Mitt Romney has said from the start of this campaign that high unemployment is the No. 1 reason voters should fire President Obama. Now the Bureau of Labor Statistics says unemployment dropped in September to 7.8%. Romney said such a tepid pace of recovery is not the sort of rebound that Americans deserve.

 

"There were fewer new jobs created this month than last month. And the unemployment rate, as you know, this year has come down very, very slowly."

 

Several voters at this rally said they believe Democrats manipulated the unemployment numbers, a provably false conspiracy theory that Romney did not touch. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Irvington, Virginia.

 

Now after delivering what many analysts are calling a lackluster performance at the debate against Romney two nights ago, President Obama unleashed a fair amount of zingers in his campaign speeches today. In Fairfax, Virginia, he seized on Romney's remark at the debate Wednesday that even though he loved Big Bird, Romney would cut subsidies to PBS.

 

"For all you moms and kids out there, don't worry -- somebody is finally getting tough on Big Bird, rounding him up. Elmo's got to watch out, too. Governor Romney plans to let Wall Street run wild again, but he's going to bring down the hammer on Sesame Street. It makes perfect sense."

 

Now Romney told debate moderator Jim Larry Wednesday night that he would cut spending on various items, including PBS to avoid borrowing more money from China.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make her first visit to Greece next week since the eurozone debt crisis started in 2009. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports the visit could signal that Europe's most powerful country intends to keep heavily indebted Greece inside the single currency despite its failure to meet stringent bailout conditions.

 

The visit was announced after Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said his country will run out of money by the end of November if the next EU bailout installment is withheld. A government spokesman said Berlin sees that reform efforts having increased under the current Greek government and wants to show support. Merkel will be met with protest demonstrations. Her government has triggered strong anti-German feelings in Greece for having imposed devastating austerity measures on the debt-burdened country. The German media in turn has often depicted Greeks as lazy tax cheats. With German taxpayers increasingly opposed to bankrolling EU bailouts, the Greek crisis could pose the most serious risk to Merkel's reelection prospect next year. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Berlin.

 

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 14 points at 13,590.

 

This is NPR.

 

Celebrations erupted among Kenyan veterans of the Mau-Mau Rebellion after the British High Court ruled that three elderly Kenyans tortured during the revolt in the 50s against British colonial rule can move ahead with their legal fight for compensation from the UK. Atsango Chesoni, director of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, was elated.

 

"And the journey is over 50 years. I can't believe this. I can't believe this. These all people gave their lives, so that we can be free. This is the first acknowledgement of what they sacrificed."

 

The case involves Kenyans who say they were sexually assaulted and beaten by pro-British officers during the rebellion groups had attacked officials and white farmers who settled in some of Kenya's most fertile areas.

 

Idaho's governor is taking federal land management rules to task. Scott Graf of Boise State Public Radio reports Republican Butch Otter's comments come at the end of one of the state's busiest wildfire seasons.

 

Otter makes his comments in an op-ed. He says currently in management policies are unacceptable and they've contributed to the severity of this year's fires. The governor says more than 1.7 million acres have burned in the state at a cost of nearly 190 million dollars. Otter says land managers have their hands tied by federal laws put in place to appease single interest environmental groups and often sue to get their way. The governor wants to see more logging and grazing allowed to help cut down on available fire fuels. How the federal government manages land is important in Idaho. Nearly two-thirds of the state is federal land. Otter says 93% of the acres burned this year have been federally managed. For NPR News, I'm Scott Graf in Boise, Idaho.

 

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.