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The government's monthly jobs report showed a surprising drop in the unemployment rate, down to 7.8 percent. The rate fell even though the number of jobs added to the business payrolls didn't increase much. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports on analyst's reaction to the news.

When Bashar Assad inherited the presidency of Syria in 2000, some in the West saw him as a potential reformer. Professor David Lesch of Trinity University met Assad several times. Host Scott Simon speaks with Lesch about his new book, Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad, a clear contrast to his earlier book, which touted Assad as "the new lion of Damascus."

To this day, getting a third-party candidate into a presidential debate is practically impossible. So we invited two of the third-party candidates — Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Jill Stein from the Green Party — to a debate of our own.

This week, defense contractors said they would not issue layoff warnings, even though looming budget cuts could lead to big job losses in 2013. That's led to charges that the White House overstepped when it told the industry the notices are not needed.

Nigel Godrich is often called the sixth member of Radiohead — he's been the envelope-pushing producer behind the band's albums since 1997. Ultraísta is his new experimental trio, formed with an old ally and a new recruit.

The Labor Department announced on Friday the lowest unemployment rate since January 2009. Most big companies use software to screen resumes and ultimately move that unemployment number. These programs can be a big help for hiring departments, but a hindrance for job searches everywhere.

Spinal Elements, a small and growing company, had long made plates, screws and other technology used in spinal surgeries. But its new Hero Allograft was the first product it ever made from the tissue — in this case the bones — of a donated human cadaver.

An expert says that when televised presidential and vice presidential debates began, they were supposed to be about discussion and dialogue — not winners or and losers. But that's never how the American public or journalists saw things.

Colin Meloy, best known as the Decemberists' front man, is also a novelist. His newest book is the second in a series for young readers, called Wildwood Chronicles. The book catches up with its precocious protagonist, Prue, who leaves the seventh grade to return to the magical world of Wildwood.