White House official: Jobs are first order of business

White House official: Jobs are first order of business

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s chief economic advisers said Sunday that putting Americans back to work is the first order of business in working the country out of the deepest economic downturn in six decades. Only then can they start tackling the soaring federal debt.

At the same time, Christina Romer, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said she would not consider the recession truly at an end until employment returns to levels last seen at the end of 2007 when the recession began.

Her view was technically at odds with that of Lawrence Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, who said third-quarter growth of the gross domestic product — the measure of economic activity — marked a statistical end to the recession.

But the pair did agree with forecasts that the economy would begin producing more jobs in the spring.

Iranian students renew rallies against government

TEHRAN, Iran — Hundreds of students at Tehran University renewed anti-government demonstrations for a second week Sunday, accusing authorities of fabricating images of demonstrators burning photos of the Islamic Republic’s revered founder.

Students say authorities are using the images of burning photos as a pretext to crack down on their protests, which have helped revitalize the pro-reform movement.

State television has repeatedly shown images, ostensibly taken during student-led protests Dec. 7, of unidentified hands burning and tearing up pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It was a grave and illegal insult against the former leader, still widely respected in the country. The elite Revolutionary Guard, the country’s most powerful military force, called for the trial and punishment of those responsible.

National Menorah lighting

WASHINGTON — White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel lit the National Menorah in celebration of Hanukkah.

The Sunday ceremony marked the 30th anniversary of the first National Menorah lighting in 1979. President Jimmy Carter attended that ceremony.

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 B.C. after its desecration by the Syrian-Greeks. The eight-day festival began Friday.

Emanuel, who is Jewish, was the guest of honor at the lighting on the Ellipse in front of the White House. He stood in a cherry picker to light it in front of more than 1,000 onlookers on a cold, rainy day.

Nobel-winning economist Paul Samuelson dies

NEW YORK — Economist Paul Samuelson, who won a Nobel prize for his effort to bring mathematical analysis into economics, helped shape tax policy in the Kennedy administration and wrote a textbook read by millions of college students, died Sunday. He was 94.

Samuelson, who taught for decades at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died at his home in Belmont, Mass., the school said in a statement announcing his death.

In 1970, Samuelson became just the second person, and first American, to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, created in 1968 by the Central Bank of Sweden.

Abducted UN staffers freed

NEW YORK — Two civilian members of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur who have been held hostage for more than 100 days have been released, the U.N. said Sunday.

The two staffers, a man and a woman, were abducted at gunpoint in West Darfur on Aug. 29.

Historic Houston election

HOUSTON — The day after Houston voters chose Annise Parker to become the city’s first openly gay mayor, she did as she had throughout a contentious, hard-fought campaign: focused on the brick-and-mortar realities of running the country’s fourth- largest city.

Parker told a press conference Sunday about her transition team, her plans to change the running of the Houston Police Department and the financial constraints faced by the city.

Then, she paused to reflect on the significance of the election, which made Houston the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor.

“It’s a historic election for my community, and I believe an election that will change some people’s minds about the city of Houston,” said Parker, 53. “It’s a diverse, international city that welcomes everyone.”

Parker defeated former city attorney Gene Locke, 61, with 53.6 percent of the vote Saturday in a race that had a turnout of only 16.5 percent.

Associated Press