News Wrap: Hiring slows in October but labor market shows signs of resiliency

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• Geoff Bennett:

  In the day's other headlines: U.S. employers slowed their hiring in October, but the labor market still showed signs of resiliency.

  The Labor Department reports that, overall, the economy added a net 150,000 jobs last month. That was down sharply from the 297,000 jobs gained in September, due partly to the auto strike. Meantime, the unemployment rate rose slightly in October to 3.9 percent.

  President Biden traveled to Lewiston, Maine, today, where a gunman killed 18 people last week. The president and first lady laid flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims and met with families and first responders.

  After, the president appealed again for action to stop gun violence.

  Joe Biden, President of the United States: This is about common sense, reasonable and responsible measures to protect our children, our families, our communities, because, regardless of our politics, this is about protecting our freedom to go to a bowling alley, a restaurant, a school, a church without being shot and killed.

• Geoff Bennett:

  This was the president's latest visit to a city torn by deadly mass shootings. A White House spokesperson said today — quote — "We can't accept it as normal."

  The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide if a ban on so-called bump stocks violates federal law. The attachments allow semiautomatic weapons to fire as rapidly as machine guns. They were banned after the 2017 Las Vegas shootings when a gunman fired 1,000 rounds in 11 minutes and killed 60 people.

  In Ukraine today, Russia launched its biggest aerial assault in weeks, nearly 40 drones across 10 different regions. They spanned border to border, hitting the cities of Odesa and Kherson in the south, Lviv in the west and Kharkiv in the eastern part of the country. The nighttime strikes set fire to commercial shops, homes, and public buildings. Ukrainian officials said they expect attacks on the power grid again as winter sets in.

  A record-breaking storm that ravaged Western Europe dealt a blow to Italy today, killing at least six people. That brought the total death toll across Europe to 14. Drone footage over Tuscany showed streets awash with standing water. Many people said they lost everything in the floods and some took rescues into their hands.

• Mirella Durini, Tuscany Resident (through interpreter):

  Last night, the water started flowing from there, and it was quick like a flash. My neighbors took my mother and her wheelchair and brought her to their house. They picked her up on their shoulders, took her wheelchair, and rushed her away, and, with the help of a tarp, they carried her down the stairs.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The storm dumped eight inches of rain on Tuscany in just three hours.

  India's capital city was shrouded in a thick, toxic haze today. The seasonal blanket of smog sent the air quality index in New Delhi to severe levels, and officials closed schools and banned some vehicles and construction work. It made venturing outdoors hazardous to the health of locals and tourists alike.

• Marco, German Tourist:

  It's quite foggy. And, of course, the smog, you can feel. You can feel the dirt, the pollution of the cars. So it's, for me, actually quite hard to breathe deeply. So, we are saying it's a little bit like you have to cough the whole time.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The smog is caused by farmers burning crop waste, coupled with a lack of wind.

  A judge in New York barred lawyers in the Trump civil fraud trial from making statements regarding his staff. Judge Arthur Engoron said former President Trump's attorneys have falsely accused his law clerk of bias. The ruling came after Mr. Trump's son Eric finished testifying. He said he relied on accountants to ensure that Trump Organization financial statements were accurate.

  And on Wall Street, stocks finished their best week of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 222 points today to close at 34061. The Nasdaq rose 184 points. The S&P 500 added 40.