back to work. hopeful signs the u.s. job market is improving ahead of april's unemployment numbers. desperate plea. chinese activist chen guangcheng says his situation is dangerous, as he asks the u.s. for protection. and final word. just declassified letters take a look into the hopes and frustrations of al qaeda leader osama bin laden. this is the "cbs morning osama bin laden. this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, may 4, 2012. captioning funded by cbs good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm michelle miller. we begin with the economy. this morning the government releases last month's unemployment report. yesterday the labor department reported that last week the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits dropped by 27,000.

still 365,000 americans joined the unemployment line. most analysts expected this month's report to be better than last. tara mergener is in washington with details. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning to you, michelle. well, economists do believe that job growth was up in april, but they say the pace of hiring is still too slow to make a real dent in the unemployment rate. when the government releases the jobs report later this morning, economists believe up to 168,000 people will have found work in april. and the unemployment rate will hold steady at 8.2%. analysts are eagerly anticipating the numbers, because the march report was well below the previous three months. they are looking to see if that was a one-time dip or the start of a trend. this man was unemployed for several years. he worked up to 60 hours a week, sending out resumes and applying for jobs.

>> it was frustrating at times, definitely. >> reporter: but after several years of taking temp work to make ends meet, his search for a full-time job paid off. >> i'm in disbelief. i walk around this office, am i really working here? >> reporter: the april unemployment report is important but the november numbers may be critical to who wins the white house. and both sides have been talking about 8% as the key figure. >> he doesn't want to talk about his own record -- >> reporter: during a campaign event in virginia yesterday, mitt romney slammed president obama for not being able to keep the unemployment numbers lower. >> he'll have all sorts of things. he'll talk about that have resulted in a fact the guy who promised he would keep unemployment below 8% has not been under 8% since. >> the past decade has went tough on everybody -- >> reporter: president obama has said he believes the unemployment rate will be under 8% by november. a recent poll shows economists agree. the associated press poll puts the number at 7.9% on election

day. now, according to economists in that same poll, the unemployment rate may not drop to a more normal level of 6% until at least, michelle, 2015. >> tara mergener in washington, thank you. now to the latest on chinese activists chen guangcheng. this morning china's foreign ministry said chen can apply to study abroad like any other citizen, but chen describes his situation as dangerous since he left the protection of the u.s. embassy. chen says two phone calls with u.s. officials today were cut off after a few sentences. he says friends who have tried to visit him have been beaten up. and he says, he's asked secretary of state hillary clinton for help. yesterday he made a plea directly to u.s. lawmakers. theresa garcia has more on that. >> reporter: chinese dissident chen guangcheng made a direct appeal to the united states thursday, speaking to a congressional hearing by telephone from his hospital bed

in beijing. >> translator: i want to meet with secretary clinton. i hope i can get more help from her. >> reporter: chen, the blind lawyer, who exposed forced abortions under china's one-child policy is at the center of a diplomatic tug of war. after escaping house arrest last week, chen was delivered to the u.s. embassy in beijing. past chinese guards meant to keep defectors away. that began days of negotiation. >> he did not want to go to the united states until the choice was to help him get back into china to be a freedom fighter, as he wanted, or if the conditions -- negotiations with the chinese government were not to his satisfaction, he was prepared to stay in the embassy and live there. >> reporter: the chinese promised chen and his family would not be harassed if he stayed in the country. they then threatened to arrest his wife if he did not leave the embassy. he did.

but now says it was a mistake and fears his family is in danger. critics accuse the obama administration of failing to protect chen. but spokesman jay carney said the u.s. was following chen's >> at no point during his time in the embassy did mr. chen ever request political asylum in the u.s., and now he's expressed a change of view we're continuing to have conversations with him about how to move forward. >> reporter: so far u.s. officials have not been allowed to see chen since he agreed to stay in china. theresa garcia, cbs news. >> despite the diplomatic firestorm, secretary clinton says u.s./chinese relations are stronger than they've ever been. secretary clinton and timothy geithner meant with hu jintao today. clinton said the u.s. and china have a very open and honest relationship where we can discuss our differences. the obama administration says it may be time to admit defeat in its current handling of the situation in syria. the white house says it's clear

the u.n.-brokered cease-fire is not holding and blames the syrian government. the u.n. estimates the 13-month uprising against syrian president assad has claimed over 13,000 lives. the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow. khalid shaikh mohammed will be arraigned at guantanamo bay where eventually he and four others will be tried by a military tribunal. a trial date will also be set tomorrow. relatives of 9/11 victims will be able to watch the court proceedings on tv and military bases. we've learned more about al qaeda and osama bin laden's final days from just declassified letters found in the pakistan compound where he was killed. bob orr reports. >> reporter: the letters reveal that osama bin laden, while hunkered down in his last hideout, struggled to retain control of his al qaeda network. writing in arabic he reminded

terror affiliates of the primary mission. our targets are american. bin laden was frustrated with the poorly planned attacks had killed too many muslims and he worried u.s. drone strikes threatened al qaeda's core in pakistan. i'm leaning toward getting most of the brothers out of the area, he wrote to a top aide. it is possible they have photographed targeted homes. the letter reveal tensions between bin laden and other top terroris terrorists. he rebuffed pleas from his deputy al zawahiri. he rejected al awlaki as proposed leader in yemen. bin laden asked he send us the resume. although isolated, bin laden continued to map new attacks. in may 2010 bin laden wrote he wanted to target general david petraeus, head of u.s. central command. and he wanted to kill president obama, noting that will make

biden take over, which will lead the u.s. into a crisis. bin laden planned to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11 with a new message to the american people. he was killed four months before that date. but in his last letter, just one week prior to his death, bin laden was still plotting. he urged aides to take advantage of the revolution. there were toppling dictator during the arab spring of 2011. he wrote the oncoming stage will be for islam. zawahiri lacks bin laden's charisma and core al qaeda is down to a few hundred members. the counterterrorism officials say it would be a big mistake to underestimate the egyptian doctor. bob orr, cbs news, washington. secretary of defense leon panetta wants the military to shore up discipline. panetta will deliver the message at ft. benning, georgia, today. he wants military leaders to crack down on bad behavior. it's a response to a string of incidents such as taking

controversial photos and desecrating enemy corpses that has complicated relations in afghanistan. coming up on the morning news -- facebook filing. new details on the social network's ipo this month as it gets set for a record debut. you're watching the "cbs morning news." news." [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. my turn. ♪ [ dad ] what's that? you got mommy a mother's day present? from where? whoa. nice.

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ashley morrison is here in new york with that and more. good morning, ashley. >> good morning to you. stocks overseas dipped this morning. hong kong's hang seng lost more than 0.5%. soet korea's index was down more than 0.25%. stocks sank on news of weak corporate earnings. dow was down nearly 62 points while the nasdaq fell 35. facebook already has 900 million users but the social networking site may end up with even more friends in just a few weeks. according to the price range of the company's initial public offering of stocks, facebook is worth up to $95 billion. in a regulatory filing, facebook said its shares will cost $28 to $35. "the wall street journal" has reported facebook's ipo could happen on may 18th. general motors posted a billion dollar profit for the first quarter. the automaker continues to seek strong sales in north america and china, but it's not all good news for gm.

despite making a profit, its earnings were down 69% from a year ago. and pepsi is teaming up with the estate of michael jackson. the soft drink maker will use jackson's likeness in a new global marketing campaign, which includes special edition cans. the promotion is time to coincide with the 25th anniversary of jackson's hit album "bad." and i remember when that came out. i had it. >> well, i remember the commercial, the pepsi commercial. it was great. >> it was, it was. >> ashley morrison here in new york, thank you. straight ahead, your friday morning weather. and in sports, yankee great mariano rivera's career may have ended. not with another save, but in a mishap before last night's game. >> announcer: "moneywatch" spon sponsored by vagisil.

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will roll through parts of the south. and look for rain and high mountain snow in the pacific northwest. in sports, yankees all-star reliever mariano rivera may have suffered a career-ending injury without even throwing a single pitch. he was chasing after a fly ball during batting practice against the royals when he fell, tearing a ligament in his right knee. when asked if he would even pitch again, the all-time leader in saves seemed doubtful. >> do you think you'll come back and pitch again? >> at this point i don't know. at this point, i don't know. >> and the game didn't go well for the yankees. the royals' mike moustakas makes a great bare handed toss to get alex rodriguez out at first and that stops the tying run from crossing the plate. kansas city beats the yankees 4-3. in basketball, looks like the dallas mavericks won't

repeat as nba champs. kevin durant forced 30 points as oklahoma city runs away with the game on dallas' own home court. it was never close as the thunder trounces the mavs 95-79 to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. once again, lebron james and the heat were too much for the new york knicks. james scored 32 as miami smashed the knicks 87-70 for a 3-0 series lead there. the knicks have now lost 13 straight playoff games. that's a new nba record. in hockey, the l.a. kings are on the verge of sweeping st. louis. drew doughty scores the final goal as kings take down the blues 4-2 for a 3-0 series lead. on sunday, l.a. could clinch their first trip to the conference finals since 1993. and in overtime, alexei ponikarovsky smacks his own

rebound into the net giving the new jersey devils a 4-3 victory over the philadelphia flyers. they now lead the eastern conference semifinals 2-1. when we return, virus scare. wider health concerns after the death of a lab worker who handled a rare strain of bacteria. rare strain of bacteria.

here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. washington, d.c., partly cloudy, 86. atlanta, thunderstorms, 86. st. louis, partly sunny, 90. denver, mostly sunny, 84. seattle, mostly cloudy and 56. the san diego medical examiner's office has ruled that former nfl star junior seau committed suicide. his body was found wednesday at his beach-front home with a gunshot wound to the chest.

the "l.a. times" reports his family will have his brain examined to see if he suffered damage from repeated head injury. health officials say dozens of people who came in contact with a researcher who died suddenly have received antibiotics. the cdc says richard din became ill after being fatally infected by a bacteria from his own laboratory. ben tracy reports. >> reporter: 25-year-old richard den worked at a lab at san francisco va hospital. he was studying a rare strain of bacteria that can cause blood infection, or meningitis. dr. harry lampiris is head of infection disease section. >> he went home on friday at 5 p.m. at 7 p.m. he started to develop symptoms of fatigue, headache and chills. >> reporter: he died just 17 hours later. as many as 60 people who may have come in contact with him have been given antibiotics as a precaution. the disease can be spread through sneezing, coughing and

kissing. >> we were concerned there might have been a spill. but this was a highly competent and experienced individual, even though he was young. >> reporter: more than 500,000 people work in laboratories in the u.s. a survey of u.s. labs found a third reported at least one laboratory associated infection. dr. murphy studies infectious disease at cedar sinai. she says simple mistakes still happen. >> most definitely there's a high awareness in the laboratory setting, the potential for transmission and you often don't realize how many times we might touch our face or -- in the course of a given day. >> reporter: no one else in san francisco has become sick, but investigators are still trying to identify anyone who may have had close contact with richard den. ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," swimmer michael phelps on the london games. i'm michelle miller and this is the "cbs morning news." i'm michelle miller and this is

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4 minutes until 5:00. tim william is at first warning weather. >> we had some powerful storms roll through and then they died out around the 10 o'clock hour. while we have mostly clear skies as far as rain is concerned, what's out to your west is moving in our direction. we're expecting thunderstorms this afternoon and early evening. 63 right now. visibility is challenging. there's fog out there this morning. clouds and some sun with a heavy thunderstorm this afternoon. we will be charging temperatures

near 90. for your saturday, 83 clouds and some sun with widely scattered showers. a woman found dead, another critically injured inside a local church. who police believe are responsible. >> a judge convicts one of two brothers accused of beating a teenager. why the second brother will walk free. >> a devastating blow to the ravens championship hopes. the impact of the serious injury to terrence suggs. more news, first warning weather and your first traffic report of the minute in a couple of minutes. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal. is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's

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