predicted that employers added 111,000 jobs last month, up from the 96,000 jobs added in August. The jobless rate was expected to tick up slightly from 8.1 percent.
• ___

Turkey-Syria clashes show how quickly civil war can spill over to wider regional conflict

• BEIRUT (AP) -- Retaliatory Turkish artillery strikes deep into Syria have showed the speed with which the bloody civil war can entangle its neighbors and destabilize an already volatile region.
• Beyond the cross-border flare-up, the 18-month battle to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad has already deepened sectarian rifts in Lebanon and Iraq, raised tensions along the long quiet frontier with Israel and emboldened Kurdish separatists in Turkey.
• "There is not a single country bordering Syria that we can honestly say they are not facing a realistic threat to internal stability and national security," said Aram Nerguizian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
• From the start, Syria's conflict burst over its borders. Hundreds of thousands of

(Continued on page 28)

© 2012 Groton Daily Independent • To send correspondence, click here.