News Wrap: Obama touts trade deal at Nike headquarters

In our news wrap Friday, President Obama visited the Oregon headquarters of athletic apparel company Nike to promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Also, the Labor Department reported that employers added 223,000 jobs in April, up from March. The unemployment rate dropped again, falling to 5.4 percent, the lowest since May 2008.

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  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The U.S. job market showed signs of rebounding last month, after a dismal start to the year. The Labor Department reported today that employers added 223,000 jobs in April, up from just 85,000 in March. That means the economy averaged 190,000 new jobs a month in the first quarter, well below last year's average. Still, the unemployment rate in April fell to 5.4 percent, the lowest since May of 2008.

    Wall Street soared on the jobs report. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up nearly 270 points to close near 18200. The Nasdaq rose 58, and the S&P 500 added 28. For the week, the Dow gained about 1 percent, the S&P about a half-a-percent, while the Nasdaq lost a half-a-percent.

    President Obama took up the call for an Asian trade deal again today in a visit to Nike headquarters in Oregon. The president said critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, including many of his fellow Democrats, are just wrong.

  • PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

    If we don't write the rules for trade around the world, guess what? China will. And they will write those rules in a way that gives Chinese workers and Chinese businesses the upper hand and locks American-made goods out. That's the choice we face.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Nike has been criticized over its labor practices in Asia, where most of its shoes are made. It promised today to create 10,000 jobs in the U.S. if the trade deal goes through.

    Thousands of police from across the country turned out today for the funeral of a New York City officer; 25-year-old Brian Moore was fatally shot on Saturday and died Monday. Police lined the road this morning outside a Long Island church and packed inside for the memorial mass. The display of solidarity came as police across the nation are under intense scrutiny.

    The Justice Department did announce today that it will investigate Baltimore's police department in the wake of Freddie Gray's death. The city's mayor asked for the civil rights review this week.

    U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said she hopes it will help repair relations between police and minorities.

  • LORETTA LYNCH, Attorney General:

    It was the clear that recent events, including the tragic in-custody death of Mr. Freddie Gray, had given rise to a serious erosion of public trust. This process is meant to ensure that officers are being provided with the tools that they need, including training, policy guidance and equipment, to be more effective to partner with civilians and to strengthen public safety.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The review will look for patterns of racial bias and excessive force. There have been similar federal investigations in Ferguson, Missouri, and in Cleveland.

    The threat level has been raised at U.S. military bases nationwide. That puts security at its highest level in nearly four years. Pentagon officials say there's been no specific threat. Instead, they cite general concerns since last weekend's attack on an exhibit and contest of Mohammed in Texas.

    Saudi Arabia announced today that it's going ahead with a unilateral cease-fire in Yemen starting May 12. A Saudi coalition will halt its bombing campaign for five days to allow humanitarian assistance into Yemen. The foreign minister made the announcement with Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris. But he warned Yemen's Houthi rebels to abide by the truce.

    ADEL AL-JUBEIR, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States: It is our hope and our desire that the Houthis will come to their senses and realize that the interests of Yemen and the Yemeni people are — should be the top priority for everyone. The cease-fire will end should the Houthis or their allies not live up to the agreements contained in this issue.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    In the meantime, the Saudis resumed bombing a Houthi stronghold province in Northern Yemen, after giving civilians until sundown to flee.

    In Pakistan, the Philippine and Norwegian ambassadors were killed today when their helicopter crashed and burned in the northern part of the country. The wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors and members of the crew also died, and wreckage from the crash set a local school ablaze. The Taliban claimed they shot down the helicopter, but the government denied it.

    And much of Europe marked 70 years today since Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II. Wreath-laying ceremonies took place in Paris and in London, where British political leaders joined in a tribute hours after the country's election. Russia holds its own victory parade tomorrow, but many Western leaders are boycotting that event, due to Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

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