Both candidates were in Virginia today. Mitt Romney campaigned in a relatively blue part of the state in the Washington suburbs. President Obama, who has a small but steady lead in the state, campaigned in the more conservative South. Mr. Obama attacked Romney for supporting lower tax rates for capital investment. 

 

"My opponent thinks it's fair that somebody who makes 20 million dollars a year, like him, pays a lower rate than a cop or a teacher who makes 50,000. Don't boo. Vote!"But the president also supports a differential for capital gains where investors would pay a lower tax rate on their profits than someone who makes their money by getting a paycheck. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Virginia Beach.

 

Mitt Romney was preaching to the choir a few miles away from the Pentagon. What he told a Virginia crowd that he would not make deep defense cuts.

 

"The idea of cutting our military commitment by a trillion dollars over this decade is unthinkable and devastating. And when I become president of the United States, we will stop it. I will not cut our commitment to our military."

 

Very deep cuts could emerge if Congress cannot agree to budget savings before the year is out.

 

At the UN today, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu warned that by next summer Iran could have weapons-grade nuclear materials. The Israeli leader condemned radical Islam and pledged that the Jewish state would not be shaken.

 

"We ingathered the exiles, restored our independence and rebuilt our national life. The Jewish people have come home. We will never be uprooted again."

 

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addressing the General Assembly.

 

There was good news about employment last week. As NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports, jobless claims fell by 26,000.

 

The report suggests layoff activity has slowed. No major factors like weather or aberrations in an industry skew last week's numbers. And the sharp decline pushed the four-week moving average for claims down as well. But it's also difficult to gauge whether this is a sign the jobless rate could be headed downward. The number of unemployment claims has remained fairly stable through the summer. And yet last month the labor force shrank as more people stopped looking for work. The jobless rate last month fell to 8.1% and the report for September is due out next week. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

 

On Wall Street, approaching the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 68 points at 13,482; the NASDAQ up 41.

 

This is NPR News.

 

Mexican officials say they have arrested one of the country's most wanted drug traffickers, Ivan Velazquez Caballero known as EI Taliban. They say he is a member of the Zetas cartel.

 

The Justice Department is warning that tax return fraud is on the rise. Prosecutors say they see too many cases were criminals steal social security numbers to get tax refunds. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports the scams can target vulnerable people.

 

Patients in hospitals and nursing homes are the most common victims of the stolen identity schemes. Criminals in places such as Alabama, New York and Florida have swept social security numbers and raced to file electronic tax returns, cash in refund checks before authorities can catch up with them. Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally says preventing those crimes is a top priority. Keneally pointed out a postal worker in Miami was murdered by a crook who wanted keys to get to mailboxes to carry out the ID theft. She said she's working with the Internal Revenue Service and US attorneys all over the country to identify hotspots. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

 

R&B singer Elle Varner debuted at No.4 on Billboards 200 with her "Perfectly Imperfect" album. But one of the most exciting things that's happened to her has been the first lady's announcement that she's fan. While at the Democratic National Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama commented that she had taken a shine to Varner's music after hearing her eldest daughter Malia played it at the White House. Varner's been nominated for Best New Artist at the Soul Train Awards.