President Obama told a familiar and depressing story describing Americans who feel  the desk is stacked against them and that the American dream just isn’t possible anymore. It’s relentless trend he says that has gone on for decades.

 

That’s a dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility that has jeopardised middle-class America’s basic bargain: that if you work hard, you had a chance to get ahead.

 

The president says this is the defining challenge of our time and to address it, he asked Congress once again to fund universal preschool, invest in education and infrastructure and raise the minimum wage. None of that is likely anytime soon, but the president says he’ll continue to focus on these issues for the rest of his term. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House. 

 

The international envoy overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapon stockpiles, says the experts are preparing for the most dangerous phase, moving the material out of the country. Key roads were still not secure. As NPR’s Michele Kelemen reports. 

 

After briefing the UN Security Council, Sigrid Kaag said security remains a big challenge for the UN and for the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons. They need to move dangerous chemicals to the Syrian port of Latakia, but when cargo try to go there recently, she had to travel via Lebanon and by helicopter. 

 

We hope that the situation will change, of course, and that the route will be open again. But we are not considering other routes currently at all.

 

No county has agreed to take the Syrian stockpiles for destruction, so the U.S. is outfitting a ship with a mobile hydrolysis system and the OPCW plans to have commercial companies destroy about 800 tons of chemicals. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

 

According to a report by the Washington Post, the National Security Agency tracks locations of nearly 5 billion cellphones everyday overseas, including apparently some phones belonging to Americans. Post reporting the NSA inadvertently gathers location records of Americans who travel abroad along with billions of other records it obtains by tapping worldwide mobile phone cable networks. Post goes on to say that the agency uses powerful computer programs to establish patterns.

 

Payroll processing from ADP says its survey shows big gains in manufacturing construction last month and says that helped to create additional 215,000 jobs. Scott Brown is an economist  at Raymond James & Associates. 

 

This is an upside surprise with upside revisions, and it’s going to likely set a tone for the markets at least, we are looking for  a strong number on Friday. 

 

Government releases its jobs numbers on Friday, ADP also revised upwards its October jobs numbers. 

 

On Wall Street today, stocks slipped, the Dow was down 24 points to 15,889; the S&P 500 fell two points. This is NPR.

 

The man accused of opening fire inside the Los Angeles International Airport last month, killing a transportation security administration officer and wounding three other people, made a court appearance today. Paul Ciancia who appeared in court with bruises on his face and a bandage on his neck, said little during the brief appearance. He did not enter a plea. The 23-year-old Ciancia who was shot and wounded by airport police was allegedly targeting TSA agents according to investigators. 

 

Officials at the U.S. Olympic Committee said they are considering a bid to host the 2024 summer games. NPR’s Howard Berkes reports an American bid is contingent on funding the right candidate city. 

 

It’s been nearly 12 years since the last Olympics on American soil, the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City. So a carefully worded statement from U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Larry Probst has raised the Olympic hopes at several American cities, including Boston, Washington, Dallas and Los Angeles. Probst says the USOC intends to nominate an American city for the 2024 Summer Olympics, if a bid has the right technical plan, leadership, financing and government support. The group is vetting candidate cities now and has until the end of next year to make a decision. The USOC has also been working to repair a tighter relationship with the International Olympic Committee, which makes the final host city choice. Howard Berkes, NPR News.

 

Couple of technological heavy weights are joining forces as part of an effort to get broadband Internet into every American school. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announcing the pair contributing a combined $ 9 million to education super highway. That’s a San Francisco based nonprofit working to improve connectivity in schools. While most schools have some Internet access, many classrooms still lack high speed communications networks.