Evening Edition

Economist raised new worries of recession after the Labor Department said that private sector employment, previously the main engine for job growth as revenue-strapped governments shed workers, “changed little” in most major industries last month.

A meager 17,000 private-sector jobs were added, down from a revised 156,000 in July. But that was offset by 17,000 jobs shed by government.

Forty-two years to the day since Kadhafi took power in a coup, senior envoys from over 60 countries Thursday met the leaders of the revolution that overthrew him to endorse the fledgling regime and offer practical support.

But in the meeting in Paris, they also put the leaders of the rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC) on notice to pursue a path of reconciliation, even as Kadhafi issued a message of defiance from his desert hiding place.

The European Union was to formally adopt an embargo on Syrian oil, but the sanctions would not take effect until November 15 for existing contracts after Italy insisted on a delay, according to diplomats in Brussels.

They told AFP that the EU would also expand its list of people targeted by an assets freeze and travel ban.

A day after leaked extracts of the report into last year’s commando raid appeared in the media, Turkey’s foreign minister said Ankara had decided on a series of steps as a mark of protest.

And although the report has yet to be released, Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul said Ankara would reject it, regarding it as “null and void”.

The website confirmed in a message on Twitter that all 251,287 of the US embassy cables had been posted on the Internet and posted a link to a site containing the documents that can be accessed without a password.

Five media groups which worked with WikiLeaks on the first release last year — the Guardian, the New York Times, German news magazine Der Spiegel, Spanish daily El Pais and France’s Le Monde — condemned the decision to publish the cables without first deleting the names of sources who spoke to US diplomats.

Lawmakers voted by 316 to five in favour of the constitutional reform, easily reaching the three-fifths support required.

About 10 lawmakers from smaller parties walked out in protest before the vote, which approved only the second change to the 1978 constitution since it was drawn up three years after General Francisco Franco’s death.

For the first time in nearly a year the economy failed to create new jobs on a net basis according to the Labor Department’s monthly nonfarm payrolls survey on Friday.

Economists had expected nonfarm employment to rise 75,000 last month but they cautioned against viewing the data as a surefire sign of recession.

The declines left Wall Street lower for the sixth week out of seven as declining issues far outweighed winners on a light-volume day ahead of the long U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend.

Stocks had rebounded recently on expectations the Federal Reserve would introduce new stimulus to boost the sluggish economy. But the Labor Department’s latest report underscores that action by the Fed alone cannot address the economy’s deep problems.

Word of the lawsuits by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, came as a surprise to the market and weighed on bank shares. The lawsuits could add billions of dollars to the banks’ potential legal costs at perhaps the worst possible time for the industry.

The FHFA plans to accuse major banks, including Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co, of selling bonds backed by mortgages that should have never been packaged into securities, said the sources, who are familiar with the matter. Neither source was authorized to speak on the record. A spokeswoman for the FHFA declined to comment.

The lawsuits by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, came as a surprise to the market and weighed on bank shares. The lawsuits could add billions of dollars to the banks’ potential costs at perhaps the worst possible time for the industry.

The FHFA accused major banks, including Bank of America Corp, its Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc and Nomura Holdings Inc of selling bonds backed by mortgages that should have never been packaged into securities.

A day after international powers met in Paris and agreed to hand over more than $15 billion to the rebels who overthrew Gaddafi last week, the European Union, a main trading partner, rescinded a range of sanctions and officials from the National Transitional Council told financiers about their initial rebuilding plans.

The NTC’s representative in London said that work on putting right the damage of 42 years of eccentric one-man rule and of six months of civil war should not wait until Gaddafi is found and the last bastions of armed support for him are defeated.

Last week, the judge overseeing a group of spill-related lawsuits against BP Plc and its business partners ruled that claims for punitive damages — not just compensatory damages — could be brought by fishermen and other plaintiffs alleging harm to physical property. If a jury ultimately awards these plaintiffs punitive damages, defendants could be forced to pay out big.

The ruling gives some potential plaintiffs more of an incentive to sue because of the possibility of higher damage awards, experts say. Some people have been on the fence about suing or seeking payouts from BP’s $20 billion victims’ compensation fund, which offers settlements as an alternative to litigation.

Obama said the decision to withdraw a clean-air initiative by the Environmental Protection Agency was part of an effort to reduce regulatory burdens for business.

The EPA has become a lightning-rod for critics of government regulation and a hot-button issue for Republicans in the run-up to the 2012 presidential campaign.

The government also reported that the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent. It was the weakest jobs report since September 2010.

Stocks tumbled on the news. The Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 200 points in afternoon trading.

Obama overruled the Environmental Protection Agency – and the unanimous opinion of its independent panel of scientific advisers – and directed administrator Lisa Jackson to withdraw the proposed regulation to reduce concentrations of ground-level ozone, smog’s main ingredient. The decision rests in part on reducing regulatory burdens and uncertainty for businesses at a time of rampant uncertainty about an unsteady economy.

The announcement came shortly after a new government report on private sector employment showed that businesses essentially added no new jobs last month – and that the jobless rate remained stuck at a historically high 9.1 percent.

Many media outlets, including The Associated Press, previously had access to all or part of the uncensored tome. But WikiLeaks’ decision to post the 251,287 cables on its website makes potentially sensitive diplomatic sources available to anyone, anywhere at the stroke of a key. American officials have warned that the disclosures could jeopardize vulnerable people such as opposition figures or human rights campaigners.

A joint statement published on the Guardian’s website said that the British publication and its international counterparts – The New York Times, France’s Le Monde, Germany’s Der Spiegel and Spain’s El Pais – “deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted State Department cables, which may put sources at risk.”

The rupture between the Jewish state and what was once its most important Muslim ally raised concerns that Egypt and Jordan may follow, increasing Israel’s isolation in the region.

The dramatic move came ahead of the anticipated publication Friday of a U.N. report on the Israeli raid that killed nine activists.

The threat came into sharp focus last week, when shaking from the largest earthquake to hit Virginia in 117 years appeared to exceed what the North Anna nuclear power plant northwest of Richmond was built to sustain.

The two North Anna reactors are among 27 in the eastern and central U.S. that a preliminary Nuclear Regulatory Commission review has said may need upgrades. That’s because those plants are more likely to get hit with an earthquake larger than the one their design was based on. Just how many nuclear power plants are more vulnerable won’t be determined until all operators recalculate their own seismic risk based on new assessments by geologists, something the agency plans to request later this year. The NRC on Thursday issued a draft of that request for public comment.

NStar, a major utility in Massachusetts, took out a full-age ad in Friday’s edition of the Boston Globe with the headline “Goodnight, Irene.”

“Being ready for Mother Nature is one thing,” the ad read. “Responding to her is another. We know trees will come down. We didn’t know which ones.”

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton set a new trial for April 17. Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin said he may appeal Walton’s decision. Walton said if Clemens wants to do that, he must request an expedited review by the appeals court to avoid more delays in the case.

Clemens listened intently while both sides argued passionately over his fate, but only spoke briefly to tell Walton he would waive his right to a speedy trial because a member of his defense team has another trial scheduled this fall requiring the long delay in his case.