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Early sales numbers suggest it was a lackluster season for retailers, and slow holiday sales mean fewer opportunities for retail workers hoping to make holiday temp jobs permanent.

With hours to go before the so-called fiscal cliff deadline, the House adjourned for the night and the Senate has yet to scheduled any vote. NPR's Julie Rover talks with All Things Considered host Audie Cornish about the latest.

Women with HIV have a high risk of getting cervical cancer, but the traditional screening method for the disease — a pap smear — isn't available in many poor countries. Now doctors have developed a cheap, simple alternative way to detect cervical cancer, and it's saving lives in Africa and Asia.

Despite complaints from NFL coaches and players, the league and its locked-out officials are no closer to reaching a deal than they were last week, according to reports. News of the lack of progress comes a day after NFL representatives insisted that coaches and players respect the referees.

NPR's Ari Shapiro joins host Scott Simon to preview a pair of pieces he's reported for next week on the political ad wars. He talks about the unprecedented number of ads, the money and how it feels in one community: Colorado Springs.

Drug- and gang-related shootouts have killed 20 people so far this year in France's second largest city. The crime wave has prompted one Marseille politician to call for the army to be sent in. The city's isolated housing projects breed despair and are home to a parallel economy based on drugs.

President Obama celebrated Labor Day in Ohio with unionized auto workers — many of whom say they owe their jobs to the federal government's rescue of Chrysler and General Motors. The president also took some time out from politicking to visit a flood-damaged area in Louisiana that was hard hit by Hurricane Isaac.

As Syrians flee war in their homeland, many come to Lebanon, which has not built tent cities as other countries in the region have. Some Syrians are taking up residence in Palestinian refugee camps that have existed for more than six decades.

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says it is possible to cut tax rates without driving the government deeper into the red, and that he can make up for the lost revenue by closing tax loopholes. But analysts have had a hard time testing Romney's claim because he hasn't offered many specifics.

Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney seems to be winning the hearts of blue-collar voters in this part of the state. Economically, says one analyst, many residents here should be voting Democratic; but their social conservatism clouds the picture.