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ficials in Washington found out.
• A yearlong audit by the agency's inspector general found no evidence that Washington officials ordered or authorized the targeting. However, the inspector general blamed ineffective management by senior IRS officials for allowing the targeting to continue for nearly two years during the 2010 and 2012 elections.
• ___
US jobs report for May comes amid concern over economy and Fed's timetable on bond purchases
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's release Friday of the May jobs report comes at a time of anxiety over the U.S. economy and whether the Federal Reserve will soon scale back its extraordinary support.
• Economists expect another month of job gains roughly in line with April's increase of 165,000. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 7.5 percent, a four-year low but still historically high.
• Some economists have cautioned in recent days that job growth for May could fall short of expectations. Some noted that surveys this week showed that hiring at factories and service companies barely rose in May.
• The Labor Department will release the employment report at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
• Job growth has been steady this year, despite higher taxes and federal spending cuts. Through April, the economy has added an average of 196,000 jobs a month, ahead of last year's pace.
• ___
Rival Koreas make dueling counterproposals for talks Sunday meant to mend abysmal ties
• SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The rival Koreas on Friday traded counterproposals over where to meet for talks Sunday, as mutual interest in mending abysmal ties clashed with mistrust stemming from years of animosity and hard-line stances.
• South Korea's suggestion that officials meet in a truce village straddling the heavily armed border between the countries came hours after Pyongyang said it favors holding talks in its border city of Kaesong.
• South Korea on Thursday had suggested high-level talks Wednesday in Seoul, but North Korea said Friday it wanted lower-level talks first because the countries' "relations have been stalemated for years and mistrust has reached the extremity."
• Two officials with Seoul's Unification Ministry said South Korea made the latest (Continued on page 29)
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